Of Curses and Fortunes

Amateurs: Part I

A young woman made her way through the many corridors of the gallery. Outside, the sun shined brightly, but inside the building, where its rays didn't reach, the artificial lights were responsible for exhibiting the variety of products on sale. Still, the place vibrated with life. Conversations, laughs, announcements, music and all kinds of noises filled the air and against all odds, did not become a cacophony. It was quite pleasant. However, none of these things interested the young woman, who kept going her way. Most people didn't notice her, the ones who did, didn't had enough time to take a second look, and were left to wonder if they saw what they thought they saw.

A turn to the right. The lights at the ceiling wavered as soon as she was halfway through another corridor. It was the first sign. Another turn. The sounds of the gallery grew quieter at each step, until the steps were all that was left. And all of sudden, the whole place was engulfed in darkness. And the sound of the woman's steps were replaced by her own brief scream. Followed by absolute silence.

Her heart was racing and her eyes fought, with little success, to adapt to the absence of light. Few things were able to leave her in such an uneasy state as the absolute darkness. The feeling of certain death closing in on her, reminding that, despite all, she was still afraid of dying. It was quite ironic.

A lamp right ahead shined without warning just like the darkness before it and interrupted the woman's contemplation of her own mortality. She gladly continued on her path. The closer she got to the lamp, the clearer the outline of the door by its side became. A door the wasn't there before the lights turned down. The red peeling paint, didn't lose any of its intensity, even after all the years it clearly had been applied to the wood. The metallic knob, as old as the door itself, had the peculiar shape of a hand holding the world, with an engraved "XXI" resting in the back of the hand.

Without any hesitation, the young woman opened the door and crossed the threshold.

The cobblestone street was wet from the rain and reflected the light from the lamps everywhere as well as the full moon in the sky. The clouds were gone, but the stars shone bright in the eternal night. The soft music finally reached her ears. She could not always tell where it was coming from, but it was always there.

She crossed the street, passing some old buildings, until she arrived at the archway marked with the number "I". It was the entrance to an alleyway that turned into a round courtyard with a fountain at the center.

The courtyard was illuminated only by candles, giving it a warm glow. Some candles were on the floor, others attached to the paper covered walls, some floating in the fountain and some just floating around. The woman had finally arrived at her destination.

There were quite a few people there, looking at the papers in the walls, so she moved towards a less crowded part. Before she could reach anywhere, she heard a whistle and turned her head in its direction. A familiar figure waving caught her eyes and she opted to approach him instead.

"Well, look who it is. Haven't seen you in a while" She cocked her head to the side taking a look at the young man in front of her "You look tense. Are you ok?"

"I need you to take a look at something" he avoided the question, but his tone was serious. As always.

"Okay" she agreed, finding it equally intriguing and suspicious "What's up?"

He turned to the wall, which had papers on top of papers, and cleared the way to a specific one. Once the young woman was close enough to read it, he took a step back. A big step back.

"You're weird. But today you're especially weird. What is going on?" She asked, starting to find it amusing.

"Just read it, okay?" he replied, annoyed, crossing his arms.

"Okay" she mocked his voice. "I'll read the freaking contract"

Finally focusing on the task, she rested her hand at the wall keeping the other papers away.

"I don't get it." she said after reading it "Seems pretty straightforward to me. It's a trap, disguised as a job. Oldest trick in the book. I mean, this much money and vague instructions, you could argue that it's for someone very shady or an embarrassing situation, but THIRTEEN people for the job? It's clearly a sacrifice. If you squint enough it says "stupid people only"" she turned to her friend "Why did you want me to read this?"

"Read it again" his voice was even more annoyed and he avoided her eyes "ALL of it."

"But I read everything" she turned again and scanned it one more time with her eyes. She had read all the information on the "task", the only thing left were the stamps of the people who already accepted the job and "Oh my God! What the fuck?"she turned to her friend, her eyes almost out of the sockets.

He had his back turned to her, his head was down, shoulders tensed and arms still crossed. He mumbled something in response, but she could not understand a single word.

"Louder, please"

He mumbled again, even quieter this time.

"Hey, Vitor! I'm trying to understand why the hell is your stamp on that shitty contract!"

"I... missed" he finally answered without turning around.

"You... missed?" she walked up to him and then added poking his back with each word "What does that even mean?!"

"I wasn't going to take that job, okay?!" Vitor yelled finally turning, his arms gesturing frantically, his face red from embarrassment and self-hate"I was gonna take the one on its side, but some stupid guy, pushed another stupid guy and they hitted me! And I missed it! Do you understand now?! Is this ENOUGH INFORMATION?" He took a breath and looked at her "You jerk! You're finding this funny!

"Me? Never!" she bit her lip trying to hold in the laugh, but not quite being able to "Oh, man" she giggled and covered her mouth with her hand, turning slightly to the side.

"Shut up." the man held the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes for a moment, calming himself "Listen..." He opened his eyes again "Wait, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked back, standing by the contract in the wall and taking her own stamper out of the pocket of her jacket. She took the cap off on one side, exposing a shining needle, which she pressed against her thumb till it started bleeding. Spreading the blood over the other side, she stamped the contract. "Great, now we just need a thirteenth idiot to show up, so we can go our merry way" she reached for one of the passing floating candles and put her finger in the flames till the wound closed.

"Thank you, Elena" Vitor said relieved.

"Can't let you just go and die, you know? I don't have that many friends, if you haven't notice."

"You might die too."

"Well, guess it's possible." Elena put her arms around his shoulder "Now! Let's go grab some delicious dinner, which you're paying by the way. And don't be cheap! This might be our last meal ever!"

"Alright, alright."

The pair moved towards the archway, leaving the courtyard.

"I can't believe you missed!"

"SHUT UP!"

-To be continued-

Hello there,

This is the author. Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed the beginning of our story. 

Have a great day. See you next time!