Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 288

This week's picture prompt is another of my own photos, this time from a Holiday Inn Express in Sloterdijk on the outskirts of Amsterdam, when attending the F1 race weekend at Zandvoort last year. I though it was very thought provoking. 

As my mind is turning to the next Tricky novel, I am using some of the prompts as ideas. The last Tricky tale was Week 286. 

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How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here. 

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Corridor
Tricky ran down the corridor, trying to ignore all the strange geometric shapes; that was the trouble with messing about with time, optical illusions could crop up and distract you. She didn’t like the look of that 3D pattern one little bit; it made her eyes go all twitchy and squiffy.

Which one was the right bloody door? All these others were just there for aesthetic value she was sure. She needed to find the right one so she could divert the bloated hippy from following her. She was running out of dimensions to move through.

She tried not to scoff at herself; running out of dimensions? As if! You couldn’t run out of something that was infinite, oh no. And they were, she knew that. But if she kept going, getting back would be tricky – and she didn’t like that. The only thing that could be tricky was her.

She heard a rendering crack behind her, and knew it was only a matter of seconds before he’d see her. Damn!

She rushed to a door on her left and opened it. Some kind of bedroom was on the other side, but she only gave it a cursory glance before shutting the door behind her and resting against it as she caught her breath. She kept her breathing as still as possible as she listened. An oaf like him couldn’t be that quiet, though she was sure he was trying.

Someone went by – in fact more than one someone. He was with a group. There were whispers but she couldn’t work out what they were saying; they moved past too quickly. She waited. She heard a couple of bangs and then another crack. He’d found the door she was looking for; good.

“Excuse me, can I help?”

A voice behind her made Tricky jump.

“Oh I’m so sorry deary, did I interrupt you?” She looked the gent up and down, standing as he was with a towel wrapped round his hips, and another over his shoulders. He wasn’t especially tall, or toned as she normally liked them, but fresh out of the shower was not to be sniffed at.

“Are you housekeeping?”

“Am I what? Oh no, I don’t think so deary, just catching my breath and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Is someone chasing you?”

Tricky wasn’t one for sharing with strangers, but it’s not like it would make any difference here.

“You could say that, but don’t worry I think he’s gone.”

“Do you want me to check for you?”

“That would be most kind.” Tricky didn’t pass up chivalry when it offered itself, even half-naked. He moved towards the door and she moved out of the way, but stayed close so she could inhale whatever scented ablutions he was using. They were rather nice.

He stepped out of the door, unphased in his undress, and looked both ways, then stepped back in and closed the door again.

“No one out there now. I couldn’t hear anyone either.”

“Thank you. I don’t know how I could repay you, I’m sure.” She gave him her best come-on smile. The buffoon had gone and taken his minions with him, so she had time to play.

But the gentleman tightened his waist towel and averted his eyes. A shy one.

“It’s no problem, but I need you to go now so I can get dressed,” he said, as he shuffled past her and back into the room.

“Oh sorry, of course deary, but thanks again.”

Tricky flashed a smile at him and returned to the corridor, closing the door gently behind her.

So there were people behind these doors. What was this place? How many other men were there in a state of undress? But she could ponder that another day, now she needed to get moving. It wouldn’t be long before her assailant would suss out she was still here. She went back down the way she had come and found the place he had created his fissure into this dimension. Tracing energy was her thing and it hung in the air as though it was something solid right at that particular spot.

She took her obsidian, with the germwort wrapped round it and found a grain of creasy in her other pocket. She thrust them at the energy, squashing them together, and another crack filled the air, while a split appeared. She peered through it. Yes, it was the same field she had crossed on the way here.

She climbed through, and snapped her fingers on the other side to close it. But rather than leave it at that as she normally would, Tricky took in several rapid breaths and then breathed at the place it had been. She felt the energy change, the air shifting as it fell back in place. He’d have trouble finding his way back now. Good.

And with that she scurried away, back across the field, this time heading for a tree she knew would lead her into a forest just one dimension away from the landmass.