Chapter 5 The Mirrored Hall
Eve got up from the ground. Her head felt light and she was dizzy. She started to walk, fearing that her heart might stop. If she would run. Her heart kept pounding louder and louder during every passing second. The fear of getting caught made her to hasten her steps. She found herself getting lost after a while. She didn´t recognize the streets and their names seemed unfamiliar to her.
How am I going to get out of here? Where am I? Thoughts kept flying around in her brain. Her head felt like a washing machine. Inside it, a whirlpool of thoughts followed a chaotic program. She hadn´t chosen it to be this way. She felt like someone forced her to act in a specific way. She also sensed that someone was watching her.
Whoever kept an eye on her, Eve was clever enough to keep moving. She hid her fear and pretended to be braver than she was. Then, she distinguished a parking lot in front of her. Eve moved across it. She noticed an open door in the side of a building. It led to a garage, she assumed.
Eve heard noises coming from inside the ugly-walled building. She thought that perhaps there was someone, whom she could ask her way home. She entered through the door, which brought her into a great hall. Eve found the place to be empty. However, there were mirrors all over the place. She saw her own image reflecting many times through all the mirrors. Eve felt terrified. Suddenly, the door was shut abruptly behind her back.
“Let me out you bastard! What´s all this about? Why you keep following me?” She shouted. Her voice revealed her boiling anger. Eve ran back to the door. She banged it with her fists for several times. It never opened. It was locked and she couldn´t get out.
What is going on? What is this place? This must be some kind of joke. She thought. She wasn´t going to give up. She had to fight for her own survival to get out of the disgusting hall. An iron bar of the size of a golf club lay next to her feet. After noticing it, she picked it up. I´m going to kill him with this bar! She decided.
Guarding every noise that she heard, Eve moved holding the club on her shoulder. She neared the mirror in front of her. Behind her back, she saw two head lights of a car flashing. She was panicked. She broke the large mirror in front of her with her weapon. The shattering glass was followed by her scream: “Go away, leave me alone!”
She knew that there wasn´t a human sitting inside the truck. Instead, it was a kind of supernatural monster. Eve expected that the Shadow Man sat inside the vehicle. He had returned to kill her finally. She turned towards the truck, which began to move. She did her best attempt to avoid it. However, the driver made sure that she would be dead meat soon.
Eve was tired, the truck driver chased her against a wall. She smashed the front of his car with the iron bar several times. The driver didn´t crush her under the truck´s weight. However, he stopped just in time before driving over her. She sobbed in panic and wept. “Let me out of here! I want to go home now. Please don´t kill me.” Eve pleaded the stranger to have mercy on her.
The man wore a black hood, which covered upper two thirds of his face. He neared her threateningly. She saw his white pointed chin and that he was carrying a silver ankh around his neck. The man spoke to her. “You shouldn´t have come here, you know. I don´t know what to do in your case. Surely, you´ll regret this witch!”
His voice sounded hostile. She tried to back up, but it was now too late. He had gotten her trapped in between the front of his car and the concrete wall. She felt like a captivated bird, unable to fly anywhere. Eve smelled the menthol from the guy´s breath. He offered her his hand and said: “Come on, let´s leave together.”
“No, I´m not coming with you anywhere. I don´t even know you. Let me go!” Eve shouted.
“I´m taking you now with me!” He commanded.
His hands grabbed her arm and pulled her from the trap towards him. He forced her to come along with him. She resisted with all her strength. She tried to hit him with the metal bar, but he pushed it aside with one great blow. The bar flew out from her hand. It landed on the floor. He took it and hit her in the head. The slosh made her to fall unconscious on the floor.
He lifted her body on his shoulder and carried her to the truck. He stuffed her inside its locked compartment. She wouldn´t get out, because there were no windows. The door was locked tightly.
He drove them to the nearest highway and headed to the south. She remained unconscious for the entire trip to New Mexico. She woke up to the stirring heat inside the truck. After realizing what had happened, she began to panic. She screamed for help and banged the doors wildly, like an animal. “Let me out! Do you hear me? Where are you taking me? Let me out!”
He heard her voice from outside. He dropped the leftovers of his cigarette on the sand and stepped over them. He came to see her next. He opened the back door. She jumped on him. She began to tear his eyes out with her nails. She failed. He grabbed her wrists and pressed her firmly against the ground. Then, she noticed that they were in the desert.
After turning her head from side to side, she saw that there were no human settlements anywhere nearby. She asked: “Oh my god, why did you bring me here? Are you going to kill me now?”
“I don´t know what to do with you, witch.” He replied.
“Can we go back to L.A?” She asked.
The sun´s rays blinded her vision. She shut her eyes tightly and breathed heavily. He let go of suddenly. He stood up and spat on the ground. Then, he turned his back on her and left. Quickly, she tried to get up from the hot sand, but failed. She saw the back of his car, moving away from her. He left her alone in the desert.
She wept with her legs bent under her arms. She didn´t possess her tools that would have helped her to survive. She had to wait for someone to pick her up. One thing made her relieved; at least she was alive. Eve got up. Her back ached and her she tasted her own blood in her mouth. Her nose was bleeding too.
The fear of dying of dehydration haunted her thoughts. She couldn´t see an oasis anywhere. She expected to be dead soon. Then, to her surprise, she saw another truck arriving from the opposite direction. It came towards her and stopped next to her side of the road. The driver opened the window on his side and talked to Eve. “Do you need a lift?”
“Sure, why not?” She said.
“Where are we heading then?”
“To the north. I live in L.A.”
He gave her a signal to climb into the front seat. She joined him. He took out a cigarette from a pack and offered her one also. She rejected it. “I don´t smoke. I´m thirsty.” She answered.
“There is a water bottle stored in the front locker. Take it, if you want.” He said calmly.
“Thanks, you are very friendly.”
She took the bottle and drank almost all its contents. He kept puffing tobacco smoke, while he was driving. She closed her eyes and pretended to be sleeping. She hoped that he wouldn´t touch her. He didn´t turn on the radio, other than she had expected.
She was lucky that he didn´t take interest in her. He didn´t touch her at all. He didn´t even ask her that why she was in the desert. It was good, she thought. She wasn´t even sure that did she want to tell anyone about it. He took her in front of her house. Eve was so relieved to return home back safely.
Chapter 6 Sacred Ritual
Eve headed to her home from the gate, where he had left her. Now, she was more willing to rest than do anything else. First, she was going to drink and eat in the kitchen. The house she found to be empty. She spent one hour in the kitchen preparing herself lunch from a pack of sandwiches and cheese. She also took eggs and milk from the fridge.
After eating, she went to take a bath in the bathroom. Eve added few drops of eucalyptus and cedar oils into the water. She wanted to cleanse herself of all dirt and negativity that she had accumulated. Bathing made her to relax instantly. She lighted a candle and an incense. Then, she enjoyed the soothing bath for an hour.
After bathing, she went to lie on the bed. She fell asleep, she but felt restless, while doing so. Nightmares of the hooded man tormented her constantly. After waking up, she was relieved to notice that she was still alive in the bedroom. In the middle of the night, she went to the balcony, where she saw the moon. It looked sad and empty place to visit. Eve missed her spiritual mother, the Goddess, and Daphne greatly.
She wondered that where Daphne was at this time. She wished to see her teacher already tomorrow. Gladly, she knew where Daphne lived. Eve would tell Daphne all about her adventures in the desert. She had a special luck with her, which blessed her.
