The cherry trees valley — Second Chapter (English Version)

I arrived alone at the bus station, I was lucky, there was no queue to check-in. Then I went to the boarding area, which was also empty, the reason was that that day there was a game of Brazil in the World Cup. Well, after the 2014 incident, I was no longer excited about the selection. It was a lonely trip, I was going to a place I didn’t know, and I didn’t know how to get there either. Furthermore, as I was unemployed, my budget was restrictive.

After a few hours, we arrived in the central part of a city. Well, my destination wasn’t really there. I still had a long way to go. I reached the station, all people were excited to watch the game on the gas station television. With my backpack, a light coat and the look of an outsider, I asked a girl from the parade:

- Excuse me, do you know which bus passes in Raimul?

The girl answers me:

- Yes, it’s the bus X, there is a point where it stops.

I kindly thanked her. I tried opening Tinder while waiting for the bus, hoping to find a companion for the trip. However, the internet in that region was not the best. So I just continued to listen to my alternative songs. The district of Raimul was far away, I had to wait for the bus for thirty minutes, enough time for Brazil to score a goal and see its fans happy as children.

I got on the bus, turned to the driver and asked:

- Good afternoon, does this bus pass in Raimul?

He nodded. Then, I asked him to let me know when I should go down. Gently and with the lightness of a small-town inhabitant, he said he would help me. I was living in hell while taking a romantic walk to the hotel chosen by my ex, she was at a congress in another state.

Over time, the more we climbed, the more beautiful it became. The sky was mildly sunny; the leaves kept a flourishing green; nature still seemed to reign; the flowers seemed to smile. Until, a blond little girl with green eyes gets on the bus, looking less than 7 years old. Alone. After that, after a few stops, other children start to get into the vehicle.

Most of the children seemed to be of European descent, they were happy to see each other and to be going to school. It is strange for me, raised in a big and violent city like Rio, to see children going to places alone. At that moment, I realized, that I needed to remove my armor, the lightness of that place invaded me. Seeing the children’s laughter, seeing the parents’ confidence, seeing the driver’s kindness and care was inexplicable.

I got to my point, time to go down, thanked him and went down. When I arrived in the city, I thought I needed to do a recon and then find a place to have lunch. I went into a pharmacy, I bought medicine for headache, I left, and it was almost all closed still due to the game. However, there was an open corner bar, I walked, I saw that there was only one meal on the menu: rice, beans, salad, steak and french fries.

While waiting, I decided to open Tinder again, more out of curiosity, given that the city had around 5,000 inhabitants. Comically, there were only three women and none of them pleased me. At the other table, a group of young residents of the city gossiped about some 6th individual who should be young like them. In my head, I was conjecturing the adventures of living in that city. Imagine, you stay with a person and then discover that they are your cousin. In fact, the city must be formed by cousins ​​of the cousins, not least because everyone has a green and blue eye. What is it? Finland?

I finished my lunch and went to visit the city center, which consisted of a square and a lake full of ducks. I thought: “At night, this must be very beautiful, I need to come here”. It was a little clear to people that I was an outsider, one of the pseudo-naturalist type. Without a car, I guided myself through the signs. My life at that time was all about watching and trying not to die. As I went on, I discovered an interesting fact about the hotel we had chosen. It was 2 kilometers from the city.

After 1200 meters, I looked on the GPS, which pointed to a climb. Damn it, were you going to Asgard? As I went up, I realized that besides the road is muddy, it also did not have electricity. Until I started to hear dogs howling, many of them, probably announcing my arrival. I thought: “I just need to be attacked by a dog, or how as a friend of mine said, by Devil of the Dicky”.

Luckily, the dogs just howled until I reached my destination. The door was open, I went down looking for someone, and there was no check-in or receptionist. In fact, when you entered you were faced with a waterfall that passed through the place, there were 5 mini chalets from left to right and two large houses. Until I was welcomed by a very beautiful girl, between 28 and 33 years old. She was cleaning one of the cottages and went to greet me, saying:

- Hi, how are you? Are you the guest named Matheus?

I confirmed and thanked her and talked to her for a while. Her name was Luciana Schneider, she was an architect, she had graduated from UNB, she lived in my favorite neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. She was a very polite, kind, cultured, and in fact alternative, her simplicity fit the environment. The conversation lasted just under five minutes. It was noticeable that I was tired of the trip, and my gaze didn’t hide it.

Then I took a shower, changed, packed my things, and lay down for a while. It was a suite, with a bed, wooden furniture, lamp, mirror, and a simple bathroom. A cherry tree was painted on the wall above the bed. After resting, I would go to the city to get to know the place, but I knew I needed to go back before nightfall because the road had no light, there was no way back, I was an adult alone and walking in a city where everyone is driving and accompanied.

I redid the route I had taken; I went to the city, I ate a snack. One of the bar attendants commented to me about the result of Brazil and how he had played, I told him where he came from, my brown eyes and my backpack handed me over. After that, I stopped by a store, looking for a flashlight, and when I saw that it cost 15 reais I refused to buy it because I would only spend a weekend there, I didn’t see the need. It started to get dark, I thought about going back, until the city in which at that time it was less than 16ºC turned on its lights in the square.

That square, all lit up, the beautiful lake, that air, light and pure. No, I didn’t want to go back, I wanted to see the nightlife there, even if it was to stay on a bench in the square alone. The stars, that was the most beautiful sky in the whole state, constellations shone and danced, but were they clouds? I needed to return, I started walking. In many places, there was no light at all.

In the middle of the way, heavy rain began to fall, the kind that made walking impossible. I looked for shelter and ended up stumbling on a bar, I waited for 10 minutes and it didn’t stop. Well, I was wet, cold, and sad. So, why not spend what little money I have on regional cachaças? After four consecutive doses, I did not choose the fifth, because I needed to climb a fucking dark saw, on a muddy road, with dogs that could bite my tail.

The rain didn’t stop, and I was half drunk, not paying much attention to anything, I just decided to go up. I realized that I would only see if I used the flashlight on my cell phone, and that’s what I did. It was 12ºC, everything was dark, it was difficult to walk, the precipitation was aggressive, I barely saw what was in front of me, it felt like an Outlast 2 scene. After that nightmare of seeing my breath condensing for the first time, I arrived perfectly “well” to the hotel.

It didn’t take long and my only communication with the outside world had crashed due to the rain, that’s right, my cell phone was dead. Well, I changed my clothes and put that seedling I was using to dry. Thirty minutes later, someone knocks on my door. Upon opening I see that he was a man, who was also between 30 and 35 years old, good looking and strong, named Lucas Schneider, he was Luciana’s boyfriend. As a good host, he greeted me and informed me that the living room would be open to visitors.

I was already slightly drunk, however, I had already lost so much, that staying in a room looking at the wall didn’t seem like a good idea, it was a Friday night, I didn’t want to sleep early or study. Well, at least I could try to buy a pizza there to get my mood back. However, not every idea that seems good at first is confirmed, this is a fact that I insist on forgetting.

I waited a few minutes for them to settle down and open the living room to go there. Can you hear that? It’s Jazz, refined, and quite alternative, I think that a wooden house, in front of a waterfall on a starry night, with this music, would be one of the most magnificent experiences that I could have. Behold, I entered the room with my shy way, awkward, but interesting way. I saw that there was a menu, I desperately looked for something to eat before I had heartburn, thus I ordered a pizza.

— Hi, Matheus, what do you think of Raimul? Asked Lucas.

— It’s pretty and calm here. It is good to get out of town a little.

The conversation was interesting, our friend was a physicist and physical education professional (ironic), he had an 11-year-old daughter named Suzanna, which he had at his first wedding. Ex-surfer, the boy was a heartthrob. Theist, his philosophical view resembled Spinoza’s naturalism. However, the impressions that hung in the air about me were already in the air before the first word.

Damn it, nobody goes to Raimul alone, and when I sent the list a second time, there was only one name and not two more. That way, it was already clear that he knew about my breakup. When the conversation reached that point, Lucas pulled out a Cachaça Mineira. I would not do it undone, in fact, I was drinking more than the engine of an Opal.

Our conversations were diverse until I told him the story above and how I had stopped there. After a while, for some reason Lucas had done meiosis and had tripled, the pizza didn’t arrive. Later, I saw everyone was doing this curious biological process. I asked for help with the cell phone problem, he used his knowledge in physics, but at that point, I felt that the cell phone was gone, that would be a problem for the future. Now I had to stay on my feet.

— So, I’m sorry, I forgot to put the pizza to bake, I’m really sorry. Luciana informed me.

— No, okay, it’s too late too and you came back tired from traveling.

They kindly gave me a bottle of water and a bag of peanuts to take to the room. I would later pay them for that favor. The next morning, the news was not the best, the cell phone had actually died. I asked if there was a way to call my parents, to let them know that I had not been attacked by the Devil of the Piroca but by rain. After speaking with my parents, I decided that I would cross the cities in search of someone to fix my cell phone.

Luckily, the Schneiders would go for a walk in the mountains. Again, they helped me and gave me a ride to Yrum, there they would go shopping and I could go on my way until I found a cell phone technician. Along the way, he talked to his sister-in-law, I don’t remember why, but I was in the passenger seat. We passed the flowery path of that mountain. In the middle of that radiant green, I saw an unusual flower, its pink color, stood out before that flowered rainbow, the first time it was special, but when I saw that these lonely flowers were on other paths of the road, I realized that it was not a fluke, those leaves fell with such a life that it was even possible to imagine hundreds of songs. I was in my private hell, walking through the sky.

— Are they cherry trees? — I asked Lucas.

— Yes, Japanese immigrants planted some of them on the way to Raimul. Lucas answered me.

I was passing through the Cherry trees valley, maybe breaking my cell phone was not so negative. I can say that after Yrum, I went to another city, but the technicians charged 150 reais minimum. I ate a snack on the way. Around three o’clock in the afternoon, I retraced my way back to Raimul by bus. I was surprised because without anything I was able to guide myself.

During these paths, luckily I met people who helped me to cross the cities, even a São Paulo student of dentistry, who personally took me to a technical store. After passing through the valley, with each city I crossed, the petals of the Cherry trees guided my path. My pain sometimes abstained from my simple and erratic adventure.

When I arrived at the hotel, I ate the cookies I had, took a shower, and went to rest. The time in this place seems to be still, I just had my company and the deep silence, there was only the noise of the waterfall, no music, no voice, there was nothing and no one. I was the slave and the king of silence, a sensation that I never experienced in my life, there was no comfort, affection, sermon, pain, there was only my conscience, which at that ecumenical moment was at peace.

Romance based on real facts

All characters and places had their name changed.

Author: Matheus B. S. Brandão

Reviewer: Gabriel A. Correia