Los Amores de Brunilda

SAN ARTEIXO DE MONTALVO

The first time I arrived in this town I realized that something strange was going on in the heads of its inhabitants. They breathed that cold air of dusk that begins to get into your body. Everyone began to retreat into their houses, locking up tight so that the night would not surprise them defenseless against its most twisted terrors

It was as if this town had no soul, as if it had distanced itself from God and had abandoned itself to superstition

I tried to forget that feeling but my companion could not. He was quite a bit younger and had not yet mastered his terrors. But really, my greatest concern was finding a place to spend the night; more than the monsters and demons, the cold, another night in the open air and my bones would bother me until Santiago

DEBATING BETWEEN FAITH AND SUPERSTITION

The thin line between these two concepts is very easy to cross. Both are blind beliefs in something. They have no basis, you either believe or you don't believe and that makes them so separate and so close

I remember that talking to the people of this town gave me bad vibes. Their fears would penetrate you and sometimes, if I didn't keep calm, I would start to see the same things as them, being able to go where there was no way before, waking up at the entrance of a cave without knowing how I had gotten there

The best way to forget everything was to pray in a holy place, strengthening my faith and moving away from all those thoughts. Then, reality was before my eyes, there were no strange places or beings from beyond the grave

But I was always afraid of completely losing my faith and my sanity, of letting myself be fooled by that collection of pagan beliefs, its myths and characters, abandoning forever everything that linked me to my previous life

I'm not going to tell you what happened until I was able to control myself because I still have the feeling that doubts assail me. You are never completely sure.