SWIMMING POOL

I do not know where it was, but it seemed to be a city in Asia, or Europe. Anyway, this story is about one of the modern megalopolises in contemporary society.

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As she walked through the labyrinthine streets, a figure glided by, moving with feline grace, disappearing through a silver door nestled beneath the overpass. She felt an odd familiarity, for she too carried a bag just like theirs.
The door felt cool against her skin, an invitation to step into another realm. After a moment's hesitation, she entered. The space felt like a bar, dimly lit, with an air of enigma surrounding it. The walls and floors shimmered in the same silver tone as the door, casting a muted glow that seemed to pulse with a hidden rhythm.
The cat-like figure stood behind the counter, a silent guardian of this otherworldly place. When she approached, their eyes met—depths that seemed to reflect the vastness of the ocean, full of untold stories.
"I found a silver door on my way back from the pool," she said, breaking the stillness. The air was thick with the rich, haunting sound of a cello, the notes weaving through the dimness, echoing like distant memories, sometimes bending into shapes that felt both close and far away.
At the edge of the counter lay a small black bag. She continued, "I have the same bag. The shop where I bought it has vanished without a trace."
She noticed the jacket the cat-like figure was wearing, and its design was strange and unfamiliar. It was architectural, a collage of geometric shapes that hinted at some mechanical purpose.
"My bag, your bag, and the jacket I wear—they all come from the same shop," the figure finally spoke, their voice soft, barely rising above the ambient cello.
They reached quietly into their pocket and revealed a small black object—a 14-sided shape—placing it on the table. It bore a symbol that echoed the neon signs from the shop that no longer existed.
"In this world,  not everything is as it seems. Sometimes, what you see is not the whole picture. There are places where reality intersects with what seems unreal," they said, a cryptic smile flickering across their face.
"Perhaps this place is one of those," she thought, but the words remained trapped in her mind, unvoiced.
"We might be chosen, or perhaps we have chosen this path ourselves. This is a place where we affirm each other's existence."

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Days later, after visiting the silver door bar, she went to a pool. In the early morning light, the water lay still and reflective, a perfect mirror for the awakening sky.
There was a tension in the air as if something was about to begin.
Chairs were evenly spaced along the poolside, and she sat in one, quietly gazing at the surface of the water. The morning light grew stronger, spilling through the windows and casting long shadows against the concrete walls.
In the ripples, she noticed a small black shape—a shadow gliding across the surface. A black cat stared at her with an intensity that felt both intimate and surreal. For a moment, she thought it might have been watching her all along. When their gazes met, the cat turned and walked away.
On a chair across the poolside hung the black jacket she had seen the night before at the bar. Light danced across its geometric design, illuminating the fabric's contours. As she closed her eyes against the sunbeam, intricate patterns unfolded behind her eyelids, a kaleidoscope of shapes that echoed the very fabric of her thoughts.