The Book for Atonement

The doorbell rang ten times with identical one-second intervals. Romina’s heart raced as she slowly began to remember what most likely this could mean. She could not dare to consider that this unusual calling could be a random act nor the actions of some desperate, thoughtless, impatient person. She did not have to try hard to welcome the conviction that the day she had been waiting for so long had finally arrived.

Romina’s days have been quite the same for the past eight years, living alone in a 70’s house in a woodsy area outside of town. The closest – and pretty much the only – neighboring house was two hundred feet away, but she had managed to avoid any interaction with any member of that household ever since she moved into this house at the peak of the pandemic in 2020.

Since then, her groceries and medicines have been brought to her once a month by every delivery company that has ventured into that market; and when she had needed medical attention, she opted for video calling her doctor.

She has not left her house, nor has she had any face-to-face interaction with any other human for a time so long that she could no longer remember. The rumor passed among her few relatives and acquaintances is that she had become a grouch too insufferable to hope for any kind of companionship, platonic or not.

In recent years, Romina had abandoned the last drop of hope of ever getting the visit from the only person who might give her the second chance that she so desperately wanted. With great effort, she mastered every strength and composure to walk towards the door, passing a mirror hanging from the wall next to the front door. She instinctively let out a disgusted gasp at her reflection; she could not cast aside the realization that she had let herself deteriorate from the inside out and it was naturally showing.

The bell rang again ten times, but now she could sense that her visitor was beginning to feel impatient.

“Coming!” she said before unlocking the door. When she completely opened it, she was greeted on the other side by a young person with long, messy, dark hair topped by a blue winter hat. The boy had all the gear appropriate for the cold season, and his face although handsome, was looking concerned and weary. Romina thought that this boy looked just like a younger version of herself, and that notion gave her a sense of trust. Anxiously, she was waiting for him to say the right code.

“How many times can you go to the mountain without noticing its shadow?” the boy asked. Romina’s face beamed with a prolonged smile, one that she had not felt for a while. It was the right code!

“Welcome! I cannot describe the intense happiness I feel just knowing that you are here, I have waited for years for this encounter. Come in!” Romina exclaimed.

“I rather not, I don’t know you. Get a jacket and meet me outside, please,” replied the boy.

Romina did as he asked, thinking that the boy was clever for his young age. When Romina came out, she was holding a white sack with one hand; she placed it on the steps of the house and sat on top of it.

“You must be thinking that this is a joke and luckily for you, it is not.” Romina began to explain, “I will tell you everything you want to know but first I must inquire how you came to find me. It is only natural for me to want to know.”

The boy sat down on the snow, keeping a significant distance from Romina.

“Two days ago,” the boy began to relate, “I was having a difficult day, this is normal for me now, something seems to have changed in the past two years and I cannot find myself fitting in my own life. It’s strange, I know. I thought that going outside to get nature time was the best thing to do given the situation at home with my mom. She…well she is a story for another time. I asked my younger brother to join me, but he surprisingly refused this time. I was determined on avoiding my mom, so I went outside to walk in the woods of our property. I like to venture out of the established paths, it fuels my exploring desire; that day I took a small path that I believe had been shaped by deer or some other wildlife.

“I usually stop when I reach the fencing around our property and I take it as a sign that it is time to turn around. But on that day, I never reached the fencing, which is something I had not considered possible given the fact that my mom is obsessed with delimiting every inch of our property. I guess that at some point I left our woods without realizing it, and eventually, I got to a point of exhaustion and needed to take a rest, so I sat on a dead tree that was broken in half.

“The surrounding woods looked new to me and I started wondering where I was. I tried to take everything in, making a mental picture so that I could remember it in great detail to describe it to my brother, who knows our woods like no one else.

Then, I saw a brown skinny thing sticking out of the snow. Thinking that it was just a stick, I tried to pull it out before I realized that it was soft like a thread, similar to a shoelace. I got frightened imagining that someone was buried under the depth of the snow. After several hesitations, I put together all my courage to continue pulling it out, and a few inches in, I found a tiny plastic sign that read follow me. And I did.

“I followed that cord, unburying it without much effort since it was just interred a few centimeters into the ground all the way through. About half a mile later I reached the end of it, which had another plastic sign attached that read find the little black notebook. I started kicking my feet around to loosen the snow to get a better view of the ground. To my surprise, I almost instantly found the black book inside a plastic bag. Inside, I found this note:

‘Dear reader, if you have found this book, fate has brought us together. If you decide to complete the first part of what I am about to propose, there will be a monetary reward for you. The second part of my proposal will have a nonmonetary incentive. The first part requires you to go to the house on the map shown on page 5, it will not be a long distance from where you found this book. When you reach the house, make sure to ring the bell ten times with equal intervals between them so that I know it is you – I am not too keen on uninvited visitors. Then, you will receive your monetary reward and I will explain part two. IMPORTANT: On the next page you will find a code that you must repeat to me as soon as you arrive, do not say anything else before saying the code.’

“So, here I am. Now, your turn to do the explaining.”

“During the pandemic of 2020, I panicked and moved to this house looking to shelter myself from the sickness,” Romina stated. “When some of my relatives and friends died, I entered into a state of bitterness and cynicism. With many subtle actions, I distanced myself from the meaningful relationships in my life. I did things that seriously hurt the people I love the most, things that I deeply regret and that I did not conceive I was capable of.

“In my deep sorrow, I decided that suffering for the loss of those whom I had hurt was a fair punishment for my actions, and they would be better off without me. Later, I reached the point in which all I wanted was redemption, I did not want to leave this world knowing that those were my last relations but my time was running out.

“I tried to do good by donating a great portion of my wealth but that was not enough, I needed to do more. I held the belief that I could help transform the life of someone in need, someone with whom I had no previous relationship and who could not repay me. I would help this person in every way I could, I would treat this person as I wish I had treated those whom I failed. I left it to fate to guide me to the right person and here you are.

“I will start helping you by letting you leave today with twenty thousand dollars. That is your reward for taking the trouble of finding me and hearing my proposal. Part two involves my time and friendship. I will teach you everything I have learned about life, I will mentor you about finances, which is perhaps the only thing I have done very well throughout my life. We can meet as often as you want, you can count on me during the good and especially, during the bad times. I hope that with time we can think of each other as. . .family. You do not have to decide right now, go home, think it over, and come back if you are willing to try. Whatever you choose, I wish you the best.”

Romina got up and handed out the sack to the boy saying, “here is your money, I advise you to manage it wisely.” The boy took it quickly and started walking away backward, keeping his eyes fixed on Romina.

“My name is Romina, by the way. What’s yours?” The boy lifted his left hand doing a motionless goodbye before turning around and running away hastily. Romina watched him leave, recollecting how poorly she performed at selling her idea to him.

Ten days had past and Romina disappointedly accepted that the boy was not interested in coming back, at least for now. Perhaps one day in his mature years the boy would remember her and return, he kept the black book after all. Coincidentally, the doorbell rang ten times with identical one-second intervals; Romina sprang up from her couch filled with bliss, she ran towards the door and opened it without delay. She was greeted on the other side by the same boy and a younger boy.

“Here’s the deal,” the older boy pled. “This is my brother Lucian, so you are getting two new family members. It is both of us or nothing. First, we would like you to teach us how not to end up like you, no offense but your present circumstance is dire. Second, we would like to have a motherly mentor or something like an aunt. The truth is, we don’t have a father and our mother has provided everything for us except love, self-esteem, and confidence. We have a toxic relationship with her and I fear the consequences of not having a healthy relationship with a motherly figure; I hope it is not too late for us. These are our conditions, are you in?”

“I am in,” Romina exclaimed, releasing a gentle smile. “Now, may I know your name?”

“I’m Francis and I’m 15 years old. So, how did it happen?”

“What?”

“Your major screw up.”

“I never imagined I’d say this but,” she took a long pause, “we have to go back to 2020…”

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