The drive home was a blur. I don't recall parking, walking back up the stairs, or opening my front door. All I remember was flopping face-first onto my bed, exhausted.
As I lay there, the evenings' events circled in my head, trying to work themselves into something logical. I must have been hallucinating, yes that was it. I never left my apartment. Seeing Maria's picture made me delirious, that's all. I had only imagined the scary cave with the creepy stranger.
A satisfactorily sain explanation cementing in mind, I finally drifted off to sleep, faintly aware this was the first time in months I had gone to bed without the help of a drink
***
When I woke up the next day, out of habit I reached for a bottle, taking a whole minute to remember I had run dry the day prior. Annoying though it was, I was mildly surprised not to have my usual morning hangover to contend with.
I rolled over onto my back and gazed at the ceiling, my thoughts drifting back to the insane dream of the previous night. It seemed so real. I shook my head and got up, yawning and stretching my back, but stopped instantly because it freaking hurt.
"Agh!" when I had lifted my arms above my head, my back kinked and stiffened. I rubbed my lower back and tried to stand up, only for my legs to scream out in protest. My whole body was sore, I felt like a fated roadkill who barely managed to crawl off the road.
I looked down and was greeted by the sight of my battered legs, covered in dried mud, scrapes, and bruises. My mental gears shifted as I tried to work through what I must have done in my drunken state. Clearly, I went outside since I looked like I...
like I'd hiked through a forest... oh what the hell.
I hurried into the bathroom to the grimy mirror over the sink and looked myself over. It wasn't pretty. I might have been better off if I had been dropped into a dryer set to tumble along with a few boulders. My face was battered and bruised, there was more mud in my hair, and a cut above my left eyebrow with an accompanying black eye underneath.
I started to feel anxious, had I really fallen into the river? Worse... did I really try to kill myself? My heart sank. More to distract myself from that disturbing line of thought than anything, I checked the rest of my body for other injuries. As I did, my hand brushed against my shorts pocket, feeling something small and weighty inside. I blinked, reached into my pocket, and pulled out a small pointy metal disc.
It was a silver brooch in the shape of a seven-pointed star, etched with angular intricate knotwork, and in the center was set a blue stone, a sapphire. It was slightly tarnished and looked like an antique, but where the hell had I gotten it?
I pondered the brooch as I walked back out of the bathroom and sat down on a stool near my cluttered counter. I turned it over in my hands, looking for clues to its origin. A vague memory flashed across my mind.
Falling in the dark cave, disembodied voices crying, a metal disc in the dark...
My heart skipped a beat and I jumped out of my chair, dropping the brooch onto the counter like a hot stone. That wasn't real. It couldn't have been, I was seeing things, drinking too much.
"Relax, It won't bite you." came an amused voice behind me.
My butt clenched up so hard and fast I'm sure it caused a hernia. I spun around on the spot, and nearly fell over to face whomever had just spoken.
It was a man, standing across from me looking calm and collected as he leaned against the wall near my living room window like he owned the place. He had a particularly distinguished appearance, well groomed with wavy gray hair and storm cloud eyes, wearing an expensive dark-tailored suit, complete with cufflinks and a pocket square. He was a stark contrast to the disaster area that was my apartment. It was the homeless guy from my dream, sort of.
Heart hammering as I faced off against the stranger, I searched about for something to defend myself and found one of the empty bottles I had previously discarded on the floor nearby. I grabbed it and raised it high over my head.
"Who the fuck are you!" I shouted, "Get out!"
He didn't move. He simply rolled his eyes, turning his attention to gaze down at the street below. "We did this already," he said casually. He hooked a thumb to himself as he cast a sideways glance back at me, "Leo, remember?" He smirked at the empty whiskey bottle I was holding as my makeshift weapon. "Well, maybe you don't," he said amused. "Peace, boy, I'm not going to hurt you. You and I need to have a talk."
I could see my front door from where I stood. It was closed and the deadbolt was locked. How did he get in? It didn't matter, he was in my house, that made him dangerous. Then a second wild thought leaped to mind. People had been screaming for help in this guy's cave. He had people down there, and I was a witness, a loose end. Gulp.
Well, If he wanted to take me out, I wasn't going to make it easy for him.
"You aren't taking me back to your weird pervert dungeon dude, get out, or I swear I will mess you up!"
Leo held his hands up in a pacifying gesture, "relax," he said "I'm not taking you anywhere. Remember what happened last night?"
I screwed up my face, remembering through the haze and fear. The cave changed, and the voices vanished. Leo hit me, I was back on the bridge... impossible.
I shook my head in denial, "That wasn't real, no way! Get out!" I advanced on Leo.
He pushed away from the wall, "You don't want to do that-"
But I wasn't having it. Yelling like an angry bull I charged him with my bottle and lunged, intending to tackle him to the ground. Right before I made impact, however, there was a flash of blue light and instead of hitting Leo, I bounded off the wall, falling backward and landing on the dirty floor. I scrambled back to my feet, searching for him in bewilderment.
I found him, standing on the opposite side of the room. The problem was, he had very quickly become the least of my worries...
How he had moved so fast, why he was there, what he wanted, all of these things became unimportant in an instant. We were not alone in my apartment anymore, If I could still call it my apartment.
It looked the same, or close enough, but for an odd gray slime splattered around the walls and surfaces, like a grease trap had been opened and spattered across my walls with a paint sprayer. But that wasn't the worst of it. Scattered amongst the garbage and filth, were dozens of unearthly nightmare creatures.
Imagine spiders the size of small dogs, but at the ends of each of their spindly eight legs were tiny black human hands. Sitting on top of their bulbous black bodies were pale hairless doll-like heads, with four black eyes and a set of razor-sharp pincers protruding from human-like mouths.
These disgusting spider-ghouls were scaling my walls, sitting on my bed, and rummaging around the garbage on the floor as though looking for scraps. Long black tongues darted out of their horrible mishmashed mouths with lightning speed as they lapped up the gray goop off every surface.
I froze in sheer dread, watching the nest of creatures skittering about. Leo tried talking to me again, seemingly oblivious to the terrifying scene before us.
"Just breathe John," I heard him say, "Stay calm."
Yeah. No.
I screamed the kind of scream that made grown men embarrassed to be seen in public. And that only made things worse. As I bellowed, the creatures stopped in their tracks and turned their ungodly heads with their beady black eyes towards me in unison. I lost it.
I bolted for the door, fumbling with the locks in my terror. When I finally got the door open I ran down the stairs, tripped, and tumbled down more than half the staircase before hitting the bottom. Not bothering to slow down I jumped to my feet and ran out into the street.
It didn't help. I was out of the frying pan, and smack dab in the middle of the fire.
Running out onto the sidewalk I came to a screeching halt, my senses overwhelmed. Old Town was in full swing, restaurants were bustling, shoppers were walking about chattering with each other and the streets were cramped with their usual mid-day traffic. It would have been a very average scene if someone hadn't turned on the filter feature from hell.
Everywhere I looked, mixed amongst the shoppers were revolting creatures and monsters from the set of every horror film ever made or imagined.
On the ground in front of me, a fleshy worm the size of my arm wriggled through the gutters, slipping down into a storm drain and out of sight leaving a sizzling slime trail in its wake.
To my right across the road at my regular diner, a girl sat at a table on the front porch. She was scrolling her phone, apparently unaware a small frog-like goblin monster was sitting on her head. Its long arms and longer fingers wrapped around the girl's hands and phone as though it were forcing her face into the screen. Its wide frog mouth rested on her head, sucking on her skull while its long froggy toes wrapped around her face, holding her eyelids open.
I staggered back against the wall as a couple walked past me, bickering with each other as they went, while a large swarm of giant wasps hovered over their heads, stinging their backs over and over as they fought.
I saw more spider-ghouls clinging to people's backs, saw rodent monsters like Frankienstiens first attempt rejects scurrying through the streets.
And in a nearby shop window, an indiscernible silhouette stood half hidden behind a curtain with red glowing eyes peering at passerby. One man walking by the shop looked directly into those red eyes, slowed his pace, transfixed, turned and walked into the shop's door like a sailor to a siren.
If anyone ever had the right to freak out, I think I qualified. I ran into the street, still screaming my head off earning the curious glances of humans and gremlins alike. Everywhere I turned some new nightmare leapt out at me.
I was so distracted I didn't even hear the car until it squealed to a halt, hitting me just hard enough to throw me up on the hood. I rolled off and landed with a thud on the uneven cobblestone road. Dazed, I lay on the ground amid the shuffle of footsteps as a crowd formed around me.
"John?" a man called out.
Hesitantly I looked up. Leo crouched down next to me.
"It's all right John, I can help. But you have to stop running, agreed?"
I didn't know what else to do, so I nodded.
Leo held his hand up in front of me, his middle finger resting on his thumb. "Stay very still", he warned. Leo snapped his fingers and blue flames leaped up all around me.
Before I could react, I was consumed by the fire. But, rather than scorching my flesh, as the flames licked over my body I was awash with a sense of calm and relief, the panic and terror swept away. By the time the fires burnt low and disappeared I felt nearly back to normal.
Looking up from where I had crouched in the road, there was no sign of ghastly monsters anymore. Just a crowd of very bewildered tourists circling me, several with their phones out, probably calling the cops. They all seemed more interested in me than the infestation of monsters that had just vanished. That's when I realized, no one else had seen them...
"We should move indoors, don't you think?" asked Leo, scanning the crowd.
"Yeah," I agreed.
I got to my feet and slowly started moving back towards the sidewalk, eyes darting everywhere looking for any more monsters waiting in the wings. Seeing the faces of the confused onlookers, I waved sheepishly and tried to smile. It didn't help.
Leo sighed behind me, "Just go inside."
I walked back up the stairs, checking over my shoulders as I went, afraid the spider-ghouls were still lurking nearby. Entering my apartment, I stepped cautiously through the door, clearing the corners, but there was nothing, not even the gray slime.
"Will you relax?" Leo said as he walked past me and took the bar stool next to my counter. He looked back and held his hand out pointedly towards my armchair. "Sit down will you?"
Moving carefully in case something jumped out from a hiding spot I missed, I moved over to my recliner and sat nervously on the edge of the chair. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the bottom of my t-shirt
"What the hell was all that?" I asked.
Leo tried to lean against my counter, saw the mess, grimaced, then crossed his legs resting his hands on his knees instead.
"I was hoping to ease you into this next part slowly," He began. "But since you insisted on making a scene we get to do this the hard way. First things first. last night was not a hallucination. You were going to kill yourself on that bridge until you had a change of heart."
Guilt and shame have a weird way of trumping fear. My head hung low and I looked down at my dirty feet. So I really had almost committed suicide. I finally hit rock bottom then. I knew it would come one day, I just didn't know how far down the rocks would be.
I looked back at Leo. He had paused, letting me take in his words. I was surprised to see he was smiling.
"You take away the wrong observation here John," he continued. "You chose life, that's good. Even in the river you could have given up, but you fought to stay alive. Your actions opened a door, one you didn't have to walk through. But in the face of uncertainty, when people called for help you sought them out. That is why the talisman came to you."
Leo looked at the star brooch on my counter. " It is the Phylacterium De Spiritus Iustitiae, a relic that carries with it an important task. Whoever bears this talisman shall be the Vessel of Justice. He will hear the prayers of the desperate, and have the power to answer their cries."
His words rolled over me like a thick fog, making everything much less clear. I shook my head, "What were those things?"
Leo opened his mouth in a silent, "Ah."
"Yes," he said, "Well you see the talisman has great power, but holding it brings with it certain... side effects. You see, the world is more than what you perceive with your eyes. You are surrounded at all times by an extra-dimensional layer called the Aether. It takes shape in infinite ways and with the talisman you can now see into that layer of reality.
What you just saw were some of the nastier things that live in the Aether space. Parasites that feed on the excess energies humans create. They are particularly attracted to negative emotions in places of misery and disrepair," he waved his hands about my apartment as though to prove a point.
I frowned, slouched in my armchair and mulled over everything he said. I looked at the talisman on the counter, then back at Leo.
"So everything that just happened to me is because I found that hunk of metal?"
He gave me a level look. "The talisman," he corrected, "an oversimplification, but yes."
Without a second thought, I got up from my chair, snatched up the talisman from the counter, marched over to my window, opened it, and chucked it out across the road. Slamming the window shut I returned to my chair, plopped down, and stared definitely back at Leo.
"We done then?" I asked.
Leo looked amused. "No," he said sympathetically.
I leaned forward in my chair, ready to give the guy a piece of my mind, but stopped flat... as I had shifted in my chair I felt something hit up against my leg from inside my shorts pocket. Hesitantly I reached into the pocket and pulled out the silver star talisman. My eyes drifted back to Leo.
"It doesn't work that way," he said. "The talisman is connected to you now. You can't simply throw away a calling. It will always find you."
I glared at him, "Who are you?"
After a pause, he said, "I oversee whoever bears the talisman. Think of me as your handler. Here to aid my Vessel in his grand new purpose!" He grinned.
It creeped me out.
"No," I said. "I don't want this. Take it back." I held the talisman out towards him.
Leo shook his head. "Hear me, John, I know this is overwhelming but it is vitally important you listen. The Aetherfire I used to cleanse you is not permanent. The talisman is attached to you now and no matter what you do, you will begin to see into the Aether again very soon. If you continue to waste your time trying to run from this, your new sight will drive you mad. However, If you do as I say, you can learn to endure it."
I thought of the spider-ghouls and shivered. I looked at the talisman in my hand and felt lost, defeated. I was scared of what I had seen, scared they would return... If what Leo said was true, I was trapped.
I leaned back in my chair, covering my face with my hands, and as I did, I felt a bump behind my back in the chair cushion. I reached behind and pulled out a small bottle of whiskey I had missed, like the kind you find in a mini bar, tucked in the crease of the chair. Sweet relief. Hurriedly I unscrewed the lid and lifted the bottle to my lips.
But before I could drink, several long slimy green tentacles reached up out of the bottle, wagging at me like so many vile tongs. I threw the bottle across the room and yelled out in frustration.
"That won't help," Leo said. "They thrive on your vices. Unless you want to go insane, I suggest you take my advice seriously."
I rested my head in my hands. I didn't want to believe any of this was real. I must be going crazy. Or maybe I had died and this was some kind of hell. Anyway I cut it, I couldn't see a way out. But Leo had made the monsters disappear, at least for now... and if what he said was true, and he could help me keep them away, I supposed that was better than the alternative.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, subdued.
His eyes narrowed as his expression turned serious. "For now," he said, "take a shower man, you smell like death."