Chapter Seven
"Wait. Wait for the focus," Mink tells me.
Beyond the doors, a sea of swirling colour forms into random shapes, like looking through a slowly turning kaleidoscope. One last twist and it all settles and blinks into place. I gasp, step back on Bob's paw and he yelps.
"See what I mean, Bob? Mirrors, I told them, what a waste of time," says Mink and pushes me forward. I grab the sides of the lift doors and hold on.
It's just too big, too much.
The space opens up, beyond vast, flowing with people of all sizes and all ages and all wearing silk pyjama sets; blues and yellows, greens, pinks, even oranges.
"Who are they all?" I gasp, still clinging to the lift door
"Our Guests, waiting to pass through. Come on, Nam, quickly please."
Mink takes my hand and tries to coax me out but my head's swimming.
Away in the distance, sunlight streams through towering windows, painting the pastel silk into rainbow waves of people.
Everyone moves with the same easy, silk-sliding flow. Sunlight glints on the bald heads of white robed boys and girls; Holders leading or carrying their Guests. And there are plenty of dogs, their tails wagging slowly. Everyone's smiling, at ease.
Finally Mink coaxes me out, holding my hand and my toes sink into the familiar deep carpet. I'm facing the giant windows in the sunshine, now smiling the same easy smile on all the faces around me.
And there's music. A string quartet's playing; high violins and viola in perfect harmony with a single deep cello.
Mink and Bob set off pushing though the people, Mink's quick feet and Bob's trotting paws not in step with the rhythm of the smiling crowds, not in step with me. A Holder carrying a small baby steps across my path. I pause and open my mouth to call out to Mink, but he disappears behind an Afghan Hound and a large woman in pale green. And now there's just a multi-coloured sea of strangers.
Something small and fast catches my eye, a bird up high.
"Oh, wow!"
Giant fans, their wide golden blades spinning fast, float in the air, catching the sunlight. Way up above, small puffy clouds drift across a bright clear sky. Just above the fans, small flocks of swallows swoop and dive.
It's so high, so dizzying high, my head spins and I lean back, too far back. My legs fold under me and I slip down onto the floor. I sit there, running my fingers through the deep carpet and watch the sparrows through the flashing fan blades.
"Are you alright?" asks a young voice, high and concerned.
I look up into the bright green eyes of a teenage boy, dressed in white robes, with a round face and a halo of frizzy red hair. He's holding a little girl's hand. She's no more than four or five with wide blue eyes and wavy blond hair, sucking her thumb.
She takes her hand out of her mouth and whispers at me, "Why are you on the floor?"
"I fell down."
"Oh."
We smile at each other.
"You're pretty," the little girl says. "Isn't she pretty, Donny?"
"Yes." The boy stares down at me. "Yes, she is very pretty."
"My name's Olivia. My brother calls me Oily. What's your name?"
"Nam. I'm Nam."
"Hi, Nammy."
YOU ARE READING
Lotus Blood
FantasíaNam's life stinks. She loathes having to live in baking hot Thailand where she hates the food and can't speak the lingo. Now her boyfriend back in England has dumped her and she has no idea that the Mara, the Buddhist devil, wants her for his blood...
