Twilight's Flash Fiction / Relatos cortos crepusculares

The Camerlengo We are dedicated to finding jobs for immigrants. Many factors have to be taken into account: origin, training, age, family situation... Today I took the case of an old man who can't read or write. It is expressed in a language that I do not know, nor can I identify the region of the planet where it is spoken. The old man has point to a piece of paper and a pencil and began to draw a dome. Suddenly the Swiss guards showed up in the office. They explained to me that it was the camerlengo in disguise. He has been so eager to help the immigrants that in the end he has lost his mind and is believed to be one of them. El camarlengo Nos dedicamos a encontrar puestos de trabajo a inmigrantes. Hay que tener en cuenta muchos factores: origen, formación, edad, situación familiar… Hoy he llevado el caso de un anciano que no sabe leer ni escribir. Se expresa en un idioma que no conozco ni tampoco puedo identificar la región del planeta en la que lo habl...

The Moon She imagined herself snacking on the Moon. There the restaurants have as background the turquoise image of the Earth. Or so she had been told by the schoolchildren that they had been lucky enough to be there. She grew up thinking about that adventure. Her boyfriend surprised her by buying tickets to spend a weekend on Earth's satellite. When the spaceship landed, a mobile surface engulfed her and became part of the armored structure of the hotel. Then they were able to get rid of their space suits and breathe freely, just like on Earth. The immense black background of the sky contributed to highlight even more the brightness of the terrestrial pearl. They felt lighter and knew they were living a special moment. What they could not expect to happen was the fall of the multicolored meteorite that flew over their heads and broke the reinforced glass surface of the structure, leaving escaping the air and destroying everything in its path. Many years later, she r...

Squeezing The Soul The morning ate his mood. She was defeated. The afternoon was more condescending but even so she did not make foot, she did not was finding anything to lean on to propel herself and get out of that hell. The doctor who visited her in the hospital was kind enough to tell her that for the rest of her life she would have to use a wheelchair. She had always been alone. She had not needed anyone. Now, she didn't know what her life could become. That's what I was thinking about when the door to the room opened and someone came in with a dog. That someone was her brother and the dog was a German shepherd's puppy. After fifteen years with that dog, it was time to say goodbye to him. He had taught him to love, to take care of him and to talk to him every day. He was accompany her when she was going out with her wheelchair and defended her from any intruder. He had given her life, and now he was leaving. Then she got up from the chair and hugged him, t...

InSight. The Chromatograph The InSight spacecraft landed softly on Martian soil in the area called Elysium Planitia. After exactly three hours, one of the gates opened, a ramp was extended, and then a motorized robot appeared, sliding down the ramp to touch the Martian surface. The robot moved for a few minutes around the spacecraft, and moments later something unexpected happened. The communication systems were muted for a few minutes. When the communication was recovered, the images sent by one of the cameras installed in the ship showed that the spectrograph and one of the cameras of the robot, located on top of it, had disappeared. On the other hand, the chromatograph, which had initiated the analysis of samples taken from the ground, showing traces of unknown elements, ceased to function. Something or someone was interested in the fact that certain images were not emitted and that the composition of the Martian soil was not known either. InSight. El cromatógrafo...

The gambler He felt good playing poker. He was one of the best. That night, the game had dragged on well into the early hours of the morning. Four players, alcohol and a good dose of adrenaline. As always I was winning. First left the game the most narcissist, had run out of money. Hours later did the second, and now faced the only one who had enough courage to try to beat him. Only they were in the room, the tension was at limit. There was a lot of money at stake. He, sure of himself made his last move and lost. Then, his opponent told him: -I have traveled thousands of miles to play this game with you. Until now nobody had beaten you. Now you can experience what it feels like to lose. But I want to tell you a secret: I've been training for years to beat you. You can't beat an intelligence a thousand times higher than yours, because my brain feeds on the calculations made by the hardware connected to it, which allows me to apply algorithms with which I have the se...

Walpurgis His face is fire. Huge, lively eyes, populated eyebrows, a white beard and a long hair. When he is called, he presents himself to his faithful in the forest -where bonfires welcome him-, on the tops of the trees. He is summoned by winged beings, spirits of the night and white souls waiting to be born to life. They all gather to bid farewell to winter and welcome spring. Before the eyes of Walpurgis, they cross the bonfires in a gesture of purification and choose the future of each human being for the entire life of each one. The ceremony lasts for a few moments. Then they disappear into the darkness, to appear after a year, in the night of Walpurgis. Walpurgis Su rostro es el fuego. Ojos enormes y vivos, cejas pobladas, una barba blanca y una larga melena. Cuando se le llama, se presenta a sus fieles en el bosque, en el que le reciben hogueras, sobre las copas de los árboles. Lo convocan seres alados, espíritus de la noche y blancas almas esperando nace...

Transfusion He began to feel bad after having a heated argument with his wife. So bad they had to call an ambulance. When he woke up in a hospital bed, he faced his wife's guilty eyes. However, he felt something strange. It was as if after what had happened he had transformed. Now he understood his wife, now he realized that she had always been right. He understood why he changed when he was told he had had a blood transfusion. The donor? His wife. Now he understood the change. His wife's blood circulated through his veins and he would never be him again. La transfusión Empezó a sentirse mal después de tener una fuerte discusión con su mujer. Tan mal que tuvieron que llamar a una ambulancia. Cuando se despertó en una cama de hospital, se enfrentó a los ojos culpables de su mujer. Sin embargo, sentía algo extraño. Era como si después de lo sucedido se hubiera transformado. Ahora comprendía a su mujer, ahora se daba cuenta de que ella siempre había tenido razón...

The Pigeon He set out to get out of his voluntary confinement. He had been for several days without a telephone, without a television, isolated from the outside world. It would be something unusual, but as far as possible it would be inside the possible, if not outside because it was three thousand meters from the ground. He opened the door to his room and headed for the living room. And a white dove came in his path, and landed on his shoulder. She had been missing him all those days, because he was the one who fed her, he was the one who caressed her, he was the one who told her every day that he loved her. And the pigeon drew his beak and caressed his face. La paloma Se dispuso a salir de su encierro voluntario. Había estado durante varios días sin teléfono, sin televisión, aislado del mundo exterior. Sería algo inusual, pero dentro de lo que cabe estaría dentro de lo posible, si no fuera porque estaba a tres mil metros del suelo. Abrió la puerta de su habitació...

WW3 The submarine, with an atomic charge capable of making the city of San Francisco disappear, docked at the pier. It was Christmas Day in 2025. A year earlier, the Russian-Chinese coalition had invaded the United States in the face of the passivity of the West, and the requests for asylum in European countries had exceeded all expectations. This massive flight precipitated the global confrontation. Now, all that remains of all that was are the thousands of artificial satellites dancing around the Earth turned into automaton zombies, accompanying the desolate planet in its course through the cold outer space. All civilizations invented their truths with the same innocence as they invented their lies. And they tried to turn man into a slave of himself and of others. The human being has not been able to discover the principle by which peace is a permanent state, and he will not discover it because already he has annihilated himself. Tercera guerra mundial El subma...

Sirius The route to reach Rome from Carthage: start on Hispania and cross the Pyrenees and Alps. It doesn't matter what test he have to face. In his heart he keeps his father always present, Amilcar, whom he had promised to destroy Rome. Anibal presides the march over an enormous elephant, Sirius. Man and elephant come to create an image so powerful that each of the men in his army would follow him to his death. Some believe that Anibal and Sirius were united by some supernatural spell. May 218 B.C. The army departs from Quart Hadast or Cartago Nova, in Hispania. In August it crosses the Pyrenees and in September the Rhone River. In October he leave the Alps behind. With a number of troops quite inferior to the beginning he takes the city of Turin without encountering resistance. In November he confronts Publio Cornelio Escipión in Ticino... and the story continues. When he retreats, after 16 years in Roman lands, Sirius, the only elephant that manages to reach the gat...

The volcano It was being a closed night, and the volcano opened, showing its entrails to the world, giving birth to all that singular beauty. Its cries of birth invaded the air reaching to the other end of the world. The three universes united in one: the roars of pain, the burning color of lava, and the strong smell of birth pain. It knows that he acts as an intermediary between the pregnancies of the earth and the outside of the world, changing it surface and feeding iit from its inside. El volcán Era una noche cerrada, y el volcán se abrió, mostrando sus entrañas al mundo, dando a luz a toda aquella singular belleza. Sus gritos de parto invadían el aire llegando hasta el otro extremo del mundo. Los tres universos se unieron en uno: los rugidos de dolor, el color ardiente de la lava y el fuerte olor a dolor. Él sabe que actúa de intermediario entre los embarazos de la tierra y el exterior del mundo, cambiando su superficie y alimentándolo desde su interior. ...

Thoughts Superman met Einstein in heaven. After greeting each other warmly, Superman asked Einstein: -Master, explain to me why we cannot understand everything. -The raw material of understanding is ideas. We use ideas about things to try to go further. But deep down, it's just ideas. And they have served us well, but sometimes they don't represent the real world. The qualities of space and time are human attributes. Let's say that there is the real world, on the one hand, and the world of ideas on the other. Sometimes we think that ideas are the real world. The usefulness of ideas is manifested when they can predict the behavior of the real world. -But ideas can be more real than the real world. Real worlds can be created with ideas. I am an idea, but that idea may become a Superman in the real world in the future. -That is the miracle, the force of creation and transformation of ideas. In the future I hope to meet you again, already you being a real Superma...

A Brief Story Of Windsor It was the year 1070 of the Christian era. William the Conqueror, after the Northern Massacre that had taken place a few months earlier, had allowed himself a break at Windsor. The intense aroma of the laurel forest near the castle works, located in a hillock, was one of the pleasures enjoyed by the king every time he approached to supervise the construction. That morning a great noise was heard. William rushed out of his tent. He had been told that part of the wall had collapsed. The state was deplorable. A breach had opened from the top of the wall to its base, and some large blocks had fallen off, one of which had come to fall on a man heading for the forest of laurels. The wounded man, lying on the ground, did not stop complaining. He was a small man and he was frightened. Guillermo leaned over to find out how he was, and the man, about to die, told him: "I take care of the forest of laurels. I come every day, because there are buried ...

The Eye of God In ancient Greece, in the garden of the academy, a philosopher, surrounded by his students, spoke about infinity. The infinite is an abstraction of the mind. Surely we, the human beings arrive at this idea from arithmetic, of thinking of an infinite number of numbers. But the existence of infinite distances is only a conception of the mind.  "Teacher, if there are no infinite distances, what is the structure of space? Is there anything beyond space?" "To think of the existence of something beyond space contains the same thought of infinity. It is a game of the mind. There is nothingness." "But the mind cannot apprehend nothingness." "Beyond the universes there is nothing. The whole of the existing is metaphorically called The Eye of God. Space is made up of light. The straight line trajectory is another invention of the mind. There is no straight line except in our mind." El ojo de Dios En la antigua Grecia, en...

Criticism He applied to study at Harvard. His intellectual abilities far were exceeding the standards required by the University. His father was a recognized politician and his mother a successful businesswoman. And they rejected his application. Reason: Potentially dangerous person. His school records indicated so.   He came to the Secretariat with a firearm. Several security guards riddled him with bullets. The gun he was carrying was a toy. When they searched his clothes, they found a note saying: Who is really dangerous? La crítica Presentó la solicitud para estudiar en Harvard. Sus capacidades intelectuales superaban ampliamente los niveles exigidos por la Universidad. Su padre era un reconocido político y su madre una empresaria de éxito. Y rechazaron su solicitud. Motivo: persona potencialmente peligrosa. Sus antecedentes escolares así lo indicaban.   SE presentó en Secretaría con un arma de fuego. Varios guardias de seguridad lo acri...

Charlemagne and the leper The frost of that cold morning had fallen on the camp, located in one of the narrow places, between the steep mountains, near the gorge of Roncesvalles. Charlemagne had summoned his nephew Roland to his tent to specify the route to follow on the way back to France. When the soldier left the tent in search of Roland, he stumbled upon a leper.    The leper asked the soldier to take him to Charlemagne, who had something very important to tell him. Why are you here? Your leprosy will infect my whole army. The leper knelt and answered him: If you'll allow me, I'll tell you what will happen in Roncesvalles. Speak! - Alda, Roland's wife sends me to tell you that because of the suffering caused in these lands and the destruction of Iruña, the Basques are going to attack the rear of your army, and in that attack will die the person she loves most in the world, Roland. For this reason, Roland's wife asks you to try to reconcile with ...

Electrolips A few years ago, a cancer ended up consuming my lips. Since I have had electrolips implanted, my life, and above all my perceptions, have changed radically. I say perceptions, because apart from the sense of touch that has multiplied by a thousand, the electrolips perceive through electromagnetic fields, the brain waves of the people around me. These waves carry the information that allows me to know hidden desires and thoughts. With this information I can anticipate the comments of my interlocutors in a conversation, as well as apply strategies to get what I want from them. Electrolabios Hace unos años, un cáncer acabó consumiendo mis labios. Desde que me han implantado unos electrolabios, mi vida, y sobre todo mis percepciones, han cambiado de forma radical. Digo percepciones, porque aparte del sentido del tacto que se ha multiplicado por mil, los electrolabios perciben mediante campos electromagnéticos, las ondas cerebrales de las personas que me rodea...

Puzzle If someone were to ask me how I managed to compose the puzzle of my life, I wouldn't know what to say. A puzzle that has changed over time, so that now all the pieces, family, work, health, my hobbies, and so on fit together perfectly. All of them? Well, between the pieces there is one in black and I don't know what it contains. Besides, this black piece has appeared after overcoming a state of coma of several months, as a consequence of an accident. When I ask my family, they tell me that it's a product of my imagination, but I know that the piece is real and it's there, waiting for its moment. And its moment came the same morning that I left the hospital. A young man approached me and rebuked me, called me a murderer and tried to hit me. When I tried to talk to him, my son pulled my arm and put me in his car. I found the explanation later at home, when I was resting in an armchair. It occurred to me to turn on the radio and the news left me frozen:...

Amanda The new stage of my life began with my divorce.   It was an original divorce. We had a party in the underwater city of Smarna. And that's where I met Amanda. Amanda was a blue girl with huge honey-colored eyes. Her skin, light blue and transparent in some areas of her body, was allowing her to show her incredible and attractive interior. When she felt weakness for someone, her hands changed to a pink blue. And that happened to her when we met. My ex-wife was a friend of hers and introduced me to her. Seconds later, she swam away to the surface. Several days later, chance brought us together in a ship bound for the limits of the solar system. It was then that I kidnapped her with my submission to her wishes, and the journey extended beyond the infinity. And we have not returned to our starting point. Amanda La nueva etapa de mi vida empezó con mi divorcio.   Fue un divorcio original. Celebramos una fiesta en la ciudad submarina de Smarna. Y fue all...

Maya Between the realities of birth and death, there is only Maya. Maya Entre las realidades del nacimiento y la muerte, solo existe maya.