"You don't get to survive the fall" said the god of the abyss in a very dark tone. His voice was good enough to increase the blood pressure of a thousand men and eventually kill them in the process.
"Then what do I get to survive?" I asked dauntingly.
"Nothing". This time, he sounded more demonic engrossed with all kinds of evil. I felt nothing but the weight of sorrow which doubled each time I figured that the only way out of his pit with no depth is death.
I fell down hurling round for what seemed like hours in a hole that was surrounded by dark clouds with dirt crashing into rough substances I couldn't fathom. My arms were wide opened in the rage of the air that escalated through my already ripped shirt. I tried soaring through to the edge of the dark clouds but I was scared of the lightning flashes that simultaneously flashed at random over it's walls. It didn't seem like I was going to land any time soon, although I knew what was happening. A pick up truck came my way hitting my body taking me up, almost immediately, I felt a sharp pain piercing through my heart and I shrieked at the excruciating torture. I looked down and saw that a spear had pierced through the left side of my body in the cardiac region. This was torture to the highest level. First I crashed into hard substances which bruised my skin and ripped my shirt off and now this. What more could happen?
The truck swirled round and I tried my best to stay alive. Soon enough, a huge log of wood hit the trunk of the truck making the back rise up throwing me back as I held onto the spear which caused a harrowing mark on me. I tried removing it but it was very painful, it was best if I left it the way it was. I found it hard to breathe and my eyes were almost closed shut. Right before I passed, I heard the seethe of bees of which their buzz increased in crescendo. I gave a close look and this time, I felt the abrasion of its hard and sharp fore limbs cut through my skin. They weren't bees but swarm of locusts. My whole body was weak and I couldn't use up the last energy in me to cry out in pain. Just when my eyes were finally closed, I heard the soft voice of Howard ordering me to wake up. I woke having a weird feeling, my whole body was weak and I could barely open my eyes, my whole body ached especially the cardiac region. I felt dizzy glazing over the room, but my vision was restored when I saw the white sheet stained with red thick blood in the dawn of the day.
I had thought what had happened was only but a dream but my whole impression changed knowing what happened wasn't just a dream but a dream that took place in actual reality.
**
The sun rays showered the whole place with light as I walked to the bathroom in order to wash up. Standing in front of the mirror applying the tooth paste on my tooth brush, I saw the huge scar left by the piercing of the spear. Other scars involving the cut from the wild locusts and the bruise marks were quite obvious and this left me in total befuddlement. How can a dream become so real that the scars are left in reality? Was it meant to be a reminder that I had such a horrifying nightmare, or it was ocuured in the real world?
Cornered in my bewilderment, I heard a knock on the door. This was strange because I wasn't expecting anyone to come over. I took tentative steps approaching closer to the door with my heart beating faster as the knock continued. Holding onto the door handle with my towel wrapped around my waist, I made up my mind for the worst and opened it only to realize that it was one of the maids in the hotel.
"I'm so sorry, I guess this is the wrong room". She apologized covering her face with her hand as though ashamed to see me the way I was, or rather, not willing to see some rock hard abs. All rooms were numbered and they were easily distinguished, I could only but wonder why she made such an act. I didn't respond but gave a smirk as she continued motioning shyly in her cute uniform.
"I only wanted doing the laundry and I thought no one stayed in this room again because of the last incident that happened and I was totally scared thinking maybe you were..." she stressed for sometime before adding composing her posture, "Anyways, never mind, I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience but if you do have any laundry I'd be delighted to take it for laundering. I turned my head over sighting the white bed sheet stained with my blood and turned back nodding my head from left to right in response to her offer.
She smirked looking at me straight in the eye, it looked like she was tryed analyzing me from head to toe. I motioned my head downward at my body in discomfort checking just to be sure I didn't have any blood stains on me, fortunately, my abdominal area had few stains of blood. "Dammit" I cursed beneath my breath thinking I cleaned myself with the sheets but I wasn't careful enough. She kept looking at my abdominal area and I couldn't tell if she focused more at my abs or the blood stain of which I thought she'd barely notice. Looking up at my face again she turned motioning for the stairs below. Just before she could take a step down the stairs I grabbed a hold of her arm and drew her towards me almost colliding with my body.
"What happened in my room the last time?" I asked giving her a tensed look signalling how much I needed to know, her body quivererd in as she stood in silence. It didn't take long before she found her way through the palm of my hand and ran downstairs. I stood puzzled for a moment at her escape and felt the urge to chase after her, but I couldn't go with a towel wrapped around my waist on my naked body. I turned in approach toy room when a sharp pain struck at my cardiac and I raised my right hand towards it with my face revealing the pain inside. I looked down and saw that I was bleeding right where the spear had passed through. I hurried back to the room and locked the door leaning with my back towards the door with my breath increasing gradually. The pain was getting intense and I had to do something about it.
"You don't have to worry" said a voice in my room, but this time it wasn't Howard. This was a lady, the voice of an old lady.
I was startled as usual, confused at what was going on. The bed was neatly tucked at the edges and the sheet which was filled with blood was neat, as white as wool. "How could this be possible"? Rhetorically asking myself.
I stepped further in search of the person who spoke but I didn't see anyone while I motioned my head through all the visible angles of the room. I headed towards the bathroom walking slowly and after opening the door, I gasped in surprise on sighting the unthinkable.
"Surprised to see me?" she asked looking at her face in the mirror. She was beguiled by something I was unaware of and I did nothing but stare at the Orphic occurrence in the bathroom.
I watched her take a hand towel and soaked it in water which flowed from the tap on the lavatory.
"Here, clean yourself up". She uttered handing over the towel to me. After cleaning the skin close to the cardiac, I saw my skin take shape. The big scar that was below the left side of my chest due to the spear which was obtruded by the wind was gone. I walked towards the mirror and cleaned myself further as I watched the scars vanish after cleaning them up with the towel.
"You'll be fine, don't you worry about that. Your guardians are there with you"
"What do you mean by guardians?" I asked.
"It's not in my place to reveal such to you. You'll know everything just in the glimpse of time".
This proved everything. Mrs. Karrie must've been connected with Howard in a way because her words were almost the same to his.
"Go get me a cup of coffee" she ordered still sitting on her wheelchair.
"You would like to take coffee in the bathroom?"
"Just do as I say, no further reciprocation of words" she added.
Luckily for me, I had a coffee maker right beside my bed. I hurried out and made her the coffee she asked for. Things were really new to me and I needed clarity on everything that happened. She must've known what happened at early dawn and I'm sure she has the answers.
"I wouldn't let this day go by without having my questions answered". I soliloquised holding onto the cup of coffee. I walked towards the bathroom wanting to ask the many questions I needed answers to and also guidance on how to act now that I faced torment. But when I arrived the bathroom, she was already gone.
The only option I had in order to get my questions answered was to go to the house of omens, but it seemed like Howard was on a vacation since he didn't contact me ever since our last time. To him, he was trying to give me the best training the hard way only because I was sturbborn, but it did no good because all I learned was that my life was far complicated than the galaxies in the universe. Getting to the house of omens will take a long time except if Howard decides to bring me in watching me land roughly on something hard and also sonorous like metallic alloys. But since I couldn't learn to connect to the home of omens, I had to do things the hard way, the way prescribed by Howard, and that was to do it all alone.