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THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 19
I open my eyes and try to move my arms. Alas, this is the cruel tradition of my nightmares: the wrists are tightly tied to the metal bars of the wrought-iron headboard of the old bed. Hands are extremely divorced to the sides, shoulders are already buzzing. I know that this is only a dream, that this is only a nightmare, but my lips whisper by themselves:- Mother! Mommy! - I sob, the picture floats before my eyes, and hot tears painfully disturb the weathered skin on my cheeks.“Please, please, I want this to end! I beg! No need! Let go! RELEASE! Anything but NOT THIS!!!" I want to scream.This is one of my worst nightmares. Alas, in recent months he has been my frequent visitor. A dream about a small fragile girl tied to a bed, half-sitting on an old mattress and waiting for her kidnapper. Oh, the irony of our notion of monsters, this is a normal middle-aged man with a receding hairline. He seems kind and helpful.He “even” feeds and washes the girl, takes her to the toilet and read
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 20
“On this first night, the Death of Orpheus came to look at him sleeping ...” - the voice of the narrator swept through the empty hall. Two figures in identical blue overalls were sitting in the projector room, drinking fragrant tea with fresh sandwiches, watching the film attentively. Sometimes, in the silence between lines, their careful whispers could be heard, as if someone could hear their voices and demand silence in the cinema.The bottle offered by Charlie still had to be sipped. In the first minutes of the film, a cramp began to twist her hand, and the girl secured herself from an attack and Their approach.It was as if the fox had seen the film for the first time, although every scene was familiar to her. Having grown up on the works of the last century, she felt at home, plunging into the worlds of black and white and even silent paintings. However, Charlie's words fell on fertile ground. For the first time, she thought that every day of self-awareness in Nightmare City coul
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 21
She carefully ran her finger along the strings. Inside, all their evenings soared with tension, when they, like street musicians, just sat and sang songs to her at first awkward playing. One of the guitars was named "Bard" because it was the one they took with them on trips if they planned to spend bard evenings in unusual corners of the country. Dulled emotions due to the drunk medicine from Them on the eve of the evening walk did not allow me to shed tears, although a rich range of emotions danced in my soul.- What is its uniqueness? she asked in a trembling voice.- On the first day of sale, the heel of the neck was damaged. Then they carefully corrected it, and the restored guitar was returned to the market with a markdown. After this “injury”, it began to sound a little lower and deeper, as if the sound was wandering somewhere inside. Rolls on the tongue of a guitar before going out! Charlie spoke in a mysterious voice.Is this true or did the seller tell you this legend? - Lis
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 22
“I… thought I was going to lose you.” That they will take you right before my eyes! Charlie whispered, breathing heavily."I hope the Circus Director doesn't come for us!" she whispered into the void, staring blankly at the ceiling of the Tea Shop.- Sorry I…“You had no other choice. I would do the same if I were you," Lis said calmly. — Houston, we have a problem: seizures began to appear more and more often. They took me seriously. Or the body has simply become accustomed to this potion-medicine and now requires a dose more and more often.Charlie, afraid to move, looked at his friend, realizing how fragile and brittle her life had become. Surviving in the city for almost ten months, she seemed to him an unbroken heroine, but this illusion quickly crumbled before his eyes. That night they weren't even chased by the terrible monsters of Nightmare City, but they didn't go anywhere.“And they're not going anywhere. They're just biding their time, like with Zoe and Alex!" Swallowing ha
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 23
- For acquaintance it is supposed to drink! the girl smiled timidly when the stranger's paw stopped squeezing her throat.Fear for himself and Charlie instantly formed a plan in his head. It was only necessary to remain calm and Charlie not try to do something. The fox looked eloquently at her friend and gently shook her head, hoping that her message would reach the addressee without interference and distortion - do not interfere, pretend to be a stone! They seemed to be starting an unscheduled game of Russian roulette. Only they did not choose the moment of the shot.“What an irony, we forgot that the most dangerous predator is a man!” Lis thought.- What a good girl! whistled the bandit with the knife. - And what can you offer?— I have a tincture in my left pocket. On cognac, - she breathed out, and then she could hardly restrain herself from a grimace of disgust, when the second one began to brazenly rummage around her body with his hands, as if specifically looking for a pocket e
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 24
Twitching her fingers in alarm, she had a quick bite to eat, washed down breakfast with a few sips from a blue flask, cleaned herself up, and for the opening, prepared the Tea Shop for the arrival of Madame Claudia. Previously, the opening to run and look for a friend did not make any sense. If Andy replaced Charlie, then he sleeps in his bed, and the girl will not be able to find him. Only the plan “yesterday I forgot my thermos in the hall” could help to lure him out. Day of week Wednesday. There will be no customers all day, but Claudia will definitely come, and then it will be possible to run to the cinema and check if Andy is there.The Tea Witch was in no hurry to appear, which caused the Fox to nervously wander from corner to corner. When the tension threatened to reach a critical stage, the doorbell rang.— Good morning, my dear, today is a serious and very important assignment for you! Claudia appeared on the doorstep in an unusually good mood. In her hands, the woman carried
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 25
Tears welled up in the woman's eyes. She exhaled convulsively.- And later I found out that my girls are no longer alive. He didn't make them weird. Pretty young girls he needs for another. After all, he is a man with all ... obscene desires.The water was heated to the right temperature, Lis hastily put a teapot with tea leaves on the counter. Claudia calmed the trembling in her hands, and began the process of traditional brewing, worthy of a cultural show. But the hypnotic process and the movements honed by experience were not enough for the ritual of the correct traditional brewing of tea to distract her from her fiery speech.“He charmed them,” a bitter smile, when the tea was ready, “oh yes! He knows how to do it masterfully! Experience in love games he has for a dozen generations. He played with them like a cat with a mouse. Tempted. After his sweet speeches, I am sure, my bright birds found themselves on his dissolute bed very quickly, and, as they themselves were inspired, qui
THE MYSTERY CITY CHAPTER 26
Claudia's words rumbled in her ears like dire prophecies about her immediate future. She did not want to become a garden bed for the Black Hellebore.The gurgling sound got closer and closer as she cautiously stepped forward, until finally a suffocatingly sweet smell hit her nose, somehow subtly familiar. But she did not have time to think about where she could breathe this cloying sweetness. Two barite flashes flashed in front of her and ... she was on fire.Stone walls. My work hangs along the walls. High ceiling. Wooden floors. Desktop with many blanks and my tools. My house. And my house is on fire! My whole life's work is on fire! My masks, blanks, everything melts and turns into nothing right before our eyes, and the flame becomes more and more violent. I am trapped. Burning wooden beams will soon collapse on me, and I am locked up, all around is fire, the heat of which is already melting me. We need to run, but where? The flame is blinding, disorienting, and the rapidly burning