Cover and Banner made in Canva, Cover photo taken by my Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 S phone and edited with the phone app; Separators made in Photoshop
December weather plagued our protagonist. Fernando Silvester was standing on the highest peak of his region and contemplating the city he lived in. He gazed out into the cold night at the colorful Christmas lights. Only 10 seconds before the end of the year Fernando raised his square chin to the stars. As predicted on television, the shooting star shower began.
Fernando's five companions also witnessed the event. There in the middle of the peak, frozen, they made a wish.
Fernando closed his eyes as he clenched his whole body, wishing hard for one thing.
As soon as he opened his eyes he found himself waking up from his bed.
“What the hell!" he said getting up and noticing that he was in his room.
In the same room, he shared at his parents' house. He couldn't believe it, how had he moved he thought, but he felt different as if he was in a body other than his own. He looked out the window of his room and visualized a different environment.
In a matter of hours Fernando realized that it was January 1st, but not 2022, but 2021. The same year he was to leave behind. His wish had come true. Without telling his parents what had happened, he began to elaborate his plan with desperation.
Fernando began to postpone trips, earmarking all his savings for the event that would change his life.
He repeated to himself every night at bedtime.
“It's for my future, I'm doing it for my future.”
Finally, March 12, 2021, arrived. And as he knew in advance, he showed up in uniform at his university. The new trainees selected as deck or engine cadets on the ships of the country's oil company were there without a hitch. Although he had not been selected, he showed up knowing that there were people who had been selected but did not attend for personal reasons.
He went straight to talk to the internship coordinator.
“Hello professor, my name is Fernando Silvester. I come to take advantage of the vacancy of the absent interns" The boy fell silent swallowing saliva, waiting for the result of his long-awaited wait.
The coordinator, a plump woman, but with a very hipster air, strange for her age, examined him closely. Fernando for a few moments thought he would not suffer the same fate as two of his friends who had made the same move for those dates. Andrew and Diego were boarding the bus that would take them to the company. The silence stretched on.
“Of course, you can, young cadet. Take advantage of the opportunity and take the vacancy," said the coordinator with a smile.
Fernando grabbed his bags and, without saying thank you, got on the bus. He had achieved his goal of changing his future. He would no longer be a wandering student with more than two years of waiting to graduate, he was finally going to embark. He would sacrifice his travels around the world to achieve the opportunity that had so often eluded him.
Months passed. Fernando realized what it was like to be a merchant seaman. Although he enjoyed working side by side with the officers and sailors, he felt something was missing. The adventure he thought it would be to be on board fizzled out.
“It's not like I thought. I won't be able to know the places I visited, I won't be able to live the adventure. Nor meet Hilary” Fernando was talking to himself, looking at himself in the cabin mirror.
Hilary was his girlfriend, a girl he met that year, whom he had met in the middle of 2021. Now they didn't know each other, because their meeting was on one of the many trips he made.
Onboard he tried to contact her through social networks, but he knew that would not happen. Hilary was a very reserved girl, and only through physical contact could he make her fall in love again.
December came and he was waiting to get off the ship. Anxious and stubborn that he would not be able to see her until he had disembarked.
Fernando managed to finish his internship a week before the end of the year. Arriving in the city he searched like crazy for Hilary. Showing up at her house, only to discover that she was already with another guy. A guy who was on the same excursion he was supposed to go on.
Crying, he fled the place. He was determined to change everything to meet her again and have her, but his plans did not work out. He tried to go to the camping site on the mountain, to see the shooting star shower, however, he couldn't. A factor changed in the weather and at that time nobody could see the astronomical event. A factor changed in the weather and at that time no one could see the astronomical event. It rained so hard that it was impossible to climb the mountain in those conditions.
Fernando was trapped in that reality. His life had changed irremediably.
Ten years passed.
And our protagonist had the hardship of living a hectic life, racing against time. Working like a madman to obtain that freedom. In the depths of whatever ship he was on, he watched from the social networks the lives that Hilary developed, a happy and stable lifeline. He longed for that future for himself. Feeling in the wrong place at the wrong time.
