Central Hospital (Caracas, Venezuela)

Dr. Salazar and I were the only ones in the room. His clothes made him look like a weird cross between a Tibetan monk and a magician of a clown circus.

"Thanks for saving my life."

"It was a pleasure," he replied, as he finished eating the piece of cake that my grandma had given to him. He was even licking his fingers.

"How did you rescue me from those... possessed cats?"

"It was Aciel who saved you."

"Aciel?

"My guard dog," he replied nonchalantly, pointing to the Dalmatian, that was... grinning at me?

"Could you be a little more specific? How did you get to where we were?"

Ignoring my question, Salazar rose to his feet, took out a brilliant white book and approached me. "Here you go, Aníbal. This is yours. I'm finally authorized to give it to you."

Confused, I took the book and examined it. It was thick, but strangely weightless. I leafed through its pages, but they were all blank. A bit apprehensive, I set on my night table.

"Why are you giving me a present?" "It's not a gift; it's your Akashic record." "My what?"

"Well, I'll leave you to rest. They're calling me, so I'll come back later to show you how it works." He made a signal with his hands and the dog ran to one side of the park.

I gaped at him, utterly bewildered and annoyed. "What kind of joke is this? My brother is in a comma and you come along to give me a blank book!? Are you out of your mind?" With every word, my anger grew until I was practically shouting.

He scanned me with his bright blue eyes. "Are you sure that your record is blank?"

A rattling sound came from my night table and my heart shot to my throat when I saw the book vibrating. With shaking hands, I grabbed it. The book was pulsing at the same rhythm of my beating heart. I opened it in the middle but the pages were still blank, if a little... brighter? I went to the first images and astonished I watched how a picture appeared on the page, as if drawn by an invisible hand. It depicted me, sitting on the hospital bed, my mouth hanging open, holding the bright book. I raised my head, looking for Salazar, but the room was empty. "Dr. Salazar, are you there?" I asked anyway.

"Nope, but what about a Ronald, bro?" my friend asked as he strolled in with Jorge, who was now eating an ice cream and had a severe expression. His cap was all dirty.

"Did you see a freak dressed like some sort of Buddhist priest?" "No. What are you talking about?" Ronald asked.

"I don't know! My grandma told me he's the man who rescued us on the highway" I told them with dismay.

"Well, how are you feeling?" Fat Jorge said.

"How do you think?" I glared at my cast, "And to make things worse, a freak visited me!"

"That gentleman is not a freak" My grandmother entered with two cups of coffee. "He dresses somewhat eccentric, but that's how scientists are."

"A scientist? Grandma, did you say scientist?" I asked while looking at Ronald making faces behind her.

"Yes, Dr. Salazar is a prominent anthropologist from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. By the way, did he leave?" she asked, looking around.

"No, grandma, he disappeared. He fucking disappeared!" I replied.

My grandma narrowed her eyes at me and opened her mouth to no doubt scold me to death, but Suhail and Sofía's laughter interrupted her. The girls came in, trailed by Javier, who went straight to my bed.

"Aníbal! We got you a stamp album of the Soccer World Cup 2014!" he announced proudly.

Suhail approached the bed, put away the white book and carefully sat down beside me, trying not to jostle my arm.

"I hope y-y-you like it."

"I was going to buy it this morning, but..." I stopped, remembering my brother lying on the floor and the creatures that were about to pounce on us when Suhail put her hand on my cheek.

"You'll see! You'll b-b-brother will get b-b-better soon and you'll be p-p- playing futsal again in n-n-no time!" she said, smiling at me.

"You're right. Thanks for this awesome gift."

Javier took out of his pockets five envelopes of stamps and placed them next to my legs. "We can change stamps whenever you want, my album is almost full" he said while winking at Sofía.

The door to my room opened again and the gorgeous doctor came in, tying back her long golden hair and leaving a flowery fragrance throughout the room.

"Well, guys, please, you must leave. It's time for Aníbal's checkup," she announced.

My friends gaped at the doctor. Really, it was almost embarrassing seeing Javier's face, his tongue practically rolling out at the sight of the statuesque woman. They shuffle out of the room while Ronald pushed Fat Jorge out, who was trying to convince my grandma that ice cream with coffee was a good combination. Suhail kissed me on the forehead before she left, but I grasped her hand to hold her back.

"Your brother told me that you are going on a trip."

"Oh! Yes, I forgot to t-t-tell you! My dad asked us t-t-to go visit him so we can a-a-all go to a dinner party of his C-c-company. Tomorrow's your b- b-birthday, right? What do you w-w-want from London?"

"Nothing in particular, really, you can choose anything."

"I know you l-l-love soccer, so which s-s-shirt would you like?" "Really, you can choose it" I insisted sheepishly.

"Are you s-s-sure?" she said, smiling mischievously.

The last time Suhail bought me a shirt, it was of a baseball team named Navegantes del Magallanes, knowing full well that my favorite team is Leones del Caracas. It was like giving a Yankees fan a Red Sox t-shirt. It wasn't her fault, though. She asked Ronald and he knew that I was a fan of the Leones. The shirt ended up in the hands of my brother, who was an actual fan of that team, the loser. The whole thing was another bad joke of Ronald but I was already used to them.

"Well, if you get me something from Manchester City, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course, my friend!" she said, making more pronounce her British accent. She winked at me and left the room, leaving me alone with the doctor.

When I saw the huge needle that the doctor pulled out right after the door closed, my stomach dropped.

"I'm going to inject you a sedative so you can rest. You've been agitated and that's not helping your recovery."

"Is it going to hurt?" I said a little worried.

"Only a slight pinch and you'll be sleeping like a baby."

True enough, as soon as the sting of the needle faded, I began to feel my eyelids heavy.

"When you get to the Astral Plane, call Rupiel, he'll guide you," whispered the doctor in my ear.

"What?" I mumbled, trying to fight the weight dragging my eyelids down.

"Good luck, hunter!"