

Memories of a Butterfly

By Ivan Vlasov

Copyright © 2016 Ivan Vlasov

Table of Contents

The Night Call

The Weird Disappearance

The Pencil Sketch

The Inconceivable Logic

The Edge of the Earth

The Thankful Neighbor

The Heat Effect

The Wrong Body

The Butterfly Dream

The Laughing Past

The Professional Help

The Forgotten Clue

The White Square

The Blocking Rock

The Never-ending Path

The Dark Treasury

The Broken Cocoon

The Not So Vacant Room

To my wife Ksenia

Thanks for your support and patience

#  The Night Call

Something woke her up in the middle of the night. It took Irina a few seconds to fully regain consciousness, and finally realize that her cell phone was ringing. Receiving a call at such a late time was an absolutely unusual event.

Who could it be? she thought, vexed.

The sound was coming from her bedside table. Irina stretched her hand in that direction, and, having found the phone there, brought it to her face. Its screen glowed brightly in the darkness of the bedroom, and her drowsy eyes, not being able to adapt so quickly, squinted shut. The ringing went on and on without stopping all the while her vision was adjusting to the light. Eventually she managed to open her eyes wide enough to discern the caller name. It turned out to be Jinne - her roommate and best friend.

"Oh, God! Why is she calling so late?" Irina uttered in a sleepy voice. Words struggled, coming out of her mouth. She rolled over to her back, and pressed the accept button on the touch screen. Wondering where Jinne might be at this time, and hoping that she wasn't in trouble, Irina put the phone to her ear.

"Hey, Jinne," she said slowly, staring at the dark ceiling.

There were a few seconds of silence, and then her friend's lively voice responded, "Hi, Irina! I guess, I woke you up. Sorry for that, but I just absolutely have to share this with you! I'm outside, taking a walk. It is such a beautiful night! This street is so quiet, and calm. I can actually hear trees, rustling in the wind." Jinne sighed deeply, with an apparent pleasure, and then continued unhurriedly, "Try to imagine this. There are almost no lampposts in this place, and the light is very scarce. This makes everything look and feel completely different than during the day. I think, I can sense some mystery in all those gloomy tones and creepy shadows all around."

"This is very interesting," Irina said, and her voice sounded more firm now. "But I thought you had something really important to wake me up so late."

"Yes, yes. I will have something very important for you tonight, but first I just wanted to share with you my impressions of the nighttime Montreal." Jinne's voice had changed ever so slightly, but that was already enough for Irina to realize that her friend was smiling, saying this. "There are two-storey houses placed in a row along each side of the street. All the windows are dark, so it feels rather spooky here. And actually it's pretty weird to realize how loud my voice is compared to the tranquility of this place." Jinne chuckled softly.

Irina knew her friend very well, and figured that this strange impression sharing might take quite some time. She sat up in her bed, and leaned her back against the wall, ready to continue listening. The lonely moon was shining with a pale silvery light in the dark sky outside the window. Her eyes slid over the built-in wardrobe, and the door opening into the corridor. With the bed, and the bedside table being the only pieces of furniture in it, the room looked rather bare. All the walls were painted plain white, adding to the feeling of the emptiness of the space. Irina closed her eyes tightly, thinking that she actually wouldn't have minded this bizarre night call very much, if only tomorrow hadn't been a work day.

In the meantime Jinne carried on talking in a relaxed voice, "But wait... ahead of me I see lights of a bigger street, they gleam so attractively in the distance. From time to time I can catch a glimpse of a car, zooming by; and now I can't wait to get there after all the stillness of this sleepy place. I bet, something extraordinary is waiting for me there. Oh, yeah!" Her voice was full of joy, and excitement. "I'm getting closer... Actually, did you just hear the whoosh of a car?"

"Yes, I did. That was just an ordinary noise of an ordinary car." Irina's voice sounded slightly annoyed.

But Jinne didn't seem to notice that at all. She continued, "I'm almost there... And now I'm starting to feel the vibe of this street. It's so... refreshing, so... full of promises of change. I'm approaching those tempting lights... Finally, I'm walking into them."

There came a few moments of silence, and then Irina began to hear muffled sounds of cars, passing somewhere in the background - apparently Jinne had come out to this bigger street.

"So what do you see there?" Irina asked skeptically. "Any miracles?"

"Well... The wind is much stronger here. I feel its cooling freshness on my face and arms. And there are no trees to block the view of the sky here anymore, so that I can actually see the moon. The stars though are very pale, and barely noticeable. I guess it's because of the overall brightness of the place. Also, the street itself is quite different, the ground levels of the buildings are occupied by various shops and stores. And still, as far as I can see, there is no one around, only cars are passing by from time to time..."

Jinne's voice had gradually been getting less and less excited, and when she paused for a little while, Irina began to hope that this might be it, and she would be able to get back to sleep soon.

But no, the next moment Jinne yelled passionately, "Wait... I think I see something interesting. I just need to cross the street, hold on for a few secs please."

Irina shook her head in silent disappointment. This weird night talk didn't seem to be getting anywhere, and so she started thinking of suggesting her friend to continue the walk without her on the line. She had already been searching for appropriate words to do so when Jinne's voice distracted her, "Oh my God! It smells so good!" Irina heard a distinct sound of a deep inhale. "I'm standing near a small coffee shop. It's actually closed now, but the aroma of the roasted beans is so strong here, and it's so fresh, so... stimulating! It even seems to me that I feel the neurons in my brain start vibrating!" Jinne inhaled again, this time even deeper, and longer; then she let out a long moan filled with pleasure. A few moments later she added, "Oh yeah... the smell of coffee seems more intense at night, it's so... inspiring. I'm absolutely thrilled now. You must be hearing it in my voice..."

Irina used that short pause to insert a few words, "Hey Jinne! This all is so very cool, but I think that I need to get back to sleep right now. You know, I have to work tomorrow, right?"

But Jinne completely ignored what Irina had just said. She went on in a very excited tone, "Oh my! I think there is someone coming my way... It seems to be a young man... Yes, it is. And he looks very fine. He is wearing shorts and a t-shirt. They nicely emphasize his athletic body. Hold on, there is something written on the t-shirt... It's a single word - Obey. Interesting... I think that I like him."

There came a short pause, but Irina said nothing - her attention was attracted to the image of the young man formed in her mind. In a few seconds Jinne continued, "He is coming closer, and I'm just standing here in the middle of the street, waiting for him to pass by! I'm feeling a bit tense... Oh! I have just locked my eyes with him. It lasted for only a brief instant, but that was already enough to make me so, so jittery..." She heaved a deep sigh as though to help herself calm down. "Wait now, he is passing by..."

And then silence followed. Irina was waiting patiently with bated breath. The pause had already started to seem too long when it finally ended, and Irina heard her friend's another sigh. A moment later Jinne's voice on the phone said, "He has passed. Phew... I couldn't stop staring at him while he was walking by. We looked each other in the eyes, and... his glance seemed to me too arrogant, too... demanding." She sounded slightly disappointed now. "It made me feel a certain discomfort... So no, in the end I didn't like him that much."

Finally Irina emerged from her speechless stupor, feeling really annoyed. "Sorry Jinne, but I really need to have some rest now. You will tell me about all of that tomorrow evening," she uttered insistently. "Alright?"

"Wait, just a couple more things," Jinne tried to stop her from hanging up.

But Irina was absolutely determined to end this meaningless word flood, she added a short, "Talk to you tomorrow, Jinne. Bye," and quickly pressed the disconnect button on her phone.

Having lifted her head, she found herself sitting in the darkness oh her bedroom again. The silvery moon was shining softly through the window just like before. Irina sighed with relief, and tossed the phone carelessly on the bedside table. She felt a slight regret for terminating the call so abruptly, but at the end of the day Jinne also should have known better than to call her in the middle of the night without a visible reason.

Irina lied down, and closed her eyes, trying to take her mind off the images brought by the talk with Jinne. Quite soon her body relaxed, and slowly she began to sink into sleep. The dark emptiness had almost swallowed her when the phone rang again.

Letting out a frustrated groan, she thought, Jinne! Please no!

With a single swift movement Irina stretched her arm, and grabbed the noisy device. A brief glance at the screen confirmed that it was her friend again. Alright, this time the talk would be quick, she would just ask Jinne not to call her anymore. Her thumb pressed the accept button, and then she uttered into the phone, "Jinne! I know this all is so very exciting, but can you please just stop cal..."

Irina couldn't finish her thought, because Jinne's voice interrupted her brusquely, "Please, don't hang up again! I really have something very important to tell you!"

"Alright," Irina said hesitatingly, "But can you finally tell me what it is?"

"I will. I just would like to find a place to sit first... Oh, actually I think I can see a bench ahead. Only... Hmm... It seems that there is someone already sitting on it. A lamppost stands right next to the bench, so the spot is pretty well lit, and I can discern the figure of that person."

Jinne lowered her voice, and Irina suddenly realized that there were no background sounds anymore, so apparently her friend had walked away from busy streets.

In the meantime Jinne continued, "It is a man. I'm still far from him, but I'm coming closer... He is wearing a long gray coat. Hmm, it's actually quite weird, considering such a warm weather, don't you think? He has long hair, and it's also gray... Wait. No, his coat is actually not gray, it is slightly reddish. I believe it used to be red once, but now it's so old and dusty that it became almost completely gray. This makes me think that the guy is... homeless."

And then there reigned silence. Irina tossed tensely in her bed, waiting for a continuation. Several long seconds passed, and finally she heard her friend again, "Actually... His face." Jinne's voice sounded surprised. "I think I know him," and Jinne chuckled softly.

Irina held her breath, expecting to hear more, but... the silence came back, and with it the uncertainty. Feeling slightly worried, she inquired, "Hey Jinne! Are you there?"

There was no response. Confused, she looked at the phone's screen - the call was still on. A thought flashed through her mind that she could hang up now. For a moment her thumb hovered over the disconnect button, but her concern for Jinne, as well as her curiosity wouldn't let her do it just yet, and she continued waiting patiently with the phone held to her ear.

Who is this homeless man, and how come Jinne knows him? Irina wondered, staring motionless at the dark ceiling. Suddenly she heard something...

It was a raspy man's voice, which uttered, "Hey, Jinne! Is that really you? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" The sound was slightly muffled, apparently because the man was not talking directly into the phone, and so it was not that easy for Irina to discern the words.

"Hi, Olivier. I'm just taking a walk. The night-time city is beautiful, isn't it?" Jinne's voice sounded almost as clear as before.

"Well, yeah. It's quite warm now, which means that I won't be freezing in my sleep when I finally get to my cardboard bed... and my socks are dry enough," the man chuckled. "So yeah, I guess it's a pretty damn good night."

"And where are you going to sleep?"

"Hmm, I have a very nice place nearby. It's actually on one of the adjacent streets... rather cozy, and quiet."

"Sounds good," Jinne responded in a soft voice. "Then why aren't you there yet?"

"Oh, I've been just thinking... You know, right before going to bed is the most unpleasant time of the day. That's when all the different thoughts come," the man sighed.

There was a rather long pause, and then Jinne asked, "How was your day?"

"My day... it went pretty well actually. I managed to gather quite a few plastic bottles, and tin cans, so in the end I treated myself to a coffee. I was even able to save some money for later." All of a sudden the homeless raised his voice noticeably, "A man told me today to go, and get a job... Well, actually I already have a job! My life is a full time job!" He coughed noisily, and continued, "I carry this plastic cup wherever I go, asking for change. It's rather humiliating... But no, I'm not complaining, I accept the challenge." Then the tone of his voice came back to normal, "So, I thought I would just sit here a bit, and enjoy the peace and quiet. You know, it feels quite soothing to realize that the sun will rise tomorrow with or without me." He finished, and fell silent.

Several seconds later it was Jinne's voice that broke the silence, "Oh, my! I completely forgot! I'd been talking on the phone before I saw you!" And then, after a brief pause she added, "Phew, the call is still on! Sorry, Olivier, but I need to finish it now."

The next moment Jinne's voice became as clear as before, apparently she held the phone close again. "Hey, Irina! Are you still there?"

During the dialogue between her friend and the homeless Irina had been slowly dozing off, and now she was startled. "Yes. I'm still here, Jinne," she replied after a few seconds of hesitation. "You must be thankful for having such a loyal friend."

"And I truly am thankful for this," Jinne chuckled. "So, I have to tell you something - I am going to disappear for a while."

"What? Where are you going?"

"Actually... I'm not going anywhere. I just won't be here for some time."

Now this sounded pretty confusing, but Irina was used to Jinne's weird tricks, and didn't take the words seriously. "Ok, no problem," she responded. "And when are you coming back?"

"This is the other thing I wanted to tell you," Jinne said, and then made a solid pause. "You will have to find me!"

Irina sighed with annoyance, thinking that this was just one more of her friend's silly jokes. Suddenly this phone call seemed so very stupid, and all she wanted at the moment was to end it as soon as possible. "Alright, Jinne. Whatever you want," she uttered, irritated. "I will get back to sleep now!"

"Bye, Irina! Have a good night! Hope to see you soon!"

Irina pressed the disconnect button, and put the phone away, thinking that because of that call she would be drowsy all day long tomorrow. She turned over onto her belly, and settled comfortably under the sheet, preparing to get the maximum rest from the end of the night. In a few minutes she was fast asleep, and nothing disturbed her anymore till the next morning.

#  The Weird Disappearance

The alarm clock on her cell phone woke her up exactly at seven the next morning. She turned it off with a habitual movement. The sun climbed already pretty high, and the entire room was washed with a smooth, bright light. The night incident had left her with an unpleasant feeling, and also her head was aching now. Irina turned over onto her back, and stretched in the bed with a heavy sigh. Obviously she hadn't slept enough, but no matter what, she had to get up, and get going. It was Monday - the first busy work day of the busy work week.

So, there was no time to waste, and, determined, Irina got out of bed. Walking to the bathroom, she passed by the entryway, and noticed that Jinne's shoes were not there, so apparently her friend wasn't back yet. But just to be absolutely sure in that, Irina peeked quickly into Jinne's bedroom. No. The bed was made, and there was not a sign of her roommate. However it wasn't the first time that Jinne hadn't spent a night at home, and so Irina wasn't concerned about it at all.

The two friends were sharing a rent of a nice, two bedroom apartment with a living room and a small kitchen. It was conveniently located on a quiet street, just a few steps away from a grocery store, and not that far from some major bus routes. As well as the cost wasn't that high. So, overall it fitted them perfectly.

Irina quickly ate her breakfast, and then left the house, heading to the nearest bus stop. That was her everyday commute - a bus would take her straight to downtown, where the office of the company she worked for was located.

She was hurriedly descending the front steps of the building when her eyes slid over the opposite side of the road. Attached to the metal fence, there was Jinne's dark green bicycle. It stood at its usual place, and actually there wasn't anything special about it, except for, being Jinne's favorite mode of transportation, the bike had most often been gone when its owner was not at home. So, in the first moment Irina felt a bit surprised to see it standing there, but then she realized that her friend had gone out for a walk, and absolutely obviously didn't need a bike for that.

The next instant Irina stepped out on the sidewalk, turned right, and began walking at her usual brisk pace towards the bus stop. She remembered what Jinne had said the last night on the phone - that she would be gone for a while. At that moment it seemed just a stupid joke, but now, realizing that her friend still hadn't returned, Irina wasn't so sure about that.

And why did Jinne ask me to go, and find her? she thought with a slight annoyance. If she wants me to play hide-and-seek with her, she will be disappointed, because I'm not going to do that.

However there were more important things for her to think of right now. Irina was employed by a solid industrial company, her position with them was Spare Parts Coordinator, which basically meant that her usual workday was filled with paperwork, orders processing, calls, and negotiations. And she actually liked it. Absolutely. Her job made her feel useful and important, it gave her a sense of purpose, and kept her occupied.

So very soon her thoughts switched to work related issues. She had this huge order of seven hundred entries to process for one of their most valuable clients, and thus her day today was going to be extremely busy. Irina began thinking of what should be done, and better ways of handling the job. Submerged completely into those thoughts, she didn't even notice herself reach the bus stop. When the bus had finally arrived, Irina entered it automatically, not noticing anything around. And during the entire ride she kept on pondering over her current work tasks.

The day turned out to be as hectic as expected. Irina was so busy, processing the order, that she had hardly been able to find time for lunch, and ended up eating it at her desk, sitting in front of her computer. But thanks to all her hard work, by the end of the day the order had been almost complete, and she felt almost satisfied. Almost. Because there were still a few things left to finish, and she couldn't completely relax just yet.

And now Irina was slowly walking back home from the bus stop. Thoughts of her job kept on whirling through her mind without stopping, bringing up a clutter of additional details and potential solutions. It felt almost as though her head was going to blow up from the amount of data being processed. And maybe she would have liked to take her mind off all of this, but there just didn't seem to be a way to do so.

Being in this state of mind, Irina entered the apartment, and closed the door behind herself. Jinne's shoes still weren't there.

"Hey Jinne, are you here?" she inquired loudly. There was no response. She walked into her friend's bedroom, and made sure that it was still empty.

Where can she be now? Irina thought to herself. The fact that Jinne wasn't at home yet made her slightly anxious. All the work issues were forgotten by now.

She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, thinking that a call to her friend should quickly clear the situation. Holding the phone to her ear, Irina heard a few long beeps... and then they just stopped. Perplexed, she looked at the screen - apparently Jinne had just dropped the call. Irina tried to call again... and ended up with the same result.

She shook her head, annoyed with her friend's silly behaviour, and uttered, "Oh, come on, Jinne! Is it really that hard to pick up the phone?" Silence was the only answer to her question.

Well, if she doesn't want to talk to me, it's fine. Next time when she calls at night, I will show her the same kind of unresponsiveness, she thought, walking slowly into the kitchen to cook herself a dinner.

But already a couple of minutes later Irina changed her mind, and decided to make a last attempt - write Jinne a text message. She got out the phone again, and typed, 'Are you ok? Where are you?' then pressed the send button, thinking that whether there would be a response or not her conscience was absolutely clear now.

A little while later however, when Irina was checking the contents of the fridge, her cell phone made a short mellow sound, letting her know of an incoming message. A rapid glance at the screen revealed that it was from Jinne! Impatiently she opened it and read, 'Not sure if I'm fine. I disappeared.' Irina sighed, now even more irritated with her friend's childish conduct.

How am I supposed to take it? Disappeared! What does it mean at all? she thought to herself. Why can't she just explain to me what is happening? Why all this mystery?

Jinne had always had slightly strange ideas, but this time it was simply stupid. The movements of her thumbs over the phone's touch screen were edgy when Irina typed, 'Can I help you somehow?'

The answer came in within several seconds, 'I will only be back if you find me!'

Now this was absolutely ridiculous. Quickly she responded, 'Is it some kind of a game? If it is, I'm not playing it!'

Irina stared at the screen for a few long minutes, but there was still no response. Finally she put the phone aside, and got back to cooking dinner. Soon her thoughts switched away from her friend's weird disappearance, and irritation slowly subsided. For some unknown reason there were no more news from Jinne that evening.

#  The Pencil Sketch

The next morning her cell phone woke her up at the same time as always. She turned off the alarm, and then noticed that there was an incoming message. It was from Jinne. Irina opened it with curiosity, and read, 'Start with my sketch folder. You'll know the right drawing when you see it.' She gazed at the words on the screen for a few long seconds, trying to understand their actual meaning. So... her suspicions turned out to be true, and indeed Jinne wanted to play hide-and-seek. Only Irina wasn't going to play this game, simply because she had more important things to do - her work, for example. This thought made her recover herself, she put the phone back on the bedside table, and walked out of her room, heading to the bathroom.

But already during breakfast Irina caught herself thinking of her friend, and that strange message. Jinne was an artist, and had a special folder where she kept some of her pencil sketches. From time to time she had showed one or another of her works to Irina, so the latter was well aware of the existence of this folder.

So what? Irina thought to herself. Maybe there is a special drawing in there, maybe not. It doesn't matter, I'm not interested.

Only... was she really not? Her curiosity had been stirred by this short message, and now she couldn't take her mind off that folder, and sketches in it. Not that Irina expected to find something extraordinary in there, but really... it wouldn't take her much time to just go, and check it. With this thought in her mind she finished the breakfast, and then briskly headed towards Jinne's bedroom.

Once inside, Irina glanced around. Unlike hers, this room was rather untidy. There were several books heaped disorderly at one spot on the floor, and next to them lay some of Jinne's clothes. A massive wooden desk occupied space next to one of the walls. It was littered with papers, a number of them crumpled, some little souvenirs, and a few candy wraps. In the center of it there were a big laptop, and a drawing pad, which Jinne used primarily for her work as a freelance artist. On one side of the desk Irina noticed a couple of her friend's latest hand drawings.

In the farther corner of the room there were a few paintings leant against the wall. Two more paintings hung on the white wall above the desk, and although their styles were very similar, the feelings they evoked in her were completely opposite. One of them was a self-portrait. It was made with thick, bold brush strokes. Depicted in it, there was Jinne's smiling face. The light blue background contrasted so nicely with her black skin. Just like in real life her long hair tied into a multitude of braids flowed smoothly down over her shoulders. Irina really liked the serene atmosphere transmitted by the picture

Hanging right next to it on the wall, there was another painting. This one was made when Jinne and her now former boyfriend Patrice had spent a day out of the city. The grass and the trees in the background added a lot of bright green colors to the image, and in front there was just one thing, one particular part of Patrice's black body - his erect penis. Jinne once said that this painting was a token of his love to her, and weirdly enough didn't want to remove it from the wall even after they had broken up. As for Irina, she always despised the picture, considering it way too vulgar, and usually just tried to avoid looking at it.

However none of this attracted her attention - the sketch folder occupied all her thoughts at the moment. As far as she remembered, it was made of red cardboard, and looked rather shabby. Carefully Irina looked around the room, but couldn't spot it neither on the desk nor anywhere else.

"Now, where can this folder be in all this mess?" she muttered, perplexed.

Her first thought was to check inside the desk drawers, only... she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to rummage through her friend's personal belongings. After a few moments of hesitation Irina said to herself, Actually... Jinne shouldn't mind this because it was she herself who asked me to find this folder.

With that in mind she stepped over to the desk, and opened the top drawer. There were some paints, and brushes scattered disorderly at the bottom of it - the red folder was not in there. She opened the one below, and saw several books, a few old tickets from various music concerts, as well as something that looked like a card holder. Irina lifted them up, making sure she hadn't missed anything underneath - the folder wasn't there either. The bottom drawer contained tangled up cords, and adapters, there was not a trace of the sketch folder in there as well.

Even more perplexed, Irina stood straight, and looked around the room again, trying to figure out where else to search for it.

Maybe under the bed? she thought, and, having kneeled down, glanced there - hiding in the dark, there was nothing else but dust. Suddenly Irina realized that because of all this nonsense she might be late for work, and this stupid game clearly wasn't worth it. She stood up, intending to walk out of the room. Accidentally her glance fell upon the heap of Jinne's clothes on the floor, and she decided to make a last attempt, and check under it. With one quick movement Irina grabbed, and lifted up the entire pile... And there, on the floor it lay - the shabby red folder. She sighed, and shook her head, surprised again just like the first time with Jinne's incredible sloppiness.

Preferring not to displace her friends belongings, Irina carefully put the clothes back on the floor, and only then picked up the folder. She wanted to open it, and start browsing through the sketches right away, only... there was no time for this at the moment, because she needed to go to work.

Irina let out a disappointed sigh. Alright. Not now, but maybe later today I will have some time for this, she thought, and then walked out of her friend's bedroom, heading into the entryway. The bag that accompanied her to work each day was rather roomy, so she had no troubles putting the sketch folder in it. A few minutes later Irina left the apartment, and pretty soon her mind switched away from Jinne, and her games. There was a new busy work day ahead, and she needed to stay concentrated on the important things.

That day appeared to be less chaotic than the one before. And when the lunch time came, Irina realized that she would be able to take a real break, and spend it in the work cafeteria, savoring food and chatting with her colleagues. Sitting behind her desk, she bent down, and reached into her bag, digging there for the plastic container with her lunch that she had brought from home today.

Suddenly her fingers felt the rough surface of Jinne's sketch folder, and Irina remembered the morning events. She remained motionless for a few seconds, considering whether she should go ahead with searching through the drawings right now and postpone her lunch, or not. Eventually her curiosity won the argument. Irina pulled the red folder out of the bag, and put it on the desk in front of herself. Without delay she opened it, and began inspecting carefully the sketches made by her friend.

The first one showed a quiet Montreal street: a corner of a brick building, a typical sidewalk, and a car parked nearby. The drawing was made with rather simple outlines. It didn't look quite finished, and hadn't evoked in her any particular associations, so Irina just moved on. In the second one she saw a big oak tree standing alone in tall grass. The image was very detailed, and she kept gazing at it with appreciation for quite a while before putting it away. The next several sketches depicted various views of the old city: the streets, the port, and the river. The thoroughly laid shades in a couple of them made the drawings look very lifelike. Others however didn't have shades at all, and looked quite primitive. And still none of them had given Irina the impression that it was the one meant by Jinne.

She continued browsing through the pictures, and in the next one saw Jinne's ex-boyfriend Patrice. He sat on the grass with his arms wrapped around his knees. His face was serious, and his eyes were full of deep contemplation. Irina gazed at it with interest, thinking that she actually liked the way Patrice looked in it. With a slight smile she put the sketch aside, and looked at the next one.

This image showed a well-groomed park. The central place in it took a bench with a man lying on it, apparently sleeping. He wore a long, old-looking coat, and his long hair, hanging down in a complete disorder, partially covered his unshaved face. All the man's appearance made Irina believe that he was homeless... and all of a sudden this detail made her remember that weird night call. She held her breath, trying to recall how Jinne had described that homeless person she had been talking to that night during the phone call.

Didn't she say long coat and long hair? Irina asked herself... and then nodded affirmatively. Yeah, this is exactly what she said!

There was another detail that also matched, and that was truly bizarre. The bench. A bench was exactly where Jinne had found that man that night, and the bench was where this man lay in this drawing. Could it be just a simple coincidence? Maybe, but it felt more like some kind of an odd mystery.

Irina squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds, and then opened them again. The picture with the homeless was still there, and it looked exactly as before.

Alright, she thought to herself. Let's assume that this is the one Jinne wanted me to find. Then what? What do I do with it? Irina didn't have a single clue. She gazed at the sketch again, this time paying close attention to details.

In front there was a pathway. A garbage bin, and a lamp post stood next to the bench. In the background there were a few trees drawn with sparse strokes. Irina noticed something that she had missed before - an outline of a church steeple sticking up from behind one of the trees. All of a sudden she realized that the view with this steeple behind trees was somewhat familiar.

Isn't it that park which I passed through so many times during my city strolls? Irina asked herself hopefully. She peered at the image on the paper again, trying to compare it to the one from her memories. The two images clearly matched, which meant that the place in the sketch was familiar to her! Irina smiled slightly to herself, enjoying this little discovery.

Indeed this was pretty neat. So, her curiosity had been fully satisfied now, and she could finally go, eat her lunch, and then get back to her work. And maybe Jinne wanted her to continue playing this strange game, but Irina clearly wasn't interested in this.

I don't know why she decided I would be eager to solve her silly puzzles, Irina thought to herself. Definitely, she won't be able to distract me from important things in my life.

She put all the paper sheets back into the red folder and closed it. There wasn't that much time left for her lunch now, so she would need to hurry up. Irina fished out the plastic food container from her bag, and then headed briskly to the cafeteria. Almost immediately her mind switched away from Jinne, her weird disappearance, and that drawing with the homeless on it.

#  The Inconceivable Logic

The end of the workday turned out to be rather busy again. A new urgent order arrived, and Irina had to start rapidly processing it. When the time to leave came, there was still a big chunk of work left undone. And exiting her office building, she felt quite dissatisfied with her own productivity. Thoughts of work that could have been done faster, and better kept whirling unceasingly through her mind when she approached the bus stop.

The evening was quite warm but not hot, and the sun still stood very high, flooding everything with a smooth, bright light. The bus came almost right away. Irina stepped in, and greeted the driver with a brief, "Hi". There were a few empty seats remaining here and there. She walked along the aisle, and sat down in one of them. Probably it was due to the relaxing evening air that all her work-related thoughts began to slowly subside.

Irina glanced out the window. The road was crammed with cars, and her bus couldn't help but move slowly along with the heavy traffic. A multitude of various little shops, and stores occupied ground levels of the two- and three-storey brick houses situated on both sides of the street. Motley pedestrians were walking lazily here and there along the pavement, and the open terraces of the restaurants were packed with chatty customers. Irina leaned her head against the window, watching with interest the vibrant city life.

After some time, when the busiest intersections had been left behind, the bus began moving with greater ease. At one point it pulled over to a stop, and opened its doors, letting a few passengers out. Irina's gaze was moving aimlessly, jumping from buildings to people, from trees to cars when suddenly something outside the window attracted her attention. There was a smaller street, which was crossing at a right angle the street her bus was moving along, and at the bottom of it she noticed a green patch of a park. That place seemed somewhat familiar. A moment later Irina realized that the park she was looking at now was the park from Jinne's sketch, and the same one that she had been to so many times before. And the church steeple from the drawing was right there, in front of her eyes, sticking up into the clear blue sky somewhere on the background. Although from this point of view it appeared to be much smaller.

There wasn't much time left till the bus would close the doors, and move on. Without even fully realizing what she was doing, Irina stood up abruptly from her seat, and strode swiftly towards the exit. The last person had just stepped inside when she zipped by, letting out a hasty, "Sorry" on the way. The next moment Irina was out, but once her feet touched the pavement her determination disappeared somewhere. The bus had long been gone, and she kept on standing there still, gazing blankly towards the park, not knowing what to do now. Once again Irina realized how stupid this Jinne's game was.

Really, what am I supposed to do there, in this park? she asked herself. Find her hiding under a bench? The idea seemed absolutely ridiculous, and she let out an annoyed chuckle. Unfortunately though Irina had already got off the bus, so now it was slightly too late... too late to not go there.

So, maybe I will just pass quickly through the place before heading back home. Anyway, a short walk outside will be good for me after the entire day of sitting at work, she said to herself. Yes, just a nice, refreshing stroll and nothing else.

At last Irina made up her mind, and began walking towards the park, the tall trees of which made it so easily noticeable from a distance. Its shapeless green mass was getting closer and closer, and in a few minutes she arrived there. The park was not very big, and there weren't that many people at the moment.

She slowed down, strolling along a pathway, and glancing around. In one corner, there was a chatty group sitting on the lawn in the shade of a tree. An old lady was occupying a bench on the opposite side. A middle-aged man was briskly walking along a trail somewhere in a distance. And that seemed to be pretty much it \- there was not a trace of Jinne anywhere around.

Irina sighed with irritation. Did I really expect her to be here? She asked herself. No, of course not.

However there was one more thing to be done before heading back home. Her eyes searched for the bench from the drawing, the one that would have a set of trees, and the church steeple behind it. Pretty soon she found it standing lonely at the far end of the park. No one was sitting there at the moment. Irina came over, and looked at it inquisitively. That was just an ordinary bench. She took a few steps closer, then walked around it, searching for... written words, or something else of that kind. She even bent down, and checked under it. But there was nothing... nothing that looked like a clue.

Disappointed, she sighed, and sat down on the bench. Now Irina wanted to talk to Jinne, and tell her how absurd this all was. She pulled the cell phone out of her pocket, and sent a message to her friend, 'I've done what you wanted. I found the drawing with the homeless. I'm at the park now. Where are you?' Irina peered at the screen hopefully, expecting a reply to come in, and answer at least some of her questions. A minute passed slowly... then another... she stopped staring at the phone, and put it aside, still waiting however...

After several minutes of waiting the hope turned into annoyance. Irina heaved a long sigh, and told herself, Alright, I really tried, but this is just way too stupid. I'm only wasting my time here while I should be getting back home. And Jinne and her silly game? Well, screw them. She shoved the phone back into her pocket, and stood up, ready to move on.

One final time Irina looked around the park, her eyes slid over the bright green lawn on the opposite side. There was someone... a man, and his silhouette seemed very familiar. He was standing there next to a garbage bin.

She began to stride hurriedly towards him, making a shortcut through the lawn. Every step was drawing her closer, and pretty soon Irina could see him much better. The man was wearing a long coat, and his long gray hair was hanging down onto his shoulders. Definitely he looked very much like the homeless in Jinne's drawing.

Irina stopped a few steps away, gazing at him with interest. He was very busy, rummaging in the bin, and didn't even seem to notice her having come. Irina hoped that the man had some information about Jinne, and wanted to talk to him, but she was hesitant, not knowing how to start. In the meantime he fished out a tin can, made sure that it was empty, and put it carefully on the ground. Then he turned to the bin again, apparently searching for more.

Finally Irina dared, she stepped even closer to him, and uttered gently, "Excuse me."

She made a pause, waiting for him to turn to her, but he just kept on rummaging through the garbage.

"I'm sorry! Do you know Jinne? She is my friend," Irina said in a louder voice.

The man muttered something, without even looking at her, and continued doing his stuff.

Not having understood a word of what he had just said, she decided to repeat the question, "Jinne! I think you know her. You talked to her in this park two nights ago. Her name is Jinne!"

Still disregarding her completely, the homeless pulled out another tin can from the bin, and put it on the ground next to the first one. Quickly he crushed both of them one after the other with the sole of his old, worn shoe, then took his shabby backpack off his shoulders, and stuffed the tins in there.

All this time Irina was silent, patiently waiting for him to finish. The man put on his backpack, and looked at her. His blue eyes were glowing thoughtfully on his weather beaten, unshaved face. Finally he uttered, "She told me you would come searching for her."

This time Irina managed to understand. She was truly surprised, and even dumbfounded by what he had just said. It took her several long seconds to come up with a response.

"Do you know where she is?" Irina asked finally.

The man shook his head slowly, "No, I don't know that. She just told me she would disappear."

"She told me the same," Irina chuckled, "Sounds weird, right?"

His only reply was an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. Then he said, "She left a message for you."

"So?" Irina stared at him impatiently, "What is the message?"

A cunning smile appeared on the man's face, "I will tell you if you buy me a dinner. There is a nice fast food place just a few steps away from here."

Irina was surprised again, it felt so weird to receive information from Jinne through this homeless, and not in a normal way. She considered the offer for a moment - her curiosity told her that she absolutely needed to know the message, and paying for this man's dinner didn't seem to be such a high price for that.

"Alright!" she smiled to him, "Deal. You lead the way."

He nodded, and smirked with visible satisfaction, then began walking across the lawn, heading out of the park. Irina caught up with him promptly, and was striding beside the homeless, making sure to move at the same pace.

"Ahh! By the way, my name is Olivier," he introduced himself, looking not at her but straight ahead.

"Uhm... Nice to meet you... I'm Irina."

His eyes moved to her. "Can you please spell it for me?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, sure. It's I-R-I-N-A."

The man nodded slowly, then, still moving forward, stretched his hand to her, "Nice to meet you Irina."

She shook it, feeling the roughness of its skin, "Me too."

At that moment they reached a road, and began to cross it, avoiding cars passing by. Once on the other side, Olivier pointed his finger towards an eatery sign a few hundred meters ahead of them, "This food place. Do you see it? I told you, it's close."

Irina nodded her head, and for a few moments they walked in silence.

Then he asked unexpectedly, "What country are you originally from? I guess not from Canada."

"Uhm... I was born in Russia."

He looked at her inquiringly, "And how long have you been living here?"

"Over five years now," Irina replied. "I grew up in Russia, and graduated from a university there. But then I managed somehow to find an employment here in Montreal, and I just couldn't miss the opportunity."

He nodded at her with a slight smile, "Sounds interesting."

In the meantime the sign was drawing closer and closer, and pretty soon they approached the entrance of the eatery. Courteously Olivier opened the door for Irina. She stepped in, and immediately felt the smell, this very specific odor that seemed to be an inherent part of all the fast food places. It wasn't too crowded inside, and quite a few tables remained vacant. A couple of people were standing in line to make their orders. Irina and Olivier took their place at the end.

When their turn came, Olivier ordered a substantial amount of food, and a big cup of soda. Feeling hungry, Irina thought that it wouldn't be bad to have something to eat as well, and bought herself a burger. Then, choosing an empty table, they stopped at one next to a big window with a nice view of the park. Olivier began to eat very hurriedly, making big bites, and not wasting much time on chewing. Irina was nibbling her burger, throwing impatient glances at him. She could hardly wait to get the Jinne's message.

After some time Olivier slowed down, and, gazing at her, uttered, "There is one more reason why I love fast food places like this." A broad grin appeared on his wrinkled face. "They serve as very nice public toilets," and he let out a chuckle.

Perhaps that was a good joke, but Irina didn't really care. What she cared about was the message from her friend, and so she asked, "So... What did Jinne ask you to tell me?"

Olivier swallowed another bite, and responded slowly, "You seem to be very eager to find her, eh? Be mindful that we need to be careful with what we wish for... But anyway, you've done your part of the deal, and now it's my turn. So, two nights ago I met her in this park," and he nodded his head in that direction. "She told me you would come, searching for her, and asked me to tell you something..." Olivier turned to the window, and stretched his arm, pointing somewhere outside. "Do you see that street behind the park, the one which is perpendicular to the street we are on?"

Irina glanced there. "Uhm... Yeah, I see it," she replied with a nod.

Olivier coughed into his elbow, and then continued, "That night Jinne told me that if you want to find her, you will need to walk down this street all the way to the edge of the earth," and his hand pointed in the direction in which she had to go.

There came a long period of silence during which Irina was staring at him in disbelief. Finally she managed to utter, "To the edge of the earth?"

Olivier nodded affirmatively, "Yeah, that's what she said."

Irina let out a deep sigh of disappointment. "What does it even mean? And how can I reach something that doesn't even exist?"

The homeless smiled at her, and said softly, "Your first question is not that interesting to me, but I think I can help you a bit with the second one." He made a pause, making sure she was listening. "You see, most people become prisoners of the principles of binary logic. This approach dictates that if some notion is true then the opposite of this notion is absolutely certainly false. I believe that this approach is too simplistic and may satisfy only juvenile minds."

"Sorry!" Irina interrupted him abruptly, "I'm not sure how any of this is related to me." She definitely didn't want to waste her time, listening to some freakish theories.

"Hold on! We'll get to your stuff shortly." Olivier's contented smile became even wider, and his blue eyes were shining with delight. He continued slowly like a teacher explaining something to a class, "You just said that the edge of the earth doesn't exist, right? And I suppose that you absolutely believe in it, so that you cannot possibly imagine the opposite. Now, this belief of yours is very similar to another popular one. Some people believe that God exists, and consider the opposite statement, God doesn't exist, to be false. But honestly, in both those cases this denial arises only because of the restrictions imposed by binary logic. And now let's imagine that you reject this defective logic! Then you can accept that the notion - God exists - is true, and at the same time the opposite notion - God doesn't exist - is also true, and sincerely believe in both... The same approach can be applied to your notion of the edge of the earth, of course." He stopped, and drank some soda from his cup.

"I don't think however that this can help me in any way," Irina uttered skeptically.

She expected some kind of reply from him, but Olivier completely disregarded her words, and just carried on with his bizarre theory.

"So, do you know what part of binary logic is the worst? It is that each time you decide that something is true, you split the universe of possibilities into two halves, and accept only one of them, deeming the other half nonexistent. And the more you choose, the more you reject, and the more you cut off from the universe, making your own world smaller and smaller. And what eventually happens is that you get stuck in a very tiny place limited on all sides by your beliefs... So, that's why I say, give up binary logic and accept the universe of possibilities in its entirety! Acknowledge that the opposite of true is also true, and expand your understanding of the world!"

Olivier concluded his long discourse and fell silent. Irina, on her part, was slightly annoyed with him for trying to teach her what to believe in. This his concept seemed not only weird, but absolutely absurd. It wouldn't stand a good argument.

Unexpectedly even for herself she objected, and her voice sounded very serious. "I think it doesn't take much to build funky theories around some abstract things like the ones you've just mentioned, but let's take a more real example. Shall we?" She paused to take a deep inhale. "Right now I sit in this eatery, at this table. Isn't it an absolute truth? What does your theory have to say about this?"

Olivier nodded at her, still smiling. He appeared to like the question. "Well, it seems that you very strongly consider this the absolute truth. Apparently it's because your senses tell you so," he said, the words slowly coming out of his mouth. "And I'm actually very glad to share this certitude with you, but... at the same time, I don't mind to think otherwise as well... And the only interesting question for me in all of this is how far you will go to keep convincing yourself and others that the opposite of this your belief is false."

#  The Edge of the Earth

Irina exited the foul-smelling eatery to the warm clarity of the evening air, leaving Olivier inside to finish his dinner. Having taken a few steps, she stopped, and shook her head in disappointment.

Oh my! The man is clearly delusional, she thought. Things he talks about just don't make any sense. And this message from Jinne! How can I be sure now that it's really from her, and not from his deranged imagination? And even if Jinne really told him something, how can I know that he didn't pervert her words? In the end of the day he got what he wanted: a free dinner, and an opportunity to present his wild ideas. And me? What did I get? Some illusory, and most probably just made up information.

Having dug into her pocket, Irina pulled out her cell phone, and checked the time. It was getting late, and she needed to get back home now. Taking a bus would certainly be the fastest way for her to get there, and Irina started to walk determinedly towards the stop. While her legs were surely carrying her forward, her thoughts returned to Jinne's message.

She reflected, Of course, the edge of the earth is a complete and total nonsense, however... Olivier pointed to a particular street! Irina glanced with interest towards it. Yeah, but this must be just an ordinary street. No doubt about that... What else? Oh, he indicated that direction... So what? Actually... I can take a walk back home that way!

The thought made her suddenly stop. Gazing at the street in the distance, she considered the idea, Well... This is a rather long walk... Not to the edge of the earth of course, to my home... So yeah, this is a way home... And maybe it's a bit longer than by bus... But that's not such a big deal... And in addition I'll be able to take a look at this street... Not that I really expect to find anything there.

All of this seemed rather convincing, and the decision came easily. With the same determination as before Irina began walking again, only this time she headed in a different direction. Within a few minutes she was going along the street indicated by Olivier, and indeed it turned out to be rather unremarkable. Passersby were quite rare unlike numerous parked vehicles, which crammed both sides of the one-way road. Typical two-storey houses made mostly of red brick stood there side by side, their dark windows seemed to watch Irina silently as she was passing by. Overall the street was rather quiet, and soft shadows of tall maple trees growing along the sidewalk immersed it into a slight coolness.

The place was absolutely ordinary, and, walking briskly forward, Irina thought again about her friend's puzzle, Alright. Let's suppose that Jinne really meant this street then maybe she said not 'the edge of the earth', but 'the end of the street', which would make much more sense. At least this sounds not that crazy... But even in this case, presuming of course that this street actually has some kind of ending, I'm not going to go there neither now nor later.

With such thoughts whirling through her mind Irina kept on striding towards her home. Step after step after step... residential houses, and standing cars, rustling trees, and more brick houses, even more colorful cars, and always the same concrete sidewalk were going on and on and on... And only from time to time that usual, boring view was replaced by humming crossroads.

Approaching one of them, Irina noticed that the wall of the building on the opposite side of the intersecting street was not quite ordinary. There was some kind of a mural painted on it. However most of the picture was blocked by a big delivery truck waiting at a traffic light, so that only the top part of it was visible at the moment. There she saw several planets of different colors and sizes along with a myriad of glimmering stars on the dark background of the endless space. Coming closer to the intersection, Irina kept gazing with interest at the image. She liked it, and wanted to see the rest.

In a little while the truck started to move, opening the view of the whole picture, and within a few moments Irina saw all that had been hidden from her before. The mural showed a man and a woman seen from behind. They stood close to each other, holding hands, and appeared completely mesmerized by the sight of the immense, miraculous cosmos outspread in front of them. Woman's hair fluttered high in the air behind her, and its look made Irina believe that a very strong wind blew right into their fascinated faces. Around them, there was nothing else but the outer space and a narrow strip of gray, lifeless rocks they stood upon. Those sullen rocks disappearing into the dark void just a few steps in front of them seemed to mark a border that could not be crossed, served as some kind of an edge between their world and the rest of the cosmos.

All of a sudden Irina stopped, staring in awe at the mural. At that moment she realized what these rocks really were. This couple stood there, not being able to go any further, because they reached the edge... the edge of the earth... the edge of the earth that Jinne had told about! There was no doubt about that.

Irina remained still, visually exploring the image, noticing its minor details: the tense poses of the man and woman, their simple clothes, particular features of the planets hanging in the darkness in front of them.

Then a question emerged on the surface of her mind, How this will lead me to Jinne? She thought about it for a while, but there seemed to be no connection between this mural and her friend.

Alright, but maybe there was something near it, at that intersection. Irina walked over to the end of the sidewalk, and glanced around, searching for potential clues. The place looked absolutely ordinary: traffic lights, road signs, a gas station at the opposite corner, all the same houses, and a few trees. There was nothing that might give her a hint, or serve as a pointer for finding Jinne. Irina sighed, disappointed with this silly game once again.

It began to get darker as the sun was gradually setting somewhere behind the houses. Her legs felt somewhat sore from the long walk, and still her house was quite a distance away. At the same time Irina remembered that tomorrow, there would be yet another busy work day, for which a good night sleep was required. And all of this together made her think that no matter what Jinne wanted her to do now she should be heading back home right away.

And what about this hide-and-seek game? Irina asked herself, then almost immediately answered, I don't think I want to play it anymore, and clearly not today!

With that in mind she waited for the pedestrian light to change, and then began crossing the road. Once on the other side of the street, passing close by the mural, Irina threw one final glance at it. And... there was something else. The bottom of the image was about a meter above the ground, and below it on the wall, there was something that she hadn't noticed before. Irina froze in place, staring at that spot with curiosity.

Drawn on the gray surface of the building, there were plenty of hearts of various colors, and sizes. And inside almost each one of them, there were two names separated by a plus sign. Apparently this image of the man and woman on the edge had become pretty popular with lovers, who would come here to leave marks of their affections on the wall. Such a romantic place. Irina walked closer, regarding the hearts with interest. They seemed a magnificent complement for the mural above.

And then the names of amorous couples attracted her attention. She couldn't help but begin reading them, her eyes jumping from one name to another. Their variety was truly impressive, and Irina stumbled upon a few which she wasn't even sure how to correctly pronounce.

At one point she glanced at yet another heart's outline, and a couple of names inside. Under the influence of time and dust the paint, which had been white once, now had a dirty gray shade. Astonished, she read there 'Patrice + Jinne', and her stare froze on those two words, unable to move away. Even her thoughts seemed to have stopped.

Then her knees felt weak, and, leaning her back against the wall, she slid slowly down to the ground. Cars were swiftly passing by in front of her unseeing eyes while Irina was sitting there motionless. Then little by little her thoughts began to flow again. She buried her head in her arms, and closed her eyes, trying to understand what this writing meant. First of all there were no doubts that the mark on the wall had been left by her friend Jinne, and Jinne's ex-boyfriend Patrice - this finding could not be a coincidence. Clearly it was a part of this weird game.

Irina reflected, So, Jinne wanted to tell me something with that. What could it be? Maybe... she is back with Patrice? Possibly... but somehow this doesn't seem very likely. Well, in any case she added Patrice to the game, so it may make sense to contact him. Maybe he knows something about all of this.

All the revelations of the past couple of hours, especially the last one made her feel so incredibly tired that the need to move seemed almost unbearable... But then a thought came to her mind that it was getting really late. Slowly she opened her eyes, and glanced around. The intersection, the houses, the trees, and the passing cars - all was the same, only slightly darker because of the ever moving sun.

Irina stood up carefully, and shook off the dust. Having thrown a final glance at the hearts on the wall, she started walking back home. Various thoughts were whirling through her mind. First of all she felt good for having solved this freaking puzzle. But at the same time the prospect of continuing to play this game, as well as the need to contact Patrice weren't making her that happy.

#  The Thankful Neighbor

When the alarm on her phone woke her up the next morning, Irina felt well rested, and relaxed. A new busy day was starting, and, following her usual routine, she was hurriedly preparing for it. At breakfast Irina remembered about her work, and the latest order that she hadn't been able to fully process before leaving yesterday. It felt slightly disappointing, and so she began planning actions required to complete the job as soon as possible. And as for her suddenly disappeared friend, the last evening events, as well as Patrice - all of this was in the back of her mind now.

Having promptly finished her morning preparations, she was ready to go out. Moving in her habitual manner, Irina stepped out of her apartment, and closed the door behind. The communal corridor, where she had emerged, didn't have windows, and was rather dim, lit only by a few yellowish ceiling lights. With her peripheral vision Irina caught a glimpse of a figure standing nearby. Slightly startled, she glanced in that direction - it was Tariq, her neighbor next door. Apparently he also had just exited.

A moment later he locked his door, then turned towards Irina, and uttered with a slight smile, "Good morning!"

"Morning!" she responded with a brief nod, and began searching her purse for the keys to lock her apartment.

In the meantime Tariq took a few steps closer to her, and in the next instant Irina heard his voice again, "I'm sorry, but can you please pass on a few words to Jinne. I would do it myself, but I haven't seen her recently." He spoke slowly, with a strong accent. Apparently it was rather difficult for him to search for right words, and yet his voice sounded very composed.

Having finally been able to find the keys, Irina pulled them out of her purse, and then glanced up at Tariq. A fairly long beard covering his broad face was mostly gray with only a small touch of black. At the same time his head was completely bald, and in the faint light of the corridor it looked smooth and sleek. In one hand he held dark brown prayer beads, which he was fingering slowly.

"I myself actually haven't seen her in a few days," Irina replied. Feeling slightly surprised that Jinne had some kind of business with Tariq, she was eager to know what it might be. "But I hope to see her pretty soon. So, I'll pass on your message as soon as I see her."

He nodded his head, "I just wanted to say thanks to her for helping me setup my new computer... uhm... I mean laptop. Everything works... magnificently now, and I was finally able to... communicate with my relatives. I'm really thankful to her for that."

"Oh! I'm glad to hear that, and I'm sure she will also be," Irina said with a slight smile. "I'll do my best to get to Jinne today, and share the good news with her."

The expression on Tariq's face became brighter. "Thank you very much," he responded. "As we say it in my language... uhm... Do your best, and leave the rest to Allah."

Assuming that this was the end of the conversation, Irina nodded to him, and turned to her apartment door to lock it. When this had been done, she was going to put the keys back into her purse, and only then realized that Tariq was still standing there.

"It is going to be a very hot day today," he uttered, looking closely at her. "So, I decided to go out for some... uhm... meditation earlier than usual, before the worst heat comes in," and he threw a brief glance at his prayer beads.

"Oh, really? Is it going to be that hot today?" Irina said, sounding concerned. "I hate those days! Without air conditioner in my apartment it feels pretty much like sauna. Is it just for one day, or is it going to stay?"

"I think it's just today."

"Well, at least it's not for long," she responded, and started to step slowly towards the staircase, letting Tariq know that she needed to go. The conversation was getting slightly too protracted, and Irina wanted to end it as soon as possible, and be on her way to work.

She was already going to say goodbye to him when Tariq, who was following her along the corridor now, resumed the talk, "You know, when it's that hot, our mind can play... uhm... weird tricks with us, so we need to take special care of ourselves on days like this. Please be careful, and don't let your... uhm... uncontrolled feelings get you in trouble."

Irina thought that the concern for her that he had just shown was slightly too much, and nevertheless she smiled to him, and said, "I promise I will, thanks." Then after a short pause she added, "Sorry, but I need to hurry to work now. My boss doesn't like when I get in late. Have a good day!"

She waited a few seconds to hear Tariq saying, "You too have a good day!" then turned around, and hopped hastily down the stairs.

Shortly Irina was outside, heading briskly towards the bus stop. The air was absolutely still, and she could feel its intense heat with bare parts of her skin.

And this is in the morning! she thought to herself, What kind of heat to expect in the afternoon!

The talk with Tariq reminded her about Jinne, and all of a sudden Irina decided to make another attempt to write her friend a message. Her hand slid down into her pocket, and pulled out the phone. Striding energetically forward, she typed on the touch screen, 'Hey! How are you?' and pressed the send button. Then after a moment of hesitation she added, 'I met the homeless, and found the mural. What does Patrice have to do with this? Are you back with him?'

Irina walked to the stop, then got on the bus, and kept on waiting for a response, staring out of the window at the busy city streets. But there was none. In fact, she hadn't heard from Jinne in a while. It seemed as though her friend had really disappeared, and that was slightly worrying.

Shit, Irina cursed to herself, What's wrong with her! Why did she decide all of a sudden to play hide-and-seek? This freaking game of hers! What's the purpose of me solving all those stupid puzzles? And why is she so sure I will obey? None of this seemed to make any sense to her, and the thought that she was just a toy for Jinne to have fun with made her really, really angry.

Trying to cool down, Irina heaved a deep sigh, and closed her eyes... This appeared to help, and she continued pondering, But really... I don't have to do this. I can just quit this game, and stop being that toy! This will be easy, right? I just have to cease following Jinne's leads, completely disregard them, and this all will be over. Very simple!

Only maybe... it wasn't really that simple. Something inside her mind, some voice was telling her firmly that she shouldn't stop, was forcing her to keep on moving along the narrow path laid out by Jinne. And this voice was so insistent, so compelling that Irina couldn't just disregard it.

She frowned, thinking without much enthusiasm about continuing the search. Quite obviously Patrice was her only lead at the moment... She opened her eyes, and glanced with annoyance at the cell phone in her hand; the next instant Irina shoved it back into her pocket, telling herself that she would get in touch with him. Just not now. Later.

#  The Heat Effect

A few times throughout the day Irina recalled that she needed to contact Patrice, and every time she was distracted by something else. Eventually, when the work day was over, it still hadn't been done.

Irina headed out. As soon as she exited the pleasantly cool office building the thick, sweltering air wrapped around her, making it hard to breathe. The walk to the bus stop was rather short, but already at the end of it small beads of sweat stood out on her forehead. Irina got out a napkin, and wiped them; but anyway she just couldn't stop sweating.

The bus was not there yet, and once again she remembered about Patrice. The two of them didn't know each other very well. She had seen him on various occasions while he still had been Jinne's boyfriend; however Irina had never had a chance to talk to him for longer than a couple of minutes. Not that she had really regretted it at that time.

So, why on earth did Jinne want her to talk to Patrice now? And what kind of information could he give to her? With those thoughts Irina dug her hand into her pocket, and pulled out the phone. Only she wasn't sure if she actually had Patrice's phone number. Her thumb, moving nimbly over the touch screen, brought up the contact list. She browsed through it quickly, and to her surprise the number was in it.

Good, Irina thought with satisfaction, this only makes my task easier. Hopefully, a quick message exchange will be enough to clarify the situation.

Decisively she typed, 'Hi, Patrice. It's Irina, Jinne's friend. Have you seen her lately?' and pressed the send button.

Then, squinting her eyes in the bright sun, she glanced at the road. It was crammed with cars stuck in the traffic jam, but her bus was still nowhere in sight. A heat haze shimmering in the distance attracted her attention, and she gazed at it with interest for a while.

The phone in her hand suddenly vibrated. Hastily Irina brought it up to her face, and peered into the screen. The message from Patrice read, 'Hi. I haven't seen her since we split up.'

She frowned, perplexed. That was quite unexpected.

Clearly, Jinne wanted me to reach him, Irina reflected, but If Patrice hasn't seen her since their break up several weeks ago then how could he be helpful to me? That was unclear. However a talk with him should give her more information. She stared at the screen hesitantly for a while, but eventually pressed the call button.

Patrice answered in a few seconds. His voice sounded slightly vexed when he uttered, "Hey, Irina. How else can I help you?"

"Hi Patrice! Sorry for bothering you, but Jinne has disappeared somewhere, and I'm searching for her now. Well..." Irina made a pause, trying to find right words to explain the odd situation. "Actually, it's some kind of a game she is playing with me. A very weird game... Well, you know Jinne! It's totally her style, right? So now I'm supposed to get in touch with you, and... I guess you should know something"

There were several long seconds of silence on the other end of the line, then finally Patrice replied, "As I already mentioned, I haven't heard from her in a while. So, I have no clue as to where she is at the moment."

Irina sighed, disappointed. She wasn't sure what else to ask.

Meanwhile Patrice added, "Actually, there are a few of her things at my apartment that she forgot when leaving. She can take them back if she wants. Otherwise I will just throw them..."

"What things?" Irina interrupted brusquely, her curiosity flared up.

"Eh... I don't really remember. Some stuff," Patrice replied doubtfully.

She thought for a moment, Jinne's stuff! That sounded very interesting. Irina seemed to have a new lead now.

"Ok! No problem, I can pick them up," she uttered quickly.

"Oh, can you? Alright."

Irina was eager to get her friend's things as soon as possible. "How about later today? I can drop by your place," she asked right away.

A few moments of silence followed, and then Patrice responded, "Actually, I'm at work right now, but I'm finishing soon. I will be at home in an hour or so. So, you can come by that time."

"Sounds good! What's your address?"

Burning with curiosity, Irina was glad to be able to get her hands on those Jinne's things already today, and her voice gave away her contentment. However, was it really the only reason for her to be so delighted now? Could it be that the other reason was Patrice himself? But, in any case...

Irina wrote down his address. Then they bade goodbye till later to each other, and hung up.

Not wasting time, she used her cell phone to locate his place on the map. It turned out to be not that far. She would just need to take the subway, and on such a sizzling hot day like today subway was certainly preferable to bus. The route should take her slightly less than an hour, so there was no need to hurry, and Irina headed leisurely towards the nearest entrance to the underground, feeling tiny trickles of sweat running down her neck.

Patrice lived in an apartment building located in a quiet uptown neighborhood. There was an intercom at the entrance. Having come over to it, Irina dialed his apartment number. There was no answer. She checked the time on her phone, and realized that it was slightly too early. With a brief sigh she sat down on the front stairs to wait, feeling glad to be in the building's shadow protecting her from the direct rays of the scorching sun.

Fortunately for her the wait wasn't too long, and within a few minutes she saw Patrice's figure striding energetically towards her. He was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, which accentuated so finely the black color of his skin, and a pair of dark shorts. Irina stood up, and said with an apologetic smile, "Sorry for bothering you, but it's quite important for me... and Jinne."

"No worries. Anyway, I knew I would need to give it back," He smiled at her in response. Their eyes locked for a few long moments; the expression on his face was confident, and kind. But when finally Irina looked away, by some unknown reason, the image of his erect member from the painting on the wall in Jinne's bedroom surfaced in her mind. This seemed absolutely improper, and inappropriate, rapidly she switched her thoughts away from it.

In the meantime Patrice stepped over to the door, and unlocked it; then he turned back to her and said, "I need to gather that Jinne's stuff first, so you can come in if you want. I don't have any air conditioning though, so it will not be any better inside than here."

"Uhm, would you have some cold water? All this unbearable heat made me very thirsty!"

"Yeah, sure! I also have some cold beer if you prefer."

"Water will be enough, thanks," Irina responded with a slight smile, and stepped through the door held for her by Patrice.

They walked up the stairs, and entered his apartment. He hadn't lied - in there, it was as hot as outside. Irina left her purse in the entryway, and then he showed her into the living room. On the hardwood floor there stood a gray velvet sofa. Pointing his hand at it, Patrice said, "Please, have a sit. I'll go get water for you."

"Thanks," Irina uttered with a slight nod, and sat down. Once he went out, leaving her alone in the room, she sighed heavily, cursing that omnipresent heat that made her sweat all over so that now her plain white blouse clung to the damp skin on her back.

Patrice came back shortly, holding a glass of water in one hand, and a bottle of beer in the other. "Here we go," he said, handing her the water, then took a sip from his bottle, and added, "Just give me a couple of minutes, I'll go gather her stuff. There are only a few things, but I need to find them."

"Sounds good," she replied, and watched Patrice leave the room again. The glass in her hand was pleasantly cold. Irina began to gulp greedily water from it, and when she finally stopped, it was more than half empty. The refreshing liquid made her feel much better. Having put the glass on a small wooden table standing next to the sofa, she sat back comfortably, and looked around.

The room was brightly lit by the evening sun casting its long rays through a large window. The walls were painted soft beige. A TV set hung on one of them. A green furry rug was spread on the floor in front of the sofa where Irina was sitting. And... that was pretty much it. Indeed, the room looked rather simple, however Irina liked the bright vibe of it.

In a few minutes Patrice came back, holding a big orange envelope in his hand. "Here it is! I put all Jinne's stuff I could find in here. Hopefully I didn't forget anything," he said, and handed her the envelope.

"Thank you very much!" she replied with a smile, and took it with both hands. Irina craved to open it, and look inside right away, but doing this now, in front of Patrice would have been totally inappropriate, and so she had to hold off her curiosity.

"I need to get going now," Irina added, and stood up, feeling another bead of sweat roll down her neck, and under her blouse.

At that moment she realized that her thirst wasn't quite satisfied yet. Her hand reached towards the glass left by her on the little table, and accidentally - or rather, quite intentionally - her glance slid over Patrice's shorts. Irina noticed - or maybe, her mind affected by that immense, unbearable heat just made her imagine - that they were bulging right at the groin. Quickly, she moved her eyes away, then brought the glass to her mouth, and began drinking in the same greedy gulps as before. Her thoughts in the meantime returned to the painting hanging in Jinne's bedroom. The image of Patrice's aroused member surfaced with great vividness from her memory, and this time she let it stay, relishing the tense look of it.

In a few seconds Irina drank the last drop of water, and put the glass back on the table.

"Do you want more?" came Patrice's voice. It sounded muffled, as though coming from somewhere far away. Not quite able to speak at the moment, she just shook her head, and headed towards the exit. Her overheated mind stuck on the depiction of the erect flesh in that painting. Not a long time ago Irina had considered it vulgar, but not anymore. Now it seemed attractive... and even more \- delightful.

Meanwhile she walked into the entryway, and found her purse left there by her just a few minutes ago. She bent down, and stuffed the big orange envelop into it. Patrice, who had followed her, was now standing a few steps behind. Holding her purse in one hand, Irina straightened herself, and turned to him. This time it was clearly not an accident that her eyes slid over his dark shorts. Once again she seemed to notice that they were bulging right where his legs met.

"Have a safe ride home," Irina heard Patrice's voice. However she didn't even try to understand the sense of these words - this appeared unimportant at the moment. The only important thing for her right now was an answer to the question how close that image on the wall in Jinne's bedroom was to reality.

With eager interest she took two steps towards Patrice, and slid her hand into his shorts. It was hot in there, even hotter than outside. Tips of her fingers felt the smooth skin of his member. Irina ran them lightly up and down a few times, imagining the look of it. But actually... there was no reason to imagine if she could perceive it with her own eyes.

With one quick movement her hands grabbed both sides of his shorts, and pulled them down to his thighs, revealing the naked groin. Irina froze, admiring the view. Patrice's member looked so... naturally beautiful, so genuine, and simple. At that point in time the shape of that phallus was to her the embodiment of absolute perfection.

And then Jinne's painting of that very penis surfaced again in her memory, so that she could compare the two images. With a tender smile Irina thought that the picture was just a pathetic likeness of the real thing.

Attracted to that perfection, she extended her arm, and touched the erect member gently with her fingers. She moved her moist with sweat hand slowly over it, following its splendid shape. The touch felt so pure, so essential... She had a vision, a clear and distinct image of the Creator concealed in that phallus. This magical illusion stayed with her for a while...

But all of a sudden it was broken by Patrice himself. His hands grasped the bottom of her blouse, and began to pull it up hurriedly. Irina froze for an instant, unable to react. To be honest, she had completely forgot about Patrice, and hadn't expected any moves from him. Only at that moment Irina fully realized where this all was going to, and... it felt right. Sex seemed to be the only possible escape from the unbearable heat, which covered their bodies with sweat, and made their feelings so lustful. And his member - it wasn't only for admiration, it might also be useful! Absolutely, she could use it to control Patrice!

The next instant Irina blocked firmly his movement, and forced him to remove his hands. Then she pulled his shorts all the way down, making him step out of them. And when she straightened herself, and looked at Patrice, his eyes told her that he could hardly wait. A soft smile appeared on her face. Irina grasped his member tightly with one hand.

Now I've got you on a leash, she said to herself, and made a few slow steps towards the living room, pulling him gently after her. Patrice had no choice but to follow.

She continued stepping leisurely, enjoying the obedience of the warm flesh in her hand. Once again Irina remembered that Jinne's painting. Now she seemed to finally understand the reason why her friend had made it.

Such a natural beauty is absolutely worth being captured!

With this thought in her head Irina stopped, and turned to Patrice, making him come as close possible. And all the while they were having sex, mixing his sweat with hers, the image of his lovely member stood vividly before her mind's eye.

When they had been done, Irina found herself short of breath, and gasping for air. Finally, after some time her ability to speak came back, and, gazing at Patrice, she uttered, "I'm dying of thirst! Can I please have more water?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll go fetch you some," he replied, and headed out of the room.

Patrice was still in the kitchen when Irina suddenly changed her mind. She had to speak loudly so that he could hear her, "Actually! If you still have that cold beer, I would take it. It's way too hot in here! Even water can't help me anymore," and her eyes sparkled playfully.

#  The Wrong Body

Irina woke up in the middle of the night, realizing that she needed to go to bathroom. It was very dark around. She was lying in a bed. Only, it was not her bed, as well as the room wasn't hers. Stretched next to her, there was an obscure silhouette of Patrice. Yeah, it had been so good last night that she had ended up staying at his place. He was sleeping. Just like Irina herself he was completely naked, and even the top sheet had been thrown away - so hot it was.

I shouldn't have drunk so much beer, she thought to herself, and slid carefully out of the bed, trying not to wake up Patrice. It was pretty hard to see anything in the surrounding darkness, and Irina had to walk very slowly, doing her best to avoid pieces of furniture on her way. Having finally reached the bathroom, she stepped in, and cautiously closed the door behind herself. Her hand groped for the switch, and found it on the wall next to the entrance.

A bright light came on, making her eyes squint. Through her eyelashes Irina noticed a vague shape of the toilette. She sat on it, and relaxed, feeling the liquid leaving her body with a very familiar sound. Gradually, her eyes were adjusting to the brightness of the room, and in a little while Irina was able to discern her own arms, resting on her knees. Something was wrong! Something was wrong with them! But her still sleepy mind couldn't figure out just yet what exactly was not right. A quick glance at her legs revealed that they weren't fine as well. Having fully emptied her bladder, she kept sitting on the toilet, staring in stupor at her own body.

Eventually her brain managed to formulate something... a thought... an extremely weird thought. Her skin, which had always been so white before, was now entirely black! Her arms, her legs were... just black.

Assuming that this was some kind of illusion, Irina stood up swiftly, and stepped to the mirror hanging over the sink. The stunned face of her friend Jinne was staring at her in the reflection! Jinne's long, black hair was tied as always into a multitude of braids hanging down over Jinne's naked shoulders. The face was so very familiar, but at the same time... it wasn't hers!

Irina couldn't believe her eyes. She brought her hands up, and began touching her face - Jinne's hands in the mirror were performing her, Irina's moves. She froze. This just couldn't be true because... it was impossible. She could not be in Jinne's body... No... no... no! There should be some explanation. Probably, her mind had fallen victim to that unbearable heat. Yeah!

I've been thinking a lot about Jinne lately, and apparently the sweltering temperature turned those thoughts into a hallucination, she tried to calm herself. So... what I need right now is to get my mind in order!

Irina glanced at the bathtub with shower on the other side of the bathroom, hoping that cool water would refresh her, and help her get back to normal. Not wasting any time, she stepped in, and drew the curtain. When in a few moments the soothing stream began running down her body, Irina closed her eyes, trying to get rid of the unpleasant emotions of the last several minutes. She put her face under the flow. This made her feel much better, her brain relaxed, and that creepy illusion seemed to be a thing of the past.

With a habitual movement her hands came up, touching her hair, and... didn't feel the usual softness! Instead they felt a coarse interweaving of braids. The state of emergency came back, making her short of breath. Slowly Irina opened her eyes, and looked down at her body. It was still black! It was still not hers! A panic attack swept over her, jumbling up all her thoughts. In total perplexity she glanced around. There was a bath sponge hanging from a hook under the shower head. Irina grabbed it swiftly, and, without fully realizing what she was doing, began to scrub her arm feverishly, trying to clean off the black color.

A few seconds later she paused to check if the attempt had succeeded - no, her skin at that spot was as black as before. However, this failure hadn't stopped her, and in the next instant she continued, moving the sponge back and forth with an even greater frenzy. Pretty soon her arm started hurting, but it didn't matter at the moment. And even when Irina realized that this was absolutely useless, she didn't stop, and kept on scrubbing her skin with an unexplainable stubbornness...

Nevertheless her moves were gradually becoming slower, and lighter. Then finally she stopped, staring in disbelief at her own arm. Her knees felt weak, and Irina slowly sank down. The stream of water was pouring upon her from above...

Quite some time passed before she was able to admit that this was not a hallucination. Although it seemed absolutely crazy, somehow this was a reality. Sitting motionless at the bottom of the bathtub, she was trying to understand why... and how... Only, it wasn't helping at all.

Eventually a question came to her mind that made more sense, What to do now?

Irina sighed, thinking with a tiny bit of relief that at least this was obvious - first of all she had to get out of that unfamiliar apartment. This seemed like a plan, and with renewed energy she stood up, turned off the water, and slid open the curtain, watching Jinne's black hands performing these actions. It felt so weird! There was a big furry towel hanging on the opposite wall. Irina stepped out of the tub, and dried her - not really her - body with it.

Once again she approached the mirror, and just like before Jinne's face looked at her in the reflection. The next instant Irina looked away - it was time to go. Having turned off the light, she stepped carefully out of the bathroom. It was still dark, and quiet in here - apparently Patrice was still sleeping.

So, the sound of shower didn't wake him up. Good! Irina thought to herself, I definitely don't want to find myself explaining to him what the hell happened to me.

Now, the next thing was to find all her clothes scattered somewhere on the floor in the bedroom. Of course, doing this in such darkness and, moreover, quietly wouldn't be easy, but there was no other choice. And so, she got down on her knees, and began crawling beside the bed, groping around on the floor.

One piece here, another there - most of her clothes had been found without too much hassle. But her panties, they weren't anywhere around.

Where did they fly to last night? she asked herself in slight perplexity. Maybe, to the bed?

Cautiously Irina began to search there, trying not to disturb sleeping Patrice. Her hand slid under the crumpled top sheet, and... there they were. Finally! She pulled her panties carefully off the bed, then grabbed the rest of her clothes, and tiptoed out of the room.

Having gotten dressed hastily, Irina walked into the apartment's entryway. It was even darker in there. She didn't notice her own purse dropped by her in the heat of the moment with Patrice yesterday evening, and stumbled over it.

Oh, My! I almost forgot it in the hurry, Irina thought, and picked up the purse quickly from the floor.

Several seconds later the apartment door had been left behind, and she was almost running, heading out of the building.

#  The Butterfly Dream

Irina stepped outside into the darkness of the night, and began to walk, leaving Patrice, and his apartment behind. Her mind, not being able to understand what had just happened, simply refused to process any further data, and sank into a state of dull stupor. In the meantime her legs were performing their habitual, mechanical movements without her even realizing where she was heading to.

Quiet city streets were scarcely lit by rare lamp posts casting their faint lights full of eerie shadows. Irina was walking along deserted sidewalks, not noticing anything around her, was crossing roads without paying attention to traffic lights, was passing occasional people not even looking at their faces. Step by step her legs were carrying her somewhere...

The air, which had been so sweltering during the day, was now slightly cooler, and a light breeze added a pleasant freshness to it. The silent walk, as well as the fresh air were gradually soothing Irina's stressed mind, and little by little the ability to think was coming back to her.

Stepping slowly along yet another dim street, she brought her hands up to her face, and stared at them. It felt absolutely creepy, this black skin was not hers. It belonged to Jinne.

"Where is my own body?" she asked herself, her trembling voice resounded loudly in the surrounding stillness. "How can I bring it back?"

Peering into the palms before her eyes, Irina was desperately trying to find answers to those questions. Her brain was still too sluggish, but she kept trying to understand... turned her hands around a few times, and continued trying...

Finally, a seemingly decent thought came across her mind. If there was a single person in the entire world who could help her right now, definitely it was Jinne! With quivering hands Irina pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, and called her friend. Long beeps sounded in her ear, and, listening impatiently to them, she desperately wished Jinne would answer... However, after a while the beeping just stopped. Disappointed, Irina glanced at the phone's screen - the call was over.

"Shit!" she muttered angrily. "Where is Jinne when I need her the most! She can't keep on hiding from me."

Now this was not a freaking game anymore! Now it was absolutely serious, and Irina really needed her friend. By all means!

With a heavy sigh she glanced at the phone again, thinking that she should make another attempt, then took it with both hands, and typed a message, 'I'm in your body! What the hell! Get back to me asap!'

Her legs were carrying her lazily along some gloomy, unknown street while she was peering intently into the glowing screen, begging a reply to appear on it, even if by magic. A minute passed... then another... then a few more, and still there was none. Irina shoved the phone bitterly back in her pocket, cursing Jinne in her mind. She had no idea what to do now.

The dark sky above her head was full of glimmering stars. A car passed rapidly by, its headlights made her squint for a moment. And then the stillness came back. Treading slowly forward, she sank into apathy again, her thoughts were as still as the night. Barely noticing it, Irina crossed a busy intersection... Then another one was left behind...

Then, at one point she saw something looming in the distance ahead. A very familiar silhouette was sticking up above the gloomy residential houses - a church steeple. Without realizing why, Irina quickened her steps, heading towards it. She peered into the farther end of the street. There was yet another intersection, and beyond it... there was something dark, and shapeless.

Keeping her eyes fixed on this obscure mass, Irina was drawing closer and closer, and soon enough she was able to discern trees growing in a row on the opposite side of the road. That was a park. Irina recognized the place, and unexplainably, her eyes shined with hope. She knew the church, as well as the park itself!

That's where I met that weird homeless man, Olivier a couple of days ago, Irina thought to herself, approaching the intersection.

She crossed the road, and stopped, staring at the dark lawn in front of her, and the gloomy, tall trees in the distance. The park looked very grim at night, and even a few lamp posts glowing dimly here and there couldn't make it feel more welcoming. And yet, something was drawing her there, some vague hope.

With that hope Irina began stepping along a narrow pathway, leaving the concrete sidewalk behind. There was not a soul in sight. Benches stood empty, and the loudest of the surrounding noises was the chirping of crickets. A little later she stepped onto another pathway, and walked some more. Pretty soon however, Irina realized that the park was absolutely empty.

She stopped, suddenly feeling so helpless and lonely. Oh, my! I really hoped Olivier would be here just like a few nights ago when Jinne called me... but apparently he is not! Irina thought, letting out a loud sigh of disappointment. She desperately needed someone to talk to tonight, and for some inexplicable reason, this almost stranger seemed to be a pretty damn good candidate for a soothing chat. Only, he wasn't available. And indeed, why should he be? Most probably this homeless was sleeping now somewhere on the streets.

She had already begun considering going back home when some faint memories surfaced in her mind. Sleeping... Street... Irina pondered, During that night call with Jinne... Olivier said something... something about the place where he sleeps... What was that? She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. Didn't he mention that it was on one of the adjacent streets?

Irina wasn't really sure if Olivier had actually said this, but the thought brought back hope, albeit slight, that she would be able to find and talk to him tonight. So, she was willing to check the nearby streets before giving up and heading back home. With that in mind Irina headed towards the nearest exit from the park. Once out, she crossed the road, and began walking along a row of two-storey residential houses. There was no one around, and except for the soft rustling of trees growing in the front yards, everything was still and quiet.

In a short time Irina reached the point where the park ended on the opposite side of the street. Then, to continue moving alongside it, she turned right, and crossed the road. The sidewalk here was wider, and at the same time, having no trees, it looked bare. A tall and long brick building stretched out to the left of her, apparently some business offices were located in it. She passed the big glass doors of its main entrance, noticing a garbage bin, and a few cigarette butts around it on the ground.

Irina walked on, and pretty soon spotted a short set of stairs, leading up to a dark hollow space in the building. Coming closer, she managed to discern an average sized door. On the wide, flat area in front of it, hidden well in the thick shadow, there was some shapeless object. It looked as though something big was wrapped in a blanket or rather... in a sleeping bag. Irina approached the stairs, and stopped, peering into the gaping darkness of the passage in front of her.

There was something she hadn't noticed before... another, smaller object... a backpack... And actually it seemed somewhat familiar. Irina remembered having seen Olivier holding exactly the same one when he had crushed those tin cans in the park just a couple of days ago. A strange excitement swept over her when she realized that most probably it was him sleeping in that bag in front of that door.

Yielding to a sudden impulse, Irina ran up the stairs, went down on her knees, and pushed the shapeless wrap. Her hands felt the softness of human body, and then, not being able to control her emotions, she began shaking the homeless, calling Olivier by the name. After a little while the body began stirring, and then a familiar male voice swore gruffly. No doubt anymore, it was him!

Immediately Irina took away her hands, slightly - not really - regretting that she had woken him up. Olivier in the meantime unzipped his bag, and sat up. His face was sleepy, his eyes looked bitterly at her. Irina smiled awkwardly in response, feeling glad that she had finally found someone to talk to tonight.

"Hey! Is it you, Jinne?" Olivier uttered slowly, and then yawned. "What do you need from me in the middle of such a pleasant night?"

For an instant Irina was confused, it felt weird to be called not by her own name, but by the name of her friend. "Hi, Olivier! Actually... I'm not Jinne. I'm Irina," she said, suddenly realizing that he might consider her a lunatic. But there was no other way, and she continued, "Something very, very odd has happened to me tonight. Absolutely crazy stuff! When I woke up, I found myself in Jinne's body. Can you imagine! But in fact, I'm Irina! Do you remember me? We met in that park here just two days ago. Irina!" She paused, looking at him questioningly, then finally added, "I mean it's completely unexplainable... creepy... right?" Irina fell silent, not knowing what else to say.

Olivier remained mute, and motionless for quite a while, and she had already begun to worry that he would just get back to sleep without saying anything else, when at last he nodded his head slowly, and uttered with a slight smile, "Alright, I think I understand what happened... So, you are Irina. Of course I remember you. What a nice dinner it was that you treated me with... That day you seemed absolutely sure of what was your reality and what wasn't." He chuckled softly. "And now you look confused, your absolute certainty seems slightly shaken."

Irina was annoyed by his words, and this chuckle. Olivier shouldn't have scoffed at her and her situation. She responded sharply, "I'm actually very glad that you recognized me in another body, but can you please just cut out all this existential bullshit because it never helps!" She made a short pause, and then continued in a softer voice, "I just thought that maybe... you could help somehow... or at least give an advice."

Olivier looked closely at her. "Alright. Well... I truly believe that some of my bullshit may help you with your problem... only not with the material part of it, of course," his voice was serious now. "Listen to this. A long, long time ago in China, there lived a wise man by the name... uhm... His name ends with Tzu. I don't remember the rest of it, but it's not important for the tale. So, once he fell asleep, and had a dream in which he was a butterfly. He was flying happily, enjoying his simple and carefree life. At that time he didn't know anything of his existence as a man. And when finally the dream was over, he couldn't figure out whether he was a man dreaming of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming of being a man."

While Olivier was speaking, Irina realized that her knelt position was quite inconvenient, and sat down on the last step of the stairs, putting her feet on the step below. When he had finished, Irina felt nothing but disappointment. With her voice full of sarcasm she replied, "Definitely, this is a nice little story that may provide a bit of entertainment. In times without TV and high speed internet it must have been a real hit. But honestly, I fail to see in what way it could be helpful to me." And she sighed heavily.

Olivier smiled serenely at her. "Well, of course this story may have an immense amount of interpretations, but here is one that could be helpful for you. Reality that you believe in so strongly is all constructed in your head! Simple, right? Further... this simple understanding leads us to the following idea... If you think that something in your reality is not right and must be different, then maybe... what actually has to change is your perception of it." He spoke slowly and softly, seemingly deriving pleasure from it.

Irina, for her part, was absolutely fed up with him, and the nonsense he kept on talking. Staring unblinkingly down at her feet, she thought that this conversation was just a waste of time, and she shouldn't have woken up Olivier in the first place.

"Indeed! All of this sounds very interesting, but I think that I need to go now," she uttered, and began standing up slowly. "It's been a long night for me, and I better get some rest now. Sorry for waking you up like that, I was quite stressed at the moment."

Irina was already on her feet when Olivier responded, "No problem! Yeah, you need to have some sleep after what has happened. Just try to understand one thing - if you want to find your real self, you need to learn to accept that you are not who you are."

Screw this bullshit, Irina thought crossly to herself, but aloud she just said, "Have a good night, Olivier!"

"You too, Irina," she heard his placid voice behind her back when her feet had stepped on the deserted pavement again.

#  The Laughing Past

Irina began to walk briskly towards her home, noticing the first, feeble signs of the just breaking dawn in the clear, dark sky. Her skin - she glanced briefly at her hand - was still black. Now she felt angry, and that anger made her thinking absolutely clear.

Oh, my! How stupid I was before to rely on those two mentally challenged people: Jinne and Olivier, Irina reflected. Of course, they can't help me! They cannot help even themselves. So, enough of those foolish games and crazy theories! Now I will take care of everything myself, and this time it will be completely, unconditionally rational and sane. So... among normal people such issues as mine are fixed by... professionals... like... health care workers! Yeah, it's as simple as one, two, three. Irina even chuckled to herself, thinking how funny it was that this idea hadn't come to her earlier.

And so, it had been decided that tomorrow after a good, long sleep, if her own body wasn't back yet, she would go to a health clinic and see a doctor. No doubt, a real specialist would be able to help her! The plan seemed very lucid and logical, it just couldn't fail. Immediately Irina felt much better.

And until the problem is fixed, she thought to herself, I will try to avoid looking at my body, and pretend that everything is as usual. Easy!

The sky, in the meantime, grew brighter by the minute, waking up the sleepy city. Only now Irina realized how tired she was of all this walking. Her legs were stiff and sore, but anyway they kept carrying her forward, and every step was bringing her closer to home.

When finally she arrived there, the sky was tender blue, and everything around was filled with a golden, morning light. Irina entered her apartment, and plodded into her always so tidy room like a ghost, not fully realizing what was happening. After a few more heavy steps, the bed appeared right in front of her. She collapsed feebly into it with her clothes on, and almost immediately dropped off to sleep.

For the first time in a very long time Irina had a dream. The picture in it was bright and blurry. She found herself in the middle of a wide, empty corridor. Stretching all along one side of it, there was a row of large windows. Sunshine, streaming in through them, was filling the entire space with blazing light. On the other side, there was a blue, painted wall with a few closed doors placed at equal intervals one from another. Irina recognized the place. It was her secondary school from the times when she had been a teenager back in Russia.

The image wasn't static - she was stepping slowly along the deserted corridor. At the far end of it, there was something that she couldn't see yet, something that made her feel uneasy. Not willing to go there, Irina tried to stop... but it hadn't worked, and the forward movement continued. Alarmed, she made another attempt... and again her body disobeyed her. The frightening unknown was getting closer with every step.

One after another windows were being left behind, and in a little while Irina managed to see where she was heading to. At a distance down the corridor, one of the classroom doors was wide open, and without any doubt her legs were carrying her right there.

I don't want to know what's inside, Irina thought, and tried to turn her head away. But even this simple movement had failed, and she was forced to stare at the slowly approaching entrance. A wave of anxiety swept over her. Something terribly wrong was going to happen, and she wouldn't be able to do anything to prevent it.

As the classroom was drawing closer, Irina began to hear cheerful screams and laughter coming out of it. Apparently, there were her classmates happily enjoying their short recess time. So, everything seemed to be fine for them... for them, but not for her! With dread she was staring at the gaping doorway.

Only several more short seconds had passed before Irina stepped inside. All of a sudden she stopped, froze right there at the entrance. Being as bright as the corridor, the room was full of her fellow students. Split into a few small groups, they were chatting, fooling around, and just having fun. All of this looked absolutely ordinary, so ordinary, in fact, that Irina began to believe that her fears had been groundless.

But then, entirely unexpectedly her head turned down, revealing to her the sight of her own body... It was completely naked! And the bright ambient light plainly exposed all the intriguing details of it. A feeling of terror came over her. In panic Irina attempted to turn around, and run away. She kept trying again and again, but her body wouldn't even budge. Not being able to do anything, she was forced to watch helplessly the events as they were unfolding.

Her head, moving on its own, turned back up, and now again Irina was staring at her lively classmates. At that moment there was only one single thought swirling feverishly through her mind, Please, don't look at me! Please, don't look! Please...

But all her pleadings were in vain because pretty soon someone glanced in her direction, and the next moment a deafening scream rocked the walls of the classroom, "Look! She's naked!" One after another kids began to look about, searching for a reason for that scream, and very quickly everyone saw her standing there at the entrance completely nude and terrified. And when they saw, they would point their fingers at her, yelling at the top of their lungs, "Naked! Naked! Naked..." Then someone started laughing, others joined in. And in a little while the entire room was filled with loud laughter - boys and girls were enjoying the best show of their lives.

For Irina though, it was a sheer torment. The sight of her classmates making fun of her, was simply unbearable! She wanted to scream, scream with all her might... but couldn't open her own mouth. It stayed shut tight. Immense mental tension, not being able to get out, was accumulating inside her brain, which began to vibrate rapidly. The vibrations became so powerful, so resounding, it felt as though her own mind was screaming, and this impossible scream pushed her suddenly out of her nightmare and into the material world.

It took Irina a few seconds to recover herself and realize that what she had just gone through was only a dream. The vibrations in her brain had ended, but this hadn't brought the silence - there was another sound. Not loud at all, it was very familiar. Not opening her eyes, she shoved her hand into a pocket, and pulled out her cell phone. It was playing the usual morning alarm melody which meant that it was time for her to get up and go to work. Only, she couldn't - her sore body as well as her drained mind told her so.

With a habitual movement of her thumb Irina turned off the alarm, then tossed the phone carelessly on the floor, and immediately got back to sleep. But this time she had no dreams.

#  The Professional Help

Irina woke up with a slight headache, and, having opened her eyes, discovered that her bedroom was filled with bright sunlight. One quick glance at her hand was enough to realize that the last night's events hadn't been a figment of her imagination. The hand was still black - she was still in Jinne's body.

"Oh, shit," Irina groaned, thinking bitterly that now she would need to deal with this somehow.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Irina remembered the plan. The idea of going to health clinic to get some medical help still seemed rather sound, and she was eager to do it as soon as possible. Having stretched her arm, Irina picked up her cell phone from the floor, and checked the time - it was slightly past noon. Determined, she got up, and began to hurriedly get herself ready.

In the bathroom, the reflection of her haggard face in the mirror reminded her once again of her new appearance. Annoyed, she moved her eyes away, and then tried to avoid looking there.

In a pretty short time Irina was all ready to go. Standing in the entryway, she checked her health insurance card... and suddenly realized that the photo on it didn't match her current look.

Oh, my! How am I supposed to get an appointment now? she asked herself, letting out a troubled sigh. This situation was so incredibly stupid! Irina froze in indecision...

Finally, a seemingly worthwhile idea came to her mind. She walked quickly into Jinne's bedroom, and without any hesitation began to rummage inside her friend's desk drawers, realizing in the back of her mind that she had already seen all this stuff just a couple of days ago, while searching for the sketch folder.

In the middle one, among some old-looking books Irina spotted something that attracted her attention. Promptly, she pulled out what appeared to be a rather worn, brown card holder, and a gratified expression slid over her face.

The next instant, Irina opened it, and began searching through its contents. The first few were some business cards. They held no interest for her, and she skipped through them quickly. Then there came a couple of store cards, and also some others, but definitely not what she was looking for. Irina had already begun to worry that her friend's health insurance card was not in there, when finally she saw it!

A slight smile lit up her fatigued face. Satisfied, she thought to herself, Since now I look like Jinne, I'll use this one to obtain a medical appointment. Simple! Irina pulled the card out, then put the holder back in the drawer, and headed out of her apartment.

There was a quite decent walk-in clinic not far from her house, and, hoping that it wasn't too late yet to go there, she started to walk briskly towards it. The day wasn't as hot as the one before. It was pleasantly warm and sunny, and Irina would have certainly enjoyed it, if not for this freaking disaster that had happened to her.

In less than twenty minutes she was already entering through the automatic doors of the clinic. At the reception desk, Jinne's health insurance card helped her to make an appointment, and everything went absolutely smoothly, just as expected. Then Irina passed into the spacious waiting room. There were quite a few people in it. So, she found herself an empty chair, and sat down on it, preparing for a long wait.

Irina had already spent there quite a while, immersed in her grim thoughts, when her cell phone suddenly rang. She got it out eagerly, and looked at its screen, hoping that finally this was Jinne. But to her great disappointment this was just Ryan - her boss. Surely, he was calling now to know why she hadn't showed up for work today. Not being in the mood to talk to him at the moment, Irina was hesitant to answer, and the ringing continued. However, her sense of responsibility...

Finally it took over, and, having pressed the accept button, she uttered into the phone, "Hi, Ryan! Sorry, I haven't called you before."

His always so energetic and confident voice responded to her confidently and energetically, "Hey, Irina! How are you! I'm just calling to make sure that you are alright! You didn't come to work today, so we started to worry. Are you ok?"

Listening to him speaking, Irina imagined Ryan himself: his flawless appearance, his self-assured posture, as well as his invariably positive demeanor. Expression of excellence seemed to be an integral attribute of his face, and she had always been wondering if it stayed there even during his sleep. On the whole, Ryan gave the impression of being absolutely successful in... pretty much everything.

"Well, not exactly," Irina replied heavily. "I'm a bit... uhm... sick."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that!" Ryan said, and made a decent pause apparently to emphasize how really truly sorry he was. "I hope you will get better soon! No pressure, of course, but I would really like to see you here tomorrow. You know what the challenging goals we've set for ourselves recently, and now in order to achieve them we must meet every single deadline on the way! And this will not be easy! We all have to work very, very hard!" Ryan's tone of voice gave away his excitement of all the incredible grandiosity of the project his team was working on. "So... I'm sure you understand," he continued, and now his tone was very serious, "how important every single day is for us! Right?"

"Yes. I understand that, Ryan," Irina uttered, trying to make her voice sound assuring. "I will do my best to get myself fixed and come to work tomorrow. But I can't guarantee that, sorry." She had added that apology in the end only because she was supposed to feel bad for letting him down, but in fact, Irina couldn't care less about her work at the moment.

"Well... Alright then. Take care of yourself and try to get better." Ryan said, and Irina seemed to hear notes of dissatisfaction in his voice. "I hope to see you tomorrow. Bye now!"

"Bye!" Irina replied, and pressed the disconnect button.

Relieved that the call was over, she heaved a deep sigh, then closed her eyes, reflecting on how quickly everything had changed for her. Just yesterday all those deadlines, meetings, emails, goals seemed so undeniably important, but now, after what had happened to her last night this all turned out to be no more than illusion.

I was attacking my work with the bravery and stupidity of Don Quixote attacking the windmill, Irina thought to herself. Only, Don Quixote was delusional... held captive by a reality built from his whimsical beliefs... huh, actually... just like me with my job.

All these contemplations reminded her about her last night's talk with Olivier when he had spoken about reality, and how differently we may perceive it. Now his words began to make some sense...

Irina would have continued her dreamlike musing if only at that moment someone hadn't called Jinne's name. Irina looked in the direction of the voice, and saw an unknown woman. It took her a few seconds to realize that it was a doctor inviting her to proceed to a consulting room. The wait was finally over. Good. It just felt so weird to be called by Jinne's name.

Irina stood up, and walked over to her. The woman was wearing a short-sleeved, blue blouse, her brown hair was pulled into a tight ponytail.

"Hi," Irina greeted her, trying to smile.

"Good day. You are Jinne, right?" The woman responded affably, and there was nothing else left for Irina to do but nod affirmatively.

The doctor continued, "Nice to meet you! And my name is Genevieve. Please, follow me." Then she turned around, and began walking down a long, wide corridor with doors placed on both sides of it.

Irina followed behind. Her glance fell on Genevieve's arms. There was something tattooed with black ink along each of them - some sayings. They started slightly above the wrists, and went all the way up to the elbows. Interested, Irina strained her eyes, peering at one of them, and after several seconds managed to read, 'I don't want to believe. I want to know.'

She would have loved to read the other one too, but at that moment Genevieve stopped in front of one of the doors, and, having opened it, welcomed Irina inside. Irina entered into the ordinary-looking consulting room. To the left of the door, there was a big, wooden desk. A visitor's chair was placed next to it, and the doctor, who had followed behind, invited Irina to sit there. Then Genevieve took a seat behind the desk, and said with a hint of a smile, "So! How may I help you today?"

Irina sighed deeply, trying to concentrate, and only then started, "Something very, very strange happened to me last night." She paused for a few second, suddenly feeling nervous and jittery. "I woke up, and found myself in the body of my friend Jinne... I mean, I'm not Jinne! I'm actually Irina, and this is not my body!"

She looked at the doctor, studying her reaction, but Genevieve's face was absolutely inscrutable.

"My real body - it's different. It's... white. My real skin is white! And look, this body is not mine, it's black." Trying to explain her situation to the doctor, Irina became so excited, she was almost screaming. "I have no idea how this could happen, but I want my real body back! Do you understand me!"

Genevieve gazed at Irina thoughtfully for a while, then nodded, and said, "Alright. Let's start by performing a few simple tests." She stretched her arm towards Irina's face with the thumb held up. "Can you please follow my finger with your eyes?" she asked, and began moving her hand slowly from side to side.

Irina couldn't grasp in what way this was relevant to her situation, but still she obeyed, keeping her eyes locked on the thumb. After several seconds Genevieve murmured, "Alright. Enough," and took her hand away.

Presuming that the doctor hadn't understood her properly, Irina attempted to clarify "I'm not sure if you've seen anything like this before... I mean, it must be pretty rare that someone wakes up in another person's body, right?" She tried to keep her voice calm.

Genevieve just nodded her head slightly, without replying anything. Then she reached into one of the desk drawers, and pulled out a small flashlight. "Ok, I need to check something else," she said, and approached Irina. "Would you please just look forward now." Genevieve directed the light into one of Irina's eyes. It felt too bright... but in just a few moments the test was over.

Genevieve returned to her seat behind the desk, and froze for an instant, looking slightly puzzled. "Excuse me, I need to check something," she uttered hastily, and turned to the computer monitor standing in the middle of the desk. Her hands began typing something quickly on the keyboard, then after a while paused. She looked briefly at the screen, and then continued typing again.

Irina, in the meantime, was sitting still, hoping that the doctor would be able to find a solution to her very specific situation.

At one point Genevieve moved away from the keyboard, and peered into the monitor, apparently reading something. When all of a sudden she propped her chin up with one hand, the saying tattooed on that arm appeared right before Irina's eyes. Made with pretty, curved letters, this saying was the one Irina hadn't had a chance to read before. Now she read, 'Faith means not wanting to know what is true.'

Genevieve was still busy, reading, and Irina, reflecting on the meaning of those words, remembered her talk with Olivier when he had said that the opposite of true might also be true.

Somehow, his idea didn't seem so stupid anymore, and she thought, Maybe finding a new truth doesn't necessarily mean losing old ones.

At that moment Genevieve turned away from the monitor, and looked at Irina. Her voice was full of confidence when she said, "Alright. And in general, how have you been feeling recently, in the past weeks? Any stressful situations? Were you depressed or anxious?"

"Actually, nothing specific apart from what I have already told you about," Irina replied, shaking her head.

"Any unpleasant events in personal life? Family? Partner?"

"No. Everything has been just fine. And... I don't have a boyfriend at the moment."

"And what about your work? Have you been under a lot of pressure? Stress? Do you get enough rest?"

Irina began losing patience. Do these questions imply that I am out of my mind or what? she thought to herself.

But aloud she answered, "Well, I do work hard, but just as hard as everyone else, I guess."

Genevieve nodded slowly several times then explained, "I'm asking because you look quite depressed. And, as far as I understand, your depression is what we need to address primarily."

Irina felt a sudden resentment. "Of course I'm depressed now! How would you feel after finding yourself in someone else's body?" she exclaimed, not being able to control her emotions. "But it won't help at all if you just treat my depression, because it's only a symptom, it's not the actual cause!"

Genevieve, on the contrary, spoke in a very soft and calm voice. "Please, listen to me, Irina. You came here, seeking medical help. And, trust me, here we have all the required knowledge to make you feel better, and eventually to get you back to normal. So please, let us take care of you, alright?" She paused, and leaned slightly towards Irina. "It is obvious to me that you suffer from depression, and we will treat it accordingly until we bring you out of it. And, as for the rest, there is something that you need to understand." An encouraging smile surfaced on her face. "Being black is not a medical condition."

While Genevieve was speaking, Irina managed to cool down. And now, looking at that sweet smile, she realized that there was hardly any hope for her to get real help from all those doctors, all those so-called professionals. They would never believe her. Never. Instead, they would find something else to treat. Useless, this all was absolutely useless.

Irina just wanted to get out of that room as quick as possible, so she decided to agree on everything with Genevieve. "I think that you might be right and... this all is a consequence of me being seriously stressed," she uttered with a sigh, then nodded slowly a few times, trying to convince the doctor in her sincerity.

Genevieve's smile became even wider, she bent forward, and put her hand on Irina's knee. "That is a very good first step. Now, I will prescribe some medication to help you cope with your depression. But this is just the beginning. And next, I strongly recommend that you go see a specialist." She frowned, as though remembering something. "I can recommend Doctor Schwartz to you, and my assistant will gladly help you to arrange an appointment."

"And what kind of specialist is he?" Irina asked with a glimpse of hope.

"Doctor Schwartz? Oh, she is a very good psychoanalyst."

#  The Forgotten Clue

Leaving the consulting room, Irina felt frustrated and annoyed. At a brisk pace she passed through the corridor, and crossed the waiting room. Then there was a painfully slow elevator. The prescription from Genevieve was still in her hand, and, exiting the building, she crumpled it and tossed it crossly into a garbage bin standing there.

So, all those darn doctors are not able to help me. Freaking professionals! That was pretty much my only hope to get myself fixed, Irina thought bitterly.

And now what? What to do now? she kept asking herself over and over again, desperately searching for an answer, and yet not finding it.

Irina didn't even notice herself walk the entire way back home. Once inside her apartment, she groaned angrily, and threw her purse forcefully down on the floor. The nervous tension in her muscles was forcing her to continue moving. Irina dashed into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, without realizing why, then after a few moments slammed it shut, and headed back towards the entrance, hitting her fist against the corridor wall on her way. On the floor near the door, there were her shoes. She kicked them fiercely, then turned around, and darted into the kitchen again.

Her thoughts were all mixed up. Irina had made several rushed trips from the entryway to the kitchen and back when at one point, passing by the half open door of Jinne's bedroom, she glanced inside, and noticed her friend's self-portrait hanging on the wall above the desk. The black, smiling face in it seemed to be mocking her now.

After a moment of hesitation Irina shot into the room, tore the painting off the wall, then bent down, and flung it furiously into the darkness under Jinne's bed.

Get this! she thought, You won't be mocking me from there.

Having straightened herself, Irina stood motionless for a few long seconds, her breathing was heavy and fitful. Then she turned around, and looked at the other painting hanging above the desk, the one portraying Patrice's erect member. The picture evoked pleasant memories of the time spent with Patrice last night. Irina stepped closer, and stretched her hand towards it. Tips of her fingers slid slowly over the image of the aroused flesh, feeling the roughness of the brush strokes underneath. She held her breath, gazing at it with admiration.

Then all of a sudden her anger came back. Having grabbed the painting with both hands, Irina jerked it off the wall, and with a vicious groan threw it under the bed just like the one before. Not willing to stay in the room a second longer, she dashed out of it, and slammed the door loudly behind her.

Continuing to move, Irina once again entered the kitchen, then turned around, and headed back into the corridor. At that point a wave of sheer desperation swept over her, superseding all other feelings. Overwhelmed by its crashing force, she slowed down her steps, then, having reached the entrance to her own room, stopped, leaning weakly against the doorway.

She used this short breathing space to gather up strength, then stumbled heavily towards her bed, and eventually collapsed into it, completely exhausted. Bitter tears began rolling down her cheeks, and Irina didn't even care to wipe them. She was lying motionless on her stomach. Her mind was absolutely blank, her watery eyes stared unseeingly into empty space.

A long time passed, her tears finally dried up, but not a single muscle in her body had moved, and her still face expressed no emotion. The room was utterly silent, and the only movement was coming from the shadows casted by trees swaying in the wind outside the window.

That enduring quiet had a soothing effect on her, and gradually her ability to think began to come back. One by one random pleasant memories from her recent past flashed through her mind, lessening the pain and helping her to forget the present. Her life that had been so predictable and uncomplicated just a few days ago swam before her mind's eye - hurried mornings, busy work days, tired, lazy evenings, and always so relaxed weekends. All those simple and habitual things had wrapped her in a snug cocoon... And then it broke! Oh, how much she wanted to get back there, into the comfort of that protective shell.

Irina let out a deep sigh, then closed her eyes, recollecting the last couple of days: Jinne's weird disappearance, the search for her, all those stupid clues. Finally she got to the memories of her meeting with Patrice.

I definitely had a great time with him, Irina reflected, but before that... he gave me that big orange envelope. There was supposed to be some few of Jinne's things in it.

The thought made her suddenly open her eyes. And what if there is something important inside, something that may help me get back to normal?

She rolled over to her back, trying to understand where the orange envelope might be at the moment. I took it from Patrice, and then... put it in my purse, and after that... I've always been too busy to care about it. So it should still be there, in my purse... which I left in the entryway after coming back from the clinic.

In the dark abyss of her desperation, there appeared a glimmer of light, a tiny hope to bring back her real body. But that was already enough for her to feel somewhat stronger. Irina sat up in the bed, and froze, feeling slightly dizzy. Having breathed deeply several times, she carefully stood up, and then shuffled slowly into the entryway.

Her purse was sitting there, on the floor. Irina took a few more lumbering steps, then stooped down, and opened it. The big orange envelope was still inside! Burning with impatience, she dropped down to her knees, and pulled it out.

What happened to me must be just a part of Jinne's freaking lousy game, Irina thought, opening the envelope with trembling hands, and the next clue is in there. The way to my own body is in there!

With bated breath she looked inside. There were quite a few markers... but also something else. Irina tipped slightly the envelope, and began to carefully pour its contents onto the wooden floor of the entryway.

The markers came out first. All back, there were about eight-ten of them. Uninterested, she continued.

Some metallic object slid out of the envelope, and with a clanking sound landed onto the floor. It was a key, and for an instant this made her excited. Having taken a closer look however, Irina realized that she had seen Jinne using this or a similar key to attach her bike to the fence across the road from their house. So it could not open anything really important, and thus held no interest for her.

Then there appeared a toothbrush... a couple of pieces of lingerie, and... nothing else. Disappointed, Irina shook the envelope several times, but to no avail. She froze, staring bitterly at all the useless stuff in front of her. Desperation began creeping into her mind...

But not willing to let go of her last hope, Irina brought the envelope up to her face, and looked inside. There was something stuck between the folds! With a single quick movement she snatched out what appeared to be a photo... a photo of her own self. In it, she stood in the middle of some park with a wide smile shining on her happy face.

How come it was in Patrice's apartment among Jinne's personal things? Irina asked herself, puzzled. However, apart from this somewhat odd circumstance, there was nothing really special about that photo. She looked at it for a while, then sighed with disappointment, and flipped it over to the back side.

There was something written with a blue pen! Her eyes were full of hope when Irina read, 'The path to yourself lies through the white square,' and remained motionless, trying to understand the meaning of these words.

Oh, My! The Path to Yourself! she thought, excited. This must be the way to bring back my real body! Which means that I was right, and that damned metamorphose is a part of the game Jinne is playing with me!

And suddenly Irina felt anger, wild anger with her friend for making her go through all of this... but at the same time she felt relieved, relieved because her tiny hope had turned into something more real.

No matter what that White Square mentioned in the note really is, Irina said to herself, I'll find it, and pass through it!

But, exhausted, and not being able to think straight, she decided to get some rest first. Pressing the photo with the precious words to her chest, Irina stood up slowly, and shuffled back into her room. It began getting darker outside, and the sky acquired a soft orange hue. Barely noticing that, she flopped into her bed. Her heavy eyelids closed, and very soon she fell into a deep sleep without dreams.

#  The White Square

Same as always, her cell phone alarm woke her up the next morning. Irina turned it off, realizing that going to work today was clearly not an option. The bedroom was lacking light - apparently, it was cloudy outside. She closed her eyes, and tried to get back to sleep. But it wasn't easy, one by one thoughts of the recent events began surfacing in her mind, not allowing her to relax.

Some time passed, and Irina was still awake; she kept her eyes closed for a little while longer, but finally gave up. Her hand slid under the pillow, feeling the smooth, glossy surface of the photo that she had found last evening. Irina pulled it out, and, having rolled over to her back, brought it in front of her face. Not spending much time looking at the image itself, she flipped it over to the back side, and read the enigmatic note again, 'The path to yourself lies through the white square.'

Her mind, refreshed by the night's sleep, was much clearer now. White square... What could it be? Irina thought with a slight frown, she couldn't remember Jinne having ever mentioned anything like this. And where to find it anyway? That was also a good question. But in any case the first thing to do now was to get herself in order.

With a yawn Irina put the photo aside, then stood up, and headed for the bathroom. Her mood wasn't as grim as yesterday; she took a shower, performed other usual morning rituals, and when all of this had finally been done, Irina felt even better. At breakfast, looking outside the kitchen window, she noticed frequent raindrops splattering onto the pavement on the other side of the street. The thick layer of dark gray clouds promised rain for the whole day.

Drinking her morning black tea, Irina thought about what to do next. So, this mysterious white square... The most logical place to start searching for it is of course Jinne's bedroom. She chuckled lightly, realizing that rummaging through her friend's personal stuff was becoming her tradition.

In a short while the breakfast was over. Burning with curiosity, Irina walked over to the door that she had slammed so viciously yesterday, and entered inside.

At once her glance fell on the littered desk, and she began to search there, not caring much to keep everything in its place this time. All that stuff was already rather familiar, but nothing even distantly resembled a white square.

Irina went to rummage inside the drawers, and, having gotten to Jinne's card holder, paid close attention to its contents. Most of the business cards apparently belonged to various companies that her friend, being a freelance artist, had worked for. One of them however seemed slightly different. With one side in French, the other in English, it had black lettering on an orange background.

This must be from the yoga class Jinne goes to, Irina thought, and carefully inspected the card before putting it back in the holder.

After all the desk drawers had been thoroughly searched, she regarded the stuff scattered carelessly on the floor. A few books were piled up in a corner. Irina went down on her knees next to them, took one, and began leafing swiftly through its pages. Then she put it aside, and took another one. Several minutes later all the books in the pile were inspected, but none of them had anything that looked like a white square.

Irina froze, confused, considering where else to search. A second later a seemingly bright idea came to her mind: Jinne's laptop! She stood up willingly, intending to return to the desk. Her glance slid over the area of the wall where the two of her friend's paintings had been hanging before yesterday, and she remained motionless - something there attracted her attention.

All the walls of Jinne's bedroom were covered with white gloss paint, but that spot, being also white, had a slightly different tint, and was plain dull. It had a regular shape with right angles. It might even be a square, but Irina couldn't tell for sure just yet, because its lower part was hidden from view behind the desk.

She stared at the spot for a few long seconds, then abruptly rushed to the desk, grabbed it tight with both hands, and began to pull, trying to move it away from the wall. Her breath grew heavy, and little beads of sweat stood out on her forehead. The old wooden thing turned out to be remarkably heavy, but Irina wasn't giving up, and little by little she managed to pull it far enough to see the entire wall behind it.

Her eyes shined with hope when Irina straightened herself, and looked at the dull patch. Indeed, all its four sides had the same length, so it was a white square. A satisfied smile lightened up her face because she now had no doubt that this was the White Square she needed to pass through in order to find her own body.

Its bottom edge was about a half meter above the floor, and its sides were slightly over a meter long. With slow steps Irina approached it, and, stretching her arm out, cautiously ran her fingers over its dull surface. The touch felt... hmm... absolutely ordinary. Up close, she could see that the square had been painted on the wall with chaotic, coarse brush strokes. Its edges were also not exactly straight. Irina studied it carefully for a while, but really there wasn't much to look at.

Alright. Then... there may be some image hidden under this layer of white paint, she reflected. Then what can I use to remove it? Maybe... water?

The idea seemed decent enough. Having gone into the kitchen, Irina brought back a soggy dishwashing sponge, and began to rub zealously the surface of the square... It didn't seem to work, and she applied even more pressure... But no matter how hard she scrubbed, the paint wouldn't wash off.

With a disappointed sigh Irina stopped, then took a few steps backwards, considering what else could be used to remove the top layer. A seemingly worthwhile thought came into her mind. She went to the kitchen again, and came back with a sharp knife. Pressing it against the surface of the square, Irina began scraping. The task wasn't easy, but pretty soon white dust began spilling down from under the blade, and, having noticed that, she doubled the effort.

A short while later Irina paused, and looked at the area uncovered by the knife. There was... gypsum surface of the wall.

Oh, my! I just spoiled this patch, she thought, vexed. Maybe it was a mistake to apply so much force.

With that in mind Irina went to another spot, and began scraping again, this time applying less pressure. The paint was coming off significantly slower than before, but anyway she hadn't been able to separate the layers, and ended up reaching the wall plaster again.

Irina tossed the knife crossly onto the floor, then, having stepped into the middle of the room, gazed at the white square, puzzled. With those two scraped patches, it looked... less proper.

So, there isn't really anything underneath that layer, she pondered, holding her arms crossed. But what am I supposed to do with it then? It's just a paint on a wall.

Frowning, Irina again walked over to the white square, and knocked on it in several places. The sound indicated that there was a hollow space behind.

Alright, but that gives me nothing, she kept reflecting. As far as I know, all the internal walls in this building are hollow. And anyway it's absolutely impossible to imagine that something could have been hidden between the boards. So, that's not it. Her frown deepened. And what is behind that wall? Well... there is a neighboring apartment... True, but the note on the back of the photo talks not about a wall, or an apartment behind it. It talks about the white square, so this painted area is what I really need to concentrate on.

Heaving a deep, perplexed sigh, Irina decided to take another look at that peculiar note. She went into her room, and picked the photo up from the bed.

"The path to yourself lies through the white square," she read aloud, then, keeping her eyes locked on the writing, walked slowly out into the corridor. Her thoughts were focused on the first part of the sentence. Irina began roaming back and forth between the rooms of the apartment.

Quite some time passed, and she was still unable to understand what to do next. Then at one point, passing near the entryway, Irina cast a glance at the big orange envelope and all its former contents dumped now in one spot on the floor. She slowed down, then stopped. Her attention was drawn to the black markers. A strange idea came into her mind. Not thinking twice, Irina picked up one of them, and went back into Jinne's bedroom.

The white square felt so blank, it seemed to demand to be filled. Having gone down on her knees in front of it, she froze.

Filled with what? was the question that surfaced in her mind.

Filled with my wish, my greatest wish at the moment! Irina answered herself almost immediately, and began to draw.

First, on the plain dull surface, there appeared a very simple outline of a human. Then she added long hair, turning it into a woman. Having drawn another female outline next to the first one, Irina used the marker to color its interior black. When those two figures had been done, she looked at them thoughtfully for a moment, and then added the final element - two arched arrows pointing from one figure to the other in opposite directions. This simple picture reflected her greatest desire, her craving to get back to her own body.

Irina sat on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees, and peered hopefully at the drawing. Concentrating her mind on the arrows, she tried to make them work and perform the bodily transition. At first the image was absolutely still, but after a couple of minutes she seemed to see something. It was barely noticeable, but the shades began moving. For an instant Irina held her breath, stunned. But, taking a closer look, she realized that it was no more than a pale shadow of a tree swaying somewhere outside the bedroom window.

Frustrated, she sighed heavily, then stood up. "Why can't Jinne just tell me what to do? Why do I have to solve all those freaking puzzles?" Irina asked herself aloud, annoyance and anger began to build up inside of her. She sighed again, and, having taken two steps backwards, gazed at the picture from the distance. Her mind kept trying to solve the riddle of the white square.

This drawing doesn't look right! Irina thought all of a sudden. It's just... not good enough!

And then she uttered, "Definitely! I must draw a new, better one!" Her voice resounded across the room.

The dishwashing sponge that she had brought from the kitchen earlier was now on the floor. Having hastily picked it up, Irina made sure that it was still damp, then went down on her knees in front of that erroneous picture, and began to wipe it off with sharp, nervous movements.

Finally, when there was not a trace of it left, she took the black marker again. Staring motionless at the virginal blankness of the white square, Irina tried to understand what should be drawn there. At one point she seemed to have found something, and brought the marker up to the wall surface. But then she abruptly changed her mind, and her hand, devoid of purpose, froze in place.

Some more time passed, and Irina began. Thoughtfully she traced a long black line, then paused for a few seconds.

"I don't know what has to be drawn here!" she exclaimed with anger, then hurled the marker into a far corner, and rushed out of the room. Having crossed the corridor, Irina entered the kitchen, and stopped at the window, staring outside with unseeing eyes. "Damned square!" she uttered fiercely. "What do I have to draw on you?" Then she turned around, and dashed towards her bedroom, repeating over and over again, "What to draw? What?"

In total perplexity Irina kept wandering around the apartment, her eyes gleaming with annoyance.

At one point she strode into the entryway. Forgotten on the floor next to the big orange envelope, there was that sickening photo of her smiling self. Furiously she snatched it up, and tore it in half. Breathing heavily, Irina was about to rip it to shreds, but something stopped her. Having carefully put the two halves together, she looked at the picture - this was her real body, this was her real, smiling face, this was what she wanted to bring back! And then the realization came to her that reproducing her actual self on the white square as close as possible to the original should be the answer to the puzzle.

An escape from the trap seemed to be finally found. Suddenly Irina had a purpose again.

Alright, the photo is torn, but at least my face in it is intact. That's what I'll draw on the wall. My face! she thought, excited, then picked up another black marker from the heap on the floor, and hurried back into Jinne's bedroom.

Once inside, she stared at the white square. The white square stared back at her, posing a silent challenge, but this time Irina was ready to confront it.

Holding the photo in one hand and the marker in the other, she went down on her knees in front of the wall, and began to draw. Her hand was moving swiftly and confidently, leaving behind bold, black lines. Very soon however, looking at her work, Irina realized that it wasn't coming out as good as she had expected. After a few moments of hesitation she grabbed the dishwashing sponge, and hastily wiped off the flawed image.

Plainly empty once again, the white square seemed to be scoffing at her. Annoyed, Irina frowned, and started drawing anew. Glancing from time to time at the photo in her hand, she was working with great care and concentration. If a line appeared wrong, she would erase it. If a form felt unnatural, she would redo it, sometimes several times. Little by little her technique was getting better, it seemed as though Jinne's artistic hand, moving over the white square, was gradually remembering how to draw.

All Irina's thoughts were occupied by the picture, nothing else mattered to her at that moment, and in a little while familiar features of her own face began appearing on the wall in Jinne's bedroom.

But still something was wrong - the image looked too primitive, the depth in it was completely missing. Irina froze for an instant, thinking, then tried to use her fingers to blur the lines. It worked, and she began to smear the black color, bringing in soft shades, and adding realism.

Minutes were flying by unnoticed, and Irina entirely lost count of time. Using alternately either the marker or the sponge or her own fingers, she was feverishly filling the white square...

At last the work was done, and Irina came back from her creative frenzy into the material world, glancing around in slight surprise. To her left, there was a wall with a window, the only window in the room. Outside it, the leaves of a tall linden tree were trembling under the drops of the relentless pouring rain. It took her several long seconds to remember where she was, and why.

Irina stood up slowly, and took a few steps backwards to get a better look at the drawing. Her eyes peered into it, inspecting carefully all its minor details. Not without satisfaction she noted that the image had come out very engaging. In fact, her face on the wall looked much better than in reality. It shined with happiness, was fresh and simply... flawless.

"Unbelievably good," Irina muttered unconsciously.

She continued to watch, studying. The features were so impeccable that they seemed... artificial. The picture represented some abstract ideal, it lacked naturalness. It lacked deficiencies, so it wasn't genuine.

"That's not it!" she exclaimed abruptly, with irritation. "That's not what's got to be in the white square!"

Disappointed, Irina took a step towards Jinne's massive desk, and kicked it with all her might. Then she froze, slowly realizing that this was yet another failure. An immense desolation swept down upon her... but Irina wasn't broken, she just needed a pause... something to sooth her mental pain... something refreshing.

Her wandering glance fell upon the window. Dark grey clouds hung low over a row of dreary, brick houses across the street. Everything outside looked so gloomy... but the rain. It seemed... attractive. Suddenly perking up, Irina walked to the window, and slid it open. Immediately, a rush of fresh, damp air hit her heated face. The sound of falling drops filled the room, destroying the deathly hush that had been there before.

Irina felt somewhat better, and breathed deeply several times. Then, having stretched out her cupped hands, she waited for the rain to fill them up, and splashed the pleasant, cool water on her face. This helped to relax her stressed mind, and, staring motionless outside, at the deserted, soaked street, Irina began thinking. She was reflecting on the white square, and what to do with it next.

Slowly an idea formed in her head, and once a decision was finally made, it came time to act. Irina stuck her hands out the window, and got them wet again. Then, moving swiftly, she went back to the image on the wall, and began to sloppily brush its surface with the tips of her fingers, leaving short, damp strokes.

The strokes looked very similar to the ones Jinne had used in some of her works. With them Irina wanted to change the impression of the picture, add to it the exasperation and pain she felt at the moment, but at the same time keep her face in it easily recognizable.

Very quickly her fingers dried up. Then she dashed back across the room to the open window, got her hands wet in the rain once more, and, having returned to the picture, continued her work on it.

Irina had already made several such rushed trips when, looking at the image, she realized that the happy facial expression in it had to be changed... altered into an absurd, eerie grin. The marker was on the floor within arm's reach, she picked it up, and began to draw, her movements hurried and jittery.

Sometime later, feeling satisfied, Irina stopped, and went back to using her wet fingers. In a state of creative fever, oblivious to everything but the picture in front of her, she was smudging, and drawing, and smearing, and rushing to the open window to get her hands wet, then coming back, and smudging further, and smearing, and continuing drawing, and all of this over and over again. That was a way to let out her anger and misery - to make them settle down in that crazed image. And it felt... like some kind of liberation.

Irina didn't know how much time had passed when finally, completely exhausted, she collapsed down onto the floor, and, gasping for air, peered into the just finished picture. Staring ominously at her from the wall, there was a grotesque and spoiled portrayal of her own self with a few water streaks flowing from her grim eyes down to the bottom. Her face, although recognizable, looked absolutely surreal. That uncanny and excruciating look transmitted exactly what she felt all this time, being in Jinne's body.

Lying motionless on her side in the middle of the room, Irina was gazing with satisfaction at the result of her work on the wall...

A faraway peal of thunder brought her thoughts back into the material world. A quick glance at her hand revealed that nothing had changed, and she was still in Jinne's body. Irina let out a long, disappointed groan. Bitter anger began to rise in her once more.

"Why can't she just tell me what to do?" she uttered fiercely, then rolled over to her back, and covered her face with her hands. There was a short pause, after which her voice sounded even more aggressive, "What is the right thing to do?" Irina repeated the question anew, this time slowly, making pauses after each word, "What... is... the... right... thing... to... do?"

But the answer still wasn't coming, and she began to roll slightly from side to side, muttering the same question over and over again. Her tired eyes were closed, but an image of the white square emerged clearly in her mind. It was so virginally clean. And then it began to laugh wildly, deriding her, and her inability to tame it.

"Get off me!" Irina exclaimed loudly, "Get off me!" That unceasing laughter was so nasty, so vile - she couldn't bear it anymore. There was only one way out. The white square had to be destroyed!

With that thought Irina stood up, and dashed to the open window. Having gotten her hands wet in the rain once again, she charged violently towards the hateful surface, and began to smear the water all over it. Her palms, sliding frenziedly over the wall, were turning the picture of herself into a chaotic, gray mess. Not a single white patch should be left inside the square! And when, breathing heavily, Irina finally stopped, a jumbled, peppery layer covered it completely.

Having found herself sitting on her knees, she stood up slowly, and stumbled out of the room without any particular purpose. "There is no right answer," Irina mumbled, shuffling somberly towards the kitchen. "The freaking square has no right answer." Roaming confusedly back and forth around the apartment, she kept muttering the same words over and over again like some kind of mantra, "There's no right answer... There's no right answer..."

Eventually something forced her to return into Jinne's room. Irina stopped at the entrance, examining what the white square had turned into. That area of the wall now looked rather messy, and didn't even have proper borders, because traces of her palms had made them quite fuzzy. But still, with a certain allowance this shape might be called... the gray square.

She chuckled nervously, thinking that the gray square was not much better than the white one... Except that it was not empty, it was filled with a particular color... But all the same, it represented absolutely nothing... Well, nothing other than its own self... One meaningless square was on top of the other.

Mechanically Irina mumbled once again, "There's no right answer."

But her thoughts continued to wander, And between them, between the squares?

"There's no right answer."

Aren't all the images that I made today between them?

"There's no right answer."

Also, aren't all the images that I could have possibly made today between them?

"There's no right answer."

All of a sudden something snapped in her mind, and the next instant she heard her own loud laughter resounding around the room.

In a little while Irina paused to blurt out, "Why can't opposite of true be also true?" then continued laughing only to pause again shortly after and blurt, "Why can't every single answer be right?" Her wild laughter went on and on, alternated only from time to time by a short, strangled exclamation, "Every answer is right!"

Then at one point Irina abruptly stopped... and exhaled deeply. The white square didn't seem so revolting anymore. Now she could bring it back, now she would be able to tame it.

The dishwashing sponge was still on the floor. Irina picked it up, and walked across the room to the open window to soak it in the rain. When, after a couple of minutes the gray layer had been completely wiped off, she fetched a towel from the kitchen, and dried the white square with it.

And only then did Irina feel how terribly exhausted she was. The growing headache was impeding her thoughts, but at that moment, there was no stopping her. She picked the marker up from the floor, and looked around, considering what to draw. Her haggard glance fell upon the window. The rain outside seemed to be finally easing up. The tall linden tree stood soaked and still. Irina stared motionless at it for a while, and then decided to draw... a palm.

With a tense smile she set to work, making daring, sometimes wild strokes, and in a short time a nice palm tree appeared on the wall. Irina gazed at it, assessing. Something is missing here... It looks very lonely, she thought, and began to add eagerly an inviting sand beach with rare patches of grass, and a sea of water in the background.

When the work had been done, Irina felt very weak. She didn't know what time it was, but it seemed that it was already late afternoon. With great effort Irina stood up, realizing the need to get some sleep. She had already started to shuffle slowly out of the room when her wandering glance slid over Jinne's bed. It looked so attractive! And it was so very close! Not thinking twice, Irina changed direction, took a few more heavy steps, and with a deep sigh of relief collapsed wearily into the so inviting bed. Her exhausted mind and body were finally able to relax, and in a couple of minutes she drifted into a troubled doze.

#  The Blocking Rock

When Irina regained herself, her headache was not so severe anymore. It was already quite dark. The rain outside had finally stopped, and in the encircling silence she heard some quiet sound. Irina listened carefully. It was a voice... a muffled man's voice. She lifted her head and looked around - it was coming from behind the wall on the opposite side of the room. There was a neighboring apartment, the one where that man Tariq lived. Apparently, the voice belonged to him. Irina wasn't really surprised, because, living in this building, she had gotten used to hearing her neighbors from time to time.

The sounds were very repetitive, it didn't seem like Tariq was talking to someone. Interested, she stood up, and, stepping carefully in the twilight of the room, approached the wall separating the two apartments. On its somber surface Irina noticed the black outlines of the picture she had made shortly before: the palm tree, and the sea.

Irina remained motionless, listening closely... There were words, but she couldn't understand them. Most probably it was Arabic. Tariq's voice was following a particular rhythm and tone. It didn't take her long to realize that this was a prayer.

Irina kept listening, and at one point heard a phrase that sounded familiar, "Allahu Akbar!" Tariq repeated it a few times. This evoked in her mind images of terrorist attacks she had seen on TV. Alarmed, Irina took two steps back...

And all of a sudden there came a bright light that made her squint. Stunned, she froze for several long seconds... Then, looking through her eyelashes, she saw where the glare was coming from. The picture of the beach had disappeared from the wall, and instead there was a square glowing white... Or rather, it was a square-shaped passage that led to some extremely bright place.

In the meantime, Tariq's voice continued uttering the prayer, but Irina no longer payed attention to this. All her thoughts were drawn to the opening in the wall, and she remembered the note left by Jinne on the back of that photo, 'The path to yourself lies through the white square.' Her headache suddenly stopped, and Irina didn't feel tired anymore. So, this is the way to bring back my own body! she thought, excited. Then, having quickly approached the shining passage, Irina bent down to fit through it, and without hesitation got to the other side.

It was very hot in here, and a dazzling light immediately made her squeeze her eyes shut. Feeling a soft surface under her feet, she remained motionless. Then, after a few long seconds Irina managed to slightly lift her eyelashes, and, peeking down, saw that she was standing on... orange sand. Surprised, Irina glanced ahead. There was a... palm tree that looked very similar to the one drawn by her on the wall in Jinne's bedroom. Several meters beyond it, there was an edge of a shiny, smooth water surface. Rare patches of gray-green grass were scattered here and there over the orange beach.

The landscape bore an obvious similarity to the picture she had made, however it felt somewhat different. While working, Irina had been imagining the sand to be white... And also, instead of the endless sea that she had drawn in the background, there, in front of her, was just a plain pond, and beyond it... an endless sea of sand.

Irina looked in another direction, and noticed a high cliff of the same hue of orange as the beach around. A dark blue waterfall, flowing gently down from it, crashed turbulently into the pond. A narrow path, which seemed to be trampled down by a multitude of feet that had passed along it, started right where she was standing. Weaving among sparse palm trees, it led all the way up to the top of the high cliff.

The voice of praying Tariq was not heard on this side of the wall. However, there was another male voice. It seemed to be coming from somewhere above, from the sky. And the sound was loud and clear, it followed a particular melody. It was a song... a song in Arabic. Slightly puzzled, Irina listened to it for a while.

But then her attention switched back to the surrounding landscape. This is how I will get to my real body! Irina said to herself, gazing at the path in front of her. And the next moment she started along it, glancing curiously from side to side. The view was absolutely drab, and apart from thin bushes and palm trees, there wasn't much to look at.

After a few minutes of walking Irina reached the slope that led up to the cliff, and, following the path, began to ascend. Now around her, there were only rare patches of dry grass. The way up required a lot of effort, and very soon her breathing grew heavy, and sweat stood out on her forehead. It took her a while to climb to the top.

When finally Irina got there and peered into the distance, she saw a scorching, orange desert outspread in all directions to the horizon. The landscape was absolutely lifeless, and the only movement was coming from the heat haze slowly rising up from the parched earth.

With a frown Irina thought that her suspicions had proved right - she was in a small, green oasis in the middle of nowhere. Oh, My! I don't know what this place really is, Irina reflected, but this all is so very weird! And also, this odd singing in Arabic... It's heard everywhere, and it keeps going on and on... Why is it here? she asked herself in perplexity.

Then Irina glanced at the path. It didn't end there, it went farther down to the other side of the hill. With a sigh she continued her walk. The trail under her feet was gradually turning right, and pretty soon Irina was able to see the glistening pond again, this time from the opposite side. Then at one point the slope became significantly steeper, and she was forced to slow her pace and move on with greater care.

Feeling beads of sweat running down her forehead, Irina finally finished her descent. The narrow path, she was walking upon, abruptly turned, and all of a sudden Irina saw that it ended just a few hundred meters ahead of her, right in front of the cliff. Apart from lifeless, orange rocks, there seemed to be nothing else at that spot. Being unpleasantly surprised and still hoping to find there something worthwhile, she hastened her steps, and in a short while approached closely the towering stone wall.

The place was absolutely empty... The path appeared to be blocked by the cliff, or rather by a massive, tall rock that stood out from it.

Well, that was interesting... Irina took a few steps aside, and immediately noticed that there was a narrow gap between the cliff and that rock - the two were completely detached from each other. With bated breath she approached that small aperture, and, looking through it, realized that inside the cliff, blocked by that tall rock, there was a dark passage that led into some kind of a cave. Excited, Irina strained her eyes, trying to discern something... but all she could see was the absolute blackness.

Oh, My! The path goes inside, Irina thought. So, I need to move this rock away somehow.

After a moment of hesitation she tried to push it with her hands... But it turned out to be way too heavy, and wouldn't even budge. Not willing to give up just yet, Irina turned around, and, leaning her back against the rock, started to strenuously push off the ground with her feet. In a few seconds her lungs began lacking air, and her face would have turned red if only it had been white. Straining all her muscles, she kept pushing and pushing... But the rock stood absolutely still, and eventually Irina could do nothing but stop, almost unconscious, gasping heavily for breath.

That looked like yet another puzzle on her way, and the only feeling this might evoke was annoyance. After recovering herself she walked around the rock, and checked if there was a possibility to get in from the other side, but the gap there was even narrower. She sighed with disappointment, and then remained motionless for a while, considering what to do next.

The singing in Arabic, in the meantime, carried on without stopping. The male voice resounded melodically across the entire oasis. Irina looked up at the sky, questioning herself if that song might serve as some kind of a hint about passing inside. She strained her mind, trying to understand what this could mean...

Finally, having realized the futility of those attempts, Irina switched her attention back to the rock. There may be a button or something else that will let me move it away, she thought, and began to step slowly around it, examining closely its rough, orange surface. At one point her eyes noticed something, and she froze in place. Carved in stone with small, ragged letters, there was a short word. With bated breath Irina read, 'Samar.'

She pondered. The word seemed somewhat familiar, but Irina couldn't remember where she had encountered it before. Still submerged into deep thought, Irina completed examining the tall rock, but hadn't been able to find anything else of interest. She took a few steps back, staring in perplexity at the stone mass in front of her.

The cave, and that word evoked very distant memories of some Arabic fairy tale. This must be a password that opens up the entrance! a sudden thought flashed through her mind.

Irina took several seconds to consider it, then inhaled deeply, and finally uttered, "Open samar." She held her breath, expecting the rock to begin magically moving...

But this hadn't happened.

Well, maybe this was just too quiet, Irina thought to herself, and then said in a loud, clear voice, "Open samar."

She waited hopefully a long, long time with her eyes fixed on the disheartening stillness of the stone before her. Slowly her eagerness and excitement turned into disappointment and annoyance.

Then, all of a sudden Irina dashed to the blocking rock, and began to beat fiercely her fists against it, screaming at the top of her lungs, "Open samar... Open samar... Open samar..." The sound of her exasperated voice carried across the desert oasis, destroying the peaceful harmony of the melodic Arabic song.

After some time however, she realized all the futility of that, and, feebly lowering her hands, ceased to scream. This last surge had drained her completely. Irina stared gloomily down at her feet, thinking that the short nap she had taken in Jinne's bed was clearly not enough. And now she wanted nothing else but to get back to her apartment and sleep.

With an upset sigh Irina turned around, and began to plod along the narrow path that had brought her here. The way up the steep slope was long and sad. Finally, standing at the top of the solitary desert hill, she peered in the direction she had initially come from. There, in the distance, was an eye-catching white spot - the wall of Jinne's bedroom. Among those palm trees and green bushes it looked like an unwelcome guest.

Having descended along the opposite slope, Irina kept trudging grimly ahead, and soon saw the dark opening that served as a passage between this place and her apartment. On this side of the wall it was effectively... a black square.

White there, black here, she thought apathetically. Another time this might have seemed funny.

When finally Irina reached the opening, and stepped heavily through it, she suddenly found herself in complete darkness. Neither Tariq's prayer nor the Arabic song were heard anymore - the apartment was absolutely silent. Slowly Irina groped her way to Jinne's bed, and collapsed into it with a moan. Several seconds later she was already fast asleep.

#  The Never-ending Path

When Irina woke up, Jinne's bedroom was brightly lit by the morning sun's rays, and in the clear blue sky, there wasn't even a trace left of yesterday's gray clouds. At first she was surprised that her cell phone alarm hadn't worked, but then realized that it was already Saturday, and on weekends the alarm was disabled. Although the sleep had given her the much-needed rest, a blunt pain in her head and her sore muscles reminded Irina once again of all the madness that was happening in her life.

She yawned, and glanced at the wall across the room from her. Obviously enough, there was no magical passage, only the rather primitive drawing of a palm tree on a sand beach, made by her last evening. However, to be completely certain in that, Irina stood up from the bed, and, having walked to the image, ran her hand over it. Her fingers felt nothing else but the usual wall's surface.

She remained motionless, reflecting on her trip to the desert oasis. The narrow path leading to the cave's entrance blocked by the tall rock - this all had seemed so undeniably real last night. But now, trying to think clearly, Irina began to doubt those memories, which might actually be no more than a figment of her delusional imagination.

Nevertheless, there was one thing that could give her a lead - the word she had discovered carved in that tall rock's surface. Samar. Although yesterday it had seemed only vaguely familiar, this morning, with her mind fresh Irina recalled having already seen it somewhere in Jinne's belongings.

Suddenly perking up, she said to herself, Let's do another search, and without delay stepped over to her friend's desk still standing in the middle of the room where she had pulled it to the day before. Habitually, Irina began to open the drawers, and rummage through their contents. Having gotten to Jinne's card holder, she felt goosebumps creep along her skin, and knew that she was close. Taking out the already familiar cards one by one, and carefully reading them, Irina, at some point, came across the one that had black lettering on an orange background. She abruptly froze, staring at its title: Samar Yoga.

Then, after a few seconds something resembling a smile appeared on her haggard face. This could not be a coincidence, of course. Irina didn't believe in them anymore. That was a lead, an obvious lead that would bring her to her real body! Feeling a sudden rush of strength, she read the address on the card, and decided to go there right away.

It took her less than an hour to get herself in order and eat. Having promptly checked where the place was located, Irina figured that the best way to get there was by subway.

Alright, now I'm ready, she thought, and walked briskly into the entryway. The big orange envelope, and its former contents were still there, heaped carelessly on the floor. Another time Irina would have tidied this up, but now she just stepped over the pile, and came out of the apartment.

Descending the front stairs of the house, Irina glanced at the black, metal fence on the opposite side of the street, and Jinne's bike attached to it. All of a sudden it flashed through her mind that going to the yoga place by bike would be actually faster and easier than by subway. She took a few more steps, and stopped, considering the idea.

Alright, but how will I unlock it, Irina asked herself doubtfully, then, several seconds later answered her own question, The key is in that heap in the entryway, next to the big orange envelope. She remained motionless for a little while longer, then, having finally made a decision, turned around, and headed back to her apartment.

It had been a very long time since her last bike ride, and the first few minutes in the saddle, while she was trying to remember how to keep balance, turned out to be pretty weird. But little by little Irina had gotten used to it, and soon enough she was confidently pumping the pedals, heading along noisy streets towards her destination.

Moving at a snail's pace pedestrians were being left behind one by one. Cars though were too fast for her, and only when they stopped, waiting at a traffic light, Irina would have a chance to catch up with them.

At some point a menacing-looking dog started barking at her. For an instant she was scared, but already a few seconds later the dog had been left far behind.

The sun shone brightly, and the air was warm. Riding her bike, Irina was watching the everyday busy life of the big city, and little by little these ever-changing views distracted her from her troubled thoughts.

Approaching the yoga place, she slowed down, and began to pay close attention to the street numbers of the surrounding buildings. In a short while Irina stopped at a three-storey brick house with a weather-worn sign hanging over its entrance; painted in orange on a dirty-white background, it read 'Samar Yoga'.

She got off the bike, and, having attached it to a nearby fence, walked eagerly to the dark wooden door of the studio. There was no information regarding the opening hours to be seen anywhere around. As a matter of fact, there were no announcements or notes or anything at all that could be a sign that the class was still functioning. Puzzled, Irina took hold of the tarnished handle, and tried to open the door, but without success - it turned out to be locked. She let out a deep, disappointed sigh, considering what to do next. Her glance fell upon the ground floor window to her left. Consumed with curiosity, Irina took a few steps to it, and peeked inside. She saw a large, unfurnished space that apparently served as a yoga classroom. There was no one in it, and its plain beige walls made it look even emptier.

Then, all of a sudden a female voice came from somewhere nearby, "Hey! Are you here for the class? I guess, it's a bit too early."

Surprised, Irina turned in its direction, and saw a young girl, about twenty years old, who was sitting in a relaxed pose on the front stairs of a neighboring house.

"Oh really?" Irina responded, and began to step slowly towards her. "I wasn't even sure if it's still functioning. There's no information here. So... is the class going to be today?"

"I think so," the girl replied with a slight smile, then glanced at the cell phone she was holding in her hand, and added, "It's supposed to start in an hour or so. Actually, they are held almost every day at the same time."

Irina nodded her head, pleased to hear that, "Oh Good! I guess, I'll just wait." She stopped several meters away from the girl, and after a short pause asked curiously, "And you? Are you here for the class?"

"Me? No," the girl chuckled. "I mean, I went there a couple of times, but all this yoga... it's just... too slow for me. Nah." She nodded towards the entrance door behind her, "I just live here," then sighed, and added, "Hopefully, it's not for long, though. I actually want to move out."

Having understood that the girl might give her more information about the yoga class, Irina continued asking, "And do you know if there are usually many people?"

"Hmm, not that many, usually just a few... But anyways, I think that Samar is a very good teacher. He is very... how should I say... charismatic."

Barely letting her finish, Irina exclaimed in surprise, "Oh! So Samar is the teacher's name!"

The girl nodded affirmatively.

Irina remained silent, and thought to herself, Oh, My! But then... my task becomes pretty straightforward. I just need to talk to him, and hopefully he will be able to help me return to my own body. Good!

She glanced around, looking for a place to spend this one hour, then, after a short hesitation nodded towards the stairs the girl was sitting on, and asked, "Is it okay if I sit here while waiting?"

Lifting her eyes from the screen of her cell phone, the girl replied, "Yeah, sure! No problem."

"Thanks," Irina uttered with a faint smile, and, having taken a few steps forward, sat on the stairs next to the girl.

There was an awkward silence when they both didn't know what to say. Finally Irina found something, "You mentioned that you want to move out of this place. Why so?"

"Ahh... Actually, I still live with my parents," the girl sighed heavily. "But now, when I've begun earning some money, I would like to live on my own." She quickly checked something on her phone, and then continued, "It's just that renting an entire apartment would be too expensive for me. So, I'm searching for someone to share it with... But it's not that easy."

Irina nodded understandingly, and said, "Yeah, I know. This can be a hassle. I myself actually share an apartment with my friend..." That made her remember about Jinne. Hastily she pushed away the thought, and added, "Oh, by the way, my name is Irina."

"And I'm Lorena. Nice to meet you," the girl responded, and they shook hands.

Then, with slight hesitation Lorena asked, "Since we are talking about this... Do you, by any chance, know someone who might need a roommate?"

Irina thought for a moment. "I don't think I know," she replied slowly.

"Oh, no problem. This was just in case," Lorena smiled, and changed the topic of conversation, "Are you originally from Canada?"

However Irina hadn't had a chance to answer because at that instant the cell phone in Lorena's hand suddenly chimed. She tossed out a short, "Sorry," and looked at its screen, apparently reading a message that had just arrived. A few seconds later her thumbs began typing something quickly on it.

Once done, she put the phone away, and said, "This was a friend of mine. It seems that he knows someone who's looking for a roommate."

"Good news!" Irina uttered, trying to sound cheerful.

"I hope this will work out, although I'm not sure at all," Lorena responded. "I have to meet them in half an hour... So I need to get going now."

"Oh. Alright." Irina was slightly disappointed - that simple chat had been a good way to distract her from the thoughts of her missing body.

Lorena stood up, and said with a smile, "It was nice to meet you!"

"Me too! Thank you very much for the information about the yoga class, it was really helpful. And good luck with your apartment search!"

"Thanks. Enjoy your class, and have a good day!"

"Bye!"

Lorena descended the steps, then abruptly stopped, and turned to Irina, "Actually... Maybe I can give you my phone number... just in case you remember someone needing a roommate?"

"Uhh..." Irina was a little surprised and also certain in the absolute fruitlessness of this. But refusing would have been impolite, and so she responded with a brief nod, "Yeah, why not."

Lorena dictated her phone number, then, having said, "Bye!" one more time, turned around, and began to walk down the street. Soon her figure disappeared behind the corner of a building.

Irina was alone again. She sighed, and shifted into a more comfortable position on the steps, preparing herself for a long wait. Her gaze began wandering around. Noisy cars were driving back and forth over the road several meters in front of her. On the opposite side of the street, there stood a few four-storey apartment buildings, and on the ground floor of one of them, there was a little convenience store.

Irina occupied herself for a while with studying accidental passers-by...

Then, at one point she heard the sound of a siren. It gradually approached... and then likewise gradually receded.

Over half an hour passed, and Irina, immersed in her dreary thoughts, had stopped paying any attention to pedestrians walking along the pavement before her, when suddenly one of them said, "Hello, Jinne!"

Startled, she jerked her head up, and saw a middle-aged man wearing jeans and a plain gray t-shirt, who nodded to her with an affable smile, and walked on towards the entrance to the yoga studio. Having gotten a key from somewhere, he began to open the door with it, and at that moment Irina realized that it was Samar himself!

Immediately she stood up from the stairs, and dashed after him. Seeing her approaching, Samar held the door open, and with a wave of his hand invited her inside. Taken by surprise, Irina could do nothing else but obey. Samar followed her inside.

While they were walking along the corridor, he asked, "How are you doing?"

"Uhh... actually... not very well," she answered in a serious tone.

When they had entered the classroom, Irina stopped, and turned to Samar. Yearning to get answers to her questions as soon as possible, she began, "That's actually why I'm here. I need to talk to you about something very important for me." Irina took a deep breath, and continued, "First of all, I'm not Jinne, I'm her friend Irina. Something absolutely weird happened a few days ago, and I found myself in her body... I don't know where Jinne is at the moment. She has disappeared."

Irina made a long pause, and looked questioningly at Samar. He nodded to her slowly, and his kind eyes were full of understanding. This gave her confidence, and she went on explaining, "And yesterday I found a clue pointing to you... So... now I'm really hopeful that you may help me... or at least know something that could help."

Samar responded unhurriedly, with a barely noticeable smile, "I think that you are on the right path. And I believe that I can help you go farther along."

At that moment there was a creaking sound of the entrance door opening. Apparently one of the students had just come in.

"The practice is about to begin, though," Samar added. "So, let's concentrate on it for now. And we will talk more when it's over."

He had just started moving towards the newcomer to greet him when Irina rapidly objected, "But I can't!" Staying for the class wasn't actually in her plans. "I don't even have proper clothes for it," she found a reason.

Samar stopped, turned to her, and replied, "I have a spare outfit here for such cases... And don't worry about the way you look in it. For practicing yoga it's unimportant."

After a second's hesitation, Irina agreed, "Okay." Samar seemed to know something, and could be helpful, so she decided not to oppose him.

She went out to change, and when finally she came back, there were a few more students in the room, and the class was starting. Irina took her place, ready for a new experience.

Following the teacher, they were to take various weird and uncomfortable poses, otherwise called asanas, and hold them for quite some time, while making sure to keep their breathing deep and steady. Just as Lorena had mentioned, this all flowed very-very slowly. However it wasn't easy because the poses were enforcing her body parts to stretch, and her muscles to strain. So pretty soon tiny beads of sweat appeared on Irina's forehead.

Her thoughts, which had been so disquieting before, were now fully concentrated on retaining the stillness of her tensely stretched body. The time seemed to be going at a different, crawling pace, and Irina lost count of it. But when eventually Samar declared that the asana's part of the class was over, her feeling of anxiety had disappeared.

Now the turn came for some breathing exercises. They all sat down in a lotus position. Then, following the teacher's instructions, Irina closed her eyes, and pressed her chin against her chest. She began to slowly inhale and exhale... And at that moment in time the only reminder of the outer world was the sound of her quiet breath. Listening to it, Irina was sinking deeper and deeper into such a state where her own existence was not that important, and not undeniable. She could be anything... or everything... or nothing... or all of these simultaneously. Her thoughts were still, and she could barely feel the presence of her own body. Time seemed to stop, or nearly stop... inhale... exhale... inhale... on and on and on...

At one point Irina sensed some movement around her. When she lifted her head and looked around, her eyes were glowing with unexplainable serenity. The class was over, and the students were standing up from their mats with slight smiles lighting up their faces. Irina also stood up. Her glance fell upon Samar, who had walked over to someone for a nice little chat. Having decided to wait till everyone else was gone, Irina approached the window, and gazed at the familiar view outside.

One by one the students were leaving the classroom, and in a short while only Samar and Irina remained there.

She approached him eagerly, and said, "In the end, I'm glad that you prompted me to do this. It made me feel... lighter."

"And I'm glad that you liked it," he responded, his brown eyes were mysteriously gleaming. "Generally speaking... this is the most part of what I can do to help you."

Irina stared at him, puzzled, then finally squeezed, "What do you mean?" Her voice sounded alarmed. "I thought you had something real!"

"Well... What I do is teach yoga. And it's yoga that will help you, not me," Samar smiled.

"What! How can yoga help me!" Irina exclaimed. "It's just nonsense!"

"Let me try to explain, please." He spoke softly. "I think that what you are experiencing right now is absolutely normal... That's how you learn to perceive the same things from a different perspective."

Irina frowned, totally perplexed.

Samar, in the meantime, continued, "Listen. From our birth we look at the world through our own eyes. And from this point of view we find ourselves in the center of the universe, right?"

Irina nodded reluctantly.

"For that reason, very often we forget that the universe has a great multitude of centers. Then it becomes hard or even impossible for us to understand others, and this may lead to a lot of confusion and hatred... Of course, one way out of this is denial, disregard, isolation, and so on." Samar made a significant pause apparently to emphasize what he was going to say next. "Or we can imagine ourselves looking through the eyes of others, and try to understand and accept their point of view. It's not easy. It may be very hard. But I believe that yoga can help you with it. By controlling your breath you make your mind clear and perceptive. Then you are able to open up doors to a bigger, more inclusive world, and move farther along the path to your inner peace." He finished speaking, and looked at her.

Irina was also silent. The word Path brought up memories of the desert oasis, and her long walk across it. And then she thought that the tall rock blocking the entrance to the cave in the cliff was one of the doors mentioned by Samar. Irina needed more time to reflect on all of this, but at the moment she had one more question, "The path. Where is the end of it?"

Samar answered without delay, "Your path will end with you."

#  The Dark Treasury

Riding the bike back home, Irina thought that she had derived pleasure from practicing yoga, and would like to go there again. Something seemed to have changed for her - she felt more peaceful now. And at the same time all that Samar had told her after the class was slowly settling in her mind.

So, in order for me to move further along my path, I will need to put myself in the place of others, Irina reflected. What does it mean exactly?

Puzzled, she kept steadily pumping pedals, and before long reached her house. It was already late afternoon. Irina entered her apartment, not being quite sure what to do now, but also not worried much about it. For some time she occupied herself with some housework. However, eventually her curiosity prompted her to get into Jinne's room.

Among all the mess on top of the massive wooden desk, there was her friend's laptop. Having turned it on, Irina sat down, and began exploring its contents. There was nothing really unexpected, but Jinne's freelance artwork attracted her attention. Mostly digitally edited images but also a few hand drawings, they had been made for various clients ranging from grocery stores to videogame development studios. And going slowly through them, she realized that Jinne's occupation was very, very appealing.

Now Irina remembered why her friend had chosen to be a freelancer.

Being a full-time employee of a big company, Jinne was fed up with her so repetitive and boring job. She decided to quit. And although after the switch there wasn't that much money anymore, it was definitely worth it, because the greater creative freedom that she had obtained brought along satisfaction and fulfillment.

Completely drawn into looking through Jinne's artwork, Irina wasn't aware of time passing. Sitting behind the desk and peering curiously into the monitor, she didn't even notice when it started to get darker outside.

Then, at one point, there came a sound... a quiet muttering just like last evening. Again, it was her neighbor Tariq praying in his apartment behind the wall. With bated breath, Irina poked her head out from behind the monitor, and looked at the spot where her drawing of the sand beach should have been. Now it was gone, and instead, there was a luminous square opening, the already familiar passage leading to the desert oasis.

Staring motionless at the glowing in front of her, Irina began reflecting, So, when I get to that tall rock blocking the entrance to the cave in the cliff, what am I going to do?... According to Samar, to open up doors, I need to look through the eyes of others. She sighed deeply. Whose eyes do I need to look through to open this door?... Maybe Tariq's?...

Then all of a sudden an idea flashed in her mind, and Irina finally understood what had to be done.

She stood up determinedly, and headed towards the square opening, but then abruptly stopped. A thought came to her that, in order to make the tall rock move, she might need two particular things. Swiftly Irina turned around, and walked over to the spot where some of Jinne's clothes were heaped on the floor. She stooped down, and, straining her eyes in the evening half-light, began to rummage through them. Pretty soon Irina found something that seemed suitable enough - some kind of shawl, a yellow, cotton shawl.

Holding it in her hand, Irina stood up. She looked around, trying to understand where to get the second needed thing, and her glance fell upon the built-in wardrobe across the room. Maybe there, Irina thought, and walked over to it. Inside, in the farther corner, there was a rolled mat that Jinne apparently used for practicing yoga. This will do, Irina said to herself, and, having grabbed it with her free hand, strode finally to the square passage.

Nothing had changed on the other side of the wall. There were the same scorching sun, the same orange sand, and the pond with the waterfall. Just like the last time, the sound of an Arab song was coming from somewhere above.

Having put the rolled mat on the ground, Irina with a single quick movement threw the yellow shawl over her head, and wrapped its ends around her neck, making sure her hair was completely covered. Then she picked up the mat, and began her walk among the thin bushes, and sparse palm trees. Once again the narrow path brought her up to the top of the hill. She stopped there, peering into the vast expanse of the sweltering desert. At one spot very, very far away, there seemed to be a caravan of several camels heading towards the welcoming green island... or was it just a mirage? Irina couldn't tell for sure.

She continued her walk, and after some time descended the hill, and came to the rock blocking the entrance to the cave. It stood tall, and nothing seemed to be able to move that great orange mass. Irina remained motionless for a while, listening to the slow, melodic singing resounding across the oasis.

Then she unrolled the mat, and spread it carefully on the ground, trying not to raise dust. Her shoes were too dirty. Irina took them off one by one, and stepped onto the soft, clean surface of the mat. At that point the song coming from above ended.

But just a few seconds later the same male voice was heard again. This time however it was delivering a prayer - a Muslim prayer. Irina listened carefully, and began to sense the beauty and power contained in it. She recognized the word Allah repeated several times, and, unlike last night, this brought only pleasant, warm associations.

His greatness was undeniable. Yearning to know the feeling of being loved by Him, Irina went down on her knees, and prepared to worship along with the voice. Hearing the words 'Allahu Akbar', she bent forward, and put her hands and head on the mat. It was so natural, so honest to praise the God this way. The next time Irina pronounced the words by herself, aloud, "Allahu Akbar," and made the same body movement, bringing her head down. Then over and over again, concentrating all her thoughts on the prayer, she kept repeating, "Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar... Allahu Akbar..."

When the worship had ended, deep silence reigned over the green oasis.

But it didn't last long. Irina had just stood up from her knees when a sudden, loud sound cut through the air. Startled, she looked in that direction, and saw that the tall rock blocking the entrance to the cave began moving. Some invisible and inexplicable force was dragging it slowly aside, raising thick clouds of orange dust. When eventually it stopped, and the dust settled down, there, in front of her, was the dark opening leading inside the cliff.

Burning with curiosity, Irina put on her shoes, and strode vigorously towards it. However, having stepped into the dense shadow of the cave, and feeling the immense mass of solid rock above her head, she abruptly stopped. Before her, there was a long and narrow passage disappearing into complete darkness in the distance ahead.

Irina let out a heavy sigh, and started to cautiously walk along it. With every step the light was getting dimmer and dimmer... And very soon, not being able to see almost anything, she had to grope her way forward. Then, at one point Irina seemed to notice something... a tiny glimmer flickering somewhere far away. And with renewed energy she continued her careful advance, keeping her eyes locked on it.

Little by little the glow was getting closer, and finally Irina reached the end of the passage. She found herself in a rather spacious chamber scarcely lit by just a few burning candles placed here and there in hollow spaces along the walls. At first, the room appeared quite empty, but after taking a closer look, Irina realized that in the walls, there were many more hollow spaces than she had originally suspected, and so most of them, being unlit, hid some obscure objects in their shadows.

What is this place? she asked herself with curiosity. Some kind of treasury?

One spot a distance away from her was slightly brighter than the rest - there stood a candlestick with several candles on it. Having come nearer, Irina found out that, in fact, it was a Jewish menorah, its seven flames were radiating a soft, warm glow.

She looked at it with interest for a while, then suddenly noticed that, attached to the shaft of the candlestick with a rubber band, there was a small sheet of paper. Being careful not to rip, Irina disengaged it, and brought the leaf close to her face. One side of it turned out to be blank, but on the other, there was a handwritten note.

Straining her eyes in the surrounding half-light, she read, 'God is the greatest, isn't it?' and below, 'Well done! Your search is almost over. There's just one more step.'

No doubt, it was from Jinne. The news made Irina feel glad, and she smiled, being confident in her own ability to take that final step whatever it would turn out to be.

And at the moment... well... she thought, glancing with interest around the dimly lit room full of some artefacts, I have all of this to explore...

Irina walked over to another niche. Located just slightly above the ground, it was about twice as big as the previous one. Inside, there was a statue of Buddha sitting in a lotus position. His smiling face radiated peace and harmony. She stood there for some time, absorbing his positive energy.

Then finally Irina moved on, and came to a tall wooden pole with images of wild animals carved in it. The paints laid on top of them were old and weather-beaten.

Continuing her exploration, she realized that every niche had a certain religious attribute. Some of them were familiar: a Christian cross, a prayer rug with the picture of a mosque on it. But for the most part, Irina could only vaguely guess where they had come from. There was a wooden mask in the shape of a human face. There was a large, red gate without actual doors, which shape reminded her of Japan. There was a massive stone with the ornamental circle carved in it. Also, there were some tall stone figures. And then there was more, and more, and more...

Irina was going deeper and deeper into the chamber. By now, all the candles had been left behind, and with every step the gloom was becoming thicker.

Suspecting that there wasn't much else to look at, she had already started thinking of turning back, when some faint, bluish glimmer in the blackness ahead attracted her attention. Irina decided to check it quickly before leaving the cave, and headed towards it, stepping carefully on the ground that she could barely discern. Little by little this soft glow was getting closer, and soon it acquired a particular shape. It resembled a lightning. Yes, it definitely looked like a shimmering, electric blue lightning.

When eventually Irina approached it, this zigzag glimmer was the only thing she could distinguish in the otherwise absolute darkness surrounding her. She stood motionless, staring at it with curiosity, and then suddenly remembered the god whose symbol is lightning.

Being so close, Irina tried to touch it. Her stretched hand passed unhindered through the faint glow... and extinguished it. Now she could see literally nothing, not even her own body. Expecting to detect some light behind her, Irina turned around... and saw the same blackness. In fact, this unvarying blackness surrounded her completely. Nevertheless, it hadn't evoked panic. On the contrary, she felt absolutely calm.

Irina took a few careful steps in the direction that appeared to be the way back, and suddenly ceased to feel the ground under her feet... But weirdly enough, she hadn't begun falling. Instead, it seemed as though she, having become weightless, was hovering in the air. Her body wasn't burdening her anymore. And since there was no reason to keep her eyes open, Irina closed them, enjoying being in the states of absence and unity both at the same time. However, there remained one thing reminding her about the reality. In the surrounding silence she could clearly hear her own slow breathing. Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale... on and on and on...

The stillness of her thoughts permitted her mind to relax. Time seemed to stop, or nearly stop...

Then, at some point Irina decided that this was enough, and, having taken another prolonged exhale, opened her eyes. She found herself back in Jinne's room, sitting on the yoga mat in a lotus position. Everything was quiet, and the only, faint source of light was the silvery-blue moon glowing in the night's sky outside the window.

Irina stood up, she was smiling slightly.

#  The Broken Cocoon

The following morning turned out to be bright and sunny again. It was Sunday, and Irina let herself stay in bed for a while. The note from Jinne that she had found in the dark cave last night clearly suggested the near end of her search. So, there were no substantial reasons to be anxious. And although Irina could only guess what would be the eventual outcome of all the latest events, something made her believe that she would be just fine.

Doing her usual morning routine, Irina remembered the yesterday's bike trip, and thought that it had been very nice. She was eager to repeat it, but this time with no particular purpose or destination, just for fun. And so after breakfast, having nothing more important to do, she decided to go for a ride.

Preparing for a fairly long outing, Irina fetched a backpack from her room, and put in it a plastic bottle of water along with a couple of other things that might be useful. Then she went outside, and, having unlocked the bike, sat on it.

Her feet began pumping the pedals. Irina felt the soft touch of the wind on her face, and smiled in pleasure. There was something special in this seemingly so uncomplicated activity, something that she had never expected to find there - a feeling of freedom. Moving quickly and easily along streets, Irina could go anywhere. At any moment she could slow down or stop, and take in the view. Everyday city life with all its smells and noises, kaleidoscopic colors and dashing cars. It was going on right there, before her curious eyes. Montreal in its entirety belonged to her when she was on her bike.

Having already spent quite a while in the saddle, Irina, at one point, thought that it would be great to see some water, and decided to head towards the old port. A few moments later she swerved to a street leading in the needed direction, and continued pedalling with increased effort.

One by one busy intersections were being left behind, and gradually tall, office buildings took place of brick, residential houses. Then all of a sudden the asphalt underneath the wheels of her bike turned into cobblestone, making her ride bumpy, and Irina had to slow down. The street here was very quiet. On both sides of it, there were old, stone buildings with nice little stores and restaurants located on their ground floors.

Pretty soon the quay appeared in view. Unhurriedly, Irina rode over to it, and got off the bike. Then she walked to the metal fence stretching along the riverbank in both directions, and, having rested her arms on it, gazed dreamily into the water. The grayish-blue waves were glittering brightly in the sun. A little distance from the shore, there was a sailboat pushed forward by the strong wind blowing from the river. Leaving behind a wide trail of foam, it was heading steadily out of the harbour. And its swollen sails, they seemed to be filled with courage.

Irina remained standing there for a while, admiring the view. But this couldn't last too long, because somewhere else, there were different, maybe even better views. And so she sat on the bike again, and continued her jaunt.

Irina was back on the noisy city streets, riding at a moderate pace and glancing around with curiosity. At one point, there was no bike lane, and the sidewalk ahead was blocked by some construction work, so she had no choice but to get off to the road and move on along with cars. At a red light, when all the traffic stood still, Irina didn't want to wait, and began zigzagging between the halted vehicles. This turned out to annoy one of the drivers, he showed her his fist, and sent a few angry curses to her back.

At another place, there was a row of little fountains shooting up out of the ground, and a bunch of kids running noisily around and through them. Irina smiled, looking at that carefree glee.

She rode on, and a couple of minutes later, having stopped at a big intersection, noticed a massive hill towering to her right. The steep slope of Mount Royal was densely covered by the green layer of trees. A thought flashed through her mind that it would be very nice to get up there and replace the urban landscape with a more natural scenery. Giving in to that sudden impulse, Irina turned the bike, and headed towards the nearest entrance to the park.

The rather gentle ascent on the way there didn't take her much effort, but once she was inside, the asphalt road leading to the top of the hill began to pitch up sharply, making her riding along it very hard. Her breath grew heavy, and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. Even switching to a lower gear wasn't quite enough, and at one point Irina had to stand up from the saddle, pumping pedals with all her weight. By that time sweat was rolling down her face, getting into her eyes and blurring her vision.

Working her legs strenuously, she almost forgot to look at the views, and there was what to look at. Rocky cliffs on both sides of the road, as well as the galore of green trees on top of them made it hard to believe that she was in the middle of the big city.

In less than half an hour - although it felt more like an eternity to her - Irina reached the top of the hill, and, having found a nice spot, flopped heavily on the grass, gasping for air. Drink! She was dying of thirst! Shoving her hand into her backpack, Irina pulled out the bottle of water, and began to gulp from it greedily. The cool, refreshing liquid tasted so very good! She paused for a second just to catch her breath... and then continued drinking with pleasure.

Finally, it felt enough. She put the bottle away, and lay down on her back, relaxing her sore muscles. There wasn't even a trace of clouds in the pure, blue sky. Invisible birds were chirping gaily somewhere in the nearby trees. Catching some movement in her peripheral vision, Irina turned her head, and saw a brown squirrel hopping swiftly across the lawn. Everything in this world seemed so simple and natural - life, death, birth, life. To watch quietly - there wasn't anything else in the entire universe that she needed at the moment.

Some time passed, her breath was slow and steady. Suddenly, something fluttered by in front of her face. Having glanced curiously in that direction, she spotted a white butterfly. It flew over to a little purple flower growing nearby, and sat there with its wings spread sideways. Irina smiled, remembering the story of butterfly's dream that Olivier had told her.

What if all these weird few past days of my life are no more than your dream? she asked herself, gazing reflectively at the whiteness of the motionless wings before her eyes.

Several seconds later the butterfly was still there, and it looked so naturally beautiful that all of a sudden Irina wanted to draw it. Only, unfortunately she didn't have any supplies for that here, with her. She sighed, disappointed, but nonetheless decided to check if there was something useful in her backpack. Moving quickly, Irina opened it, and began to dig around inside. Totally unexpectedly her hand stumbled upon some small elongate object at the bottom, and the next moment she pulled out a short, brown pencil. Now Irina recalled having gotten it haphazardly at a big Swedish furniture store several weeks ago.

She congratulated herself on this finding, and then thought that in another compartment of her backpack, there was some sheet of paper - she had noticed it this morning while preparing for the trip. In a few instants Irina held in her hand what turned out to be a very old notice from her landlord. But more importantly, its back side was blank, and could be used for drawing.

Satisfied, she glanced at the butterfly, which remained sitting on the flower without budging. Having carefully approached it as close as she dared, Irina placed the sheet of paper on the back side of her backpack - that was the most suitable surface at her disposal - and began to draw, peeking at the butterfly from time to time. It was so wonderful to be able to catch this brief moment and express it the way she sensed it. Willing to give the picture a dreamlike feel, Irina was making all the edges curvy and blurred. And even when the butterfly had suddenly took off and fluttered away, she continued without stopping, drawing its image from her memory.

Finally, the work was done, and actually it looked pretty decent. Of course, made under better conditions, it would have looked even finer. But then Irina, remembering Olivier again, thought that he would appreciate the drawing anyway, and might be glad to receive such a present.

She considered the idea of going back to the park where they had met. Its vicinity seemed to be the place where he spent most of his time, so maybe she would be able to find him there again. Irina began to vaguely suspect that, since this game of searching for Jinne had started with Olivier, its closure might also be connected in some way with him. And then, having this picture as a present would be a good excuse for her to talk to him.

That seemed like a plan, and, feeling well recovered after the hard ascent to the top of the hill, Irina was now ready to move on. When the drawing and the bottle of water had been put in her backpack, she sat again on the bike, and took a road leading out of Mount Royal. Riding down the slope was way, way easier. In fact, there was absolutely no need to pedal, and all she had to do was apply the brakes lightly, making sure not to go too fast.

Streets of Montreal met her with their usual noise and bustle. She knew the way to the park, and was cycling along at a relaxed pace. Approaching the place, Irina popped into a fast food eatery, and bought two meals to go - Olivier would definitely be glad to have a free lunch, and she herself was getting hungry. Having stuffed the two paper bags with food into her backpack, Irina was back in the saddle, and a few minutes later arrived at the park.

Its benches and lawns were full of people taking their ease. This must be because it's Sunday today, she thought, riding slowly along a pathway and glancing from side to side. Rather quickly, she looked all over the place. Olivier was nowhere to be seen. However, it was still too early to give up because he might be on one of the nearby streets, and so Irina steered out of the park, and continued her search.

The bike made this task so much easier, and, having turned several corners, she finally saw Olivier sitting on the pavement in front of a small, local shop. His long, gray hair hung from his head in disorderly fashion. Submerged into reading of some old-looking book, he wasn't noticing anything around.

With a glad smile Irina rode over to him, and said, "Good day, Olivier!"

He looked up at her, and after a short pause replied, "Indeed, the day is not bad. How are you Jinne, or rather Irina?" His blue eyes twinkled quizzically.

"Much better than the last time we talked. Thanks. I believe I'm very close to the end of the game that Jinne made me play."

Olivier nodded slowly. He didn't say anything, and Irina continued, "Actually, I just wanted to thank you for helping me with all of that... I've got a small present for you. And also I bought us some food for lunch... So if you want, we can go to that park, and sit somewhere..."

Olivier smiled contentedly. "The day seems to be getting even better," he responded. Reaching for his fat backpack, Olivier stuffed his book there. Then he stood up, and his sunburned, wrinkled face appeared directly opposite hers. "Alright, let's go!"

Together they headed leisurely to the park. Irina was rolling her bike next to her.

When they had arrived, she glanced around, and said, "It's very crowded here today. So, how about sitting somewhere on the grass?"

"Yeah, sure," Olivier replied, and then, pointing to a spot in a tree's shadow, added, "Maybe there?"

"Alright," she agreed.

They walked to the place, and Irina, having left her bike standing nearby, joined Olivier, who had already installed himself on the lawn. Then she pulled out of her backpack the two paper bags with their lunch, and handed one to him. They dug into their food in silence.

A short while later Irina looked at Olivier sitting a meter away from her. There was something about him that she wanted to understand. "Hum... Can I ask you a question?" she began hesitantly.

"What do you want to know?"

"Hum... How did you become homeless?"

Olivier stopped chewing. "Ehh... Actually, it wasn't that hard at all," he chuckled, then sighed. "Have you ever noticed how much the organization of human labor resembles an anthill?... Hierarchy is here, there, and everywhere. They have queens, we have bosses or managers... Specialization is the key to success. Just like those tiny ants, people nowadays are driven to execute definite and very limited sets of tasks. Just like them we come together, working hard and readily sacrificing ourselves, so that our companies can thrive in this competitive world."

Olivier made a pause, catching his breath, and then continued, "There is nothing bad about it. Frankly speaking, this seems to be a dream life for most of people." He glanced around the crowded park, and shrugged his shoulders. "For most, but unfortunately not for me... I felt that my personality was suppressed by this... hum... system. Coming to work every day, I felt like I was putting on an ant's mask. This mask would turn me into a faceless instrument, one of many... Ehh... And also, I could never get along well with bosses. Actually, maybe that was the major reason." He snickered a few times. "So, one way or another, now I'm free from this captivity - free but homeless." Olivier finished, and fell silent.

Irina couldn't understand whether he was just joking or that was some kind of truth, and she didn't dare asking. Instead, having nodded shortly, she delved into her backpack, and fished out the butterfly drawing. Irina held it out to Olivier.

"What is that?" he asked, his voice sounded surprised.

"It's for you, just a small present. Do you remember the story that you told me?"

Finally, Olivier took the paper sheet from Irina, and gazed at it with interest. Then he turned to her, and smiled, "Of course, I remember. This butterfly here looks simply gorgeous. I like the magical feel of the drawing. Thanks. I'll hide it in my secret stash along with clothes and other valuable things, so that it doesn't get wet and nobody steals it." Then Olivier put away his meal, and gazed at the picture again. Immersed into his own thoughts, he wasn't noticing anything around.

Irina, in the meantime, continued to eat her lunch.

She had been almost done with it when all of a sudden Olivier came out of his contemplative stupor and said, "I've just been thinking about this butterfly, and do you know what I realized?... It hasn't been a butterfly all its life! No!" He paused, and looked closely at Irina. "This is very interesting because it once was a caterpillar! And at that time it inhabited a tiny territory, which constituted to it the entire universe. That creeping caterpillar was completely unaware of anything beyond its own existence."

Irina was listening to him attentively, trying to understand the actual meaning of his words.

Olivier nodded at the drawing. "So, what did this butterfly feel right after the metamorphose, when it found itself in the new body, when it flew high and saw a much bigger world? I guess that at first it kept considering itself a caterpillar, and was thinking that some kind of mistake had occurred. It just couldn't accept its new reality... But eventually, of course, this butterfly learned to be a butterfly, and now it flutters somewhere from flower to flower, enjoying its life and exploring this diverse world."

Olivier concluded his tale with a slight smile. Then he got back to his meal, devouring it with obvious pleasure.

Irina, at the same time, was sitting absolutely still, staring blankly into the empty space in front of her. Provoked by that short story, a very strange thought began slowly forming in her mind. In fact, this thought appeared so extremely weird that she just didn't want to let it in.

All of a sudden Irina stood up, and, tossing a brief, "I'm sorry, but I need to go!" to Olivier, sat on her bike, and sped out of the park. Her legs were working hard, pumping pedals with maximum effort. However she didn't care where to go. This spurt was no more than her attempt to distract herself from that bizarre thought.

City streets were habitually passing by. Her body though, not being as fresh as before, reminded her very quickly of the previous hours spent in the saddle. Her bottom was hurting from the uncomfortable bike seat. Her arms were tired from being always held in the same position. Her legs grew heavy, and moving them became a real struggle. Sticky sweat covered all her body, and her t-shirt clung to her damp skin.

Having finally realized that she wouldn't be able to pedal for much longer, Irina turned reluctantly towards home. And when, after some time her neighborhood appeared in view, this reluctance vanished, and she just felt glad to be coming back. Within a few minutes Irina rode over to the metal fence across the road from the entrance, and, having locked the bike, walked heavily into the building.

Dripping with sweat, she decided to take a shower first. So, once inside her apartment, Irina began to pull off her damp clothes and throw them carelessly on the floor, while at the same time advancing hastily towards the bathroom. It felt incredibly good to finally be able to get rid of that unpleasant stickiness.

Naked, she got into the shower, and turned on the water, making it barely warm. The refreshing stream began to run down her tired body, washing off the sweat from her black skin. Her breath became steady, and her sore muscles were gradually relaxing. Irina closed her eyes, and put her face under the flow, relishing its soothing sensation.

Her thoughts came back to the recent talk with Olivier and that little tale about the caterpillar turning into the butterfly, which he probably had just made up on the spot.

And then a question surfaced in her mind, Who am I?

The question seemed very simple and she confidently answered it, I've always been Irina, and still Irina is who I am.

Only, that was not exactly the truth because she had been changing. Irina had never liked to draw, considering it worthless. For Irina, her career and success at work had always been the first priority. Also, Irina would have never prayed to Allah. And finally Irina had always had a white body.

Pondering over that, she asked herself with deep concern, What is happening! Am I losing my own self?

The streaming water was helping her thoughts to flow smoothly, and she tried to reason, If I answer Yes then I must keep on fighting untiringly to bring my former self back. But who knows where and when this fight ends, and whether it has an ending at all? She sighed heavily.

Or I can admit that this is the way I evolve and become richer. Then I will find peace and harmony within my own self.

She considered the two options for a while, and then an old saying came to her mind, which made her choice easy and obvious, 'The best fight is the one not fought.' She smiled slightly, feeling relieved.

However, her first question still remained not answered. But who am I, she asked herself once again.

I am the person who used to be Irina. I am still she, but at the same time much more. I'm just like that butterfly that used to be a caterpillar. I can draw and I like it! I practice yoga, and I enjoy biking! I'm considering going freelance! I have a new friend Olivier, and an ex-boyfriend Patrice!

A thought flashed through her mind that all this time she had been searching for her own self. The answer to the question was evident now. She opened her eyes, looked down at her own naked body, at the water flowing over her own black skin, and finally realized that she was Jinne.

"Jinne is me!" she said aloud, and a wide, happy smile appeared on her face.

#  The Not So Vacant Room

With an appeased expression on her face, Jinne wrapped a big, fluffy towel around herself, and stepped out of the bathroom. The quietness of the apartment was disturbed only by the muffled noises coming from outside. Slowly she walked into her bedroom, and realized that it called for a bit of cleanup. Her massive wooden desk had been moved to another place. The floor was messier than ever, especially under the drawing of the sand beach on the wall.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Jinne thought that there was no need in the white square anymore, and so the desk could be returned to where it usually stood. And those two paintings that she had thrown under her bed, they as well could be returned to their usual spots on the wall.

I'll definitely do it, just a bit later, Jinne said to herself, and stepped out of the room into the corridor.

At the unchanging slow pace she walked into her former bedroom. It looked very neat and clean, but at the same time pretty empty and devoid of personality. This place would stay vacant... unless she found a roommate.

Jinne pondered about that. Financially, things were going to change now. Returning to work as a small employee at a big company was definitely not in her plans. Instead, she was going to occupy herself with something that she really liked - being an artist, using her skills as a freelancer. And surely enough this meant earning less money. So, having a roommate to split the rent payment seemed like a good idea.

There was no pressure to find someone right away, but suddenly Jinne remembered the girl who she had met yesterday near the entrance to the yoga studio. That girl had been looking for an apartment with a vacant room!

She seemed very nice, Jinne thought to herself, and also I've got her phone number!

Of course, the chances that this would work out were fairly slim, but if Jinne wanted to try her luck, she had to call the girl right now. Without delay she went out of the room, and, having walked over to her backpack lying on the floor in the entryway, pulled her cell phone out of it. The entry in the contact list reminded her that the girl's name was Lorena. Jinne pressed the call button.

After several beeps, a lively female voice in her ear uttered a short, "Hello."

"Hi, Lorena," she responded not less lively. "It's Jinne. We met yesterday at your doorsteps. I was going to the yoga class, and you helped me..."

"Oh! Yeah! So, how was it, your class?"

"It was great, I really liked it. Hum... You were looking for an apartment to share, right? Is it still valid?"

There came a brief pause, and then Lorena replied, "Actually, yes. I thought I'd found something yesterday, but unfortunately it didn't work out... the place was a bit too far, and anyways I didn't quite like it."

"I see. Well, then I might have something for you. As it turns out, one room in my apartment is vacant. So if you are interested, we can arrange for you to come by and take a look..."

When Lorena answered, her voice sounded excited, "Yeah, I'm absolutely interested!" But then she added dubiously, "And what about your friend? Is she alright?"

"She is fine," Jinne smiled. "It's just that... uhm... she is not going to live in this room anymore."

"Oh. Alright. Then... where are you located?"

Jinne dictated her address, and briefly explained how to get there.

"Ok, it seems to suit me," Lorena responded. "And when would be a good time for me to come?"

"Uhm... you can come pretty much any time. I'm gonna stay at home."

"Would it be okay if I pop in today in like an hour?"

"Uhm," Jinne thought that in such a case she would need to start the apartment clean-up right away. Not really minding that, she replied, "Yeah, it's fine."

"Alright, see you soon then!"

"See you!" Jinne said and hung up.

About an hour later the apartment looked much tidier and cleaner. All the stuff that had been scattered around the entryway floor was now gathered up and put away. Jinne's room had been washed, and her desk as well as those two paintings had returned to their usual places.

There came a knock at the door, and Jinne went to open it. There, on the threshold stood Lorena, and when she stepped in, they greeted each other affably. Lorena's face was lively, but at the same time her dark brown eyes gleaming with a mysterious light remained very calm.

"So, let me show you the place," Jinne offered.

First, she took Lorena into the room that had previously been her own. "If you decide to move here, this one will be yours," she said with a smile.

Having glanced around, Lorena nodded, "Looks very nice. I like it."

Then Jinne showed her the rest of the apartment, while sharing some useful information regarding various housing matters and the neighborhood. They ended up in her present room.

"Are you an artist?" Lorena asked, noticing the canvases in the corner, and the two paintings hanging on the wall above the desk.

"I guess, I am," Jinne chuckled. "This has always been my little hobby, but now I'm planning to become a freelance artist and spend more time doing what I actually like.

Lorena remained motionless for a while, gazing with curiosity at Jinne's self-portrait. Then she threw a quick glance at the image of Patrice's member, and moved her eyes away, apparently not interested.

"And what do you do?" Jinne decided to learn a bit more about the girl.

"I study at a University. And also, a couple of months ago I began working as a waitress at a restaurant. So, now I earn my own money, and can move away from my parents."

Jinne nodded understandingly, "I see. And what do you study?"

"Uhm... Languages and translation. In particular, I learn Japanese now... It's hard, yeah." Lorena smiled awkwardly. "But I like it anyways."

"I bet it's very interesting. So, how many languages do you actually speak?"

"Well... My parents are from Colombia, and I was born there too, so my native language is Spanish. I also learned French and English, living here, in Montreal."

"Oh, Spanish! I always liked the way it sounds," Jinne responded. "Maybe you could teach me a bit of it?" she beamed playfully.

"Yeah, why not," Lorena agreed. "And you? What languages do you speak?"

"I speak Russian, English, and French."

"Hmm... And where did you learn Russian?"

"Uhm, I was actually born in Russia, and spent there all my life before moving to Canada," Jinne explained. "I graduated from a University there, and also worked there for a little while."

Lorena appeared slightly puzzled. She opened her mouth as if to ask a question... and after a few seconds closed it. There came a period of silence. Then finally she said, "Alright. I think that I like this place very much, and all the conditions are also fine. So, if everything is fine for you too, then we can do it."

Jinne looked at Lorena with a smile, thinking that they both were on the same wavelength and should be getting along pretty well.

"Alright! Then, I guess, we are roommates now," she declared, and stretched out her hand.

Lorena shook it, also smiling. "So, when can I move in?" she asked.

"Actually, no one is living in this room anymore, so you can move in as soon as you want."

"Ok. Then I will do it tomorrow afternoon after the end of my classes."
