Long story short...

I seemed to be in an alternative world. Where I come from, I knew every corner of the valley and everything. Here, everything was different.

After washing, I called the lady.

A few seconds later, she slowly opened the door, stretched out her arm, and left what appeared to be clothing. I dried myself with the towel and put on the clothes. They were comfortable and ideal for my size. I opened the door, and there she was waiting for me to leave.

"You will sleep in the room upfront. I'll sleep in the room next to yours."

She opened the door. The room was enormous and had a huge bed, a wardrobe, and a window facing the street. She went in first, turned on what she called the ceiling lamp. When I entered, she said.

"I will lock your room until six in the morning. In the meantime, use whatever you want. Just do not mess with the closet."

"Thank you for everything you are doing for me. Good night."

She turned to the door, went out, and locked the room.

I was too tired to see what the room had.

"Tomorrow, I hope to have all the answers I am looking for."

When I laid on the bed, I blacked out. I was so tired that I could not stay awake for a few more minutes.

When I woke up, still half asleep, I got up and went towards the window. I looked down the street and saw dozens of people walking the streets. It was different when it was night. Some people were still opening the windows of their houses, people opening small benches, probably to sell something.

"It is time to wake up, Salvor."

I heard her open the door.

"It is time to have breakfast, follow me."

We went down the hall and went towards the kitchen.

"Sit on that chair and eat the toast, I will make orange juice."

"Why are you doing all this for me?"

She looked at me and asked.

"Do you know what this is in my hand?"

I looked at her hand and saw a round object with what appeared to be a cable attached to the back of it.

"No..."

"This is a juice centrifuge, for example, we cut the oranges in half and put half in here. We close the machine and turn it on. It will extract the juice into this container down here."

I am rarely speechless. I have always been very talkative. But at the moment, I didn't know what to say. I was delighted with this centrifuge. I've never seen anything like this.

"D-did you create this?"

She lowered her head for a moment and laughed.

"No boy, I didn't create it. Ahahaha."

"Then, who did it?"

She took the juice container and poured it into a glass. She placed the glass in front of me and sat on the chair across from me.

"Do you know how to read, Salvor?"

I took the glass of juice and drank some. It was delightful. It didn't compare to what my mother did at home. Slicing oranges in half and squeezing against a stone.

"A little bit, my mother taught me a few things."

She leaned back against the chair. She took the glass from me and drank the rest of the juice.

"Do you plan on staying in this city for a while?"

I took the glass from her, poured more juice, and drank until nothing was left.

"I think I will stay in the city for a while until I learn more about it, and then I will continue my way to the church."

"Well, you can stay in this house. You will have food, a room, a bath, and a library next door. However, you will have to help me at the restaurant across the street. What do you think?"

It would help a lot, and I could get to know people here more easily.

"Then you'll start working next week. For now, I will teach you the basics. And for 3 hours a day, I will teach you how to read."

"Thanks again for everything you are doing for me."

" Let's say you remind me of someone."

For a moment I could see that she was sad. Maybe something happened to her in the past. I'll be careful not to talk about her past.

"Can I ask you a few questions? There are some things I would like to know."

"Go ahead."

"What are these lights, and those weird objects etc... that you have at home. How do they work?"

"It would take too long to explain it all to you. Let's say it all starts with energy. You will learn more when you know how to read.

And my name is Nora. However, you can call me sis."

For six days, I had learned the basics. She taught me how to serve the restaurant tables, and she said a few phrases to tell people and how to clean everything when the restaurant closes.

I learned to read a few things. She gave me a notebook to write everything I was learning, which made learning a lot easier. From what Nora said, the people of this city all go to the top of the hill every three years. They will have a ritual for all the babies, and a "party" to celebrate such an important day. They are all forbidden to go down the hill. Besides, there are guards throughout the city to protect against intruders.

Three leaders control this city on behalf of the church, Father Michael, the Nora family, and the general, who controls the guards.

Nora is from Nora's family, and she is the direct daughter of Mr Pedro, Nora, head of the family.

They had problems, and she came to this area, where she opened her restaurant.

All this "energy" that people use daily comes directly from the church. It has existed for hundreds of years, but no one knows where it came from or who created it.

We live in poverty, we do not have studies, and we all work to support the church. Why can't we live like them? I need to find out everything to change something.

Tomorrow it's been seven days since I got here and I'm going to start working at the restaurant with Nora. The only problem is, tomorrow I'm eighteen.