Chapter ten

The lodge is in an area of huge trees and in the bushes lie beautiful roses just like the ones The Mole Boy gave her.

The sun shines on the tip of the roof of the girls' hut. From the outside it looks very normal; but when you looke inside it is quite spacious and there are some metallic eggs(that's what Luz calls them). Instead of two rows of beds, there are two rows of metal eggs.

A shaven woman wearing blue pants, a white polo shirt with the logo of the resort: a phoenix and a black cap with the letter A stamped on it.

-Good evening to all of you- greets the woman in her thirties- I wanted first to say that i am happy to be here- she touches her chest and smiles kindly- with all of you and second: Each metallic egg will take they to their respective rooms- Behind the door appears a girl with frizzy hair like Luz's and gives each student a sheet- In that sheet are the indications and if any of you misuse something of this place or fix it or fine it.

When the shaved woman left, the girl was left alone and they all asked her all sorts of questions to live the experience. These metallic eggs are supposed to be teleporters; so you have to be very careful. Of course, these teleporters belong to the first model. The most modern ones are in the city because there it is the center of commerce.

The first models of teleporters can only take you to places that are no further than 100km away. That's as far as Luz and her companions can go inside the metal eggs... or so it should be.

The truth is that any sign of something hidden or strange goes unnoticed by everyone. Luz only has a head for her frustrated dreams... for the moment.

Yes, because when night falls, it's time to use the new rooms for the first time. The good thing is that, unlike the latest models, in the first one you can mix the sounds of different habitats. Although that doesn't interest many people, that's why they removed it in the next models, but Luz does, she loves sounds.

With all the directions well understood, students use a bone- shaped remote control to open the metal egg with a button.

Light is placed on the circular-shaped mold intended for the host. All the students found it uncomfortable to have to adapt to the circular mold. It makes Luz feel as if she is a baby in her mother's womb.

A few seconds pass and she teleports home. She must prevent her mother from making a scandal and making a fool of her life. Luz knows she is lucky to have a mother as good as St. Teresa of Calcutta; but when it gets to the point of exaggeration it can be too uncomfortable. Her mom understood that aspect; so she says goodbay to her daughter three blocks from school. That way no one sees that her mom is picking her up and dropping her off at the age of 16.

Luz is standing right in front of the mirror in her sister's room. She notices that above her head there is a metal disk that looks like a halo. Faced with this difference, she begins to check herself completely. She does not need to find out if the door is closed or not; since, for Flavia, the best thing about the new house is the privacy she finally has. For years she complained that the 5 members of the family had to sleep in the same bed. Almost everyone; because Luz, as she was already taller and thanks to her mother's insistence, her father reluctantly bought a cabin.

Luz would sleep upstairs and the other 4 downstairs.

Do you understand why i cannot resent the devil?

Lucifer is really doing him a great favor by keeping him away from that girl. I think they're both too confused to even know what love feels like.

I wouldn't call them in love... gawking rifles.

Yeah, you'd better ignore me and... let's get on with it:

Luz finds only one little black antenna stuck on each forearm. She tries to take one off; but when she pulls it off she feels a shock of electricity that makes her see blurry and she gets scared.

Although it was only a few seconds of electricity, not even in death will Luz try to remove either of the two antennas again.

Fear made her stagger and fall backwards to the floor. When she gets up, she feels something shaking under her weight. Luz pulls back the carpet and discovers that there is a square of wood sticking out; on top of it, there is a small metal ring that serves to pull up the square. There Luz sees her sister's most valuable possession: the first dress she ever designed.

At this hour the mother must be sleeping. Well, she just has her eyes closed and maybe she wants to kill her when Luz gets back from camp. Maybe her two brothers knocked on the mother's door to sleep with her. Now that the father was gone; all 4, including Flavia, like to sleep with the mother... Luz does not have to be afraid someone turning on the light.

She can see in the dark thanks to the metallic halo; that has small bulbs like pebbles on its perimeter. The pebbles light up automatically in the dark... yes, i almost forgot to mention it, sorry.

Bear with me, i'll get used to the narration and blah blah... let's go with everything but fear:

Flavia's 15th birthday is still to come, but both she and Luz know that with the 20 years her father has been working as a cab driver, he only has enough to cover basic needs: food and education. He only buys new clothes at christmas, New year's and as birthday presents. If Luz has underwear or a little dress, it is thanks to her mother who knows the places where there is quality at a good price. The mother saves at the expense of the father. When sometimes the savings run out she grabs a few coins from the father without him knowing... he should never know.

Luz remembers the day of her 15th birthday. She knew she wouldn't have a party, but she wanted used books and to go to the movies. Luz loved the movies from the first time her mom took her to see Puts in Boots. Her mother took a few coins from her father and put it together with her savings to pay for 4 movie tickets... i don't know if i should comment about her 15th birthday... anyway, for Luz, it was her 15th birthday that day she went to the movies for the first time, at 11.

Not that anything catastrophic happened when she turned 15 but i don't want them to say i write filler... i'll leave it at that.

Luz knows that Flavia draws beautifully too, but she never imagined that Flavia would like to design. She took out the dress and stood in front of the mirror to imagine it on. The dress is blue with a sweetheart neckline and mermaid train.

Ballroom dancing is Luz's favorite and she hopes that at the prom she can fulfill her dream. First she would have to find a lover... Luz has just had her balloon punctured.

She only has 10 months to get someone to take her to the party. Going alone would be putting herself on a silver platter to be the target of ridicule.

Although she has often wondered what's wrong with dancing alone at the prom. Many talk about self- love but in practice promote the guy to invite the girl... you know to what unconsciously make girls desire that ring.

At the thought of it, Luz hates herself and decides to keep the dress in sister's hiding place. Flavia will never know that someone else knows her secret.

"It's okay to marry if that's what you want, not if that's what you've learned to desire... but what the hell do i want?

Even music is something mom taught me. Papa made me want the prince... will i ever know what i want?"

Luz feels like her head is exploding from all the time she has to think. I would not like to follow the logic of her thoughts, if she had a boyfriend she would not go on these ramblings. Maybe Luz is only critcizing because she wants to think she is very lucky to be the invisible one in the class.

- Nobody out!- shouts Luz's father.

Wasn't he going to leave in three days?

Luz's hair stands on end when she hears her father so upset. She sticks to the door trying to listen, but she doesn't succeed, deep inside she doesn't want to, she starts to listen in her head to "Smells like teen spirit" by Nirvana and replaces her father's screams with Kurt Cobain's... she would like someone alive to scream her heart beats.