Read the original version in Spanish.

“Palabras de Mormón” is a Spanish-language Mormon literature contest, which was a collaboration between the incredible organization, Cofradía de Letras Mormonas, and the Mormon Lit Lab. The winners received cash prizes and will be published in the Spanish-language magazine, El Pregonero, as well as here on the Mormon Lit Blitz.

We are pleased to present the second runner-up for the contest, the flash fiction story “The memory of that rain I do not remember” by Santiago Vázquez.

The memory of that rain I do not remember

Santiago Vázquez
Translation by Gabriel González Núñez

Flower petals then began raining toward the black depths of the heavens. The fragile, purple leaves rose upward until they vanished into infinity or melded into the trembling brightness of the stars.

“That will be your new home,” he said, pointing to one of them.

“My new home…,” I repeated without speaking.

“Are you afraid?”

“A little,” I admitted and noticed that some of the petals floated in place as if not wanting to ascend. “I will not remember any of this, right?”

“No. And yet you will. You will remember it outside of your memories. You will remember it when the rain, which is so different over there, touches your skin. You will know that somewhere very far away and yet very close, on the other side of the rain, at the origin, is where I will be. I will be the memory of this rain you will not remember.”