I Am Her - ONC 2024

Chapter 6 - The Garden

Angela was on the streets again, but this time, it didn't look pretty. The horizon was dark and desolate, the sky was the colour of ink and ash, and the ground, from which nothing but dead flowers and trees sprouted, was paved with dull and uneven cobblestone. Shadows crept among every crevice and corner, leaving no space unattended. The cold, domineering hands of Fate missed no chance to taunt Angela and her helplessness in this strange, haunted realm. It almost brought tears to her eyes, but she put on a brave face and held them back. She had to, for she would allow nothing to deter her investigation.

However, it wasn't as if she had much of an opportunity to investigate anything, anyway. The wind blew strongly forward as a woman who made loud steps passed by, magically forcing Angela's camera to take a snapshot, and then everything went black.

"Where have you been?!" was the first thing Angela heard after coming to her senses, immediately recognising the Mayor's cold and harsh voice, which matched his hostile facial expression perfectly.

"Well," she stammered, barely awake, "I was, well... I was-"

"I don't want to hear it," he snapped, heat flushing to his cheeks. "Did you go into the basement even though I explicitly told you not to? Or maybe it was because of that? Just... Don't say anything, please. I'm so disappointed with you right now."

"I literally don't know what happened?" Angela said, raising an eyebrow. "I opened a door, I saw a dark street, and then I was unconscious. How did that happen? Seriously, what's going on?"

The Mayor became pale as a ghost.

"Hey, what's going on?" Marissa said, appearing out of nowhere, and Angela and the Mayor looked at each other with confusion, briefly indecisive about who should tell her.

"I was scolding Cristina because she'd snuck off somewhere and she wouldn't tell me where she'd been, that's all," the Mayor said matter-of-factly a few seconds later.

"She was with me," Marissa blurted out without thinking. "I took her to the centre, but someone sprayed purple gas into the air, and now she doesn't know what she's talking about."

Wow, I'm so glad Marissa stuck up for me. I genuinely had no idea she would do that, Angela thought with a bright smile, which faded as soon as she remembered the rest of the sentence. Wait, purple gas? What the hell?! Where am I?! This is all so confusing...

The Mayor looked surprised for a moment, unsure of what to say. He glanced in each direction, as though he were hoping that he would find some answer, some gleam of wisdom on the horizon. He had a strong feeling that it was a lie, but there was a part of him that believed that he was merely being paranoid. Besides, why would his daughter lie to him? She had never done so before. But what did it all mean then? The convenient disappearance and the falling unconscious and-

The photograph.

A chill went up the Mayor's spine as he took a glimpse of the photograph Angela's camera had taken. He didn't expect to see a photograph, but he couldn't let himself seem too surprised in front of someone who wasn't very willing to respect him. Still, he couldn't help but feel shocked for a second, given what he saw. To his guest, it appeared to be nothing more than a creepy black-and-white photograph of a strange woman, one that was perfectly normal in this place full of magic. But he knew it was anything but. 

How could he not know? She was there, taunting him with her icy eyes and dead smile and gaunt figure, her scalp covered by a mop of painfully straight dark hair, her body wrapped in an overly wide linen dress with numerous layers of black and white lace. He couldn't look at her anymore. He marched away as his veins tingled with nervousness, wondering what to do.