Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
This is it. This is the fucking answer.
“But what if,” I put my view back on the stairs. “What if confronting this is exactly what you all need? What if your healing lies beyond this barrier?”
I gestured towards the staircase. “What if this is not about being ready but about facing your fears, challenging your limitations?”
M rubbed his beard. “Kazimir, I understand your urgency, your need for resolution. But diving headfirst into the unknown without understanding the consequences—”
I cut him off, “I am in all of your minds right now. We have already dived head-first into the unknown.”
Silent, Lunita went up to the stairs and reached her hand out.
M and the little girl gasped.
I quirked my brows. “What?”
Lunita snapped her hand back to her side. “My fingers went through the wall.”
“Because there is no wall.” I pursed my lips.
“Hmmm.” M nervously tucked some of his dreadlocks behind his ear. “Our journey has never been about staying in the comfort zone. It has been about growth, about pushing beyond what we believe is possible.”
Pavel looked between M and me, the conflict evident in his eyes. “But there is a difference between growth and recklessness. Kazimir, how do you know this is not the latter?”
“Sometimes. . .” I sighed. “You have to step into the unknown to find what you are looking for.”
The air buzzed with this electric sensation.
I turned back to face the staircase.
Those steps loomed before me, a seemingly endless corkscrew spinning upward into the unknown.
“If my mouse wants to heal, then I must go up these stairs. I must find out what lies beyond. And I must face whatever it is, ready or not.”
The silence that followed was a heavy, contemplative one as if each of them were wrestling their own demons, their own fears.
But my decision was made.
I was going to climb those stairs, whether they were ready to deal with it or not.
I turned back to my mouse’s alters. My eyes scanned the faces of each person in the hallway, taking in their varied expressions. Concern furrowed brows, fear widened eyes, and curiosity sparked inquisitive glances.
But it was the little girl, huddled in the shadows near me with her stuffed lion tightly held to her chest, who caught my attention most. She stood there quietly, observing the intense debate unfolding before her, a small innocent bystander in a sea of heated emotions.
But hold on. . .she looks young, but she is not actually young. She is older than the alters in this hallway.
I gave her a sad smile. “What do you think?”
She darted her gaze from the stairs, or wall, to me, then back to the stairs again. She seemed to have a faraway look in her eyes as if she were seeing herself climb them in her mind’s eye.
Still, I sensed the fear radiating from her small frame but also something else.
Determination?
Hope?
“I. . .I think,” she stammered, the words breaking through her trembling lips, “I think you should go.”
M let out a heavy sigh, looked down at the little girl, and then his eyes met mine.
For some reason, Pavel’s face softened as he glanced at the little girl.
To push the point further, I whispered to him, “Think of Paolo.”
Pavel studied the little girl some more. “We go upstairs, see what is there, and then we leave.”
“Yes.”
“You said yes before and ignored everything.”
“We leave once we see what is up there, but we must know. Truly know, so I can tell my mouse.”
M rubbed his beard some more. “Then, when she returns to us, we will show her the wall. . .I mean. . .the stairs.”
Lunita reached her hands toward the stairs again.
M gasped. “Ungodly. Your fingers just. . .go through it.”
Lunita took a step forward, getting her feet close to the stairs.
The little girl edged back. “Some of Lunita’s body is going inside of the wall.”
Lunita dropped her hand and inched back. “I’m going with you, nasty lion. I can protect you.”
I smirked. “Can you now?”
“I’m the fighter.” Lunita fisted her hands. “Everyone knows that.”
I nodded. “Then, let us go. I have already been here long enough.”
“That is an understatement.” Pavel moved ahead of us, taking the first few steps with caution, then swiftly mounted the rest of the staircase.
M gasped. “The dead cousin disappeared.”
Pavel stood on the fourth step and looked over his shoulder. “Again, my name is Pavel.”
M squinted. “I can hear him, but not see him.”
Lunita’s bottom lip quivered. “What if I get stuck there and can’t come out?”
I shook my head. “I will make sure you get out.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you are mine and I love you.”
She blushed. “Nasty lion.”
“Come on.” I headed forward.
She remained with me, although visibly trembling.
M called after us, “I can’t see either of you, but please. . .be very careful.”
The world around us folded into an oppressive silence, punctuated only by the sound of our footsteps on the stairs. The air grew denser too, heavier, as if infused with the weight of forgotten memories and unspoken fears.