Unexpectedly, we were outside in the street again. Just me and Marcus this time, hand in hand. Livia was nowhere to be seen.

I looked at the beautiful mosaic representing a ferocious black dog on the facade of their house, admiring the work of the ancient artist. It was a very clever trick, putting a scary image like this on one's house, to scare off the potential thieves. Just like the idea of making few, or no windows at all, facing a busy town road.

The ground shook more violently than ever before, but still, none of the people walking by us paid any attention to it. They just went on happily with their daily business.

Only the animals seemed to be getting increasingly nervous-- the horses pulling carts would stop suddenly, refusing to go on, the dogs never ceased barking. I looked at Marcus, my eyes filled with questions I wasn't sure I could ask. Silently, he pulled me a bit closer and pointed at Mount Vesuvius.
A large, strangely shaped cloud formed at its top, partly obscuring the sun.

"This is it," he said, "it's starting. But don't be scared, Jenny, we are here, but not quite... not really. This is Livia's vision; nothing will happen to you. Just watch."

As on cue, the ground shook violently, scattering a few loose roof tiles around us.
This, finally, got the attention of some of the citizens who turned towards the mountain suspiciously. Soon, a few small explosions followed, causing some more minor damage. Both the air around us, and the water running down the road under our feet, seemed to acquire a strange odour, like... sulfur gasses.

Then it happened. The deadly mountain erupted, sending a tall, mushroom cloud high in the sky. It covered the sun completely-- it was getting dark really fast. Thousands of very light pumice rocks rained on us and the town, covering it partially in what seemed mere minutes to me.

There was a confused commotion around, some people seemed to have changed their minds and were leaving quickly, closing the shutters and locking their homes carefully as if they were sure that they would be back soon. For a while it looked as if it was all over, but then the midday turned into night. I couldn't see Marcus next to me, just felt his hand holding mine tightly.

The people in the streets around us were calling each other, crying, screaming...
The following violent tremors caused the first buildings to collapse. The air was filled with unearthly noises of the exploding mountain and the falling houses. Suddenly, the dark sky was alight and ablaze with millions of flying, burning rocks that looked like falling stars. If it all wasn't so horrifying, it would have been magnificent.

Ash followed, and cinders, burying the town like snow. The people were not screaming anymore, they were trapped in their homes, under layers of volcanic material. The only sound was coming from the mountain. Large fragments of rock rolled down its side, sliding towards the shore. More violent concussions followed, and Vesuvius seemed to explode in flames.

The roofs were collapsing fast under the weight of the volcanic rocks that had rained on them. The last silent, muffled calls were dying. The volcano's eruption reached its peak, sending a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock towards the sea shore. The second deadly flow, a river of hot ashes and volcanic debris spreading like a flood, was descending towards us. We saw it flowing down the mountainside in our direction, approaching fast...

"Jenny, you must leave now." I heard Livia's urgent voice. "Quick!"

Marcus let go of my hand and I lost him, I couldn't see him anywhere.

"Livia!" I called, "Marcus!"

"Jenny!" I heard Marcus calling me.

When I recovered my senses I was lying outside the museum on the ground, in the shadow of an ancient pine tree. Marcus' face was hovering above me, filling my entire field of vision, his eyes as blue and sparkly as the Italian summer sky. He looked worried.

Raising my head curiously, I noticed that there were no clouds of ash filling the streets of Pompeii now, no sounds of the explosion and the collapsing roofs. 

"Marcus," I whispered.

"Jenny," he replied gently and smiled, adding, "so you do remember my name. I had a feeling that yesterday you didn't pay any attention to me."

What is he talking about? I wondered silently. After all that we have just been through together...

I raised myself into a sitting position, coming face to face with Marcus. Being so close to him made me notice the subtle differences. This wasn't Marcus, the Roman, but Marcus, the Londoner.
Oh he was so attractive, a perfect copy of the original. But which one was the original? It was all very confusing.

To hide my embarrassment
I reached behind me, touching the soft fabric that was folded under my head.
It was of the most beautiful red hue-- the pompeian red. It belonged to Livia. I reached inside my bag and noticed that my book was missing. Another exchange, I thought, smiling.

I looked back at Marcus, asking, "What has just happened? How come you are here?"

"Well, Ian and I have just arrived in time to see you faint in the museum. I carried you out here, Laura and Ian don't really need my company," Marcus explained, a smile playing on his lips. "We wanted to invite you girls to join us tomorrow. We plan to go for a trip to Mount Vesuvius. But seeing what the Italian heat does to you, maybe we should change plans and go to the beach instead. Take that as advice from a future doctor," he teased.

"Thanks so much, Marcus, but it wasn't the heat to make me feel unwell, it was the people...'' I shuddered, remembering the concrete corpses, paused for eternity in the moment of their death. "They look so familiar, as if I knew them..."

Marcus was studying me with growing interest. After a short while he asked, "So the trip tomorrow..."

"...is on." I finished his sentence.

His agreeing smile made my stomach explode into a cloud of fluttering butterflies.

A soft laughter echoed through the ruins just then, and I could imagine Livia and Marcus standing hidden in the shadows, disappearing into a cloud of purple smoke, redolent of sage and lavender.

Hopefully, one day I would meet them again-- I already missed my friends Marcus and Livia of Pompeii, the adventurous, time-travelling sibyl.