I shiver hearing that word, but nod, terrified of the entire situation.
?
My fear for this town deepens while walking amongst its elegant buildings. I am paying attention everywhere I look, already having thousands of scripts going through my mind about what could happen to us just by walking around the colourful streets.
At some point, I started walking over the cobblestones without even thinking about my movements. For a couple of moments, I even lost contact with reality. My mind was in a constant debate with the dark visions of my brain.
One second in the dreamland, and I feel like the present is bringing me back to the surface through a shiver down my spine. And I am sure as hell it isn’t from the low wind blow.
We are not alone.
My eyes go to Lucas to see if I am the only one paranoid, but he is lost in his thoughts. More than I was.
I turn my head to look behind us, but there is nobody there.
That’s strange.
We walk in peace for a couple more minutes, but the feeling of being followed doesn’t wanna leave me alone. It is like an alarm signal from my conscience.
It seems like Lucas has finally noticed my anxiety. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow, then behind us, and his eyes go wide. A wave of fear surrounds me, but before I can do anything, I feel a strong ache on the back of my head, which makes me go numb.
The darkness welcomes me with open arms. I hear Lucas’s voice shouting my name until it gets lost in the nothingness.
?
“Anmara!” I hear Lucas’s muffled voice screaming my name, and I wake up coughing.
I try to open my eyes, but a profound darkness is present everywhere around me. I want to wipe my eyes to see if it is just a figment of my imagination, but my hands are tied behind my back.
What the hell?
“Anmara!” he shouts once again. This time I hear his voice closer and clearer, like he is right next to me.
“Please, stop screaming.”
That voice isn’t mine, being transformed into a heavy and tired one by the hoarseness I have, followed by a frustrating cough because of my dry throat.
My head is pounding while I try to process where I am and what I am doing in a place where I can’t see anything. I remember our route and my paranoia… that turned out to be real.
“Sorry,” he whispers, and I hear him moving a little bit.
I feel his hand touching mine, and at that moment, I realise that we are back to back.
“Where are we?”
Lucas doesn’t manage to give me an answer. A door opens, and we get blinded by a bright light that swallows the darkness around us.
“This is your first warning. Next time I won’t be so friendly,” a deep voice says, and the door closes.
We don’t have time to react, because a strong smell of lavender fills the air and makes us cough our lungs out, rapidly falling asleep.
?
I wake up nudged by someone, and I flinch violently, the feeling of pain going through my whole body.
My eyes open wide, and I look around.
I’m back in the park, on the bench where we stayed before. I look to my side and notice Lucas breathing with ease as he sees me come back into the horrible reality we are in.
