London 3

Terrence Dodgson entered the contiguous room; the ballroom. The doors lightly refused to open, but the man managed to separate them of his way.

As soon as he put his foot in the room, this one was illuminated and the singing of several instruments came to his ears while he observed; with a bizarre mixture of amazement and terror, the meeting that was carried out in its interior.

The lounge was, particularly beautiful, to the opposite side of the door there was a gigantic large window, a majestic chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, it was composed by thousands of pieces of crystal; all reflecting a great quantity of light, the floor was covered by neat mosaics of color pearl, the walls had been painted the same color and adorned by gray curtains of a very thin fabric.

In the middle of the lounge, there was a great multitude; all of them were dancing to the pace of the orchestra that was playing in a corner of the enormous place.

Nevertheless, there was something dark in that dance, something macabre, terribly vile.

Terrence walked between those persons, none seemed to notice his presence, they all were absent, hypnotized by the music and without control of their body. His faces were pale and his eyes were lost in the emptiness. His mouths were mute; his ears were deaf before any thing that was not the music of the violin.

"Terrence," called him a voice between the multitude.

The man rolled over to see around himself wildly, in search of the origin of that voice. Finally, it spied a woman, who was watching him hotly with a sweet smile adorning his face.

Terrence's face was illuminated after that sight, his eyes got wet, he was so happy, so relieved on having seen that that woman was safe from any harm.

"Kathia!" he exclaimed with euphoria, running towards her and surrounding her with his arms.

"It was waiting for you," she said, her voice and her face had remained immutable. "I thought that you would not come, I thought that … I would remain without dance partner…"

"What are you talking about?" He asked giving up on Kathia, he felt invaded by a great confusion.

"The dance," Kathia insisted, "you will dance with me, aren't you?"

Terrence's hands were fastened for those of the woman, they were cold and pale. The man liberated his hands and moved back a few steps.

The music changed pace, now, it was rapid and violent. The people began to turn while they slipped through the lounge. The music was rising its speed to every second and, of equal way his intensity. The light took a dark tonality and, on the outside of the large window, a storm could be spied coming closer.

"Join the dance," Kathia insisted, a sinister smile showed itself in her face. "Join us, forget everything, just dance!"

The light began to blink and the face of the attendees began to transform in a lugubrious and grotesque way.

Terrence ran towards the door, avoiding the pairs who, while they were dancing, were laughing in a macabre way.

"Join us!" Kathia shouted with great force and keenness, the orchestra went quiet and the large window broke, a great quantity of crystal powder fell on the multitude, accompanied by the cold drops of rain that the storm was bringing with itself, the lights went out and the building was submerged into an absolute darkness.