The kiss had allowed them a way out. The geography had changed, as Dominik thought. It was a resource he had never used, but Annabelle didn't know that, and it hurt her and enraged her that her first kiss had been that way.
It was not a bad reason. Saving yourself from a monster in a dream qualified as a good reason for her. Still, she hoped it was not the only reason why he did it, but she doubted so much.
In her mind, there were more and worse monsters than the ones she had seen so far in the cave, and more than the weird, tall man that was walking towards them.
Who could want a girl that was broken?
And it hurt. Badly.
Domi had no idea, of course, of those dark thoughts in her head. He could just notice her pouting from time to time, then frowning and then looking angry, and that worried him.
It was partly because the place they were at would show all that was making the changes in her face.
He just hoped that it didn't show
Domi made up his mind. He would take her through the mirrors until she was no longer as dark as that world they were seeing, and then he would tell her that he comes from her dimension and will look for her to cure her heart.That was his plan, and he hoped he had enough time to help her the way he wanted. She didn't seem as hopeless as she thought people saw her.Actually, he saw her as more rebellious. The only thing was her darkness. Why, out of nowhere, he wanted to be her hero?Not stopping to wonder why he was so interested in her, he focused his mind on ways to fix their more immediate situation. That was leaving that mirror the sooner and the safer as possible.Abbie, on the other side of the table, was almost asleep and occasionally having small giggle outbursts for jokes nobody else could hear.She was cute, Domi found himself thinking, and once again, he threw that thought to the garbage. That was not the time to get into that kind
Belle didn't know what to do. The exact same fear that she was having to trust this guy that she just met was the one that made the mirror what it was.If Annabelle trusted him, and it was just a trick to get out of the mirror? But no, in her mind, there was more than that. She didn't like to lose people, so she didn't have anyone around. That was the puzzle for that mirror.Dominik thought the solution was to offer himself as a stability point for her to hold on to. She didn't know who he really was or how real was his offering.Now that Dom made up his mind to help her, he was not going to tell her where he came from or how would he manage to do what he promised? She would have to trust his word, and he was not sure if she would.On the other side, she was thinking about the many scenarios that, in her mind, could happen. It went from the absurd to the impossible.At some point, she had the thought that it was her bad luck, and that thought was not completely gone from her mind.She
Desperate. That was the best word to describe Abbie's father. As soon as the Bulgarian doctor's contact information was given to him, he put on his coat and left the house.He rushedly said goodbye to his wife and ran out. She remained at the breakfast table, silent, with the newspaper in her hands, looking like nothing happened. Silently praying that this doctor would be the miracle they were looking for their daughter for so many years.The telegram was sent, and many miles away, it was received. They were looking for the doctor, it had to be urgent.The very nice, tall gentleman with a large, gray mustache and thin gray hair got up from his chair and called one of the delivery guys that just came."Grigori!" He was a strict but gentle-mannered boss. "Please take this telegram to the hospital immediately. Give it directly to Dr. Stoev, understood?""Yes, Mr. Iliev. Directly and exclusively to the doctor."The young man got on h
Geoffrey came back home to his wife. She was still in the same place he left her, reading the newspaper."Oh, my dear, you're back so soon," she said. "Was it eventful?"If he didn't know her, he would have been angry or at least bothered to see that she was so cold about matters. Instead, he kissed her head and hugged her tightly.Not only because he had good news, but for how much he knew she was holding on inside her and couldn't let out.There were some nights in which, thinking that her husband was sleeping, she cried. And he didn't even move because if he did, she would compose herself and never let out all the pain she held to keep the appearance and keep her family together.She was tough, but still, there were times in which she broke. And he couldn't even hold her. That was one of the reasons why when they were in their waking hours, he was sweet and comprehensive with his wife.She thought more than once that her husband had
The wagon on the train was relatively comfortable. Dominik got with him his more personal belongings, which included his journal and fountain pen. His last dream was a very peculiar one, and he wanted to save the experience. He had been visiting this Dreamworld since he was nine years old. His mother had died the day before from a cardiac illness, and he was devastated.After the wake and the funeral, the kid locked himself in his room and cried, and cried, and kept crying until he fell asleep.When he found himself with his face all wet and standing in the middle of a trail that went up to a bunch of clouds, he was sure he had died.He thought for a moment that he could see his mom there. He noticed that people were very different there but, he didn't question much what he was seeing. After all, "heaven" couldn't be as Bulgaria was at that time, right?So the kid, still in his room clothing, was intercepted by a young and handsome gentleman that walked together with a beautiful youn
Myron got back on his feet and walked all the way to receive their visitor."Belle Cat!!! We were talking about cats... and bells. It's good to see that you're still alive and well after your tour with our dear Dominik.""Alive?" She said with a puzzled look, "Was I supposed to die with him?""Well, more like... we thought you might end up killing each other. The way you were getting not-so along the last time we saw you... We tried to help you a little with that, but we're still to know if we succeeded.""Oh, I see. Well, I think you did.""Why is that, Belle Cat?" Asked Raquel, curiouser."Because he and I made a pact. I hope he will do his part. And also, I now hope he doesn't get me killed," Belle said with a stare that went together with a heart-melting smirk towards our very favorite shy guy.Dominik smiled and blushed just a little, enough for his surrogate siblings to keep it in mind until the end of times and make jokes
The train kept moving through the night. Most of the travelers were in a deep sleep. Domi has been used to keep himself in solid sleep in the most peculiar of circumstances, meaning that you can't purposedly wake him up.No, not a heavy dreamer, in that sense, just trained to wake up only when he kicked himself out of the dream.His body was in the most uncomfortable position since he fell asleep due to the motion of the train. It still seemed to be the perfect timing since he found Belle at the right time at the store.After rushing her out before she mentioned the measures he had to take to get them out of the first mirror, they got to the city and walked all the way to the outskirts, where the portals were.The first thing he had to teach her, so she could understand how to get out was to control the strong energy of the portals. It, same as the experiences within the mirrors, was different from person to person and from occasion to occasio
There was this group of people, way before, when we got a lot of visitors. Some people found friends or even family here because it seemed like people believed more in places like these, but at some point, they stopped.Anyway, one day this girl arrived. She came to the store, as you did. I was a teenager, so I noticed how pretty she was and how sad I felt her.She moved around the store, trying clothing and laughing, but she didn't feel happy to me.She came with just one friend of hers, one she called "sister," but was surrogate, just like my siblings are.I overheard them talking about going to the mirrors. I mentioned to Raq, who was in charge of equipping visitors, just as she did with you, but when she saw that girl, she was worried."I don't think you should go into the mirror, Pretty Cat," she told her,"Why not?" she answered with a puzzled smile."Because you're too sad. You might be in danger if you go in like t
It all came down to this moment. Annabelle had been unconscious for almost an hour when Dominik and her family arrived at the clinic, and he quickly met with the parents to get their consent for the intervention, that now was a matter of saving her life or not.“Your daughter seems to have been born with a small hole in her heart. If you try with the stethoscope, you can hear the peculiar sound it makes, very characteristic to the illness. As she grew older, the small hole got bigger, and at the point that we are, if it grows any more, it will be fatal. Besides that, her body is weakening by the minute, so the surgery is a very urgent matter now. We need to operate swiftly and carefully.”He explained the parents, and they, as the last chance, agreed, knowing that if they didn’t accept, their daughter would die any minute, if not that da
“Oh it’s true… For some reason, I thought I told you before. My name is Annabelle Archer, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dominik Stoev,” she said, giggling and still trying to swing to the edge. “I believe, though, that we should still try to get to the edge. Do you mind if we leave the presentations for later and get out of the mirror?” Dom couldn’t believe it… And wasn’t sure if the present news was good or not. He was on the ship and less than a day away to possibly save the girl’s life. Fear was, at least for the moment, transforming into great, big hopes, and Dom was shining bright, excited and with renewed strength. “Know what? Yes, let’s try your plan, suddenly I have a feeling that it will work.” His smile
“Captain Nankov, I found him!” Lazar yelled from one side of the ship’s deck, near the stern.In front of him was Dominik, sleeping like a log, in a half-sitting position.“I don’t know how he does it. The last few days, he sleeps wherever he falls, and not even an hour later he’s walking around again… Come on guys, I think this is the good one, let’s take him back to the cabin!”“Do you think this time he’ll sleep for longer?” Lazar asked, looking at the man deeply breathing, and now frowning.“I believe so. And I hope, because we’re soon to arrive at our destination, and what he said he had to do, will need him to be awake and ready. He’s saving a girl’s life yo
The Man From Hell finally appeared near Belle. He was standing right next to her body, intently looking at her, while Dom looked at him as if saying “I’ll kill you if you do anything to her,” and, as if he knew, the Man looked up and smiled widely, showing all of his needle-like teeth. “Calm down a little, my dear, it is still good that we can see him. I tell you again, he is not what people think he is…” Onia reassured Dom, who took a seat and watched, compass still in hand. “I’ll just feel better when she’s out of that place.” “I believe that she will be very soon. Although, remember, he might be protecting her from something else, so when she’s out there, make sure that her condition hasn’t worsened.” Onia’s words hit Dom hard. He really wanted to go look for her
Belle knew that the intentions of the Wishmaster couldn’ have been for her to die trying. If anything it was part of her test.Finally it was looking like a trial, and she kind of regretted not taking her weapons with her, but maybe she was not supposed to kill the creature that was now moving fast towards her.Then, she felt something grabbing her and pulling her strongly, just in time to get her out of the water.Her body slammed against the floor as the force used to take her out of the pool was that much, and right after she fell, she saw the white-rainbowy scales of the large, round monster that closed its mouth with a loud snap up in the air and fell back to the water.“I have to say, I am impressed,” the Wishmaster said, and the smile on his face
“Possibilities and fears don’t make life. Life is made of choices,” suddenly Annabelle said.“True… Partially.”As the very, very big, white fish swam slightly closer, a white mist could be seen swimming, or maybe, more like floating, around the young woman, that could easily go unnoticed. It had not been noticed by Annabelle herself, since it was not exactly physical, but…Could a shadow be white?“But you can’t tell me, that I have known you for so long that you don’t want to take what has been offered to you. Make your family happy, and be happy yourself,” the voice said once more, and then, Belle noticed something very interesting…That thing that
Belle closed her eyes. It was not the first time that she heard the voice in her head telling her all the things that could go wrong.But now, she didn’t care much about what could happen, mistakes were made and trouble happened as part of life. Her new life in Onerea had taught her that, and, maybe her physical heart was getting weaker, but her will and character were getting stronger.An image started showing up in front of her eyes.“Do you remember, dear, when we were kids, and you met the son of our governess? I remember you liking the boy, and that boy liked you too. It took a lot from you to forget about that, even if you were just a kid.”Annabelle sat in one of the chairs of the library, where she was taught every day by her governess, a
Belle was sleeping. Her breathing was deep and calm. Her chest raised often enough, and not even the disturbances around her, people talking or even accidentally moving her, thinking that she was awake, had changed that.It was many, many hours already too, that she had been asleep. More than twelve. Almost a day, actually, of continuous sleeping, and she didn’t seem to be close to waking up. A few days before, her father received a telegram from Dr. Stoev, letting him know that, if everything went well, he’d be arriving in a week and a half to two weeks, from the day he sent the note, that was about three, four days before.Being too optimistic, in a week the doctor, specialized in his daughter’s disease, would arrive…But was it possible that she resisted for that long?
Belle felt herself falling, and falling, for quite a while. Around her, growling could be heard, but nothing could be seen. The pitch black space that surrounded her made her unsure about the speed in which she precipitated, and where she was precipitating into.“Remember what I said,” he told her, and she remembered indeed.“Eyes wide open, be ready for whatever it is,”she said to herself. “Weapons,” she remembered, checking the different places where she got the holsters, back then at the store.Happy to see that everything was in place, she wondered if that was a mirror.“He said it would be a trial… and to remember what I believe in… cryptic crazy guy… I like him haha.”