Oscar and his best friend Esteban were walking trough San Carlos street, it was a beautiful Monday summer night in Sao Pablo, the air was thick and warm, there was no wind, and the smell and sound of the sea were everywhere, filling the hole area with the gentile sweetness of the mermaids song allowing you to almost taste the salty flavor of the crystal waters in Baia.

They entered their favorite restaurant, Do Sabor de la Casa, and they sat and ordered the usual, Casuela de Baia.

While they were waiting fort heir food they started to talk about ordinary things like the last weekend football game, where Esteban had scored 2 goals, one of the reasons why they were eating out that night, celebrating their victory and specially Esteban’s performance. The food arrived, it looked wonderful, each and every single ingredient gave a little something to the dish and they could almost be satisfied by it’s variety of smells, a perfect mix of mushrooms, shrimps, all kinds of fish and a little bit of cilantro, onion, and pepper fulfilled all of their expectations.

As soon as they finished their meal Esteban excused himself and went to the bathroom were he stared for a moment into the mirror, there he could see the reflection of a winner who just 2 days ago had been a star, 2 goals!! yes he could not believe it, now everyone in school would respect him and little kids would look after him, what an exiting feeling he thought and after a few minutes of dilating himself with innocent fantasies he went back to reality and opened the sink, took a lot of water in both of his hands, closed his eyes and splashed it on his face. An endless moment of joy passed by and when he opened his eyes again he found himself surrounded by water, first he tried tasting it, it was not salty so he was not on the sea. Then, he looked up where he could see other people chatting and having drinks, they looked like his family. It was strange yet he forgot about it and started swimming to the surface. Up there he met with his family and friends and even tough he did not understand how he ended there in the first place, anybody seemed surprised by the fact that he suddenly went out the pool so he quickly stopped thinking and started enjoying what looked like a party.

- Hey, where were you?- his cousin Cristina asked.
- Just swimming…- he answered.

He did not know exactly what to say and anyhow it was not like he could remember a lot of what he was doing and where he was 15 minutes ago, it was like if every second that passed Esteban started feeling like he had always been in that place.

Like this, chatting, eating hot dogs and swimming, the day was passing as normal as it could be. At 1:00 pm Esteban and his friends were laying on the floor by the pool getting their summer tans and waiting for lunch to arrive, he put a towel on his face and fell asleep. When he woke up, feeling a little disorientated, he took off the towel from his face and when he looked around he realized he was no longer on his pool with his friends and family, he was now on the most beautiful beach he had ever been to. All around there were palm trees with big green branches that carried within brown and delicious coconuts. The sand was extremely white and soft, it felt like silk on his feet, and the water was crystal clear, he could see all kind of fishes which made him remember of a Russian ballet because of the way they swam together, the more nice red crabs and a lot of multicolored plants.

Again dazzled by the view he forgot about how strange it was that a second ago he had been swimming on his pool and now suddenly he was on this exotic beach. He started walking looking for someone, finally he saw Oscar, there he was playing volleyball with a bunch of friends who as soon as they saw Esteban invited him to play with them. When they finished playing they ate some sandwiches, drank some beer and played cards and while all of this was happening the only thought on Esteban’s head was that he just wanted to stop time and hold this moment trough eternity.

It was now 5:00 pm and the waves were 3 meters long so they all decided to take their surfing boards and go surfing. They were now on the open sea feeling like the owners of the ocean, when you are surfing with 3 or 4 meter waves there’s nothing that can bother you, it’s just you and nature face to face waiting for some of the two to give up but knowing that neither you or the sea are willing to do it.

Esteban was not the best man at this sport but he was having fun until a huge wave hit him from his back and pushed him to the bottom. Down there he struggled with all his strength to swam up to the surface but the water was very strange, it was very cold to be on a Brazilian beach, almost freezing. There was a point when Esteban almost gave up but he continued and a sudden stream pushed him up. When he got to firm land or should I say ice, he realized he was now on place he certainly had never been to. He was on what it looked like the North Pole, he could not believe it yet 3 minutes later he felt as he had always been living there.

He started walking, not really knowing where he was going but feeling he was getting where he was supposed to. One hour passed and yet he was not getting anywhere, a mixed feeling of desperation, sadness and desolation was invading each and every single vain in his body, every breath was heavy and every step was as long as time can be when you are waiting for something or someone you love and as hard as accepting that even tough he had been walking for so long he was not getting anywhere, it was like a walk on an endless loneliness. There he was, walking and thinking, then he started thinking about Marie, his lifetime love, the only woman he had ever loved and the one he had always wanted to make his wife. He, now, could only think about how beautiful she was, her long arms and legs, her dark tanned skin, her big and oval green eyes sparkling all the time like diamonds, her brown hair that always smelled like vanilla and cinnamon, her well defined nose, her perfectly designed mouth that had inside the whiter teeth there could exist, and beside that he also thought about her personality, she was always laughing and singing and always had the perfect word in the perfect time to make you feel like the world was in front of you, ready for you to start leaving a mark, ready for you to make your own history and to reach your destiny like the better person you could get to be. And like that he could continue thinking about her all night but his thoughts were interrupted by the gentile sound of a familiar voice, it was her voice, he could not believe it but she was there, standing in front of him.

- I had been looking for you for hours, where were you Esteban?
- I am sorry, I needed a walk .
- Well I think we should go to sleep now, it is late.
- Ok, let’s camp here.

He took a tent from his backpack and armed it, they both got inside and were ready to go to sleep.

- Good night Esteban!
- Too bad we have to go to sleep, I don’t want this dream to end.
- What are you saying? How do you know this is a dream?
- Because in dreams every word has a different meaning, in dreams I think of love and you appear…

After saying this both Marie and Esteban hugged each other and fell asleep. The next morning Esteban did not want to open his eyes, he did not want to face the fact that he was now probably on another bizarre place and that Marie would probably not be there anymore, or maybe the person who had been dreaming about him had already opened his or her eyes and the dream was over. It was as frightening as comforting, the idea of opening his eyes and after many thoughts he did. What he first realized was that he was on a strange house, on his side was some woman and when he looked at her he realized it was Marie, she was laying next to him, she was not gone, she was real, It had all been a dream, a very scary dream but a dream and he would not ever disappear because it was him who had been dreaming and it was him who was now wide awake.