𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 [english]

8.

Another afternoon, Matthew was walking around. He had left work early and was very bored, although tired enough that he didn't want to go anywhere and went straight home.

His only thought at that moment was to be in his room watching tv, and basically doing nothing for the rest of the day. But from one moment to another, that thought was completely forgotten since his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He quickly took it. Matthew was a little disappointed when he saw that it was a notification from a social media, but not a message from Sofia as he expected.

Suddenly he felt anxious again like the day before. He had been writing to Sofia, but had not received a reply. That worried him. It occurred to him that he was exaggerating, but the concern he was beginning to feel again was bigger. He tried to remember the way to Sofia's house. That time that he accompanied her to her house, he had not paid attention to the road, and he had been completely attentive to her. Now that I think about it, I don't even know how I managed to get back to my house from there… He kept thinking until an important detail came to mind that would help him find her place. It was a few streets from the hospital… I think, I'm almost sure. Matthew simply chose to trust his mind and headed to the hospital.

The path didn't take him so long, in a few minutes he was already in front of the great building. Ok… And from here, where should I go? He tried to orient himself once more to follow his course towards Sofía's house, but it wasn't necessary, since at that moment he saw her leaving the hospital.

She was wearing rather baggy clothes. Her dark blonde hair was dull and disheveled, her face pale... She looked a little tired.

Matthew immediately came over. He felt happy to know from her, but his concern obviously didn't stop having seen her looking like that, and to make it worse, leaving a hospital.

He couldn't even get to pronounce her name… It all happened so fast. He saw her collapse in the middle of the street and came to her side after running while calling her name.

🦋

Sofia woke up in a hospital room. She sighed, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. She had just left there, and she was already in that place again.

"Matthew?" she questioned in surprise as soon as she saw him turn his back while he arranged something on a table.

"Oh great, you woke up!" He exclaimed without turning to look at her.

"What are you doing here? What happened?" she asked with the same frustration that she hadn't stopped feeling.

"You fainted when you were leaving... You slept a lot, it's time for dinner." He said kindly, this time looking at her. He pulled a small table with her food closer to her. "I don't think hospital food is very good… I wanted to buy some fast food, but they told me it was important that you eat this because you are on a diet." He explained with a shrug.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it… It's not that bad in fact…" she commented, starting to eat. "You are not going to eat anything? This is good... If you want, I'll share you a little... Although it will be very little." she offered, laughing, but got no response. "Matthew?"

He looked at her very thoughtfully.

"Oh well, if you want I'll give you the half." She said letting out a laugh again.

Matthew, as always, didn't know whether to ask... But he was there, in that situation... He had to know. "What's wrong with you?... I mean, you said you were used to hospital food... And I've been calling you these days and you haven't answered".

Sofia instantly regretted saying that, even though it came out subconsciously. He took a few seconds to think about how to deal with the situation. She didn't really want to talk about it.

"It's nothing, I just felt bad... I had gone out to see insects and I felt a little weak... It happened a few days ago, it's nothing serious... My things, I mean my notebook, my magnifying glass and my cell phone were left in my house, so if I didn't answer it was because of that".

Matthew nodded and chuckled.

"What?" she asked amused.

"It's still something inexplicable to me that you love insects so much." She laughed at the boy's comment. She was still amused by his appearance, with his arms full of tattoos looking like a bad boy, who was so afraid of bugs.

"I like them because they are fragile and have short lives… Like me. There are so many things I want to do that I know I won't get to do…” she said almost in a whisper. "My favorites are butterflies, especially monarchs. They usually live longer than the others. Caterpillars must wait until they can turn into butterflies, I like to think that is what is happening to me, and when the time comes, I will be able to fly".

And so, the girl just decided to reveal what she always chose to keep. They both remained silent.

Sofia, who always looked happy and lively, was a bit off. Thinking that she was a butterfly had helped her a lot to overcome her illness, and also to accept it... Although she believed that she was rather denying it... Saying that out loud still affected her and made her feel sad and a little scared.

"This was what made you sad... I always knew that behind your happiness there was something making you feel bad... I never imagined that it could be something like this..." That was the only thing Matthew could say after processing Sofia's words, wondering if the interpretation that he had given those words, which was the worst he could imagine, was correct or not.

And he was about to shed tears when he saw Sofia nodding in response.