Erin startled awake suddenly when she realized she heard a car honking its horn. She opened her eyes and was completely baffled by what she saw around her. No longer were she and Olivier nestled in a strange clearing, deeply lost in the woods on the outskirts of Galway. No, as she looked around she took in the park surrounded by the adorable houses she'd walked past yesterday. "WTF," she audibly hissed.
Her exclamation had roused Olivier who, too, was quickly becoming aware that they were clearly in the middle of a city, not the deep, dark forest deeply shrouded in mist and trees when they'd fallen asleep. "What is this?" he questioned as he stretched his muscular physique awake.
"I have no idea," she whispered to him as an older gentleman looked at them a bit oddly as he walked his small Yorkie about 20 yards away from them. Apparently, they had gotten lost within the city last night, and neither of them could believe it. Just then, a jogger passed on a worn trail, ten feet to their left. Lost in their exercise, the jogger paid them no mind, but they clearly were out of place. They both got to their feet as quickly as they could and gathered the small bit of belongings they'd brought with them from the administration building.
"What is going on in this city?" Erin asked Olivier in a concerned tone.
"I don't know but we need to get ourselves out of this park before the Gardai come and give us a ticket for setting up camp," Olivier responded as he stamped out the last bit of ashes with his well-worn combat boots. "We will go back to the administration building and see if they can finally help us get into our apartment now." It was only seven in the morning, Erin realized as she glanced at her phone. Her phone. Had she had it with her last night? Why hadn't either of them thought to use their phones when they were lost? It was all too strange to figure out now, but she determined to research the history of this area a bit more thoroughly, clearly, there was a lot more to Galway than she had ever anticipated.
Erin and Olivier returned to the sidewalk and made their way easily to the administration building but it was not open yet. They decided to get some coffee and a small breakfast at a nearby cafe. Once they were seated comfortably inside the quaint little room, with a roaring fire in the fireplace they looked to each other in complete confusion. No way had they both become so utterly lost in such a short space. "What had actually happened then," Erin mused in her head. Olivier spoke out loud, "What happened to us last night?" Olivier asked her.
"I really don't know," she paused and sipped the piping hot coffee, "it was like we were under a spell or something, but I don't believe in those kinds of things," she replied.
"Well. in France, we have ancient myths and legends about some places that can put you in a sort of trance, it reminds me of this. There is no logical explanation for what happened to us last night. I didn't even remember that I had a cell phone. It was like we were in a dream with no control of our actions," he said with a hint of disbelief, "I will have to ask Maman if she knows of anything like this in Ireland," he continued, explaining that his mother was an expert in Folklore and Mythology in France at the Sorbonne, in Paris. If anyone would know about something like this, it would be her.
They finished up their coffee and pastries and it was finally time for them to revisit the administration building. When they finally arrived at the desk, the woman who had checked them in the day before looked at them with clear disapproval. "Out all night on your first night in Ireland, eh? You two best get your heads on straight, lay off the drink and get yourselves settled," she announced after they'd explained that they'd lost their key on the way to their apartment the day before. They didn't know how to explain that they hadn't been out partying, and they weren't about to tell her what they'd actually experienced, clearly, she would think they were on drugs if they did. They thanked the woman and promised her they wouldn't be making a habit of staying out all night, and finally feeling somewhat appeased, she gave them their key and explained the directions to them again. "Mind, ye don't go into any pubs on your way there this morning," she chided.
Sheepishly, Erin and Olivier left the office building and easily made their way to the adorable townhouse they would call home for the next year. The cheerful building had been only a hundred or so yards from the bridge over the creek where they'd lost their key the day before, and it wasn't hard to find. At this point, though, they couldn't do much more than shrug off the strange things that had happened the previous day and try to get comfortable in the pretty little house.