Author: JOSÉ GASPAR

Even the cockatoo was quiet and respectful of the eloquence with which Heitor recounted how the horned man had entered his mind on that fateful day in the Army’s secret laboratory. Durval swallowed hard. If what Heitor had said was true, then the horned creature that Botelho kept captive had the power to control human…

Durval couldn’t fully pay attention to Heitor’s story. All because the cockatoo, perched on the arm of the sofa, kept making that unpleasant metallic gargling noise that sounded more like a crow cawing. But the bird was so white it almost shone. White like the many cats Melinda had around the house. Durval wondered if…

— The bars of the cage were less than two meters away from me. It was crouched inside the cage, looking directly at me, motionless, like a wax figure. Only its eyes were alive. The two fiery orbs and the two wide horns protruding from the sides of its head. Heitor and Durval continued sitting…

— I didn’t want to, but my legs were moving without my consent — said Heitor with his mouth full. He chewed quickly and swallowed in order to continue telling the story. Durval stuffed another piece of the delicious painted fish with annatto that Melinda had prepared for lunch and listened attentively to the account…

Durval’s mouth watered at the sight of the clay dish on the table with the pintado à urucum. The pintados from the Rio Passa Pato in Santa Tereza weren’t very big, but they were certainly the best the river had to offer, simply the most delicious fish Durval had ever tasted. And that one looked…

— How can he be among us? — Durval asked. — He has always been, Durval! He has always been among us — replied Heitor. — And it’s not just one, there are hundreds of these creatures, perhaps thousands. You weren’t listening to what I told you? The legends, all the stories and myths about…

— I will never forget the monster’s eyes staring at me in the dark — said Heitor with the cigar halfway to his mouth. His hand frozen in the air, his eyes glazed as if he were reliving the moment he saw that horned man caged in the army laboratory up close. — He was…

— And then I spotted the cage — said Heitor, taking another puff from his cigar and releasing the smoke upwards. — It was quite dark in the laboratory, but up near the ceiling, about six meters off the ground, there was a kind of mezzanine, an observation platform with several glass hatches, and a…

— I approached the cage, but I couldn’t see anything inside it. It was too dark — said Heitor. Durval stared at the former army captain who continued his narrative about how he had been trapped with some kind of caged beast in an army laboratory. Heitor was a short man, but with a stocky…