Awake
And seeking reality
Chapter 1
Claire wraps her arm around my waist and I notice Jeff giving me a warning look. She then pushes me away laughing, “In the dream silly!”
Josh and Lisa walk over closer, Josh putting his arm on Jeff’s shoulder, “You know what’s up with her?” Jeff just shakes his head.
Running water sounds come from the house; it looks like a candle is burning in one of the rooms but the others don’t take notice.
Suddenly, Lisa slaps Claire across the face, “I didn’t blind date you with a stranger, that’s my brother your insulting!” Claire does not respond.
The candlelight in the house seems to intensify but still, the others do not take notice.
Jeff walks towards me. “Chase have you met Claire?”
“No Sir.” I’m not really lying since we’ve never physically met before.
The sound of water and china crashing fades while the erratic light behavior diminishes and then disappears altogether. I look around and realize I may be the only one experiencing it.
Claire brushes past Lisa standing between Jeff and me. Her right cheek looks a bright red even in the golden firelight.
“Now Chase honey, you’re not being totally honest, are you my sweet?”
A female laugh emits from the house and we all turn expecting to see someone standing in front of it. I have a moment of confirmation I am not losing my mind as this time everyone has reacted.
Slowly everyone’s eyes make their way back to me. Claire gets wobbly, her legs give out, and she begins to fall but Jeff catches her.
Both sit down slowly, Jeff is obviously concerned for her welfare and begins asking her the last time she had a drink or ate something.
The house calls my name but only I seem to hear it.
Lisa walks past them and stands directly in front of me. “You were saying? Look we’ve never met before, end of story.”
I go back to my original spot near the fire pit and sit down hoping the questions have ended.
Josh joins me and offers “Sorry man, bet you wish we never showed up.” Then sits down beside me. “This is some crazy shit here in this place. Hey is someone living in that shack?”
I look over at him and notice a pair of glowing green eyes deep in the foliage behind him. I tap him and point my head to get him to look.
“Chase, do they have Jaguar here?”
I shake my head no and when I look back, the eyes are gone. “No one is living in that house and I highly doubt the presence of a panther.”
“Then what the hell was that?” Josh looks shaken, but also somewhat entertained over the matter. His reaction makes me uneasy as I see no reason or place for a smile.
“I have no idea, but the eyes have me as uncomfortable as this drama playing out.”
Jeff looks over and gives me a dirty look, while Lisa bends over him and Claire. “I’m sorry Claire, I don’t know what got into me.” Jeff continues to look my way.
Claire is still failing to react or respond to anything.
I turn to Josh “Hey has she been acting odd like this all night?”
“You mean Claire? Yeah, she’s been off her game and running Jeff in circles. Right before we heard you scream he told me he thought his sister had made an error in judgment.”
“Then why the overreaction when she whispered to me?”
“Haven’t the foggiest, the three of them have been in left field ever since we got here this morning.”
The light in the house seems to flicker as if a sign of laughter and delight, or an indication Josh is being less than honest.
Claire stands up, turns, and makes a beeline for the house.
Josh and I stand and get in her path before she can progress.
We all hear what sounds like breaking dishes coming from inside the house. Josh looks over at me with raised eyebrows, “You sure?”
“Lisa, can you keep an eye on things?” Josh stands beside Claire and points to her behind her back.
We hear little girls giggling in the forest but we can’t tell where it is coming from, it sounds like it is all around us and they are running past, but we see nothing. We all stand frozen befuddled and unsure of what to do.
“See I told you this would be a kick.” Lisa looks at each of us she realizes we don’t share in her enthusiasm. She walks over and stands on the other side of Claire.
I am frustrated with her attitude. “This isn’t a circus, a movie theater, or a place for entertainment. This was someone’s home!”
“We should investigate the sounds,” Jeff talks over me as he walks over to Josh, Lisa, and Claire.
“You may do as you like, but I’m staying near the fire for the night.” I return to my place by the pit and sit down.”
“Hey, it’s OK to be frightened.” Jeff smiles obviously taking a verbal swing at me.
I arrange my backpack best I can as a pillow and lay back on the lumpiness.
Claire breaks her silence. “That is exactly what it wants, divide and conquer.” She walks over and sits beside me smirking. I take note of her out-of-place smile. Again I get the twinge in my stomach that something is off.
Josh, Lisa, and Jeff notice what seems to be candlelight in the corpse-like home for the first time. It does not flicker but pulsates. They all look at each other and then in my direction. Lisa is the first to speak “Have you noticed the light in the house?”
I sit up. “Yes, I’ve seen it, and heard the noises but I am waiting until morning to go in. I suggest you do the same!”
Jeff is next “Why, why wouldn’t you want to investigate while the anomalies occur? Are you afraid of what you might find? Isn’t that why you are here, like the swarms who have come before you?”
Then Josh, “yeah maybe we can document proof of something while it happens.”
“Swarms? you really should get some rest, Jeff. I want to get a good look in the daylight so I know how bad the structure is. I don’t care to fall through the floor or have the roof come down on me. Yes, I have fear, maybe not the type you are thinking of. I’m fearful I may find proof there is a reason the spirits are stuck here”
Single file they each make their way around the fire pit silently, then sit, then fade to nothing. I look over and Claire remains next to me.
“Bravo! You know eventually you will fault.” She smiles and leans her head on my shoulder. “I hope not Chase.” I feel her weight against me as she continues.
“I bet you are wondering if I am real, or if you are losing your mind.”
“I am, but it is not a question of if you are real, but if you are what I believe you to be.”
“Which is?”
“An intelligent, attractive breathing woman.”
“Such a shame I didn’t meet you earlier Chase. I believe things could have turned out much differently.”
“How So?, What do you mean?”
I feel her weight evaporate and know she has left me again without even looking.
This time while I believe myself to be wide awake, and fairly shaken up.
“I too wish I’d had the opportunity earlier Claire.” I figure what the hell, who knows if she’ll hear me, or if she is even real?
I lay back to rest my head against my backpack and get comfortable in the solitude of the fire. As comfortable as the lumpy backpack and frightful forest will permit.
The numbness falls from me as fear replaces it and my body quakes. My mind screams to flee but my body continues to lose control in waves of convulsions. The true reality of the evening is moving front and center as I discover bravery has little to do with the night’s events.
Have I made a terrible misjudgment of this forest as well as my fortitude? We’re all the warnings for good reason?
I am freezing, shaking violently, trying to sit up to move closer to the fire in hopes of capturing the heat.
“You are in shock, take deep breaths, covering yourself for warmth.”
I recognize the voice as that of Claire and am too frightened to look up or respond. Too exhausted to face the fact I may be losing my facilities and have made a terrible mistake in coming.
I am shocked to find my articles of clothing being wrapped tightly around me.
“Chase everything will be OK, deep breaths, lie back, and relax, I will take care of all.”
Against all logic, I believe her in desperation and attempt of retaining my sanity. The last thing I remember before waking in the cool forest air, upon the forest floor.
Morning has arrived and the sky is bathed in sunshine with few clouds to hinder its presence. Feeling amazingly refreshed considering last night’s happenings I face my craving for coffee.
Adding a few more pieces of firewood to the embers I pull water and a small pot from my backpack. Dealing with spirits pales in comparison to going without coffee for any length of time.
The new branches crackle and smoke in the pit while the embers make short work of heating my water to boil. I may be near madness, but I have the composure to include instant, dehydrated creamer, and my favorite mug along for the trip. Well worth the discomfort, weight, and noise they presented for my trip here.
That is when it hits me. The forest is eerily silent.
Where are the morning sounds of birds and animals? There is no song or click of bird movement. I continue grabbing from my backpack until my hand holds a steaming cup of java. Surely this will set the world right again as I take my first sip.
Delicious, but hardly filling so I reach for a protein bar, and as I remove it from my backpack and its wrapper, I think of Claire.
She is right, the chocolate and peanut butter are quite nice. Seconds later I feel the fear returning, is she even real? I take another sip of coffee looking into the forest as if she might be there for me again, to soothe and reassure me.
That is when I notice the odd growth of the trees. I can not seem to find a straight one in the bunch so I stand bringing my coffee with me.
Each one of them is unique like a person without a spine, bent in a soft complexity reaching for the sky. I wonder what type of tree this might be that protests all hard angles and bends. Yes, there are a few samples here and there of growth that nearly appear straight, upon closer inspection more like a paper straw that has been crumbled several times, then ironed out to nearly its original shape.
The feel of the forest is lacking the whimsical, replaced with the unexpected in the form of anticipation, a contrast to the normal peace I am accustomed to in other forests. Still, I suppose it has a beauty of its own with these tree bodies set against the morning’s fog.
I look back and for a moment panic grabs me for I am convinced I am lost. Slowly the roofline of the dilapidated house becomes visible and I make my way back to the fire pit. Ah “The House”, however, could I forget about the nagging house? As I approach I begin speaking out loud to it.
“What’s this, nothing to say this fine morning after an evening of nagging me?”
The coffee smoothly makes its way down when I realize I’ve left my power bar behind.
Approaching the fire pit — it is nowhere to be found. I pivot back around, “touché”.
I gracefully bend at the waist as in days of old and upon being upright once more, “My Lady,” while facing the house.
The forest is busy with wildlife sounds and activities all at once as if in response from the house. I strain to look into it but see no motion or sign of human life.
“Thank You, I know these sounds are not real but bring comfort nonetheless.”
A sparrow flies and lands on the rim of my mug startling me. Again as if the house is speaking to me. “Do you miss it, life the way it once was for you?”
My coffee cup becomes heavy and I realize the sparrow is now Raven. As it takes flight the motion causes my cup to spill its contents onto the forest floor. “Now we’ll have none of that, my coffee is of the value of beer or rum in your time.”
To my right, a large embankment of wildflowers appears. I realize they may at one time have bordered the sidewalk leading up to the house. “I see you were quite charming in your day. I hope I will learn of your life and story.”
The forest is still once more, the flowers gone, my coffee mug on the ground before me.
“Only if you care to share. I meant no disrespect.” My voice softens.
Seems the house is done with me for the moment as nothing more happens.
I pick up my mug and head back to the fire pit where I disinfect my cup with a Clorox wipe from my backpack. Who knows if the birds were an illusion or real enough to leave germs?
I hear Claire’s voice, “I believe you managed to charm her Chase.”
I know her reference is to the house. I do not know if Claire exists only in my mind.
Once again I pour boiling water into my mug, add creamer and instant coffee, and stir both its contents and the thoughts in my mind.
I feel awkward not knowing if I should respond to the voice of Claire or just ignore it. After a sip of coffee, I decide if I can converse with a house, then I may as well reply to the spirit in the forest or within my mind.
“Claire, I would like to know more about the home and you. That is why I am here, not to be entertained by Ghost!”
“Entertained, interesting choice of words. I hope for your sake you are being truthful Chase.”
I could get used to this place.
The coffee warms me on its way down. The trees are odd but hold a special quality in their abundance. Like a ballroom full of those interested more in each other with no concern for anything going on outside, London in wartime flashes across my mind.
I sip another mouthful of coffee and see a globe of light between the trees.
Round, luminous, but like nothing I’ve ever seen before.
First a circle, then a stemmed entity with some kind of nucleus. The colors magnificent from pastel to neon as if this globe is a living being represented in light. I am awed and drawn to it like bee to flower as it seems to morph between light and liquid.
I stand motionless. I believe it is aware of my presence. It feels like it is a female entity.
Feeling I have finally snapped and lost touch with reality, the globe makes its way over to me. Then returns to the treetops and slowly moves away from me.
Then quickly moves directly between my eyes until I can sense nothing more than color.
A slight moment of pain as it enters me, then a momentary sense of void while a voice assures me everything is fine and to have patience.
I am no longer myself but I remain, as I enter the house, in past as another.
