«Are you… really from that Mansion!?» I asked, not believing my ears.
«Yes,» the man nodded calmly. «I’ve been working there, behind the Left Door, since the very beginning. Come to visit us this Sunday! And I will give you my book for the competition. I forgot to take it with me.»
It was very cold. I was already leaving the store when the saleswoman ran up to me, holding out the package.
«This is a gift for you!» she said mysteriously.
I opened the package and saw a gray scarf. I took it out and twisted it in my hands. A noose… I was too tired, and my Sun was already on the threshold of the 12>th…
I put the scarf back.
Having arrived home, I opened the package again, but along with the scarf I found…
…GLOVES…
the black ones…
***
The Beginning,
in which there was a Word…
and not only
Yes, there was a Word in the Beginning, and that Word was «Gloves», and also it was very cold, the right time for them to appear. Though, all I wanted to do that day was to stay at home and bask under a plaid by the fireplace with the Moon Cat and a book about ghosts, because the idea of going to the Mansion suddenly made me scared. Yes, I was scared of what would finally happen.
However, with a heavy sigh, I forced myself out of bed, grabbed the 9>th edition of my «Book of Secret Knowledge» alias «The Book of White and Black Magic», the first novel in the «Playing Another Reality» series, and resolutely headed for the Portal.
With a sinking heart, I pulled the Left Door towards me and took a step inside.
There were many people there, pacing back and forth without noticing me. No one asked my entrance ticket, although the entrance wasn’t free of charge.
I floated to the coffee shop and sat down at a table next to a sprawling giant black cat. The Cat scanned me carefully and greeted me, meanwhile people came and went away, paying no attention to us at all in the place where the Past and the Present – and the Future? – were merging together.
«Do I no longer exist among all these people?»
Suddenly, the man, who had invited me to come in, appeared next to me.
I stood up and touched his hand. He turned around. I silently looked into his eyes. Unlike other people, he noticed me (as, indeed, the Cat) and said hello. I held out my book. The man read the title and shuddered involuntarily.