Was the box a fake? Did Alex Lenner lie?
The cover of the wooden box rose up so smoothly, so contrary to any expectation that it barely brought any joy, even as a bit of white appeared inside, like a piece of paper, showing that it was not empty. She did not know how that could be the key to any so-called empire, but that did not matter to her. She just had to check the inside of the wooden box, not to satisfy the rich playboy's purported curiosity, but because while he could afford not to care, she could not, not in her situation, just as he had pointed it out.
She forgot her surroundings, put aside the goading that had started everything, and focused on the white content that was being revealed.
She pushed the top half of the box up and felt a slight resistance, one too subtle to matter, too weak to be an obstacle, especially as she was crossing the forty-five-degree angle, close to exposing the inside of the box. So she continued, pushing the top of the box to the limit to form a ninety-degree angle with the bottom, as the slight resisting pull gave way to a thrum not unlike a string vibrating after being pulled to the limit.
Finally, she could see the content of the box to make a check before leaving the accursed apartment. That was what she thought, but as her eyes unconsciously widened in anticipation, and Alex's curious eyes tried to take a peek with his eyebrows raised, they were met with a light akin to the first light of the universe.
*Zzz– FLASH!!!*
A harsh white light erupted from within the box along with the abrupt sharp buzzing the soft thrum had transitioned into, fleeting yet blinding and soundlessly deafening. After that, the world seemed to stop for a moment, before the sound of a body crumbling onto the ground shook the silence, immediately followed by the echo of a solid object hitting the floor.
*Pa*
The darkness that came back remained unchanged, still dotted with the lights of the half asleep city that kept it from becoming deep. But the silence was different, because the ripples previously stirred by the breaths full of emotions of the two occupants of the room had now become soft enough to be almost imperceptible, unable to cause any wave.
The quiet finally made the soft breeze which would have been ignored at any other time become conspicuous as it blew in through the gap of the balcony door, playfully caressing the curtains and making them the only things alive in the silent world, before passing over the feminine form unconscious on the floor, at the foot of the bed, with a palm-sized exquisitely carved wooden box on the floor beside her gloved hand, along with a piece of white paper that seemed to have fallen out of it.
In the end, the playful breeze blew past Alex, whose head had fallen on his chest at some point, got a response from his still damp hair with some difficulty, then hit the wall behind him to finish the first half of its tour, before it changed direction and happily continued on its way, unhurried, leisurely. The night regained its calm, and it seemed like it would pass just like that, as it should have from the very beginning.
From the 69th floor master bedroom, the city, dark but interspersed with light like an artificial reflection of the starry sky, seemed so picturesque, like a silent beauty without any flaw, just like everything seen from afar. However, not everything was as calm at that moment where the old day had just transitioned into a new one. At least, Alex's mind was not, as he suddenly found himself somewhere other than his apartment, somewhere bright instead of dark.
Stirring up a little, he frowned, and shook his head to chase off the dizzying buzz in his ears. Before he even opened his eyes, his frown deepened, as he wrinkled his nose, because even though his room never had any bad smell, it never smelled like a garden with plants and flowers, much less a sunny one.
He raised his head and found himself in a pavilion, surrounded by greenery, and with a bed of flowers at the edge of his sight. Looking around, the place was familiar, because he had visited more than once while growing up. He wanted to turn around, but was surprised to suddenly see someone from the corner of his eyes where there had been no one before.
He raised his brows at the familiar back, and tried to stand up, only to fail. That was when he realized that he was still tied like he had been earlier. He looked down with a frown, then looked around again.
He was indeed in the back garden of the family mansion where half of his childhood had been spent, but with a stark difference with the image in his memory. The mansion, a true large residence in the middle of a metropolis was looking smaller than it should be, the edges of his vision taken over by a haze that seemed cast down from the sky while, on a closer look, the lawn and the garden looked as if covered in a layer of phantasmagoric shimmer.
"Is this a dream?"
Saying that, he looked down again at the ropes restraining him, then lightly commented:
"No wonder I didn't notice this."
It was normal for the brain to become dull in a dream, after all. He only felt the restraints tying him to his chair when he tried to stand up, and it was then that he noticed that the sky, while hazy, was actually bright too, totally unlike the night sky with a full moon just earlier.
And that would explain the familiar figure with his hands behind his back before him, a figure too much younger than he should be. But the next moment, he rolled his eyes:
"But I seem too old to enjoy a wonderland, don't you think so?"
Without waiting for an answer, he added as he relaxedly leaned back with his lips curving into a lopsided smile that changed into a smirk right after:
"Anyway, it has only been a little over a year. Is the other side not cozy enough? What is it that you want to say from beyond your grave… old man? Make it quick, and I might still be able to catch up on some sleep."