Chapter 11

This city is weird...and this proves it.

Otherwise, how could a gold coin be lying on the pavement and no one picked it up.

Albeit the streets were empty but there had to be one person visible who could have dropped it recently.

I bent down and picked it up. It felt quite heavy. The way it glimmered proved that it was made of gold. But I couldn't be too sure about it.

Then I remembered how much knowledge my mother had about different types of coins. The fascinating way she used to tell me about them. I decided to show it to her.

But when? And how should I approach her?

I pocketed the coin and kept on walking towards my home, thinking about the coin all the way, and occasionally patting my pocket just to see if it was there.

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I soon as I got inside the flat I went straight to the bedroom. I dropped my bag on the floor and sat on the bed as I took out the coin.

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It was about two inches in diameter and quite thick for a coin. On both sides, there was a maze carved into it. Both were the same. No head or tails. I could see that an entrance was carved into it but there were no exits.

Like once you entered you could not leave. Not that anyone would want to.

It was so mesmerizing that I wanted to get lost in one of the mazes forever. I could not take my eyes off it. I rotated it slightly and was amazed at the coin as it glittered when light bounced off it and scattered into different colors, shimmering like broken glass. I was afraid that it might bend if I held it too tightly for long. So decided to keep it on the nightstand.

And that is when I heard it.

‘Hold it.’

A low disembodied voice that seemed to come from a faraway place. Like an echo from a cliff.

I should have been frightened, or at least shocked, when I heard another voice in an apartment was the sole resident was myself. But instead, I felt unnaturally calm at hearing it. Suddenly I craved for the voice. I wanted to hear more of it. Touch it, if possible. So, I obeyed the voice's command and held on to the coin tighter, in hopes of hearing the voice again.

I felt the urge to touch the maze and find my way to the center of it. But doubt crept into my mind. Something in the back of my mind told me that something was wrong. That I should not do it. But then again I did not find any harm in touching a simple coin.

‘Touch it. Feel it.’

There it was again. The same voice. But this time it was clear that it was coming from the coin. It should have felt and unnatural. But at that time I could not allow myself to think about anything else. I had to obey the voice's command.

I just had to.

So, I started to trace the lines of the maze. Gently with my index finger, careful that I do not touch any other lines. Just the one I wanted to.

As I was about to reach the center, darkness took over and I was engulfed in dreamless slumber, unaware of the nightmares I had to face in the future.