M.U.S.E. (BOOK 1) (COMPLETE)

M.U.S.E Chapter 12

Prague was more beautiful than I had imagined. I just loved the castle, the dancing house, the synagogue and cathedral... it was all so wonderful and so was the food.

I had drank every beer, ate food in all the places my flight companion had referred and even met up with Steve for a meal and drinks one night before he flew home. We had a wonderful night and the medieval tavern he took me too was fantastic. The food and drink were heaven, he was great company and to top it off the bar had swordsmen, jugglers, dancers and singers it was brilliant.

He wasn't there to try to seduce me. He was just a lovely family man who was so used to travelling he could make friends on planes and show them around town after his meetings. He even arranged for me to get a discount on tours and introduced me to some locals. I got food and lodgings for the remainder of my stay at bargain prices and he purchased me a ticket to Amsterdam on his frequent flier miles so I could study there next. He was an angel in disguise.

Anything I could do to keep my mind occupied was fine by me. I was happy and travelling was just the thing I needed. Freedom never felt so real until I saw all the possibilities of places to travel.

Prague completed I arrived in Amsterdam and loved it. The Canal taxi's, windmills, art, food and bike riding. I loved just riding a bike down by the canal and Aimee would have loved to do this... stop I told myself... I couldn't think of them. It was another life, another me and they were better off without me.

I travelled about a bit, checked out everything the city had to offer, even the red light district tour and felt an affinity with the girls in the window. Mannequin's posing in windows for men who leer as they choose which one they want to fuck. Poor cow's. Mind you at least they got to keep their own life, had memories and knew who they were. Ok, I am sure most of them would prefer not to remember but people take memories for granted. Having nothing to remember other than the past few year was not something I had a choice in. I often wondered who my parents were and if they were going around their day to day lives but always wondering what happened to me. Was there a picture of me in a frame somewhere in their home which showed me smiling and happy. Pictures like I had of Aimee... or used to, as I had left them all behind. Except one which I had kept and I loved it so much that I kissed it goodnight before bed and hello in the morning. I held it for comfort and tried to remember her scent. Most of all I cried every time I looked at it.

"Excuse me," a young boy said to me. "This is for you," he said and handed me a tulip.

"Thank you," I said thinking he was just being sweet as he ran off excited.

I admired the flower and notice inside the tulip was a piece of paper. I opened it, 'We found her' it read and immediately the wall I had built around me smashed to smithereens. Tears fell into my hands as I covered my face and sobbed my heart out. Luckily for me the streets were clear as everyone were either off smoking themselves into oblivion, drunk, shagging or taking in some culture. Not staring out at the river like I had been.

The message had said 'we found her' it didn't say they had got her back. The relief was replaced with anxiety. I loved that piece of paper so much, I kept pressing it to my lips as it was the closest I could get to kissing my baby. I was overjoyed, worried and needed to lie down before I fell down. I ventured back to the hotel and lay there thinking over and over everything as I did every night until I fell asleep.

They knew where I was, otherwise I wouldn't have got the message. I hadn't exactly been focused on remaining invisible. I was in a day dream half the time and I still kept going over everything to see if there was anything or anyone I missed. I was now so relieved that they found her I waited anxiously for them to send another message and say 'She is home'.