Daniel did not understand the meaning of these phrases. Is she still playing charades? He noticed what looked like black wings behind Cordelia. What is it? Decoration? It seems that when a girl speaks, she reads the text of a role.
He concentrated his gaze on the game spread out on the table, and suddenly something spun in his head, like frames of an old black and white film. First, some creepy creatures crawl alongside, and then angels in the cinema. The reel is spinning somewhere nearby. The film is associated with falling. The feeling is as if he is falling. The footage flashes something about Dennitsa’s fall… He almost went crazy, and Cordelia signaled him to be silent.
“This is an optical illusion! Don’t look too closely at the board.”
“Is it magic?” he hardly came to his senses, averting his eyes from the golden-white fields on the board. “And all these statues in the cinema. Sphinxes, a fountain… What is all this for?”
“Do you know that the lotus is a sacred plant?” Cordelia continued to play the game with either gold chips or balls already alone.
“What is this game called?”
“It’s from the Ancient Egypt.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“And what do you even know about the Ancient Egypt. You’re an actor. You have never studied history.
In addition to those moments when he read the scripts of historical films, he wanted to explain it, but stopped short. Something told him that from such a confession the girl over him would laugh even louder. She loved to slander.
Her friend appeared suddenly, as from a hatch in the floor, and instead of a greeting she grinned so predatory that Daniel felt uneasy.
“Nefert,” she introduced herself.
Whether her name is curious or is the name of the heroine she is preparing to play. The costume on the girl reminded of the royal fashions of the Ancient Egypt. Daniel often saw similar outfits with gilded inserts in wardrobe studios. But he had never noticed that an actress dressed like that looked like a kind of mythical character.
Not yet having time to join the game, Nefert, as it were, accidentally touched him with her hand and severely scratched him. Well, her nails! Rather claws. And, for sure, invoices. She must be hard with them. They are so long and sparkling that each one resembles a miniature braid. And she scratches just like a cat, while not even making any effort. She just ran her hand over his cheek, and blood was already flowing from the cheek. Daniel winced in pain.
“More like Bastet than Nefert,” he joked.
“Oh,” she raised her round eyebrows, lined with gold paint, in amazement. “And you know something about us.”
This is a joke? Daniel wiped the blood off his cheek and thought about the reprimand he would receive when he returned to the shooting. Probably due to injury, the shooting will now be canceled altogether. It is unlikely that makeup will be able to hide such deep scratches. And he should look handsome in the frame. He was hired only for his appearance.
What is he just thinking about? After all, he came here only to succumb to suicide. And it was worth seeing here two predatory beauties and thoughts of suicide suddenly disappeared somewhere. Pleasant company had a much more salutary effect on him than long conversations with an understanding psychologist.
A strange game with golden tops, as it turns out, is meant for three. And at first it seemed to him that it was only for two or generally for one. When he entered, he could see Cordelia playing alone, unless there was a ghost with her.
“Are you sisters? Well, at least cousins?” he noticed that the friends are very similar, only their hair color is different. Nefert is a brunette, Cordelia is a brown-haired woman. And neither of them are wearing wigs. Although with the modern technique of dyeing hair and eyebrows, changing the color is easy.
“No one here is tied by ordinary kinship,” Cordelia said. The spinning top spun under her fingers, exuding a swirl of golden sparkles. It was somewhat reminiscent of a miniature hurricane in the desert.
“And you’ll probably barely wash off the coloring mousse, both of you will turn out to be blondes,” Daniel joked.
“I was blonde,” Cordelia admitted, “but since I got here, my hair has started to darken.”
“So you painted them to get a role in some local project?”
She looked at him as if he were an idiot.
“Well, yes, to get the part,” she reluctantly confirmed aloud, though her tone was clearly a mockery.
“And you, like everyone else, came to the seance?|
“What seance? After all, the cinema has not functioned for a long time. Am I mistaken that the last time films were shown here years ago?” the guy looked surprised from one doll’s face to another, but neither Cordelia nor Nefert was in no hurry to answer. And the game with the golden whirlwind and tops on the board continued to play by itself.
“They still show one film here, which the public finds interesting. This film is called by many a masterpiece of world cinema, but it is not intended to be shown to viewers with a low cultural level. Only a select few are invited to the sessions, who are able to understand the plot and appreciate the special effects.
“That is, local cinemas are officially closed, but in secret they belong to the local VIP zone. Is that what you want to tell me?”
Cordelia nodded slyly. She has eyelashes and facial features like a large china doll, he remarked to himself. Probably the makeup on the skin was applied very skillfully. The girl looks like a beating porcelain creature.
Get a better look at Nefert’s makeup. He, too, must be something remarkable. But the second girl stubbornly kept in the shadows, standing behind Cordelia, who was sitting on the curbstone. The only thing that caught the eye were the glowing gold eyebrows and eyelashes, as well as the fancy shining details of the Egyptian costume. Nefert resembled the ghost of a queen, or at least a princess. Probably, she got such a role. Daniel would not be surprised if he also saw a sarcophagus here.
Although what kind of absurdity comes into his head? In cinemas, films are usually shown, not filmed. Well, except on rare occasions when the scripts involve scenes that take place in the cinema. At least that was the case in his practice. But it cannot be ruled out that someone is acting differently. Different countries or studios may have different filming techniques.
“So will you attend the session? Cordelia’s singing voice pulled him out of his thoughts.”
“Right now?”
“No, tomorrow night. For you, it will start only tomorrow.”
“But it seems that it is already beginning,” Daniel noticed how the doors of the cinema hall opened a little in the distance. A beam of light hit the red carpet in the hallway. It seems that the audience was gathering in the hall. He heard the hubbub of voices, but what they were talking about, he could not understand. Some weird shadows fell on the carpet. Guests either have very fancy tall hairstyles or hooves and horns! Unless it’s all actors who have pulled away from filming for a test run. Although from afar it all sounds more like a sabbath than a peaceful viewing of a film.
“In the evening! Well! I will try to be free by this time. But what time is it?” – and what does he think about when making promises, because on the set he himself can be detained until late? What if someone who was not invited follows him? Do they even give tickets or invitations? He didn’t notice the ticket booths in front of the entrance.
“Come closer to twelve,” Cordelia shrugged her bare shoulders, and again it seemed to him that their matte skin cracked like broken china.
“That is, the exact start time is not yet known?” It was somewhat amazing. Usually all theaters and cinemas have a tight schedule. But everything is unusual here.
“We’re starting late,” Cordelia said again. Nefert preferred to be silent. “The later you come, the better. Moreover, not all high-ranking guests have the opportunity to visit us during the day.”
“I noticed that the clock at the entrance stopped.”
“Time limits us so much,” Cordelia sigh expressed such disdain and weariness. “But don’t worry. The clock will be repaired by tomorrow night. And they will go again. We just need to hurry up the watchmaker.”
Could it be the hunched creature that just slipped down the hallway. Daniel shivered. Cold washed over him.
“By the way, in this costume you look like a very attractive ancient vampire,” blushing slightly, he tried to compliment her. The ability to compliment was never his strong point, but the girl smiled indulgently.
“Not a vampire, but a very skilled seamstress,” she corrected in a whisper. Why whisper? Is it necessary to hide something from someone here?
“So you want to say that you are not playing a vampire, but a seamstress… in a lady’s dress?”
“I have a difficult role,” she replied bluntly. Daniel suddenly began to think that the whirlwinds of sparkles above the playing board were beginning to form into the outlines of screaming faces, making the game resemble a miniature hell of golden sand.
Some suspicious sounds were indeed heard from the already closed auditorium. It looks like sobbing and screaming. They were probably coming from the screen, he consoled himself. Cordelia was wary.
“It’s time for you to go. You cannot stay overnight in this place. It is forbidden.”
“Will they let me in here tomorrow without a ticket?”
“Ticket,” Cordelia frowned. “Maybe you also need a royal crown, plus you need it. Or a loop around the neck is better?”
Nefert made her hold her snide tongue, lightly scratching her shoulder with her claws. Cordelia didn’t bleed, but it squeaked, as if scratching a hard surface, not skin.
“This is for you!” Nefert placed an invitation on the table, edged with gold lettering. The letters on it were half black, half scarlet, but that line was erased as soon as the blood from Daniel’s cheek suddenly dripped onto the cardboard. Everything turned scarlet.
“I messed it up.”
“It’s just a formality,” Cordelia explained.
“That is, at the control it will be easily scanned.”
In response, there was only a playful laugh from both girls.
“Well then…” the young man hesitated, not wanting to leave.
“You have to go!”
He had to leave. The gloomy building suddenly became so pleasant, as if a living fabulous creature that swallowed it in its mouth and protected it from the cruelly world around, where struggle and competition are in progress. And here there is only peace and the feeling that the walls live and whisper something to him ingratiatingly.
“You are back, son of the Rosier family! You have returned to us!”
Who here could know the old name of his family? Having moved to Russia, his family changed their last name to the Rozanovs, and he, in turn, having found a way to foreign cinema, chose a sonorous pseudonym for himself. Nobody knew his old family name, but the cinema did. Or did he have delirium tremens after drinking?
In any case, he didn’t want to leave the cinema. After all, it is so dark, warm, cozy. A good place to fall asleep here forever, dreamless sleep and get rid of all earthly problems.
The impression of peace was interrupted by obsessed cries from the closed hall. He also heard bird cries, sounds of struggle and even gunshots. He turned around. The door swung open again for a moment, and monstrous shadows grappled behind it in battle. It must be reflections from the screen.
He walked away faster. Tomorrow he will watch the film himself. And for some reason they didn’t let him in today? These are probably the rules here. Or was there not enough room for a beginner?
The hall was calm and empty. The fountain suddenly started working. The clock above the entrance began to tick. Someone hunched over seems to be hovering between the ceiling and them. In the semi-darkness it was definitely not possible to see.
“The descendant of Rosier has indeed returned!”
Daniel looked around the hall, trying to find out who said this. But there were only statues around. He bumped into one of them and almost hurt his forehead, but someone supported him in time. The question is who? There was no one living nearby. Only seven marble and somehow ominous angels gathered around.
Before leaving, Daniel turned on them and was taken aback, one of the angels, the one who stood closest to the exit, moved his wing, brought a marble finger to the same marble lips and made a sign to the young man to remain silent.
A tree from ashes
So the children sang in a round dance. Probably, he only fancied in the light of the moon that they all had deathly pale faces, empty eyes and very sharp needle-like teeth under bloodless lips. And what kind of parents would let their children go out so late at night? Are they all from an orphanage, which eventually became impoverished? Will they start begging soon? But they only sang and looked like ghosts.
Daniel nevertheless ran his hand into the pocket of his jacket in search of the little things that were lying there, but he came across only a razor blade and injured his fingers. The pain burned. Despite the dulling sensations of the night’s cold, the pain itself was razor sharp. He recalled inappropriately that as a child, he had been injured on the beach on broken glass a long time ago. It lay at the bottom. In the water, the wound did not even ache, but it was worth getting out on the shore, and the torment became intolerable. Likewise, after leaving the cinema, suddenly the desire to shine and suicide returned.
Enough! Not everything in life is lost yet. He still has a chance to fix everything, even the last one, but it must be used.
“Someone before you thought so too, so they called her, him, them… How can you call it?”
Some kid teasing him hiding behind the roadside trees? Daniel decided to check it, but did not find anyone in the thickets. The only children he noticed continued to dance very far away from him. Moreover, they played right on the highway. At any moment, a car can pass and run over them all? It doesn’t matter that the highway running between the small towns is now deserted. What if a truck or a bus emerges from behind a bend? Even any cyclist or motorcyclist can cause irreparable damage to the guys if he runs into them at this late hour. He need to warn them, or better yet, drive them off the road. Daniel was about to shout at them, but the silhouettes of the children’s round dance became more and more ghostly. It seemed that now they will dissolve in the light of the moon.
Better not to go to them. Suddenly they are all young patients from some lost in the wilderness of a psychiatric asylum. Maybe they even escaped from there. How else to explain such strange behavior, in such a dangerous place, and even at such a late time. And there is, as luck would have it, not a single adult who can explain anything to him. There is not even anyone who could give directions. If the charging on the smartphone had not ended, he would have called a taxi long ago. And so he had to wander along unfamiliar roads, in search of a way to the parking lot where he left his car. Most likely, he went in the wrong direction, because the surrounding places became more and more muffled. No hope of bumping into the settlement ahead. Hence, we must go in the opposite direction.
And it occurred to him to go to an abandoned cinema for the night looking, without a guide who knew the area and, in the end, even without a navigator. He would have happily hiked back now, but the back road was deserted. And the children’s counting-book was still ringing in my ears. The chant sounded ominous.