About a certain return

Part 3

And, all of a sudden, I found myself in the middle of the crowd. I was pulled by my clothes, twisted and bullied. Oh, mother, what a whirlpool! I went away on a footpath, at random, on a narrow lane carved between two buildings. But it seemed I was accompanied. I didn't come alone here! The footpaths were like corridors, the row of houses were all ruins... Who knows, maybe there had been built like that? But who built them?

It got cold, a wet cold, a persistent mist and a muddy pavement. Noisy vehicles were passing by. They seemed to be hunting for pedestrians. When they crushed somebody, you could hear them laughing inside. Either the cars or the ones driving them, if there was somebody in. From the black holes of the ruined houses sparkling eyes were watching. I could hear snarls. They seemed to be dogs, or wolfs, or demons. "Our detestable nature..."

– Sir!

– Oh!

– Do you want a girl?

There was an old woman sitting on a small chair at a crossing between the alleys. To my left, behind some sort of prayer house, it stood a lit building, with a large esplanade in front. A public bus, rattling from all its iron plates, passed nearby.

– Where...? Where am I?

– Here is the dirty pleasures' house. Hee-hee-hee-hee!

– You must be the witch...?

– Hee-hee! You must be lost, my boy. Do you want me to guide you towards the Pleasure or towards the Virtue? Hee-hee-hee!

You shouldn't look the witch in her eyes, though she has spectacles with thick glass. Maybe she can hardly see anything. Only shadows. It's enough! She can turn someone into a mangy frog, rat, lizard or snake... Awful! You must look the other way.

– No, I don't want anything from you.

– Nothing at all? Look at me!

I was sure she will insist. This is how all the witches are. But when, on earth, did I started to believe in witchcrafts.

– Come on! Get lost!

I stepped outside the circle. If you get out of the circle, the magic disappears. I didn't know where to place myself. Many things that concerned me happened in my absence. I had to follow a certain path, I needed to get to a building from another area, a chapel, I think, and had to hurry. I was wondering how I can get there faster, to cross the town on a paved alley or to climb a hill, through the woods, on a slop that goes round the town but shortens the distance. I started to run. A dangerous uphill running. Although I was gasping, I could hear rustles, whistles... I wasn't afraid of the wood's men, though they were outlaws. They kept hiding. From the distance, I saw the light of that ruin; it was in ruin... the chapel... or whatever it was... It was giving off a powerful blue light. And suddenly the map of that place came into my head. I got on a paved street with electric bulbs pending from wires, straight in the middle of it. There were only a few people, but among them there was my ex-workmate, Marcel. Though I had no proof, I was suspecting Marcel, of betraying me on a heart matter. He was going out with a girlfriend of mine. Anyway, maybe the woman preferred him. He's good looking. Good looking like the devil, ha, ha! Beauty is a devilish feature, isn't it? Why? Because it leads to dispute.

I got in a school or something... a university... In a class room, like a laboratory, full of smoke, young people were drinking and playing dices. I got in but didn't know how to get out. Marcel was gone. Outside, between the buildings, some kind of military training was taking place; some women were giving orders to the young men gathered in a formation. I was looking through the window.