My father always told me that if I ever see something suspicious, I should run the other way. Well, I was a little kid then, so maybe it doesn't really apply to this situation, but this foreboding advice still floats up in my mind whenever something "suspicious" occurs in my life.
Maybe, that's the reason why my life is so boring.
I always run the other way.
Let's start from the beginning. I want to paint a good picture for you, so that you understand why I am standing in the middle of a busy street with no money for the bus, freezing my ass off, several kilometers away from my house, observing the majestic monk dragging a giant crown behind him.
Yes, a monk dressed in black robes is dragging a giant metal crown. Its spikes are ominously scraping the asphalt. His eyes are very deep and dark, like water shimmering at night.
He is very tall, towering over everyone on the street. And even though he looks like he is in his mid-fifties, his hair and beard are thick and black, without any hint of grey. But what confuses me the most is the fact that no one is sparing him a glance.
I don't know where you live dear reader, but in my hometown, when a monk carries a giant crown in the middle of a busy street, everyone will notice and stare like he is some peculiar animal displayed in a zoo.
No, I won't run away even if you pay me. Sorry dad… I need to know where he is taking that thing and why.
Actually, I haven't felt so alive in ages. It's a weird feeling because I don't even remember the last time I was excited about anything since my dad died last year.
The monk appeared out of nowhere while I was digging in my pockets, looking for bus fare, surprised that I didn't have any money. I was at the cinema two days ago, watched a detective film by myself, and probably spent everything on the ticket without realizing it. I could get on the bus without paying, but someone would definitely check for the ticket and would make me leave the bus in front of the passengers. I couldn't possibly handle the humiliation.
Nevertheless, I'm really glad I didn't do it, because I would have never seen the monk if I had.
What is he doing here? Don't monks live in monasteries, away from all worldly pursuits? And what on earth is he dragging? I've never seen such a huge crown.
The crown looks like it belonged to some long-dead giant king from forgotten times. It is adorned with egg-sized emerald stones (or at least they look like emerald stones) and beautiful ornaments that twist and turn like snakes on the surface of the crown. And he is just dragging it on the asphalt, making a terrible screeching sound.
And then something extraordinary happens. When the monk comes closer to me, he stops abruptly and looks down at me with an amused expression, as if he is going to say something really funny.
And then he suddenly puts up his pale palm in front of my face and pulls out a coin directly from thin air.
"Here you go, kid, this should be enough," he whispers, winking mischievously.
It is the exact amount for my bus fare.
I take the coin with my shaking hand and mumble a thank you. He smiles at me and tugs at his heavy crown again, continuing his journey.
The scratching sound resumes.
The mystical monk acknowledged me and talked to me! He even gave me money! How the hell did he know the exact amount I needed in order to get home?! Wait, do I look like a beggar?
I glance down at my clothes. I look like your average schoolgirl. Not too rich, not too poor. Average.
After standing there for God knows how long, I force myself to move towards the bus stop.
I get on the bus and rub my frozen nose with my frozen fingers.
I'm facing a problem… I can't bring myself to spend the coin on a ticket.
It is the shiniest coin I've ever seen, as if freshly cut in a factory. I can't let it go.
I put it on my palm and stare at it, transfixed. There is something hidden in it, deep, very deep… Some power is whispering to me if I strain my ears just enough. I just have to tune into the coin's frequency and read the information it is broadcasting…
I stare so hard that everything disappears around the coin. Only it remains… After a while the coin itself starts to darken until it turns into a black hole on my palm. I try not to blink. My eyes get very dry and then watery, but I still don't blink. Everything disappears, the people, the noise, the chairs, the cold, everything. Only the coin-shaped black hole on my palm remains.
Suddenly I feel someone scrape their nails on my skin. The bus stops to a halt and the doors open. I blink rapidly to regain my sight and I realize, with horror, that someone has stolen my magical coin.
I jump down from the bus and look around. I spot a little kid in front of me. He is laughing his ass off, pointing his finger at me. In another hand he is holding a silver coin. MY silver coin.
"Hey, kid! I need that! Hey!" I yell at him.
He laughs one more time with his annoying high pitched voice and runs away.
I am dumbfounded.
Maybe I am imagining things but I can swear that the kid looks quite demonic with his dark, glinting eyes and creepy laughter. He taunted me with the coin as if he knew very well who gave it to me and why it was so special.
He also runs abnormally fast. In one second he is already by the end of the street, turning the corner. I run like hell too. I have to retrieve the coin because it is my only connection with the monk and his magical world.
We have been running for a while. The crystal cold temperature is really getting to me at this point. My lungs are on fire. I can barely breathe.
The faces of the passersby are blurring around me, turning into ugly, smiling masks.
The kid keeps looking back, checking if I am still following him. And whenever he sees that I am, he lets out an ugly, low pitched laugh, completely different from the high pitched one he had before.
I start to feel pure rage rising in me. The longer I chase him and the longer I see his retreating back, the angrier I get.
I want to tear him apart with my bare hands. I don't care if he is a kid. Something is happening to me, someone is putting dark thoughts in my head. I finally realize I need to turn away if I want to keep my sanity.
I slow down and eventually stop.
"There goes my coin," I whisper to myself.
My lungs are on fire and my thighs feel heavy.
Running is hard…
I cry a little on the way back home.
____
My mom is aloof. I don't know how else to describe her. Sure, she loves me but she loves her solitude more. She's always been like that, especially after my dad passed away. She had to work harder to provide for both of us, so she changed jobs.
She is a smart woman, she landed a good position as a professor at university and a second job at a research institute. She is completely devoted to her profession - anthropology. The shelves in our house are filled with books about lost civilizations, history, archeology, geography, genetics… She speaks several languages, six or more. And she's really beautiful…
But she's very aloof. She's always been like that. She would sometimes forget me at the huge food market, by some fruit stall and keep moving, looking for better quality fruits while I was running around, crying for my mom.
The next (and the last) member of the family is me, a 17-year-old girl with a raging existential crisis because of a tragedy that hit my family last year. It immediately separated me from my peers. As if someone hit me hard in the head, waking me up from a beautiful dream where life was easy and childish.
From then on, the world seems scary, unsure, grey and dull. Even the colors diminished, people became boring and stupid, days became repetitive and my friends became childish.
Or maybe I just grew up.
I sigh and pick up my mom's pajamas from the floor. She always dresses in a hurry, leaving her stuff on the floor without realizing it. She isn't home yet, of course. I need to feed myself and do my homework. But I can't even take off my coat. After I chuck my mom's pajamas on her bed, I just sit down and stare into space for a long time, thinking about the mysterious monk, the giant crown and the silver coin that was taken from me by the evil child.
Wow, the day was crazy.
I stay on the bed until acute hunger brings me back to reality.
When I sit down by the dining table to eat my semi-edible spaghetti, I am so lonely that I feel like I am disappearing. I feel like nobody is eating the food, holding the fork, or even sitting on the chair.
But somebody did see me… The monk saw me, and only I saw the monk. He knew exactly what I needed and gave me a shiny coin that he materialized out of thin air.
I need to find him and enter his world.
Otherwise I will disappear completely.
____
When the clock strikes 11 p.m. I finally close my literature schoolbook, turn off the lights and slide under the warm covers. My pillow feels very comfortable and the pillowcase smells freshly laundered.
I smile to myself.
Everything is perfect but I still can't fall asleep, something is bugging me.
Maybe the pillow is a little TOO comfortable, as if it is radiating warmth and light. I raise my head and carefully lift it up.
There's a large silver coin under it, gleaming in the night.
One side is completely covered in an "X" symbol.
But when I turn it over, instead of its face value, there is a writing in tiny, beautiful letters:
"THE ORDER OF THE CRUX"