Walter looked at Richard, then he watched Catherine. The woman looked at him too, when Richard surprised her. " I .. I didn' t think to meet you here. " he said her, caressing his chin. Catherine looked at him, nodding, weakly. " Well.. " she mumbled, looking at Walter " .. I .. I am here to visit.. " she continued, as she had nothing good to invent. She looked at the man next to her, as claiming for his help, and Walter returned to look at Richard, taking a short breath. " One of your friends, yes " he continued, calm and serene. Catherine nodded quickly, following Walter that walked toward the stairs, for the Second Floor. Then she looked at Richard, smiling just a little. " Yes, that' s right. I have to go, now .. goodbye, Sir. " she finished like this, bending a little her dark head. But the man stopped her, whispering. " .. no! Wait a minute, please. " he exclaimed, moving one step toward her. Catherine had moved about three steeps, to Walter, when the man called her. She looked at him, opening her lips slowly. But before she could say anything, Richard continued. " We have not met for a long time .. I' d like to talk to you, now. " he asked her, looking at Walter, cold again. As he was inopportune, there, for the moment. Catherine shook her head, lifting her left hand in front of herself. " I' m sorry, Sir, but I' m on hurry. It will be for the next time. " she replied, smiling a little again. Then she followed the man on the stairs, and Richard had to put his soul in peace, again: she wouldn' t talk to her this time neither. " I hope to see you soon, Miss Velasquez .. " he whispered, returning to look at the downstairs.

Catherine moved her steps quickly, following Walter, going up to the Second Floor. Her big, black eyes looked everywhere next to her: the stairs, the floor that they reached, stopping their steps, the big door they were in front of, finding finally the man. She held her hands behind her back, taking a short breath. " Is this the floor? " she asked, looking at the banisters not far, where she still had her left hand. Walter nodded, taking a deep breath. His blue eyes watched the big door, and he smiled a little, closing his eyes for some seconds. " Yes .. it is. " he just whispered to the woman, opening the door and moving only one step to his right side, to keep it open and let her come in. " Now I' ll show you .. the Mother. " he ended, looking at her with a smile, quite happy and euphoric. Catherine nodded just a little, moving in, behind him. She looked at the man, and then all over the floor, following him again in the corridor. Her eyes looked often for his figure next to her, as they were looking for protection, before looking at the three apartments in the floor, once turned the corner. The first.. "303"; the second.. "302"; the third.. "301". Walter stopped his steps between the first and the second apartment, while Catherine looked out of the window. They were so high, and that condominium, she thought it was quite .. unusual. She realized that it had a strange "U" form, and from there, she could see everything.

The City.. it was so big, seen from there. The streets, so thin and long, cars so small, people as insects, the light of the evening so blinding. Shops, main doors, were as enchanted, seen from that window. " Are you ok, Catherine? " Walter asked, looking at her for a while in silence. She was so beautiful, also covered by that big black coat, and that sweater of the same colour, underneath. The woman returned to look at him, smiling and nodding quickly. " Yes. Well .. I' ve never seen a building like this before, you know. " she revealed, taking a deep breath. Her glance ran beyond the window again, while she continued. " So much people, I mean. And from here .. look, you can see the streets, and every other building near here. " she ended like this, looking at Walter a bit behind her, finally. He smiled, nodding slowly. " Yes .. but there' s something more interesting, that you absolutely have to see. " he answered, while his voice took a different sound, as mysterious, far. Catherine moved one step to him, bending her dark head on the left side. That long curls, black and well ordered, and her face, her skin was as made of strained amber and silk, similar to a delicate bronze. So shining .. as the Mother was claiming for her Daughter.

" What' s it about? " she asked, smiling to him, looking at him, with the typical innocence of a child. His face was white, candid; his eyes, so blue and pure .. they reminded her of their childhood, in the Wish House; his hair, still so blonde, and long. And his smell had never been so bad .. quite appealing. No .. he just looked like what he was: the Son of the Mother .. Him.

The man came closer to the door of the apartment "301", and took off his blue coat some keys. He choose one of these, that took inside of the block. Catherine opened her lips, but she kept silence. She moved, coming next to Walter, looking at him, and then at the door, that he opened. Before coming in, he looked at the woman, smiling just a little. " Have you Faith in me, Katie? " he asked, looking behind the woman, at the end of the corridor, as to control that nobody was coming. The woman looked at the door opened, then again at him, nodding weakly, just a little. " .. yes, Walter. " she said, smiling with the same weakness, with the same fragility. " We' ve got to move, Kate. Follow me, and never ask why. " he replied, moving his steps again, in the apartment. Catherine followed him, and looked at the door closing, and blocked with a little chain, by the man. She felt quite afraid, now. But .. that house, that condominium, everything had something .. assuring. She felt as she had been constantly watched from someone, since she moved her first step in the condominium. She looked at that flat. Everything was out of order, there were strange magazines all over the floor, on the desk, in piles everywhere. Women .. nudes. The woman looked at Walter, in Silence. The man was in front of a strange bookcase, that he kept in his hands, and moved away, on the left side, with strength. It revealed an old door, that the man opened quickly. Then he looked at Catherine who kept a strange silence in all that time. Looking at him, in a strange way .. as she was afraid of something, as she was afraid of him. " The owner of this apartment is away, for all the week end long. And also that .. ridiculous journalist. " he ended, with a point of anger in his voice, looking at her. Catherine avoided as well to look at the strange magazines that covered the floor, nodding to his words. " You told me not to ask anything. " she just replied, with a smile, weak and evanescent.

Then, Walter gave her his hand, smiling back. " Come with me. " he said her, while she held his hand with her small right. And she followed him, through a little corridor, that ended with another door. But while she walked behind the man, holding his hand, it was like a strange atmosphere covered the place. " So .. You' ve made return here, to me. " she said, without really understand what she was telling him. It was as if she was losing the possess of her mind, as if someone was going to keep the full control on her. She looked at the floor, while Walter opened the door, coming in, and taking her with him. Once closed the door again, he looked at the woman, who was behind him, looking at him with a strange glance. The man knitted his eyebrows, looking at her. But she continued, smiling. " I' m so Glad to see You again. And this .. she is My Little, Dear Child. Oh, if Humans could feel .. " Catherine was talking to him, possessed. She held her arms to her chest, staggering from one side to the other, quickly. Walter kept Catherine' s shoulders in his hands, looking at her eyes while he made his face next to her. " Mother .. " he whispered, with weak voice, before falling in a new, as religious Silence. The woman nodded once, slowly, smiling. " Take care of .. the Moment. " This was the last thing she said, before closing her eyes, and lose senses, in Walter' s arms. He held her to himself, coming in into the little room, and closing the little door behind him. The room was quite small, and had two windows, closed. There was a lot of chaos, ith the furniture: a desk, with some items, as a Cup, a Chrism, and the Bible of the Order. Then a set of shelves, with some test tubes and other medical items, and a little refrigerator. The room was quite dark, the air hard to breath. Walter opened the window just a little, to make air change, and then returned to watch Catherine on the floor, still faint.

She gave her first signs of awakening a few seconds later: the first thing she saw, was him. " .. what' s happened? " she asked, while the man kneeled next to her, and took her in his arms. " You' ve just lost senses, Catherine. Are you ok now? " he replied, looking at her, so white and fragile. She nodded weakly, sitting slowly, on the floor. Her glance ran on everything around: shelves, the little door obscured by a black veil, the two, dark windows, the desk and the Bible.

Walter took a short breath, trying to follow her eyes. When she stopped on the desk, he held her arms, as to help her to get in feet again. The woman slowly lifted from the floor, looking at him again. She looked for his eyes, afraid, again. The Bible, the Cup, the White Chrism .. why were all those items there? She began to understand always less. And that Room .. the air was heavy, she felt as she can' t breath. " .. yes, I am. " she answered, moving one step, to the desk. She touched the Bible, with her right hand, watching carefully every object over there. A Ritual .. ?
She stayed there, motionless, for some, long seconds, before looking at the man her again, and leave the desk behind, taking both her hands on it, on her sides. She kept a deep breath. closing her eyes, and bended his head to the floor. " What is this .. Room? " she asked after a few instants, opening her eyes again, and looking again at the man in front of her. He could feel her Fear, her Wonder, so high and pure .. quite exciting. But she couldn' t even imagine the way he felt, when she was close to him.

She was .. a Child, a Mother, a Woman, all in the same time, in the same way.
Her glance .. so Innocent, dear Ingenuity, never come away from her, even in all those years. Her lips .. so attractive, so full and clean. Their only vision, so soft and natural, never stained of lip stick or other women items, did literally make him crazy. Her body .. so mysterious, always covered by dark and large dresses. He knew she always tried to delete her femininity even, in every possible way. But he also knew that she failed , and this would last for ever, because she was born only to enchant. And to enchant him, before everyone else.

Walter lifted his glance at the ceiling, taking a short breath. He held his arms in front of his chest, bending his head on the right. " This .. " he began, so calm, slowly, as he was looking for the right words to use. He looked at her again, who was watching him, with a silent Fear painted on her face, before smiling. " .. this is the place where the Mother sleeps. " he ended, looking at the Bible at the right side of the woman. Catherine nodded slowly, looking at the Tome after him. Was he mad .. ? No, he wasn' t. She could feel Her eyes over them, she always felt her eyes following them.

Catherine looked around her, stopping on the two windows, in the end. She left the desk, coming in front of one of them, then she looked outside: she could see each other apartment, and that condominium, with that strange "U" form. There were children, women who were cleaning their home, men on the chair looking at the TV, a strange guy who was listening to a kind of deafening music, also if not bad. She could see Richard either, in front of his window, sitting on a chair.

The woman quickly return to watch on another window, and then, she saw some children in front of one of these: two twins, and another child that laughed with them.

Then.. she remembered. A shiver ran through her spine, she closed her eyes, as to avoid the memories. But when all was black, all came out.
She saw their faces again. So .. small, so fragile, without any defence. They had just come to the world, and they had lost their lives yet. Michael shook his dark head, taking it in his hands, next to her hospital bed. A Silence frozen by Piety, Impotence. The woman cried, looking at the two creatures, and the doctor held her right hand, taking a deep breath. " They' re in the embrace of the Mother, now. " he whispered, while his hand caressed her long, black curls. She looked at him, in Silence, before making return to the faces of the twins. Could the Mother really cure her lost with her only embrace, now?

Walter looked at the reflect of her face on the window, and came one step closer to her, in Silence. He could feel the Pain printed on it, also if he couldn' t understand.

She remembered again.
The rain, the cemetery. Her crying, on the ground, holding just two white roses to her chest. Jimmy was there, next to her, looking at her in Silence. But he was calm, as nothing was happening. And when she looked for his face, she only found a mirror of ice. " .. they were only two foetuses, Catherine. Two cells without an identity. " he just said her, looking at her as he was talking to a kind of mad, or to a kind of animal without an own dignity.

" It looks like you' ve conquered him. " Walter' s voice broke the Silence, in a second. He just looked like to notice, with a point of rage in his voice, usually so calm, and relaxed. Catherine lifted her eyebrows, leaving her minds definitively. She opened her eyes, wet by tears, moving quickly, making return to look at his face behind her. She opened her lips, although she kept a perfect silence, just shaking her head. " I don' t know, Walter. And .. to be honest, I don' t care. " she revealed, while she put her right hand on her opposite arm, as in a caress. Richard Braintree could not mean less in that moment. The man smiled, shaking slowly his blonde head. " I had no doubts on this, you know. " he replied, looking at her again, now so fragile. It was like a veil of sadness had covered her glance. The woman answered with a simple, trembling smile, before looking at the floor. He couldn' t understand her, now, so he came closer to her, so much to aspirate her smell. So sweet, fresh, delicate. " Is there something wrong, Katie? " he asked, calling her with that childish name. The name he always used, when there was something going wrong. Catherine looked at him, taking a deep breath. She held her arms in front of her chest, looking at him: her eyes looked like mirrors. The shining mirrors of an untold and old, corrosive Pain. " Someday .. I will tell you about this. Forgive me, please. " she just whispered, with a weak tonality of voice, an unusually weak voice, before looking at the floor again. Walter could understand that it had to be something bad .. something worse than each other. So he kept Silence, nodding, simply. " I' ll respect you .. I.. " he began to stammer, again. It always happened when emotions grew up, taking his voice away. The woman knitted her dark and thin eyebrows just a little, lifting her glance to him again. His face was red, but he could not see this. It would have stopped definitively his voice. " .. I .. I ' ve always been here for.. you .. Kate. " he finally ended, as taking a big breath of Strength, to do that. Catherine opened her lips, silent. She replied with no words, in facts, just looking at him without making a move.

She had always known that, since they were just two children. He was always there, in good times and evil ones. Growing up, things got not too different: on the contrary.. their feeling grew stronger always more. But then, there, feeling his voice saying that .. sounded as a miracle. She knew about his Shyness too. Then she gave him a sweet smile: she tried to make him shine, but she couldn' t Then the woman opened her arms toward Walter, and hug him, delicate. Now, he was the trembling one. But he took her in his arms, holding her to himself strong, as strong he could. It looked like a kind of Dream .. was he really hugging Catherine? It happened a lot of times, but then, in that Room, there was something different. It was like they really needed the one of the other for their Lives, before of finding again simply a smile, or the strength to go on. That hug was a concrete test of it. " Thanks. " she just whispered with thin voice, moving her face back from the man' s shoulder, also if she continued hugging him. That voice .. always so melodic, warm and sweet, made him definitively crazy.
She looked at him in Silence, smiling weakly, for some long seconds. Then, her right hand caressed his left cheek gently, slowly.

He stopped, in a second. He remembered when it happened some years earlier, in the Subway Station. The same face, the same caress: it was only this to make them similar. Two sisters .. but so divinely different, the one from the other. That time, he dreamed that he could have her by having her perfect copy. A perfect illusion, a fragile, dangerous illusion. That woman was not Catherine. That woman was not a woman neither. The funny game of a little, stupid, eager whore.

He looked at her, now, knitting his eyebrows. Was it all real? Catherine noticed the change by looking in his eyes, and slowly took her little hand away from his face. She thought she had bothered him, and smiled just a little. " .. forgive me, Walter. " she said him, leaving her own hand in air, next to his shoulder. The man looked to return back in himself only then, shaking his head just a little. He held her right hand, stealing it at the air in his left, bigger than the woman one. " That' s nothing, Katie. " he replied, looking at her, still wondering if that was really happening, or if it was just another of his dreams. But when she left his hand, and took his blonde hair away from his face, he felt like he tested the Reality. He could feel her body trembling, with that hand, in his arms. That was also more exciting of her Fear. Feeling her so near .. her Breath on his skin, her heart beating quickly.
He took his left hand on her face, caressing her cheek, so smooth and perfumed, before taking away from it one dark curl. Her face was trembling too. Her eyes, her lips, her hair..
.. and then, he realized he couldn' t control himself anymore. He simply took his face next to her, closing his blue eyes, as she did too. Then he kissed her lips once, and once more, holding her little, trembling body strong to him. She caressed again his cheek with her fingers, before leaving her right hand slip away, behind his shoulder. " Walter .. " the woman called his name, in a whisper, taking her amber face away, just a little, from the man' s one. He opened his eyes again, looking at her, as lost in a dream, while he continued to tremble, hugging her to him strong. Catherine felt this as well, and looked at him, with a little smile of tenderness on her face. She thought of Jimmy.. what would have happened if he .. ?
But this had no importance yet, no more. She caressed his long blonde hair with her right hand again, slowly, as she wanted not to bother him again. She didn' t know how much this would have captured him.


" .. Katie. " he answered, moving his left hand up on her back, in a silent caress, as to break the cold air that filled the little Room, in a second. And then, he did it again. He touched her lips with his ones, holding her stronger to him, kissing her. Catherine trembled a little more: she had never thought he could show love for her, with so much passion neither. But she stayed there, held to his body, while her eyes saw the darkness, and her heart danced with his one, at the rhythm of that kiss.