Page 26

It's taken me three decades to learn what heartache is.

And it fucking hurts!

Considering my pain receptors are ninety percent muted, that pain had resounded in my entire body. How I'd not succumbed under its weight I donotknow.

"What could have changed for the mightySupayto ask for help?" he jokes.

"Stop calling me that. I'm no demon," I fire back, a smile on my face.

"Debatable." He shrugs. "You still have not answered my question."

"I finally found something to live for," I say, avoiding more questions on the subject.

The night upon us, I try to not mind the mosquitos as they keep on attacking me. Vanya's been quiet all day, almost as if she's both excited and apprehensive at the same time.

"What if I disappear?" she asks, head on her hands as she stares me in the eyes from her small makeshift bed in front of me.

"You weren't complaining with Sisi," I whisper, since she'd never said anything about how Sisi's presence seemed to undermine her own.

"But at least then I knew you had her. Now…" She trails off, looking tired and weary.

"Go to sleep, man!" Joaquin's voice rings out, and I sigh, watching as Vanya's form settles down into the ground, like fine dust, her eyes closed, her body gone in seconds.

And I'm finally able to sleep.

The next couple of days are spent wading through the jungle and avoiding close encounters with some dangerous animals.

"We should arrive there at sundown," Joaquin mentions when we stop for a snack.

Unaccustomed with too much sun, I'm getting more tired than usual, so that news is music to my ears.

"Perfect," I reply, popping a piece of fruit into my mouth.

Out of nowhere, a small monkey jumps on my shoulder, her tiny hands reaching for the food. Its brown-reddish fur glints in the light, its huge tail hanging over my back as it steals my food.

"Titi monkey," Joaquin points out, smiling at the monkey's antics. "The mate shouldn't be far off," he says and right on time, another monkey appears, carrying its young on its back.

"So cute," Vanya gushes, trying to wave her hand at the monkey currently residing on my back.

Joaquin nods. "They're one of the few monkey species that are monogamous," he explains, going into detail about the monkey population of Peru.

"Vlad, look!" Vanya yells when the monkey jumps off my back, following its mate as they take their place on a tree. Their tails are hanging down, slowly moving toward each other until they become entwined.

"It's called tail twining," Joaquin notes, and Vanya can't stop running around, marveling at how cute the monkeys are. "It's anaffectionate gesture for them," he explains, Vanya's eyes going wide.

"It's a sign, Vlad! It's a sign." She comes rushing back to me, her arms holding tightly onto me. "It's a sign," she continues, almost out of breath.

"What sign?" I ask, ignoring Joaquin's odd stare.

She opens her mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. In the blink of an eye she's gone, an unusual screech sounding in the forest.

"Shit!" Joaquin curse. "We need to move," he starts packing his stuff, urging me to do the same.

"Why?" I frown, confused at the hurry.

"We need to reachEl viejobefore sundown," he says cryptically.

Seeing to my own stuff, I place the backpack on my shoulders and I follow him.