Gaia's messenguer.

The forest of murmurs.

-The Road!

He said while he laughed euphorically and without losing his rhythm he kept pace, that dark line was beginning to look green and tall.

-Oh! –He thought. -It looks like a forest, at least it seems like a better place to die than this f*****g desert of Burgos.

When the Sun barely touched its nest on the horizon, he reached the first traces of a path that led through grass to the forest, he turned to see the path he had traveled and raised a hand as if saying goodbye, mocking that desert that had not been able to defeat him, and he walked towards those large trees that looked like a wall, the Sun had already disappeared in the west and he took advantage of its last flashes to orient himself, surprised by the presence of those leafy trees that he had never seen in that region, despite having already seen several years working in the area, he thought as he advanced.

-A forest in Northern Mexico? I'll be damned if there are forests anywhere along the Texas border! I am beginning to believe that I made the wrong cardinal point and walked towards the South, but even then it is not possible, this forest would have to exist in the Sierra Madre Oriental, perhaps on the borders of Tamaulipas and San Luís Potosí and if so, I would have had to travel at least 600 kilometers in the 20 or so hours I have been walking, impossible even for the best of horses, furthermore; Where is the mountains or at least the mountains? Seeing more closely those trees that seemed to adjust themselves so as not to let him pass, he smiled his usual half smile, and with his ax in hand he made his way through the undergrowth, tired and hungry, he thought:

-This is more deserted than my stomach.

And he entered that imposing forest, the high canopies and the prevailing darkness did not allow him to see even a piece of the sky, his stomach demanded food and his blisters were already laughing out loud, his hand hurt terribly as he walked deeper and deeper and More in that gloomy and dark landscape, in the distance between the trees he began to perceive a slight hiss that step by step became a noise, until he heard the exact tone of the music that the stones play when they are caressed by the waters of a river, he quickened his step, excited at the possibility of at least finding water, to quench his thirst in that mysterious lost forest where nothing could be heard, not the singing of crickets or the croaking of frogs, the sound of water running through the bed of a river, it seemed to him the most beautiful classical music played by the best orchestra in the world, which perfectly set the musical background of that adventure, which several times he thought would be the last of his life, the smell of fresh water exploded in His nose and thirsty eyes became moist with emotion, as he saw a small stream passing between the trunks of those large trees about 20 meters away,

The running water resembled a dance of silver chains illuminated by the rays of the Moon, which filtered through the tops of the trees and he ran, no longer caring about losing the controlled rhythm that he had maintained all day, although he never reached where he was. He hoped he had found water, in his uncontrolled race he stumbled when he tripped over something but skillfully recomposed his step, finally reaching that stream, where he drank and washed his face, soaking the burned back of his left hand, he poured water on his shoulders and chest, which if it had not been for the cold of the breeze that moved through the trees, would have gladly taken a bath right there, he carefully removed his boots to give his mocking blisters an undeserved bath, although The water was cold, the caress he gave his feet seemed thermal, as he lay down on a flat river stone that looked like a couch, a slight drowsiness began to invade him and he reacted by scanning his surroundings as if looking for a refuge, a cave. or something that would protect him from the cold breeze that was getting stronger and stronger, he stood barefoot, searching in the darkness without being able to see beyond 3 meters, he looked for his cell phone in the pendant around his neck and turned it on, the weak The light that came out of the digital screen was very useful to him in that almost total darkness, helping him to illuminate his surroundings and walking slowly he found a large ball on the ground, like a large round stone that something or someone had moved from its place, Being alert, he moved it a little with his bare foot, regretting having done so, since he remembered that he was not wearing his safety boots, he moved it with his hand without stopping shining his cell phone on it, as if waiting for some animal or something to come out. From under that strange round stone that didn't seem so heavy to him, nothing happened and he took it in his hands, it weighed about 5 kilos, he carried it using his abdomen and his right arm, he studied it, illuminating it.

-Well... if you didn't look like a basketball I would swear you were a watermelon; Round but finally watermelon!

He said to himself as if speaking to the thing, with it between his belly and chest, he turned off the cell phone and putting it in his overalls pocket, he headed to the most illuminated part of that area, the bank of the stream where the silver chains continued to carry out their work. beautiful dance, he sat on the stone couch and took out the folding knife 07 from its sheath, to carefully cut a crude triangle from that strange greenish ball and sniffed it; Yes it was a watermelon! Round but finally a watermelon, with his usual half smile, he began to slice it and devour it.

-Dammit! –He thought. -I would gladly change my ax for a spoon, but no way.

And when he finally finished a little more than half of that round watermelon, he placed it on the side of the stone couch and lay down. That improvised natural bed seemed so comfortable to him that if it hadn't been for the cold breeze that ran between the trees, he would have fallen asleep right there.