Ella is not here.

Beyond those four walls, in any possible direction, there was a world. She knew this, and she really wanted to meet him, and she was not sure what really prevented her from crossing the very small barrier that prevented her. There was no individual who stood against this attempt. There was a door there, which she sometimes used, to access the outside of the room. The window, but by her, it was also possible to see glimpses of what was beyond the rooms. That they were not his prison, nothing physical was.

His family and a few others said that the world was filled with music, sounds, and poetry. Nothing made sense to her. Did they live in the same world like her? Did they even have experiences so odd? It was not possible that among the monochromatic, gray tones of his world, someone could arouse vivid colors and amplitude of sensations. For her beyond the walls of her room, and even there, there was the cold. In its wildest and most devastating form. The soundtrack fit was melancholic, essentially deadly. Especially on bad days.

Good days existed! In them, she opened the window, at nightfall she looked at the sky. From there it was possible to see the sky speckled with stars but to contemplate the firmament is little, for those who wish to fly. And she wanted, figuratively, to take off. Be transported to the reality that so many others knew. Know the colors, the aromas and sounds you heard so much about. They said that one step was all that needed to be done, so she gave it. A song chosen on her sister's favorite playlist, she spread her notes from the headphones as she sketched plans in her old, worn-out notebook. One step only! One step she repeated in her mind.

Her sister, three years younger, thirteen, on several occasions told her that a step more was needed. Something that forced her out of the comfort zone. Meet new people, make friends, maybe meet a boyfriend. She did not understand, why zone of comfort. Did this mean that people felt that she was comfortable with this situation? What relief was there in having this tightness in his chest that only brought him distress? Her sister's response was, "Ella, you'll only know if you try. Mom always says that we only know that we find the solution to a problem when we come across it. Try it, please! " For the sister, for her desire not to feel so unfit, for her desire to be more than she was at that moment. She tried.

It was Friday, everyone said it was the best day to socialize. First, he thought of one of those teenage parties, he was young anyway. She gave up the idea, too radical for her first time, potentially uninteresting for her. His style might have matched more with a soiree since he loved books, but he did not know where to find one in the huge city that resided. Shopping, was the one that was the best option, after all, Valentina, his sister, always said to have much fun in that place, and was less than two miles from his house. He could run to his refuge at any moment. He had been there when he was younger, with his parents, but he did not remember that he was so enlightened, and with so many people. Five minutes after occupying a bench in the quieter corner she could find, she regretted being there. Why had she done this madness of going there alone? It must have been crazy.

People passed by coming and going from stores, sometimes passing by repeatedly. No one seemed to notice, it did not bother him, he was actually welcome, friendly to his way of being. It was there that he began to feel neutral, almost invisible, a nothingness. And he began to feel comfortable. He was already in the closest degree the happiness he could get when someone sat next to him, and without ceremony said, "

Hi, all right? That's full, right? I hate it when I can not find a place in the food court. There is more fun. - Ella did not answer, but the boy did not intimidate - You are alone too, right? I looked at you a little, and you did not take your eyes off that book. Are you even reading, or just trying to avoid eye contact with people? Because so, I do it sometimes, but usually when I do not want to talk to someone. That's what I thought, but she's alone, it can not be that. "The boy paused.