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Chapter 4

Fugurikio's POV

"Ok. So your sister sent you here instead of staying home? Is that right? That makes sense. How about you stay in the guestroom until the paramedics arrive and they ask you questions about your trip. Ok?"

"Sure dad… No problem. I hope they can fix my arm so that I can work again tomorrow."

"Ok. I'll talk to you later. Good luck."

With that my father left the room and shut the door behind him. I sat down on the bed, exhausted.

"Everything ok?"

I jumped when I noticed Carlos walking towards me. He knelt down next to me and held my arm in order to examine it. The sight of my broken arm made me cringe. The swelling of the joint had gone down significantly since yesterday evening and I thought the pain must be completely gone as well, but apparently it still hurt a bit.

"I think it's good to go home tomorrow," Carlos told me. "Do you think you can stand up without wincing?"

"Yes," I replied. "Let's go."

When we got outside the hospital, I felt light headed. Walking around would definitely make this more painful, although the only thing making it worse is the fact that I couldn't use my arm properly. Luckily, Carlos supported most of my weight and kept talking to me as we started walking. I could tell that he wasn't sure of what to say. He was trying to figure out a way to explain everything, without sounding like a jerk and making things unnecessarily difficult. I decided that it wouldn't be good if I kept silent during the short walk home.

"So… uhm, how are you feeling? Did you sleep well?"

"Uh… yeah. It was okay. The pillow was soft, though. And the blanket smelled nice. Thank you for asking," he mumbled.

He was avoiding eye contact with me and seemed to concentrate on getting home as fast as possible. When we finally reached the entrance, we walked through the front gate quietly. As soon as we were out of sight, I could hear him start talking again.

"How do you know Maria? Why does she hate you?"

"You know… I don't think I should share all of my personal life with you…"

"No, no… I just wanna help you! Please! If anything, tell me! Please!"

After a couple moments of silence, he sighed and gave in. "Fine… Let me try to find the right way to explain this…"

Carlos told me everything that happened when he came into the room and when he found Maria laying on the floor next to the wall. He told me about the dream he just experienced, how he thought that he saw a ghost.

"I think that's why I dreamed about her last night too."

He told me that he woke up and that Maria had disappeared from the hallway, but he didn't see anyone else. After he spoke about the dream, he asked me if I knew what it meant. I told him it was strange, but that I wasn't sure either.

"That's when the weird noise started… I thought it sounded like something was scratching against the wall. I called her name, but she never answered," he finished. "Is there any possibility that I might have imagined it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't sound like a normal nightmare or maybe some kind of trick," I told him. "Maybe your dream was just a weird hallucination…"

I paused briefly for a moment. "Or…"

"Or…?" Carlos repeated and looked up expectantly.

"Well, maybe this wasn't a random dream. Maybe there was something you needed to remember, something important that we haven't figured out yet," I explained to him.

For the first time, I realized that he didn't know that he'd been having a vision about something. Well, this was going to be an interesting conversation.

"But, we still don't know for sure if this was real. If this was really a message from our parents. Maybe it had nothing to do with them and this wasn't a warning at all. And if not, what does it mean?"

We stopped walking and stood there looking straight at each other. I had the feeling he was waiting for me to continue, but there was really nothing else to add.

"Well, let's just wait for the doctors to come here and get everything sorted out. We can try again tomorrow morning," Carlos suggested.

"Yeah, OK. We'll see about that. Come on, let's go inside. Your mom must be wondering where you are."

As we entered the building and made our way upstairs to the apartment, we both noticed that we hadn'T seen anyone in the halls. My dad opened the door for us while I waited for Carlos to enter the apartment.

"Mom, I'm back," he announced softly.

"Welcome back, Carlos! Dinner will be ready shortly. There's pasta and salad in the fridge."

"Ok, I'll just go change clothes first…"

"Alright. Dinner won't take long. We have just enough time for dinner. Make sure to hurry," my mother reminded him.

Carlos closed the door behind himself. Once I was certain that the coast was clear, I turned around to face my brother, who was looking at me confusedly.

"Sorry for the surprise visit and… for lying about being here on vacation. I didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble."

"It's fine. Just… don't do it again, ok?" he insisted, still looking a bit puzzled. "But seriously, are you ok? You look pale. Did you eat something bad? Did the doctor give you something to ease your stomach?"

"Yeah… Actually, yes, I ate something earlier today," I lied. "I feel better already. I am tired, though."

"Oh, OK. Do you need something? Can I help you get ready for bed?" Carlos offered enthusiastically.

"Thanks but no thanks. I have everything under control," I smiled reassuringly.

"OK then…"

The doorbell rang suddenly interrupting us before Carlos could even react.

"Shit." I groaned silently as I heard his angry mutter.

"I'll go answer the door. You should probably lie down first," he suggested.

"Yeah… I think you're right," I muttered and started walking toward the bedroom when we heard him shout: "Mijo!"

"Huh? What?" I looked over my shoulder, frowning slightly as I saw my brother rushing into the living room, grabbing one of my bags and handing me the keys to his car as he passed by me.

"Take care of yourself," he whispered and quickly ran down the stairs.

"Uhm… OK, but I have my own car so you don't have to worry about me taking yours if you decide to leave."

Carlos shot me a quick look and nodded as he took off after his brother.

As I walked into the apartment, I noticed that I hadn't taken much of anything with me when I left the house, so I was pretty relieved that I didn't have to carry my suitcase with me everywhere and that the few things I did brought weren't very heavy. I put the bag on the couch and sat down. My gaze fell onto my phone lying on the table in front of me. I picked up my backpack and started searching through it. I pulled out a new journal and placed it on top of my phone as a bookmark.

Just as I was closing my eyes to try and fall asleep, my mom yelled: "Dinner is ready!"

I went down to join my family.

***

"Hey, guys! Thanks for coming tonight! I am sorry for calling you late. I hope we didn't disturb you. Oh, and please forgive me for forgetting to mention that I've gotten my cast off."

They laughed. Even my mother, although smiling gently, looked a little bit worried as she looked at the cast covering the majority of my lower limb. She didn't say anything and continued eating.

"Did you enjoy the restaurant? It was quite crowded. Are you hungry? We ordered dessert. There is also coffee if you want it," Mom offered. She glanced over at Dad and cleared her throat. "I know I said that I would bring some pizza with me when we came here and… well.." She trailed off, glancing apologetically towards Dad.

Dad shrugged his shoulders. "You could have at least warned me that you wanted food for everyone."

My brother chuckled lightly and shook his head. "Don't worry, man. We wouldn't mind spending another evening together. Besides, we all know you'd never pass on a chance to eat your girlfriend's cooking. So, no harm done, yeah?"

Dad rolled his eyes and looked away. He kept quiet for the rest of the dinner and I was thankful that Carlos wasn't teasing him anymore. I felt awful for making him mad; he probably thought that I forgot about him and that I only invited him to make him feel bad.

Once we were sitting back in the chairs, dad started eating. He always enjoyed eating while watching tv or reading. My brother followed suit. The meal was silent but peaceful. After finishing my last bite, I decided to stand and stretch.

"Want to play monopoly?" I suggested. They both looked at me like I'd grown another head. I ignored their stares and headed to my room. "What? Don't you wanna do something fun?"

"Why don'