Once dinner was served, Ray sat across from George, they said thanks for the food, and began to eat. Well, everyone except Arthur, who stared at the quartet of forks, the pair of spoons, and the trio of knives. He bit his lip, and looked at Luke.

Luke, who had already begun to eat, pretended to leave his fork in its original position, and then passed his hand over the first, the second and the third fork, taking the latter with a certain exaggeration in his gesture.

Arthur smiled at him, bowing his head in gratitude, and took the same fork, to eat his rice. 

The teacher ate a spoon of her Cuchuco (1), and after swallowing, she looked at Ray and George and said:

“Your children are truly charming, I congratulate you.”

Elena almost spit out the soup she was eating, Luke dropped his cutlery clattering against the plate, laughing nervously, and Arthur and George tried not to laugh.

“Oh, you mean Elena, Arthur and Luke? Thanks for the compliment, but Elena is our daughter, Luke works here as a butler, and Arthur is the boss's brother,” Ray clarified seriously.

“A-Ah! My apologies!” Teresa laughed nervously, biting her fork, looking at Arthur out of the corner of her eye.

Arthur suspected that she now somewhat regretted the liberties she had taken in speaking about him. He wasn't really sure if he liked that or not. The feeling of being "high-born" and being treated differently because of it made him uncomfortable.

“[Don't worry, Mrs. Teresa. I'm glad to know that you think well of the young ones of the house]” George expressed himself in signs, being interpreted by Elena.

Teresa stared at his hands with curiosity; she had never seen someone communicate in that way before.

“Oh, it's a pleasure. I should thank you for inviting me to dinner," the teacher smiled, placing her cutlery on the plate. “The food is delicious.”

Arthur was ready to eat his dessert with the same cutlery, when Luke snapped his fingers, indicating with his gesture that he should exchange it for the small spoon.

Arthur choked on his food as he noticed his mistake. He started coughing.

Everyone turned to look at Arthur, terrified, Luke was about to get up to pick up Arthur and Ray jumped out of his seat to call a doctor, when Arthur stopped them.

“I-I'm fine- I'm fine…” Arthur took a little breath, coughing again “I ate too fast.”

Luke and Ray sat down again, the former still with concern marked on his face, and the latter doubtful.

Everyone seemed more tense now.

Arthur hated the attention he had brought to himself. He wiped away the tears that slipped from the discomfort in his throat.

Professor Teresa had one hand over her mouth, and the other on her chest. She slowly eased the tension in her shoulders.

“Uhm, how have the attacks been, eh?” Professor Teresa mentioned.

“Good. I haven't had one in a while," Arthur said under his breath, trying not to let on how irritable he felt.

The last time he had an attack, unfortunately for him, had been in one of the teacher's classes. He couldn't forget how she ran back and forth, screaming and crying.

“And how about the checkups? Maybe you should get another one soon,” the teacher suggested, avoiding his gaze, playing with a few grains of rice that had been left on her plate.

"I'll think about it," Arthur tried not to growl. His fake smile now looked like a grimace of displeasure.

Those present at the table didn't talk much more that night.

The dinner ended like this, with Ray and George saying goodbye to Teresa, while Arthur, Luke and Elena cleared the table.

“Hey, how about tomorrow we hide in one of the rooms and tell stories like we used to? I think we could use a break," Arthur mentioned as he finished folding the tablecloth.

“Sorry, I won't be able to tomorrow, I have to help mom dust the guest rooms,” Elena excused herself, putting away the cutlery.

"I'm afraid it won't be possible for me either, I have to clean the ovens and then go get groceries from town," Luke replied, putting away the clean dishes in a wooden cabinet with glass doors. ”Besides, don't you have your chemistry exam in a few days?”

"Ah... It's true," said Arthur, putting away the tablecloth. His small smile disappeared completely. “Alright. Maybe next week.”

"Don't forget that you also have etiquette on Tuesday, harp on Wednesday, a meeting with the new physics teacher on Thursday, and a medical checkup on Friday," Luke reminded him from memory.

"I won't," Arthur half-smiled at him. His eyes were dull.

The week passed as had been said. One lesson after another. One teacher after another. The same faces and the same four walls.

“What do you think if we read something together tomorrow? I wrote down some new ideas," Arthur proposed as they cleared the table on Friday after dinner with the doctor.

“Sorry, I had planned to study for my biology exam,” said Elena.

"I have to settle taxes with Ray," Luke replied. “Also, this week you have French and public speaking classes.”

After the next week, Elena had to help with the garden and practice piano, Luke had to dust the library, and Arthur had been assigned to help arrange the plants in the house, in addition to his fencing, history, and geography classes.

The week after, Elena had singing lessons, Luke had to sweep the chimneys, and Arthur had to help clean the attic along with politics classes.

Arthur stopped proposing meetings when he failed one of his chemistry exams, leaving an acid mark on one of the house's prized oak furniture.

Thus months and months passed since he and Elena began their higher studies to prepare to choose a specialty. Arthur was growing tired of the formal tone he had to use with his teachers, and he spoke less and less to Elena and Luke, outside of the few times they saw each other at dinner.

At night before going to sleep, Arthur wrote about trips to distant lands, going to unusual places. He wrote about great heroes who saved the world, who helped people and who were remembered as legends. Sometimes he imagined talking to his characters, who took him as a friend and listened to their stories. From time to time his characters apologized for not being able to take him with them...

One day, he lay down in his bed and saw the ceiling. His math teacher had gotten sick, and they were afraid he might catch it, so he had a couple of hours free before dinner. However, everyone else in the house was busy, as usual.

He sighed and opened his notebook, barely touching the pencil over the paper, before closing it again. He felt his heart in his chest. He counted the beats. He wondered how many heartbeats he had wasted staring at the ceiling, how many more on meaningless lessons, and how many more on medical checkups.

He swallowed. How many heartbeats had he spent in his fifteen years of life locked up there?

He pressed his hands over his eyes.

Then he sat up and looked out the window on the wall his bed was leaning against. After the fenced garden, a beautiful valley stretched out, in the distance the roofs of a cathedral were visible among the mountains of the Andes mountain range, which surrounded the town.

Arthur touched the glass.

It seemed like a painting, so far away and yet there, such a big world, a world he read about all the time, but had never been allowed to know. The only ones going to town were Luke and Ray. However, he knew that if necessary they sent George and Elena, but never him.

His heart raced in his chest.

Never him.

He clenched his fist on the glass and frowned.

Arthur had been sick for as long as he could remember, and since then his greatest exploration was the garden.

He bit his lower lip.

He opened the window, and the wind of that world entered his room. It smelled of nature, it was cold, and now he felt inside that painting, of which he could be a part.

He remembered his characters asking for forgiveness.

"Don't worry," Arthur said out loud, as he crossed the window frame to stand on the roof of the second floor, "I can go alone."

He climbed down using the other window frames and a drainpipe from the roof as support, and when he reached the ground, he ran towards the valley, disappearing into the distance.