LA VÍA DEL TREN / THE RAILROAD TRACK
The train tracks have something strange and lugubrious, which is mixed with mysterious stories, perhaps because it is common for someone to have lost their life after being run over, they choose to commit suicide or in some of the lonely places that someone could have been a victim of crime and even murdered. When these souls die unexpectedly or for having disrespected a divine mandate established for humans, they remain in a kind of limbo and wander wandering forever looking for the door that will lead them to eternal rest. These stories are plagued by the train lines of about 160 kilometers that link the important city of Barquisimeto and Puerto Cabello, Venezuela's second most important port city.
En los años 70 a sólo 20 kilómetros de la ciudad de Barquisimeto, la vía del tren fue escenario de un horrendo crimen, perpetrado contra una joven de apenas 16 años, violada, asesinada y dejada en la vía para que el tren borrara totalmente las huellas del asesino. Pese a los esfuerzos de la época jamás fue apresado el culpable de tan horrendo crimen, sin embargo este acto bestial tendría repercusiones en los moradores de aquella pequeña población, que aun después de medio siglo siguen padeciendo el clamor de venganza del espíritu de la víctima, que trasciende generaciones y desconoce las leyes de esta dimensión que habitamos los humanos.
In the 1970's, only 20 kilometers from the city of Barquisimeto, the railroad track was the scene of a horrendous crime, perpetrated against a young girl of only 16 years of age, raped, murdered and left on the track so that the train would completely erase the tracks of the murderer. Despite the efforts of the time, the culprit of such a horrendous crime was never apprehended, however this bestial act would have repercussions on the inhabitants of that small town, who even after half a century continue to suffer the clamor for revenge of the spirit of the victim, which transcends generations and ignores the laws of this dimension that we humans inhabit.
One of the most renowned cases of the many that have happened occurred in 1985 when Alexis, a young man of 22 years old, lived one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. The university student met a young woman named Elena with whom he became a boyfriend. The town of Yarifornia, where both were natives, was crossed by the railroad track, splitting the town in two, a southern and a northern sector. The area next to the railroad was unpopulated for security measures, Elena lived to the south of the town and Alexis to the north, he had the option to visit her at night, as he did almost daily, to go across two bridges that joined the two sectors or go down a short road that crossed a place called the little bridge, a path through the brush that crossed a small creek, crossed the two railroad tracks, walked along the edge of a hill called "la matica" and then returned to one of the streets in the southern sector that led directly to Elena's house. Alexis in his nocturnal visits used to cross one of the two bridges, because the third available crossing was dark, dangerous because of the delinquency and additionally because of the amount of mysterious and scary stories that were told about the place.
Aquel martes de carnaval Alexis visitó temprano a Elena, se retiró antes de las nueve de la noche porque al día siguiente su novia tenía compromisos en la universidad. Alexis era esperado por sus amigos para salir a disfrutar el último día de las fiestas carnestolendas. Al salir de la casa oyó un silbido y vio que alguien apuró el paso y se acercó, enseguida identificó a José un amigo, quien también iba hacia los sitios de fiestas, para evitar desviarse y ganar tiempo tomaron el camino del puentecito, al llegar a orillas del cerro encendieron un cigarrillo, al detenerse para hacerlo sintieron que les lanzaron una piedra o algo parecido se miraron y apuraron el paso, sopló una brisa helada y con ella una lluvia de pequeñas piedras que sentían como les golpeaban el cuerpo. José le gritó que corriera e inició la frenética carrera cubriéndose la cabeza para evitar el daño de aquella lluvia de piedras, al llegar a los rieles, Alexis sintió como de repente una pared invisible lo detenía en medio de la vía aterrorizado veía la silueta de José desaparecer rauda en la oscuridad de la noche, estaba paralizado; un espectro blanquecino flotando en el aire se le acercaba, sintió como lo cargaba, lo acostaba sobre uno de los rieles, a lo lejos oyó un sonido familiar, la sirena del ferrocarril, sentía el trepidar del tren de carga de las nueve y aquella fuerza sobre humana que lo sostenía en paralelo a la vía, presagiando una muerte horrible, agotado al borde del desvanecimiento, recordó la terrible tragedia de hacía más de una década que ocurrió cerca al sitio, atino a balbucear; “Mirian no me hagas daño” y sintió como las invisibles fuerzas que lo aferraban a la vía cedían segundos antes que aquel monstruo de metal, que continuaba su marcha imparable pasara a toda velocidad en donde él había estado acostado, a solo centímetros del riel en la parte interna de la vía el ensordecedor sonido del roce de las ruedas de metal, la vibración de los durmientes que la sostienen y la sombra zigzagueante del ferrocarril y sus vagones pasando sobre él, le recodaron que aún estaba vivo.
That Carnival Tuesday, Alexis visited Elena early, he left before 9:00 p.m. because the next day his girlfriend had commitments at the university. Alexis was expected by his friends to go out to enjoy the last day of the carnival festivities. When leaving the house he heard a whistle and saw that someone hurried the pace and approached, he immediately identified José, a friend, who was also going to the party sites, to avoid deviating and gain time they took the path of the little bridge, when they reached the edge of the hill they lit a cigarette, when they stopped to do so they felt that a stone or something similar was thrown at them, they looked at each other and hurried the pace, an icy breeze blew and with it a rain of small stones that they felt as they hit their bodies. José shouted at him to run and began the frantic race, covering his head to avoid the damage of that rain of stones, when he reached the rails, Alexis felt how suddenly an invisible wall stopped him in the middle of the track, terrified, he saw José's silhouette disappear swiftly in the darkness of the night, he was paralyzed; A whitish specter floating in the air approached him, he felt how it carried him, laid him down on one of the rails, in the distance he heard a familiar sound, the railroad siren, he felt the trepidation of the nine o'clock freight train and that superhuman force that held him parallel to the track, foreshadowing a horrible death, exhausted on the verge of fainting, he remembered the terrible tragedy of more than a decade ago that occurred near the site, he managed to stammer; "Mirian don't hurt me" and felt how the invisible forces that clung him to the track gave way seconds before that metal monster, which continued its unstoppable march passed at full speed where he had been lying, just inches from the rail on the inside of the track, the deafening sound of the rubbing of the metal wheels, the vibration of the sleepers that support it and the zigzagging shadow of the railroad and its cars passing over him, reminded him that he was still alive.
Cuando José regresó con otras personas, Alexis estaba tirado entre los dos rieles de la vía temblaba, con los la mirada perdida y unas lágrimas que no paraban de brotar de sus ojos. Lo levantaron y llevaron a casa de sus padres. Días después, esta terrible experiencia de Alexis sería contada en todo el pueblo y con el tiempo hasta transformada en una obra teatral escenificada en la casa de la cultura local. Después de estar alejado más de veinte años de Yarifornia, hace tres años lo visité y pregunté por Alexis me contaron que se casó y se mudó a otro estado, el dueño de la licorería con quien conversaba agregó en tono ceremonioso; la que nunca se muda o se cansa es la Mirian.
When Jose returned with other people, Alexis was lying between the two rails of the track, trembling, with his eyes lost and tears streaming from his eyes. They picked him up and took him to his parents' house. Days later, Alexis' ordeal would be recounted throughout the town and eventually transformed into a play staged at the local cultural center. After being away from Yarifornia for more than twenty years, three years ago I visited him and asked about Alexis and was told that he got married and moved to another state, the owner of the liquor store with whom I was talking added in a ceremonious tone; the one who never moves or gets tired is Mirian.