The light in your nightmares

The blow stops the boy dead in his tracks. The impact makes the door shake and Dust takes a step back, holding his head in his hands.

-Uh..

Still in shock, Dust expects a surprise attack. He straightens up quickly, still holding his forehead, the rest of his body tensing up.

The sound of the impact still echoes in his ears when a thin voice stammers.

The boy narrows his eyes in doubt.

A girl appears behind this famous door. Her frizzy hair is held in a bun. Above her thick lips and straight nose, two large almond-shaped eyes look at him.

With her dark skin, her shy smile only seems more dazzling.

The two exchange a look in a mixture of surprise and strange distrust.

The girl is twenty years old at most, maybe eighteen, Dust judges.

Nothing in her eyes indicates aggression and her thin and small body relaxes the boy. He is now just embarrassed by this crazy encounter.

She finally finds her words:

-Sorry... I didn't see you...

Maybe because of the surprising turn of events Dust loses his usual shyness. Naturally he answers:

-It's nothing, did you just arrive?

-Where? Here? No, I must have been in the castle for hours.

The young man frowns. He didn't see her go up the stairs. Did she arrive when he was still asleep? Or did she wake up in his room?

-Are you all alone?... (he tries to choose his words more delicately, pausing slightly before continuing) Isn't there anyone else who... survived?

She raises her eyebrows, waves her hands from left to right.

-What? No, no. There are three of us, we just split up.

Dust's eyes follow the movement of the girl's hands, her fingers are decorated with rows of golden rings.

-Only three? Did you meet the others?

-The others? You're not alone either?

Dust massages his forehead as he begins to lose his composure.

His gaze shifts from the brown eyes to the parquet floor and from the parquet floor to the brown eyes that reflect him perfectly.

-No, there are eight of us. You really saw no one else?

The woman denies , this time moving her head from left to right to accompany the movement of her hands.

Dust feels that he is going to have to explain the rules of the group to her. And this heavy task weighs on him.

One last question intrigues him, he asks it to be sure:

-You didn't wake up in the dining room?

She now observes him perplexed. On her face the man can now read a "What are you getting at?" Very clear.

He feels like Red beating around the bush like a pro.

-Yes. Yes, we all woke up there.

Dust nods and stares at the tapestry. He speaks slowly to be better understood:

-The group... Well, I mean me and the 7 other people, we decided not to touch the food right away. I don't know how many nightmares you've survived but...

The boy pauses and the girl slips a "Two" as an answer.

Listening to her, Dust thinks that there is a kind of consistency with those who join them as they go along.

Twice, people have been added to their group, and each time they have survived the same number of instances as them.

If it's a kind of game, then would that be a rule? Players can only join the game of others if they are the same level?

On this reflection, the boy continues:

- Us too. The first time we arrived here we started eating straight away. We think that the food made us fall asleep. Or at least that caused our hasty departure. This time we wanted to test this theory and hold out as long as possible without eating to push back the deadline.

Now that he has said all that he thinks about the secret passage and the portrait gallery she probably doesn't know about yet. He would also like to ask her what kind of nightmares she survived. But all this discussion is already a colossal effort for him.

At this precise moment he would just like to go back to his room. Once the surprise has passed he finds himself anxious in front of this stranger.

The boy feels ridiculous again.

He found the courage to participate in a kind of melee with bloodthirsty cannibals who were rotting alive but talking for more than 10 minutes with someone paralyzes him...

The young girl does not seem to be aware of his discomfort at all.

She seems to think for a moment while closing the door that she had previously opened so brutally.

-No, not that I'm particularly against the idea... I'd hate to be all alone here but... Why does everyone have to follow this rule?

Dust listens to her and doesn't understand what she's getting at:

-Excuse me?

The girl gets a little closer to him:

-Yes, if someone eats it doesn't mean that those who haven't touched anything will also leave...

Dust steps back because she is a little too close for his taste:

-How so?

-Well, I don't know how it went for you. But when we woke up we didn't all eat at the same time. And I guess that's why we didn't end up with the entire initial group in the second nightmare...

She doesn't mention the reason why they separated long enough at the castle for them to eat at different times. Which Dust finds strange.

After having lived such a traumatic event and after waking up in an unknown place the first reflex of any normal person would be not to be alone and to be with as many people as possible to think together, right?

Following the boy's prolonged look at her as he thinks she adds:

-Not that I plan on touching any of the dishes! I'll wait with all of you. The more there are of us, the better!

This statement is ended by a small awkward laugh. Dust by imitation and not to be silent laughs with her.

The young woman seems unable to stop. The boy realizes at this precise moment that she is a chatterbox:

-Although I wonder where they are... the ones who were with us I mean. Everything that is happening is so strange!

Dust nods. Now he wants to pass the chatterbox on to someone else.

He likes her but his social battery is empty.

He interrupts her abruptly;

-Come let's meet the others.

She smiles and nods briskly:

-OH YES! I'll introduce you to the ones who were with me too! (the boy hesitates to tell her that it's not necessary but swallows his words) you'll see there is a very small woman with curly blond hair and blue eyes like... like a cherub... but as a girl and an adult!

She laughs again and Dust smiles. The young man pretends to listen to her with great concentration, frowning. Slowly and subtly I lead her towards the stairs.