A Second Chance, Chapter II

So, we continued our journey with the train, towards our destination. While we were on the train and going through the vast and different landscapes, I was looking out of  the window, lost in thought.

Thinking about my life, how unlucky and depressing it was. Going through the memory lane. From when I was a little boy, up to the age I am now. Filled with screams and pain. As I was thinking and getting more and more depressed, my friend snored at that moment. You know when something is bugging you and you make that weird scratching sniffing noise.

I looked at him and I remembered the happy moments I had. The very few and treasured memories I  actually had. When I was a kid and  got my favourite toy from the advertisements in the television. I still remember it, it was this big action figure that could move and make noises. Pretty simple but for a kid at that age, it was something amazing.

And then I had my friend and our lovely walks in the forest and that little paradise. Then I decided to take a nap. I remember waking up from a nightmare, not remembering what it was, but it was something that felt familiar. I tried to remember, but I couldn’t.

Then I went to the cafe and grabbed some coffee. Ate something and went back. Talked to my friend a bit and then went back to sleep. And I saw that nightmare again. A girl standing in a distance, with her back standing in front of me. She was looking at something, but I couldn’t recognize what it was.

Waking up from that, was not something nice, it was really terrifying and odd. It felt like a part of me went missing somewhere along the way. Like I was forgeting something very important, I should have remembered.

My thinking process was interrupted though from the breathtaking sight in front of me. I did not notice it at first, because it was well hidden. In the beginning I saw this incredible village and a small train station, that we would get off. Your standard small village, with fields and small, but old houses.

So the time to get off the train came. As we were getting off, I raised my head a bit to stretch myself and I saw it. That little well hidden village between two mountains. It was like it was meant to be so well hidden. You couldn’t notice it if you didn’t know it was there. I was drawn to that splace from the start. An entrapped little town, you can say.

So we got off the train ended up at the small station and started to make our way to the city to book a hotel. It was not a big town so it wasn’t a problem to find somewhere to stay or so we thought. I remember walking this road to go to the village and there were these massive buildings the one on top of the other. At first you don't notice it but once you get close, everything becomes clear, everything. Like a shadow playing with the light. So big and so dark but when you get closer or turn of the light it vanishes.

We turned left and started going up this steep walkway. We climbed for a good fifteen minutes to get to the main square. Tired from walking at those stairs, we took a stop at a nearby bench and took a breath for a bit. I looked at one of the doors and it looked strange to me, because it had these weird carvings around the door and next to it this old lady, just sitting there.

I ignored it and didn’t try asking or going up to her to go for directions or advises. We entered this, well kind of an inn or something like that. Tried asking the man working at the counter to direct us to the near hotel so we can take a rest there. He said there were no hotels there because they are a small little town but they had somewhere we could sleep. The old little town I saw the moment I got of that train.

Without thinking and being tired, we started hiking to go to the little town. You see, it’s up in the mountain and the little town is at the bottom. It was nice, I have to say. The hike was relaxing and it helped my mind relax and forget for a bit as I was gazing at my surroundings.

While we were going up, I saw after a point these weird statues. They must have been from a really old culture, I thought. Interesting statues, they were carved by hand and presented different men and some times women. Maybe a god or a goddess form their folklore.

Skipping past some time, we were close to the end so I proposed to my friend to stop. I was tired, so I needed to take a breath. I was smoking you see, I was not the most athletic type you could find. I was the exact opposite, I can safely say.

The view was amazing from the sun shinning to the little town we had just skipped. I remember it vividly. On my right, I had the path that ended, leading to the entrance of the town. We had no idea what it looked like and were about to enter. Below me was the town. The building being the one on top of the other with their small roads in between. This town had a weird downwards shape. What completed picture for me, though was the mountain that surrounded the town. It was its characteristic.

There are no words and expressions to describe nature's harmony at that moment. The only thing that kept being true and there for me, I thought. My thinking and amazement, was interrupted by my friend. He said we should go up, we rested enough. I looked at him and I saw this nervousness and fear in his eyes. I did not ask. So I got up and followed him. That was when he told me that, this was not the first time he was there.

It was a bit weird from the start. Why he even proposed that place and how did he know it. It was pretty far off the map as well. I had other things at my mind at that moment so I didn’t care. Or should I truly say that nothing interested me anymore. I was broken. Except from God’s Creation, natyre itself. For some reason, it kept touching my soul, nothing else interested me. From humans to anything you can think of, really. There was nothing there, only shadows and dark corners.

So we climbed once more and finally entered the town. It was something out of a book. The first thing that came to my mind, was a really old Japanese Shogun era city. It was like that place never grew and got stuck back in time. So well preserved and beautiful. The path we took was pretty interesting as well. As you were entering the door there was this wall of a building in front of you and then there was a small little fountain with a lion on top. There were some letter next to it. I think it was some old kanji. I read them because I had done some at the university I used to go.

The sign said “God's Gardens”. Felt a chill down my spine. It was such a cool name, I said to Alex. Then, we continued our journey to the road we were taking. There were three paths. One going up and right, one going straight at the middle and the other one going from the left. The village itself was a bit small. We took the left path, the one that overlooked the little lake. You could go down there, but there were these series of stairs you had to follow to go there and we were really tired to go.

So we kept following the path. I asked Alex at that moment as any normal person would do <<where are we going, you said you had came here again>>. He looked at me with a blank face and said <<You will see we are very close, it’s a suprise>>. I nodded and followed him. He was right it was really close. We turned right and entered this small house that was kind of at the centre.

It was at a really lovely spot because the sun and the mountain with the lake were in perfect position. I was going to spend a lot of time there, I thought to myself. With a a cup of coffee and a couple of smokes I brought with me. I loved that place from the start.

Entering the house was something I would expect from it. From the moment I walked in, it felt like home. It felt familiar. Inside there was the kitchen on the right. This old traditional kitchen, with a window on the right side and a little flower pot. On the left of the main entrance there was this small table, for drinking time. In front, there were these stairs going up and below was a small furniture with some small cups and very small statues on it, like the ones I saw while I was taking the hike.

Our rooms were above so we took the stairs. Four rooms on the floor with one small and a bigger one in the middle for taking a shower. I picked the room that was the closest to the stairs. The left one from the middle. I went in and dropped my stuff. I went and changed and I decided to take a nap at the couch at the main entrance overlooking everything.

I lied down and watched the mountain and the sun, as the birds were chirping and nature was producing her own special sound and I fell asleep. I saw her again. That time I decided to go up close to her and ask her who she was and find out what she was looking at. Coming very close to her I heard her saying <<You forgot about me, didn’t you?>> and then I looked down as she was holding the umbrella next to her pure yellow hair. She was looking at a grave on it.

At that moment, I felt a really bad premonition and I looked closer to the tombstone, only to find that it had my name written on it. I woke up in a panic. Afraid. Cold sweat was running down from every part of my body.

When I looked up, I saw the old granny that was next to the old house with the wierd carvings next to it. What I heard that day, was something I would never have imagined otherwise