A. J. Mitar - Soulmates

I crossed the orchid garden arranged in small, colorful patterns, and went up a small hill after walking through a patch of grass. Less than a quarter mile away, I arrived at the top of the hill and could enjoy a panoramic view. On the other side of the hill, there was a large meadow, like that of the first hill, with a few trees here and there and sprinkled with small oak groves, like the one I had seen. I also identified some tamarack, chestnut trees, and other fruit trees.

Despite the seemingly anthropic landscape, as far as the eye could see, I didn’t find any man-made structures: no buildings, roads, or ancient ruins. Nothing at all. It was weird how that house seemed to have been built in the middle of nowhere, in a completely secluded place. I was sure we weren’t in Veneto or Lombardy, two of the most populated areas in Italy, crowded with rural dwellings all over the place. There was no sign of the typical medieval villages Italians are so proud of.

Pay attention to the details —I obsessively kept repeating to myself. Where could you be? Maybe it’s a less inhabited corner of the world. I have this weird, disturbing feeling… I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was different from how I felt when I first woke up at the shore—then, again, I had probably been too distracted the day before. It was… absolute silence. I let it go for the time being, because maybe I could be wrong.

It seemed like a good idea to walk along the lake and do some exploring until I could reach the mountains. Maybe I wouldn’t find anything, but I could climb up and see more of the area. However, I soon realized my predicament. I’m naked—no clothes, no shoes… Maybe I’d have to walk tens of miles, and that goes without saying that I’d need to carry food and water. How could I survive such a trip? No, that wasn’t the right time to start a new adventure. I better go back to the house. If there’s logic behind it all and we’re here for a special reason, I’ll find out sooner or later.

I sat in the terrace, on a comfortable wicker recliner with soft pillows. I watched as the sun came up and let my thoughts run free like bloodhounds tracking something down. I can’t believe they brought us here to die of hunger and thirst . That thought went on and on in my mind.

I got up from the chair and paced the terrace next to the pool, like a fly going in circles within a room. I knew I’d be able to find clues somewhere about who built that house, whoever was there before us, or even who had kidnapped us.

In the meantime, I would have done anything to get my hands on some cappuccino, maybe a nice piece of erbazzone . My stomach kept reminding me of my basic human urges. It had been at least thirteen hours since we had arrived at that place, and there would soon be some serious consequences. Besides, there was the possibility that we’d have to live with our current birthday suits.

At that moment, I had already given up the idea of wandering far away from the house, so there was no other alternative but to look inside once again. Maybe I went past a pantry without noticing, maybe there’s some coffee… I can already feel that annoying headache setting in due to lack of caffeine. I ended up confirming that there was nothing to eat in the kitchen.

I was happy to find a large bathroom in a corner of the house, though. It was one of those functional, comfortable full bathrooms with a bathtub and shower stall. Dammit, toothbrush and toothpaste are nowhere to be found… There isn’t even any toilet paper! Well, at least I can try to have some privacy with these opaque walls.

I reflected on what Angelica had said, about those symbols she had seen on the walls leading to the bedroom, but all walls around the perimeter were just huge see-through glass. I touched one of them to check the nature of that luminescent material that allowed the ideal amount of light in. When I made contact with the wall, something unexpected took place: the glass started to show stylized animations that consisted of lighten-up paths and several arrows that were easy to understand right away. But these are not mere instructions…

They were indications similar to those we see in the windshield of our vehicles thanks to something we call CarOS—an operating system for automobiles. Blue lines were predominant and led to the bedroom, while the green lines led to another area of the house.

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