“
Why?”
“
Because I can’t figure out if you are saying you don’t know what you just said, or that you know what you just said
means
I don’t know.”
“
Really?”
What the . . .
“
So you didn’t know what it means? Hmmm. Interessante.”
“
Now I’m really really confused. I spoke another language?”
“
Italian actually.”
“
How?”
He kissed me. “With your mouth, Miele.”
“
You know what I mean.” I rolled my eyes while I mentally memorized the kiss, and tried to get a grip on what just happened.
“
Non so.” He winked. “But my guess is you are starting to remember. Shall I continue? I was getting to the best part my love - you.”
Elliott’s hand caressed my neck, and then he pulled me in and kissed me again. Although my head was swimming, as usual, with the overload of information, everything melted away when we kissed. His heart pulled on mine like a magnet. He pulled back and looked into my eyes again. I don’t know what he saw in mine, but I was personally swimming in his.
“
Let me continue. I had just called your name into the darkness of the old abandoned home...”
I snuggled in close. Letting his magnetic arms close around me and pulse electricity through my body. The floral scent of his skin only added to my happiness as I tried to pay attention to his voice. He stroked his fingers through my messy spikes, playing with it as he continued.
“
The room was nearly pitch black. The only light was from a streetlamp outside that shone through a small dingy window. The floor creaked beneath my feet as I continued to inch further into the dark.
“
Lillianna,” I called again, stopping in the darkness.
“
That’s when I heard the floor creek. But I hadn’t moved. My heart started to beat rapidly.
“‘
Who’s there?’”
“‘
It’s me,’ you whispered back, ‘Lillianna’.”
“
I can still feel the chills of happiness run down my spine when I remember that moment.” Elliott hugged me tighter, and sent chills down my spine.
“
Where are you?” I said into the darkness.
“
You answered by taking my hand in yours. ‘Here,’ you replied.
“
You pulled me deeper into the darkness as you spoke in hushed whispers ‘We can’t talk here. This way.’ I held your hand tight and followed you into a windowless room somewhere in the back of the apartment. You closed the door behind us, though who you where keeping out was a mystery to me. The place was abandoned. ‘Down here,’ you opened a trap door in the floor and gestured me in. A faint light glowed from within the secret passage. I walked down the stone stairs quickly and waited while you closed the trap door behind you, concealing the esoteric space completely.
“
What was that about?” I asked.
“
Just making sure we’re alone.”
“
Why such drastic measures? Besides, where are we anyway?”
“
Sottosuolo, the underground.”
“
There are underground caves below parts of the city?”
“
Correction. There are caves and passages under
all
of the city, if you know where to go.” I swear you winked at me, but the lighting was too dim to be sure.
“
I then reassessed my surroundings. Overhead were very old and ancient archways. The light I had seen was from a torch, stuck in a nook in the wall. I tried to strain my eyes in the limited light to see how far the tunnel went, but it seemed to continue on in the darkness. My hands grazed the rough, cool stone of the wall. I then turned my attention to the beautiful young woman next to me, you.
“
Why are there caves under the city? And how do you know about them?”
“
They’re not caves really, but an underground city. Ancient Rome actually. It was buried a long time ago, and the new city sprouted in its place.”
“
This was Rome?” I said bewildered, taking in the surroundings in a new light. You took my hand.
“
Let me show you around. We have a lot of catching up to do, Elliott.”
“
I smiled. It felt great to be with you. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but something about you called to me. But with all these foreign feelings, I remember being more timid and quiet than usual, and you were more forward.
“
We walked for hours in the maze of archways and passages hidden beneath the city. Under countless stone arches, over the timeworn stones beneath our feet, I followed you. The torch you carried illuminated barely three yards ahead, so everything I saw was new, to me at least.
“
For the most part we were both quiet. I was busy taking in the unbelievable surroundings, and you were letting them sink in. Here and there I would break the silence with a question,
“
Do you live down here?”
“
Yes.”
“
I remember thinking
why
, but that sounded rude. Instead I asked, “How long have you lived down here?”
“
A long time Elliott,” you paused before continuing. “Can I show you something?”
“
Sure.” You were already showing me a world I never new existed, what more could there be?
“
A new sort of excitement seemed to fill you. You handed me the torch and quickened your pace. I was practically running to keep up.
“
Where are we going?” I called to you.
“
You turned to answer me. “You’ll see.” A smile spread across your face.
“
Your bare feet made barely a patter on the asperous stones below. My boots were much noisier. And like I said before, you were fast. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t see you in the torchlight. I was in a solid tunnel with only one way to go, so I continued on as I tried to catch up to you.
“
About fifty yards later, I was all alone in the darkness, and came to a fork. The tunnel split and I didn’t know where to go. I went a few feet down the left side first, but couldn’t see anything. I backed up and looked down the right side. Again, all that was down there was darkness.
“
Lillianna,” I called out.
“
Down here.”
I placed the torch knee height as I tried to find where your voice was coming from. “I can’t see you.”
“
Come over here. You’re on the wrong side of the tunnel.”
“
I walked back to the fork and down the other side, keeping the torch low to figure out what you meant by ‘down here.’”
“
Where are you Lillianna?”
“
A hand grabbed at my ankle from a secret passage hidden in the stone wall. “Here.” I looked down to see you smiling up at me. “Come in here Elliott.”
“
I had to get on my hands and knees to crawl into the passage. It was surprisingly cobweb and spider free. The shuffling of my pants on the rock was the only thing I could hear as I made my way down the short tunnel. All I knew was that I was following the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. We could have been tunneling to Atlantis for all I knew. I didn’t care.
“
I wasn’t in the cramped space for more than a couple meters when I started to hear the sound of water up ahead. And splashing. I crawled as fast as I could, which wasn’t very, since I still had the torch in one hand. A moment later my head popped out of the wall, into a large open space.
“
This room wasn’t a room like the rest of the underground. This place wasn’t made by man. It was a natural cave, and large enough to fit an entire church inside. But there wasn’t a church, there was a lake. I looked around in awe. Water lapped at the edge of the room where I stood. My eyes finally focused on the source of the splashing. You.”
Elliott’s hand kept playing in my hair as I looked up at the light shining through the trees. A summer breeze blew past us lying there, and I drank in the scent of his skin. It mixed nicely with the lavender from my park. I lay there taking slow deep breaths, trying to memorize the moment. I usually wasn’t this happy. I thought it best to make a mental note.