ADRIA’S POV.
By the time I got to Lucien’s house, he was already prepared, and was waiting for me.
“Hey.” He said when he opened the door, but I greeted him with a sigh. “Come here.” He added, with a smile, and pulled me into a hug.
“I just have a lot on my mind right now.” I confessed. “I would have loved to go to Daniel’s aunt’s wedding in Paris, but I don’t even know if I’ll survive this.”
“You can still go. When we make it back in time. Maybe in three days, we’ll arrange for you to fly to Paris. I figure you can get the invitation on your own?” He asked, and I chuckled.
How was he confident enough to make plans?
“Sure I can get the invitation on my own.” I replied, trying to reflect his positivity in my voice.
“Let’s stay optimistic, Adria. Don’t think of the bad side.” He requested, holding my shoulders, and I nodded.
“Being optimistic might be the only way we can survive this.” I replied, and he nodded.
We shut all the doors, and windows in his house, before taking a cup of chamomile tea to calm our jangling nerves.
After the cup of tea, we left the house, and as I watched him locking his door, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’ll open it again.
Stop, Adria! Only positive thoughts! I cautioned myself, shaking my head.
If only I could jump to the future, back to the moment when we were stepping back into Lucien’s house, able to hold each other without having any weird urges to destroy each other.
Lucien and I, made our way past the streets, and into the forests.
“This could probably be a fun journey for us. Let’s act like it’s a video game.” He suddenly suggested, and I burst out laughing.
“You’re actually comparing life and death to a video game?”
“Hey, Video games are life and death too. There are many people shooting, shouting, and you need a place to hide, take cover, and reload, or there are zombies waiting to eat your brain, and flesh.” He added, and I cracked up again.
“You sound just like Tommy. Well, too bad. I’m not much of a gamer. I’ve never played a video game all my life.” I admitted, and he gave a charming smile.
“Then this would be your first video game. Nothing in there is real, but they must not get to you…”
“Isn’t that a bad way to think? In our case, we should think they’re real, but you know what, Lucien? Just keep smiling. Earlier, when you gave that striking smile, I forgot everything in my head. It was like I was somewhere else, so keep smiling to distract me.” I told him, jumping over branches that laid on the way.
“Oh, really?” He asked, and placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned to him, and he smiled brightly, which made me giggle out loud.
“Ahh! I love it!” I squealed, and he burst into laughter.
“Oh, come on!”
Lucien, and I walked across the forest talking, and laughing. We were definitely the first ones to approach the land of the dreaded, and still look so comfortable.
Finally, we got to a thicket, and I looked around, while Lucien matched stones to get a pattern that would bring the Land of the Dreaded to us.
It was something like a puzzle where you had to piece patterns together.
After a few tries, it finally worked out, and Lucien stepped back.
“Be careful.” He said, and I stumbled over a twig.
Out of the blue, a large wall covered in a tangle of vines, and thorns, seemed to drop from the sky in front of us.
I screamed as we fell to the floor. The wall was very tall, and wide, and it felt like the ground shook.
My heart was beating like crazy, and we kept on looking at the wall.
“What next?” I asked, still staring at the wall.
“We wait.” Lucien replied, and we stayed there on the floor, waiting for something to happen.
Then slowly, the vines began to ease themselves out of the tangle they were knotted in.
The thorns withdrew, and I saw brass knockers.
It wasn’t a wall, but a large door. A double door.
My heart rate skidded, and I couldn’t help feeling my mouth running dry, faster than it should.
What lay beyond those doors? What would we meet? Would we still make it out of those doors?
At that moment, I could no longer deny my fear. I stared at the door with my breath coming out loud, and shaky against my wishes. I tried to breathe long, and steadily, but it wasn’t working.
“It’s fine…” Lucien tried to comfort me, but it already felt like I was feeling the dark power behind the doors.
It was an overwhelming feeling, and my feet fought to get off the ground, and make my way back to my mother.
But… Lucien held my hand, and I was reminded we were together.
I turned to him, and he flashed a bright smile. It probably took a lot of effort for him to smile as brightly as that, but it worked.
My heart felt better. I was with Lucien, so everything was fine. Even if I died in there, it would still be okay because he was with me.
With my hand in his, we pulled ourselves to our feet, and walked towards the door.
I took a handle in my free hand, he did the same, and together we turned the handle.
The door opened, and we were faced with a bright blinding light, as we walked in.
After walking in, the door closed with a bang, and we turned around.
The door was disappearing fast, as solid darkness was creeping over it, and covering the edges.
“It…”
“Let’s move.” Lucien suddenly said ominously, holding my hand tightly, and I looked in closely, and saw the solid darkness was not actually darkness, but black scorpions.
A gasp escaped me at their numbers, and I took rapid steps backwards. The scorpions after covering the door suddenly began to flood down on the floor, and I let out a loud scream.
The journey had begun.