by BOLA ILUMOKA
On Saturday night that weekend, he decided the best way he could relax and take his mind off recent events was by doing what he loved most - looking at the stars. It helped him relax and soothed his nerves whenever he was tensed up. It was barely a few minutes after 7pm. He carefully brought out his advanced telescope from its casing and carefully set it up, making the necessary adjustments. He placed his special comfy chair in front of the telescope and sat comfortably to start making his peeps into the dark night sky. Moments after looking into the telescope he spotted a large commercial passenger plane. That’s unusual, I’ve never seen any kind of plane in this vicinity or airspace before. He took a closer look at the moving aircraft and followed its movement with the telescope and suddenly there was fiery burst of orange light from one of the wings of the airplane, seconds later the whole airplane exploded and started crashing as a fiery mass from the night sky.
Dennis gaped in horror at the sight of the mid-air disaster. He almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing as he slowly got up from his chair. He stepped back in utter disbelief and tripped over the telescope casing lying on the floor. He broke out with a cold sweat from his living room three-sitter. He immediately realized it was just another bad dream and was instantly relieved. But his relief was short lived when he came to the realization that the air disaster he just dreamt about was most likely to happen and he didn’t know how soon that would be. It could be happening as late as tomorrow or as early as the next few minutes. The prospect of such a disaster with so much loss of life scared the hell out of him.
He looked at the time on his wristwatch, it was 7:20 pm. He was at a cross roads of whether he should report this to the authorities or keep it to himself. He had earlier resolved he would keep these dreams to himself, but the latest dream had just raised the stakes. The burden of so many lives that could be lost or saved was too much for his conscience to bear. He was almost going mental, people would certainly think it was as if he could see the future through his dreams. But he was a scientist, there was no seeming scientific explanation to the phenomena he was experiencing. Everything in the universe had scientific explanations, but not dreams, especially not these kinds of dreams he’d been having lately.
Dennis came to a conclusion, he had to report to the authorities that there was going to be an impending air disaster. But he also decided that he would report it anonymously so that he would not be exposed to ridicule if eventually the air disaster did not happen. It also occurred to him that if the disaster did come to pass, he could eventually be suspected and investigated by the authorities for being complicit in or even causing such a catastrophic event because it would truly be difficult for him to explain how he had gotten prior knowledge of the grievous calamity. If that happened, his family, and his colleagues would find about this and it could even be leaked to the media. He just wasn’t about to put himself through such emotional trauma that would eventually terminate his budding career prematurely.
At just a few minutes to 8 pm, he drove out in his ford escort to a pay phone across town and very far from his home.
He entered the pay phone and dialled the number he had picked from the FAA website.
“Office of Security, FAA, this is Fiona speaking, how can I help you?” asked the soft female voice.
“Can I report air security issues here?” he asked nervously. He didn’t want to call it sabotage.
“Yes please, how may I help you?”
“I would like to report an air disaster.”
“Excuse me?”
Dennis noticed that the tone of her voice changed and it became extra alert. He could imagine her sitting upright adjusting her sitting position. “I said I would like to report a disaster.”
“When and where did this happen?”
“It hasn’t happened yet, but I think it’s going to happen.”
“Are you reporting an imminent terrorist threat?”
Dennis could see where this was going. “No, no, no, this isn’t a terrorist threat, I had a dream see, that it’s going to happen.” Did I just say that? “I saw a passenger plane have one of its engines catch fire, then seconds later the whole plane burst into flames crashing down from the sky like a falling meteorite.”
“And where did you say you got this information from?”
Dennis felt awkward and ridiculous, but he forged ahead. Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m saying this. “I saw it in my dream, you have got to believe me, and it’s going to happen. You need to stop that plane from flying. It’s a North American Standard airlines domestic flight. It happens over Primford, Maryland, I guess.”
“Is this supposed to be a joke?” The operator was obviously getting irritated. “This is a hot line dedicated for reporting critical air issues and you choose this time of the night to play a prank?” She had raised her voice already.
“Please, this is not a prank.” Dennis pleaded. “It’s very-”
The operator cut him short “Please, if you don’t have anything meaningful to report, I will have to end this conversation now to give room for more serious callers on the queue. Have a good night.” Then she terminated the call.
Dennis was flabbergasted to say the least as his mouth was left ajar in disbelief. He was momentarily confused on what the next line of action should be. He felt deflated and useless. On his drive back home he consoled himself that the disaster might never come to pass and it would have practically been a waste of tax payers’ money if the authorities had gone around investigating a potential air disaster based on just a mere dream, probably a mere figment of his imagination. But who was he kidding, Dennis was sore afraid of hearing that there might eventually be an air disaster. He prayed in his heart that it should not happen. He got home that night and scanned all the news channels for any breaking news, but there was none. He kept vigil at his telescope peering into the night sky periodically after taking coffee to keep himself awake, but there was nothing, not even a bird flew by. When it was 2:00 am the coffee had become ineffective and he struggled to keep himself awake. He succumbed to Mother Nature and decided to go to bed.
Chapter 3
Throughout the remainder of the weekend Dennis was alert, and very wary of hearing bad news, but none came. He was beginning to have doubts about the authenticity of the dream he had and was beginning to consider that maybe it was just a figment of his heightened imagination. In the new week he was initially tensed up but by Friday all his worries had gone and he had concluded within himself that it was just his imagination. He also didn’t have any worrisome dreams since the last one which made him doubt whether he had any dream the previous Saturday. He felt quite relieved within himself and he was beginning to be happy again.
On Saturday evening, he drove to a spot in Primford where he joined other astronomy lovers once a month to view the skies with their telescopes. The group was a mixture of amateur, professional and scientific stargazers. They all had one thing in common, the love for the stars. Dennis noticed that there was also a few in the group, who were not only fascinated with the stars, but also crazy about the idea of extra-terrestrial life. Dennis naturally kept a safe distance from such geeks. He didn’t think it was safe to be around such people, he believed that such people would eventually become paranoid or extremely delusional by the time they were overrun with alien conspiracies. Anyway, that was his personal opinion, anybody could do whatever they liked as long as it doesn’t negatively affect the next person or so he thought.
As soon as he arrived there, he got some good patch of space on the open park ground and began setting up his telescope equipment. There were quite a few people there by the time he got there. Some were huddled together in groups while some were on their own. He naturally preferred to be on his own. It was quite dark already, it was just a few minutes after the hour of seven. After about 10 minutes, he was almost finished with his telescope set up, he was just connecting his laptop to the telescope, when he heard screams and shouts. The crowd on the field had doubled by t
hen.
He looked around and noticed larger groups who were more closely huddled around telescopes viewing images from their laptops and there were loud shrieks from women, while others sounded excited. Dennis wondered what that could be all about, and contrary to his usual self he left what he was doing ran over to the closest group to find out what the fuss was all about. As he moved closer, he could he hear a group of three mentioning something about aliens or extra-terrestrials.
Here we go again, geeks he thought. But that didn’t turn him back, he still needed to see the images, he knew there would be a perfectly logical explanation for whatever they were seeing, and it certainly wasn’t going to be any alien invasion. He was able to make his way through the flabbergasted crowd and saw what he least expected. His body froze on seeing the fiery image similar to a falling great ball of fire. A great ball of fire he was very familiar with, the very same ball of fire he had seen in his dream a week earlier. He could see images of the dream flashing right before him.
Oh God, noooo!
While everyone was shouting meteors or aliens, he knew what was really happening. His body broke out in a cold sweat. He turned around and jogged back to his telescope equipment as he felt for the inhaler in his pocket. In ten minutes he was packed and he was on his way home.
He didn’t know how he drove home, it was a miracle that he even got home in one piece. When he entered his apartment, his hands were shaking and he couldn’t keep them steady. He curled up into his bed terrified at the recent manifestation of his most nightmarish dream yet. He didn’t have the courage to watch the evening news. He wondered how the FAA and the lady who answered him would be feeling. In all his life, this was the first challenge he had in his science and academic life that he didn’t have a logical explanation for.
In the following 24 hours he was able to resist sleep due to a combination of strong stimulants and sheer will power. But eventually, Mother Nature caught up with him. He struggled intensely with his body, trying to prevent sleep. He didn’t want to see any more of those bad dreams, but he just couldn’t help himself. He staggered round his home while using the walls and furniture as support as he struggled to stay on his feet, but it was to no avail, he finally succumbed to his body’s desire to sleep as he slumped onto his settee.
Dennis had another dream, but this dream was different, he was totally lucid. Dennis knew he was dreaming. He didn’t understand it, but he knew he was dreaming, he was completely conscious and aware of the fact that he was dreaming!
“Amazing” he said out. “I’m dreaming and I know I’m dreaming.” He looked at his hands and arms touching himself to confirm that he was real and that he was flesh and blood. He wondered what would happen if he pinched himself, would he wake up? He went ahead to pinch himself, he was surprised to find that he felt a tiny bit of pain. He had half expected to not feel any pain at all.
He observed that he was sitting on his two-seater settee in his apartment, he also noticed that everything seemed so eerily calm, he couldn’t understand it but he felt very uneasy, in fact he felt scared. He had never felt this kind of fear before. His initial amazement gave way for fear with each passing moment. It was as if the fear was sentient or personified and it was approaching his position and that it would appear at any moment.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging on his apartment door. Dennis was terrified by the banging, but didn’t know why, and it seemed as if the fear had almost enveloped him.
“Who is it?” he managed to ask. This dream reminded him of the other dream about the woman that was killed in the building over two weeks ago.
“Open the door!” yelled the knocker.
“What do you want?” whimpered Dennis, he noticed he was perspiring in the dream, which seemed completely illogical.
“I have a message for you!” Then the banging became louder and more frequent.
Despite his fear, Dennis was curious. Who could have a message for me in my own dream? He thought. He got up a bit cautiously and opened the door.
In the door way stood a white man dressed in black wearing black shades. Dennis recognised him from his dream about the killed school children. His hands were linked behind his back. “You are Dennis?” the man asked.
Dennis nodded without uttering a word.
“May I come in?” he asked in a smooth velvety kind of voice.
Dennis felt compelled to allow him in, it’s like he didn’t have a choice as he stepped back and gestured with his right hand for him to enter. He comforted himself that he had no reason to be afraid since it was just a dream and there would be no harm in letting a complete stranger in. Dennis followed as the guest made his way into the living room. The fear that Dennis felt had briefly subsided, but he didn’t know why he still felt so uneasy around his guest.
“I’ve seen you before, haven’t I?” Dennis asked.
The stranger didn’t bother to deny it. “Yes, from the school bus incident.”
“You said you have a message for me, what and from whom?”
The guest smiled darkly. “It is of no concern to you, who sent me, what is more important is the content of my message. My kind and more importantly those whom we serve have noticed and somewhat observed you and find that you have chosen to meddle in matters that do not concern you. We find that you might prove to be a thorn in our flesh in the somewhat near future and we will have none of that.”
Dennis chuckled. “I don’t know what you are talking about mister and neither do I care?” Dennis decided that he could behave anyway he wanted since it was his dream. “So, what do you want to do about it?” Dennis asked spreading his hands.
The guest tilted his head slightly to the right and smiled darkly again. “You have no idea do you?”
“No I don’t” retorted Dennis shaking his head. He was getting bolder. This is my dream and I get to do what I want.
“My name is Nero.”
“How are you doing Nero?” Dennis greeted sarcastically.
“You could call me Nero, but to most, I’m known as The Executioner and I’ve been sent here to terminate you, by the way this isn’t only your dream and yes, I can read your thoughts because they are so loud.” He began to chuckle wickedly. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
“What?” Dennis whispered. “What do you mean this isn’t only my dream?”
Nero ignored Dennis’s last question. He opened his black gloved right hand as if waiting for something to be dropped in his hand. Immediately a glowing red double handed battle axe appeared in his right hand.
The axe seemed to be emitting simmering heat. Surprisingly to Dennis, he could feel the heat even from that distance and it caused him considerable pain. Suddenly, Dennis became afraid again.
Nero stretched out his left hand open palmed, immediately a force lifted Dennis off the ground and was thrust swiftly into Nero’s left hand by his neck. Dennis found it hard to breathe as he choked on Nero’s grasp. Nero slowly raised up the axe in his right hand and rubbed the sharp edge against Dennis’s face as it burned his flesh.
Dennis shook and screamed in agony and terror. The pain was indescribable. He had never felt such pain in his life. Nero the sadist revelled in Dennis’s agony. After he was adequately amused, he effortlessly flung Dennis back the full length of the room like a rag doll. Dennis’s back met the wall with such a force that the wall was shattered. Dennis was in so much pain and too weak to utter a sound, he could only look at his assailant.
Nero rushed at Dennis with super human speed across the room with his feet first ramming straight into Dennis’s stomach. The force of the thrust was so much that Dennis was forced through the wall and out of the building from his top floor apartment onto the ground. Moments later Nero landed on his feet right next to Dennis.
“Please.” Dennis could only whisper. “Please don’t hurt me anymore, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.” I wish this dream would end.
“I thought you believed this was your dream, I thought you believed you c
ould do anything?” Nero mocked him. “It’s time for me to end this play.” Nero dragged him by the collar and placed his neck over a pavement. He intended to behead him. All this while, Nero was whistling happily to himself. When Nero had set Dennis’s neck properly, he raised the battle axe up with the intent of chopping off his head swiftly.
“Say your last prayers.” Nero said. As Nero began to lower the axe a sudden beam of pure white light landed on Nero’s chest and thrust him into the apartment building causing the whole building to be levelled instantaneously.
Dennis withering in pain and fear managed to sit up and saw a man wearing a white suite carrying a silver sword that had smoke coming off the tip of the sword. Dennis deduced that the white beam of light must have come from the tip of the sword.
The man in white pointed to him. “Dreamer, what are you doing here, you are not ready yet.” The man had a strong British accent.
“What?” Dennis groaned. “What are you talking about?”
“I have been sent here to fight on your behalf. You are now under my protection.” Immediately a gold symbol appeared on the forehead of Dennis and faded away. “And this battle is now mine.”
The earth began to quake as The Executioner rose out from the levelled building. As he stood up he whistled as if calling on someone or something and behind him appeared six of the most vicious looking hounds that Dennis had ever seen. They had deep red glowing eyes with acid for saliva as it dribbled and began eat away at the rubble on the ground. Nero The Executioner motioned the hounds and immediately they charged at the white stranger with horrendous speed.
Dennis looked on in horror and struggled to rise to his feet writhing in pain. He could see Nero making a charge for him and he was terrified.
