Surprised, Selena started to cough but kept asking questions: "what's the name of this city."
Liam answered again. "Totspel."
"Totspel? I've never heard of it. Where is it? Can you show me on the map?" She asked, hoping she can find something useful.
"Our city isn't on the map."
"And why is that?"
Josephine answered for Liam, unleashing all the irritation she kept inside: "Because our city is a godforsaken place! That's why."
Selena frowned. "It doesn't make sense.
Liam stepped forward. "There are a few cartographers at the church. But Totspel is too far away from the rest of the cities. It's inhabitants have lived separately from the rest of the world for centuries and kept in touch only with the king's relatives. But they'd only meet every couple of years."
Knock, knock!
There was a knock on the door, then someone slowly opened it. The floorboards creaked. Josephine jumped up from the chair. "It's him!" She rushed to meet the guest. Liam got up too.
Selena remained sitting, rubbing her temples with her fingers. But suddenly she heard a familiar voice... She got up, hesitated, waiting for the sudden excitement to pass, and then went out to join the others.
Josephine was fussing around a stately man dressed to the nines. It was Rob. "We were waiting for you, Mr. Steltz!"
"Because of the weather, the trip took longer than I had planned." He responded calmly.
When Selena saw him, the first impulse was to rush to him and ask him to stop the charade, But as soon as she took a step towards him, her heart sank.
"Hello." He nodded to her coldly, distantly. The way Selena was looking at him puzzled Mr. Steltz.
'He doesn't recognize me. He doesn't know me!' She was horrified. Selena swayed like a drunk and pressed her back against the doorframe. She grabbed it with both hands as if she were afraid that she might collapse.
Liam bowed to Rob. "Welcome to our hotel.
Rob looked around the hall with intense interest. "You have an interesting interior."
Josephine smiled proudly. "We inherited this mansion. We decided to make a hotel out of it to attract tourists to our town. Would you like a tour?"
"I'm a little tired after the trip..."
Josephine eyes went wide. "Oh, my! What was i thinking?! Let me walk you to your room." Josephine serviely hurried to the second floor.
Rob looked at Selena again. Her eyes widened slightly. 'Does he recognize me?' But no, he followed Josephine without saying a word. On the stairs, he stopped, and began to examine the paintings on the walls. His gaze froze on the portrait of a woman.
Liam, flattered by Rob's interest, came closer. "Do you like our paintings?"
"Did you paint them?" He replied without taking his eyes of the painting.
Liam couldn't help but smile slightly. "No, not me."
Josephine stopped and turned. "We have a tradition, did you know? We have a portrait of everyone who stays at our hotel. I hope you'll honor us to add your portrait to our collection?" Rob wanted to answer something, but Josephine interrupted him: "But for now, you need to rest. Let's go, shall we?"
She moved on. Rob looked at the painting again, then followed Josephine. Selena watched him go upstairs and dissappear on the second floor. Despair filled her mind with renewed vigor. 'I need to get out of here...'
Slightly staggering, She headed for the door. She grabbed the handle and pulled it.
"Lilith, where are you going?!" Liam worried voice rang out behind her.
"I'm leaving. "She spat out.
"But where?"
"I need to get out of here."
Liam walked over her, touched her shoulder with concern, but Selena rudely shoved his hand away. "Don't touch me."
"What's got into you today?"
Selena scoffed. "I don't know what's going on here, but I won't be part of this madness! I've got work to go back to! I don't have time to waste!" Selena seemed crazy, but at the same time, she was thinking clearly.
She left the mansion intending to get out of that city. The door closed behind her. Luckily, Liam didn't go after her. Selena exhaled. She felt like a bird escaping from a cage. And there was only one though in her head: "Run!"
Selena took one step. Then another one. And then she started to run. It'd been a long time since Selena last ran, she felt like a little girl running away because of something she did wrong.
The leaves crunched underfoot, breaking into small pieces as Selena made her way through the fog. And soon she saw the city.
She stopped to catch her breath. There might be civilization outside this city. I'll hitchhike my way back home... She walked down a country road trying to get away from that place.
Selena walked calmly now. Her heart and thoughts slowed down. She regained her former composure. But anxiety, seething somewhere deep inside, wouldn't let her go. What if I don't find cars? What if there are no modern cities. What then?"
Selena came to a fork in the road. She saw a sign that showed the way. Left, right or straight ahead. She looked back then went the left.
As she moved on, it seemed that every step she took got her closer to freedom. It was a straight road, with no twists and turns. Soon, Selena heard voices and sone kind of noise. 'Finally, She started to run.'
The road led her to Tospel. "What the hell?!" 'I'll go the other way. She went back and stopped at the fork. "Right is always the right choice..." Selena walked fast, almost starting to run. And only after hearing the barking of the dog, she hesitated. Was that the end of the haze, and did she finally reach civilization?
Selena walked around a tree and a city opened up in front of her... Still the same city. Selena backed away, shaking her head. "No...no, it can't be!"
She ran back to where she came from. She decided to walk straight ahead into the forest. "There must me another life on the other side of the forest..."
Selena made her way through the thorns and intertwining tree branches, ignoring the cuts they left on her hands and face. She didn't turn around and didn't think of stopping.
Selena ran for a long while, finally she heard the city rumble... "I did it. I did .." Selena pushed aside the last branch... "(Whispering) No.."
She fell to her knees in disbelief. 'No matter which road i take, I always and sup here....How in this possible?!'
Ladies in hats walked around the city, not suspecting how crazy it all looked in Selena's eyes. Carriages with horses and even omnibuses rushed past, just like cars once rushed in front of her.
Selena tried to catch her breath and calm down. 'What is this place?' She wondered. The city wouldn't let her go. She got up, disted off her skirt, and walked forward. She was consumed by her thoughts as she wandered the city streets.
The inhabitants greeted her with a nod of their heads or a simple smile, but no one would look her in the eyes, everyone averted their eyes. Maybe they felt that engaging in a conversation with her was a bad idea.
Selena thought she was ready to ponce on anyone who tried to talk to her. 'Okay. let's say i ended up in the past. But why are there people here from my previous life? Why don't they remember me?' Her mind was pulled back to the moment that old woman cursed her.
'Even if we assume for a second that all this is the curse of the old woman could she have cursed the entire city and make me the only one to remember so that to suffer? Who is capable of such a thing?' She took another deep breath. 'This isn't a dream or a hallucination: everything is too realistic. But a curse!! It's all too crazy.'
At that moment, Selena stopped. Her heart sounded in her chest. She tried to inhale but couldn't. 'What's the matter with me?' She saw a slowly walking horse and a rider on it. People parted before them, but it was as if they didn't see them.
A sudden gust of wind blew away the leaves as if clearing the way for the mysterious figure. The closer the horse came, the harder it was for Selena to breathe. When the rider caught up with her, the horse stopped. He lowered his head and looked at Selena.
She was terrified. He looked like a skeleton. No just a pure skeleton with holes in his eyes and nose! The rider took a card out of his sleeve and handed it to her. Her trembling fingers obediently reached for it without saying a word. As soon as Selena held the card, the horse started prancing.
The rider puller the reins, and then trotted away slowly as they had come.