“Nancy, wait. Sit back down, please.” said John, admitting defeat. Nancy did not sit back down, but she did stop walking away. She was looking at him, waiting, waiting to see what he might say next.
“Okay, I am having work trouble. If you are sure you won’t get bored, I don’t mind telling you. Perhaps, I could give you the condensed version of the whole story. Please, sit down.”
Nancy stood there for a few seconds. She pushed the chair back to where it was before, next to his chair. She took her seat and waited for him to start. John began talking about how his business began almost two years ago. He told her about the kind of jobs he took, and the excellent amount of money he made. He told her about his realization that his skills were being underutilized and he thought that he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do. He told her about his decision to give up on his past work and focus on what he wanted. He also explained how he had to let go of his assistant.
As John told his story, Nancy listened intently to everything he said. Every now and then, she would stop him and ask him a few questions. John would then elaborate upon the points that bothered her. As the story progressed, John felt good about himself. He may not admit to her or anybody else, he was secretly hoping that, if he had a chance to go back in time, he would have been better off if Nancy was his girlfriend instead of Shannon.
“That is some turn of events, John. You really don’t want to go back to doing your old Job then? What if an actual detective job never came?” asked Nancy, when he had finished updating her on the events that had transpired up to that day.
“I am not sure. I don’t know.” said John.
“I believe that everything happens for a reason, John. I know you. You are the kind of guy who does not give up so easily. You are smart and resourceful. You will figure something out. This dinner was excellent, by the way. Thank you for that.” said Nancy.
“You are welcome. Thank you for listening to me.” said John.
“Well, that was a nice evening. God, we have been talking for more than three hours now. Time sure went by fast. I am heading to my room, John. If you are free, you can join me for a late night movie. Would you like to?” Nancy asked the question as she got up from her chair.
John thought about it for a few seconds. He decided to go with it.
“I would like that. Let’s go.”
One Month Later
John was in his office. The television was still on, just like it was yesterday and the day before that. It had been almost three months since Sheila left the office. The office looked gloomier without her tapping away on her tablet and her smile. John aimlessly flicked through the channels of the television. His landline was on the hook. As far as John was concerned, the phone might as well have been disconnected. It had been almost five months since he told everybody that he was out of his previous line of work.
His phone had not rung in almost three months now. It was as if there was literally no work for a private detective. Not unless he was ready to catch a middle aged man swinging it with his co-worker in some low rent hotel. The thought itself disgusted John. There were a couple of times in the last three months when he almost called up Rod and told him that he wanted to get back to his old job, if only to get out of the boredom that he was going through. He decided against it.
The phone rang. John let it ring a few times, but it kept ringing, so John answered it.
“John, are you at the office?” said a woman’s voice on the other end.
“Mom, I wasn’t really expecting your phone call.” said John, putting on a fake cheerful voice.
“I was a bit worried about you, son. You haven’t called in three days. You also did not show up for dinner last Sunday. Is everything alright?” said Mrs. Russo over the phone.
“I am fine, Mom. I am perfectly alright.” said John. He instantly regretted those words the moment they came out of his mouth.
“Ah John! What are you hiding? You never say ‘perfectly alright’ unless something was bothering you. You can talk to me son.” said his Mom.
“Mom, there is this case I was working on and it is taking a little longer than I expected. That was all. I was out of town last Sunday, travelling in relation to that case.” said John. Like every son, he hated lying to his own parents. At this point, he had no choice. He could not tell his mother and father that he had not received any crime-related cases in almost five months.
“Okay, son. When you wrap up this work, come over for dinner, okay? I will make your favorite dish.” said his Mom before hanging up.
John put the receiver back on the hook. Things were slowly falling apart, and now he was even lying to his own parents. He did not know what else he could expect from his life in the near future. Something told him that it would only get worse before it got any better. John got back to his sofa and resumed watching his television.
Three Weeks Later
John opened his eyes to find that he was in some kind of a cellar. There was darkness everywhere. He could not see much beyond a few meters. He searched for his gun on his waist, the holster was empty. Someone had taken his gun away. He looked for the second gun on the other side of his waist. That was gone too! John felt helpless without his guns. That did not make him scared, though. He searched for his pockets and they were empty as well, except for the box of matches.
John opened the match box, making as little noise as he possibly could. He did not know where he was and it made good sense to remain as calm and quiet as possible. The match was struck and in that pitch darkness, it seemed to glow like a fire lantern. There were still eight more sticks in the match box and he made a mental note of that. The struck match continued to glow. John could see the cellar more clearly now. It looked like an old dungeon. He spent a little more time walking along the walls.
Oddly enough, the dungeon seemed very familiar to him. It reminded him of a movie he watched when he was younger. It was a scary movie about a young girl who was sacrificed to a demon. Later, that young girl would come back to haunt her own parents. The parents decided to run for it and found themselves in a dark dungeon. A lengthy cat and mouse game ensued, and the parents somehow managed to survive. John watched that movie when he was still a young boy. Somehow, the movie seemed to scare the hell out of him.
John did not know how he ended up in this dungeon. He continued to walk along the hall. Then he saw a small opening that was blocked by a huge rock. John looked around and found a lamp that was half full with fuel. He lit it using the match, which was somehow still burning, after what seemed like ten minutes since it was struck. John thought that was odd, but he had bigger things to worry about. The lamp was lit, and it was placed on a small platform. John used all his strength and the rock seemed to budge a little. He put his back into it, and it seemed to give away a little more. He pushed it a little harder, and the entrance opened up.
Beyond the door, it looked like a long tunnel. The tunnel, just like this dungeon, was completely dark. The only light was shed from the lantern. John picked up the lantern and entered the tunnel. The tunnel had smooth walls and it was just big enough for one man to walk. It was almost as if it was built for John to walk through. It had the exact height and width. John continued to walk through the tunnel and he began to see a little light at the end of that tunnel. He began to walk faster and faster, hoping to reach the end a little quicker. He must have reached half the length of the tunnel when he heard something from behind. John looked back and what he saw scared him out of his pants.
At the far end of the tunnel, behind his back, he could see dozens of crawlers. He remembered seeing them in that ghost movie, and was shocked and surprised to see them here. John gripped on the lantern and started running towards the light. As he ran, he could hear the crawlers running towards him, perhaps faster than he was. Even as he ran, he could not help but think about how he ended up where he was. Why was he in this dungeon? What was this tunnel all about? That light in front of him, is it any good, and where does it lead to? What are the crawlies, and what do they want?
John had almost reached the end of the tunnel and the light was really bright. He noticed that the bright light was being partly blocked by a closed door. He was about ten feet from the door. Something told him that if he were to open that door, that bright light should come streaming in and save him. Behind his back, the crawlies were almost upon him. The outstretched hands of the crawlies were now scratching his jacket. John felt that one of them had its hands on his shoulder. At that moment, John had reached the door and pushed it open.
Bright light streamed into the tunnel in glorious quantities through the now open door. John shielded his eyes with his hands. Behind his back, he could hear loud screaming. Just as he had hoped, the bright light was indeed destroying the creepy crawlies. He looked back to find an incredible scene. The whole tunnel looked like a long pathway that was bursting with fire crackers at some celebration. The whole tunnel was exploding with bright light. As the light streamed through the entire tunnel, it touched each of the crawlies with exploding shock. It was only then that John realized he was being chased by thousands of crawlies. The light also gave him a clear view of what they looked like.
John was immediately reminded of the crawlies from that scary movie from his younger days. They each had a scaly body which was dark red in color. The whole skin was shiny, as if it was dipped in oil. Oil that would easily burn anything but these crawlies looked like they were already burnt. John continued as the light travelled through the entire length of the tunnel. John felt that the light was no ordinary light. Despite the length it was stretching into, it did not lose any of its intensity or potency. Once all the crawlies were burnt, the light started to decrease in intensity until it was dark again.
John stepped out of the tunnel and landed with a thud on the ground. John noticed that he was out of the tunnel and stood in some kind of a forest. He looked up to find a clear sky with bright stars everywhere. He looked around him and found that the tunnel had led him to the edge of a pathway next to a river. The river flowed calmly, and there were tiny fish in it, swimming without a care. The moon shone brightly in the sky. John continued to look around to find the source of that light which saved him from all the creepy crawlies. He could see no such source anywhere. It was just another forest, and as with any forest, there were trees everywhere.
John noticed that the lantern light had gone out. He decided not to light it again, since he had sufficient light from the full moon. John climbed above a large rock to see the best way to keep walking. He was still not sure where he was, and he was too much in a shock to figure out what was happening. Once on top of the rock, he could see a house about a mile away. One of its windows was open and it had a lamp burning in it. John thought he saw shadows, but it was difficult to make out clearly from where he was. He figured it would be best to go to that house to seek help and to find out where he was.
He jumped off the rock, held the lantern in his right hand, and started moving through the jungle. The jungle reminded him of that horror movie again. He could not help think that he like a character in the movie which always terrified him when he was a small boy. As he walked, he could not help but feel that he was being followed. At one point, he even heard a small whistle, but when he looked in the direction of that sound, there was nothing. John turned around and resumed walking towards the house.
He must have walked half a mile or so, when he heard sounds from the tree branches above him. He looked up and saw some movement in many branches. Soon, John could hear and see movement from almost every tree. That was when John saw them. Crawlies were on each and every branch, and there were dozens of them.
John looked around to see if there were any bright lights to help him out, just like before. There was no bright light in sight. The crawlies started to climb down from the trees, even as John stood there. He was thinking hard on his next move. The crawlies had climbed down and were slowly moving towards him, with their bony hands outstretched. One of them started running and jumped. But before the skinny hands could grab him, something hit the approaching demon with an arrow. An arrow made of light.
John turned around to see a man riding on a horse made of light. He was riding towards him with a bow that was glowing. It seemed to be made completely out of light. John heard another sound of something rushing to him. He turned just in time to find another dark and skinny demon jump on him. It scratched his eyes and John let out a huge scream. The pain was unbearable and in a matter of seconds, John fell to the ground. Unconscious.
“John, wake up.” said a voice.
John was slowly regaining consciousness. Everything around him was blurry. The man with the light bow in his hand was standing next to him.
“John, are you okay? Hello! John!” said the voice.
John’s eyes were clearing up a bit now. He saw that Rod was sitting next to him. John was lying on the floor. Rod had a torch in his hand. Seeing that his friend was awake, Rod helped him get up and made him sit on the sofa. John looked around to find himself back in his office. There was no light in the room. Beyond the windows, he noticed that it was all dark.
“John, are you alright?”
“I am fine, Rod. Why is it so dark?” asked John, still not sure what was happening around him.
“There was a busted transformer in this city block. It knocked out the power systems. The repair guys are fixing it. You had called me this morning. You said you wanted to talk about something. When I came in, you were screaming loudly and you were on the floor. Is everything alright?” asked Rod, concerned for his friend.
“I am not sure, Rod. I am not sure anymore.” said John, looking outside the window.
John was still in some kind of shock. In front of him was his best friend Rod. Rod had a glass of water in his hand, which he was holding out for John. John took the glass of water and gulped it down. John had been having nightmares for a while now, but he did not realize that it could get this bad.