El Secreto de los Animales

Antonio Fernández

Brooklyn, New York

February 13th, 2017

Days Lily’s been missing: 4.

The secret of the animals

by Antonio Fernandez

Chapter 1

He sees Lily everywhere. Not as before, when he saw her as a memory, wandering like a ghost on the corridors of his mind. This time it is really her… flesh and bones; her name, story and photograph appear in every conversation, every newspaper, and on every corner.

Afewdays ago,his flat mate,Elisa, asked him ifheheardabout “thatBritishgirl”,ignoring his relationship with that British girl, and his utterand complete fascination with knowing as much as possible about her sudden disappearance.

Salvador has read every article and news report about Lily’s case, his obsession so driving that he ended up losing his job; he had spent too many hours analyzing the details of the tragedy these past three days, which resulted in the abandonment of his duties as a journalist for the Manhattan’s Choice, a small and archaic newspaper from which he got fired just moments ago. Now, he’s returning home with a few of his affairs and a bitter taste on the back of his mouth.

The wagon for line J on the subway is almost empty. Salvador opens his little notepad to write down some thoughts related to Lily’s case, but he forgets them the second the tip of his pen reaches the paper. He then starts to sketch, once again, Lily’s profile. He starts with her eyes, almost transparent. Then, with broader, imperfect strokes, he traces the side of her face, and then her long neck, which reminds him of a Victorian lady. It is not difficult for him to remember her; on the contrary, he can remember every detail within a second of closing his eyes.

He looks up from his page and casts a bittersweet smile. Not only does he see Lily everywhere in his mind, but destiny seems to put her image everywhere he goes. This time, Salvador sees her on the front page of the newspaper that the man in front of him is flipping through. The title says Still missing under her picture. He doesn’t need to read what the article says, he memorized it this morning on his way to work:

“Although their deaths seem to be certain due to the current conditions of the island, the local police continue to investigate leads that may suggest they’re still alive”.

This last line makes Salvador shiver. It has been four days since Lily was reported missing, and he knows the police will soon conclude their search, reducing any possibility of finding her safe and sound, if alive at all. This thought makes Salvador sick to his stomach and decides to take a break from sketching. Instead, he flips though his notepad. He finds some notes besides another dirty pencil sketch of Lily: “Roy Murphy, Sam Wright, Lily Hayes, all missing. A Coincidence?

Unlikely”. He circles this last word a few times; he is sure the three cases are related, as most news outlets have theorized.

The disappearances started with Roy Murphy, a thirty-two-year-old male who seemed to have vanished from the face of the Earth on Tuesday, February 7th. Samuel Wright disappeared on Wednesday that same week, and Lily on Thursday. This last disappearance rang the alarms of all the squads that had been working on the Murphy and Wright cases.

“This was not a coincidence, or an accident” Salvador thinks to himself for the millionth time during the day, because, as many international news outlets have stated, the three victims knew each other and were very close during their youth. There are many pictures of young Lily on the internet, smiling with her baby teeth while she hugs a small, extremely blond, young Samuel Wright. Her relationship with Roy Murphy, however, is a little trickier; there seems to be no photographic record. Most of the pictures show only the two British kids and tell nothing about the handsome, tall, black man, which was the first to disappear. The BBC recently informed that RoyMurphyhadaterriblerelationshipwithhisparents,especiallywithhisfather, andhadrecently decided to sever communications altogether, and with that, any possibility to access young Murphy’s records.

For Salvador, the lack of information and detail are nothing but the result of an ineffective investigationon thejournalists’part. “Thereis always something”, hethinks to himself, “it doesn’t matter how bad a relationship may be between the parents and their children. There surely must besomeforgottenpicture,oranoldhome-mademoviewithChristmasmemories.Ifnot,hisfriends might have a picture of little Roy”.

However, researching this man’s childhood is not necessary, and Salvador knows this. There are far too many questions arising as a result of the disappearances, and Murphy’s past is among the tiniest of them.

Salvador flips the page over and reads “Falkland Islands” written in big, bold letters. He sighs. As if the lack of leads in this case wasn’t enough, he knows that the police of las Islas Malvinas, as he calls them in his native Spanish, is rather incompetent, not to mention limited Furthermore, the island lacks an effective communication network, which makes the search even more difficult.

Coming from South America, and more precisely from Chile, Salvador knows about the war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland territory. As a child he was never very interested in this part of history, much less in its geography or its politics. Now that he’s a grown man, he has read every article and book there is to know about these strange lands at the end of the world.

This interest did not come from the recent events; it came from meeting Lily Hayes. From their first encounter, Salvador has felt a pull to know more about the islands. “Is everyone in Falkland as wonderful as her?” He often wondered years before when Lily was still in his life and she rested her head on his shoulder. They used to climb to the rooftop of an old building to observe people who gathered at the Union Square Park, and once they saw a projection of The wizard of Oz at the end of the summer. It had been Lily’s thirst for adventure, her fascination with the unknown, what would ultimately capture Salvador’s heart. It had not been her ample smile, or her talent for journalism, or her almost transparent eyes that seemed like windows into his own soul.

It was her recklessness, her desire to explore, her insistence to skip class and got to Coney Island to ride on the Cyclone with their hands on the air. It was her desire to enjoy that summer to its last speck of sunlight, the memories that they shared, her pulse to live each day as if was her last.

“Lily was like a bird that could not be tamed” Salvador thinks while he sketches away on his notepad, and this thought helps him feel better about having let her go, five years ago. He figures New York eventually became too small for her and she felt, just like a bird, the pulse to migrate.

Later, when he’s preparing to leave the train, Salvador stands in front of the door and sees his reflection on the dark window. He straightens-up and notices just how much sleep he’s been missing. He must shave that hideous uneven beard and his hair is also begging for a haircut. He has always loved his curly hair, but when it gets too long it makes him look shabby.

He looks down at his coat: it clearly has spent too many winters without visiting the drycleaner. His black and white striped sweater, which makes him look like a prisoner from a cartoon, is due for the recycling bin. His boots, victims of a wine stain a couple of months ago, have lost their shine. His pants are the only thing that looks impeccable, but only because his last pair had too many holes in it and needed a replacement. He then notices his belly, more noticeable than before. He is not fat, but he has definitely gained weight; the tags on his new pants were the ones to let him know.

“That damned job” he thinks to justify himself “It has drained me of my will to live and look after myself”. Now that he no longer has that job, he can finally put some time an effort into taking care of himself… or so he hopes.

The subway doors open, and he walks towards the station’s exit. The cold is not worse than inside the cart, but with the imminent snowfall outside he decides to rescue his scarf from the depts of his bag. He inhales looking to fill his lungs with fresh air but instead he gets the stench from the shady pizzeria on the corner. He decides to take the long way home, force of habit. He enjoys passing by the community garden, which still looks beautiful, adorned with the murals that the neighborhood’s children painted in the spring, despite all the flowers are dead by now. He waves hi at theold manfromthecornerhousewhoalways sitsonthefrontsteps,regardless oftheweather conditions, to watch over the neighborhood. This little street in Brooklyn has been Salvador’s home for the last three years, although he hated it at first. Now, he cannot imagine his life happening elsewhere.

These last day’s events have made him yearn for the moments he shared with Lily. His life seemed more luminous then. Her mere presence could illuminate the darkest alleys of the city. Their walks on Central Park were part of a beautiful routine, just as the bike rides from Manhattan to Brooklyn and back. The flavors of the spring, ice skating in the winter, the colors of the fall, the hikes on the northern parks of the state in the summertime.

Salvador opens the door to his flat. Elisa, his flat mate, is, as always, eating something by her computer. She takes off her headphones to ask how things had gone, a question that leaves him a bit confused.

“Your boss, bro” She reminds him “Today’s meeting?”

“Oh, that. It was alright. Nothing special” He lies “They were changing cubicles around. Now I have the window, at least”.

Elisa nods and goes back to her screen. Salvador opens the fridge and looks within the millions of toppers with leftovers for something that passes as edible. He gives up after a while and decides to call the pizzeria by the station.

Once in his room, he lets himself fall on the unmade bed. He scrolls through The New York Times and The Daily Mail, not really hoping to find something relevant to the case. He then opens hisFacebooktolookatsomeindependentnewsoutletsandheendupat anevent.Someonelooking for volunteers to help on the search in Falkland. He scrolls down the comment sections, just in case he’s missed something, and he finds one, from two hours ago, that captures his attention.

Elisa knocks on his door and then enters without waiting for an answer.

“Hey, what’cha doin’ tomorrow?”

“Work” He lies again, placing his phone face down on the bed.

“I meant in the evening, you idiot. Any plans?”

“Are you asking me to be your Valentine?”

“No. Never. It’s just my friend’s birthday. Remember? The one from the bicycle repair shop? We could go to the Bonjour”

Salvador smiles lightly, already thinking an excuse not to go to that social event. He’s sure the farewell party his coworkers are throwing him in the evening will be bad enough and going to a noisy bar full of drag queens and lonely, sad, single people afterwards doesn’t seem particularly appealing.

“Promise me you’ll be there. And no excuses this time, ok?”

Salvador nods almost involuntarily. He then thinks he should probably tell Elisa the truth, but he desists just before she has left the room.

Alone again, Salvador picks up his phone and resumes his reading. The comment on the Facebook event is from a woman named Tessa Bennett, who is looking for volunteers to look for Lily, Roy and Sam through all east Falkland. At the end of her message, she adds: “Fame seekers abstain. This is serious shit!”

He checks Tessa Bennett’s profile. He needs to verify is she is only another random person playing detective or if she actually has some connection to the case. Her profile picture is a poster of the missing friends. Lily, in the middle, smiles like a lost Mona Lisa. Much like the painting, Salvador feels that her eyes are fixed on him regardless of the angle he looks at the picture. Her white and perfect teeth could be on a dentistry’s advertisement, and her dimples, Salvador thinks, could have been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. She looks so beautiful that Salvador decides to download the picture so he can look at it more often, dismissing the two young men accompanying her or the tragic “Have you seen me?” written in bold capital letters on top of them all.

He continues to check Tessa Bennett’s profile looking to get an idea of who this woman might be. He deduces that she is not very technology savvy, her profile picture is framed on a weird angle and Sam and Roy’s faces almost do not fit in the miniature. He also deduces that she does not use social media frequently, as she has few interactions and very few friends compared to an average user. She has almost no profile pictures, except for the poster, which has been uploaded three times, two pictures of the same cat, out of focus, and, finally, a picture of her by the beach. Salvador zooms in on this one and tries to look at her face more closely. Tessa appears to be roughly the same age as Lily: early thirties, maybe thirty-five. She has thick eyebrows and skin so pale that Salvador is almost certain she would burst in flames if she stayed in the sun for too long. What captures his attention though is Tessa’s vibrant red hair that seems to be dancing with the summer wind. Salvador then zooms out from her face and focuses on her body: there is really not much to see, she is wearing a full body swimsuit. He then reads one of the comments on the picture, from Sam Wright, that says: “Beautiful”.

Before he scrolls down Sam Wright’s Facebook profile (for the third time that day), Salvador decides to check Tessa’s a little bit longer. He is now sure she’s genuinely interested, if not involved, in the case. He goes to her wall and checks some of her most recent posts. Her last status, updated moments ago, reads: “Please, any news on my friends’ whereabouts is welcome” followed by what Salvador assumes to be her phone number. Salvador shakes his head no, almost dramatically, trying to shake off the urge to call and inquire for more details on the case. He then goes to Wright’s Facebook page: nothing new. Obviously. Salvador finally decides to open a new word document and start working on the farewell speech he is supposed to give tomorrow at the party, if just to take his mind off the case for a minute.

Manhattan, New York

February 14th, 2017.

Day’s Lily’s been missing: 5

All seven guests raise their glasses around the table. They offer a toast for him. Salvador shows a faint smile while he raises his own glass. He’s not really there but lost in his thoughts, as always.

Gladly, he knows he is not the only one who’s not entirely present: almost everyone has been on their social media or answering text messages that evening. Probably one of the curses of being a journalist.

He had not chosen the bar they were at. If it had been up to him, he would not have chosen Lily’s favorite bar in all New York, and now, from tonight on, the establishment that had meant so much to him and Lily, that held so many memories of their time together, will always remind him of his failure, his dismissal This reminds Salvador of that old Spanish adagio that says that the past is always sweeter than the present. To add to the irony, the whole place is decorated with giant heats in loud colors for Valentine’s Day, and they almost seem to rub in his face that he has also been a failure at love.

However,it is not entirely surprisingthattheywould endupthere: theplaceis almost every young straight Newyorker’s favorite place ever since Blake Lively, Kate Hudson and other celebrities alike deemed it “the best bar in the city”

But at the same time, it is too much. Salvador cannot stop the memories from coming. He thinks of those Friday and Saturday nights where he and Lily would come down for a few drinks, too expensive at the time for a couple of broke students, and the time they spent dancing to the beat without a care until closing hours. This was also the place where he tried to kiss Lily for the first and last time, forever ruining the mood between them on an otherwise wonderful September night.

Salvador makes an effort to smile at Kate, his former boss, and her hypocritical speech. After all, she is the one who informed him of his sudden dismissal. Amanda, another coworker, pitches in which clichés like “We will miss you so much” and “We know you have so much talent and it will take you far.” Leonardo, anther coworker and second-generation Hispanic wishes him good luck in his old, rusty Spanish, an effort that Salvador takes to the heart. Roland, Jacklyn, William and Bill (or William the second, as they call him at the office) offer some words of support. They all want to know what Salvador will do next. The atmosphere turns thicker when he admits that he will move back to Chile due to his new financial situation.

“It’s alright” He says with a little shrug “I’ll probably find work in my country soon, especially now that I have experience working in the U.S ”

He doesn’t really like calling Chile his country. It makes him feel like one of those people who exudes patriotism in every conversation. Everyone at the table nods understandingly except for Kate, who stares directly into his eyes which makes him feel quite uncomfortable. Salvador admits that going back to Chile is not really his ideal plan. In fact, if he had the means to do it, he would probably be hoping into a plane towards Falkland and starting an investigation on Lily’s case and, more importantly, he would find her alive. But without the sponsor of a big journal or something similar, he knows we would not be able to pull it off on his own. “It’s probably the best thing to do, going home. Even if it is with my tail between my legs”, he thinks to himself, with a little sigh of defeat.

The feeling of a powerful stare fixed on his face pulls him back to the real world.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” he asks Kate, after noticing that not only hers but everyone’s eyes are one him.

“It’s late, mate”, she answers in her thick British accent “didn’t you have a Valentine’s date or something?”

“Not really”, says Salvador, immediately thinking of his cell phone and of Elisa’s calls that he has been ignoring all night.

“Come on, Kate! We’re New York journalists. We barely have time for socializing, much less for a date”, says Amanda with an odd laugh. Everyone nods, agreeing.

However, despite everyone being single, they don’t find any good reason to stay and spend the night together at the bar. A few minutes later only Salvador and Kate are left at the table. He offers to accompany her to take a taxi, but she says she prefers to walk home. At first, Salvador takes this as a “leave me alone”, but after a few moments of awkward, silent stares, he gets that she actually means “walk with me”.

They walk through the busy streets of Manhattan. Kate walks with the poise of a supermodel which, under her thick faux-fur coat makes her look like a younger and more attractive version of Cruella de Vil. Salvador takes a deep breath, savoring the cold winter air. He knows he will miss New York City and the intensity of the seasons. Not many places in the world have seasons as defined as this marvelous place.

“It’s a shame you have to go, really”, Kate admits with a sigh, breaking the silence between them. Her British accent reminds Salvador of Lily, as does everyone with a British accent. After all, Lily is the one person from the United Kingdom with whom he has spent the most time.

“Wasn’t my choice”, says Salvador with a bitterness in his tone.

“Oh, come on! Let’s be honest, you were miserable! And besides, it wasn’t really up to me either.” Kate says with a false smile “I was only the deliverer of bad news”.

Salvador notices the lie on her tone but lets it slip. In all honesty, he knew he was going to get fired. Many things had gone wrong ever since Kate assumed the management position of the investigation’s department. She was too rigid, unable to take feedback or criticism and she was also afraid of change, which ultimately had taken a toll on the team’s motivation, especially Salvador’s. His work had been sloppy long before Lily’s disappearance.

The city lights illuminate Kate’s pale profile and Salvador finds himself staring at her, surprisedto realize that he’salmost having anactualconversationwith his formerboss, the woman he had been avoiding like the plague during the six months he had to work under her direction.

Together they observe the people gathering at 42nd street. They are almost at Times Square, the most crowded place in the city regardless of what day or time it is in the year The couples are almost excessively affectionate to each other, wanting to take a video or a picture on their phones for their social medias. Some of them are so passionate one would think kissing in public is illegal any other day but Saint Valentine’s. The giant screens of the square all glow with pink light in honor of the festivity.

“I bet you don’t have nights like these in South America”, Kate whispers into Salvador’s ear while they observe a group of tourists passing by.

He knows that, although Kate’s observation is accurate, she doesn’t really know much about South America, much less about Chile. He remembers how, just a few months ago, she had asked him if people in Chile had iPhones, to which he had answered: “You know? They’re not so common. We still prefer to send smoke signals”. Kate obviously recognized his coworker’s sarcasm and has refrained from commenting or asking Salvador anything about his country until tonight

“This is madness!” Salvador commented pointing at the crowd, “Thank God there’s nothing like this in South America ”

“Yeah, neither at home.” Said Kate “I mean, we do get tourists, but not as…eager as these”

Salvador notices something strange in her tone. “Why is she being so nice?” He asks himself, “She’s not usually like this unless she needs something”. They keep walking past the crowd on Times Square and stop at the corner of the 49th street.

“This is it?” Salvador asks. He looks around trying to guess which building is Kate’s.

“No. I actually live on the East Village. Walking home from that bar in this weather would have been mad”

Salvador gives her a serious look, hoping to hide his confusion. He knows from her tone and her conversation that she is planning something, but Kate has always been unpredictable to him.

“Don’t worry, Salv, I’m not trying to seduce you, if that’s what’s concerning you.” She says with a laugh.

“I didn’t think you were ” Salvador admits with a shy smile. Love and flirting are not his forte. Besides, the only woman he has ever loved is now either kidnapped, missing or dead somewhere in the Southern Atlantic.

“I just wanted to talk. ”

“Don’t worry about me, Kate, really. I’ll be fine. ”

“I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about Lily Hayes”

Salvador freezes for a moment. Hearing Lily’s name coming out from Kate’s mouth is as absurd to him as a Luis Buñuel film. They never wrote an article on Lily’s case on the Manhattan’s Choice, since they focus on investigating local news. Most of the people in their department didn’t even know about her disappearance and the few who did know hadn’t really given it any importance.

“What do you know about the case?” Salvador cautiously asked Kate.

“You and she used to be buddies at NYU, isn’t that right?”

“Yeah…” he nods slowly.

“Don’t worry, Salv, it’s no secret. Besides, I’m a journalist, and director of the investigation’s department. I have a right to investigate my colleagues’ background, don’t you think?”

Salvador sees Kate’s point. He knows that finding that sort of information is easy, especially when your field is police investigations. You develop a nose for these things, like a cop. A good journalist can find out a lot of information about an individual with just a few hours on the internet, regardless of how much control over his privacy this person thinks they have over it.

“Salv, we haven’t been very honest with you, Will and I, and the others.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We didn’t tell you anything at first because, frankly, we thought we wouldn’t need you. But now that you’re not longer working for the Choice, you might be a great asset for our team”.

“I’m not following”

“Look, we’re been getting a little… let’s say, tired of the Choice for some time now. Ever since that argument we had with the chief editor, remember? Not to mention that our budget’s department has been going down along with our readers’.

“Don’t tell me. You want to open your own newspaper?”

A big, white smile extends on Kate’s face. The lights from the street make her skin look almost as pale as her teeth.

“Yes! A new digital news outlet focused on crime and police investigations” says Kate, her smile getting wider “In tune with this new digital era and with social media. Say goodbye to the boring prints!”

“You mean, you want to open a new newspaper that is like every other newspaper nowadays, except for the Choice”

Kate’s smile dims a little. She then takes a cigarette out of her purse and turns it on. The smoke and the smell fills Salvador’s nostrils, but he tries to hide his disgust.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you hate it” Kate says apologizingly but without turning the cigarette off. She takes a puff and continues her speech: “You’re wrong, though. Our project will be nothing like the rest. It’ll be the perfect balance between those cheap blogs that everyone reads nowadays but with the quality of the New York Times” She takes another, almost everlasting puff from her cigarette and continues: “Ronald already has the website designed and William has recruited a few sponsors, but we’re missing the most important part of it all.”

“A story”

“A story that sells ” Says Kate, with an emphasis “A story that puts us on the radar and allows us to leave Manhattan’s Choice. A story that rocket’s the New World City!”

“New World City?” Salvador lets out a snicker, wondering what kind of sponsor would agree to finance a project with such a ridiculous name.

“We’re not sure on the name yet” exclaims Kate, a little annoyed, letting the smoke out from her tiny nose. “Anyway, you get the idea. Lily Hayes, the lost British girl everyone is talking about. She’s pretty, she’s sassy, she’s from a good family. That gets people’s attention. That is a story that sells. It’s the story we need”.

The way Kate talks about Lily makes him think of a product on an advertisement campaign more than a person, which makes him uncomfortable, but he gets it. He’s about to say something but Kate beats him to it.

“Why do you think newspapers like the Times have hardly done any research on her two other missing friends?”

“They have, actually, but…”

“Nobody cares if two mediocre island boys die ” Kate says, interrupting his thoughts “Nobody. Miss Hayes, on the other hand, is a much more interesting person. Not only because she has been awarded journalist of the year, it goes beyond that: mothers see their daughters in her, young women see in her their chic best friend. Men see their girlfriends, their wives, even the hot girl they want to have sex with but who is out of their league; kids see their mother or their sister in her. Don’t you see? Everyone gets involved because they care. Her friends are just an accessory at this point, something that adds a little more gist to this case. Do you understand, Salv?”

“Of course. But it all seems quite cruel and sexist when you put it that way”.

“Nah. Cruel, maybe, but realistic. What I’m really trying to say is that Lily is the perfect story and you, her dear friend, the perfect reporter. What do you say?”

“You want me to cover this case.” He says, more to himself, trying to take in the whole conversation.

“Yes, I want you to cover this case, in detail. I want secrets from the past that no one else knows. I want to know who she really was, what she liked, how she was a child, everything! And I want to know why someone would want her to disappear”

A wave of emotions washes over Salvador. “This is what you were waiting for. Why don’t you just say yes?” He thinks to himself under Kate’s inquisitive look.

“Would you finance my investigation?”

“Salv, if we want this to take off, we all need to make some sacrifices ”

“How am I supposed to travel all the way there? I could pay a month of my bills with that ticket ” Salvador objects. He has been checking flight options during the day, he knows how expensive this trip could get.

“Your countryis technicallyneighborswith theFalkland Islands.You’replanning ofgoing there anyway, and it would be easier for you to just cross the border and…” Kate waves her hand vaguely “take a look.”

“With all due respect, Kate…”

“Think of it as an investment” Kate interrupts him once again “This story is not only good for us, but it could also be the story that puts your name on the radar too, Salvador. You need to get your hands dirty, man, make sacrifices, struggle a little if you ever want anything to happen, you know?”

Salvador remains silent, not because of the condescending way his ex-boss just talked to him, but because he knows she is right, and he hates to admit it.

Kate throws her cigarette butt to the ground and steps on it with her red heels. She then gives Salvador a tight hug, which surprises him due to her usually emotionless behavior.

“You have my email address” she whispers in his ear. “Let me know what you decide”.

She kisses Salvador’s cheek with a hint of a flirt leaving a bit or her dark rouge on him. She then extends her arm to stop a cab.

“Thanks for being my Valentine” she says with a giggle that is at the same time sexy and ridicule, like a prostitute that pretends to be in love with her client. She hurries into the taxi and leaves.

Even with all the people in the streets, being left alone by Kate makes him feel unbearably lonely. He realizes he doesn’t like her, or she him. Probably that is why she expresses herself with such roughness around him, why she observes him so intently when they talk, policing every word he mispronounces. Not a minute passes and his cellphone chimes letting him know he has received a new text message: “It was nice talking to you. I’ll be expecting your answer soon. K”.

Salvador sighs, puts his phone back in his pocket and enters the nearest subway station, still assessing this opportunity. He boards the train on the N line and starts to compare pros and cons. He even takes out his trusty notepad and an old pencil and, using the greasy window edge as support, he starts listing all the pros: “Pro #1: I would keep working as a journalist” although he doesn’t really know when or if he would get paid for it. “Pro #2: I would actually do something valuable with my work.” No more articles about the best pretzel in town or next season’s color trends. “Pro #3: (the most important) I would be there.” As he writes this last point down, he imagines the mysterious Falkland Islands, the scene where Lily disappeared without a trace. He realizes this is what he has been waiting for: a perfect excuse to go after her without looking like a complete lunatic. He encircles pro number three a couple of times.

“It is not so crazy when you think about it carefully” He says talking to himself aloud and ignoring the other passengers; he often talks to himself like this, as most people in New York do.

He then starts writing down the cons: “Con#1: I won’t be getting any money from this, at least for a while. Con#2: I don’t have any money now.” This was half-true, but Salvador did not want to invest his few savings and the little money from his severance check on what could be an irrational investigation. “Con#3: The New World City.” By that, he really meant working for Kate again. In retrospective, being unemployed with no security number or a stable paycheck did not sound so bad compared to working under her command. He knows the terrible work environment Kate creates for everyone else, and he also knows that her new project is most likely to fail.

But, at the same time, he knows there is no con strong enough to keep him from the opportunity of finding Lily alive once again. He knows he might even spend his whole life in debt from this endeavor, but it would still be worth it. He knows this is his story, the one he has been waiting for his whole life, the one he would tell his children and grandchildren about and, if everything went well, it would be the story about how he saved his children’s mother too. “The irony of it all,” He thinks to himself “would be not to take this quest. Even my name, Salvador, tells meIam destined to becomehersavior!”.Hesmilesandswitches trainsonCanal Street, taking his usual J line train home, ready to pack and start the greatest adventure of his life.

“Where the fuck were you?”

Salvador gets up to meet his flat mate and in doing so he tips over the cup he has left on the coffee table. He looks at Elisa in the eye and notices she has probably drunk too much that night. She continues her speech clinging from the doorframe.

“You promised, remember? You ass ”

“Elisa, there’s something I need to tell you…”

“Now don’t come at me saying that you had too much to or some bullshit like that. Nobody reads your fucking newspaper.”

“I got fired. ”

Elisa falls silent for a minute and then a soft “oh” escapes from her lips. She enters the apartment with an unsteady pace and closes the door behind her. Salvador sits down again and rearranges the cup while his friend tries to find a stable position before the conversation continues.

“What did you do?”

“It wasn’t my fault. Or well, sort of. But it doesn’t matter now. I actually have another job offer.”

“Oh, thank God!” Elisa says with a sigh of relief “For a second I thought you were going to leave.”

“It’s in the Falkland Islands.”

“Say WHAT?”

“Well, not exactly there. The newspaper doesn’t have a physical HQ there yet, but they need me to go and cover a story there ”

“Falkland Islands…” Says Elisa pointing vaguely at a place far from her, still trying to understand what Salvador has just said “You mean, the ones that are all the way… down there?”

“I’m not sure when I’ll be back ”

Salvador briefly explains her financial situation to his friend and tries not to let her on on the details why he has accepted the job. They both agree that he must leave Brooklyn, but Salvador insists that he will try to find someone agreeable to move in and pay his half of the rent.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it, dude!” says Elisa with a half-smile. “As much as I enjoy living with you, I don’t think I’ll have problems to find someone else. There’s always people looking for places to live in New York, even if they are in one of the ugliest and more dangerous neighborhoods in the city.”

Elisa hugs her friend and wishes him the best of luck. She then goes to her room and closes the door, leaving Salvador alone with his thoughts. Driven by a sudden impulse, Salvador opens the Facebook event he saw the night before and scrolls through the comments. He unlocks his phone and dials a number. It rings several times before a woman answers half-asleep.

“Y… Yeah?”

“Good evening. I’m sorry to disturb you so late. My name is Salvador Villagran. I want to be part of the search.”

The call has surely taken Tessa Bennet by surprise. It is also past midnight in Falkland. A few seconds pass before she speaks again.

“I’m sorry uh… Salva.. Salvador?” He nods, although she can’t see him “The search has been called off.”

“Come again?”

“Good night. ”

“Wait! I know Lily. I can help!”

“You can search for her on your own. Good night. ”

“Tessa” He stresses her name hoping to keep her engaged. “Please, we used to be friends. Best friends.”

“Welcome to the club mate ”

Salvador takes a deep breath. He struggles to keep his feelings from messing this conversation.

“Tessa, it would really mean a lot to me to help out, and I swear, I…”

“333 Capricorn Street. Port Stanley. Come tomorrow afternoon.”

“Tomorrow? H… How about next week?” he asks while scribbling the address excitedly on his notepad.

He does not hear an answer. He then checks and realizes that Tessa has hung up right after she gave him the address. He lets out a cry, frustrated with himself for not explaining that he is actually around six thousand miles away from Port Stanley, or Puerto Argentino, as his people call it back in Chile, and that the earliest flight towards the island is four days from now. He contemplates calling her again to explain his situation, but he opts to take things slowly. He looks at Lily’s picture on Tessa’s profile and, with his eyes fixed on her almost transparent eyes, he texts Kate back.

“Ok. I’m in.”