7 rings

Chapter 18

This one... No. This... Why not this one? Yes, this one.

"I was there. I saw it. And no one will convince me to stop looking."

Hours.

" The trees were passing by, fast, so fast they looked more like one single blurred green line in the blue sky of early June.

Again and again... After all, I got used to it, even if I thought I never would."

Turns on the phone. 10.36 p.m. Turns it off.

" - Mr Benson, here, please. Yes, sign here.

(...)

- See you tomorrow, Mr Benson.

It's happening. Finally. "

10.52 p.m.

"The doors of the train opened, opening to Dominica the doors to the town where it all started.

... and again."

11.47 p.m. A pause.

Who even is Philomena Kottmeyer? Are there more books she wrote?

A quick internet search. No, none. No information, only one link to one book.

This one. Let's continue.

00.01 a.m.

" The street didn't change. The big houses were the same, the trees were the same, the cars on the street were all the same. Mallory held the new book tighter and tighter, as the distance started getting shorter and shorter. " The Train Rails".

Only a few steps...

For some reason she couldn't explain, she smiled and closed her eyes, continued walking, a few steps. She knew the street so well it wasn't a problem to get there. She found the automatic key in her pocket and still, with her eyes closed, pressed the button.

(...)"

00.56 p.m.

"Slowly, very slowly, the enormous gates that filled almost all the fence, so big the house wasn't visible behind it, opened. The sun came it, the blinding light made Dominica Mallory close her eyes for a few seconds.

(...)

She opened them again.

There was no house. There was no garden. Just an empty, completely black field. (...) The past had burned down."

01.05 a.m.

" Even through the sea of people on the station, she could see him. The sky was blue, the sun shined bright. The heat of the Summer finally came. He hadn't changed. A few platforms away, he was standing near the door of a train, going away in a couple of minutes.

(...)

For a moment, she looked at him, smiling. He came inside the train and left the open doors behind him. There was no reason to go after him. His train had started slowly leaving the town. Evelyn Mallory came out of the train for a moment.

- Dominica, what are you doing here? Come inside, we are going away soon! - she came back in again, and Dominica stayed outside, looking at Mark's train going away into the horizon and smiling.

It wasn't a "farewell". Just a "goodbye", a "see you later". Maybe "a see you soon".

See you soon, Mark Benson."

01.37 a.m.

Gets up. Puts the book somewhere in the middle of two other books, on her shelf. Goes to bed. Turns the lights off. Falls asleep. A completely different city continues the same behind the window, and The Play, by Philomena Kottmeyer, stays in between some other books, forever forgotten.