The alarm clock sounded without warning, cutting through the tranquil silence of my bedroom. As if a Pavlovian dog, I reached outwardly to find the digital readout loudly displaying 6:00 a.m. With one eye partially open I stared down the clock until my eyelid grew heavy; fresh with the weight of sleep. I laid there drifting back into slumber; my hand still gripping the night stand, while my fading thoughts combated the argument of exactly what day of the week it was. Slowly I drifted back into dream state as I forgot about the alarms interruption of my peaceful rest; my arm now hanging from the side of the bed, my pillow still warm and Lynn
“C’mon feet. Let’s get goin’. Gotta make the door frames.”
Lynn stirred only slightly and repositioned herself within the cradle of deeper sleep causing me to feel jealous of her as I sat watching from the edge of the bed. The atmosphere of our room was heavy with the scent of her skin making it even more difficult to begin my preparation for work. I made my way around our bed guided only by the single hint of morning sunlight that had begun its way through the small hole in our window shade. She looked so peaceful and at ease dreaming there on the pillow that nestled her tasseled hair; I could not help but stop and watch her for only a moment. I nuzzled my nose into her flocks of blonde taking in her smell, and I inhaled her perfumed essence. I settled back onto my feet, placed my hand upon her face above her eyes and basked in her radiance wondering what I had done to deserve such a woman.
The morning ritual proceeded with the usual shower and work related preparation which consisted of drying from the shower, getting dressed, and going to work. As I approached my truck I found that my mind was still on the beautiful woman lying asleep in my bed.
As I reached for the rusted door handle of my truck, a feeling of electrical surge coursed through my arm and seized the base of neck seemingly locking the contours of my brain. My hands clenched into fists driving my fingernails into the palm of my hands as blood billowed from the gashes that were plowed deep into them. My body trembled uncontrollably in a seizure forcing me to the cold concrete driveway below as I lay there helplessly. Thoughts fired through my mind as quickly as the pistons of a racecar bringing to surface memories long since forgotten. Breathing was of immeasurable strain as my chest seemed burdened with the weight of a ton of jagged rock. As quickly as the pain began, it subsided and my world turned to darkness. I did not recognize this as the darkness of night but a blackness of dreams; the emptiness of forget. I could feel the space around me as large and dangerous; uncontrollable. I felt as I had the power to walk within this realm but had no knowledge of where to go or how to move; paralyzed within the confine of my own mind. A voice reached around me as an embrace and spoke.
“Chaser, you are awake.”
“What happened to me?”
“You were awakened, Chaser.”
“Where am I and who are you?”
“You have always known me. I have been calling you.”
“Are you…are you Tonder?”
“I have and have been, Chaser. I am the salvation that you seek and the redemption that man desires. I am the maker and the giver of your wants. I am the answerer of your requests. I am he who commands you, Chaser. ”
“Are you…the Devil?”
“Would you fear me less if I told you I was not?”
“I don’t fear you now. As far as I know I am imagining this whole thing. How do you know who I am? Can you see me?”
“I see you Chaser and you will see me. You have not learned how to see fully as you must. To assist you...”
In this complete darkness two fingers brushed across my eyes as lightly as feathers yet the darkness remained. The eerie presence of the room seemed to cave in upon my chest until I felt that my eyes would burst from their sockets. Struggling to breath I felt as if I would suffocate and collapse in this dark and strange place. My eyes begin to tear as if someone were breathing fire across them and my nose spilled mucus across my open mouth. I thought at that very moment that I may rip away from my body and succumb to insanity. The voice reverberated still.
“You will see as I see. You will see all.”
Darkness washed over me. Darker than the already pitch black space that I occupied. So deep that I felt as though my vision had turned inward to my mind leaving hollow sockets where my eyes had once perched. The pain subsided and I struggled to regain my composer while wiping away mucus and blood from my face.
“What have you done to me? What the Hell is happening?”
My questions stood alone; unanswered and unacknowledged. I felt aimlessly in front of me searching for something definite on which I could lay my hands. Even the floor that I supposed to stand upon seemed not to exist, but my feet seemingly found solid ground beneath them with each attempted step. I moved cautiously before jerking to a halt, alarmed by the coming sound.
Distant footsteps could be heard approaching me rhythmically as if a snare drum was stretched to its limit and gently rapped with bone. The steps approached me slowly, steadily; growing louder until an outline introduced itself to the darkness. It was a vague figure cloaked in black and melded to the darkness except for traces of light that lay down across its bald head and downward to its sunken shoulders. Closer it moved until details of its face could be seen as the light from above cast shadows across the lower features of its jaw. It was devoid of color except for the pale blue almost glowing quality of its skin that gave me the thought of a vampire like creature. It suspended with a floating ease and appeared only to move in a forward direction toward me accompanied by the drum-like footsteps that now sounded gated; as a recorded sound played in reverse. It stood before me within a few feet of my face and made no expression but held a monotonous presence of fear. I spoke to it, now frightened and reluctant.
“What are you?”
“The question, Chaser: What are we?”
“We are nothing! I am just a man that has been sucked into some sort of a delusion and you are a figment of it all! I am waking up right now and you don’t exist!”
“As you wish, but know: You will see. You will see and do for me. Do for me Chaser, it is your destiny.”
As it spoke these words a blast was shot through my body and again darkness engulfed me. I felt as though I was falling a great distance and my heart pounded with an increasing rhythm. Once again there was a sudden, immediate quiet. I laid on my back in the blackness. With sensation slowly coming back to my body and the deceiving kiss of pain about me, I was alone and scared as an overwhelming sleep rushed over me as a tidal wave. As I drifted, the creature’s words played over in my ears like a needle upon a scratched record.
“You will see and do for me. Do for me Chaser, it is your destiny. It is your destiny.”
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