You're Not Alone

Secrets Beneath...

Frisca kept walking, mesmerised by the indefinite yet mellow voice that filled the passage. She was drawn towards the voice, not because it created a sense of curiosity in her, but because she could feel the pain in it. Frisca followed the voice in the dimly lit passage, which led her to a French window. She felt it odd to find a French window at the end of the passage since none of the other floors had one.

Gazing through the window, she saw the vast garden and the tip of the grandfather clock. It was nearly evening, the setting sun had bathed the surroundings in hues of golden orange. The dried leaves swirled in the air, as the wind drifted them past the grandfather clock. Frisca stood there with her eyes lost in translation. The thought of being away from homemade her feel depressed.

"I miss y’all dearly…” she sighed and touched the window.

No sooner she touched it,  the scene of the garden and the grandfather clock got distort. Frisca gasped and withdrew her hand as she watched the scene reappear before her again. Doubting the authenticity of the window, she touched it again with both her hands. She was amazed to see how effortlessly her hands passed through the windowpane, as the scene got distorted yet again.

“A 3D hologram projection!” she raised her brows in amusement.

When she pushed her hands further inside, she found a door. The 3D projection was set up to hide the secret door through which the voices came. Frisca gently knocked on it and enquired if anybody was inside. The person who had been humming all this while suddenly stopped after sensing Frisca’s presence. Frisca knocked again and waited for a response. Convinced that it wasn’t her hallucination and that someone was hiding inside, she gazed down and noticed bright lights flashing from beneath the door. The light proved that someone was hiding inside. 

There are moments where you feel you should rather turn back and leave, but then you end up having sleepless nights thinking about it forever until something else gains your attention. By now, Frisca was accustomed to stumbling upon the unknown and unimaginable. " What harm could a hidden door do?" she argued and reached for the doorknob. No sooner she touched the doorknob, Vlade pulled her back with a start. He twisted her arm behind and pinned her to the door. Standing an inch away from her, his cold breath teased her face, as he questioned her.

“Just what do you think you were doing?” he narrowed his eyes and looked deep into hers.

“Uh…I was just curious to know who was inside,” she replied and avoided his gaze by looking away.

Her heart was beating at a fast rate, Vlade could sense her fear, but that didn’t stop him from intimidating her further. Not too pleased with her answer, he tightened his grip over her arm and released a threatening growl from within. The eyes she saw then, were different than what she had seen earlier. Vlade’s eyes that were usually filled with a hollow calmness were now replaced with sparks of rage and hatred. His eye colour seemed to transform from mysterious black to copper red as he tried to control his temper.

Frisca winced as his fingers pressed against her flesh, “You’re hurting me", she objected and struggled to release her arm.

That’s exactly when a loud growl escaped the door behind her. Frisca quit struggling and diverted her attention on the door, through the corner of her petrified eyes. Vlade released his grip from her arms and glanced at the door as well.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” He went closer to her ear and whispered before pulling back.

Stepping aside he dropped his hands and waited for her prompt leave. Frisca lowered her head and arranged herself. Rubbing the spot on her arm that Vlade had angrily pressed, she sprinted out of the corridor and down the stairs. The poor girl wanted to get as far away as possible from him. She reached the ground floor and raced towards the main hall where Chelsea was waiting for her.

“Frisca, I was looking all over for you, where were you?” Chelsea asked Frisca curiously, as she approached her.

“Let’s go away from here,” Frisca answered in a sad tone and felt low. She caught Chelsea’s hands and took her along.

“What happened? You look so pale,” Chelsea studied her face and asked worriedly, but Frisca was in no mood to give any explanation.

“I just want to leave! Is it too much to ask for?” Frisca crunched closed her eyes and controlled her emotions.

“Relax, it’s time to close for the day anyway,” Chelsea replied calmly and took her out of the museum gate.

After they boarded the train, Frisca glanced at the massive museum that glowed as the rays of the setting sun fell over it. As she thought over the unpleasant encounter she had with Vlade, she came across a pair of eyes, staring at her from one of the windows on the 5th floor. Frisca hurriedly turned away from the museum and kept quiet as the train gained speed.

As the journey continued, she didn’t speak a word to Chelsea, nor did Chelsea attempt to clarify what was wrong with Frisca. She merely kept glancing at Frisca from time to time, as the train halted at different locations. Frisca continued her silence, even after reaching the apartment. Though she knew it was rude to ignore someone’s presence when it wasn’t their fault, she still darted towards the bedroom and sat there crouched on the edge of the bed. Looking at her bare toes, she kept thinking over all the events that had taken place throughout the day. She brooded in humiliation as she sat there alone in self-pity. She heard the bedroom door click open as Chelsea walked in. She sat next to her with a sigh and faced the ceiling. Pushing a tray of desserts to me side, she crossed her legs and continued staring at the ceiling.

“They’re Jim & Barnes popular Brownies,” she said casually and anticipated her reaction.

Frisca looked at it and turned away without saying a word. Chelsea sighed in dejection and placed another tray before her with more delicacies. “Blueberry muffins!” she said, picking up a delicious-looking muffin in hand.

Frisca rolled her eyes and continued keeping mum, she thought Chelsea would get tired and stop, but Chelsea wasn’t going to give up that easily. She went on offering her platters of eatables, like ice-creams, marshmallows, cookies and the list went on. It amazed Frisca how quickly she arranged for things to get her attention. Frisca realised that she had to stop before Chelsea could pile the room with eatables.

“A bowl of Koru…Uh…What are you doing here?” she raised her brows with a start and looked at the cat that sat with his mouth stuffed with all the goodies that were supposed to be in the bowl.

“Chelsea, stop! You’re embarrassing me,” Frisca finally reacted and looked sheepishly at her.

“I was trying to make you feel better. You look quite upset since the time we left the museum,” Chelsea replied and placed the bowl aside. She was right; Frisca was upset and why shouldn’t she be? After all, her first day at work wasn’t a memorable experience. Frisca looked at her and pretended that everything was fine and normal. She tried to convince her that all that cleaning in the museum was the reason she was so stressed out. However, Chelsea didn’t buy it, she could clearly make out that Frisca was lying especially since she caught her biting her lower lip in nervousness.

“You’re hiding something from me, please tell me? Was it Vlade?” She quizzed her in anxiety without realising that she had disturbed Frisca by taking his name.

As expected the second Frisca heard his name, she felt the painful sensation of his grip over her arm. Rubbing both her arms for warmth, she lowered her gaze and pulled her legs towards her chest.

“You nailed it!” Koru sniggered and glanced at Chelsea.

“What happened up there? Frisca, I thought we were friends?” she taunted and threatened to walk out of the room.

“Have you ever ventured up the 5th floor?” Frisca broke her silence and grabbed Chelsea’s attention.

“You went up there?” she enquired in amazement and blinked. Frisca nodded her head and sighed

“Yeah, I’ve been there. you get these juicy mice you know,” Koru raised his paw and interrupted them. “Eh, Koru, please. We’re being serious here,” Chelsea warned him and shifted her attention back on Frisca while Koru rolled his eyes.

“Hmm, so you went up there, huh. No wonders he’s…” Chelsea paused midway and asked Frisca to tell her everything that happened. “What did you see there, tell me everything without any hesitation,” she demanded with eyes wide open.

It didn’t take long for her to reveal the details. Chelsea, however, was left surprised, she had no idea about what was hiding up there. Though she had been working in the museum for two years already, she had never experienced what Frisca was telling.  She explained the strange unknown voices that she heard and how she followed it and spotted a hidden door at the far end of the corridor.

“And then he said, curiosity killed the cat,” Frisca concluded and crossed her hands.

“Hey, why does he bring me in the middle of everything?” Koru complained and frowned.

“Koru!” Chelsea gestured him to stop complaining and get out of the room.

“This sounds creepy, do you really think something is up there? And that Vlade is hiding it from us?” she glanced at Frisca and asked her in excitement.

“I do not know, and I don’t even want to know,” Frisca replied with a huff and spread on the bed.

“Hmm…There are many things we don’t know about Vlade ourselves. He never lets anyone enter his personal space, take it as a lesson and never go up there again, alright?” Chelsea whispered and opened her wardrobe as Frisca tried to forget about him.

“What are you doing?” she asked her as she scavenged through the debris of clothes that automatically rotated in the mechanical wardrobe. She threw a couple of clothes in Frisca’s direction and screamed: “It’s shopping time.”

“Uhmm…I’m not in the mood," Frisca cribbed and glanced at Koru who popped out of the debris of clothes.

“Well then you will have to end up in nothing but the latest collection of hot pants,” Chelsea warned and showed her a shelf full of hot pants ranging from dark to light colours. Frisca widened her eyes in disbelief and smiled.

“You’re a hot pants freak” she commented and laughed as she forgot all about Vlade.

"Here, wear this and get ready, because shopping a day keeps vampires away!” Chelsea screamed in enthusiasm and danced her way out of the room. Frisca crunched her brows and corrected her

“Did you mean an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” she asked and wondered why Chelsea had mentioned about vampires.

“Whatever, both don’t make any sense,” she teased and ignored Frisca’s comment.

Dressed to kill, she took Frisca out on a tour to see the city by night and also to get her mind off Vlade. They walked the streets and admired the stores that displayed the best and trendiest accessories and clothes. They had a good time selecting virtual dresses and letting the screens in the store display how they looked in each, without even trying them on. Frisca promised to pay her for all the expense once she got her paycheque, but that was possible only if her manger would agree.

As she continued exploring the whole city, she came across many such instances where she saw strange and abnormal people in the crowd, but she didn’t stress on it much. The night tour had certainly been an amazing way to feel and experience the future. The city was highly advanced in technology that was beyond her expectations. As the hours passed, they stopped at an ice-cream parlour and decided to end their mad night-out with Vanilla fudge ripple and Chocolate marshmallow.

“Wasn’t that fun? Tomorrow, we can have the whole day to ourselves. The museum will be closed,” Chelsea said as they finished the last scoop of ice-cream.

“Oh that’s a relief,” Frisca murmured and looked at the oddly designed cars that raced by.

With aching feet and heavy bags, they went back to the apartment and prepared to sleep for the night. It was evident how tired all that shopping had made them. Saying good night to each other, they dived into their separate beds. Frisca hardly realised when she fell asleep, but when she did, she saw dreams that drifted her back to her time period.  She saw dreams about Sophie and Tori, her high school, Gia and Beckham and many more. She continued dreaming about her dear and near ones and smiled in delight until she dreamt of the hidden door in the museum. This dream was somewhat the same, just as the first dream she had, since she had landed in the future.

She saw herself standing on the stairs that led to the 5th floor in the museum. She climbed up and turned to walk towards the corridor. She then saw the 3D projection of the French window that covered the door behind. As expected she began hearing voiced from inside. Forgetting Vlade’s warning, she reached for the knob and pushed open the door. What she saw inside was beyond any explanation. She looked all around trying to believe what she was witnessing when all of a sudden her eyes fell on something that glowed at a distance. It looked like an elegant sword, and the voices were coming from it.

Frisca took a step forward and entered hesitantly as the doors closed behind her. She walked, yet felt like she was floating in the air. When she neared the glowing sword, she saw a figure standing beside it. It was a woman, she guessed after noticing the simple brown robe that she wore to hide her identity. Her long hair that was set loose over her shoulders, cascaded at her lower back.  She was not facing Frisca, but was engrossed in reading chants from a book. Curious to see her face, Frisca made her turn around and screamed. What she saw sent chills down her spine. The woman had transformed into a snake demon. She looked quite annoyed at being interrupted. She hissed and stared at Frisca with glowing green eyes as she crushed the book into bits with the end of her powerful tail. Screaming for dear life Frisca raced for the door and ran away from there. As she ran down the stairs, she missed a step and tripped down.

Landing on the floor, she woke up and realised that she had fallen off the bed. Heaving a sigh of relief, she ran her fingers through her hair and glanced at Chelsea. “That was horrible,” she whispered and hopped back on the bed, before falling asleep.

 Back at the museum, Vlade had a brief chat with the snake demon who was in her human disguise. “Learn to lock the door, when you’re inside,” He remarked as he stood in the doorway. “She would have found out, if it wasn’t for me,” He added while the demon darted her eyes across the room.  “I guess she already found out…” she muttered and grabbed his attention.

“Did you say something?” he asked and narrowed his eyes. The demon smirked and caught his arm, “I said that I would learn to close every door as long as you’re in with me.” with that said she pulled him and closed the door.