Sisyphus - In Search of Sophia

 An Encounter with Sophia After Returning from Vietnam

All night, Alexander was thinking about her. He believed he had forgotten her, but now, with this letter, the fire of a love hidden in the depths of the viscera inside him was rekindled.

Alexander couldn't think, only that momentum like a volcano about to erupt burned his insides. The tremendous emotion of surprise that he felt made him raise his eyebrows to increase the field of vision and thus allow more light to penetrate the retinas of his eyes. He wanted to be sure that the figure crossing the street was Sophia, and when he was sure it was her, he started running towards her like a madman. His pulse and heartbeat began to gallop wildly, and he had to make a superhuman effort not to scream at her.

 “Hello,” – agitated Alexander greeted Sophia. -She was surprised and, with a startled expression on her face, timidly answered her greeting. But that answer was cold, calculating, as if he wanted to keep a certain distance between the two because of the fear that he suddenly felt. The blood drained from his face, and she became pale and cold. She wanted to run, but she stood paralyzed, expecting the worst.

 With words broken by his emotion, Alejandro told Sofía that he had never stopped loving her, that the war... his jealousy... that he had written him so many times and she he never had received any response. The duties in the war zone prevented him from communicating with her, but her words bounced off a wall of indifference and coldness.

It was as if that volcano that had been burning inside for so long erupted, and its burning lava spilled down the mountain in an avalanche of rage and disappointment. Likewise, like those of someone possessed, those words came out in rapid bursts from his mouth.

"I love you!" – Alejandro told her in a tone of desperation, his face contorted by the intensity of the emotion.

Sofía lowered her gaze to the ground and, making a superhuman effort to maintain that cold distance from her, answered:

“It doesn't seem like it, at least, you never wrote to me...!”

Upon hearing those words, Alejandro felt great anger. His brain's limbic system took control, and the amygdala triggered the emotion of anger. Blood flowed into his hands, making his fists clench in an involuntary movement to attack. His heart began to beat rapidly, and adrenaline began to flood his bloodstream.

In a louder tone, almost on the verge of violence, Alejandro returned to tell Sofía:

"I love you! Do you hear it?” –He told her, clenching his teeth to not shout at him because of the anger she had accumulated in her chest.

“Do you love me when, in a year of absence, I barely heard from you? – Sofía told him, maintaining that attitude of indifference that made Alejandro submerge in her despair.