Continued from An Old Beginning.
A plethora of theories fly through my head, some of them more convincing than others:
1. Maybe I haven’t even woken up yet. This could still be a dream, therefore nothing that happens to me here would matter.
2. In the case that all of this is real, how does this involve me? Maybe this is all an elaborate prank, an over due Christmas present from my friends at the office. But I can’t possibly be that naive.
3. If I choose to take this seriously, an actual threat to my life, this would have to be some sort of parallel existence. Probably some sort of totalitarian civilisation but for the most part other than us no one else seems to be complaining which really bugs me.
But, the biggest question on my mind still remains;
Who is Arthur?
…
…
…
Dennis turns into an alley way and I follow, the men in red have been hot on our tail for a couple blocks now but I think we might’ve finally lost them.
I can finally breathe.
Aren’t you glad? Oh did you think I forgot about you?
We are in this together, you and I. Your existence depends on this as much as mine so don’t think you are safe. Just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean you don’t exist. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if you were some audience member sitting in your comfortable chair watching and laughing at my misery.
Any thing is possible now.
We catch our breaths and Dennis without a word leads us to a blue door along the ally walls.
“NO!” I stop him, and to his bewilderment, push him against the door. One hand gripping the torso of his hoodie, the other pulling on the drawstrings tight enough to almost strangle him.
“Ive had enough of your games! You can’t just pull me out of my life without any explanation and expect me to blindly follow you!” The amount of rage building up in me takes me by surprise as well.
But I can’t stop now.
“I need something. Anything to keep me from thinking I am going insane. If you can’t do that then I’m done, I don’t want any part of this, whatever this is, anymore.”
I release my grip and take a step back looking straight into his curious eyes.
“I left this life. I put this all behind me… I just can’t, not after what happened.”
He opens his mouth, ready to speak and I eagerly await the response he could possibly give to warrant all this.
The blue door behind him opens, and a voice from within intercedes.
“Hurry, the red coats are almost here.”
Dennis turns to look at me, almost pleading.
I know if I step through that door I will only further bury myself deeper into this maze, although staying out here couldn’t possibly be any better.
So I walk past Dennis and reluctantly through the door, towards that voice, that now-that-i-think-about-it familiar voice.
Dennis walks in after me, closing the door behind him as the sounds of marching footsteps and wailing sirens start to resonate through the alley.
We walk into a pitch black space so quiet that the sound of a pin dropping might just be deafening.
“Follow my voice,” the familiar voice echoes leading us to another door. This door opens into what could’ve been a regular bar/lounge complete with people (dressed regularly btw) dancing and drinking and flirting… It was all just so normal.
It had probably not been up to an hour since I woke up this morning but that feels like weeks ago that the sight of normalcy feels odd after every thing I’ve seen so far.
A woman approaches us dressed in a long gown that trailed behind her, made of so much overlaying fabric that one might mistake her for a monk except for her full head of flowing silk hair. Monks wished they had such a divine sense of fashion.
This was her, the origin of that voice, how could I have forgotten?
“Welcome to Jummy’s. I understand your trip had some,” she pauses to think for the right adjective.
“…complications”
Yes I’m a hundred percent sure and without a doubt in my mind that this IS her.
“Lola?”
She smiles but ignores me.
“Dennis, how about you go sort out our guest’s accommodations hun,” her voice as silky as the rest of her.
Dennis leaves and disappears into the crowd. Leaving me here with…
“Would you like a smoothie?” she looks at me and winks indicating we head towards the bar.
“Mukhail and the others have been expecting you. We have so much to discuss.”
WHAT! Micheal is here too?
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