II. Lucid dreaming. Part 1

Early morning of February 12. Two days before the attack.

They ended the second season of Game Of Thrones around two in the morning. The next day it was time to work early so the five of them put their belongings where they fit best and left the place clean, following the arrangement previously agreed with the owner of the residence.

"Fifilandia, Fifilandia...!" Ramcés sang, laughing and making fun of Fiorella.

"Shut up and clean up asshole!" Alexandra yelled at him.

"What, we're not going to see anymore?" Noely asked.

"No, Fiorella and I will work early tomorrow," Benjamin explained.

"Aha, eight o'clock," added Fiorella, who was smiling foolishly at Ramcés's sudden silence.

"Yes, I work early, too," said Ramcés, somewhat embarrassed.

"Fuck off! You work like eleven o'clock, that's not early," Alexandra scoffed.

"For me, yes, brother. I get up every day at that time... or later." Ramcés tried to excuse himself. Suddenly, the wind whispered behind us.

"Shhh..." Fiorella silenced them. "Did you hear that?"

"Someone crying, right?" Benjamin chimed in.

"Benja, let's see..." Ramcés proposed.

On the outskirts of building three all kinds of sounds are usually heard, guttural or wild, soft or violent, it depends on the mood of the thing that resides there, but it was the first time that someone's crying was noticed.

"It's not a cry, it's like a... groan? A meow" Benjamin walked to the window facing Building Four and put his ear to the cold glass.

"Yes, sure... since you arrived, how many times have you seen a cat?" Alexandra snapped.

"This may be the first." Benjamin opened the door, letting in a cold breeze that sheltered everyone from the little heat that the kitchen held. There is nothing.

"Let's see..." Ramcés approached second, left the place, and advanced a few steps. He was so tall and stocky that he inspired respect, and his years in the fight club when he was in high school were a very generous extra in that command vibe. He stopped, looked up and down the road, and checked what his friend had already said. "There's nothing," he repeated, with a disinterested expression on his face.

Building four was disabled. No one could enter, and someone who wants to try doesn't come to mind. The place was bathed in gloom. The only lights that were on were those on each exit sign. The two of them made their way back into the kitchen, but before Benjamin could release the door handle to lock it, this one was pushed hard inside. Five pairs of eyes stared fully on the handle for an indefinite set of seconds.

"What the fuck!" Ramcés broke the silence. "What the fuck happened! Something just closed the door on you!"

"What was that?" Alexandra covered her face with both hands. She was still sitting, but mentally she was rocking on the floor.

"Hey… they slammed the door in your face…" Noely was still absorbing what had just happened.

"Oh, God..." Fiorella moaned. "Let's get out of here."

They left things as they were and left the kitchen. The five, between slips and sighs, quickly left behind whatever resided in that building.

They parted ways when they reached building one. Noely, Alexandra and Ramcés went up to their respective floors, while Benjamin and Fiorella crossed the parking lot towards building five.

"Hey, that was too much," Fiorella commented, still tense, shivering with cold as she entered the first room of the building.

"But it was kinda cool. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before," Benjamin replied, shaking, stuttering, paler than usual. "And in my room, those things also happen."

"Really? Like what?" They chatted as they crossed the hall to the stairs.

"Alvaro told us that two weeks ago, he clearly heard that one of us had entered the room and went through the things, while he was finishing his bath. He changed quickly, intending to scare whoever came in, but when he opened the door, no one was there." Ben smiled as he narrated." And he never heard anyone leave the room."

"For real?" Fiorella rolled her eyes and laughed nervously. "Spooky! I'm not going into your room anymore."

They said goodbye after turning to the right, on the third floor of the building, since Fiorella's bedroom was next to the stairs that face the local cemetery, in the southern part of the residence.

Benjamin, still shivering to warm himself, swiped the card through the reader and entered his room. They were all already resting in their respective beds. He took off his backpack, leaving it on a chair near the desk, where he carried all the necessary implements for the function each morning. Through the window, he saw Noely walk all the way down the outer corridor to her room, crossing the kitchen with two doors.

He leaned back in search of that dream that is so difficult to find easily, and it didn't take long to lose it early. Holger, the youngest of the three, suddenly stopped from where he was resting, and sleepwalking began to speak.

"Who are you?" He asked as if looking at the wind that the machine was expelling synchronously.

"I'm Benjamin," Ben replied from his bed hard enough and slowly at the same time so that the rest didn't wake up. "Don't worry. Go back to sleep."

"Ah, hi Benja," he greeted with his eyes still closed and his breathing even, almost non-existent. "What are you doing there?

"I try to sleep. That's what beds are for, "Benjamin answered sardonically.

"No." He blurted out nonsense as he smiled. "But I can hear you."

"What?" Confused, Benjamin sat down on the mattress, still wrapped in the blanket, and stared at his roommate. "I know you can hear me," he answered carefully.

"I don't remember." Holger shook his head from side to side.

"What don't you remember? Do you hear me?" Benjamin laughed, barely audible.

"It's not always someone." Holger cocked his neck to the left slightly.

"Who are you talking about?" Benjamin said, but he thought differently. "Who are you talking to? "He corrected himself.

"To the clothes." The ataraxia with which he responded was worthy of a monk, so much was the serenity, that he stayed in a single space without moving, without leaning his body with signs of fatigue.

"Clothes?" Benjamin laughed, this time a little louder. "Go to bed Holger."

"He doesn't dress normally. I don't know what it is." He raised his eyebrows, still with his eyes closed.

"What? Don't I dress normally?" Holger's voice was no longer as clear as it had been at first, the words running out of drowsiness.

"I don't remember. But it's not funny." He frowned.

"Isn't that funny?" Benjamin got ready to go downstairs but stopped short. "Who are you talking to?"

"Because I scream when it comes."

"You scream..." he thought for a moment.

"Yes." There was a pause. "No." Benjamin wasn't talking, now he was just listening. "Yes."

"Can you point out where he is?" Benjamin asked as he got out of the cabin.

"There." Holger raised his right hand and pointed to a spot near the desk, on the side of the red plastic chair with metal legs that they put in every room.

"Where exactly?" Benjamin looked away in the direction Holger had pointed.

"I don't remember."

"You're playing a joke on me, aren't you?" Ben frowned. "Now go sleep, jerk."

"No... give me five more minutes. Please."

Before Benjamin could respond, Holger turned and walked slowly toward his bed, to sit on it when he reached it. Then he lay down and fell into a deep sleep, exhaling harder than normal.

"I could swear I saw... it must be my imagination." Benjamin thought, before getting on his bed and going to sleep again. He did it within minutes, much to his morning joy. He had rested enough; not well, but that was enough for the next day's work. "Take advantage, that tomorrow and the day after, apparently, there won't be many rooms to make." they had told him the previous afternoon.