DISCLAIMER: “Teriyaki (El celular)” includes references to mental illness and suicide. If you feel that you or any other person close to you needs help, turn to these suicide prevention lines in Colombia:
Bogotá:
Línea 106
WhatsApp: 3007548933
Barranquilla
Línea de la vida: 339 99 99
Medellín
Línea amiga: 444 44 48
Cali:
Línea 106
Antioquia
Salud para el alma: 4407649
Meta
Línea Amiga Salud Mental: 3125751135
Turn off your cell phone,
Avoid distractions,
Enjoy, because the show is about to begin;
The curtain opens and you see your mind clearly
Migraines and horrible thoughts make you scream.
Was it easy to fight them?
You saw them for the first time at eleven and then at eighteen;
You're already twenty-two
And you don't know if you've already woken up from the nightmare,
Does life look like a horror movie?
Will the world get to see your directorial debut?
The anxiety continues
And now you're headed for the abyss.
Turn off your cell phone,
Look in all directions
Inhale, exhale and think about your next step
Because now you are alone.
You're sixteen, you’re there having the intellect that everyone wants,
You're drowning, you’re there and raise your hand
However, it is nothingness and silence that present themselves
Inhale, exhale and because you thought that was the end.
Turn off your cell phone,
Irritated curses to the sky
Because from the shipwreck you managed to save yourself;
Was it what you expected?
Thirty pills or explore the streets of Nagano alone
What will kill you first?
Quick! You will turn eighteen, look at the mountains that gave birth to you
And see how your life begins again.
Turn off your cell phone,
Let the soul break free from its cage
Close your eyes and start fantasizing
Look at the mirror and imagine a better version of you:
Strong,
Handsome,
Everybody loves you,
You’re always shimmering,
And always unattainable.
Fall in love with the guy you will never be,
Broken glass shards
And reflections of feverish dreams that will never end.
Turn off your cell phone,
Go back to earth, back to the harsh reality
Think of what you will be in decades
And ask yourself the questions that no one dared to ask:
Fly around the world or jump off a cliff?
The possibilities are endless.
Open your bag and avoid panic.
Fluoxetine, you have seven pills left
Will your brain explode when there are no more left?
Turn off your cell phone,
Control minds, sexes and flesh with your presence
Anarchy or regime,
Melancholy or romance.
Now allow the reflector to illuminate other stock,
New auditions and new bodies
They all look like an adventure
712 are the souls you have possessed now:
Do you feel complete?
How many bodies do you need to find yourself again?
Turn off your cell phone,
Cherish your life
And finish the popcorn
Because the film is about to end.
In flashback memories of what it was
Your mind repeats to you without giving in:
Wasn't immolation already a multicolored term at 17?
Jump into the abyss and you will complete the fantasy now.
Confused you climb the stairs of that tower,
Each step is a heartbeat that has already been.
You reach the top, you take a second to appreciate the metropolis
The city that never left you
The orange city that will see in minutes
How your breath will go out.
Turn off your cell phone,
Because you're not here now
Your red ink stains the pavement
The sound of the ambulances hurts your passage to another plane,
While your viscera decorate the block in a unique way.
Ultimately, were you who you always dreamed of being?
Art,
Unpredictable,
Absent,
Memorable,
Adventurous and daring.
You just needed to put your mind to rest.
…
Turn off your cell phone.
ABOUT TERIYAKI:
I am happy to see that “Teriyaki”, due to the circumstances, ended up becoming the “Historia del baúl” number 11. Writing this story was a slow but sure process. I started writing this story in January 2022 and you can't imagine how many edits I had to make to this story because I didn't feel comfortable with the result. I became convinced that this story would never come out of the “baúl”.
However, a few weeks ago everything was coming back. There were elements that I rescued from the many editions that I made of this story, a man who reaches 22 and is lost, before taking the last jump he begins to travel in time: he was an escapist at 16, an adventurer at 18, mystical at 21. In principle, I associate “Teriyaki” with a person; However, I feel that at some point we have all felt lost, alone, we have not known which way to go, we have no answers... For the man in this story, jumping was the only solution.
Due to the factual disclaimer, I won't say much about the person who initially inspired this “historia del baúl”: We don't talk often, I don't know if we're friends or two people who saw each other twice over there in 2017, I don't know if I'll ever see him again; but he has always been a person that I feel like I want to give him a hug as well as longing to have a coffee to talk about life. He, without a doubt, had me complete a story that I very much wanted to see published.
Another thing I would like to say is that I am not a writer, nor do I study literature, so I have no idea if the way this story is written is correct or if the use of words is ideal… I tell you this because the way you read the story was how the ideas came out and I didn't feel comfortable changing that… Again.
