Strangers (Fighting the Darkness series)

Trickster's Paradise

After about ten minutes of dragging Louise around like a dog on a leash and trying to avoid the asshole that’s following us, she managed to yank her hand away from my overpowering grip, the blood in my ears draining to a low underlying throb as my senses turned on to high alert mode.

“Okay, okay, time out! First of all, I think it’s very lesbian of you holding my hand so tightly...” she said as she cradled her red and swollen hand in the crook of her elbow. “Second, I’m quite capable of walking around without you holding on to me like a little baby. And I think the mayor didn’t even follow us in here or more to the point, wasn’t planning to follow us in the first place. What if he just wanted to talk to you? You’re so paranoid.”

“Oh, well sorry for being so jumpy. I didn’t know what was going to happen. I acted on instinct, okay? You don’t know what it felt like, Lou. It can be so hard at times because of what happened with him and everyone else and I didn’t even tell mum about it. But I have to be strong and forget about it, like you and the others did. You know that I have to. It can’t happen again… it’ll tear everyone apart …” I clenched my fists at the unwanted memories streaming back from the corners of my mind, trying to push them back with such force my eyes started to well up. Louise put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me and spoke in soft tones.

“I’m sorry, I forget some times, remember? But keeping everything bottled up like you do, if you don’t say anything, then you know how we’ll react. Jesus Christ Reed, I don’t mean to be blunt, y’know, but you’ve told us about what he did when we couldn’t handle it and left and we can’t change any of it. C’mon, forgive ‘n’ forget?” She extended her little finger to start our stupid yet special handshake. I sniffed, looked up and smiled.

“Okay,” I replied and we commenced our handshake with an array of crazy moves, turns and phrases, which all sounded like a love dance for some exotic bird.

“What am I for? God, my talents are wasted on you. You know that? And I think we need to make it shorter; we can’t be caught doing it in college.” Louise turned and smirked. I hit her in the arm and started to walk.

“Don’t push yourself, Lou.”

As we continued onwards, I started to suspect something was strange about this ‘House of Mirrors’. It seemed to never end. Then suddenly, a thunder strike sounded from above and the edges of the floor lit up around us and reflected off of the mirrors. We both jumped and screamed as the sound startled us. Then the power went out.

“What a show, huh? The weather must have turned bad. Hey, can you see the exit yet?” asked Louise, her voice shaking slightly. I stood tall trying to see over the smaller mirrors. It was no use even if I was that half inch taller than her, we were still super short.

“I can’t see anything but don’t worry, I have a plan,” I said.

“I’m not letting you sit on my shoulders.”

“No, you moron. I’ll go on ahead a few steps and come back to report if I see anything. If not, we’ll go the other way. Stay here, alright? You know how easily you get lost.” I stressed to Louise the last few words and pointed to the spot on the floor where we stood. “And if anything happens, just shout.” She did an exaggerated nod to confirm this, so I turned and paced myself, making sure to count every turn and the number of steps to each. From where we were stood I took three steps forward then turned left, followed by a quick right, then by seven steps and another right. I kept my hands on the sides of the mirrored walls at all times to make sure I wouldn’t get lost. After three more right turns and a left, I hit a dead end, so I decided to double back and check on Louise.

“Okay.” I said aloud to convince myself I could find my way back. “So it would be a right turn, three left turns with no steps because they were all joined, I think. Then left with seven steps to a right and three steps should be met with Lou’s bored face.” So, I took the root I planned out in my head. I executed the plan of action and sure enough, I could hear Louise’s voice. Wait, her voice? I started getting anxious. But who could she be talking to? Oh no, McNair. I started to hurry. Then, as I was about to round the final corner, I heard Louise scream.