Chapter 12 #2
I move my gaze to Lucas’s, but he avoids it, putting his hands in his hair and pacing to the window.
And then I remember.
“Ok, I will avoid whatever I heard for now, but because we have a bigger problem. Do you think you can walk?” I ask Blake.
He then tries to get up, and I can see the pain he feels, but he manages to get on his feet. Even if his gaze tells me he’s not that ok, we don’t have much time. We need to go there. I need to find out if it’s true or not, even though I found the worst moment to think about that.
“Good, then change your clothes and prepare for a long ride,” I say, and go to my room to dress up better for the small adventure.
?
I bandaged Blake before leaving to make sure his shirt won’t get full of blood. I wanted us to attract as little attention as possible.
We went down to the basement after getting some flashlights and into the tunnel of terrors, which I now take my time to analyse.
All the walls are tainted with different colours that faded over time.
I can see clearly that the most obvious one is the crimson, especially when we put some light on it.
Same on the ground, as a lot of dark traces go off deep into the tunnel.
I follow the trails and shiver when I see a pile of bones at the end of them.
I try to keep the tears to myself, but I feel a delicate drop trickle down my cold cheek.
What if I hadn’t remembered this tunnel, or if I hadn’t found the key, and Blake had ended up the same way?
I feel a warm hand touching my back, making the panic inside me sweep out of my being.
“Do not think of what could’ve happened, Anmara,” Blake whispers to me. “Stay in the present and get us out of this darkness.”
I nod and move the lantern so that I will no longer see the clothes mixed with the rotten bones on the ground. My light falls upon an axe in a wall, which makes me move further to the last turn. I instantly calm down when we reach its end, directly in the park.
Surprise, surprise. It is sunny and nice, no rain, while around the hotel you can see the storm, so we are right.
Something suspicious is going on.
I think you would’ve been better off as a detective than as a writer. More action for you.
I ignore her, like I always do. I won’t let her control my thoughts and actions. Not from that night.
And as always, we didn’t get out with a good plan in mind, but one thing is sure: I want to reach the waterfall. Not the end of it, but the upper part of the hill that surrounds half the city.
I look over to Blake, who masks his pain very well, and go ahead of them, leading the way. The path I remember all too well.
Not so long ago, I had the intention of finding out if there was something hidden behind the waterfall.
I know that it can seem like a movie script, where there could be a secret cave where the richest in the world were enacting their grand plans.
Or where there was an extravagant laboratory where people were testing stuff on animals. Or even on people.
Yeah, I saw too many science-fiction movies and read too many books, so my imagination couldn’t help but go in that direction. It is inevitable.
It’s possible to be wrong or to be more right about it than I could imagine at the moment, but I know that this time I really need to find out if there is just a simple waterfall or the power source of this small town.
I don’t know if this is the worst moment to want to do this or the best opportunity, especially beside Blake and Lucas.
One year ago, I worked for a company that created marketing campaigns for cosmetic products, and I needed to come up with distinctive promotional ideas beyond what already existed.
My job depended on it. So, I couldn’t just stay all day in the house and try to read magnificent ideas between the cracks in the walls.
I needed inspiration, and nature did that for me, so I decided to explore the city a bit, starting with the huge park.
Moreover, I already had a book idea I just started writing, and I also reached a dead end there.
Nature always helped me fill my brain with a surprising wave of creativity. There came the most beautiful ideas. But, as the other day, I knew that it was something off with that waterfall. It seemed too perfect, too well-placed, and it was flowing too smoothly to be a real one.
I’ve taken trips into nature around the city I was living in, and I managed to see all the waterfalls in the area.
Each one of them had something different.
They were imperfect and perfect at the same time, only depending on the location and the surrounding views.
But the one from Tamwine… seemed too perfect, and it filled me with deep unease.
Of course, I was getting restless, and something was pushing me from behind to explore all of it. I used to climb all the existing trails, but not a single one led me to the top of that waterfall, so I decided to make my own, after too much time respecting the rules. After too many months.
And guess what? I really got to that place, but Marshall was there watching and smiling at me with his hands in his pockets.
He was wearing a full black tailored suit that matched the ember in his gaze.
His eyes seemed to suspect me of something, but he hid it too well when he talked, not seeming bothered by the fact that I was there.
On the other hand, I was surprised to see him there, since most of his time was spent in meetings in an office, not outside. He never wanted to come with me to explore. I had to drag Bianca with me every single time.
A sweet kiss from him stopped me from asking him more questions. His body led me back to my apartment from the hotel, where we ended up rolling over one another.
As always.
Now it terrifies me only thinking about that and the girls in the pictures.
Yes, yes, you could’ve been one of them. Fucking try to live with it. At least, you are in control.
I can feel Lucas and Blake coming on each side of me, both of them looking at me with worry, especially since I stopped walking.
“Are you ok?” Blake asks me, while also trying to hide his pain, with both his hands over the wound.
“I think I can ask you the same thing,” I say, smiling a little bit, but he only rolls his eyes.
“You lived for five years with that man, and you just found out who he really was,” Lucas says. “You have every right not to be ok. What Blake feels is a physical injury. He had enough of them to be used to it,” he softly laughs, making me shiver.
God, what did these men go through?
I am about to ask him how long he had known about Marshall, but I then remember his shadow-watch over me.
“I wanna know everything,” I start by saying.
“Everything he ever kept from me. Yes, I am devastated, I’m scared, I’m afraid to be next to him, and I don’t even know how I would react the next time I see him.
I would probably freeze in fear. I also want to know everything about you two.
You both harmed me in a way similar to how Marshall did in the truth section.
I got over it with time, so the feeling isn’t new,” I say with regret in my voice, looking at both of them.
Of course, they move their gazes far from mine.
Nobody said anything else for the rest of the road between the trees in bloom and the multitude of flowers around. If it wasn’t for this situation, I would’ve enjoyed the scenery, breathing the spring in its splendour.
It is the best season for creativity. That is why I already knew when my wedding was going to be.
You can hear the chirping of the birds, the wind softly blowing between the trees’ branches with every step you take, letting nature surround you.
But, as beautiful as all of it is around us, this also makes me think that this is the best facade for any secret operations that could happen on this planet.
Hiding in the perfect place of relaxation, which you would never suspect of anything bad. Yet, it is precisely this aspect that came to the surface through its perfection for those who knew what to look at.
I was always happy when he brought me with him to Tamwine.
I adored exploring all of its colourful streets.
I loved to marvel at the multitude of colourful flowers and to sit on a bench, sketching the details I could see around me.
It was the perfect universe for a girl seeking a creative environment.
Especially when I decided to quit the marketing job and get more serious about writing.
I was most creative last year when the idea of writing sparkled in my head as a side job.
But only in Tamwine. When I got home, all the creative spirit just disappeared from inside of me, and I couldn’t continue the stories I started here.
It was something about the air that I haven’t found anywhere else.
I was still waiting for the moment when I would finish the first book that the perfectionist in me would be proud of.
Marshall kept telling me he was proud of me and supported me, whether I had a job or not. He was making enough money not to be interested in that aspect.
If I processed my memories a little bit better, anytime he said that or anything else, his gaze was always empty, neutral, even though his smile was always there.
I thought it was all in my head, that someone inside me was interfering with my reality.
This behaviour usually made me ignore any imperfection I saw.
Today, he is not here when we reach the same spot I have been to a month ago, near to the waterfall’s origin.
But my gaze and Lucas’s stop somewhere lower, close to the water.
It looks like a normal place, with a cliff from where the water flows on its natural course, but the flowers next to the water aren’t so innocent.
“Something tells me we’re in the right place,” Lucas says, thinking about the flowers of 10.000 pounds presented by the florist.
Blake looks confused at both of us, not knowing what this is about, but we don’t have time to explain, because I feel like the ground under my feet is moving. I would’ve fallen off my feet if it weren’t for Lucas.
I push the protective feeling and his warmth aside the moment I see the opening in the cliff.
The water that was falling over it moved to one side, somehow keeping its course on the bottom.
A thick white smoke surrounds us, and behind the cliff, a grizzled man, around 50 years old, comes to approach us, smiling, his hands behind his back.
He is dressed in a grey suit with a white shirt and black shoes, all of which nicely complements his age.
I can feel Lucas squeezing my arms and getting me behind him.
From the way he is acting and protecting me, I realise who is the massive man with a head taller than Lucas addressing us.
Cathal.
“I was waiting for you," he says in a calm voice, but gruesome enough to make me tremble while he is analysing me.
His gaze becomes harsher when he looks over to Lucas.
“Cat got your tongue, Lucas? Our last talk didn’t seem to finish. You had so much to say," he says with a derisive laugh.
His glare gets to Blake, and his smile disappears from his face. The only thing remaining is pure rage.
“And you… I didn’t trust you from the beginning, but I trusted Lucas. You both betrayed me, and there will be consequences to your actions," he says in a strong voice, which has a trace of sadness in it. “Take them!” He shouts abruptly.
Behind him, a lot of masked men appear. We don’t get a chance to move, all of us being thrown to the ground. A thick, black smoke quickly spreads around us, obscuring our surroundings. My gaze becomes foggy. I feel my eyes close, my thoughts drifting to an obscure universe.