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I turned off the hotel alarm and then unlocked the front door. Leaving to get groceries felt strange, but that trip was during a designated time when people were allowed to go out to get food. This time it felt like we were crossing an imaginary boundary. Prisoners who were stepping out of their cells.
I closed the door and locked it behind us, and then we hurried across the plaza in the darkness.
“It feels weird being out,” Molly whispered behind her mask.
“I know what you mean.”
“This is the first time I’ve left the hotel since the lockdown started,” she said.
I held her hand. “Relax. I’m here with you.”
Molly clung to my hand as we exited the plaza and walked down a narrow alley. There were small shops and stores on either side, places which should have been bustling at this hour if the plaza were full of tourists, but were dark and deserted now. At the end of the alley we stopped to peek out at the next street. When we were certain the coast was clear we hurried along as quietly as we could.
It only took a few minutes to reach the Colosseum plaza. One minute we were skulking down an alley, and the next minute there was nothing but open ground between us and the ancient Roman structure. A traffic circle wound its way around the Colosseum, but the streets were empty.
Molly’s eyes were round and wide in the moonlight. “It’s so much bigger than I expected.”
“I get that a lot,” I whispered.
She gave me a playful shove.
I caught a glimpse of a light on the other side of the structure, so I pulled us back into the dark alley. Moments later a police officer came around the side of the Colosseum. They were masked, and they were staring at a rectangle of light in front of their face. A cell phone.
The officer kept walking along their patrol, and after forty-five seconds they disappeared around the other side of the Colosseum.
“Okay,” I said, taking Molly’s hand. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” she hissed. “You want to getcloser?”
I pulled her into the street and toward the enormous, hulking arena. We were out in the open, totally exposed by the street lamps illuminating everything. If any other police officer stumbled onto the plaza it would be impossible for them to miss us. I tensed as we ran along, waiting to hear a police whistle or siren cut through the night.
But fortune was on our side, and we reached the first barrier of the Colosseum without anyone seeing us. The outer facade loomed above us, three levels of curving arches and a solid top section. From this angle I couldn’t see any of the gaps or damaged parts of the structure. It looked totally intact. I could use my imagination and pretend we were actually back in ancient Rome.
“Okay,” Molly whispered. “This is impressive. I’m glad we got this close!”
I examined the fencing. It was a temporary barrier ten feet tall, and comprised of interlocking metal sections. I approached the place where two sections connected together.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Looking for a way in.” I lifted the metal an inch off the ground. There was a hook where the section locked into the other one. If I could raise it high enough…
“We can’t go in!” Molly hissed.
“I didn’t come halfway around the world just to miss out,” I insisted as I raised the barrier. Just a little bit higher…
The hook slipped out of the metal barrier. I pushed it inward, then lowered it to the ground. Now there was a gap. I slipped through and then beckoned Molly along.
She hesitated, then followed. I slowly pushed the fence section back into place. The hook wasn’t connecting it to the other barrier, but nobody would notice unless they came close.
I gazed around the area. We were underneath one of the lower arches of the Colosseum’s base. A tunnel led deeper into the structure, with felt ropes marking where tours were allowed to go and where they were prohibited.
“See?” I said. “We’re in the normal walking area. We won’t go in the areas where we could damage any of the—”
I cut off as I heard footsteps outside. Molly and I ducked under the arch and pressed ourselves flat against the stone. She looked up at me with confusion. Had I actually heard something, or was it my imagination? I was probably jumpy because of what we were doing. That’s all.
Seconds later, the policeman walked into our view.
I held my breath. We were veiled in darkness, but there was nothing between us and the barrier. If the officer had heard something and took a closer look with his flashlight…
