Lifeboat

7. New Beginnings

"Can you please slow down?"

I called out to Marco and Dante as they continued their blistering pace up the hill. It was early morning, the daylight lazily raised itself from the place where the sea met the sky. A truly breathtaking view from the castle mount, I'd never seen anything like it. The rocky shoreline of my hometown had been so much more vicious and dark. A deeper blue. A stronger tide.

Stumbling along barefooted, I did my best to keep up with the men. They took no notice of my constant complaining. At one point I swear I even heard them whistling some happy little tune together. What the heck was wrong with these two?

I followed them upwards, out of the castle grounds until we reached a small hamlet. An old village, the buildings seemingly deserted and built with the discarded stone of the castle ruins.

An eerie place. The wind whipped around every corner. The sound of the men's clicking boot heels reverberated along the empty streets. Echoed quickly by the slap of my naked feet upon the cobbles.

They didn't strike me as worried at all by their surroundings, or expecting to meet anyone else.

The wind and cloud cover made the day cooler than yesterday. A welcome relief for me. The sweat on my red jumper had dried off during the night and I'd become aware of the stench from the fresh patches I made during this hike. It didn't need any encouragement from the sun to make it worse.

Along a particularly narrow strip of street, Dante stopped abruptly and held up his right fist. Marco, close behind him, dropped to his knees. He turned to me and hissed through his teeth while waving his left hand up and down.
"Giu'!Giu'!" (Down! Down!)

I got the message and sank briskly onto the hard stones. The wind spun my knotted mass of hair around my face, annoying me beyond belief. What I wouldn't give for a hairband.

All three of us stayed perfectly still. Apart from my hair. Nothing moved. My heartbeat pounded, the sores on my upturned feet stung in the air.

After what seemed like a good half hour to me - but more likely to be a few minutes - Dante stood up and gave us an 'okay' sign.

We carried on through the hamlet until we got to the main entrance of the town walls. The houses here were constructed as part of the boundary walls and Dante led us up to the boarded front door of the last house, to the left of the archway.

My little toe stubbed against a cobble, sending a tremendous shock of pain all the way up my leg. I gasped but managed to keep myself from crying out. The toe was bright red but didn't appear broken.

When I looked back to the house my companions had disappeared! The door still shut fast with planks of wood nailed across it. Where were they? Beginning to panic I rushed round the side of the house but couldn't see them anywhere. Coming back again to the front I scanned the building for open windows. Nothing. For the first time in my bizarre journey a sensation of isolation crept up on me. I swallowed hard and tears threatened. Where had they gone?

Moving closer to the door, I saw that the cobbles beside it on the left didn't look quite the same. They were subtly changing the shape, shade and density. Fading in and out. As I became absorbed by this illusion, a hand reached out through the strange piece of street and beckoned me to follow.

Hesitating, I searched around once more to make sure I hadn't missed Dante or Marco wandering off in a different direction. Then I heard Dante's voice, muffled and distant.

"Poll! Qui." (Here!)

I took a tentative step onto the mirage of cobbles and was immediately pulled down through the surface. A brief hit of static flickered through my body, a white light and then I found myself being held tightly by Dante as he lowered me down to get my feet on solid ground.

Blinking in the unnatural light, Dante grinned at me. I must have been squinting back at him. His embrace was strong and comforting. The smell of last night's woodsmoke still clung to his clothing.

"Thank you, Dante."

Yet again I was surprised by the little girly voice that came out of me.

The ceiling of the fake street became solid. He let go of me and turned me round to see where we had landed.

A clinical, sparse room of modern construction. The light was provided by a line of leds embedded along the top of the walls. It smelt of bleach.

Marco tied his boot laces and smiled broadly. He stood up and passed his hand over an orange square in the concrete wall. Suddenly a rectangular piece of the wall slid to one side creating a passageway, just big enough for him to get through. He shouted back to Dante.
"Finalmente!"(Finally!)

Dante waved at the opening and pushed me towards it. I wasn't so sure if I really wanted to go after Marco. It looked pretty dark on the other side. Sensing my reluctance, the tall man pulled up his coat sleeve and once again showed me his birthmark.

"Timbro di vita." (Lifestamp.)

His voice was calm, melodic, almost melancholy. He took my hand gently and moved up the sleeve of my jumper. His fingertips brushed over the skin on my wrist with the number seven. Goosebumps raised along my spine at his touch, the fine hairs on my arm stood on end. He gazed into my eyes and I breathed out deeply.

Why did we have the same mark? I was desperate to ask him if his 'timbro di vita' had once been a number eight like mine. How could I get him to understand me though? He seemed to get the fact that I was in turmoil and he squeezed my hand and winked playfully. Not releasing his grip, he led me through the gap in the wall.