Hypocrite

We continue with the publication of the micro-stories of the FOURTH edition of the competition: High Altitude Storieswe let you enjoy with "Hypocrite"by Mauro Bastón Piñeiro. FIRST prize. 🥇

Hypocrite

-by Mauro Bastón Piñeiro-

One day when I decided to look towards the bottom of the valley, I was surprised by what looked like the beginnings of a house. The foundations and the few beams that had dared to be raised smelled of eucalyptus and Airbnb from three hundred metres away. In my head, that scent turned to smoky memories of two years ago, when the October snow my parents and grandparents had once enjoyed turned to sunshine and flames that devoured the mountain. Aurelia, our neighbour, still wore black in remembrance of how her husband was burned by the flames while trying to save the herd that provided their livelihood.

"Let them go," I wished, my jaw clenched with rage. Then my boy came over with a coffee, blew me a kiss and showed me on his mobile phone the rural house he had rented for the weekend in Jaca.