Notes

"Whatever you do, do not open it!" Her father warned, Annipe hummed in annoyance. "Annipe!" Her father yelled. "I mean it!"

"I know! I know! Now tell me where it is."

Opening the door to her father's office, she had known this part of the house to be somewhat private and for her father to call her to tell her that she was to go to his office and to his desk to grab him something was a shock to her.

Annipe's weary eyes slid effortlessly over the familiar details of the room: its spiral pattern floor, solid black wallpaper, and elegant smooth surface table. She didn't glance at the window, or pause for a moment to take in the winter setting the distant mountains of snow, or the glittering of the ice sidewalks between snow and house. She did, however, notice the stacks of books when she tripped on it, groaning loudly; she quickly piled it then put it on the desk and promptly forgot about it. Her father's favorite mug was standing on the countertop, halfway filled with coffee. She picked it up slowly — more clumsily than careful — and sat at the table, staring at the mug's rubber border and the collection of minor teeth bites and scratches that it had collected over the years.

Glancing at her phone she noticed a text from ___ saying to meet him at the ___ at 2:30 as she looked at the time on her phone she jolted out of the chair and saw that it was 2:20! She didn't have time to drop off the map to her father's work, especially not now that __ was probably waiting for her right now. Opening the drawer she snatched the crumpled papyrus with more force than needed and bolted for the door.

Pain shot right through as her hip collided with the corner of the side table they had near the entrance, she collapsed on the floor dropping everything she had with her and grabbed onto her hip. Whimpers escaped from her lips, why couldn't she ever walk properly! She chided herself. Scanning the ground for all the scattered items she reached for her phone and stuffed in her purse, then she reached for the map and noticed that it had opened halfway, sloppily folding the map all over again she stood up slowly, trying not to act startled, and rubbed her eyes.

An overwhelming sense of electricity ran through her veins and right when her eyes made contact with the inside of the map barely seeing it, various images of things she didn't recognize, a bloody heart balancing on a weight scale and a dark blurry figure that she couldn't make out was standing right beside it.

After shaking herself out of the trance, she picked up the map. The walls seemed to enclose on her when she walked into the hallways, the walls played tricks on her eyes.