June 18, 2009 — Outskirts of EVA — Zone 47.
Still sleepy, Sarah decides to get up to make some coffee. Leaving her room and entering the hallway to her left, she notices something unusual. Her father's room has the door slightly open. Walking barefoot through the hallway, she passes by the stairs that lead to the first floor and reaches the room while calling him before entering, however, there is no answer.
Carefully, she puts her head inside, however, a neatly made bed is all she finds. Going down the stairs, her father's voice talking to someone echoes softly through the environment.
"So, will you come this weekend so we can go down together?" After a few seconds of silence he speaks again. "Ah! You will go down to Lúcio's house, then alright! See you later, bye!" He hangs up the phone and places it on the table.
After hearing the conversation, Sarah slowly walks down the stairs, her bare feet sliding along the steps. Her black sweatpants contrast with the gray of the stairs and the wall, the two yellow lines on the sides of the pants stand out. Her shirt blends into the wall in front.
"Dad... who were you talking to? You woke up so early." She asks him unexpectedly.
"..." After a moment casting his gaze back with slight surprise. "Because I went to sleep very early..."
"True!" With a slight smile on her face, she continues her questions. "And who were you talking to?"
"Oh! It was Marcos who always comes here." He answers her naturally.
"Ah yes! I see. Well... I will make the coffee, okay?"
"Okay, try not to put too much sugar, alright." He lets out a light laugh almost imperceptible.
"Miserable." She whispers with a smile on her face.
After both drink coffee, he leaves for work and she goes back to sleep, nothing better than collapsing on the bed and sleeping until late. When she wakes up again, it is already eleven o'clock. She takes a shower and starts to make lunch with little, since she will be alone today.
Reading books and newspapers. Bike rides around the city and a run through the park. Several obstacles overcome in a parkour group that dares to climb the wall, to contemplate the distant coastline of the nobility.
A great party on Friday night knocks at her door, which she knows how to enjoy like no one else.
June 19, 2009.
Sarah is in her room reading an adventure story, one in which the main character helps strangers recover their home, thus becoming their friend. But the most important part of the story was what he found on that journey, a new piece of himself that he did not yet know. Every time she reads this story, she wonders if one day she will have an adventure like his.
She lies on the bed with headphones on, and travels in her imagination while listening to music looking at the ceiling. After a few minutes, when she turns to the side, the earphone falls from her ear, then she hears the doorbell ring, a few more seconds and it rings again, and again. Dragging her body, she gets up. While going down the stairs, she wonders where her father is for not having heard it. Opening the door, Gilberto, a white, stocky man, brown hair and no beard, wearing a smart-casual style outfit, presents himself in front of her.
"Hi! Sarah! Wow! How you have grown!" He greets her with a wave of his hand.
"Hi!" She answers with a slightly low voice.
"Is Júlio here?" He asks.
"So, he was supposed to be at home, but he did not come to answer... Sit there in the living room and I will look for him." Sarah walks through the house shouting. "Daaaaaad!" And while she leaves the room, Gilberto watches her.
In the kitchen, the pots and utensils shine alone. In the downstairs bathroom, the door is open as if waiting for someone. Passing by the door that leads to the basement, she remembers that he usually goes down there sometimes to handle the tools. When she opens the door, she comes face to face with him, taking a slight scare without reaction, only static, reasoning.
Then she sighs while relaxing.
"Gilberto is looking for you."
"Wow! True! I forgot he was coming here today."
"Hmmm! Going out to party, huh!" She gives a slight smile while giving a light poke to the side of his belly.
"Ouch! You could say we are going to enjoy a little tonight." He answers somewhat awkwardly while trying to recover after unsuccessfully attempting to dodge the attack.
The two head to the living room. He meets Gilberto, they greet each other and sit down to talk. Arriving in her room, she throws herself onto the bed, going back to listening to music.
The little light that remains soon fades.
Sarah ends up falling asleep with the headphones on. The inevitable dawn presents itself, and along with it a song from the playlist with strong bass interrupts her sleep. Half clumsy, she turns in bed to grab the phone and turn it off. The silence that echoes in the environment does not last long.
The sound of small and sharp taps arises. She turns to look at the window, and what she sees brings a slight smile to her face. An owl is pecking at the corner of her window while being illuminated by the moonlight. Curious, Sarah gets up and approaches the window, the owl does not even notice as she gets closer and closer. Until she can see that the owl is eating a grasshopper.
Unintentionally she lightly bumps into the window, this scares the bird which flies away with the insect in its beak toward the wall. There it rests to finish enjoying its meal.
Sarah lies down again and picks up a book that her mother used to read to her. A book with an old, brown and wrinkled cover, made of leather with a golden writing "Golden Dawn." Her mother found this book in a bazaar of old books on one of her trips, the book in question tells the story of a legendary warrior of Atlás, who uses only a shield to defeat everyone. With her golden hair and face hidden under a helmet, she fights against the invasion of the androids.
Sarah is passionate about this story, besides wanting to be strong like the Dawn. But the real reason she has a special affection for this book is the memory of her mother, the only things she left were this book and a bank card that her father says is money her mother saved to give as a gift when she went to college.
It is three in the morning, Sarah is completely absorbed in the book. Her eyes run through each line while her mind travels in imagination. Then a door slamming noise interrupts her reading. It seems to be her father returning from partying. So she turns off the light of her phone that illuminates the book and turns to the side pretending she is sleeping.
A few minutes later she hears a voice.
"Wait here, I will see if she is sleeping."
Júlio opens the door subtly and enters his daughter's room. When turning on the light, he notices that the blanket is covering only half of her body. He approaches and places his hand on her neck in a caring way, then slides the light touch to her shoulder while bringing his face closer and giving a light kiss on the shoulder. Sarah soon notices the smell of alcohol while pulling in a breath. He takes the blanket and places it over her covering her up to the neck.
"She is sleeping, let's go."
In her curiosity, Sarah gets up and begins to walk barefoot so as not to be heard, opens the wardrobe drawer and grabs a gray long-sleeve shirt to put over the black top. Step by step, she walks through the hallway and goes down the stairs. Casting sneaky glances through the living room, she finds nothing. Walking a bit more, she goes to the hallway to see if they are in the kitchen, when she sees the basement door half open with the light on inside. With narrowed eyes she slowly approaches and begins to open it a little more.
The more she goes down, the more her breathing becomes slow and her heart beats stronger with each beat. One step at a time, she finishes the descent, however she is surprised to see no one. She looks at the corners of the basement and observes the shelves on the walls full of boxes and tools.
She sees something unusual, something that until then she did not know existed. The cabinet is pulled to the side and there is a rectangular opening where the cabinet usually stays. With slow steps, she approaches the place and observes that there is a hole where there should be floor.
There she finds a ladder that apparently leads to its bottom. When she reaches the edge of the hole, a stifled air comes out of it toward her face. A slight nausea comes along.
Everything inside her says that there is the limit, that it is better to return to her bed and her story, but her curiosity is insatiable.
Even against her instincts, she begins to descend the ladder.