The motel blinds were no match for the morning sun, the golden rays sneaked in, cutting the gloom of the room.
Lief sat up with a yawn that almost unhinged his jaw, running a hand through his messy hair while the stiffness of the worn out springs reminded him where he was sleeping.
To be honest, last night's warm up was no big deal, it did not even make him sweat; what really exhausted him was the terrible quality of the pillows.
Already awake, Airam, already awake next to the window, pulled back the curtain slightly to observe the street with intrigue.
"Did you wake up?" she asked without looking away.
"Mmm. Let's say yes," responded Lief, getting up and stretching his arms. "Let's go. I need coffee and to see what is special about this place."
They cleaned up quickly and went out.
The change was drastic. The morning air was cool and the sun warmed the skin softly.
Springwood had woken up.
The shops on both sides of the street were raising their blinds and the aroma of bacon, coffee and pancakes emanated from the stores.
Everything seemed obscenely calm.
"Look at all these people," commented Lief, walking with his hands in his pockets. "So normal..."
"It is in the heart of 'normal' people where the darkest fears hide," said Airam, stopping for a second to look at her own reflection in a shop window. "It is like the surface of a calm lake. Up top everything is a mirror, but below... below there are always currents."
They walked without a fixed destination, letting themselves be led by the town's architecture, until they crossed a public park, where there were elderly people practicing tai chi in groups and mothers pushing strollers.
And then, they saw a solitary figure sitting on a bench.
It was Nancy.
She wore a simple white dress that highlighted her paleness, and her left hand was wrapped in a thick bandage that reached up to her wrist.
She was still, staring fixedly at the empty swings that rocked gently with the breeze, lost in her thoughts.
She no longer had that expression of panic nor the determination of the night before. Now, her face reflected calm...
"Hey," Approaching, Lief greeted.
Nancy gave a little jump and raised her head. Upon recognizing Lief and Airam, the tension in her shoulders dissolved and a sincere smile lit up her face.
She stood up quickly, smoothing her dress with her good hand.
"Good morning, Lief. Good morning, Airam," she said. "I was just... sitting here thinking about how I could find you guys. I wanted... well, I wanted to thank you. Again."
"It was nothing for us," responded Lief shrugging his shoulders and he pointed at the bandage. "How is the hand?"
"The doctor said I was lucky. It did not touch important tendons or nerves. It is just flesh," explained Nancy, moving the fingers that peeked out from the bandage. Her smile became a little sadder. "It will heal in a few weeks, but compared to what could have happened... compared to what happened to the others... you saved us. Me and Glen. I really do not have words to..."
"Then do not look for them," interrupted Lief with a smile, cutting the emotional moment before it became uncomfortable. "Look, we have a problem. We are new in this town, we have free time and we have no idea where to go."
"What do you say if you act as our tour guide? Take it as payment for the service."
The proposal took Nancy by surprise and then she nodded with enthusiasm.
"Sure! Of course!"
With a guide, the walk ceased to be a wandering without direction. Nancy led them down Elm Street, pointing out the houses that, to the eyes of a stranger, seemed identical, but that for her were full of history.
She told them funny anecdotes from her childhood, pointing to the garden where she scraped her knee or the tree where Glen used to hide.
When they passed in front of Tina's house, her voice wavered and a shadow crossed her gaze for a moment, but she did not break. She took a deep breath and continued walking. She also took them to Springwood High School, the hallways and the courtyard were empty and silent, as if the building were in mourning.
She spoke of her friends. There was sadness in her tone, of course, but the suffocating desperation had disappeared. The definitive death of Freddy not only had liberated her from the fear of sleeping, but it had given her back the courage to face the past without being consumed by it.
The sunset reached them without them realizing it.
The setting sun bathed the town in a layer of amber light, lengthening the shadows. They stopped in front of the entrance of a closed store; on the door hung a "Closed" sign, and the huge floor to ceiling window acted like a dark mirror, reflecting clearly the silhouettes of the three.
"Thanks, Nancy," said Lief. "You have been a first class guide. Much better than the tourist map."
"I am the one who should give thanks," responded Nancy with seriousness, looking them in the eyes. "If it were not for you... honestly, I do not dare to imagine where I would be now."
"It will not happen again. It is over," assured Lief.
He put his hand in his pocket and took out a piece of folded paper with a phone number.
He held it out to her.
"But, just in case that guy with a pizza face decides to come out of hell again, or if you find yourself with some other problem that science cannot explain call this number. Consider it our exclusive after sales service."
Nancy took the note as if it were a sacred amulet. She felt a weight of tranquility in her hand and nodded firmly, putting the paper in the pocket of her dress.
"Good. Understood."
"Then, we are leaving," said Lief, turning toward the huge glass window of the store.
Airam stood by his side, giving Nancy a last enigmatic smile and a gesture of farewell with her hand.
"?"
Nancy frowned, confused. She looked around searching for a car, a motorcycle... There was nothing. Where were they going to go?
Just when the question was forming in her mind, reality bent again in front of her eyes.
Lief and Airam did not stop before the shop window. They walked directly toward it.
Without the slightest pause, without a sound of impact, their bodies went through the solid surface.
It was like seeing someone submerge in a pond, they merged with the reflection, crossing to the other side of the mirror as if the glass were water, and disappeared into the depths of the surface.
The glass did not produce a single ripple, it stayed still, reflecting the empty street, the red sunset and a completely stupefied Nancy.
"..."
Nancy blinked, unable to process it and unconsciously, she extended her hand and touched the window.
Her fingers found the icy glass, solid and incomparably hard.
She stayed there, stunned, with her hand against the glass for a long minute. Finally, she exhaled a slow sigh that slightly misted the surface, and a smile of relief was drawn on her face.
She felt the note in her pocket to make sure that everything she had lived was real and then, she turned around, facing the warm glow of the sunset, and began to walk toward her house.
________
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