Twilight's Flash Fiction / Relatos cortos crepusculares

They They are they. I hear them coming down the hall. I hide my head under the pillow and hold my breath. Silence. A tense silence. Then muffled laughters and an unbearable smell of wax. Something slimy and acid rises to the throat. I try to scream but it just spasms that doesn't allow the vocal cords to make any sound. Chills that rise from head to toe. Completely attentive attention to sounds. Silence. Something hot comes out of the nose. I imagine them on the pillow, very close to my forehead. Throbbing in the temples and that smell of wax ... smell of wax, which reminds me of the endless days in the funeral home. I have never seen them, but at the same time it is as if they were part of me, as if at the same time they were inside me. They are the nameless ethereal ones, ready to take me to the other side.     Ellas Son ellas. Las oigo acercarse por el pasillo. Oculto la cabeza debajo de la almohada y contengo la respiración. Silencio. Un tenso silencio. Luego ris...

  Compassion She wandered the room looking for the compassion her son had lost. She had to be there, because there her son had filled her with reproaches and sadness. For an instant she hoped to find her because she knew compassion left a trace of her. But at that moment, stunned and sad, she did not see that compassion had taken refuge in the childish face of a photo that rested on the table in the living room. That face she wanted so much. Tears blurred the vision of the room, but something seemed to shine in that photo. She moved closer and the loving eyes of her son returned the loving gaze that she had always had. That was when she discovered her, and she knew that compassion would return to the soul of the one who was the reason for her life.   Compasión Recorrió la estancia buscando la compasión que había perdido su hijo. Tenía que estar allí, porque allí su hijo le había llenado de reproches y de tristeza. Durante un instante tuvo la esperanza de encontrarla po...

  Break the Wall Breaking the invisible wall that rises impassively behind time, that wall that prevents us from returning. Go back, following the trail of life and learn to feel that life is eternal.   Romper la pared Romper la invisible pared que se levanta impasible detrás del tiempo, esa pared que nos impide volver. Volver, siguiendo el rastro de la vida y aprender a sentir que la vida es eterna.

  The Unexpected It was dawning with the star Sidha, while the star Rhon, more distant, was located on the other part of the planet. I had gone out with the ship to bring the algae to the groups of beings alnodes, with which they fed and at the same time fed the microscopic bisphos, which helped them to metabolize the living algae. Alnode beings provide us with the resources to neutralize poisonous gases that pollute the planet's atmosphere. Surprisingly, when I was crossing the belt of soileus, vegetables that produce sweet and fleshy fruits essential for our food and which is located at a distance of several minutes from the surface of the planet, an object crossed the belt from east to west and fell on the amaranth plain. I diverted the course of the ship and approached the artifact that, motionless, had perched on the surface. I inspected its interior using the transparent gaze and verified that there was no movement of anything living inside. But when proceeding to a det...

  Amafis He met her on a Monday. The previous Sunday he had returned from Samarkand, where he was collaborating with Nikolay Veselovsky on the excavations. By a blessed chance, the train had stopped overnight due to heavy snowfall, and that circumstance had forced travelers to spend the night in a decaying and cold station. A few months earlier, in the midst of discovery fever, Nikolay asked him to accompany him. He wanted his opinion on the murals and paintings found in the strata dated to the 7th century AD. Following Nikolay's explanations, he carefully observed the murals and for a moment, it seemed to him that one of the figures represented on the mural, in which she appeared accompanying the King of Samarkand, was following him with her eyes. She was a very beautiful woman. Black eyes, like her hair, jet-black, sensual lips and a luminous, unforgettable face. He asked Nikolay about that lady but her presence in the mural was a mystery. In ancient texts she was not referre...

Chains I am on the black top of a promontory. Darkness. It is a dark night and the Moon is hidden by white, fragile, thick clouds. I begin to hear a slight murmur that slowly becomes more perceptible. Distant flashes accompany the macabre sound. The cold is felt in the face, in the hands, and as the murmur becomes more present, the flashes of the torches clearly reveal a procession of black robes, one after another, their faces hidden. The murmur is becoming understandable in some way, they are broken phrases, they are the dark prayers of the penitents. As they approach, the slow dragging of the chains is distinguished, one for each sin. I try to go unnoticed, but one of the penitents leaves the procession and comes to me. I can only see a black surface under his thick hood and a guttural sound warns me of my future. Without knowing how, I find myself forming part of the procession, wearing a black habit and occupying the last place, and my hands are not able to distinguish the featu...

  Lungs and brain And his brain proposed to his lungs to stop breathing. After all, it was lost in the immense reality of that pandemic. His lungs then proposed to his brain to stop thinking. And when his brain stopped thinking, his lungs were able to breathe and keep up with the rhythm of his heart.   Pulmones y cerebro Y su cerebro le propuso a sus pulmones que dejaran de respirar. Al fin y al cabo estaba perdido en la inmensa realidad de aquella pandemia. Sus pulmones entonces le propusieron a su cerebro que dejara de pensar. Y cuando su cerebro dejó de pensar, sus pulmones pudieron respirar y seguir el ritmo del corazón.