by Ryan Sova
After a slight pause, Detective Grant continued, “I’m happy for you Garry. Maybe this is finally the end of your night terrors and visions. I hope it is at least. After all you have been through, you more than anyone deserve some peace in your life. Oh, and don’t worry about us at the precinct, the police department functioned perfectly fine before you came along and it will function fine now. Now, if you have nothing else for me, I will let you go about your day. Goodbye.”
With that, the phone call ended. Garry stood pondering Detective Grant's comment about his dream. Could it be true? Could the night terrors and visions finally be coming to an end? Garry didn’t have time to reflect on it anymore, though. He was going to be late for work if he didn’t hurry.
That day of work passed by as normal as any other day. When the night came Garry prepared himself for bed. He wondered what was going to happen tonight. Am I going to have another dream about Nephal? All the dreams that Garry had ever had before last night fit into two categories. A dream that disappeared from his memory the moment he woke up, or a horrible vision that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Last night was neither of those two categories. It wasn’t horrible or frightening in any way. It was actually peaceful and serene, a place that Garry realized he would not mind returning to again. Every detail of this vision was still vivid in his mind, just like the visions that would usually haunt him at night. But rather than being some terrible real-life event, it was just some fantasy playing out in Garry’s mind. Even with this knowledge though, Garry could not get past how real the vision seemed in his mind.
Garry woke up the next morning and a smile came to his face. His dream of a farmer’s life had continued that night just as it had the previous night. His day was spent plowing the fallow field with his new farm hand Eliak in preparation for next year’s sowing. They had made good progress throughout the day, but they still had a full day of work ahead of them tomorrow. They utilized a four oxen team to drive the plow. Nephal drove the oxen while Eliak operated the plow. The boy had a good strong work ethic and was knowledgeable at farming techniques.
Nephal had managed to learn some more about Eliak throughout the day while working with him. His mother and his youngest brother were here with him in town. They had rented a small room at the local inn with the money they brought with them from their home. They did not have much money though and would have been homeless by the end of the week had it not been for Nephal’s farm.
Eliak’s youngest brother was just old enough to have been weaned from his mother’s breast and, as such, was still in need of constant supervision from his mother. Food had been scarce for Eliak and his family on his journey to town and the family did not have any money to buy any food. Nephal promised to offer some food from his farm to help Eliak and his family.
He told Eliak that, “You’re part of our family now and we take care of our own.”
Eliak’s other brother Fargh decided not to leave their old hometown when the evacuation order came. He was only a year younger than Eliak and was a very strong and capable young man also. When the soldiers came to evacuate the town’s folk, he offered to join up with the army rather than leave his home. While there was certainly no guarantee that he would be staying in his hometown for any real length of time, he thought that joining the army was a better solution for him than to run away inland.
“At least this way I can be part of the solution to whatever this crisis is,” Fargh told Eliak before they parted.
Garry lay in bed not wanting to leave this new fantasy world. At least I don’t have to go to work for another several hours, Garry told himself. But Garry could not help but feel that his new dream life was more interesting than his real life. Unfortunately, Garry was not tired enough to return to his dream life, so he was going to have to find some way of entertaining himself in the real world.
Garry turned on the television hoping to find some way to occupy his time. In spite of his best efforts, though, the morning passed by very slowly. He could not seem to find anything on the television that held any interest for him. The only thing it seemed that Garry had any interest in nowadays was Nephal, Eliak, and the farm. Garry wished more than anything for night to come so that he could leave his boring existence and spend another day at the farm.
After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time for Garry to start getting ready for work. He followed his same usual routine and was soon off for yet another day of work.
The day passed by normally until a familiar chill went down Garry’s spine. With as many times as Garry had encountered Dalen Strong, he might have expected to be used to this type of fear by now. But no matter how many times he encountered this strange fear, he could not help but go into a panic and it would take every bit of effort and wits that he had just to remain calm. Garry braced himself for the encounter and reluctantly prepared to greet the man, but in spite of all of his preparation, he was not at all prepared for what he was about to face.
Garry let out a shriek and yelled, “GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” for the whole store to hear.
The twelve-year-old girl that had just approached Garry’s register had a confused look on her face. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked still puzzled.
The girl’s mother hurriedly approached the register after overhearing the commotion with her daughter. She was noticeably angry and spoke in a loud voice saying, “IS THERE A PROBLEM HERE!”
Without thinking, Garry had already moved several paces away from his register and was now in a panicked debate on whether or not he should make a beeline for the closest exit.
“EXCUSE ME, I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!” the child’s mother demanded, now furious.
Amidst the intense fear and horror that this little twelve-year-old girl was generating for Garry, he managed to somehow will himself back to his register. Get back to your register, you idiot! Before you lose your job! Garry said to himself in his mind just before making his way back to his register.
Garry mumbled an excuse as he returned to his register, “I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought that I saw something,” he said apologetically.
The girl’s mother was not impressed. “YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF MY TWELVE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, YOU KNOW THAT! JUST WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!”
Garry carried out his duties to the best of his ability amidst the verbal abuses that he continued to receive from this child’s mother. The mother stayed long after Garry had finished with their groceries and once she was finally done saying her piece to him, she stormed off to talk to his manager.
Garry breathed a sigh of relief that this encounter was finally over, but as he would soon learn, the night was far from over. Garry now had the pleasure of getting strange looks from everyone in the store, including co-workers. Answering questions such as “Are you ok?” and “What was that all about?” But the best part of the night came when he had a one-on-one conversation with his manager who asked him in a not so polite way if he was mentally stable.
Garry was grateful for one thing, though. It at least looked like this nightmare had not cost him his job, but his manager made it very clear to him that such outbursts would not be tolerated ever again. By the time that he made it home, Garry felt like he had taken a severe beating. He did not know how he would be able to face anyone at the store tomorrow, or ever for that matter. He was relieved to be back at his quiet little apartment, hidden away from the rest of the world. He did not look forward to tomorrow, though, and to the thought of exposing himself to the world after showing all of them how much of an idiot he was today.
As Garry was falling to sleep, the events of the day came back to his mind. This was the first time that anyone other than Dalen Strong had generated such a fear in Garry. What could all of this possibly mean, he wondered? A man in his mid-thirties and a girl in her early teens? What could possibly be the connection between these two?
Of all the questions he had though, the biggest question Garry had on his mind
was this. How many more people were there like this, people that could terrify me for absolutely no reason?
CHAPTER 5
The next two weeks for Garry were hard. He had to live with a daily reminder every time that he went to work of the meltdown he had with some twelve-year-old girl. This reminder would come in the strange looks that he would get from coworkers and customers alike, quiet whispered conversations people had about him, and the sudden drop of customers he had at his register. Garry had frequently observed customers choosing to wait in lines that were at least twice as long as at his register just to avoid facing the crazy man at register eight. Garry was also well aware of the fact that he was on thin ice with his supervision at work and one more slip-up would be the end of his ten-year employment with the store. He was convinced that his long history with the store was the only thing that saved him from being immediately let go after his meltdown two weeks ago.
Over the past two weeks, Garry had received another visit from Dalen Strong and two new people who gave him that same horror feeling. This brought the creepy person tally up to four people now. Through considerable effort on his own part, Garry had managed to remain calm throughout all of these visits. He knew that he could not afford to have another meltdown and was desperate to remain in full control of his actions.
Garry had not seen the strange twelve-year-old girl again, though. He was quite sure that her mother would never set foot in that store ever again after what had happened.
Garry’s dream world had also continued. Nephal and Eliak had finished their work with plowing the fallow field, at least for now. Farmers would usually plow their fields twice throughout the year to prepare them for the next year’s harvest. This left them with the unpleasant task of fertilizing the active field prior to sowing. Fortunately, only half of the field needed fertilizing, the other half already had crops from the fall sowing growing in it.
Jestal and Gabriel worked tirelessly throughout the year to collect all of the animal feces that Nephal’s livestock produced. They would shovel this manure up and store it in a large stable yard that was located behind the barn.
The stable yard had four wooden poles forming a square around it. The poles held up a wooden roof that served as a barrier keeping the elements away from this fertilizer. The yard was about sixty feet wide and had a stone wall surrounding it that was only a few inches tall (to prevent the field from flooding when it rained). The manure was placed into the yard evenly (not heaped into a pile, as this would cause the manure to ferment and lose its value as a fertilizer). Oxen and horses would be brought through this yard daily to trample and compact the manure.
Nephal and Eliak brought several metal buckets to the stable yard and filled them with manure. This manure was mixed with marl (a clay-like substance rich in nutrients that was previously applied to the stable yard in a thick layer to prevent the manure’s nutrients from being leached into the ground). Spreading the fertilizer was a long and tedious task. Even with both Nephal and Eliak working together, the progress that they made was slow. The smell was absolutely horrible as well. Garry would sometimes feel like he could smell it on his clothing or his hands throughout the day while he was awake.
Eliak had received some exciting news two days ago. He had spoken with a traveling merchant at the local inn that day just after finishing his work on the farm. The merchant had encountered a small detachment of soldiers heading back from the Borderlands, now evacuated by the king's decree. They were carrying a prisoner with them and would be arriving in town within three days.
What had Eliak excited though was who one of the soldiers in this detachment was, his brother Fargh. Nephal was also excited about this news. He would finally get the chance to meet Eliak’s brother and he might even get some more insight into the current affairs of the kingdom. Specifically, the reason why the Borderlands have been evacuated.
Garry was almost done with his shift at work. This was a Friday night so Garry was looking forward to another weekend away from people. Work was starting to get a little better. People were getting over the initial shock of what happened and gradually started acting normal towards him again. That still didn’t cure him of the embarrassment that he felt every day going to work and facing the people who saw him having his meltdown, though.
Once Garry reached his apartment, he anxiously started preparing himself for bed. This type of behavior was so much different for him than the way he was just a few months ago. He used to fear sleep. He would stay up for hours, many times even days, not wanting to know what his dreams were going to show him. That was not the case anymore. His dream life had become peaceful and very interesting. Yes, the work was hard and the smells he had been dealing with lately were pretty bad, but it was so much better than the horrors that he was used to facing in his dreams.
Nowadays the horrors that Garry faced occurred only while he was awake. Every day it seemed like more and more people gave Garry the creeps for absolutely no reason. It felt like the disease in Garry’s brain that was causing these terrors had suddenly moved from his subconscious to his conscious mind. Garry had just finished preparing himself for bed when his phone rang. He picked up his phone to see who was calling him. It was Detective Grant.
“Garry, I hope that I didn’t wake you,” Detective Grant stated.
“No you didn’t, how can I help you,” Garry replied.
“We have another case that I am hoping you might be able to help us with,” Detective Grant said.
“I would be happy to. When can I expect a visitor?” Garry replied.
“Soon. Officer Sanders should be on his way over right now. When he gets to you, he will fill you in on all of the details of the case,” Detective Grant said.
“Ok, thank you for the heads up,” Garry said.
“Anytime Garry. I guess we will see now if your visions have truly been replaced by this farm that you keep dreaming about,” Detective Grant said.
“I was wondering the same thing myself,” Garry commented.
“Take care and I will talk to you later,” Detective Grant said just prior to hanging up.
After the conversation ended, Garry started feeling the same familiar fear that he had always felt every time that a new case began. He wasn’t sure which dream he would be facing tonight, though, life on the farm, or the horrors that he was used to facing every time that a new case opened. He stood paralyzed for a moment taking in everything that was now happening. He realized that he might now be facing a horror while he was awake and also while he was sleeping. He didn’t know if he would be able to face all of that without having another meltdown at work. At least it is Friday, Garry thought. He hoped that he could drink himself to sleep before the weekend was over, and thus be over the visions that this new case would bring before work starts again on Monday.
Garry prepared to greet his new visitor. He also prepared himself by getting out his bottle of liquor and getting his glass of water and pills ready. A knock came to Garry’s door. Garry opened the door and let Officer Sanders in.
“Good evening Garry,” Officer Sanders said as the door closed behind him.
“Good evening to you too, Officer Sanders,” Garry responded.
“Let me explain what we know so far. This morning at 9:15 AM we pulled two dead bodies out of the Elizabeth River, Jane Gladice and her son Mathew Gladice. Their car went off of Riverside drive at a high rate of speed sometime last night, hit a dock, went airborne, and overturned in the river. Both occupants drowned,” said Officer Sanders.
“How do we know that it wasn’t just an accident?” Garry asked.
“The car was severely dented on the driver's side and the driver's side mirror was also ripped off. We found the car's mirror lying in the road just a few feet from where the accident took place. This suggests to us that this incident was no accident. Someone deliberately ran that car off the road,” Officer Sanders said.
“Were there any witnesses?” Garry asked.
“A couple of p
eople in the local neighborhood reported hearing what sounded like two cars street racing at about 2:30 AM that morning. But other than that, there were no witnesses. Here are the pictures that were taken at the crime scene and the case file. Right now we have no suspects, but it is still early in the investigation,” Officer Sanders said as he handed Garry a large envelope containing the crime scene photos and the case file.
“Thank you. I will take a look at these tonight and give Detective Grant a call in the morning. If the only thing that happened to these people is that they drowned in the river, I shouldn’t be out of commission for too long when I wake up. I will wake up gasping for air but other than that I should be fine. Drowning isn’t a pleasant way to go, but there are certainly worse ways to die than by drowning,” Garry said.
“You’re the man Garry, I am still on duty tonight so I will talk to you later,” Officer Sanders said and then closed the door behind him.
After the door closed, Garry was slightly relieved. Drowning was, by comparison, not such a bad way to die. More important to Garry, though, was the fact that he knew he would not suffer much upon waking up the next morning. This, in and of itself, was a rare gift for him. As he reflected, though, he was not sure which dream it was that he would be facing. Whether he would die in a car accident or spend another day on Nephal’s farm was a mystery to Garry, one that only time would answer.
Garry was a little disappointed, though, that he might not get to meet Eliak’s brother Fargh. He knew that according to the traveling merchant, the detachment of soldiers should be arriving in town tonight in Garry’s dreams. Garry hoped that this particular dream would wait for him to finish his police work tonight and come to him tomorrow night instead.
Garry decided that he was not going to need his bottle of liquor after all. He briefly viewed the pictures that officer Sanders gave him, finished preparing himself for bed and closed his eyes for the night.
****
