"What does all that have to do with the terrarium?", I ask with genuine curiosity.
"There you have it, when I woke up my eyes quickly focused on a large terrarium that I have in my room as an ornament, and its beauty captivated me," Alberth smiles deliberately.
"I think there's something magical about terrariums...", I squint my eyes at Alberth's words, however, by this time the bell has already rung for class.
Quickly Alberth and I stop talking and return to the classroom.
However, my mind can't stop thinking about Alberth's last words, "Terrariums have something magical", it sounds stupid, but, Alberth's terrarium looks like a small world.
In the classroom, looking slightly out of the window I can see the immense forest far away from the walls surrounding the school, it is a nice forest...
"Ferr, I mean, dear Sir, you have been ignoring my attempts to communicate with you and I can't find the reason for it", the high pitched voice that has been bothering me for the last few weeks echoes in my mind.
I still don't know if it's a hallucination of mine or something, I didn't say anything to dad or mom about this.
"But, at least with you I can talk without much fear, dear Sir, my mother has died, people say she has taken her own life, but... I don't believe it, it's impossible, right now I'm about to prove my toughts, please, if you listen to me, wish me luck."
I squint my eyes, the voice disappears again, unconsciously inside me I can't help wishing that if the person who is talking to me exists, she will be lucky in what she is about to do.
The class ends without many interruptions or problems, but, before returning to my house, Alberth has given me a small terrarium in a sealed glass box.
Alberth's face when he gave me the terrarium was a little flushed for some reason, and he was a little nervous, however, I didn't notice anything else about him.
Imagine my surprise when the next day we were given the news that Alberth died that very night.
My shock was instantaneous, seeing the professor slowly pronouncing the words that confirmed Alberth's death made my body freeze for a moment.
It was as if my body was running on autopilot, leaving the school to go to Alberth's funeral.
The ceremony was short, his parents crying, his brother completely devastated, and the lack of news about his exact death...it was overwhelming.
I mean, I wanted and want to know how was the death of the one who was my friend for a couple of weeks, normally the feretro has a small place like a glass window to see the face of the deceased for the last time, however, the feretro was completely sealed.
Days later, and after researching in the news, or just spying on Alberth's family I found out why he died.
It was a... gruesome death, according to the autopsy they slowly cut off Alberth's limbs where the tendons connected his main bones, in his knees, wrists, elbows, and feet, all while he was drugged to keep him alive and not fall apart, I guess to make him feel the whole process.
With the lips of his mouth sewn with metal threads and a kind of band so that his screams would not be heard, in the end with only his torso and his life about to be extinguished, they began to devour everything that was in his stomach.
The... brutality of the murder was such that I... I even vomited when I heard what happened.
It happened in the forest next to the school, apparently Alberth, the guy... somehow linked the terrarium to the forest next to the school and went out in the middle of the night, that's when he was found by a group of people and then... well, enough said.
It bothers me a little that Alberth's death was not investigated, it was just taken as if it was a normal death, nobody did anything, the parents remained silent, the school said nothing and the days went on as if nothing happened.
What the fuck is wrong with these guys to ignore that a student was completely brutalized before being killed like that?
Recently I heard of hyperinflation in the country, small towns like the one I live in are being abandoned and are no longer being funded by the government, I guess this has something to do with it, but....
The terrarium that Alberth gave me is getting nicer every day, even some small insects that I don't know and had never seen before started to grow inside it.
The trees are like some kind of miniature giant trees, while the little bit of stagnant water at the center of the terrarium looks like a small lake, a small worm-like creature slowly crawls through the little bit of soil to the small lake of stagnant water inside the terrarium.
"Hello, dear Sir, it's been a while, How have you been?", the high pitched voice comes back to my mind, "I haven't been very well, I couldn't prove that my mother didn't take her own life, it's... sad," the girl pauses, I can hear slight sobs and a strange sound in the background.
"I mean, the other people in Tazy are a little furious about my last actions, but, what I believe is the truth, I believe in the truth, in my truth, my truth is that my mother didn't commit suicide, she wouldn't do it," light crying noises and sobbing accompany her words.
"Do you think I'm crazy?", the voice ends with a question, then, I can only hear silence.
I squint my eyes slightly, lower my head slightly to observe the beautiful terrarium for a moment before sighing with some resignation.
"I think I'm the one going crazy...", I mutter under my breath.
...
...
...
I open my eyes slightly in a dark room, it's a little earlier than usual I guess.
This time it's a little more confusing for me, the more I try to recall some memory of my childhood or my past the more I get confused.
By this time the last thing I remember from my previous life is the forest, a forest abundant with giant trees and covered by mist, and then the cave, I also forgot my name in my previous life.
The forest that in my dream I saw on the side of the school looks like the forest I was in in my previous life, so these dreams should be pieces or memories of my childhood, Right?
I sigh with some tiredness, I haven't slept well.
Observing the room I can notice a slight darkness, the silhouettes of the furniture and walls are slightly visible.
The functioning inside the barracks is a little similar to the functioning of the world as far as illumination is concerned, the small candles are extinguished at a certain time of the night and are gradually lit until they are fully lit indicating that it is time for training.
At this moment the candles have a slight flame almost imperceptible, according to Huanca, the candles should take at least an hour or more to be fully lit.
I lightly rub my head before putting on my barracks training uniform and going for a light walk.
My footsteps can be heard faintly echoing in the dark hallway, the same thing happens on the spiral staircase, then after passing several corridors I reach the completely empty barracks bathroom.
It is slightly damp which makes some coldness pass through the walls and I can't help shivering a little.
The smell of the clean bathroom makes my nostrils flare a little and some cold air passes through them.
After walking around a bit I catch my reflection in the mirror behind the large bathroom sink, I have almost no memory of my former appearance, but, I guess I don't look anything like my pre-incarnate self or anything.
After relieving myself I'm ready to go back to my room and get some sleep, however, some light sobbing catches my attention, sobbing coming specifically from the girls' bathroom.
The sound is slightly strange, as if laughter is being forced but only cries are coming out of the mouth of whoever is making the noise.
From the sharpness of the sound, it should be a girl.
It's not my style to interrupt people, nor is it my style to get involved in other people's problems, it's best that I leave slowly.
With this in mind I leave the place.
After that the day at the barracks began as usual, a light breakfast with Poki and Huanca, and then the training.
However, the superior Clarity was not present in the sector where she always used to be, anyway the whole squadron continued training.
My opponent today is the same fat man from the previous days.
This time the fat boy has an even more determined look on his face, which makes me smile slightly.
The fat boy lunges at me with the halberd pointed forward, a move easily dodged with a few steps to the right, my wooden shield quickly moves at high speed taking advantage of the fat boy's distance.
The fat boy opens his eyes with some surprise before my shield hits his face.
Shock.
A strange sound of something breaking can be heard as the fat boy falls to his knees clutching his face and resisting the urge to scream.
I take a few steps back, this fat boy is more frantic than the other day, he seems a little angry for some reason which made him attack impulsively.
The fat boy quickly pulls himself together and returns to a battle stance.
However, all of his next attacks were in vain, I really lost count of the number of times I hit his face with my shield.