"How are you?" she asked.
"I'm good... how are you?" I replied, still looking at the carriage.
"It's been so long," she said. "What do you think of it?
"I... I don't know," I replied, unsure.
Then a familiar voice came this time from beside the carriage. It was the old man. And next to him stood a beautiful woman, draped in flowing blue and pink chiffon like some Disney Jasmine her face half-covered, jewels glittering all over her veil and outfit. She was looking directly at me. And well people this was my so called cousin who looked more like the queen of this red dessert. And honestly, though I was a girl I was mesmerized with her looks….
The old man said, "Well... you don't need to panic about it."
Then she spoke again, her voice calm but commanding. "Cousin. This pyramid get your keys and follow me."
"From this pyramid?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"From inside this?" I panicked. My mind instantly jumped to ancient tombs, mummies, curses dead kings rotting in silk.
"In the bricks of this pyramid, you'll see boxes. Just put your hand on them you'll find the keys."
"How... how will I know ?" I started to ask, but she had already gone. She had climbed back into the carriage, which was now rolling away.
The old man smiled at me. As he followed the carriage, he turned once more and said, "Fires are always enchanting, aren't they? The best revenge, one might say... no?"
And just like that, he, too, was gone.
"You could have taken me with you!" I shouted after them, but my voice got swallowed by the desert air.
I sighed and started walking around the pyramid. I was exhausted, but determined. Then I noticed something a brick that looked oddly out of place, like a modern-day money safe. I placed my hand on it. It clicked open.
Inside, there was a large key.
Motivated now that I knew what to look for, I started scanning the bricks for more "safes." Eventually, I found four keys in total and no more. They were heavy, golden-yellow, and one of them was noticeably larger than the rest.
I held the largest key in my hand and, jokingly, mimed unlocking an invisible door.
Suddenly, without warning, I was no longer near the pyramid. I stood in front of a massive manor its towering gate at least twelve feet high. And it was wide open.
I stepped inside.
The whole place seemed to be preparing for an event. Cloths of every color hung from the walls to the center of a large fountain. Lights sparkled from every surface. It was... enchanting.
As I looked around, someone suddenly grabbed me by the collar and dragged me into a nearby room, throwing me inside. It was a girl.
As I regained my balance, I saw them.
Everyone was there. My cousin. And others strangers to me, but they all seemed to know exactly who I was.
My cousin walked up to me and said, "Matches."
"Matches?" I blinked.
"Tsk. Matches." She rolled her eyes, annoyed.
She wasn't wearing the regal costume anymore. She looked... casual. I couldn't even remember what she was wearing now. Well it doesn't matter what she was wearing… afterall I was the one in ragged tattered cloths…leave it … so yeah where I was??? Hmmm…ahhh….yesss… matches yess … sooo ….
Then it clicked to me.
"Matches?" I thought. Ah. She meant the fire.
I stared at her with wide eyes that screamed, Seriously?
She nodded.
But before she could say more, someone rushed over and started hitting me. I cried out from the pain, completely disoriented. Slaps. Kicks. Shouts. Shoves. One shove threw me into a corner near a cabinet.
People around us didn't react. They kept working as if nothing was happening.
Then a stout woman approached me. She knelt down, stroked my face with a kind of mock gentleness, and said, "Ann, Ann, Ann... my child. If you hadn't betrayed me and run away, I wouldn't have hurt you like this. Well... you still have a chance. Be my person. The choice is yours."
She shoved a piece of cloth toward me, then started dusting the drawer casually.
Soon, she was gone.
I sat there, battered and furious. The pain pulsed in my bones, but something deeper burned in my chest.
Fire... fire... fire...
Without thinking, I pulled out one of the keys. Only two remained. I opened the drawer.
Inside was a giant matchbox.
I froze.
It felt... too deliberate. Too planned. But the fury inside me didn't care if this was a trap. I picked it up and opened the box.
Suddenly, someone came close so close that their breath touched my ear.
"Ann," they whispered.
I jumped. The matchbox slipped from my hand. Matches spilled all over the floor.
Oof, friends… believe me when I say it was hell of a ride, in an unfamiliar place; it was such a visceral, symbolic, and chaotic descent into a dreamscape a feverish mix of revenge, resistance, psychological tension, and strange female alliances. There is mystery, magic realism, internal rebellion, and danger swirling together in a scene that's as haunting as it is oddly empowering. So yeah read and let me know what do you think … so lets continue what happened next … so i heard a voice…
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