I spent the rest of the day sitting on a bench which sat at the right side of the road having the sun rays rest on me for the last time before it settled to set thinking mostly about the deception of Mrs. Karrie and also the regret of letting her daughter down, I couldn't help but think about what else was a lie, Howard Or my life? I found it hard to recuperate from my illusion for a minute and eventually the sun set over me and it was getting dark.
What could a man possibly do at this point in time when all I had was just two options, either I walk off and never come back or I try to make things right fully aware that I made a fool of myself.
Still sitting on the bench facing the night sky in its sky glow having a Prussian blue pigment dominating the cadmium orange clouds at the far ends of the sky, I could feel something, I couldn't tell what it was but it felt like I was not alone. The leaves rustled and the wind blew so swiftly and my whole body felt weak of a sudden.
"Having a hard time?" I heard a voice say, similar to that of Howard's.
I lazily turned my head to the right, yet I saw no one. I turned to the left and all around me but I couldn't find anyone. I sat up straight and balanced my left hand on the benches top trying to figure out who spoke, then I heard the voice again.
"Twenty years had gone by like the chaff in the wind and yet you still can't recognize my voice".
"Howard, where are you?" I asked narrowing my eyes in absolute befuddlement.
"I'm right behind you". He continued making me turn only to get dissapointed the more.
"I can't see you".
"Of course you can't", he said before stating "walk into the nearest shop".
Behind me was a shopping mall and uncertain about my next move I stood up walking towards it and after stepping inside I glanced carefully at those present in search of Howard, but the more I looked carefully, the more I felt like I stepped into the wrong place.
"Walk towards the the section with groceries". He uttered as I proceeded.
On reaching the grocery section, I saw an old man, he didn't look like Howard neither did he look like he knew what he wanted. He picked up a broccoli and looked at it with intense care, and this got me puzzled.
"There's a saying which states that nothing is new under the sun", he started still looking at the broccoli turning it over and over again with both hands, "You don't need to run away from that which troubles you".
"So what's the best option?", I asked having both hands in my pocket, "Live with them?" I shrugged.
"No", responded the old man diverting his attention from the broccoli fixing his gaze on me still holding the broccoli with his left hand and his right hand on the shopping cart, "You face them".
"How, because everything that happened over the past few hours worsened my day the more."
"What's your name again?" he asked rhetorically.
I kept shut and watched him look at me with care as utmost stern filled his facial expression.
"Exactly, you know who you are, you know what you're meant to do, and you know who you'll soon become. Find her and talk to her, you just might find the answer to your question".
"How am I meant to find her when she works only in the morning, there after, she goes wherever she wants to."
"You have the eyes of a lion, the king of all cats and the ruler of the jungle, activate your eyes and you'll see more than you can."
This sounded absurd filling me with dubious thoughts and disbelief.
"Ever wondered why I don't pay attention to what you say most times", I uttered, "It's because you're a bad teacher"
"Or you might just be a bad student, probably worse. You don't listen to anything I say because you're engrossed in sturboness. If you have to make things right, do the needful, there's more to know, more secrets to unravel. Your questions might just be answerd only if you listen and pay attention for once."
I sighed having second thoughts to the truth in his words.
"How do I get to know where she is?"
"Easy, he's awake and he feels your pain. Go to the one place she goes to the most and look down, no matter what happens, don't look up, and don't give up."
I turned my face around and scoffed, "You can't be serious right? Howard that'll be stupid of me to do, I suggest something else, something more reliable not ludicrous because I can't."
The whole place was silent and the old man's posture didn't change for about ten seconds.
"Howard, are you serious about this?"
"Who's Howard?" asked the old man still holding his broccoli and looking at me like a total maniac.
"Who the hell is Howard?" he continued.
With no hesitation, I hastily walked out of the super market and headed for the coffee shop. On getting to the door, I looked through the transparent glass of which I saw a man having an apron on walking to and fro the counter in search for something. There was no sign of her anywhere, yet I could feel her presence all around, it was more like she was everywhere but nowhere. This I believe was due to anxiety and it was weighing me down by the second.
I shifted my gaze from the door and looked down at the floor as Howard's words crossed my mind.
"Easy, he's awake and he feels your pain. Go to the one place she goes to the most and look down, no matter what happens, don't look up, and don't give up."
I looked down below and before my toe was a puddle of water having the reflection of my face shown on its undisturbed surface. I closed my eyes inhaling the air which was filled with the scent of cigarettes and the fumes of cars that passed by. I steadied myself focusing on the one instruction I was willing to obey.
"Oh my God!" I uttered still uncertained about the whole incident, "What was I thinking, I'm only making a fool of myself."
I raised my head up and saw the vast number of people walking to and fro the scene, each motioning towards different paths. Only at this moment, I heard a more convincing voice speak from deep within me.
"All these people are human beings, they all have problems, and at a point in time they wanted making things right but some lived in regret for not taking the bold step in making the right decision, you can do this, all you need to do is to focus, and you'd see what he was talking about."
I rubbed the palm of my hands together until I could feel the warmth from in-between. I breathed out clenching my fist tight giving into that which I wanted the most, making the right decision, and I looked back into the puddle again. My reflection was so clear that I could spot the dark pupil in my eyes due to the florescent lights at the walls of the building. I squatted down and gazed at the water intensively and just before I doubted myself, I heard the sound of the rushing wind in the night accompanied by the reduction of noise which over took the background, everything sounded like it was fading away, like the decrescendo of echoes coming from a far distance and this kept on going until I couldn't hear a thing.
I closed my eyes and I felt a chill run down my spine passing through my veins as my heart beat could be heard louder than anything at this present time. The breeze swiftly passed through my dark hair moving my shirt along with it when suddenly I saw a hand grabbing a hold of my shoulder having long thick nails and dark large veins five times the size of a USB cable. I opened my eyes startled and right in front of me in the puddle of water I could see my eyes take a different form. It flashed with a golden glow round the iris having my pupil and cornea still intact. I gasped in obscurity to such an amazing sight which flashed in less than a second filling my adrenaline making me stand in terror almost immediately. I turned in search for the person who touched me but saw no one behind, neither did I see anyone ahead of me whom I knew or thought could've touched me on the shoulder.
My heart beat raced and I scurried away to an unknown location. I made sure I was far apart from people filled with fear of hurting them. I watched myself head down into a bush which thickned more and more having huge tall trees with my bag behind my back. I walked breathing heavily in the cold of the night with the crescent moon lighting up my path. At this point in time, I felt drowsy and all the trees looked the same, but my eyes caught up with a tree stump and I headed towards its direction as though I knew where I was going.
Barely five steps to the stump, I saw two people who looked exactly like cavemen walk out from a tree holding in their right hand lit torches and in the left was what looked like a bat only to realize that it was a log of wood and they approached closer having one of the men hit me hard on the head making me fall down on the tree stump groaning in pain.
"The chosen must not survive", they uttered at the same time, "the chosen has to die but our task isn't to kill, he must be saved or else we are doomed, he has to know about everything, the whole truth.
My breath reduced in intensity and I soon felt tired having the whole scene look blurry all around. On turning back, the men were gone leaving me on the trunk helpless, bleeding from the side of my head and passing out in pain.