Bajo las sombras
Él siempre había vivido con su mamá, hasta un día que llegó del colegio, consiguió un montón de gente frente a su casa, eso nunca pasaba, pero todos le miraban y susurraban, solo pudo oír, cuando su vecina más cercana dijo:
—Y ahora qué será del pobre muchacho.
Él los miró y fue paseando la mirada por todos aquellos rostros.
—¿Dónde está mi mamá? —preguntó.
Solo le quedó un murmullo como cuando las gotas de la lluvia golpean en el techo y es tan fuerte que no se oye nada.
Cuando despertó, vio a sus abuelos, no entendía que había pasado, se encontraba en otro cuarto, las paredes estaban sucias por la humedad y aquella cama olía a sabanas viejas, a un lado, había un escaparate sin puertas, donde colgaba su ropa.
—Ya despertaste, estábamos preocupados, —dijo el abuelo.
—¿Dónde estoy?
—En casa de tus abuelos, tu madre tuvo un viaje inesperado, así que te quedarás aquí por un tiempo.
—Pero yo quiero irme a casa.
—Eso no es posible por ahora, — le dijo el anciano de barba larga y blanca, le explicó que esa habitación iba ser suya, mientras viviera con ellos.
—La abuela Maya está contenta con tenerte y yo también, siento haberte traído así, pero las circunstancias lo ameritaron.
—Yo no sé dónde viven ustedes, abuela… ¿y mi escuela, mis amigos?
—Nos dijeron que no tenías muchos amigos.
—Es cierto, pero tengo dos, son los únicos con los que juego; pero ¿dónde estoy?
—Te refieres al lugar? ¡Ah! es un barrio bastante alejado, se llama Renacer.
—Y mi mamá, ¿a dónde fue?
—¡Ay! Hijo, fue un viaje repentino, por eso estas aquí… solo te voy a advertir una cosa, cuando salgas al patio, veras un cuartucho, no te vayas a meter ahí, hay tanto cachivAbuela cosas que guarda tu abuelo, es peligroso para los niños.
—Sí abuela.
Agachó la cara y la abuela salió. Se dio cuenta que su habitación no tenía ventanas, solo una vieja puerta hecha con tablas.
—¿Puedo salir a ver la casa?
—¡Claro! pero no iras a la calle.
Aquella casa era muy pobre, había una cocina de leña, una vieja nevera bastante deteriorada y otros dos cuartos que no tenían puertas, sino cortinas de tela. Sintió miedo, cuando se asomó al patio, vio a su abuelo sentado, miraba a lo lejos, pero parecía que no miraba, eso le asustó, al frente de donde él estaba, vio el cuartucho descrito por su abuela y recordó la advertencia que había recibido de no entrar; tenía una puerta que se balanceaba, produciendo chillidos, a él le pareció que desde allí alguien miraba.
Pensó en su mamá, ¿por qué todo cambió tan rápido? sus abuelos no le daban ninguna explicación y todo allí era tan raro, cuándo se asomó a la calle, aquello parecía un camino abandonado y las casas quedaban aisladas unas de otras.
Le intrigaba lo que sentía cada vez que miraba hacia el cuarto de los cachivaches, sentía que había alguien allí, acechando, el abuelo se quedaba dormido frente a aquella puerta, sentado en aquella silla reclinable, pero siempre con los ojos abiertos.
—Él duerme así hijo, es algo raro… pero no pasa nada, —le decía su abuela. Lo otro que no entendía era por qué su cuarto era el único que tenía puertas y un candado.
Una noche decidió expiar a través de las rendijas de la puerta, se despidió para ir a dormir, su abuelo fue a ver si ya se había dormido y cerró la puerta, oyó cuando el candado fue asegurado, esperó un rato, luego se levantó con cuidado y miró a sus abuelos a través de las rendijas, se encontraban sentados, uno al frente del otro, agarrados de las manos y con una vela encendida entre ellos, proyectando sus sombras detrás de cada uno y estas se veían muy grandes sobre las paredes, de pronto, entró un viento frío y algo que no podía ver, se iba comiendo las sombras, hasta que la vela se apagaba y ya en la oscuridad, solo escuchó la voz baja de la abuela.
—Ya viejo, ya sé alimentó, vamos a dormir.
Sintió que un frío lo paralizaba.
Cuándo amaneció, salió al patio y vio que su abuelo estaba más pálido y parecía dormir en el mismo sitio de siempre, sus ojos estaban abiertos, pero no miraban, miró hacia el cuartucho, algo parecía moverse en aquella oscuridad, fue a ver qué pasaba, pero en ese momento la abuela salió y le gritó:
—¡No hijo, no lo hagas! no entres ahí.
—Abuela allá dentro se movió algo.
—Solo son sombras hijo.
Notó que su abuela estaba muy pálida y fue a ver qué le pasaba.
—¿Te pasa algo abuela?
—Solo estoy cansada, no pude dormir bien.
—Pero estás muy pálida, seguro es el calor, te traeré agua abuela.
Ella lo miró y dejó correr unas lágrimas, cuando le trajo el agua, la abuela parecía más pálida.
—No entres allí, es un cuartucho muy sombrío, allí solo hay oscuridad y muchos cachivaches, tantas cosas que tu abuelo recogía en su andar por la vida.
Algo se movía en aquella oscuridad atrapada en ese cuartucho, se acordó de lo que había visto en la noche, aquella especie de rito que sus abuelos practicaban o trabajaban para las sombras, por eso encendían velas y ellas llegaban para alimentarse.
—¿Por qué mi abuelo está así?
—Ellas lo mantienen vigilado, —la abuela trató de esconder sus lágrimas, pero no pudo, entonces entró a la casa.
Él miró hacia el cuarto y una sombra grande pareció moverse, como si la hubiesen herido con la luz del sol, se quedó mirando aquella puerta, sabía que algo no andaba bien, no entendía aquella actitud del abuelo, tenía que hacer algo, o también iba a perder a sus abuelos, sentía que aquello que se movía tenía una actitud nerviosa.
En un descuido de la abuela, agarró una botella de kerosén de su uso y los fósforos, hizo un mechero, lo encendió y sin pensarlo mucho le dio un empujón a la puerta y arrojó la botella, el fuego comenzó a extenderse.
—¿Qué hiciste hijo? ¿qué hiciste? — gritó la abuela.
Se asustó, porque la abuela se quedó paralizada, pero las llamas reflejaban como una figura sombría se retorcía entre las llamas y la luz del sol las iba desapareciendo; los vecinos llegaron para evitar que el incendio se extendiera, cuando todo terminó, vio como sus abuelos sonreían, se miraban cómo descubriéndose de nuevo y un par de sombras se movían a su ritmo.
Uno de los vecinos se acercó al muchacho y le dijo:
—¡Vaya parece que hubiéramos salido de las sombras! —él lo miró y sonrió.
English version
Under the shadows
He had always lived with his mother, until one day when he came home from school, he got a lot of people in front of his house, that never happened, but they all looked at him and whispered, he could only hear, when his nearest neighbour said:
—And now what will become of the poor boy.
He looked at them, and then looked around at all those faces.
—Where is my mother? —he asked.
All that was left was a murmur, like when raindrops hit the roof and it's so loud that you can't hear anything.
When she woke up, she saw her grandparents, she didn't understand what had happened, she was in another room, the walls were dirty because of the humidity and that bed smelt of old sheets, to one side, there was a window without doors, where her clothes were hanging.
—You're awake, we were worried, —said grandfather.
—Where am I?
—At your grandparents' house, your mother had an unexpected trip, so you'll be staying here for a while.
—But I want to go home.
—That's not possible for now," said the old man with the long white beard, explaining that the room would be his, as long as he lived with them.
—Grandma Maya is happy to have you and so am I. I'm sorry to have brought you here like this, but circumstances warranted it.
—I don't know where you live, grandma... what about my school, my friends?
—They told us you didn't have many friends.
—That's true, but I have two, they're the only ones I play with; but where am I?
—You mean the place? Ah, it's a neighbourhood quite far away, it's called Renacer.
—And my mum, where did she go?
-Oh, son, it was a sudden trip, that's why you're here... I'm only going to warn you one thing, when you go out to the yard, you'll see a little room, don't go in there, there's so much junk and stuff that your grandfather keeps, it's dangerous for the children.
—Yes, Grandma.
She ducked her face and grandma went out. He noticed that his room had no windows, just an old door made of boards.
—Can I go out to see the house?
—Of course! But you can't go out into the street.
That house was very poor, there was a wood-burning cooker, an old refrigerator that was quite deteriorated and two other rooms that had no doors, only cloth curtains. He felt afraid, when he looked out onto the patio, he saw his grandfather sitting, he was looking into the distance, but it seemed that he wasn't looking, that scared him, in front of where he was, he saw the little room described by his grandmother and he remembered the warning he had received not to enter; it had a door that swung, producing squeaks, it seemed to him that from there someone was watching.
He thought of his mother, why did everything change so quickly? His grandparents gave him no explanation and everything there was so strange, when he looked out onto the street, it looked like an abandoned road and the houses were isolated from each other.
He was intrigued by what he felt every time he looked into the junk room, he felt that there was someone there, lurking, grandfather would fall asleep in front of that door, sitting in that reclining chair, but always with his eyes open.
—He sleeps like that, son, it's a bit strange... but it's all right," his grandmother would say. The other thing he didn't understand was why his room was the only one with doors and a lock.
One night he decided to atone through the cracks in the door, he said goodbye to go to sleep, his grandfather went to see if he had already fallen asleep and closed the door, he heard when the padlock was secured, he waited for a while, then he got up carefully and looked at his grandparents through the cracks, they were sitting, one in front of the other, They were sitting opposite each other, holding hands and with a lit candle between them, projecting their shadows behind each other and these were very large on the walls, suddenly, a cold wind came in and something that he could not see, was eating the shadows, until the candle was extinguished and already in the dark, he only heard the low voice of the grandmother.
—Old man, I've fed, let's go to sleep.
He felt a chill paralyze him.
When dawn broke, he went out into the courtyard and saw that his grandfather was paler and seemed to be sleeping in the same place as always, his eyes were open, but they did not look, he looked towards the room, something seemed to move in that darkness, he went to see what was happening, but at that moment the grandmother came out and shouted at him:
—No son, don't do it! —Don't go in there.
—Grandma, something moved in there.
—It's just shadows, son.
He noticed that his grandmother was very pale and went to see what was wrong.
—Grandma, is something wrong?
—I'm just tired, I didn't sleep well.
—But you look very pale, I'm sure it's the heat, I'll get you some water, grandmother.
She looked at him and let some tears flow, when he brought her the water, grandma looked paler.
—Don't go in there, it's a very gloomy room, there's only darkness and a lot of junk, so many things that your grandfather collected in his walk through life.
Something was moving in that darkness trapped in that room, he remembered what he had seen at night, that kind of ritual that his grandparents practiced or worked for the shadows, that's why they lit candles and they came to feed.
—Why is my grandfather like this?
—They keep an eye on him," the grandmother tried to hide her tears, but she couldn't, so she went into the house.
He looked into the room and a big shadow seemed to move, as if it had been hurt by the sunlight, he stared at that door, he knew something was wrong, he didn't understand grandfather's attitude, he had to do something, or he was going to lose his grandparents too, he felt that what was moving had a nervous attitude.
In an oversight of the grandmother, he grabbed a bottle of kerosene from his use and matches, made a lighter, lit it and without thinking too much he gave the door a push and threw the bottle, the fire began to spread.
—What did you do, son? What did you do? — shouted the grandmother.
He was frightened, because the grandmother was paralysed, but the flames reflected how a shadowy figure twisted in the flames and the sunlight was disappearing them; the neighbours arrived to prevent the fire from spreading, when it was all over, he saw how his grandparents smiled, they looked at each other as if they were discovering themselves again and a couple of shadows moved to their rhythm.
One of the neighbours approached the boy and said:
—Wow it looks like we've stepped out of the shadows! —he looked at him and smiled.
Las imágenes fueron generadas por la inteligencia artificial:[VQGAN+CLIP] // The images were generated by artificial intelligence VQGAN+CLIP and the separator were edited with PhotoScape.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***