I have decided to do what I tried so hard to put off.

I have no other choice, I have to

call my family and let them know. I take my cell phone to call my sister Sofía and let
her know, I also want to call my mother to update her on my adventure. "My God! What
will my mom say? Doña Rosa is very angry. I mean my mother, who has a strong
character. I usually call her by her name when she's angry, and when I see her calm and
complacent I call her “Rosita". What an unpleasant surprise, my cell phone has no
signal, I can't make the communication. I try several times from different places and the
signal is still difficult. I stopped insisting, I know that the only option I have left is to
continue trying to find a way out of this jungle. I look at the time on my cell phone and
it is two in the afternoon, I have four hours in the jungle, I have walked too much, I am
lost; and to top it off, my cell phone has only 30% battery charge. I am finding rocks
and ravines through which I have to pass holding on to the branches. My optimism is
gone and I am aware of the annoying mosquitoes and that my shoes are wet and battered
by mud.
It no longer seems so funny to me to listen to the singing of the birds or the strident
noise of the cicadas. It is at this moment that reflection comes to me and I question the
price of having made a decision lightly; but definitely not even reflecting serves me at
all. I imagine my mother telling me: ¬ "You can't cry over spilled milk." I sit in a bush,
I look at the sun that penetrates through the trees and paints their branches with gold.
Several birds flew by and a bustle is heard in the air, I am thankful to see so many forms
of life in this lonely place. I constantly tell myself: "I have to get out of here, I have to
get home"; But I don't know how to do it. I open my backpack and count the snacks, I
only have two sweet cakes and two packets of chips left, because I ate starting the trail.
Prudently I only ate a cake, a packet of chips and the soda; therefore there is a cake, a
package of chips and half a bottle of water.
In this state of circumstances, I already imagine myself lost for several days and even
dying of hunger. Pieces of movies I saw come to mind, where adventurers get lost in the
jungle. I am scared by the possibility of wild animals such as a hungry panther or tiger. I
have no idea if these animals exist on this earth, so far I have only found large rats,
turtles, birds, frogs, squirrels and a sloth. I am aware of my fear and I think that perhaps
I am exaggerating or that I am already reaching the point of delirium. I want to think of
other things, but my mind takes me down the line of tragedy and I remember a book I
read several years ago. The protagonist was called "Anabela Dubois", this girl deceived
a man and poisoned him causing a horrible death to steal a treasure map. After that, she
reached the area indicated on the map, but she found dangers that she had not imagined;
It was a jungle plagued by constrictor snakes, and without weapons to defend itself, it
ended up devoured; there his ambition for the treasure ended.
She suddenly became surly, domineering, and aggressive. His consort worked all day
engaged in informal trade. When he came home one night, he found the boys locked in
the room, they were mistreated. Someone had severely punished them. Luisa, the oldest,
told her father that her mother had hit them very hard. They hadn't done anything
wrong, the girl repeated tirelessly. Américo couldn't believe what he had just heard. If it
hadn't been for her own daughter saying so, she would have sworn it was a gross
falsehood. His wife was an excellent person and an excellent mother, he had never
doubted it. He looked for her all over the house, but she was nowhere to be found. He
had left very early and the children had not even eaten. That day, none of them went to
school. It wasn't until nightfall, when Agustina showed up at his house. She was
extremely messed up. It was obvious that he had ingested liquor, since an unpleasant
breath denounced it. He never drank, except on a very occasional basis.
When questioned by her husband, she did not answer anything. He gave her a
challenging look and without further ado, he went to bed without even caring about his
children. She fell asleep immediately, exhaling a stench mixed with a strong smell of
brandy. Américo noticed that his eyes were bloodshot. With plenty of surprise, he tried
to understand what was happening to his wife. It was something too unusual, he had
never had any complaints about her in the twelve years they had shared their lives. That
brusque attitude was quite rare, in a person who was excessively loving and devoted to
his loved ones.
I had never done anything like it. Américo stayed to sleep in his children's room.
He couldn't fall asleep, trying to fix things in his mind. He was looking for, without
success, a flash of light that would lead him to understand what had happened to his
wife. It was almost morning when he was finally able to fall asleep. Footsteps in the
house woke him abruptly. Confused, he tried to get his bearings, since it was not usual
for him to wake up in a place other than his bedroom. He remembered what had
happened the night before. He verified that the boys were in the room. Indeed, all three
were still asleep.
He got up very carefully, trying not to make a sound so they wouldn't wake up. He
headed quickly towards the kitchen, which was the place from where he had heard the
footsteps. There was Agustina, silky, very flirtatious. Her hair was tied up in a
wonderful bun. She wore sublime makeup and gave off a sensual scent. I was like every
day. In contrast to what was observed the night before, a very pretty woman appeared
before him; the lady he had liked so much, the one he still liked and whom he loved
deeply. Américo was increasingly annoyed, since he did not perceive in her a hint of
regret or shame for what had happened just a few hours ago. He remained static in front
of his wife.

She looked at him carefully, as if scrutinizing him. It did not denote what was
expressed in the self-absorption that her husband gave her, and with what he intended
for her to explain unusual behavior. None of that happened. Agustina remembered
nothing. She felt strange that morning, noticing her dirty clothes and a nasty taste in her
mouth. The woman determined, that perhaps without realizing it, by giving herself up to
her many chores; she had soiled her dress more than necessary and as for the strange
morning breath, it was logical that the breath feels like this when you wake up. He
really didn't remember anything that happened.
Américo took it with integrity. So as not to go off on a tangent, she supposed that
life is always a collection of mysteries and that perhaps what had happened was one of
them. He was very confused, he couldn't explain a sudden behavior that bordered on the
tacky in her, which was an accumulation of virtues; the behavior tested characterized it.
His religious principles, deeply received from his parents and grandparents, were his
greatest credential of honesty and rectitude. His children were receiving the same
education and that made him great. Every Sunday they went to the sacred cult and
altruism determined them. They were always ready to lend a helping hand to whoever
needed it. For this reason, when she tenderly approached him to tell him that breakfast
was ready, he bluntly asked her the reason for her behavior the night before.
Incredulous, Agustina did not come out of her astonishment. I would never do such a
thing. He had never known of anything similar in the years of living together and no one
had ever made any comment, of any impudent attitude at some point in the past. In
truth, that morning she had been surprised by how dirty her clothes were and the strange
taste in her mouth; but he ignored it. She felt faint from sheer shame when her children
told her that she had been absent for a large part of the day, leaving them exposed to
danger, hours without food, and other unnecessary risks. She felt terribly bad for a
procedure that she strangely remembered absolutely nothing. Even so, her children and
her husband gave her all the support she needed and thus another difficulty was
overcome. Months passed and it never settled on that clear sky again, another fateful
cloud like what happened that terrible night. Everything followed its normal course in
their routines.
The day was peaceful as usual. A custom that decorated a decent life, dedicated to
God and family. A routine framed in happiness. Agustina prepared her children to go to
school. As he did so, he already planned the details of lunch and dinner for the day. He
liked to plan everything to take care of the smallest details. For his part, Américo had
what was necessary to face the day to day and find in that bustle, the livelihood of his
family. They would see each other at lunchtime. He dropped the kids off at school.
Agustina would pick them up a little earlier that day, since some repairs were being
made at the educational center and there were, for a few days; Students have to be
picked up an hour earlier than usual. It happened like that.
When Américo got home, he was surprised to hear such unusual silence at that time
of day. Even so, he stretched out on the sofa, hoping that when he felt it, the boys would
run to him. Which did not happen and which led him to enter their room. He was
terrified when he discovered what he would never forget again. Her three children were
each in their bed, their bodies looked dismembered. The blood scattered on the walls,
floors and furniture, gave a macabre detail to the chilling scene. Their heads had been
severed and their little bodies completely dismembered. It was a real carnage. A huge
sharp knife was on one of the beds, footprints all over the floor. He followed them to the
master bedroom.

Fearing the worst, he went in to see if his wife had suffered the same fate as his
children, which was undoubtedly the bestial attack by some maniac. Opening the door,
he felt wild eyes staring at him and also felt a knife plunge into his chest accurately. The
blood drowned out a scream of surprise and pain. The last thing Américo saw was
Agustina with her hands covered in blood, holding in them a huge dagger with which
she murdered him. She didn't try to run away, she just laughed as if possessed by the
devil. His eyes were reddened and gasping for breath revealed a supreme effort. He was
vociferating a string of unintelligible words, as if coming from beyond. He threatened
whoever came near with the enormous dagger that was still saturated with Américo's
blood. It was a Dantesque painting. The community was surprised by the event, so they
tried to execute her. Just appreciating the magnitude of the cruelty was amazing. The
authorities finally overpowered her and took her away.
The women who remained deprived of their liberty in that gloomy place where she
ended up, did not want her there. Upon learning of the horrendous crime, they attacked
her, savagely beating her. It was also necessary to isolate her to preserve her life,
although it crossed their minds to eliminate once and for all that spawn of the devil. She
was charged with qualified homicide and requested preventive judicial deprivation of
liberty. It was clearly an aggravated homicide. The Public Ministry determined the
following: The first aggravating circumstance was premeditation, because the planned,
conceived, and calculated act contains a greater amount of criminal will. Secondly, it
was found that the means, ways and forms used to achieve greater impunity and reduce
the possibility of defense for the victims were also circumstances that aggravated the
crime. Finally, as a climax, because it was about her little children and her husband,
cruelty was taken into account, that is, the cruel and inhuman prolongation of the pain
of the victims. The full weight of the law was requested. Agustina was absent, she
seemed like an automaton; did not respond to anything.
Given the woman's absent status, a psychiatric evaluation was requested. The
intervention of the expert was decisive. After extensive analyzes of all kinds and a
rigorous psychiatric examination, a severe personality disorder that appeared abruptly
was determined. Some signs had been externalized months before, not being duly taken
into account. The definitive diagnosis was Schizophrenia. Like the case of Elvis,
Agustina presented the same disease. The first symptoms of schizophrenia were usually
peculiar changes in behavior. These symptoms caused bewilderment and confusion in
Américo and the couple's children. The presence of these signs was especially shocking
for those who knew what she was like before she got sick. It was extremely difficult to
understand how a person who looked so healthy and full of life could have such a
drastic change. The sudden onset of psychotic symptoms were decisive. Despite the
opposition of the fiscal representation and public opinion in general, Agustina was also
declared unimputable; by serious mental illness, just as happened with Elvis.
The doctor decided to carry out an exhaustive follow-up in both cases. The curious
thing about those events, being precisely what had led Dr. Germán to his investigation;
was that both cases happened in the same community. The authors were very close
neighbors. Their families very friendly. They followed one another a few days apart.
The people involved in the horrendous crimes had been role models of righteous
behavior and God fearing believers. In short, they were coincidences that reinforced the
thesis that he had always supported; that the causes of some mental illnesses were not
those currently described by science. He leaned into an illustrious doctor, for the causes
that were believed in previous times, where the supernatural and the mystical prevailed,
over what until then was not clear.
This was how he agreed with the authorities of the center for the mentally ill
where both were confined and subjected to strong security measures; that he would
assess each patient meticulously. They fully authorized an investigation that they
considered would radically change the orthodox position that science has had in
modernity, about the origin of mental illnesses. The doctor did it by vocation, "ad
honored", as a contribution to what he had always considered, one of the great problems
of medicine of all time. Extremely secure logistics was established. Actually both
characters were considered highly dangerous. They were preventively isolated, to
guarantee the safety of the rest of the inmates, the custodians and even all of humanity;
but looking at them there, huddled in a corner, made her feel real pity.