Читать книгу The Mirror Maze. Almost a chess novella - - Страница 6

I hate mornings! Looks like my defence mechanisms have officially broken down. I know what dream I had yet again. I feel this gross sensation. It’s not only in me, but everywhere. As though I ate raspberry with a flea in it, only the mouth is my room. After all, my nightmare happened right here. I want to go back and disable this “dream saving” feature. Where is the “clear” button? I need to get rid of this!

They broke in in the morning, waving some kind of lurid piece of paper called a “Lease Agreement”. They placed their things and started cooking breakfast. A whole tribe! Children were shouting at each other and fighting. Adults were no better. I’m lying. They didn’t do anything bad. They just lived their typical energetic life: stormy, ebullient, with the smell of garlic and meatballs.

I stood and looked at them, numb with horror. My house. My shelter. My mink! I can’t seem to live without it, and now, there are strangers in it! They don’t even acknowledge me, and there’s nothing I can do about that. I can’t even scream.

It was as though I died, and my apartment was rented out.

In this nightmare, I was a disembodied ghost, unable to prove my existence and kick out the strangers. Even after waking up, I couldn’t stop thinking about the horror I’d experienced. I can still smell the aroma of their cooking. Well, I can get rid of this stench! All we need is a lighter. I love to watch the bluish smoke of the sticks sway in the air. Mmmm, vanilla! I seem to understand dogs now, and their obsession with marking territory. This is my house, and it will smell my way!

How the tables have turned: the night guests are now ghosts, which I have smoked out of my house successfully. The dream awakened my protective instincts. It’s stupid, but suddenly I wanted to bury the teeth and claws of some faithful and brave defender under the threshold. Evidently I’m not fully awake yet, if such crazy ideas are coming to my head. Oh god, the first time I saw my defender was on the beach next to my ruined castle! He bit through that pink heel and came back to me. My fearless mongoose!