Chapter 4
Wistful glances
We finally came to our senses minutes ago, our cheeks still on fire from all the emotion. I tried to ignore the pounding of my heart and just explore the city.
The buildings in a unique architecture, that seem to have been restored recently, surround all the streets we are walking on.
Each house, as I saw from the terrace of my apartment, has its own grand garden covering the entire roof.
I am really curious about what kinds of plants these people grow, given that the vast majority of the buildings seem not to have been lived in.
Almost all of them have their black shutters closed, keeping out any trace of sunlight.
Besides that, everything is too… perfect. Too dreamy.
A mysterious paradise.
However, everyone’s eyes are… empty, lifeless. I’m not feeling any emotion through them. I don’t even think their glares are human. They are like some puppets, juggled by the puppet masters hidden in the city’s gloom.
Every time my eyes come in contact with theirs, I have a déjà vu. I feel a familiar emotion, like a memory haunting me from the past, reluctant to show itself.
“Let’s go in here.” Lucas wakes me out of my mind’s attempts to get the past images into the light.
I raise my eyes, and they take me to a flower shop.
Before processing why there is such a shop in the city of flowers, Lucas grabs my hand and pulls me inside, closing the door behind us.
When she sees us, the saleswoman greets us and smiles. “What brings you to our flower shop? Do you want a bouquet for your fiancée?” the florist asks, pointing at my rings.
My eyes go wide, and I take my hand out of Lucas’s.
“No, she is not my fiancée,” Lucas laughs softly. “I heard that you have something we cannot find anywhere else. Something exotic. Am I right?”
Interesting approach, Lucas.
A bit different from what I would’ve done. I would’ve been more direct, but I think I would’ve sounded too suspicious. I just want to find out what the hell is with all those flowers from everywhere, but who knows what surprise awaits us from his idea.
“Please excuse my confusion,” the florist smiles at us.
“Regarding the flowers, you are absolutely right. I really do have something found only on Tamwine’s territory, but not what you see on the streets, which is why the price may seem a little more…
steep compared to the others. I’ll come back in a second to show you,” she says enthusiastically, and then goes to another room through a veil formed of black leaves.
Lucas and I exchange glares, amused by the situation, until his gaze comes in contact with my ring. His green eyes turn sad, probably thinking what is circulating through my mind as well: that I am the missing bride.
I told him about the miraculous note that took me to the hotel, but I don’t think he noticed my ring. Or he didn’t care at the moment. He was too busy looking at my eyes and body. I was aware that while he was talking, he was really trying not to look at my low-cut neck.
He failed miserably, but I’m not the one to judge.
I haven’t told anything because I was studying him as well.
I explored the muscles on his arms that stood out through his t-shirt, but my gaze also fell lower.
We were both horny as hell, that’s for sure.
I don’t know if he noticed how hard it was for me to talk or concentrate on what I was telling him. That is, if he heard me at all.
I come to my senses and out of my perverse thoughts when the florist returns.
I think my cheeks turned bright red because of them.
I’m looking at Lucas and notice that he also has a bit of colour to his cheeks, probably with the same recent memories in mind, but it quickly disappears when he sees the bouquet that the florist holds between her hands.
It instantly catches my attention. I don’t even know how to describe it. It is a combination of peonies, lilies of the valley, and tulips, but in a unique style. Like Tamwine.
My eyes go wide when I see its insane price.
10.000 pounds.
Holy shit…
I perfectly understand why Lucas turned as white as a sheet.
A bit spicy? Good god…
Lucas slowly turns his gaze to me and then to the florist.
“If you want, I can show you more accessible options, but these are the most in-demand for the visitors,” she says, seeing our facial expressions. “I have other options beginning from 1.000 pounds.”
“The bouquet is amazing. Thank you so much for the offer,” Lucas says, because I couldn’t get any word out. “We will come back if we decide on a temporary souvenir or a more permanent one.”
Nicely said.
“Of course! But I want you to know that these flowers are truly special! They don’t require much attention, they last up to five days, and they do have a lot of benefits,” she winks at us. “I hope you’ll make the right choice with your souvenir!” she says while accompanying us out.
After she closes the door behind us, I manage to inhale some air after those excessive prices. I look back through the flower shop door, and I see that the woman’s expression turned into a neutral mask, staring into space.
Weird people.
Terribly weird.
“Ok, so we really need to find out why they only grow here. Do they grow from money?” Lucas asks in an amused tone.
His feet begin moving, slowly walking away from me. I stop in place after a couple of steps, not taking his sarcastic question into account. The last page of our notebooks has taken over my logical thinking and wouldn't let me move on. Not even one more step.
He quickly realises that I’ve fallen behind and comes back to me with a more serious expression on his face.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I really wanna know what goes through your head, because I can only see a mixture of darkness,” I say while my bottom lip starts trembling.
“I’m still thinking about a connection between those words, and aside from the flowers, there is another one that pops, especially since she mentioned that they have benefits. ”
“Drugs,” he says in a smaller voice, only for me to hear, while staring deep into my eyes.
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.
“What the fuck just happened?” I ask, trying to move to get the numbness off my body, but I discover that I have one hand tied to the bench with a thick rope. “Ugh, really?” I mumble, rolling my eyes.
“I don’t think I have to tell you that somebody heard us,” he says in one breath, closing his eyes to calm down and leaning his head back.
I notice that he has both hands tied to the bench and they are full of blood, so I have to assume he already tried to untie himself.
“Don’t copy me,” he says with his eyes still closed, probably feeling my gaze on his hands.
I sigh softly, closing my eyes to bring calmness to my body. A lot of blood appears behind them, so I open my eyes again, mumbling words that make no sense because of my beautiful imagination.
Sorry. My fault.
With my available hand, I try to untie the rope from my right hand. Surprise: I can’t do it. It is too tight to get it off easily.
Great.
Actually…
I have something handy in my bag. Unfortunately, I was right with my restlessness, so I search, and surprisingly, it is still there.
But the notebook isn’t.
I take the penknife and try to cut the rope without injuring myself.
But with me being so careless, still daydreaming, I whimper when I slit the place on the wrist next to the veins.
The drops of blood rapidly spread on my hand.
Some of them even reach my dress, accentuating the red colour of the flowers.
When I look up, I see Lucas frowning at me with a raised eyebrow, looking at the fresh cut.
“I hope you don’t wanna do that to me, too.”
“You already made it worse. You won’t even feel it,” I smile.
I take one of the ropes that is holding his hands captive and exhale with relief when I notice they are already eased. I cut both of his strands, succeeding in not hurting him at all.
“Ok, so what are we going to do? We continue, leave, eat, sleep? I don’t even know what time it is,” he sighs, making our guts rumble when he talks about food.
Our gazes go over the colours left behind by the sun that couldn’t wait to get lost. A sign that it is already getting dark.
They kept us out all day. I’m hungry, but the only place I can trust eating in is my hotel room, after a long, hot bath.
My luck will surely not be by my side with all I wish for. The danger around us feels stronger, along with the last rays of the sun from behind the trees.
“Let’s go back to the hotel, and we’ll see what we’re gonna do from there.”
I was about to get up, but the exhaustion won. I was close to lying on the ground if Lucas hadn’t helped me.
I try to survive the gravity by taking a few steps, helped by Lucas, until he sighs and lifts me high like a bride. My gaze goes from his beautiful emeralds to his bloody hands and the way they are staining my dress even more.
He carries me up to my apartment door. When he sees that I can stay on my own feet without collapsing, he turns around and goes to his room.
The plan was summed up to a quick shower, contradictory to my high expectations, some comfortable clothes, and a push of a button. We are to meet in my apartment and make a plan for what we’ll do without getting caught again.
But, before that, we both need to regain our strength. We don’t know what we will be up against in this strange little town, which creeps me out even more with every passing second. So, a tasty meal will be exactly what we’ll need.
At least for the moment.