CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

DYLAN BORNSTORM

SINCE A CHILD, DYLAN HAS SEEN PEOPLE ONLY HE COULD SEE. His first memories were not of his whole family together, but of his imaginary friends — it was as if they were really part of him and everything that happened around him, they were part of his life, of his essence.

Dylan was a very closed child with the other people around him — school friends, or even the girlfriends that everyone had but him, after all, who would want to date the school freak?

At school everything was unfavorable — at least for him, in his limited conception of seeing things, the world was conspiring against him, that included his family. Not that he didn't agree with the bullying he suffered from all sides, maybe if he was normal he would also enter the hall of the boys who made fun of him, he was just happy being that way and never insisted on changing what he was.

There was only one person in the real world that Dylan admired, respected and made him feel like a real human being...

David Heringer.

BECAUSE OF HIS SOLITUDE, Dylan had plenty of time to study — he was tirelessly dedicated to his studies — while the other kids had fun playing with each other, little David seemed to identify with him, everyone said he had closed himself off later. of his brother's death.

They all called him crazy, crazy, crazy, among other nicknames that Dylan hated to remember — the memories of that time were very unpleasant in his heart.

— I always found them too offensive — Dylan said to David once, — even though people find them so harmless after all;

What's wrong with being a studious person?

David nodded quietly, he knew perfectly well what he was feeling, the loneliness that permeated his heart, the immeasurable pain of having no one to comfort and fill the emptiness inside him.

It made Dylan withdraw more and more from the hypocritical world that surrounded him, as if people's insults made him want to be everything they weren't. But he also wanted to have fun, he wanted to play ball in the street with the kids — even though he was terrible at sports — he wanted to go out with girls...

Who's the fool who doesn't want to, right? Even I'm crazy... — Dylan thought, having fun with that memory.

But he decidedly didn't want to be like them — who needed to climb on people to inflate their poor egos, because they were cooler, or because they wore fashionable clothes — , no... That world they lived in made him very bad, but he had his own friends.

His mother never cared much for those childhood inventions, she always said that she also had her childhood imaginary friends — Dylan never knew if she said that to please him or if it was the purest truth, in his opinion it was to please him.

EVEN AFTER HE GROW UP, these imaginary friends didn't go away, they continued to multiply like cockroaches, wherever he went, there they were, it was as if they were really part of his life.

They came to visit him at home, at school, on the street... they played with him, they went to his grandparents' funeral... Wherever he went, there they were, his true friends, the ones who didn't make fun of him. him because he was different from other people.

Dylan never thought of himself as weird, cheesy, or whatever name they gave him — despite looking like one. He considered himself a completely normal child, and did normal things...

Well... — David once said in a joking tone — I think that for every madman, his madness ends up becoming normal with time...

DYLAN'S CHILDHOOD was filled with such pranks that would drive anyone but him completely crazy, never — at least he tried hard not to make such a big deal out of it.

If there was a record in Guinness Book for boy with the most nicknames, Dylan would definitely be in first place. He had thousands of nicknames. Countless times Dylan was in the middle of the circle and they were pushing him and playing a new nickname for every push he took, but he always got up and continued to live life as if none of that was happening — but deep inside he felt a deep sense of unbridled grief, a grudge to take revenge on each of them that went so far as to want to kill them... But his peaceful nature prevented him from committing such an act.

Dylan never worried about what they thought of him, or what his reaction would be tomorrow or the day after, he always dusted himself off and walked home despite everything, feeling like a winner for getting out of their midst once again without getting hurt. so much.

HE WOULD COME HOME ALL DIRTY and his mother thought he had played ball with the boys, his father always asked how many goals Dylan had scored — he always lied about it — he didn't want them to be ashamed of his genius son, for the most part. on the contrary, he wanted them to see him as they saw Michael — his older brother — a boy full of life, who dated, studied, played ball with the boys, and not a son who was beaten every day at school;

It was hard enough to bear all that alone...

His brother never defended him, on the contrary, he excited the boys even more to beat him, and at home, when his parents asked how his day had been, he soon intruded Michael talking...

— What a great goal you made today, huh, little brother, dad... you had to be there to see it, Dylan is a phenomenon... besides being a big hit with the girls...

It irritated him deeply, Dylan never cared much what the boys did to him, but Michael doing that was too much...

They fought a lot about it — but without their parents knowing, of course — for them, the two were the perfect children and best friends in the world, but when they were alone, they always made a point of putting out everything they had. felt for each other — not just in words, but with punches and kicks.

Normally Dylan always came out the worst, but every now and then he hit too, only the times he came out victorious there was no audience, least of all his brother's.

Dylan went on with life independent of any external facts.

WHEN HE WAS FIFTEEN, suddenly, all those friends who had always been with him gradually disappeared, one by one he no longer saw any of them. It was a very difficult time for him, as his brother started dating, and he didn't have time — much less desire — to fight. The only friends she had left were her books and some philosophical conversations she had with David.

He then devoted himself to full— time study.

It was when at a science conference he had in the city that Dylan met a Puerto Rican girl named Monique Rodriguez, a beautiful girl who lived close to his house — but he had never seen her until then — as he didn't usually go out of the house much. too — and she didn't go out much either, it was hard for her luck to want to help them chart their destinies.

Perfect... — he thought excitedly — someone who really understands me...

The two began studying and going out together — more studying than going out, in fact, he accompanied her while she was always with a new boyfriend on every date. Before long, they almost instantly became each other's best friends.

They went out together everywhere.

She would tell him about all the boys she fell in love with and he would make up the girls he fell in love with or went out with — after all, after all those years of lying to his parents, it had become a habit for him to talk about romances and situations. imaginary — but all of them were Monique herself, for he had been unconditionally in love with her from the first time he laid eyes on her.

MONIQUE WAS EXTRAORDINARY beautiful, brunette, straight hair down to her waist, eyes of an Amazon, a body sculpted for sin, maybe if he could compare her to anyone, it would be Michelle Rodriguez — actress of Avatar and The Fast and the Furious. Monique was the girl Dylan had always dreamed of marrying — despite being too young for that kind of thinking. Monique was different, she didn't laugh at him for what he was...

A crazy madman...

On the contrary, she had the gift of making me feel good about myself. It was the first time in his life that Dylan was really happy to be himself — because he knew that no one in the world was happier than he was at that moment, he had the best friend in the world... and the most beautiful too...

Who knows if something else happened... maybe with time...

The more they were together, the more he fell in love with her. Monique had a fatally sensual look. Almost every time when she kissed his face — he always kissed close to his mouth — he was aroused — he had an immediate erection — he was terrified that she would know this, maybe their friendship would never be the same... or could enter on a second level, but I didn't want to risk what little I had in that dangerous game...

AT THAT SAME TIME she started dating a big guy who played basketball at school. Everyone called him Thor — for he was a fan of the thunder god of Aesgard, Thor, from the comics, and in a way, he was very similar indeed — Dylan was sickly jealous of him...

But how to compete with the most handsome man in the whole city?

It was impossible to win Nique this way...

Dylan felt that she really liked him, for whenever she went out with Thor, she looked at him with a certain sadness and gave him a shy smile — but he was extraordinarily handsome...

Oh! What an attractive smile she had...

Whenever they fought, she came to comfort herself in her arms, Dylan wasn't sure if that did more harm than good, but it felt good to have her in his arms.

One day, Dylan couldn't resist and kissed her — but… waiting for her to slap him, kick him, push him, yell at him, but at that moment he had nothing left to lose, it had turned into a war...

It was all or nothing at that point...

If he was Thor, then Dylan was undoubtedly Loki, the god of trickery and lies, and brother to Thor — she returned with another even warmer kiss — and said that she had been waiting for this kiss for years...

That had been her first kiss of her entire heretofore uneventful life.

Dylan felt like he was up in the clouds kissing a beautiful angel who had come to save him from the eternal loneliness that his books and his intelligence had brought me.

Dylan always told his dad how he felt about Nique. He always fervently encouraged him to date her, his mother told him to date only after he graduated from college, because marrying too early would be a big waste of time, and said this, claiming to have lived through such an experience.

Unfortunately, her happiness never lasted long... as Monique always returned to Thor's arms, as if he were just a person who didn't let the warmth of his embraces cool her body.

It killed him inside, he had absolutely no one — and the only one he had — he lost to the big guy at school. He always boasted that Dylan would never have a chance with her, because she liked security, and he...

He was too insecure to make her happy. I wanted to kill him for all that...

But I never had the courage to even kill a fly, let alone a human being...

Dylan didn't want Monique to fall in love with him because he didn't have anyone, he wanted her to fall in love for the same reason their friendship had started...

Because I was a very special person to her...

Since she was his world.

Everything in his life revolved around Monique, but it was as if the movie kept repeating itself...

They fought, she came, hugged him, kissed him, on some occasions they even went to bed, but the other day, there she was, all happy in Thor's arms, until she saw him, she gave him a simple and bitter smile., bye...

Only saw her in his next fight...

She never returned his calls or anything — it drove him crazy.

ONE AFTERNOON SHE APPEARED at his house crying, hugged him and lay in his lap for hours, just sobbing without being able to say anything at all — but he didn't even want her to say anything either — because he knew that Thor had hurt her with his acute egocentrism — or with one of her love affairs that always made her very unhappy. But that day, it was something much bigger than Dylan could have imagined, as Monique had become pregnant, and her parents kicked her out of the house.

She had nowhere to go.

Her mother let her stay at home until she decided where to go, since Michael's room was always empty anyway...

He slept more at his fiancee's house than at our house...

Monique stayed at her house for a week, Dylan was very happy with that...

I wanted her to stay forever...

Dylan wanted her to marry him... he said he would take over her son without a problem...

The important thing was to have her by my side… — so I could really give her the attention she deserved.

But Thor spoiled all his plans for happiness, decided that he would marry her — and she finally walked out of his life, but this time for good — shattering all the dreams he had planned along with her.

In that one week when Monique stayed at home, Dylan said he wanted to marry her... Monique never questioned her heart's desires, on the contrary, she said that the woman who married him would be the happiest woman in the world. world and that she would love to be the lucky one... but the happiness — as always — lasted just as long as the other times, but this time Dylan knew she was gone forever, that she would never come back into his arms and feed her. once again the illusion of having her by his side forever.

Monique would get married, have more children, move away, and they would never see each other again.

And that's exactly what happened.

HIS FRIENDS THAT Dylan hadn't seen in years suddenly reappeared, one by one, comforting him, hugging him. In fact, he had no one else to trust "apart from them" they were really his true friends, they never abandoned him when he needed them the most. Dylan was sure they were gone because they saw him happy beside Monique, saw he didn't need them anymore. But without calling them, they came back, and hugged him... Dylan needed a friendly hug so badly, they came and saved my life.

God only knew what madness I could do to my life, or to Thor's life...

DYLAN COULDN'T DENY that countless times he'd thought about killing him to leave Monique's life alone. He knew Thor made her unhappy, he could see it in her eyes, there was something missing in the big man that only he had, this something that could complete it, but even so, she preferred to stay with him.

When he left, Monique said that she loved him, but she loved Thor too, and that she chose him because she didn't want to make him unhappy, because she wasn't worthy to have his heart...

For I had a very pure and innocent heart, and she would hate to tarnish it...

Your heart could not speak. I just cried with sobs nonstop.

His mother hugged him and told him to let her go, as her decision was best for both of them.

After that, Dylan stayed for a week locked in his room incommunicado, without eating, without sleeping, just listening to music to try to forget about her, only his friends stayed with him — it looked like there was a party going on inside his room, with so many friends imaginations I had.

His mother knocked on the door like a madwoman, desperate, but after the advice of his friends, Dylan decided to leave the house again and face the world head on, this time it was going to be different, he was going to enjoy life crazy...

It was from that moment that Dylan started going out at night.

My great and irretrievable curse...