Hammya awoke in a strange room, where she saw Tinbari watching a girl sitting on a bed in a gown, watching TV. The girl turned and smiled, it was Gabriela. Hammya thought that smile was for her, but quickly realized it wasn't; behind her, someone walked through her, it was Candado and her parents.

"Gabi, how are you?" Europa asked as she opened the door.

"Sitting, XD," Gabriela replied.

Candado was the first to reach her, not only that, but he also climbed onto the bed and hugged Gabriela.

"Oh, Candadito," she began to console him.

He started to cry. "Hey, hey, it's okay."

Europa and Arturo approached. "We were worried when we heard you suddenly passed out."

Gabriela began to rub Candado's back as she hugged him. "It's okay, I'm fine, I'm fine."

"You're in a hospital, how can you be fine?" Europa commented.

Gabriela smiled. "You're very clever."

"We talked to your doctor, he said you were very ill and now you're stable, but what caused it?"

"Mom, please, not now," then she extended her free arm, "I just want a hug now."

Arturo and Europa proceeded to hug her. "Ahhhhh, so delightful," Gabriela enjoyed. Arturo laughed. "How's my Karen?"

"With the grandparents," Europa replied.

Hammya smiled. "I see, I did it again."

Then she looked at Tinbari, who was still leaning against the wall. "That's right."

"!!?"

"I noticed this time it was you; no wonder I felt something strange all day."

"Why am I here?"

"Shouldn't you know that? You're the one here, darling."

"And you, what are you doing here?"

"Just reminiscing, I come here when I'm somewhat bored," then she looked at Hammya and gave a creepy smile, "After all, I'm a demon satyr."

Hammya felt disgusted. "Why is this happening?"

"The reason Candado hates planes is that he has nightmares on them, as well as painful memories."

"Is this a nightmare?"

"Worse, a memory."

"Memory?"

"And a very painful one."

The room suddenly changed and became dark, with only the dim illumination of a lamp beside the bed. The family, Europa, and Arturo, fell asleep in their seats. While Gabriela and Candado, being on the bed, chatted.

"Today, what did you do at school?"

"Oh, many things. Matlotsky kept bothering Declan until he hit him with his pencil case. The teacher gave me an outstanding grade in mathematics, incredible, isn't it? And also..."

Gabriela smiled as she caressed Candado's back.

"...I think there was also a moment at recess when Anzor mispronounced the word 'gun,' and everyone laughed, but I told them to apologize to him. And also, in the third recess, Esteban apologized to me for misinterpreting the 'bullying' from others that he had caused."

Candado looked at Gabriela.

"What's wrong? Are you sleeping?"

"No, I'm listening to you. Tell me, what else?"

Candado smiled and continued speaking.

"Also..."

Hammya approached the bed and looked at Gabriela; suddenly, the clock in the room began to accelerate until it stopped at 4:00 a.m. Candado had fallen asleep.

"Seven minutes," Tinbari said aloud.

Hammya turned and looked at him, but he gestured for her to look at them and not at him.

"Candado, are you sleeping?"

"..."

"Candadito."

Gabriela made an effort to try to move, but she couldn't, she just looked at her parents.

"I love you," she said trembling.

Then she hugged Candado, who was deeply asleep, and began to stroke both his back and head.

"Your sister loves you very much, you... don't know how much she adores you, but it wasn't always like that. I envied you before you were born; mom didn't pay attention to me anymore, and I even threw a tantrum at my dad. It was then that Grandpa talked to me about the role I had been given, that of an older sister."

Then she kissed him on the head.

"When you were born, I hated you, because because of you someone left forever, someone I loved, not only did they distance themselves from me and others, but they also took their memories with them, and only a few who still remembered remained."

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Gabriela began to cry, and her hand trembled.

"But when mommy placed you in my arms, and you looked at me, 'how cute!' was the first word I said. How could I hate this little thing? Your tiny hands touched my face, I cried when a beautiful little creature smiled at me."

Gabriela contained her tears.

"I'm afraid, I'm afraid of dying, I'm afraid of disappearing and nobody remembering me, I don't want to die."

Tears started to well up in Hammya's eyes.

"Forgive me, Canda, I'm not strong or brave, you are. Not only that, but you're also my strength."

"Four minutes," Tinbari said.

As Hammya was about to turn.

"Don't look at me."

Hammya obeyed and continued watching.

"But I'm not alone, I'm with you and with mom and dad."

Gabriela smiled with tears in her eyes.

"Even if I die, I'll be with you. I know that when you wake up, it will hurt, it will hurt a lot for you and for our parents, but you have to be strong."

Gabriela's eyes felt heavy, she could barely keep them open, and she was even struggling not to fall asleep.

"But you have to be strong. Even if they say the world is crap and it's always been that way, it's not. We can change it."

Gabriela's breathing started to slow alarmingly.

"Now... you're going to be... a big brother, you'll have to take care of... Karen, you're a man... I'm sure you'll be a ladies' man."

Gabriela kissed Candado's forehead and pulled him close to her chest.

"I'm very tired... dad... mom, be strong for me... and for my Candado."

"One minute."

Hammya, with tears in her eyes, got angry and looked at Tinbari, but her anger quickly faded when she saw him; he had his hand covering his eyes, while a sea of tears overflowed from his eyes.

"I told you not to look at me."

Hammya turned and looked at Gabriela.

"When you're old and your time... comes... I want you to tell me... more stories, I still have a lot to say... I want to see you grow... I want to see you laugh... I want to see you cry... I don't want to miss that."

Gabriela's eyes were closing.

"I'm sorry I can't be by your side..."

"Gabi."

"!"

Suddenly, Candado spoke; surely she had woken him up when she was talking, but that wasn't the case. Candado was talking in his sleep, he was probably dreaming about her.

"I love you so much," then she laughed, "to infinity and beyond."

Then, unconsciously, he hugged Gabriela. This caused her to smile and cry even more.

"I too... hic... I too... hic... I love you too."

Gabriela hugged Candado and slowly stopped moving, breathing, and above all, living.

Hammya covered her mouth as she cried. However, the clock started moving again until it was 6:01 a.m.

Candado woke up and felt something cold in his hands, it was his sister's hands.

"Gabi," then he yawned, "Gabi, wake up, it's time to go home."

Hammya looked at the innocent and cheerful Candado.

"Come on, up... are you cold? But you have a blanket. By Isidro, they should have turned off that air conditioning, you're too cold."

Candado tried to move her.

"What's wrong?"

Hammya started crying.

"Gabi? Are you sleeping?"

Candado started shaking his sister.

"Tell me you're sleeping, yes, that's it, you must be sleeping, please, wake up. Holding your breath for too long is not good."

Tears welled up in Candado's face.

"Dad!"

Candado's parents woke up.

"Gabi wake up, Dad, Mom! Gabi won't wake up."

Europa jumped out of her chair and ran to Gabriela.

"I'll call the doctor," Arturo said as he ran down the hallway shouting for a doctor.

"Daughter, daughter, wake up," Europa said.

"Gabi wake up," Candado said, crying.

Suddenly, everything changed, the room changed to a funeral home.

"What? Tinbari?"

Hammya was alone in that room, figuratively speaking, as there were many people around Gabriela's open casket. Everyone was devastated.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind her, it was Tinbari and Candado, both from the same time as Hammya. This caused her to quickly hide when she saw the "older Candado" enter to meet his other self, two years younger.

"Gabi, open your eyes, please wake up," cried the 10-year-old Candado.

"I see, it's happening again."

"This must show some of your extinct humanity," Tinbari said mockingly.

Candado sighed.

"Speak quickly, why am I seeing this? After all, when I wake up, I'll forget all of this."

"Oh, how cruel."

"I'm going to kick you."

Hammya hid behind some curtains and observed.

"Well, the fact that I'm here annoys me, but since I'm going to forget it anyway, it wouldn't matter to praise you or be your servant," he said with a twisted smile.

"Heh, wouldn't be bad."

"But why a wake?"

"It's a memory of yours, not mine. Figure that out for yourself."

"It was rhetorical."

Candado sighed.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know, what did you feel when you saw a dead person for the first time?"

Candado opened his mouth.

"By first time, I mean experiencing death and being aware of it."

Candado closed his mouth.

"Clever, huh?" Tinbari mocked.

Candado looked at his sister's coffin being hugged by his ten-year-old self.

"Pain."

"I see, what else?"

"Do I have to say it?"

"It's necessary not to repress certain emotions like anger and sadness, especially in your current condition. Once you release them here, you'll feel much better when you wake up. Crying is a feeling that must be released in order to move forward."

Candado scratched his neck and continued.

"It's true that it wasn't the first time I saw a dead person. When my great-grandfather died, I went to see him, but I felt nothing when I saw him. I felt somewhat guilty for not crying that day; I wasn't close enough to him to release a bond of grief with him, compared to what my grandparents Alfred and Andrea, as well as my parents, felt."

"I understand."

"I knew that death is the end of the life of any living being, but I never worried about it. Because I felt that I and those around me would live forever, but it wasn't like that. When I received the news that my sister wouldn't live long and that the 'professionals' said we had to pray for her, I wanted to laugh at a doctor asking me to pray. How foolish, it's as if science acknowledges religion."

"What else?"

"Mom and dad were very worried. In contrast, I was escaping from reality. I didn't want to face that side, because in my head, I fooled myself into thinking that everything would be fine, that there was nothing to worry about, that this would just be a bad memory."

Candado paused; it was obvious he was about to cry.

"But it wasn't like that. It was much worse. Reality hit me hard. When I saw Gabriela on that bed, lifeless, I had hope that she would open her eyes again and come back home."

Candado opened his mouth to take a breath and relax.

"But when I saw my loved one in that coffin, I immediately understood that I was wrong. My hopes were shattered by reality, as if saying 'Hey, look, this is how it is and nothing will change it.' Tears came when I saw her with her eyes closed. She looked like she was sleeping, she was made up, dressed in her best clothes. She was flirtatious, as if she were going somewhere."

Candado's voice broke.

"Even if I kicked and screamed, she wouldn't move. And when her coffin closed, I knew immediately: I would never see her again, I would never hear her voice again, I would never see her smile, get angry, or cry again. It was goodbye, it was the end. Never again, I would never hear her again."

"There's no one here, just me. You can let it out now. I won't say anything or mock them. You'll forget all of this once you wake up. Now, let it out."

Candado's shoulders started to shake. He looked at the coffin and began to cry silently. Hammya couldn't see Candado's crying, she only saw his large and firm back, but she shared his pain. Tinbari approached and placed his hand around Candado's waist.

"Cry, cry, let it all out."

Candado woke up from the dream. He was still on the plane. The lights were off, his window was open, and he could see the stars, and even his eyes were teary.

"Damn," he whispered, "what happened?"

Then he looked ahead and saw Nelson snoring and Clementina's seat empty.

"Ouch, my neck," Candado complained.

He tried to move his hand, but something was preventing him. He looked to his right and saw Hammya holding his hand while crying. Candado sighed, took a tissue from his pocket, and carefully began to wipe his eyes.

"Wow, you must be going through a hard time, huh?"

Then he withdrew his hand from hers.

"Great, that's better."

But as soon as he did that, Hammya started to toss and turn, gasping for air, and even crying. This led Candado to take her hands back, which eventually calmed Hammya down. And not only that, Hammya grabbed his hand again as before.

"Just for today," then he looked out the window, "I really hate airplanes."