On the other side

[lordpat]

Marcos was slowly walking home after a tough day of work. He had moved rocks and searched for coal since the sunrise. His legs were aching after the long walk home, but he was almost there. The sound of the strong river next to his house was very relaxing, and made the last steps less painfull. Every step, the sound became louder and the wodden door became closer. Every step, every step, again and again, coughing in between...

He finally arrived. Her mom had worked all day, and needed to work at night once again. "Today again?"-Marcos asked. "Sorry, you will need to take care of Maria today". Maria was a bit too young to work with her mother, so she just stayed at home alone. She tried to make some simple crafts and sell them to the turists, but they rarely cross the river, they'd rather stay at their side, so there was not much to sell. "am I staying with Marcos again?" - she said, completely excited - "Yes! Yes!". Her mother left, it was almost sunset. The two brothers went outside to say goodbye to her mother, and took the oportunity to sit down and see the check the sun slowly vanishing into the horizon.

At the other side of the river, the city's lights started to turn on. A festival of power seemed to happen. They could see the great buildings: tall and intense, which compared to their small wooden house, looked like castles. They saw a poor capybara that fell on the river and was defeated by destructive flow. Marco's arm and leg pain seemed to increase as they watched all that, so he told Maria that it was time to go home. But first, he grabbed a bucket close to his house and filled it with the river's water, which was not very transparent, but much better than the water on the mines.

Once inside, the lad took a long wooden stick and used some coal he had on his pocket. Last time he was found stealing some of this coal, he brutally hit in his belly, but it figures that the risk was worth taking it (they would never fire him anyway, that is the real thread). He quickly rubbed the black rock on the stick and created a flaming torch. He used it to turn on the pan where he would put the water he collected. He put some miserables doodles and a few pieces of carrots on the water. He started to look directly at the hot water and its smoke. He could see something...the smoke was creating the shape of a...building? His arms started to ache again. He remained in silence, waiting for the soup to be done, with a couple of loud coughs in the meanwhile.

Meanwhile, Maria was dissapointed. Usually his brother would make up some games from her or at least talk. She felt really lonely, and started to cry out loud.

"Shut up, pendeja!"-Marcos said, annoyed. Her tears and his frustration only grew. The chaos of the house kept growing, and growing and growing. The noise...oh God that noise!

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I DO WHAT I CAN!"-Marcos yelled, in pure anger. Her sister stopped crying all on a sudden. He accidentally put the finger on the water, resulting in one minor burn.

"Sorry, it is just...can you imagine what it would be to live on the other side? To leave aside all this wood and go to the city? I heard there are people that would help us..." Marcos shut himself up, because he could not believe what he was saying. Leave the mine? But someone would take his spot. Where he could work?
How could he mantain his sister? Where would he get the water or the coal from? Leaving was not an option obviously.

Maria seemed more invested on the idea though, and Marcos was already regretting his words:
-"It has so many lights!"
-"Look, we are safe now, that is all that matters"
-"But your arms are aching, your legs are aching, you cough all the time...you are not safe brother"
-"You are, that is what matters!"
-"But..."
-"No buts."
The soup was ready, and was divided in two plates. Marco's plate had 3 carrot pieces and 6 noodles, while Maria's 2 carrots pieces and 8 noodles, which was great, since Maria loved noodles. Sadly, both soups were rather sour, but the sweet carrots saved the dish. Suddenly, a loud shout:
-"MY DOG"

Both silblings went outside to see a young boy around the same age as Marco's on the other side and his dog, which seemed to have fallen to the strong river. The dog was resisting the current behind a rock, but it may be too late for him. The other boy was yelling desesperated, hoping his dog to be saved. He tried using a long brench to take his dog back, but this backfired as it only pushed him more towards Marco's side.

-"HEY, YOU, EL NEGRO, PLEASE! I NEED YOUR HELP! TRY TO GET THE DOG AND TAKE IT TO YOUR SIDE OF THE RIVER!"

Marco grabbed a big rock there was near his house and throwed it to the river, hoping it that it would stay still and that it would not be taken away by the current. Luckily, it did. He carefully stepped on the rock and tried got closer to the dog, grabbing it. He slowly returned back to his side, finally, with the dog on his hands.

-"OH GOD, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I WILL TRY TO GET AN ADULT TO HELP IT GET BACK"

Maria took a look at the dog. His long fur was trully wet and his eyes were sunken. It was shaking like crazy; but after that horrible situtation, who wouldn't?
The silblings sat down and remained at silence. The city lights were stronger than before, but Marco's arm was not aching anymore. He was happy, for some reason. The animal seemed to have made up his day.

After a short while ,a lady with small circled glasses went through the river with a boat, which was strong enough to battle the water. She thanked Marcos for his heroic action, and asked them if they wanted them to go to the other side.

The boy doubted at first, but after a couple of insistions of his sister, they stepped on the boat and crossed the river. And there they were...on the other side, smiling. Marcos grabbed a small wooden stick he had on his pocket for a reason, and throwed it to the river, to never be seen again.