"Look outside! Oh my God, it's beautiful here." Jules screamed and pointed out the window.
The RV had now reached a winding mountain road along a cliff. Ahead lay the entrance to a hairpin tunnel, with its exit on the opposite side of the cliff and a canyon a full hundred meters deep in between.
All along the way, there had been secondary forest made up of beeches and other tall deciduous trees. Though lush and green, it became monotonous and dull after a while.
The suddenly expansive view felt refreshing, and the corners of Nick's mouth lifted slightly-not because of the scenery, but because he remembered the leisurely days when he and Dahlia had been on opposite sides of the Canyon.
He had found it rather boring then, but looking back now, he felt a little nostalgic. Wasn't a life far from the bustle of the world, with nothing to do all day, a kind of happiness too?
"Slow down." At Nick's reminder, Kurt reduced their speed again, switched on the headlights, and drove slowly into the pitch-black tunnel.
The tunnel wasn't long, just a broad bend stretching a few dozen meters, but after they emerged, a strange sensation slowly wiped the smile from Nick's face.
It was hard to describe. If he had previously felt only one or two gazes secretly watching their group, that sense of surveillance had now become a voyeuristic scrutiny from every angle, without a single blind spot. It even gave him the illusion that he wasn't wearing any clothes.
Just like Jim Carrey in "The Truman Show," who finally realized something was wrong and instinctively wanted to escape that enormous studio at all costs, Nick now felt an urge to snatch the steering wheel from Kurt and drive away.
But he knew very