Chapter 29
I feel like a caged animal sitting here at home while Arthur is out there to meet Kathrine alone. I feel excluded. I wish he could trust me enough to share his fears with me, even if I realize that he needs to be alone to face them because I am the object of those fears.
Who is Kathrine, by the way? Is the psychic’s name a pure coincidence or is my mother playing the chameleon again?
I am restlessly pacing back and forth when, out of the blue, I start to think about an abandoned mine 100 miles or so south of here. One day Arthur and I had driven past it, and I had felt the urge to stop.
Arthur had asked me why it was so important for me to enter the mine, and I had shrugged, unsure about the answer.
“But how do we get there by car?” he had objected.
“Slow down, there must be a way,” I replied stubbornly, and sure enough a moment later I spotted a side road with a ragged sign marking its destination.
Mine 503, it read.
“There!” I exclaimed exultantly, but too fast.
A couple of miles later we found a barricade closing the road.
Arthur slowed down, stopped the car, and sighed.
“Sorry Iris. It’s not meant to be,” he told me.
“But can’t we just leave the car here and walk it?” I insisted.
“Iris. No. There are times when it is ok to give up, you know?” Arthur told me, his tone patient, as if he were lecturing a kid.
“No, I don’t know,” I replied.
“Of course you don’t, but now I’ll turn the car and we’ll head home,” Arthur said, his tone conclusive.
I dropped silent, frowning.
“Come on, don’t be upset,” Arthur added, patting my leg.
Why wasn’t it meant to be? Why was the road closed? There are hundreds of closed roads, but there was something eerie about that specific road being closed. Or maybe I am just imagining.
I sit on the bed, eyes closed, trying to reconstruct the details of the place.
Mine 503: I wonder why the mine is named this way. Then flashbacks dart through my mind. 5:03 a.m., read the clock in the car when we left for Monasteriumburg. 5:03 a.m., read the clock in the car when we reached it. 503 read the keys of the bed&breakfast where we had stopped there.
I shower hastily, grab the car keys and head out to find the mine.