The three-story house

Part 6: The red snake

"Let's go now", he said.

We exited the inn quietly. He led me to a narrow street without any light, and then finally we reached a small wooden house without a window.

He opened the door with a strange key that had a figure of a red-eyed snake on it. And then we walked in. Only one old table could be found inside. And there was the book on the table.

He looked at me in the eyes and asked, "Are you ready?"

"Yes" I said urgently.

I opened it, but there were so many pages. He asked me to open the 9500th page. The page titled "Judges"

I found the page and began scrolling through it. I discovered the 9568th name, James, and the 9569th name, Jasmine. "We were judges!" I screamed.

But wait!

Where did I hear the numbers? But I couldn't recall them.

In addition, I discovered notes under our names.

Jasmine can see things in her dreams. James can erase memories.

I looked at the date; it was July 19th. However, James' arrival was on the 17th of March.

So you arrived before me? I asked.

"Yes, I've been here for several months."

"We both came from the same place: "Snam" City."

"Where is the city located?" I asked him.

"I do not know it yet."

I assumed we had to know each other based on the information. But, oddly, I didn't feel it.

Perhaps I simply don't remember everything, I believed.

(Even after reading the book, I still didn't know much about myself)

"What would you do with the book now?"

"I'm not sure." I'm thinking about keeping it.

"But this isn't right. Don't you agree? They'll start looking for it."

"I need to meet people like us and help them. To do that, I need to keep it."

I agreed.

"We need to get back to the inn before the sun rises," he urged.

So we went back to the inn and got into our rooms.

 I found myself asleep again in bed.

In my dream, a long snake was wrapping around me, making it difficult for me to breathe.

Then it was staring into my eyes. Those eyes were bright red and large. I had no idea what it wanted from me. I could not avoid its eyes and the dreadful feeling that I got from them. Fortunately, I woke up. Was it trying to kill me? I thought.

That was the most terrifying dream I'd ever had so far. Even when I awoke, I couldn't get those red eyes out of my head. 

It was already 9 o'clock in the morning. I dashed to the cafeteria, not for breakfast but to meet James. He wasn't there when I arrived.

So I quickly went to his room. I knocked on his door but received no response. Where did he go?

He might have gone to the small room with the book.

So I decided to go there. But on my way home, I noticed something in the sky. It had to be someone. Yes, there was someone flying over the village. I was just remembering how I got here. Yes, I was also flying. I dashed over to the three-story house, where the person was heading. When I arrived, a young woman with long red hair stood in front of me. She approached me and cried  " You are Jasmine!" with a surprise. 

"How did you know me?", I asked her.

You came here to be the 9569th judge because the jury chose you. You can see the occurrences in the past and future in your dream, and...... (She stopped there.)

"I already knew about it, indeed," I replied.

"How? You must have forgotten about you!"

I...I dreamt about it. (I almost caught that I saw the book.)

Was it the requirement of the judges that they forget about me? I asked her.

"Not exactly. But yours is the special case. I cannot tell you more. I went to take you. But you are already here by yourself! You were supposed to be here by July 19th, which was yesterday"

" But, I have been here for a while by now. I am confused and I have a lot of questions!"

"Yes, I know. But we have a very urgent matter now; the red snake appeared again. Perhaps the red snake involved in your early arrivel!"

The red sneak?

"I will explain it to you later. But now we must enter the three-story house and introduce you to the village jury.

" They need your assistance right now.!"