locoluis

[locoluis]

A short list of my OCs

In this post, I want to publish some references and a short summary describing some of my many OCs.

This is a work in progress.

Before I start, let me talk about my author avatar, Locoluis, “Howling mad Luis” in English. He's based on my real self, though he goes out a lot more, is much more imposing and way better at a lot of things than I am. He's a humble, unattractive, absent-minded, stubborn, impulsive, opinionated and rather boorish man of many talents, though he's still a code monkey like me.

My OCs belong to three separate stories, though they may be considered to belong to the same universe, as some characters from different stories have met each other.

The Evans family

The green-eyed, four-children Evans family is currently taking the spotlight among my many OCs. They came into existence while I was playing Drawception, I got the prompt "Drawing on the walls", so I went for a kid's stick people doodle of her family.

I'm not sure why they ended up being Welsh, as until that point I had no idea about Welsh culture or anything. Nowadays I entertain the idea that they live in a cottage near some small, remote-ish town somewhere in The Valleys, about a couple hours away from Cardiff by bus.

Frank, b.1977. Black hair, glasses, 195cm tall, loving and caring father, lanky-looking but very strong, scary and skilled with his fists when provoked, though he avoids conflict. He's a registered nurse. Upon the death of his mother Hedwig (from whom he got his black hair), his father Caedfal entrusted him the family cottage.

Kelly (née Morgan), b. 1978. Shoulder-length light blond hair, pointy nose, 170cm tall, loving but strict, fussy and a neat freak. Has a part-time remote job as an accountant. I'm not good at drawing people of different ages, so she often looks much younger than she actually is. Kelly's parents, Ethan and Jane, are alive and well.

Frank, b.1977. Black hair, glasses, 195cm tall, loving and caring father, lanky-looking but very strong, scary and skilled with his fists when provoked, though he avoids conflict. He's a registered nurse. Upon the death of his mother Hedwig (from whom he got his black hair), his father Caedfal entrusted him the family cottage.

Kelly (née Morgan), b. 1978. Shoulder-length light blond hair, pointy nose, 170cm tall, loving but strict, fussy and a neat freak. Has a part-time remote job as an accountant. I'm not good at drawing people of different ages, so she often looks much younger than she actually is. Kelly's parents, Ethan and Jane, are alive and well.

Frank and Kelly knew each other since early childhood, but only started dating during their university years; they have three daughters and a son:

Mary, b. 2001. Very long strawberry blond hair, quite skinny though with nice legs she's quite eager to show off. 175cm tall, outgoing, rebellious, reckless, impulsive and rather stupid. She loves music and can play the guitar and other instruments. She also does modelling. Has a boyfriend named Alfred James, though their relationship is fairly unstable.

Pam, b. 2005. Ginger hair with pigtails. 155-160cm tall, sensitive, considerate, anxious, shy and self-conscious about her body. She's also ridiculously cute, and puberty hit her like a train, which unfortunately means she gets a lot of unwanted attention. She's artistically talented, and has a beautiful singing voice. A remarkable student, she does well in all subjects except PE, which she hates with a passion. She's also addicted to chocolates, which she gets in a steady supply from her many secret admirers, including her classmate Arthur Jones, who she may date eventually, just not now.

Annie, b. 2008. Short auburn hair with a fringe, buck teeth. 135-145cm tall, quite silly, tomboy-ish and fun loving, loves gardening, rabbits and rabbit-themed things, and playing with dirt, has trouble concentrating in classes. She's not a pretty girl, but her charisma, playfulness and innocent irreverence has secured her a job as a child model. She's in a relationship with a boy named Harold Brown, who is two years her senior.

Rob, b. 2011. Ginger hair swept to the side, glasses, 120-130cm tall, not quite a child genius but still very smart and imaginative, loves reading, writing stories and stargazing before sunrise. Even as a toddler, he was quick to figure out how to use smartphones and computers. Amelia Thomas is a blonde girl one year his junior, and they seem to like each other a lot. Amelia's sister Emilia is one of Pam's classmates.

They have a black cat named Snuggles, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Corduroy, a Welsh Sheepdog named Liz, and a few sheep and other animals.

Lidia's coven

Now on to the witches, all of which are OCs I created during 2021 while playing Drawception.

Lidia Salazar, b. 1990 in Chiloé Island, Chile. 175cm tall, waist-length brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin... and breasts the size of basketballs, which she claims are naturals.

I loved her design so much that I became quite addicted at drawing her on Drawception... and that got me into trouble at some point. At some point I started drawing a slimmed down version of her, which carried upon her first appearances on Interference; that was just a temporary form, an illusion. There were some lessons I needed to learn and some disruptive behaviour I needed to correct, but bodyshaming her is not a valid form of criticism, so now she's back to her voluptuous self.

She found out about her powers and her past during her 17th birthday. Before that, she was a smart but rather mean, grumpy and rebellious schoolgirl.

She later got a degree in Chemistry and a job at Tarasov Labs, a biotechnology and, later, bioinformatics company. But that's just her day job. She practices witchcraft mainly at night. She also streams in Twitch and has an OnlyFans account. Sometimes she travels to space in order to mine asteroids for valuable metals and gems. She also works as a plus-size model from time to time. Eventually, she becomes quite wealthy.

She's the latest in a series of incarnations, all of them named "Lidia" and raised by adoptive parents; she was originally born in Crete in 1514 BC, or so she claims. She doesn't actually remember much from her past incarnations tho. Anyways, she's a very ancient and potentially very powerful witch; however, as her current incarnation is relatively young, she has a long way before mastering her powers.

Nevertheless, she ends up becoming the leader of her own coven. The following are her “sisters”.

Sonia Lincomán, long black hair, brown eyes. Aside from being a witch, she's an airline pilot. Sonia has two twin daughters, Sofía and Rebeca White, both grey-eyed redheads like their late father, who also became witches and joined Lidia's coven.

Alfonso Salazar, nephew of Lidia's adoptive father, Rebeca's husband and the only male human in the coven.

Yolanda Thévenet, Chilean of Haitian descent, from a family of Vodou priests. Aside from being a witch, she's a sax player and a swimsuit and lingerie model.

Nina Rojas, black hair in twin braids, she's the youngest witch in the coven. Has two friends, Felipe and Lalo; one day, Lidia found them trespassing on her house, and Lidia turned Nina into a witch by biting her shoulder.

Porotito is Lidia's pet black cat and familiar, and the coven's mascot. While he usually manifests as a cat, sometimes he assumes an anthropomorphic form.

Sueños del Sur - the Martínez Gómez family

In 1994, when I was still in high school, I started writing a story about a lower-middle-class family living in a town on the coast in southern Central Chile, which took place between 1994 and 1998.

I once tried publishing this story as a webcomic, but years later I found myself unhappy with the result, and so I put the project on hold. I plan to make a complete reboot of the story during 2023.

Juan Carlos Martínez Nishida (b. 1956), son of a Chilean marine biologist and a Japanese school teacher. Intelligent, optimistic and cheerful, but also a bit irresponsible, he's a technician who doesn't last long in the same job. He likes to listen to the problems of others and to give advice.

Clara Gómez Poblete (b. 1959), born in Talca from a furniture maker and a retired textile worker. She likes to travel, to talk with friends at the Centro de Madres or at her small grocery shop. She gets bored easily, hates being alone, has a short temper and is quite bossy to her children.

Together, Juan and Clara have four children:

Hugo, b. 1979, short dark brown hair, glasses, tall and slim. Outgoing, cheerful and fun loving, but also irresponsible and lazy. He's prone to rather short-lived streaks of mad genius, often leaving many incomplete projects on his wake. Otherwise, he's a typical 90s teen who likes skating, hip-hop and playing basketball. He ends up becoming an Electric Engineer and marrying former classmate Carola Gutiérrez, with whom he has two children, Felipe and Laura.

Rosa, b. 1982, waist-length black ponytail worn in a fuchsia ribbon in a bow, thicc legs. Dreamy, compassionate, sensitive and quite active, although pessimistic and prone to intense mood swings. She's been great at cooking since childhood and also loves swimming and staying outside in the cold. Now a married pastry chef, has a fraternal twin son and daughter.

Eliana, b. 1984, short (140 cm as an adult), very skinny girl with very long brown hair (310 cm at her longest). Perfectionist, stubborn, ambitious, studious and elitist. She's also incredibly quick and agile, though also very weak and needs to sleep a lot. She enjoys reading, solving puzzles and knitting. She later becomes a Paediatrician, gets married and has a daughter named Violeta.

Pedro, b. 1985. Darker skinned, robust, muscular and unusually strong. While the four siblings practised Karate during childhood, Pedro was the best of them. Brave, courageous, proud and eager to show his skills and training. He became quite popular at his town, earning a lot of respect and admirers even as a child. As an adult, he works as a trucker and often participates in MMA events in Brazil. Unlike his siblings, he had lot of girlfriends through the ages and never married.

[locoluis]

Gathering at the hall.

I long had realized that it was futile to try to escape this building, when I saw another man, as lost as I was, standing at the intersection of some hallways. As he turned to the darkest one, a woman emerged from it. She ran towards the man, crying, and they hugged.

They didn't notice my presence at any time. She then brought him to a different hallway, and I followed them.

That hallway led to a large hall full of people. They were discussing the strange, dream-like physics of this building. I noticed that some people who were there just a moment ago were no longer there as I turned my head to take a look at the full room. Some empty spaces became populated by different people.

Just like the doors, windows, hallways and furniture that I saw during my endless walks through this building, people could disappear and reappear at random when they ceased to be observed.

They all knew about it, and were trying to find a way to get out of there, just like me. But it was as though they all had goldfish-like memories, unable to remember what they talked about moments ago, and hence unable to recollect each other's experiences and to reach a solution.

Then the woman started counting. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.

Other people started imitating them. One, two, three, four. The room then became full of people, and took a brighter form, like that of a school cafeteria. At times, some people were out of sync with the mantra, but they caught up quickly.

A set of speakers and a tape sound recorder and player appeared. They agreed to record the mantra and to play it on a loop. The continuous counting song had an effect that neutralized the building's randomness and made it a brighter, more realistic place.

Then my head started hurting. The excess information was too much for my brain to handle. Dreams are not supposed to make sense. It's the brain trying to clean itself up from excess, useless data. It's simply not powerful enough to render a coherent, deterministic dream world in such detail.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to wake up.

[locoluis]

A guide to the Interference palette

This is a short guide to the Interference colour palette. It's primarily meant for people suffering of colour vision deficiencies and people interested in improving their colour use in Interference drawings.

There are 36 colours in the palette, 6 greys plus 10 colour hues with 3 shades each. Actually, there are 9 hues; I'll get to that later.

K0 is black. K1 to K4 are shades of grey. K5 is white.

R1, R2, R3 are red.

O1, O2, O3 are orange.

Y1, Y2, Y3 are yellow.

G1, G2, G3 are green.

C1, C2, C3 are cyan.

U1, U2, U3 are blue (azure, actually).

I1, I2, I3 are indigo.

P1, P2, P3 are purple.

S1, S2, S3 are spring green.

B1, B2, B3 are brown.

Actually, orange and brown are pretty much the same hue:

The colours in the orange and brown columns are the tints, shades and tone of orange.

So, which colours should we use for each kind of object?

Human skin colours: B1, O1, B2, O3, B3.

R1 and R2 for blood. R3 for tongue, and for blush/sunburn on light skin.

Greenery: Y1, G1, G2, G3, S1, S2, S3.

Day sky: C3, U3, U2. Night sky: U1, K0. Water: C2, C1, U1

Wood: K0, K1, K2, R1, B1, O1, B2, O3

[locoluis]

You're desperately clinging to a self-reinforced lie.

You know the truth. You're unwilling to accept it.

You want things to be different. You want everyone to tell you that things are the way you want them to be.

I'm not that person. I'm not a liar. I'm not your friend, your ally.

The emperor is naked. The emperor is a big fat ugly naked man.

You're no princess, fool.

[locoluis]

Pam's visit to the doctor

DISCLAIMER: This is a fictional story. I have no medical knowledge, so the following is all artistic licence and stuff taken from the web. Please consult a proper medical professional if you experience any of the symptoms described below. Oh, and sorry for the sloppy writing.

It has been from bad to worse during the last weeks. I don't like summer, I get way too sweaty and dehydrated. I get sunburned easily. I am self conscious about my body and will need to wear less than the normal amount of clothing I usually enjoy wearing, which attracts the stares of people who look like they haven't seen a girl with more than a B cup in their entire lives.

Like they never get out of this town.

I like going to the city, even though the climate is warmer there than up here in the hills, because nobody bats an eye about my appearance there, or at least not that much. The city centre is a couple hours away by bus. Only a few, elderly people are joining me in this trip I absolutely need to carry out.

The local paediatricians are as useless as the painkillers they prescribe. One of them said: “ At this point, you should consider going to an adult's doctor. ” Madam, I'm only twelve, and you're supposed to be able to take care of people through their late teens. Don't come at me with such rubbish.

Then my PE teacher recommended me this children's hospital in the city, and I got an appointment. I got so stressed during the bus trip that the box of chocolates that I brought with me didn't last long enough. I hope this isn't as bad as it feels.

Even though this is the second time I've seen this particular lady, I immediately recognised her. Shorter than me, dangerously skinny, with a childish face despite being in her mid-thirties, and a brunette ponytail of ridiculous length.

— Pamela Evans. I remember you.

— Dr. Eliana Martínez. You were the lady who awarded me the gold medal at the swimming competition a few months ago.

— Indeed. That was… a random, unusual philanthropic gesture from me. I must confess that your victory caught me by surprise, as you looked like you didn't even want to participate.

— Well, Mum taught me to swim at an early age, and she really wanted me to participate. But I hate PE with a passion, and it was really embarrassing for me to be in a swimsuit with all those people around. You can guess why.

— Yeah, I can relate, having been pregnant once. Never again.

I couldn't quite hide my amazement. How does such a twiggy lady manage to have a child growing inside such a tiny belly?

— Indeed, I have a daughter. Her name is Violeta, and she will soon be bigger than me. I carried my baby through full term, with no complications, shattering all expectations. I guess I'm a woman after all, ha ha ha. But enough about me; please tell me what brings you here.

I took a long breath.

— Doctor, during the last few weeks it's been difficult for me to concentrate in class, to get asleep, to get enough rest. I sweat way too much. I feel a lot of anxiety, even to the point of paranoia. Sometimes I feel my heart beating too hard and too fast. Sometimes I feel a burning sensation in my chest. And I've been putting on quite some weight, though I'm not sure how much of that is just going through puberty.

— Well, body changes are normal through puberty, and girls grow and develop at different rates.

— I'm aware of that. All my classmates still look like children. I'm the only one with the shape of a grown-up woman at twelve.

— About that. When I was twelve, it was the exact opposite. The other girls were all grown up, while I still look like a ten years old.

— Well, you sure are tiny, even compared to my classmates.

— Yeah, yeah. Now that I think about it, you look a lot like one of mine. Blue eyes, a different hairstyle and nose shape, a slimmer waist, but otherwise she was a dead ringer for you.

— Even her breast size?

— Indeed. She was curvy and gorgeous, and all the boys were crazy for her, but she only had eyes for one boy… who just wasn't ready for a relationship. And it made me cringe that she didn't seem to feel pretty enough, that she wore more make-up than was necessary, plus her dangerously short, tight-fit school pinafore dress… she looked ridiculous.

— Oh, I have some classmates who are like that. Not me, though; I already get way too much attention without doing anything with my looks.

— Well, you seem more like the forbidden snack type, which ironically is more attractive for some men than the overly sexy type.

— … Ach-y-fi.

— … Excuse me? I'm not a native English speaker, and that's a word I haven't heard before.

— Oh, that's a local expression of disgust. Like, it seems like I can't avoid the male gaze.

— That's their problem, Miss Evans, not yours. Don't make it your problem. I've got nothing here, yet men still stare.

— Well, your body type is even more unusual…

— I know. But you have to excuse me, this is getting way off-topic. I don't usually talk to my patients about my own childhood, and I'm talking to you like we knew each other from long ago.

— Well, I don't mind. Yours seems to have been an interesting childhood.

— Indeed, but that's not why you're here. So let me get through this. Most of the issues that you describe are not necessarily associated with puberty, and no sign of pain or discomfort is worth getting glossed over. First of all, please stand on the scale to get your height and weight measured.

I do. To no surprise, I'm overweight. She also checked my heart rate and blood pressure.

— Now, tell me. Tea, coffee, carbonated drinks. How much do you drink each day?

— Not much, actually. I drink a couple cups of tea each day. Unlike the rest of my family, who just can't get enough of it. And they drink green tea, which tastes horrible to me.

— Hmm. What about chocolate?

She stopped talking when she noticed the sheer expression of horror in my face.

— What? Did I hit a nerve, Miss Evans? Please tell me how much do you eat everyday. Answer truthfully.

I started crying uncontrollably. She patiently bears with me through this.

— … Doctor. I have a lot of admirers. Every day I get several boxes of chocolate in the mail. And I can't control myself.

— Well, chocolates have a high calorie count due to their sugar and fat content. And the symptoms you've been experiences are consistent with an excessive chocolate intake.

— And now you're telling me that I have to eat less chocolates. As if my life wasn't horrible enough.

— Well, at least you don't have acne… yet.

— ACNE!? Oh my God! I need to stop eating chocolates right now!

— Well, acne is more of an issue with eating lots of carbohydrates and dairy products, and there's no consensus about the link between acne and chocolate consumption. But I still advise you to reduce the amount of chocolate you eat everyday.

— I understand.

— To prevent acne, you should eat more fruits, vegetables and fish. Drinking green tea is also good against acne, and it has many more health benefits. It contains caffeine, so it too must be consumed in moderation.

— Green tea. As I said, I don't like it.

— Add lemon juice and stevia to it. There are many types of green tea, you just have to find which one is better tasting for you. And brewing it correctly is quite important in order to get it just right, not too bitter or watery.

— Well, thank you.

— I'll prescribe you some medication in order to treat the symptoms you've mentioned. But you should follow my instructions in order to attack their root cause. Stop eating so many chocolates, and come back in a month or so, in order to check your progress. I most likely won't be around, as I travel a lot and I'm currently on a temporary contract, but Dr. Spencer is an experienced paediatrician who will be able to take your case.

— I'll do. Oh, and I have a last question. Do you think I should get a breast reduction? And how do I get it on the NHS?

— Well, first of all, I don't think it's advisable to get one while you're still developing, except in extreme cases of breast hypertrophy. Second, you should get down to a stable weight, and get an assessment with a psychiatrist or psychologist. Third, as there are many women seeking to get breast reduction surgery on the NHS, the waiting list can be up to several years, and a lot of women are being turned down as not meeting their criteria. Also, private treatment is quite expensive. And… would you like me to measure you?

— Yeah, sure.

Her procedure for measuring my breast size is a bit more complicated than what I knew. She then puts the measurements on a spreadsheet, which gets her a bunch of numbers.

— Wearing a good-fitting bra can alleviate many of the issues associated with large breasts. Also, I'm recommending you some exercises that can strengthen your core muscles, and some tips to improve your posture. But I wouldn't advise a breast reduction surgery on someone like you, as its risks and consequences certainly outweigh the possible benefits. They're not that big, actually; you just have a delicate body frame. Your ideal weight is lower than that of other girls of your age and height.

— I understand.

I need to make a lot of sacrifices in order to stop feeling like this. Mum is going to stare me down and tell me: “ I told you, Pam ”. And then I'm asking her what we should do with so all those chocolates.

[locoluis]

In the presence of a legend

WARNING: This is a silly story, written by someone who’s only superficially knowledgeable about Pokémon at all. Ignore this nonsense.

It was a dark, rainy night. I couldn’t sleep, even though I was quite exhausted from walking within this vast forest. I didn’t know Kanto had anything like that.

I could barely stand up again, but I needed to get somewhere soon, as I was running out of supplies. Last time I could stand somewhere high, I saw nothing but trees surrounded by tall, impassable mountains.

I saw plenty of wild Pokémon along the way, but I could do nothing about it. I’m a technician, I make a living out of making things work for Pokémon trainers, but I know jack about Pokémon themselves.

I was supposed to reach a remote town near the west coast. The rain made the road slippery. I lost control, my car slid down a cliff. I’m glad I survived, but the car was totaled. And now I wander aimlessly, looking for any bit of civilization where I could get help.

I had again spent a whole hour lost in my thoughts, no longer caring about being soaked wet under this warm downpour, when I saw some lights flashing from within the forest, followed by the pained cry of some large beast.

Contrary to wisdom, I approached the place where the lights were coming from… and I saw her. She was the most beautiful girl I had seen in my entire life. Her long, beautiful brown hair fell gracefully over her figure, barely being messed up by the falling rain. Her waist seemed to be narrower than her thighs, and her legs were criminally long and shapely.

Not that I’m not used to young female Pokémon trainers flaunting their legs way too much — miniskirts and short shorts have been in fashion since forever. I stopped being impressed by them when I was, like, 10 years old? Yeah, that was when my childhood crush left my town to become a Pokémon trainer herself. I don’t think I’ve had any romantic interest on anyone ever since…

Until now? This girl was definitely something else, way above all others in beauty and grace. I was spying her from a safe distance, her divine appearance being in a spotlight on an otherwise pitch black forest. She froze in place for about a minute, much to my delight. But then, she ran to the light.

I followed her. Wow, she ran fast. I was quite tired, but I NEEDED to talk to her, to know her name… whether she was single…

… No, I don’t think someone like her would like me. I’m not an attractive guy.

But I needed help to get out of this place. Hopefully, she’s not lost too.

We reached the source of the light, which was starting to lose its brightness. And I could not believe what I saw.

A pokémon. But not one like I had ever seen before.

It was about three meter tall and five meters across. It had four thick, heavy legs, it was covered in thick gray fur, and its head was covered by fleshy, prehensile appendages. Two large antennae stood atop of its head. As I approached, I saw the root of a very long tail, whose end I couldn’t see.

The girl then threw a Pokéball to the beast, and it was gone. She then dropped to her knees, and panted heavily.

— Did you look at that thing? — she said — I don’t think I have seen such a Pokémon species before. I have always dreamed of catching a Pokémon that was unknown to science, but I never thought that this thing could be hiding so close to home.

I looked around. There was no one else, which means that she had already noticed my presence. I tried to approach her, but I was way too nervous.

She looked towards me, and smiled. — Hey, come here, I don’t bite! Who are you?

— My name is Shizuo. I work as a junior technician at Nibi Museum of Science. I used to be an apprentice at Cinnabar Lab shortly before the eruption that destroyed the island. And you?

— My name is ████. I’m a Pokémon trainer, as you could see. Man, I can’t wait to show Red this pokémon I just caught. So, what brought you to this forest?

My eyes opened up widely when she mentioned that name. Of course I should have had guessed up already, I just saw her discovering and catching a brand new pokémon, but this girl was not just yet another trainer.

— Excuse me before I answer your question… you mean Red, the legendary Pokémon trainer!? Do you know him?

She laughed me, making a quite smug pose.

— Oh, well, I guess I do, in fact, know him quite a bit… He’s my boyfriend, after all.

— …Your boyfriend…

… damn.

— … Excuse me?

— I mean, I just got exposed as someone who knows very little about Pokémon. Even the most ignorant person in Kanto has heard about Red and his legendary feats. But I didn’t know that he had a girlfriend at all. I’m sorry if I didn’t recognize you, I guess I’m that ignorant.

— Oh, hahahaha! Don’t be sorry, Shizuo. I’m used to, well, being completely unrecognizable. Let me explain things this way. Red is very aloof, he only wants to be the best Pokémon trainer of all, he doesn’t give a damn about being famous and all, yet he’s the single most famous and renowned trainer out there. Meanwhile, me. I just wanted to be famous, to be an inspiration for Pokémon trainers worldwide. Yet nobody knows about me. Ironic, huh?

I nodded, though not quite believing that someone like her could be anything but world famous.

— I proved my worth by defeating the Elite Four, and then Red, several times. Red and me, being at the top of the Kanto league, were destined to fall for each other. Or so I thought…

“ I need to tell you a secret. Please don’t tell anyone… he stood me up.

— W-What!?

— It was as thought he had completely forgot about me, about the girl who had defeated him several days before, who asked him out on a date next Saturday. It was the first time anyone saw him smile since forever. He accepted. Quite enthusiastically. But he didn’t show up. And I couldn’t see him in a while.

— Oh, my God! What an […].

— I thought so at first, but then… one day I was at Professor Oak’s laboratory, then he approached me. ” Excuse me, do I know you from somewhere? That hat, those clothes, they seem oddly familiar, but I have no idea where I saw them. ” He was being honest. I could feel it, I could no longer be mad at him.

“ I didn’t answer at first. Instead, I challenged him to a Pokémon battle. Which I won, again… Then HE asked me out. So I told him about who I was. “ ████? Uh... sorry, I know no one with that name. I don’t recognize your face either. I’m sure I could have remembered the face of a girl who defeated me before. That…I don’t think it had ever happened before.

“ I could no longer muster the courage to remind him that he stood up. Apparently, I’m THAT forgettable. Professor Oak himself said “ A girl defeating Red would be major news in the Pokémon league. I can’t believe what I just witnessed, and I’m sure that I wouldn’t forget it if it had happened before. ”

“ But they forgot again. It took a third time to eventually become at all special in Red’s eyes. If his brain forgot yet again about my existence, there was at the very least something in his heart that lingered. I could see it in his face of horror as he saw me again the last time, as he struggled to try and remember my name. I couldn’t get angry at him anymore. I just had to get used to it.

— That… that’s quite an unbelievable story. I mean, how could anyone just forget about you, about your face, about your name. I mean, you’re really pretty, and you’re a skilled, experienced Pokémon trainer. You should be world famous, just like Red, if not more.

— Oh, you’ll forget about me too. And that’s okay. In fact, you should just forget about me. I’m taken, you know.

I couldn’t help but blush a little, but then I shrugged it off. It’s not like I could stand a chance anyway, neither is like my heart was really available…

— Well, in that case, I should be going. But before that, let me answer your question, what I’m doing here. I’ve been lost for several days. Could you please give me directions towards the next town?

— Sure, no problem.

I wrote this story down on my way back to Pewter City, as soon as the rain stopped and I could take my notes from my backpack. Guess what? She was right, I don’t remember her face or her name anymore, only that she was stunningly beautiful… and that she was Pokémon Trainer Red’s girlfriend. That’s all I need to know.

[locoluis]

Pandemic

Paul, a young man lies agonizing at an hospital’s bed. Of his old high-school friends, he was the last one remaining alive.

He remembers the good times he had with them, the days they skipped school in order to go to the park. There, they drank, they smoked, they did what they wanted to do. They seemed happy. Happy times indeed.

But they always wanted more. Their intoxicated, sinful bodies demanded more. Their eager, immature minds respected no limits in their curiosity, in their desire for new experiences. And there was always someone who could provide them.

Time passed, and the purveyor became a slave driver, a lout who became rich out of the needs of the misguided youth, one of the main financiers of several civil rights pressure groups. While he remains at large, largely unknown to the public, many of his former customers lost their minds, their freedom, their lives.

Paul learned the truth too late, when his illness was already terminal. He learned about the death of his friends from their families, but he had no family of his own. No one would visit him. No one cared anymore if he lived or died. His world of love and freedom was already gone.

A very old man entered the dormitory. Despite his advanced age, Professor Frederick was in quite good health, and very well capable of standing for hours in front of disaffected high-school students, attempting to lecture them about the evils of the world, even if only one of them would pay attention.

His presence was never welcome for Paul. His words were brutally honest and contrary to everything he stood for until the day he got his illness. Professor Frederick was, like Paul’s late father, the face of a truth he never wanted to accept, the worst enemy of the Revolution that his generation wanted to bring.

Yet, Professor Frederick was right, and that fact was more hurtful than everything else Paul suffered during his life. That pain, in fact, was the last thing he felt before he died.

Professor Frederick vowed that, from this day until the day he died, he would denounce the evils brought by the Revolution and attempt to steer the youth away from Paul’s fate. Eventually, he would retire from teaching and become a full-time preacher, a figure much maligned by social networks but loved by those he helped to free from the yoke of drug addiction.

[locoluis]

Ei, Sr. █████

Você ainda se lembra daquela garota que conheceu na praia enquanto escapava do inverno rigoroso de seu país? Jovem, linda e misteriosa. Ela fez você aprender o significado da palavra “Saudade”. Seu sorriso fez você sonhar com uma vida melhor, longe do estresse da grande cidade, um paraíso no ritmo da nossa bossa nova e do nosso samba.

Eu estava fazendo reparos nas paredes do nosso bar quando encontrei este recibo antigo. Ele tinha seu blog pessoal escrito nele. Ela me disse que um homem de meia idade deu a ela quando ele pagou por sua bebida. Ela jogou o recibo no lixo, sem visitar seu blog.

Você é um homem obcecado e sinistro. Desde que você retornou ao seu país, a maioria de seus posts falam sobre sua viagem ao Brasil, sobre a garota que você conheceu na nossa praia. Você até escreveu um longo e repugnante poema para ela, exaltando todos os seus atributos físicos. Tudo o que você parece desejar é voltar aqui e levá-la com você, para tornar seus sonhos realidade. Certo?

Por favor, deixe-me dizer-lhe que você está perdendo seu tempo. Antônia sorri assim para todos os nossos clientes. Faz parte do trabalho dela, queremos que as pessoas se sintam bem-vindas aqui. Mas você nunca foi bem vindo. Ela não estava sorrindo para você, ela estava zombando de você. Homezinho rechonchudo, fora de forma, careca, barba loira, pescoço queimado. Uma imitação de um homem, de quem só vale seu dinheiro.

Por algum motivo, você parou de postar há alguns meses. Eu não sei se você vai ler isso. Tudo o que eu quero te dizer é que eu estarei esperando por você aqui no nosso bar. Nós abrimos todos os dias da semana, da tarde à meia-noite. Meu nome é Gilberto, tenho 25 anos, fui o melhor capoeirista na escola e acabei de ganhar meu primeiro campeonato regional no BJJ. Antônia não quer que eu brigue com você, mas é assim que resolvemos as coisas de onde eu vim, como os homens.

Antônia é minha. Você não vai tirá-la de mim.

[locoluis]

Final boss

Dusk. A breach of protocol. The emperor, a tall, wiry, very old man, just wanted to lose himself to the forest for a while, so he could clear his mind and focus on new ideas. The life of a leader can be too stressful at times.

Many times he escaped this way. Many times he would return to his palace in the early morning, to resume his daily routine. But this time, he wasn’t alone.

— Our people has suffered your tyranny for too long! But not any longer! Today, without the protection of your soldiers. There’s only you and me. I will put an end to all this!

— Tyranny, you say? — the emperor replies, with a smug smile in his face — You’re such a little nameless young man. You have no idea how things were before I conquered this land. Oh, let me tell you some things so you may know what to tell your people about your victory. Because if you kill me, my throne is yours.

— I don’t want your stupid throne!

— THEN HOW ARE YOU GOING TO FREE YOUR PEOPLE, HUH? Have you thought this through? Do you think that my place will become empty when I’m gone? Didn’t you think how many people want to become the Emperor too?

— Your place… I just wanted to destroy it… I… I guess it will be harder than I thought.

—  Bingo! See what happens when you use your brain? I guess that you’re not as stupid as I thought. Now I hope that you can realize how flawed are your ambitions, how futile will be to merely kill me. Any idiot can kill another man. But there are far too many idiots among your people. You know what you all need? HEROES! Do you even know what IS an hero!?

The young man stood silent this time. It was, indeed, too much of an understanding for someone like him.

— Now you will sit down and listen to me, because I have many things to tell you about how things work. First of all, a bit of history. While you’re here, covered in filth, desiring to kill me, at your age I was already commanding a large army. At the age you were when your father killed himself and you were crying like a baby, I was crowning myself emperor, after ending a bloody civil war. I’m not just a “tyrant”, as you put it, if you even know the meaning of that word. I’m an educated man, born of a humble teacher, a wondrous woman who taught me how to think by myself. You saw your father’s face, you saw him die. I never could enjoy such a privilege. He abused of my mother as though she was a fruit from a tree, from which you eat the flesh and throw away the remains. Yes, he threw my mother away, leaving her to her own fate.

— … h-how did you know about my father?

— Same face as yours. He worked for many years as a clerk, managing the official records and ensuring that taxes were in order. At one time I was visiting your town and supervising the work at the municipality. Who would have thought that such an exemplary employee would kill himself.

— … I didn’t know that he worked for your administration.

— Perhaps there are many things that you didn’t know. That no one else now. Such is the problem with suicide, a coward’s way to deal with problems, to ruin the life of your family, to reject the possibility of a solution, to waste your own life. The gods have made us strong, but many of us choose to be weak. Stupidity instead of intelligence, easy way out instead of problem solving, cowardice instead of bravery.

— … My family suffers because of his death.

— And that’s not my fault. In fact, to this day your mother, like all widows through the Empire, receives a monthly pension, which is financed by the taxes we collect from the farmers and the merchants. It will never replace your father, but at least she has something to bring to the table. If the Empire didn’t exist to guarantee the safety of the People, your family would have died out of starvation long ago. And you seek to destroy it!?

— I… I didn’t know any of this! I was always jealous because we are poor and you are rich!

— It’s nearly impossible for a lone, crippled widow with children, to fight her way out of poverty! Such is the fate to which your father condemned your family! But there’s a way out, right here in front of me! An able, young man full of life, one who can work and take care of your mother and your young siblings! I can put a man like you to good use! You can earn a lot of money if you do as I say!

— … to work for you…

— Do you have any choice? I’m the emperor, I own all this land! Or should I go away and leave this land to the state it was when I encountered it? You have no idea how it was! The land of the strong, of the same kind of vile beasts that raped my mother! They will take away your mother and your sisters, to do as they please! You will either be killed or, worse, they will cut your gonads and dress you as a woman, and they will make you dance for them and take you as wife! Do you want to no longer be a man? That’s what they want. They also do it with the beasts of burden, with hinnies and with sheep. I saw them doing their thing with the beasts when we stormed their camp. Most disgusting thing I saw in my life. Killing them was too good, and we’re not murderers, but we could no longer let them be free.

— … Who were them?

— Sadly, humans like you and me, except drunk by their desires and their alcoholic drinks. Savages who couldn’t tell between good and evil, only slightly above actual beasts. They suffered from all kinds of diseases, yet they were strong enough to abuse the women and children of this land. My empire put an end to this degeneracy, we brought the light of civilization and knowledge, we brought peace and plenty. Yes, you’re poor, but back then everyone was downright miserable. And, if for some reason civilization falls, if for some reason the people destroy the laws that I gave them and decide to pursue the way of unrestrained freedom, soon the savages will return to blight this land. I won’t live forever, but as long as my children protect my legacy, we won’t allow this to happen.

The man chuckled at the emperor’s exposition as he readied himself to stand up.

— That… looks like a fantastic story. But I don’t believe in any of your words. You paint yourself like a “hero” or whatever. You’re trying to tell me that it would be worse without you. But, you know what? I don’t think so.

— Hahaha. Whatever suits you, little man. I’m offering you a chance to thrive in the world I created for your people. You don’t want it? Well, go ahead, fight me, kill me. I’m just an old man anyway. 94 years is way too much, I don’t deserve to live any longer. Now stand up and face me. But I won’t go away without a fight.

— Very well. Let’s witness the collapse of your goddamn empire.

A badly injured young man was rushed to the city’s sanatorium. His many broken bones would take many months to heal. The next morning, the emperor would address his people, with only a black eye as testimony of his fight with the son of the widow.

— To whoever has any doubt of my fitness, to whoever thinks that I’m too old for the job, should he come here and challenge me to a fair fight, so I can prove him wrong. In the name of the gods, and by order of the fair lady of Athens, I am your emperor.

[locoluis]

Stop

— Hey, you idiot! Stop it right now!

— What!? Are you talking to me, the King of █████!?

— Remember that it’s my responsibility, as your loyal minister, to ensure that you rule with the utmost justice, that you become the leader that this nation needs, an example for all to follow.

— But can’t I have a little fun?

— Yes, but there are limits. Your great-grandfather, King Dumbert, died because of his own excesses, taking the life of eight dancers in the process. Your grandfather, King Caleb, passed a law so that no one, whether slave or free, should be forced to work beyond their means, without a necessary rest between each activity. The law was quite specific regarding the maximum time that, for example, a dancer, should be asked to dance.

— But I like this dancer! I like to see her move while I drink and feast!

— And she, alongside her troupe, are doing their best. But it’s been hours already. You can’t see it because you’re drunk, but she’s already withering away, overworked by your demands. You have already broken the law that your grandfather passed. I think that the best you could do to amend your fault is to give these girls some weeks of paid vacation.

— Oh, how I hate you! I hate it how you’re always right! I can’t deal you any kind of retort to your wise words. What am I doing here? Why am I the goddamn king!? It can’t be God who put me here. I… I don’t want this anymore. All that I want in my life is to drink my sorrows away, to lose myself to the rhythm of her beautiful hips.

— Don’t make a hasty decision. Stop drinking, go to sleep, and let’s talk about it when you’re sober.

— I don’t want to be sober anymore. You said that I can’t see it. I saw it all this time in her eyes. She only dances because I command her to do so. But she can’t stand the sight of my face. She will never be mine. She’d rather die than to be my wife, my queen. And I will never love someone else. But I will do as you say, because I need to be sober to tell the bad news to this kingdom.

— That’s good. Let me guide you to your royal chambers.

[locoluis]

Faint blue glow

I don’t know how much time has happened since last time we were awake. All I remember is that we were running out of power, and that death would be imminent.

The navigation map told us of the discovery of a living planet orbiting a rather minor star. The size of both star and planet, the planet system’s configuration, and its dominant radiation spectrum all told us that, if intelligent life were to develop in that planet, it would have just enough time to build its own primitive space ships and stations and to begin exploring the other planets of this star system. They would be able to understand their fate as their star burns and the planet leaves the star’s rather narrow habitable zone, but they wouldn’t be able to escape it.

Right now, that was all we had. We were doomed the moment our engines failed and we started drifting away from our course, becoming lost in interstellar space. But this ephemeral star, one that we missed behind a much larger one, could be our salvation. Perhaps, if we made contact, we could save this civilization from its doom.

As we approached the planet, we started finding out many things about its civilization and technology level. The planet emitted a faint blue glow, as a consequence of its dense atmosphere and vast oceans of liquid hydric acid. It appears that, as expected from a living planet rich in said solvent, oxygen and carbon are the most important elements for its lifeforms.

We were also greeted by strange forms of electromagnetic radiation, which made more sense as we approached further. The computer interpreted many of those pulses as binary signals, non-repeating patterns of pulses of variable length, which were nearly integer multiples of a short interval of time that was probably meaningful for the intelligent life of this planet.

Soon, the computer detected other signals, which were in the form of waves of varying frequency and amplitude. My sister recognized these waves somehow, and made a program that simulated a mechanical device that made vibrations following these waves. The computer then made some strange sounds that we had never listened to before. My sister changed some parameters, and… it was music. Very ancient-sounding music. Pleasing music. Some sort of lullaby…

However, after a few seconds, a completely different kind of sound was being made from a different source, at the same time, and somewhat keeping the rhythm of, the pleasing music. But this one wasn’t pleasing at all. It sounded very alien, very deformed, like a gas that was blown through a very rough tube. We soon realized that it too followed a non-repeating pattern, as though such a distorted noise was meaningful. And then a third source made a very similar but distinct noise, with the same kind of patterns.

My sister conjectured that the “tube” could be part of the anatomy of this living species, that gas was being blown into and out of the tube by some kind of organ in the body. Could it be that they’re using that kind of sound to communicate between each other? That seems very alien.

Another kind of signal was at first very weird-looking. A series of intense periodic pulses of the same length; between each of these pulses was a rather chaotic pattern of waves. The computer soon noticed that between 405 of these periodic pulses the pattern of waves repeated itself, with slight changes. We put a diagram of the intensities of these waves in our display, as a matrix with 405 rows and an unknown number of columns, as we received it.

A room, somewhere in that planet. A strange creature was moving in front of our eyes. What appeared as a dark spot on its surface was quickly revealed as a cavity. The tube. The movements matched the sound patterns from one of the sources. The moments it closed its tube, the sound was stopped.

We analyzed the signal and found no evidence of information that could be interpreted as different wavelengths of radiation; the signal only conveyed intensity. Perhaps this is the way how those creatures perceive the world, unable to experience the full range of electromagnetic radiation.

We approached further, and more signals were perceived. Many signals of different kinds, a whole planet communicating between each other. We tried to focus on the signals that conveyed images, which sadly were the least numerous and most difficult to convey. Most of those featured different individuals of the same species, often moving their tubes, often displacing themselves around. We saw a few other lifeforms, but none of them made any sound. They had different means of locomotion, some moved using appendices coming from their bodies, others had wheels and resembled mechanical devices. None of them were anything like us.

The computer’s alarms suddenly went on. A violent nuclear fission reaction happened somewhere in the planet. A vast amount of energy was concentrated in a very small place. Nuclear fission for us was an extremely dangerous, long-obsolete means for producing energy, which our theoretical physicists warned us about long enough. Whatever they did, it was surely a planet-wide disaster.

Then, a sudden realization terrified us. Did they weaponize it? Did they made a bomb out of a nuclear fission reactor? Are they messing with the powers holding together the very fabric of reality, just to cause harm to each other?

We didn’t advance further. We sent a small robot to continue its journey to the planet. What it discovered was horrifying. Not just one, but two bombs were just thrown. Right after they discovered how to make these bombs, they used it against their enemies. In many places, a larger number of individuals were held as prisoners, and subjected to the most horrific tortures. Others were dying of hunger, while some of them had plenty of food. Many of them were fighting for land, like our ancestors did during the very dawn of our civilization before we realized that it was wrong for us to divide our planet and its limited resources.

They never advanced past that point. The fact that they can fiddle with nuclear power only makes them extremely dangerous and stupid. It’s clear that we can’t reason with this species. It’s clear that they’re doomed, that they will kill each other before their star kills their planet.

The only right thing to do for us is to let things take their course. It wouldn’t be good for us to try to save them. They will steal our tech and use it for destruction. We can’t take that risk. The Universe can’t take that risk.

We must leave as soon as possible. This star must be quarantined. We will leave a robot at the farthest rocky planets of this star, broadcasting a signal in every language we know, so that nobody else approaches this doomed world.

[locoluis]

2018

Yes, 2018. Only adults have witnessed the last millennium.

Don’t you love the nineties, its hip-hop, its acid jazz, its grunge, its alt rock? Dad music. Those who were in university during 9/11 are now in their late thirties. Most of those lucky enough to have watched Kurt Cobain live are already middle-aged.

It was a wholly different age. The web was in its infancy, cassettes were giving way to CDs, the first smart phones wouldn’t be released until 1999 in Japan.

Let me stop here. A world without smartphones. Without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram…

A WORLD WITHOUT TUMBLR.

[locoluis]

She’s just your Cosmic Girl from another galaxy.

Only superficially humanoid because of convergent evolution. She breathes a different air, she has an incompatible biology. Your bodily fluids will react with hers in a way that any 3rd year chemistry student should be able to warn you against.

Take her off her spacesuit, and you won’t love her anymore. Or is that even a “she”, you sick freak!? Why won’t your stick to your own species from your own planet?

[locoluis]

Rivals

(Note: You may not want to read this absurd little story. It’s all dialogue and no action at all. You have been warned.)

A dense forest in the mountains, somewhere in Southeast Asia. A karate man meets a long-time rival, a younger lady, a practitioner of old Japanese martial arts.

— Oh, it’s you! What a coincidence!

— Damn it! All this time I’ve been training, just meet you again! But I’m not going to fight a man with a broken arm, that wouldn’t be fair!

— Fight me? Is there any pending business between us? I thought that we made it clear the last time.

— Until I saw the video of our fight at the tournament. I didn’t do my best. That wasn’t really me, I was just one of the teammates. My performance was nowhere near that of our fight at the temple.

— Oh, they told me about it. You decidedly weren’t the same. But that happened a quite long time ago. Are you still dreaming to fight me one last time?

— Always. But I never had the chance. All this time, since my father was gone, I’ve been taking care of the dojo with my mother...

— Wait a minute. Your father is still gone!?

— He never returned home! I miss him so much! And we’re struggling to keep the dojo open! Nobody knows that I once defeated you, that my mother stopped me from killing you! But everyone knows about that fight in the tournament! Though just qualifying for the tournament is an honor by itself, for many people it’s not enough! They wanted me to win!

— Win the tournament!? Hahaha. We all want to win, but against the mercs and the freaks that pop every year out of nowhere, there’s little chance. It’s an extremely tough competition.

— I WANT TO WIN! I WANT TO BE THE CHAMPION! But what a young lady can do, a girl whose father has forsaken her!?

— WONDERS! JUST LOOK AT ME! TA-DA!

The karate man’s sister, who is also a karate practitioner herself, jumps from the top of a tree.

— Sister!? What are you doing here!

— Look at YOU, little miss copycat!?

— Don’t diss me, forsaken child! We’re not that different! My father, my brother, they never wanted me to become a fighter! Even after those criminals kidnapped me, they reluctantly taught me but the very basics of our martial arts style! I see my father everyday at home, but most of what I know about martial arts I had to learn it on my own! That’s why I was in a different team during the first tournament! That’s how I qualified to the tournament in the first place!

— Yeah, yeah, forget about the times we let you in the team instead of our father.

— Because you had no other choice, brother! Anyways, my point, little girl, is that you have to forget about your father in order to become a talented martial artist on your own! 

— That’s easy to say from your point of view! Our families are not the same!

— Of course they’re not the same! Your father abandoned you by choice, but you still have your mother! As for our family, the way has always been, my brother was to be raised by my father, while I was to be raised by my mother. Did we ever tell you that our mother died?

— … No… oh, my…

— I was still a little child when that happened! And from that day until the day they kidnapped me, all those years, he had no daughter at all! He forced me to become the woman of the house, to take care of everything while he raised my brother to follow on the family’s legacy! And afterwards, he realized that I should be able to defend myself, so he taught me… the basics.

— Wait a minute, sister! Don’t you dare paint your life like some sort of cheap drama! You can’t accuse our father of abandoning you! He has done the best he could after our mother died! And do you really think he had a choice regarding the future of us two?

— How about we all help with the house chores and we all learn martial arts together!? I already had that talk with him! But he just ignored me!

— That’s what you get for being so disrespectful to our father! Always pursuing your own way, always bragging and joking and throwing tantrums, and now it’s all his fault!? Yet when your schemes invariably fail, when you lose your fights and find yourself asking to be bailed out of your mistakes, you’re always “ I’m sorry, father! ”. Yeah, right.

— … grrr…

— That’s where your analogy fails, sister. Our father, as goofy as he might be sometimes, has always wanted the best for us two! He eventually agreed to be part of our school at your insistence, and he insists on you learning the basics because that’s how everyone, including me, has to learn this! It’s your half-decent mockery of martial arts, your desire to learn everything too fast, what has always brought ridicule to our school! Yet you always get another chance, you can’t deny that! Only following his way will bring the best of you! But you need to accept the fact that you’ll always be years behind me, because we never had any choice on this matter! You’re four years my junior! There’s no getting around that fact!

— We’ll see about that, brother! — the sister says, before leaving as quickly as she arrived.

— *sigh* Sorry about that. You know my sister, always trying to prove herself beyond her means.

— Telling me the story of your family, just like that, out of nowhere. Such indiscretion.

— Yeah. She just can’t shut up. Anyways, what I wanted to tell you, is that your father is still training somewhere. Last time I saw him, he asked me to not tell you anything, that he would return to your house when he’s ready to lead the dojo again.

— But I miss him so much! I can’t take it anymore! Where is my father!?

— I don’t know. And it’s a surprise to me that it’s been so long and he still hasn’t returned! I thought that he would be ready to return to your house long ago.

— No! Maybe something bad happened! I need to keep looking for him!

— NO!

— W-what!?

— I mean, your mother is alone at home in Japan! Why did you come here!? Why are you abandoning her!

— I haven’t abandoned her! She’s waiting for me at the hotel!

— Huh? Are there hotels near this place!?

— There’s a small town beyond that hill, complete with restaurants, Buddhist temples and two hotels.

— Wow, I thought that this place was remote enough. I think I’m going to look for a different place for retreat. Anyways, if you’re so worried about your father, maybe you should call the police or something. All I can tell you is that he was still training somewhere, in the States.

— Well, thank you for your help. I’m going to speak to my mother about this, so we decide what to do next. Please get well soon, because I’ll always be ready for our decisive final match! Sayonara!

The young lady soon disappears into the forest, leaving the karate man alone.

— (… but why!? Why it has to be me? Why won’t her father face the truth? Why won’t he tell his family the bad news? Such a coward! I’m going to give him a good beating when I get back to the city.)

[locoluis]

Hugo, Rosa, Eliana and Pedro from Sueños del Sur (OC)

[locoluis]

[locoluis]

This is not my last train service

04:00. The night watchman was startled by the unexpected lights coming from the train graveyard. A very ancient, rusty machine, originally part of the long dismantled Y█████ — B████████ line, was now painted by the colors of the new S███████ — B█████ line. Before the watchman could do anything, the train rushed to the rail track that joined the Central line, one of only two that survived from the the country’s glorious railroad past.

06:30. Nobody noticed that the system was hacked. A new train number, 64057, was assigned to the intruder in the schedule. Somehow, nobody minded its presence; probably because a four-coach train was desperately needed in the already extremely crowded new line. Though the leather in the seats appeared brand new, and the inside was clean and welcoming, the coaches lacked air conditioning and had a stale smell. Again, nobody minded; many of the passengers were already late for work.

11:45. A transportation engineer was the first to notice that the 64057 wasn’t there the day before, and that the inventory recorded in the database didn’t match the paper records. Besides the 64057, another 13 numbers were assigned; none of them were in service that day, and their whereabouts were unknown by the database.

12:10. Policemen and railroad executives surrounded the 64057 when it reached the B█████ station; they demanded that the train driver identified herself. A very old woman, dressed in the uniform that was in use during the 1940′s, greeted the people surrounding her.

— Who are you? — It was always my dream to become a train driver. Always relegated to service posts. Never in charge of the machine. Just because I’m a woman. There are others like me. We’re working for free; dead people have no use for money. You need us, because you didn’t buy enough new trains. You can’t stop us. Let us be.

However, these women ended up in the Railroad Company’s payroll anyway. After new trains were incorporated to the S███████ — B█████ line, the ghost train drivers and their rusty machines were assigned to other lines. Their extended careers lasted between 30 and 50 years.

The driver of the 64057 was both the first to come and the last to go. After having said goodbye to all of her colleagues, she knew it when her time arrived. It was a sunny afternoon back at the train graveyard, and her only witness was the granddaughter of the night watchman who saw her wake up.

The 64057 was aligned on a track that stopped at a dead end, from where it disappeared into dust; last destination: Heaven.