Looking to my watch, I found that Annie was due to possibly enter her first potential round of dream state observation in about a half hour. Within fifteen minutes Sharon called and confirmed this to be so but also mentioned that due to heavy staff on hand, we should hold off having me stop by. With that said, I was readying myself into a horizontal position, in hopes of soon becoming witness to any other revelations.
The dirt laden air was responsible for coating everything and everyone with a fine shade of cinnamon. But it seemed as if the multitudes of people gathered for the afternoon of fun, found the dust storm of little hindrance over their ambitions for getting their turns in at the many games and rides. Voices of both young and old screamed out in excitement as bodies darted about in a haphazard fashion.
Standing off to the outside of all the commotion, was a calm and smiling Annie, who looked on while pointing well beyond and passed me.
Turning my attention high above in the Farris wheel, the beautiful brunet’s eyes reflected and radiated the joy of the day. She waved merrily to her adoring friends as the reciprocal rotation brought her momentarily in and out of sight, enhanced by the colorful mixture of the rides blinding lights. As one empty carriage after the next fell over the top and began to descend, there was an air of anticipation about the reemergence of the young beauty.
Oddly, the familiar figure, which was that of Mr. T, came into view and sat comfortably with folded arms and a smile. Lifting one hand, he gave me a casual wave and called out to me by name. But as quickly as he came into sight, he was pulled up and gone again for another round of fun. In the next instant, the fair skinned brunet, again appeared and came floating over the top but now appeared to be preoccupied with looking back and searching for Mr. T.
Around again the wheel spun with now an ever increasing velocity. With it came back Mr. T whose pleasant face was now transformed into that crazed grimace, the one that I was much more familiar with and accustomed to seeing. As if possessed with an outrage of urgency, he was now continuously stalking his oversized wild eyes in all directions when unexpectedly, he than resorted to climbing feverishly through the ever increasing spin of the carousel.
With a sudden abrupt appearance, Frank, who sat stationary looking out at me with his sympathetic eyes of worry, seemed strangely oblivious to the ever increasing velocity at which the wheel was spinning. His indifference to all that was going on around him included the fact that Mr. T was now just a swinging carriage below him and was just stretching out and up in a final attempt to grab at him.
As the rotations increased, it was now clear that all amusement had vanished, and with the laughter turning to yelling, the scene of voices and visions merged into indiscernible chaos until again, the conclusion brought down the same final appearance of those lonely, tormented, and hollow dead eyes.
Then, as if someone flipped the switch on the screen play, all went eerily silent that is except the familiar singing of Franks tree swing. Within it, Mr. T sat for a time to his lonesome self, perched off to one side as if to be in the waiting. Slowing to a stop, he felt my presence and in a calm reaction, turned towards me exposing for the first time a genuine look of understanding.
“I have some of the answers you are looking for Peter. When you are ready, follow me”.
Waking slowly and remaining in a prone position, I checked my watch and it showed just before two in the morning. Grabbing at my cell phone, I dialed Sharon in hopes of getting an up date.
“Hello Sharon you have anything to tell me”?
“Hi Peter, yes activity has been high with Annie. She brought your name up again in conversation. I can’t personally make sense of it all as it sounded as if she was reacting to some hyper, intense activity from the other side”.
“Can you give me any details as to what it was pertaining to”?
“The one line that came through clearly was, Peter is home, and he will be safe. Does this mean anything to you”?
“No, I can’t say it does. Is she sleeping now”?
“Yes…all is calm…for now”.
“I am going back to sleep. I will be in touch at midday and let’s get together then”.
Hanging up the phone, a sudden call from below had me hurrying along and down to Frank. Illuminating the room with the overhead light, Frank was lying on the floor and wheezing in agony, he was thrashing his free arm erratically up into the open air as if searching for a point of stability.
“Geez Frank what happened”?
Helping him back to the confines of the couch, it took some time before he could speak, as it seemed the light fall off the couch had inserted another push of pain through his tender frame.
“Damn nightmare”.
Questioning his reference, I pressed him on the statement made.
“What do you mean”?
“Everything, damn it… I am sorry Peter, it’s gonna take a little time here but I am sure glad your home”.
Looking to him momentarily, we briefly both caught eyes and for a split second, a cold indecisiveness reverberated between us. For some time now, we were both harboring our own secrets as to the odd realities experienced here and it seemed, for the time being anyway, we had just agreed to keep it that way. Helping him to the toilet, I then returned him to his place of sleep before retiring again myself.
‘Listen Frank, I am going to stay in the guest room here so as to make it easy if you need further assistance .O.K.”?
With no reply, I entered into the soothing confines of my favorite room and began right away to prepare my mental stage for dream time.
I floated freely about in the void. There was no discernment of space and time as all that was around me and of me was that of a comforting stillness. Suddenly it ended, and I came crashing down through the thick brush of undergrowth with all my senses contracting due to the harsh surrounding unfolding all around me. Through the thick clouds of white and black smoke, the sounds of a heavy firefight raged everywhere while intermittent voices charged out from all around.
“Peter, you need to keep up if you want what you are looking for. Nothing in this life is for free you hear me, now move damn it”.
Looking up through the haze of the dense jungle that was now being pelted over with rain, I stared out mesmerized as there in front of me, standing unfazed and defiant amidst all the surrounding chaos, was Mr. T. Dressed in his patient attire, he glared down hard at me unsympathetically and continued lashing out his menacing bark.
“You want to see where I went? You want to see what I had to endure in order to make it back for something…for someone? Get up damn it”.
Following his orders, I pushed onward and we were soon of witness to his former self who was smashing and tearing through all of his surroundings, as he seemed hell-bent on reaching a finding his target in whatever means possible.
Suddenly we came into a partial clearing that exposed a desolate village in ruins. Smoldering fires hazed over the waist land while the sounds of aircraft and random firefight broke through the still air. Dead bodies lay strewn throughout our footpath while calls for help came rushing up at me from mothers and infants who lay spread across the wrecked earth.
Then from behind me somewhere, just beyond the range of sight, through all the smoke and above all that burned, came a voice calmly calling for my return. Hesitating, I suddenly lost sight of Mr. T as the caring voice of concern grew louder. Caught between the two desires of both Mr. T and that of what sounded to be Annie, all opposing intentions began circulating and falling upon me from unknown areas out sight. While one was demanding, the other soothing, and for a time I did not know which to peruse.
“Peter I am giving you a chance to learn the truth, don’t let your self down…Peter…”
Far out in the distance, as the sounds of war and death began to abate, a lone figure appeared and stood street side under the single light post. Nothing else was now discernible except the glow that enshrouded her long brown hair and that of her long flowing white dress.
Stepping to front of the female figure, with closer inspection, I knew it to be Annie. Her calm gaze looking well past and back beyond me, was an unspoken invitation to look back in the same direction.
Turning to face the new landscape before me, all was familiar as it was Frank’s place we were now observing from a vantage point across the street. While I instantly recognized it as such, there were differences in the maturity of surrounding foliage both in and to the outside of the property line. Still present, I noticed that tree swing and within it, was a young lady. She sat to herself while looking content, swaying steadily under the shade of the much smaller Oak Tree.
Casting my attention to the hillside next door, the large gray boulder was being partially blocked out by what looked to be a water holding tank to the fore. Breaking the serenity of the moment and coming at me like a blaring siren, Mr. T’s voice came descending from seemingly everywhere.
Turning, I stood frozen while watching as two captors held Mr. T at gun point while a third slammed him in the side of the face with the butt of his gun. Bloodied with fixed eyes of defiance, the presence being that of his future self-insisted that I continue on in watching the torment that he endured years ago.
“You see Peter, do you see what I had to go through. But I held on Peter, I held on for one reason and one reason only…”
Pulled urgently back within the void as if being restricted from completing my last visions, all faded back to dark again, and for a moment all details within the small confines of my comforting room were impossible to discern. But gradually, as my vision began to adjust, I was alarmed to find Frank sitting in his wheel chair just off to the side of me.
Turning my head ever so slightly, a fear of building suspicion set in as he continued staring out lifelessly in the direction of the window. With out moving, I continued for a time to observe the faint but discernible outlines of his face.
“Frank, can I help”?
Motionless and as if he hadn’t heard my voice, he remained in his fixed oblivious state, or was he? With a sudden jerk of his head, he was back, only to slowly turn and settle his darkened eyes down upon me.
“Can’t sleep a wink and just can’t seem to settle the mind”.
Sitting up slowly within the eerie awkward moment, I looked to the outside and could just now identify the light blue skyline of the coming day. Glancing to the floor, I noticed that my childhood box had been extracted from under the bed with its contents now dispersed over floor near and around the wheels of Frank’s chair. Within in his hands he held some of my personal belonging which he then casually discarded back to the floor.
“Look Frank, why don’t we get to the kitchen an get us a cup of tea, it might help”.
Nodding in agreement, we both worked together to move his chair into position and pressed on through the passageway. Choosing to remain closed off, Frank held little interest as far as making any eye contact and continued in being aloof. His somber demeanor left little if any room for conversation, but only with time on our hands, I knew at some point he would open up.
Finally and with a sudden flood of emotion, Frank subtly leaned over while covering his face with both hands. His body bobbled slightly as soft sobbing sounds began to escape from behind his shield and at seeing this, I walked up behind him and set my hand on his shoulder.
Waiting and watching as the hard sealed emotions drained themselves out; I wondered what the actual contents of this emotional release consisted of. Collecting himself after a time but keeping his head lowered and his eyes concealed, he was finally ready to talk.
“Petey, if you don’t mind… maybe you could hand me my prescription from the shelf there”.
Handing him the small bottle, he removed the lid and proceeded to taking down four pills as he casually waved the bottle back and forth.
“Sleeping pills… don’t let it scare you Pete, I have been taking these for years. It’s been many moons since I have been able to keep a consistent sleep ya know”.
I didn’t feel it was my place to be telling a man of almost seventy on how to run his health affairs, especially in his own house. His discrepancies in telling me truths pertaining to his personal issues, while having me curious, had me siding more with indifference as I was planning to being out of his place and his life in not to long of time.
Helping himself out to living room area, he turned his focus to the lap top computer and set into another game of digital card playing, a routine that would be up ended shortly by the pills taking their effect on his system. Within ten minutes, he began to fade out and at that point, I helped him find the safe comfortable confines of the sofa.
Pulling the curtains to a close, the only source of light was now was the bluish glow emanating from the computer screen. Shutting it down, the room was cloaked in darkness, leaving the only register of life, that being the soft sounds of Franks breathing.
Returning towards the doorway of the spare room, my next intention was to give Sharon a call though I knew it was early. Looking immediately to the floor, scattered in disarray were the contents from within my childhood shoe box.
Lucid dreaming aside, it had been for some time, beyond guessing as to whether the anomalies on going within and around the house, were supernatural in nature. The more pressing question was the level of Frank’s intricate knowledge of it.
Kneeling down, the one black and white image of the two couples remained at the top of all paper contents. Singling it out and holding it close, I shifted my focused beyond the couples and that’s where I noticed it, just over the right shoulder of Gracie’s husband Ben, out in the distant; among the bush was the leading end of a holding tank. Pondering in silence my mind began to replay the scene of the vision with in my earlier dream, the vision of standing out side looking back to the property.
With the photograph in hand, I quietly moved through the house and emerged to the outside. Crossing the street, I aligned myself as visually close to that same vantage point I witnessed within the dream. Holding the picture up against the hill next to Frank’s house, it was hard to discern a similarity due to both the difference in growth of the trees and the angle at which the picture was taken.
Moving steadily through the dawns weak light, I continued until I stood next to the thick over growth where I then stepped within the mixed plant life and pushed through towards the direction where I imagined the tank like structure to be. The rough hillside terrain became quickly impenetrable, but suddenly I saw it, the protruding corner of a concrete slab peeking out from within the heavy earth and brush.
With both hands, I did my best to clear away as much of the over growth in attempts to partially expose the hidden structure. Minutes later and with the help of the increasing day light, the outer collapsed siding of a metal holding tank revealed its self, appearing crushed and buried over by the heavy earth. In a momentary daze, I rocked back slightly as the ties to this revelation began circle within my head.
Reexamining the image, the shock of the moment firmly set in when I realized what just had become obviously apparent. Grace purposefully led me here to Frank and it was now evident by looking at the picture, that the man, who remained sleeping inside, not only knew Grace but had good knowledge of the others in the photo as well.
Back within the house, I stood in the confinement of the guest room. I shook with anxiety and fear at the reality just exposed. Who was I really living with, and why did he agree to have me around only to keep concealed these many truths that were now coming to light.
Standing in silence, the soft vague voice of Frank’s whispering s, carried through the low luminescence of the hallway. With a surge excitement, I grabbed at a pen a pad and approached him cautiously while listening for any words of discernment. His breathing remained shallow and though it was obvious he was having dream activity, I reasoned to the fact that because he was on prescription, most of what he was saying remained barely audible.
Returning to room I picked up the phone and dialed Sharon and found that only her voice recorder was on. I was suddenly frustrated and feeling locked out of being able to acquire more knowledge. Looking to the time, I decided it was now my turn again to join into the dream to find out what the others were up to. To aid me into getting there, I resorted to Frank’s sleeping pills and readied myself with the deep breathing practices, all the while concentrating on Frank’s house occupied by him and the other players within the unfolding game of truth and lies.
The room was in almost total darkness except for that of the faint glow that emanated from outside of the window. Peering out beyond the yard, across the street to the far lamppost, stood two individuals, one that I assumed to be that of Annie and the other remained a mystery. Both silhouetted figures stood motionless and appeared to be in the waiting. The shorter of the two, that being Annie, stood upright while the taller appearing male figure, leaned his weight against the pole and looked to have his arms folded over his chest.
Suddenly, like a blast of day light, the interior of the house lit up having me to momentarily shield my eyes for protection. Caught off guard by the presence of another person in close proximity, I recoiled back to the bed as I waited for the young woman to acknowledge my presence. In the all-encompassing silence, I continued to observe the now familiar attractive lady of no more than the age of twenty, dressed lightly in summertime attire, pacing back and forth in an indecisive manner, searching her mind for