Vision in Red by Sajjad Rasool - HTML preview

Vision in Red

Subject key-holder. Key not recovered.

Amal touched the key in her pocket. "That's why they want me," she whispered. "That's why the Watchers chase me. I have the one thing they didn't get."

"The key to what?" Yasmin asked. "His house?"

"No," Amal said, looking at the cafe around them. At the oblivious people drinking their coffee on top of the ruins of history.

"The key to Facility Zero," Amal said. "The key to the cage where they keep the shadows."

Suddenly, the jazz music stopped.

The cafe went silent.

Amal looked up. The barista had stopped moving. The milk pitcher was suspended in mid-air. The customers were frozen, smartphones in hand.

Time hadn't stopped. The people had stopped.

And then, every single one of them turned their head. Slowly. Mechanically.

They all looked at Amal.

Their eyes rolled back in their heads, showing only whites.

And fifty mouths opened in unison.

RETURN... THE... BOOK...

The voice didn't come from their throats. It came from the air vents.

Amal grabbed the ledger. "Run."

She kicked the table over.

The spell broke. The barista dropped the pitcher. SMASH. Milk splattered everywhere. The customers blinked, looking confused.

"What happened?" someone asked in Hebrew. "Did we have an earthquake?"

Amal and Yasmin didn't wait to explain. They bolted out the door, back into the blinding sun of the street.

They flagged down a service taxi.

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