Ladimir Luiz Marchioretto

A train at dawn Ladimir Luiz Marchioretto

A frail young woman, wearing a very short and somewhat low-cut red dress, quickly crossed the promenade of the town of Canoas towards the metro train station. Amid a strong wind and several thunders that shook all around her, she heard some very sad poems. Recited by a drunken man who was sitting near the station, the verses and the chords of an out-of-tune guitar spoke of longing and tragedy. However, perhaps his morbid poetry had more meaning than it seemed, but he tried to rescue a past in which he had been happy, had a job and, above all, free from alcohol addiction. Moments later, strong footsteps began to echo through the train station, leaving Milena very frightened. However, it was unlikely that the drunken poet, who could hardly stand up from the cold, hard asphalt, caused the deafening noise. Finally arriving at the platform just before midnight, the seventeen-year-old girl did not even know if she was going to be on a train or if she needed to wait in that frightening spot until dawn, when she was able to return to her parents' house. In the moment the train came scratching the steel wheels over the dark and icy tracks, the girl was a little more relieved. More frightening, however, than realizing that he was going in the opposite direction to what she wanted, was to see that a sinister man appeared menacingly at the top 'of the escalator. His footsteps continued to echo through the deserted station, but now the man dressed in black was beginning to descend the escalator. The train bound for Porto Alegre finally arrived, causing the desperate girl to run towards her. However, the fact that the doors insisted on opening did not indicate that a dawn of terror, but also of new discoveries, was just beginning. After a few endless seconds, the train began to move, leaving on the shadowy platform the man who inexplicably carried a photograph of the young woman in his hands. Safe apparently, Milena was still unaware of all the dangers that surrounded her and, above all, ignored the good and bad things that fate had reserved for her. Remark: Written and released in print in 1995, this book is set in the same decade and the story unfolds in the cities of Canoas and Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil