Those in gray uniforms hand out balloons and smile at the end of the path.
There are specks of light trembling in their blurred eyes.
Golden eyes, so golden they seem bathed in honey. They look downward, where small feet move forward with a slow, uncertain step.
She lifts her gaze just a little.
She is surrounded by other people moving in the same direction. The same expression. The same rhythm. The same balloons floating behind their backs. Light passes through them and breaks their colors across the nighttime square.
Beside her, a long fence, at the height of her waist, adorned with small colored lights.
On the other side are the others. They are the ones who enjoy the festival: they eat sweets, they talk, they lean toward one another. Their words sound soft, almost pious. They smile with poorly concealed pity.
She does not want them to look at her. She lowers her head.
She keeps moving. She passes through the diffuse lights that draw a path toward an enormous vehicle, motionless, turned away, that receives many like her into its interior. They enter in large numbers, disappearing into the light inside.
No one speaks. Not a single word.
Everything is too beautiful to be calming. Too colorful not to hurt. Too loud and warm to fit with the pressure burning in her chest.
In the end, that is what remains: acceptance. A shared resignation. A peace that resembles surrender.
And then.
—Hey…
It was a shriek. A sweet voice, more childish than her own.
When she lifted her gaze by reflex, she saw the fence to the side. On top of it, a small girl hung by her hands, swinging her feet.
She smiled at her with an open innocence, almost kind.
Black eyes. Black hair. So long and abundant that it fell over her shoulders.
—Hey, hey… where are you going?
The question stopped her cold. She didn't know what to answer. For a second she even doubted they were speaking to her.
—My daddy says they won't come back…
She could only lower her gaze.
—I don't know…
—You don't know if they'll come back? Or you don't know where you're going?
She shifted her eyes to the side, toward the distant vehicle.
—Both…
—And are you okay with that?
—I don't know…
The small girl tilted her head, searching for another angle, as if the world might be arranged that way.
—I think you don't want to go…
—I don't have a choice…
The silence between them dimmed the noise around them.
The small girl held her gaze for several seconds. She narrowed her eyes, with an almost playful suspicion.
—Why…?
She looked away. She couldn't hold her gaze.
—There's nothing left for me… I've lost everything…
—Oh… —she took a second, grasping the weight of those words—. Don't move.
She rummaged through her pockets.
—Here… I'll give it to you…
She extended her arm. In her hand there was a small hair tie.
She let it fall into her palm, still not understanding.
—Are you making fun of me?
The small girl drew a smile that was too sweet.
—Nyehehe… nope… my daddy just bought it for me… so it's very important to me…
—Why are you giving it to me?
—You said you had nothing. So I'm giving you everything I have…
She didn't understand. The silence, the fixed gaze, and that clean smile closed her throat. Something moistened her eyes without warning.
—Oh… you don't like it? —the small girl said, just a little sad.
—No… it's not that… —she wiped one eye—. It's just… I don't understand…
The small girl smiled again.
—My daddy taught me how to make others smile. To help when there are problems. To be a great hero like him! I mean… heroine!
She said it with enthusiasm.
Something gave way in her chest. It wasn't immediate. It was warm.
That place. Those colors. That small girl.
I will come back to make you happy.