The House in Ciudad Vieja

Date: 9/22/2019

I'm living in a house in Ciudad Vieja with Lucas, Sergi, and Alex. We have to leave because the owner is selling the place. This house has those beautiful, tall ceilings and marble tile floors. It's absolutely huge and used to be an art gallery for casual, local artists and a music venue. It's haunted but not in a dangerous way. We've tried to negotiate with the landlord but he wants us and our stuff out. Alex begins moving out of her little room in the hallway by one of many grand staircases. The house has iron railings in front of all the overhangs and stairs. I talk in passing with the new owner about its history and my memories of the place. She's nice and listens as I tell her how the walls used to be covered in hundreds of paintings and filled with life. As we talk, I notice the place has already begun its change into becoming a pension. Name plaques and lockers suddenly appear in the bedrooms. Alex plays with Great Danes that I think are mine. There is another dog that looks like a former stray. Is he mine too? Now, I realize that I really have to get my stuff packed and gone. I begin collecting anything I recognize as ours, but it's hardly fast enough. As I speed through the house, the owner, an evil old man, comes back with another woman, "my auntie." She's not squeaky clean either but she's more helpful. However, the owner, my "grandpa," is trying to kill her with poisoned food. She eats it anyway, not caring in the least about her own death. She's got dark hair and is a but heavyset. Alex talks to her and arranges a trip out without me, saying she just thought of it first. It reminds me of Robyn's selfishness. She scoots outside to the driveway where her and auntie get into an old, beat up car. I ask auntie how I can talk to her again. She tells me to basically use divination or a Ouija board to talk as she's confident she'll be there. I trust her. Now, I go back inside the house where the new owner is having a rough time adjusting. We bond over how this place isn't how we expected. This city, this life. It's necessary but expensive and difficult. She's young and blond and has a baby with her. She feels like the mother I wanted in this moment. I leave shortly after to a huge, dirt expanse outside the house and the city block. It's fenced in and horses are released here with carts to run crazily to the strange, diagonal stalls on the side where they will hopefully eventually settle. They're almost shot out from what looks like an unpredictable cannon at ground level. I'm in the middle of the field and soon realize with a panic that I'm likely in the line of fire. Sure enough, I hear a deafening boom as I see the black tube shoot out another panicked horse who runs wildly towards me. I narrowly dodge it and then run as fast as humanly possible to the outside of the arena. Running in the sandy dirt, I wonder why more people don't go back to having fun roughousing outside. I feel alive for the first time in a while. I woke up feeling relieved in a way.