CHAPTER 4

Lilia got off the bus with her body aching from all the hours of travel. The small town was already dark, and in the terminal littered with wide lanterns, you could not see more people than those who were arriving or leaving.

She next to her handbags her and she began to advance with distrust. Night had already fallen, she was in an unknown city. She needed to find a place to spend the night, and tomorrow she would look for Lilia.

She looked around her hoping to see some reference to somewhere, whether it was a hotel or a boarding house, but there was nothing. She only felt the cold coming from the coast. If she could at least turn on the cell phone she could look up something on the internet to get her bearings, but she was still as low on battery as she was two days ago. She hadn't thought about that, she should have looked for somewhere to stay before coming to town without references.

She adjusted the backpack on her back and went to the only place where there were people. A corner kiosk, where the saleswoman laughed out loud as she looked at something on her cell phone. Lilia approached cautiously, looking down the path where there was no one. It seemed such a desolate place, it really was not how she had imagined it or how she had seen in the photos of it.

— Good night — she greeted her and the woman suddenly raised her face and focused her eyes on her.

— How can I help you, young man? — She asked, putting her phone aside.

— Ahm ... — Lilia looked around her, at that moment she felt the need to have me have a better explanation to give. She hadn't considered that either. She could tell that she was traveling, or that she had gone to visit someone, but she was pretty sure that in that little place everyone knew each other. — I'm just looking for a place to spend the night,— she answered, after deciding not to invent anything, and to give as little details as possible.

— Oh sure, you can go to Lola's pension. It's two blocks from here and there is always space available. — The woman returned, sympathetic and making indicative gestures with her hands.

— Thank you,— Lilia replied, relieved that there was somewhere available and that she was not so far away. — Lola? — She repeated, just to be sure.

— That's it, girl. She has a lighted sign on the door. Be careful that this city was the quietest, but it is not anymore. — she snapped with some suspicion in her tone.

For a moment the aforementioned wondered what she was referring to but then she chose to ignore that. Whatever it was, it was none of her business, plus the city she came from was not exactly known for security reasons.

— Thank you. — thanked her and began to walk away following her instructions.

The two blocks indicated by the lady turned out to be three, and the illuminated sign became a green plaque with small white letters that said, Bar Lola. For a moment I doubt, it did not seem like the place that they had indicated, but after looking at the houses that were in the place, the park street that almost looked like a street out of a colonial novel, and the darkness that was becoming more and more notice, decided to enter. A bar didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

Inside he found a couple of tables that had chairs turned upside down. Soft Mexican music played in the place, while a woman in a wide patterned skirt and a high-tied bun danced in the living room as she swept the broom across the floor.

Lilia called her but the woman didn't seem to listen, so she took a few unsure steps and got close enough to try again, this time raising her tone a bit more.

—Ah, please, you almost scared me to death, girl,— complained the dancer, turning around and putting her hand to her heart with a dramatic air. — Let me guess, do you need a room? — She asked, dropping the broom and approaching a counter full of bottles.

— Yes, yes ... — Lilia answered, a little confused — Isn't it a bar? — She questioned, pointing to the sign at the entrance.

The woman sighed as she rummaged through drawers.

— It's what the city needs. A bar, a place to spend the night, a place to eat ... you choose. Here. —she handed him a key with a red block — the key to your room. — she clarified when Lilia held it in her hand — is 5A. You go up those stairs and turn left. The sheets are clean. — she commented as she came out from behind the counter.

The young woman nodded, surprised at how easy it was for her. Before leaving she gave him a look at the place, which looked empty. It didn't seem very crowded. Maybe the city didn't need much at the moment.

— We're going through a lot now. — The woman snapped as if she could read her mind. — But it is a beautiful city, you will find out. Tomorrow at 7 she opens to breakfast and goes until 10. — she recommended returning to her tasks.

Lilia nodded silently again and after a moment of doubt, in which I hope the woman would say something else, as if her name or even ask her own, would write down something somewhere about the new guest, she began to advance towards the stairs, already sure that the woman would not say anything else.

She followed the signs and found herself in front of a door with the number 5A. She opened it suspiciously. She hadn't stayed in hotels or pensions for a long time, and she didn't have much idea what to expect, but the room turned out to be nice. A couple's bed was covered by a thin white blanket, a small desk, and a wardrobe that took up an entire wall. To the left a bathroom and to the right a window overlooking the city, which was considerably quiet.

Lilia took off the sweatshirt she had put on, left her shoes next to the bed and her backpack on the only sofa she had to sit on. She went into the bathroom, and after stripping off the rest of her clothes, she took a long, relaxing bath. She felt that her muscles were tense and sore during all the hours of travel. She was no longer as used to doing it as she had been.

Once in the room, she sat on the bed and rummaged in her backpack until she found what she was looking for. The cell phone. She plugged the charger into the light and tried to turn it on, but it was so low on battery that she gave no sign of life. She put it aside carrying it, convincing herself that it would be better to use it tomorrow anyway. She had no doubt that at this hour her parents would be worried. She just hoped the note she had left was enough for them.

She tried to find something suitable to wear, but the truth is that she lacked appropriate clothing for the coastal cold that she made in the small town. She ended up going to the closed window and looking out at the streets. Maybe Lilia had been through them before, and now it was her turn. It was an equally comforting and anxious thought. Tomorrow he was going to find her and she still didn't know what to say to him.

He dropped onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was curiously soft green. She remembered the white ceiling of her room and she felt almost ecstatic to be here when everything seemed impossible less than 24 hours ago. She had taken a big step into the unknown, and she had done what everyone wanted her to do, try to find a new beginning.

At some point, she must have fallen asleep because she was awakened by a knock on the door, and she barely heard someone say "breakfast" in a high tone. Lilia sat on the bed to discover that she was still wearing her bathrobe and her hair wrapped around the towel.

She randomly drew any clothes from the backpack. A blue jean cowboy and a black T-shirt. She put on the only shoes she had managed to grab and looked at her cell phone. The battery was showing 100% but I didn't dare to turn it on. She took one last look at the room before closing and heading for the first floor, where she, to her surprise, found herself with a group of five people having breakfast.

— Girl! — As soon as she stepped on the top step she heard the same voice from the night before. — I finished yesterday by not asking your name. She really was very tired. — she snapped, as she slipped across the room with a tray of coffee in her hands.

— Lilia. — She answered the aforementioned, giving a last glance and deciding to occupy a discreet table on the left. Only when she sat down did she realize that the lady was still watching her. Lilia held her gaze and when it became clear that she would say nothing more about her, she cleared her throat and tried to resume the conversation. — I don't remember his name, sorry.

She seemed to snap out of her thoughts and made a grimace that was then quickly replaced by an emotionless smile.

— Lola. Of course. — With his free hand, he indicated the poster that hung over the bar. In wide gold letters, it said LOLA. Perhaps that was the sign the lady at the terminal had indicated.

— Sure. — Lilia agreed, without much interest. Coffee and toast were served from the center of the table.

— So Lilia, uh…— she continued and when Lilia lifted her face she discovered that Lola was two feet away. — What brings you to this place? — she asked with some palpable interest.

The girl stopped applying jam to the toast and stared at her, waiting for a great, minimally credible explanation to come out. She had no idea what to say. She was still at the same crossroads where she didn't know where to go. She couldn't tell the truth, it would sound strange, but making up a story didn't seem fair.

— Travel? Do you visit someone? Are you in passing ...? — she was curious, she could be seen perfectly.

— I'm just passing through,— she replied, trying to hold on to the truth as much as possible. — I needed time and ... — Lola did not seem convinced, or at least visually distrustful. — They come to look for me in a few days. — she lied, not quite sure why she did it. — I'm just passing through. She — she finished trying to smile to instill truth in her story, but something told her that it did not sound credible.

— That is very good. There really isn't much to see here. — she returned, leaving a bread basket and following her path.

Lilia stared at the place where Lola left. She knew she was right, she had Googled the city and was aware that it did not have many inhabitants and it was not exactly an entertaining place or known for its tourism. But her comment did not seem very referring to that, but to something else that she could not understand.

Lilia decided to ignore his words, after all, she was not in town for sightseeing but had a very clear purpose. She knew what she had come to do and she intended to do it. She really was in passing. She only would find Lilia, she would see that she was okay and leave. She was even considering the option of speaking to him. After analyzing the ways to do it, she had reached the true, but no less tragic conclusion that it would be best to stay out of it. She couldn't fall for Lilia's life and pretend that she understood why a stranger knew so much about her life.

When she finished breakfast she left Lola's bar. She left the house behind and started walking down the sidewalk. She didn't really know where she was going, but she did know that the city was no more than ten blocks from the main square, so she couldn't be far from anywhere.

She wandered a couple of blocks to the coast. A beautiful place surrounded by a promenade and a rustic family port, where fishing boats parked and rested after a long day of work. Some people stopped looking at whatever they were doing to set their eyes on the visitor as if a tourist in the place was anything but expected. Lilia tried to ignore those looks and focus on the landscape that opened before her. It was not only a coastal city but it was surrounded by huge mountains. The weather seemed hotter now, so her clothes were appropriate.

She kept walking through the city, feeling a little panic building inside her. To tell the truth, she did not know the place and had no great clues as to where Lilia lived. She couldn't just stand in the square, in front of the ice cream parlor, or next to the school to wait for her to appear. Maybe she had to ask someone, she had her last name, so it wouldn't be too difficult to do so.

She was evaluating the possibilities of asking Lola, considering her tendencies to inquire about her and her recent questions about her stay in the city. She was sure she knew about the other inhabitants of the city, but then something called her attention.

She was in the square, she had arrived after half an hour walking, and on a tree, of the several that surrounded the place, there was a leaf attached, in which you could see a photo of a person. Lilia approached, almost driven only by her feet that moved of her own accord. A smiling girl was looking at her from her black and white photo. She had tousled hair but she was smiling sincerely. She somehow seemed familiar to him, but she knew she had never seen her. But then I saw her name. Lilia Wanderers. A phone number. Wanted in darkened capital letters that seemed to yell at him.

Lilia backed away from the poster as if she had been shocked, suddenly too aware of reality. Lilia not only existed but she was missing. She recalled with disgust how she had sensed that something was wrong, how it seemed strange to him not to have any news from her, how her emails not received from her seemed too strong a clue that something was wrong.

Everything seemed to spin too fast now as if the world under her feet was spinning at breakneck speed, but something remained fixed, not moving. The photo of Lilia was still there, to remind her that it was true. She moved extremely slowly and tore off the paper attached to the tree. A part of her was torn from her but her face was still in her hand, looking at her and smiling. It was her, she knew it and she didn't need further confirmation for it. She knew without really knowing.

It all made so much sense now that it hurt her that she hadn't realized that earlier. She returned along the path she had traced earlier, but this time she was vaguely aware of the looks and the scenery. The mountains seemed to him like a blurred haze in the background, as if someone had spilled water on a painting and everything was dripping carelessly.

She got to Bar Lola too fast, her footsteps sounded empty on the pavement floor, the ups and downs of the place had been made too short and she had not even noticed them, but she felt her throat dry and her hands trembling. She was strangely unaware of some things but very aware of others. She entered through the door that was now open and walked quickly around the place, some glances were placed on her, and Lilia could even tell why she had gone there, with that leaf torn from the tree, as if that unknown woman owed her some explanation. . But she needed any explanation, regardless of who she was. She suddenly felt like her entire life was hanging by a thread. Before her, it had been Ian, whom she knew well and she could describe every defect and every virtue as if they were her own; And now that girl who knew badly, but who through a black and white photo could swear that he knew more about her than he should, more than what was legally allowed, after all, what right did he have to get involved in the life of that person. But that didn't matter, because she was involved. From the moment she received those emails sent by her, revealing information about her life that she did not need to know about but that she knew about her and that now they made her an accessory to a disappearance.

— Lilia, dear, what did you think of the city? — Asked the woman, as if she couldn't see the mood and nerves of her newcomer.

— She ... — I look for an explanation for that. I looked for anything that might justify her being so alarmed at her disappearance, but she found nothing. Anyway, her words were already out of her mouth when she realized it — she is missing.

The woman did not need to look at the page she held out desperately, or even take a quick glance at the smiling face of the girl that was printed there.

She — she's been missing for three weeks. This city used to be very quiet until little Lila left her house one afternoon, never to return. — The woman counted, with a certain bitterness in her tone that Lilia hadn't noticed before. — You have her name. She — she concluded as if that was not already something she had noticed.

Lilia, standing before her, nodded, realizing how it all made sense now. The warning from the woman at the terminal, the warning from Lola herself. They all referred to the same thing.

— Did you know her? — Asked the woman, looking at her and waiting for an answer. The funny thing is that Lilia also asked that question. Did she know her?