- Anyway… Do you even remember how’d you got to my place?

- Nah. I only remember waking up on your couch in the morning.

- Ok… so what are those bits that you DO remember from the rest of that night?

- Ohh… Dion placed candles at seemingly specially dedicated spots. Then he positioned me and Greg. For whatever reason I felt strangely compliant to follow his directions. I stood within the outer circle, while Greg was somewhere else. Dion told me not to leave it and remain silent no matter what. But there was another spot… bearing a special significance, as it was left for someone else.

Pamella looked at Gabriel. The day was sunny and peaceful and they could see birds flying to occupy the tops of the trees on the edge of the park at the end of the street.

- Dion stood in the middle of the circle and began to chant. He was reading from his book and I remember, he dropped something in the bowl with herbs… Some object.

- I think all of us fell into some sort of trance but I still felt concerned because by the looks of it Greg was taken by it the most. I wanted to oppose, to act against what was happening, to do something… But I wasn’t even capable of making a noise. I so I just kept standing there.

Then I looked at the third spot. It appeared like the smoke from the bowl began to gather around it forming an amorphous cloud at first. Minutes later the cloud obtained the shape of a human being. It was supposed to be the manifestation of Lucile Dowton, but when Dion applied to it with a question… it was Greg, who spoke for her.

- And?..

- What?

- What did she… he said.

- I don’t remember. I just recall that upon hearing her voice coming out of his mouth… I just… fell into darkness. Lost my consciousness maybe, or those memories just got suppressed.

Pamella sighed and aimed her gaze into something imaginable far-far away.

- You two looked really rugged when you appeared at my apartment that morning… And I must agree, while some really weird shit probably happened to you both that night, and, I believe, there’s definitely a reasonable explanation to it… I still must admit…

- What?

- Greg truly didn’t seem all right when you brought him.

Upon hearing it Gabriel went silent and his mood darkened at an instance. Upon noticing it, Pamella realized her mistake and hasted to correct it.

- Ok… Ok… Listen - she took Greg’s handGabe by the shoulders - I kind of was in a similar situation…

- You did?

- Yes! As a teen. I’ve got involved with a group of people. They looked cool and rad at the beginning. I had my everyday escape with them. Buteventually, quite expectedly, it began to smell rather fishy… y’know, mild drugs at first, weird activities, presented as innocent fun… but I’ve heard the stories from others about the extands that FUN used to go… Anyway, out there on the back of my mind I used to feel worried about it… And eventually I clearly began to be worried about myself…

- I wouldn’t think someone like you would get themselves dragged into shit like that.

- Well, I wasn’t the person I am now back then. And while I wasn’t quite that dumb and had my considerations I couldn’t just quit it. You just don’t leave it like that. You got stuck in a relationships, and the moment you question those, people oppose you - you become an enemy. “Do you think you’re better than us to leave the group?” I just wanted to be the cool kid for a change… and.. yeah...anyway! Do you know what happened to me then?

Gabriel shrugged:

- You died of overdose?

- …

- …

- No!

- So what happened to you?

- I met someone. Someone special. Someone who didn’t let me lose myself, and whom I’m gonna remember for the rest of my days. And he gave me this...

Pamella raised her hands and got a thin golden chain around her neck undone. She gathered it in her palm and stretched her hand toward Gabriel.

- And you know what? I don’t afraid for Greg. Cause I know, he has someone, just like that person. Someone, who won’t let him lose himself. And it’s YOU, Gabe.

Pamella smiled with her beautiful wide smile full of perl-white teeth, took Gabe by the hand and pulled him along.

- C'mon. Cheer ! Look: there’s our park across the street!

The very next moment she was hit by the truck.

Gabriel stood motionless until he finally was able to open his palm and see a humble crucifix on a thin golden chain in it.