The Librarians and the... Budapest Mysteries - part 1

- 1 -

The sound of small bells and a soft humming reached his ears and he stopped to listen. The sounds seemed to come from an alley on his left, calling to him. He could have chosen to ignore them and keep walking but in his experience, it was not the thing to do. Instead, he turned his back on the street full of noises and tourists to enter the dark passage opening between two ancient buildings.

He carefully looked around him. Following an intuition didn't mean that he shouldn't be cautious. For all he knew, he could be walking into a trap. There was nothing special about this alley. It was dark and deserted. There were no windows on the buildings' walls.

He soon reached the end of the passage and raised an eyebrow when he saw the bricked wall. Resting his back on it, he looked towards the street he had just left. Its lights shone towards him. He could make the people passing by, not paying attention to the entrance of the alley. He could still hear the bells, closer now. The humming was a lullaby, it seemed familiar and yet he knew that he had never heard it before. Closing his eyes, he let the music fill his head. He was almost instantly transported into the world of memories. The face of Colonel Baird appeared and he smiled, remembering how fast they bounded. He promised himself to send her a postcard, to let her know that he was fine. He wondered how she was doing, now that she had to look over the librarians in training. Was she getting along with Jenkins? Again, his intuition told him that he made the right decision, leaving her in charge. Still, he missed her. He tried to cast out the lingering feeling of sadness that was within him since he lost Cal. And Judson. And Marlene. The humming was getting louder and he suddenly felt a weakness taking over his mind and body. He fought back, realising that he was unable to open his eyes. A gentle voice whispered him to let go, to trust her, that the life he had known was over and that it was vain to hold on as he was doing. He resisted, realising too late that he had been trapped. He had to jump back into reality, out of its reach. It took him all his will and when he finally broke free, he felt heavily on the ground.

He was still in the dark passage. There was no more bells, no more humming. Just him laying on the floor. He got up, sighed, and walked back into the street, deciding that he wouldn't follow his intuition for the rest of the day.