The Mistletoe
Chapter VI

A year had passed, and there were no more incidents. The police found the girl’s body and gave her a dignified funeral. With no more cases, I confirmed that the Peuchen was responsible for all those troubles.

I finally turned 18 and graduated in December 2018. We gathered with family at my graduation, and several cousins, along with my father and grandparents, attended the ceremony.

“Goodbye, idiots! See you never,” I murmured in my mind, feeling liberated from that toxic environment that had worn me out, after receiving my diploma. Some asked if I was going to the graduation dance. Girls sent other guys or girls to ask me if I would attend, but I flatly refused. I just wanted to get out of that class as quickly as possible.

Let’s be honest here. Since last year, the jokes had softened, and bullying became rarer. But I found it quite strange that my classmates, who used to bully me, suddenly treated me like a buddy the next year, as if they had never done anything to me. I simply played it cool, but I kept my distance from them. I didn’t know if lowering my guard would lead to them humiliating me again, but it never happened.

The important thing was that I was free, and the past was in the past. “I’m free!” I screamed in my mind.

Now I had to think about what to study and where, besides preparing for the university entrance exam. I could have taken it in November, but my dad suggested I take a break. There were things we needed to talk about.

We had a big family barbecue at home, and my grandparents invited me to drink wine now that I was of legal age. I accepted a glass out of courtesy and only took a sip.

“Ugh,” I exclaimed.

“Hahaha,” chuckled my grandfather. “If you don’t want it, son, it’s okay. Have a glass of grape juice,” he said sarcastically.

I wasn’t going to tell them I couldn’t get drunk or tipsy. They wouldn’t believe me. The good thing was that they cooked a roast pig, my favorite type of food, with some bread or potatoes.

“Go ahead, Dad,” I began to feel curious.

“The reason I asked you to wait for the university entrance exam is that I feel we should take a break, you know, from everything that has been happening lately. Let’s say, like a sort of spiritual retreat, and I was thinking of a place that could connect us more with your mother,” he said, looking me in the eyes.

I laughed and said, “Are you planning to go mountain climbing in the Alps, redundant as it may be?”

“Hahaha, only you could do that!” he exclaimed with laughter. “No, no, I meant taking a vacation to some remote place, where we can enjoy the forest, the wildlife, something very natural, just like your mother loved.” He finished, looking at the lake.

“It wasn’t such a bad idea.” Since the Peuchen, the recent exams, and what could be university preparation, which had been non-stop action, maybe it would be good for us to do something that clears our minds. Besides, if another creature appears around here, I don’t want to imagine what it would be like.

I had already moved on from my mother. Facing the Peuchen made me appreciate the little things in life a bit more.

“Oh, wait, Dad, let me reply to this message.” I started writing a comment on a new video.

“See, that’s what I mean,” he remarked. “You’re constantly going from one thing to another; you never take a break. Your brain needs rest, you need to relax.”

“Dad, I’m fine. I was thinking of maybe becoming an influencer or a gamer. I can’t do sports, nor study to become a sports teacher. The only things that motivate me besides that are social media and video games,” I confessed.

“I know you have friends and admirers on the internet, but how many of them have you spoken to in person? How many real friends do you have? How do you know if they like you for your gaming skills or your appearance? No matter how you see it, it’s not real. That overstimulates your brain and makes you dependent. I’m not saying don’t use social media or stop gaming, but depending solely on them makes you miss out on the beauty of other things.”

“Ah, Dad,” I sighed.

“Miguel, your brain needs rest. Tell me, do you think you could let go of it for a month? Do you control the smartphone, or does it control you?”

I put away my phone and said, “Alright, but where do you want to go?”

“Well,” he said, “we have Tyrol, or we could go to the Styria region. My idea is for us to prepare this year, save money, and take a language course, you know, English or not?”

“Yeah, yeah, I learned it by playing with people online and chatting. The English from school was garbage,” I said.

“Hahaha,” my father laughed. “I took some online courses and used a few books. Do you think you’re ready for German?” He added with a smile.

I made a grimace of horror. “Oh no!” I thought.

“Hahaha,” Dad laughed. “You’d have a year to dedicate yourself to it completely. I could pay for a private tutor and some books, and you could practice online. If we’re going to travel, we should have some notions, right?”

My dad had saved money for this occasion. “Wow,” I thought. “This is serious, not a joke.”

“Can you give me until I turn twenty?” I said.

“The idea is not to waste too much time, son. Remember you have to go to university,” my father emphasized.

“I can look for a job in the meantime, something easy-going, not very noticeable, like a part time job,” I said.

My dad thought for a moment, then replied, “Okay, we’ll go in December of the following year. But only part-time. Deal?”

“Deal,” I said.

“You haven’t told me where you want to go, son,” he smiled.

“Ah, I’ll figure that out during this year. I need to replace out more.”

“Okay,” said Dad.

We walked back home slowly under the silence of the night. As I returned home, I pondered both options, neither of which I had any idea where they were. I only knew it was better not to go to a place near my mother. I didn’t know if the place existed and wanted to go somewhere that would relax me, not make me feel like playing an adventurer.

I went into internet forums and social media platforms where there was multimedia content about the German language. While reading, I told myself, “Oh man, this looks really difficult.” Well, I’ll have two years, enough time to complete the course. I was truly excited about going to a new country. Neither I nor my dad had ever left Chile, so it was an interesting adventure.

I also found job postings in some places where I could work part-time and applied to a few positions. I found one where I only had to load boxes and sacks, transporting them to trucks, and it seemed very peaceful.

My father found a German teacher to give private lessons to both of us. The man lived in one of the German colonies here in southern Chile and seemed to charge a reasonable fee.

After a couple of days, I got the job and started working. Many times, I pretended to be tired to cover up, and some coworkers laughed at me.

“The gringo is tired already!” one of them shouted.

“Hahahah. The kid needs his vitamines,” another one joked.

Even with the jokes, the guys seemed pretty good, and I was learning from my father not to take things personally and just do my job. In the evenings, the teacher would come over, and he would give us classes at home. I admired my father for his enthusiasm and the willingness he had to learn. During weekends, we studied together and watched some videos in the language. He used children’s books he bought online and read them in detail.

As the date approached in July, when I would turn twenty, my father asked, “So? Have you made a decision, son?”

“After thinking it over and looking at many photos, I think it would be better in Styria. It’s closer to Vienna if we feel like visiting the city, just in case.”

“Styria it is then!” he said, excitedly.

My father purchased the tickets online and then made hotel reservations. I could see that the inn was almost in the middle of the forest, with only a nearby village, whose name was impossible to pronounce, but I liked the idea of returning to the countryside.