The streets of the Agronomia neighborhood, in Porto Alegre, were not a very safe place to walk at night, but a bunch of young people ran screaming until a police car passed and stopped next to them, who surrounded the car begging for help, all talking at the same time. One of the cups got out and approached them, observing.

He noticed that many had various cuts and others had clear signs of drug or alcohol effects. With a roar of order, the policeman told them to shut up, getting immediate result as they were so afraid. The colleague passed a radio, requesting police support and left to help the superior, looking at the group of desperate boys.

"Now you," he pointed to one of them, "tell us what happened."

"A huge monster appeared at the party, sir." The young man replied, still trembling with fright. "When he punched the walls, the room even cracked!"

"That's all we needed," said the other soldier, "a bunch of lunatic drugged. Let's call a bus and put all the elements inside."

As soon as two more cars arrived, the first policeman decided to go to the party place to see what was there, while the students were taken to the police station and the Medical Examiner's Office.

Taking two of the boys, who he put in the back seat of the car, he turned around, going down Bento Gonçalves Avenue even in the opposite direction, since at that time there was no more movement and they were less than two hundred meters from the entrance of the Campus do Vale. With the help of the students, the car approached the place, stopping at the nearest parking lot. They got out of the car, but the boys were not very happy to return to the place. In doubt, the two PMs took the pistols and advanced slowly, with weapons in hand, but everything was silent and they didn't even find the internal security of the university. When they approached the building, they heard footsteps and crouched down, pointing the pistols forward. The sound of the footsteps was strange, irregular and with a mysterious drag, causing nervousness even in the experienced policemen. At the height of the tension, one of the boys who accompanied them got up to run away and tripped, sprawling on the floor a few meters from them. The footsteps stopped and then increased in intensity, while they heard a voice saying:

"Help, please."

The policemen got up and advanced to the corner of the building, one in front and the other covering the partner. As soon as he saw the boy with three girls, two of them supported by him who could barely stand, he sighed with relief and put the pistol in the holster.

"Are you okay?" It was the first question. "Is there anyone else there?"

"No, sir, there is no one else," said the young man, still trembling and tired. "That horrible monster took a colleague in his lap and left with her, but before that, he told me to help the girls."

"Listen, boy, you don't look like a drug addict. What's this talk of a monster?" asked the second policeman. "Collective hallucination?"

"Sir, I don't use drugs or drink. Some colleagues put drugs in the girls' drinks, but I guarantee that the monster was very real. He looked like the Hulk, only not green! And there's more, he didn't seem to be bad, but he scared me so much that I almost peed in my pants. If he was evil, I'm sure he wouldn't tell me to help the girls."

"Call another car to take these along." The first policeman ordered the subordinate. "I'm going to look at the room."

"Yes, sergeant."

― ☼ ―

"So, how will I meet my savior?" Eduarda also smiled, but it was too dark to see.

"Soon that will have a very big repercussion and the less they know about us, the better."

"My name is Eduarda," she said, "and I don't care about the repercussion, because I will denounce that mess. They wanted to rape me and attacked one of our new colleagues. What is your name?"

"Maybe it's better not to know, Eduarda." Igor said, calmly. "I don't intend to draw the attention of the authorities to myself."

Eduarda laughed and was going to speak, but was interrupted.

"I see you're fine," he continued, "so, I'm leaving."

"Wait," she asked, getting up with a punch. With her hands, she felt until she touched his face, like a blind woman who tried to see him by touch, as it was dark. Then, with both hands on the young wizard's face, she pulled his face and kissed him on the lips with sweetness, leaving Igor trembling and disoriented. "Thank you again. One day you will tell me who you are and I will be waiting."

"Maybe I can do that soon, Eduarda," he said, savoring the kiss he loved. "See you later."

Eduarda didn't see him get up, nor did he feel him let go of her hands. It was as if he had evaporated, as if he had never been there. The girl jumped out of bed and turned on the light, but she was alone. Dazed, she whispered to herself:

"Did I imagine all this?" She smiled and saw the glass of water on the nightstand, besides the still warm chair next to her bed. "Of course not and I'll find you easy, easy, my sweet, unless you're not from college, which would be a real pity."

― ☼ ―

"Sergeant, the car has arrived." Said the soldier, pointing to a patrol car that was approaching fast.

"Let's go," ordered the first policeman, "let's go to the police station. There, you can call your families."

Seeing that one of the girls needed more help, the policeman picked her up and the colleague supported the other. That way, Valdo only had to help one of them, thanking the sudden help with a smile and a nod.

At the police station, the sherif was dismayed by that. He took the isolated testimony of all the young people and the stories matched perfectly, excluding the hypothesis of lies. The toxicological examination revealed that none of them ingested psychotropic drugs, although there were traces of chemicals in the blood of some and a lot of alcohol in others. The policeman who went to look at the room, said that the walls were intact, contrary to what the students claimed and, apart from the huge mess and the broken windows, there was no evidence of a monster.

After a screening, it was found that all the girls had been drugged and that the freshmen were very drunk. With that, the head of the police station concluded that the veterans planned to commit a brutal crime with girls, suspicion confirmed by the young man who declared himself gay and whose exam accused nothing, neither alcohol nor drugs, which contributed to confuse him even more.

The missing piece in this puzzle was the boy they forced to drink and who gave way to the monster. Without mercy, the delegate ordered the arrest of four of the organizers for drugging, inducing drug use and apologizing for rape. On Monday, he would find out who this mysterious young man and the girl that the monster took were. Maybe they had something more to add to the reports so disparate that he already had.

He sat at his desk, letting out a long sigh and concluding that the weekend was going to be very long and it had barely started. He changed his mind, got up again and got a coffee.

― ☼ ―

Igor sat in the living room of his house, thoughtful and smiling. He was very in love with her since he had seen Eduarda at the company, the woman he thought was the most beautiful and perfect thing in the world. The kiss, then... he had no description or comparison for that delicate touch of her lips. He had never felt that before and was intoxicated with the sensation.

Happy, he fell asleep for the first time without the nightmares that had become much worse, after he fled from Santa Catarina.

The weekend seemed to never end because Eduarda didn't leave his mind and what he wanted most was to see her at work or at college. To pass the time, he materialized three-dimensional images of the girl and gave them some animation, making her smile, send kisses or just make sensual looks, but even that ended up tiring and he decided to take a walk in the south zone. As he walked along the edge of the Guaíba, he remembered that on Monday he would spend most of the day at the university and was eager to see if they would have the same subjects.

― ☼ ―

Igor felt very happy when he entered the class and saw Eduarda sitting at the table next to his. Without resisting, he looked at her, who smiled.

He had barely sat down, Valdo entered accompanied by the pro-rector of graduation and two unknown men. He looked at the whole class and pointed to Igor and Eduarda, saying:

"Those there were the victims, sir."

"You two, follow us," ordered the pro-rector. "You can return to your class, thank you."

Igor and the girl left the room looking at each other as if they understood nothing, although they knew very well the reasons, and accompanied the three men to an administrative room. Along the way not a word was said and, later, they made them sit and wait while they entered alone. Igor looked at Eduarda, who smiled at him, encouragingly.

"Was it you who they forced to drink that poison, wasn't it?" she asked him, smiling.

"Yes." Igor replied, laconic.

"Don't worry, I'll denounce everything," she said, trying to calm him down, since he seemed scared.

"I'm not worried," he said with a voice so calm that she thought it didn't match nervousness.

"You're not very talkative, are you?" She laughed. "I'm Eduarda—"

The door opened, interrupting them both.

"Come, sit here." When they settled down, the policeman said. "I'm delegate Gustavo Finneti and this is Chico Marques, my friend and colleague. We are here to verify the incident that occurred last Saturday, but don't worry, we don't want to harm you. Were you at the freshmen party that night?

"Yes," they answered at the same time. Eduarda breathed to start talking, but the cup asked another question:

"Can I know why?"

"We are freshmen, it's obvious," she answered, irritated by the somewhat idiotic question, "and I want to denounce—"

"Please." The pro-rector interrupted the girl. "For now we ask the questions and you answer. Then you can say whatever you want. What's your name, son?"

"Igor Montenegro."

"According to your other colleague, Valdo, some of the boys forced you to drink a cocktail of drugs. Is that true?"

"Yes, it's true. When they found out that I don't drink, they forced me to take the drug."

"Why?"

"Because one of them, boasting, confessed that they wanted to drug and rape the girls," he pointed to Eduarda, "in particular her. They thought that, drugged, I wouldn't be able to stop or denounce."

"Will you denounce? Do you remember who they are?" asked the other policeman.

"Yes, I remember, but I don't intend to denounce unless they have succeeded in their plan. From what is said in the corridors, everything went wrong and some were even arrested. Besides, I got away unharmed except for the strong headache."

"Why don't you want to denounce?"

"Because a snitch student only gets screwed with his colleagues and I have four long and hard years ahead."

"Did you see the monster that everyone talked about?"

"Are you kidding me." Igor laughed. "Is this turning into a Japanese movie scene? These idiots must have gotten drugged and started seeing things, simple as that."

"What happened to you?"

"I ran away from there as soon as they turned their backs and ran to look for help. I think I tripped and rolled down the lawn of the Centro de Vivência. I heard a lot of screaming, but I started to get very dizzy and passed out. When I woke up, I was near the stream with the day dawning. As I felt better, I returned to the parking lot, took my car and went home."

"Coward." It was the girl's murmur, which hurt him a little.

"Montenegro, Montenegro—" the cup murmured. He turned to him and asked. "Listen, boy, wasn't it you who at the end of last year had your parents disappear in a very mysterious way?"

"Yes and they still haven't appeared. The police closed the investigations giving the case as an unsolved crime. Delegate, if you don't mind, I still feel a lot of pain about it."

The policeman looked at Eduarda.

"And you, miss," he said. "How about starting with your name?"

"Eduarda Vargas." She replied, irritated.

"Eduarda, what happened to you?"

"Everything was very cool, the people chatted in a good way, but then I saw them trying to force Igor to drink. I got up to defend him and found out that they drugged me because I could no longer be coherent or stand up."

"Then you saw your colleague being attacked," he showed a series of photographs. "Can you identify the aggressor?"

"These here," she said, separating five. "I'm sure because they were the ones who talked to me and stopped to attack him, but I think there was one more."

"And what happened next?"

"I got wozzy, heard snoring and also screaming. Then a monstrous thing appeared and everyone ran away, but I was very dizzy. When the monster touched me, I lost consciousness, but I remember that I was carried in the lap by someone. The only thing that was clear to me is that he was blond, but I don't remember his face, because I was out."

"When you came to, where were you?"

"In my bed, at home," she said, omitting the meeting with the unknown savior. "It was the craziest thing I saw. Whoever it is, left me in my house unharmed and respected my integrity."

"Are you sure you saw a monster?" asked the policeman.

"Look," Eduarda didn't like the questions because she considered them a bit repetitive, "I'm sure I saw a monster yes, but if he was real, that's another story. I don't know what crap they had put in my drink."

"I see—"

"And there's more, I want to make a formal complaint against these demons for this," she said, interrupting, very angry.

"Don't do that," Igor whispered. "It won't do any good and you'll get annoyed."

"Shut up, coward," she yelled, turning to her colleague, angry.

"Mr. Montenegro," said the policeman. "I think we're done with you. Please return to your class."

Hurt, Igor left, closing the door. He walked to the Centro de Vicência and had a soda to distract himself. Although the class was near the end, he returned to the room.

"Miss Vargas," continued the policeman. "Four of them were indicted for some things, but, legally, the only crime committed was to put drug in your drink and in the others. Mr. Montenegro is right. Because of the drug, they have already been indicted and no more evidence is needed. If you take this forward, you will expose your image and reputation within this institution and the next four years may become very unpleasant."

"Because of that," insisted the other policeman, handing over a business card, "think carefully about it and, if you want to make your official complaint, go to our station tomorrow to be with a very cold head, preferably accompanied by your father, mother or a lawyer to guide you, right?"

Eduarda nodded with a sign. Still indignant, she got up and headed for the door. Before leaving, she faced the trio, very serious, not knowing exactly what to do. She sighed and left. After, the policemen looked at each other.

"One thing is certain," began one of them, the superior. "Everyone saw the monster, sober or not, except the boy, but he ran away before. Considering that there is no Godzilla-like beast outside the movie screens, there is collective hallucination or worse, a new and unknown drug that is not detectable in blood and urine tests. Lastly, taking into account that the hypothesis of collective hallucination tends to be null, I fear the worst. I just ask God that they haven't invented this. I want you to keep an eye on this boy for a while. I don't know why, but I don't trust him very much."

― ☼ ―

Guaíba: Officially, the Guaíba is a lake that bathes the city of Porto Alegre, Capital of Rio Grande do Sul. However, many consider the Guaíba an estuary and not a lake. A. N.

In Brazil there are three types of police: The Federal, the Civil and the Military. The military uses military ranks. The Civil and the Federal have different ranks. In this case we are talking about the civil, which has two types: investigator and delegate. The main difference is that the delegate needs to have a law degree, being the equivalent of a sheriff. A. N.