Master of the Deck

Julien looks at the colorful apparition in disbelief. “Now? You show up now?” he hisses. “Where the hell did you go?” “I could ask you the same thing! This does not look anything like a civilized place. It looks like some dank cellar crossed with an open sewer. Where are we?” Julien shrugs. “You tell […]

The smell hits him head-on. It is a stuffy, dead smell, yet humid and full of rot. It’s as if someone has crossed a smoking cellar with a stocked fridge that a student flat forgot to clear out before the holidays. His first breath is a gag. Overwhelmed, Julien spends his first few minutes trying

Emptiness. Julien swerves his head left and right before doing a slow pivot. Nothing. Just an endless whiteness all around him. Everything blends together. The walls, the floor, the ceiling. Earth and sky. There is no indication of Julien’s surroundings being inside or outside. No hysterical screaming. Instead, only a silence that is deafening. Lost,

Just one look at the caller ID has Julien’s gut clenching. Dad. He stares at the screen. Frozen like one of the many statues surrounding him in the Jardin des Tuileries. Blind to the blooming magnolia and impeccably trimmed hedges. A full minute passes before he taps decline. As he pulls up the meetup directions