Mary and her friend Rosa are climbing the hill on the outskirts of the city, when they observe with astonishment the body of a man lying among the rocks, with a large bloodstain on his chest.
"My God, he is dead!", says Rosa with an expression of horror.
"Calm down Rosa, we don't know if he is dead, let's approach carefully", while she looks around suspiciously. When we arrive, she crouches down in front of the man, a young person of approximately thirty years old, with dark hair and dark skin, dressed in sports clothes.
"He's still breathing, I'm going to take his pulse".
"You shouldn't touch him Mary, the police have to take the fingerprints and yours can't be there."
You're right Rosa, we have to wait for them to arrive, we can't do anything to help him. It looks like he's been shot, look there, it looks like a perforation. I'm going to call 911".
"911 what is your emergency."
"We found a man down, it looks like he's in pretty bad shape."
"Tell me exactly where you are".
"We are on the hill, in the curve of the Piedra Azul, three kilometers from the entrance. Please hurry! it is already getting dark."
"We are already broadcasting your location, hold on... help will be here in minutes."
While Mary talks on the phone. Rosa observes the man carefully, her face reflects a lot of sadness.
When she finishes speaking, Mary turns to where Rosa is and says to her. "He doesn't look familiar, I have seen him somewhere, but I can't remember where."
"Not really Mary".
"I'm not sure, it's possible...now I remember, he is Joaquin's brother, he introduced him to us at Elisa and Roberto's wedding."
"Ah!... right Mary and I remember he was very interested in you, he didn't stop dancing with you."
" Well my friend, I only saw him at that party and the truth is I wasn't interested in him. But it makes me sad to see him there and looking again at the man's body she says, look... he's missing a shoe, where did he lose it? He must have been running, they were chasing him, but there must have been several of them because they shot him head on. But how strange, I would swear..."
A siren begins to be heard in the distance and in minutes the ambulance arrives where Mary and Rosa are.
The firemen get out quickly and take the man to the hospital.
You have to come to the Police Station to give us your statement of the facts. "Come with us," says an officer. Mary and Rosa, still frightened by what has happened, get into the patrol car. That night, at the station they declare everything they observed and hours after completing all the formalities they are taken home.
The friends chat over a cup of hot chocolate at the kitchen table. It is small like everything else in the apartment, which they have rented for a year. Rosa is an administrator and works in a clothing store and Mary is a musician and plays the violin in the municipal orchestra, but her real passion is plants, she has an apartment full of them and dreams of having a nursery.
"We had a strange experience today, right friend. That they tried to kill that person and we found him, I hope he recovers. I imagine that the police will begin to make inquiries, don’t you think Rosa?"
"Right... I was wondering if his brother had been notified. "
"Surely he's been warned, Rosa, let's stay calm, the police will know what to do. Let's go to sleep, I'm very tired."
The next morning, Rosa gets up very early and goes to the hospital where the man they found wounded on the hill is being held.
Hours later she returns to the apartment and meets Mary who is leaving for rehearsal at the theater.
"What is it, my friend !, what's wrong!, you've been crying," he asks her as he approaches her.
"It's nothing Mary, these are things that happen and can't be avoided, hurry up, you're going to be late. You are my best friend and I love you very much, he tells her while he hugs her."
"Okay, I'm leaving, but...you look strange. See you tonight."
It's 7 p.m. and Mary walks hurriedly through downtown. It's getting very cold and it's starting to rain, lights illuminating the pavement and drops of water starting to fall from the rooftops, further wetting passersby who are pulling out umbrellas.
Arriving at her apartment, Mary takes off her jacket and umbrella and hangs it on the coat rack.
"Ugh, it's so cold and this apartment is freezing, I'm going to turn on the heat, I see Rosa hasn't arrived."
She goes to the kitchen to prepare a coffee and notices a note on the refrigerator door. She takes it and begins to read it
Dear Mary
First I need to tell you that I'm sorry I have to leave you this note and I can't talk to you in person, I only did it to protect you, I don't want to involve you in this problem and I ask you to please burn this note when you finish reading it and don't try to find out where I am... because I know you and I know it's difficult for you to be calm, but it's for the best.
I can only tell you that I was involved in the theft of some diamonds, to help the person I loved... love cannot be blind and I understood that very late. He told me that they belonged to his family, but that his brother had taken them to sell them and pay some debts. That day when we went up the hill I was going to meet him, so that he would give me the diamonds and keep them for him, because I knew he was being followed. It was going to be a chance meeting. But they killed him and I kept the stones; he had them in his shoe.
"I was already saying that that shoe was there when I saw the man, I should have imagined it" Mary thinks.
I hope no one saw us arrive at the hill that day and that they don't connect us with him. But I have to make sure they don't find me and that's why I'm going far away.
A hug dear friend, take care of yourself.
Months have passed since that day and Mary hasn't heard anything more from Rosa. She continues her life between music and flowers. She hasn't wanted to rent the room. She is doing well and doesn't need it. She only has the company of a kitten she picked up from the street, now she is her companion.
"This apartment is pretty messy Minina, we are going to clean up and you are going to help me".
I'm going to start by cleaning the library, the books are full of dust.
She starts taking them out and placing them on the table. Behind one of them, she finds a little pink paper package. What could this be? She opens it carefully and, astonished, looks at a crystalline pebble with a lot of shine. At the bottom of the paper is written in the small handwriting of Rosa This is your fortune cookie, so you can fulfill your dream.
Thank you for reading
The design was made in Canva with free photos.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)