Dark Love [Darko x Eden]

Part 12

The bus ride was uncomfortable. It was so new to me. That thing Eden mentioned earlier - the motion sickness - didn't make it much better. After a painful amount of minutes had passed, I heard Eden finally say that we were in Jorvik City. I was curious to see what it was like. I stared out the window to be able to see as much as possible. Tall buildings, passing cars, busy people and streets covered in dead leaves. Suddenly it all looked so... ugly. It was totally different from what I had seen in Valedale or Firgrove. The sky was grey and it was dripping rain outside. I regretted my thoughts instantly and looked at Eden's excited face roaming over the view. If this is what makes Eden happy... shall be it. Maybe I was being too quick to judge. I had only seen one side of the city after all.
The bus had stopped by the traffic lights. It was getting a little stuffy inside the bus, I wanted to get out and feel the fresh air in my lungs. How long was the bus going to just stand there? Even with the window between us the road was very noisy. It felt louder than before. I leaned my head against the window screen and sighed. Just please let us be there already.

"Okay, Darko. This is our stop." Eden smiled and led me out of the bus. I stepped onto the street and took a look around. We were standing in front of a white painted building, with a pair of transparent glass doors on it. It looked like a very important place, maybe a headquarters of a big company. Before I could continue my observations, Eden was already dragging me across the road. I was about to get a heart attack when a car flashed right behind us, only a few centimeters from our feet.
"Eden! Are you crazy? We can't just run around like this or else we'll get ran over..." She just shrugged as an answer and pointed somewhere in front of us. I followed her finger with my eyes to some kind of a... restaurant. The outside of it was crowded and all of the tables were filled with cheerful customers having a loud chit-chat.
"We were meant to meet Elizabeth's friend at Leonardo's. Let's go!"

We sat down on a free bench under a magnificent oak tree. It felt more comfortable than sitting in the bus. I was getting nervous. What if this Amelie wouldn't show up? Or if this whole thing was a scam and we were just left alone in the middle of this strange city, with nobody to help us...
"Eden! You got here safe."
I heard a strange woman's voice coming closer to us. Eden jumped up and ran to hug her. I felt a bit odd so I decided to just sit there and watch what would happen.
"Amelie! I'm so glad to finally meet you. Elizabeth told us that you're the one who's given us this opportunity, right?" Eden seemed excited. She turned around and gave me an encouraging smile. Slowly, haltingly I stood up and approached Amelie. For a while she stared at me surprised but in a few seconds her face turned into a warm smile.
"This must be Darko, right? You look very handsome in person! Nice to meet you, Darko." I got a little awkward by the compliment, I was only used to Eden saying such things. Politely I thanked Amelie for her nice words and showed my gratitude for the chance to meet her.
"Did your trip go well? I hope you didn't get too sick of traveling all the way here. Especially when you, Darko... I heard you've come from... a little bit different world like ours."
"Yeah, I'm happy to finally be here."
"Welcome to Governor's Fall, another wing of Jorvik City. The city is divided into several parts and it can become a real labyrinth for a newcomer. I don't recommend going exploring on your own, it can get very tricky with all the complicated streets and alleys."
"Wow... Darko, this is going to be so exciting!" Seeing the joy on Eden's face made me cheer up. Slowly I felt the tight knot in my stomach loosen up as I looked at her again.
"So, are we ready to head towards your home-to-be then? It's getting cold out here." Amelie was right. I had totally forgotten the cold wind raging around us. I felt Eden take my hand in hers as we followed Amelie through the center of the city. We walked past the white building I saw earlier and arrived to a wide alley that got divided from the middle by a narrow car road. It seemed to be a quiet one with no vehicles passing by.

We stopped by a tall red apartment building. It had two staircases going up, leading to two doors on both left and right side. A few flower pots were placed by the stairs to bring more aesthetic pleasure on the otherwise bleak outlook. We followed Amelie towards the door on the right as she pulled out a key from her pocket. We arrived to a dark hallway which soon lightened up by the automatic light system. On the right side there seemed to be an elevator and next to it another wide staircase going up. The elevator doors opened up in front of us and we stepped in.