Waves
Chapter 10 Darkness

I had forgotten how beautiful everything was, I was so messed up the last hour or so. This museum courtyard was charming, from the decorative cannon to the trees to the modern art sculptures, it was a wonderful place to sit and meditate. I wish I had more time to do exactly that. And past the wall was the massive Pacific Ocean. If I lived here the rest of my life I would never tire marveling at it. Way off in the distance were two sailboats puncturing the horizon. I wonder if I would get seasick. Maybe I can replace out someday, but not today. The shadows were growing long.

I felt great. I felt strong and confident, with renewed focus and vigor. I didn’t know where the ball was but I felt certain that it was not here in this courtyard. I still had a weird sensation that something was missing from me but I could deal with that. It was time to leave, time to figure something out - again. As I walked toward the door, the sun shown through some gaps in the fence. And as I walked through them, instead of casting a sunbeam on my clothes, they cast a darkness beam. I experimented with it. I moved out of the way and let the sun ray shine on a bench and it shown bright, like it should. But as I intercepted the ray of sunshine with my body, it formed a dark place on me. What did it mean? It meant something. I guess I would just file this away and move on, what a weird day this has been.

I left the courtyard, walked down to the sidewalk then proceeded north. I needed to get back to where I came from, somewhere along the way re-securing the ploncedite. Off I went, buildings of all shapes and sizes to my right, the ocean to my left. I crossed the street to be on the ocean side and kept walking north. I loved this sidewalk. A perfect, short fence, sometimes made of rock and sometimes wood separated the sidewalk from the rocky slope and ocean. No one was rushing. It was a time for people to stroll and gaze. I was probably the only one here with a serious issue.

I kept walking and eventually returned to the large grassy area where Derek and I had our rendezvous. I miss Derek, there was a lot that we needed to talk about, but not now. I didn’t think that the ball could be too far, after all it wasn’t very far from here that I gave it away. There hadn’t been time for Finnegan to stash it a long distance from here. It was near alright, but where?

The sidewalk split into two sidewalks, creating a border around the grass. The right sidewalk stayed next to the street while the left path continued along the water edge. That’s the way I went. The wedding party was gone, replaced by two lovers. They were really making out, on a blanket, right out in the middle of the grass. No one seemed to mind. It was a little embarrassing for me but at the same time, kinda fun to watch, but not stare at of course, just an occasional glance.

I kept strolling, I didn’t know where I was going. I knew I shouldn’t walk too far though, not if the object of my quest was close, so I found a shady tree and sat down, leaning up against it. I closed my eyes for a moment, enjoying the ocean breeze and the aroma of salt water. I opened my eyes just in time to catch a glimpse of a few sea gulls as they flew by, there were none of those where I came from. Then I went back to darkness.

“Hello Paxton,” spoke a voice from above.

I looked up and to the left, it was the green hat man, and two of his goons. I wasn’t scared at all, well maybe a little. I didn’t realize that he knew my name, I guess extreme power enables a lot.

“Where is it?” he asked me.

I got up and created a posture in front of him to indicate that I was not going to be bullied. I looked him right in the eye. This was someone else’s confidence, it had to be, it definitely wasn’t mine.

“How should I know?” I answered, “the last I saw it was in the cave.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“Where else should I go?” I answered rhetorically.

“Let me tell you something,” he said while grabbing my arm.

I batted it away, another first.

“I can feel ploncedites, do you hear what I’m telling you?” he added, “how do you think I knew there was one in the first place? I feel them, I sense them, I smell them. It is not in that cave. I was in there.”

“Then I guess the ocean took it.”

“The ocean? Things only go into the cave, they don’t go out,” he said with a demeaning tone.

“That is ridiculous,” I said with confidence, “you were in there, it’s like a washing machine. Things are flying and moving, the water is churning, twisting and sucking everything in its path. Of course it could go out. You just don’t want to admit that you lost it. You’re just trying to convince yourself that it’s not out in the wild blue ocean!”

“It’s not out there, I can feel it!” he retorted, “And you know where it is.”

“Come on! If I knew where it was, I would have it right now, I want it as much as you do.”

“I doubt that,” he interrupted.

“Do I have it?” I interrupted right back, “is it in my hands?” as I showed him my open hands, “is it in my pockets? Maybe I hid it in my left nostril. Look around, there is no three ball.”

“Don’t mess with me boy! You’re nothing. Normally I wouldn’t stoop so low as to even talk with a thing like you. I will break you in half like the useless twig that you are.”

He reached up to the tree and snapped a branch in half. I think that my new confidence was running out of gas. This was one scary guy. But maybe I was a scary guy too, did anyone think of that? So I swung my arm to knock that stupid green hat off his head. I didn’t make it though as he grabbed my arm before I successfully de-capped him, holding my arm tightly this time. So tight that I couldn’t break away.

“I don’t want to see you again,” he commanded, “I don’t care where you go, you can drown yourself in the ocean for all I care, just get the hell out of this area, and never come back. If I see you again, I will destroy you. You understand boy?”

“Yes,” I replied meekly.

He pushed me aside then walked away angrily. I was kinda freaked out, but I couldn’t leave. Oh I thought about leaving for a moment or two but I still felt that this job was mine. This encounter made me think though. Perhaps he could feel the ploncedite like animals do. If a crab could sense it, why couldn’t a rat? I felt so proud of myself and my little joke. But all joking aside, maybe the green hat man will be my unknowing guide to replaceing the ball. But I had to get it before he did, without being seen. This was going to be interesting.

I let him walk away, keeping an eye on him as he wandered. He wasn’t traveling in a straight line, like people do when they know where they are going. He was weaving about, sometimes slowing while other times zipping a bit faster. He would wander this way then that, like a human homing device. Actually I was just assuming human, I don’t really know what he was. But he was trying to gage the location of the same thing I wanted, like someone trying to replace cell phone service. I walked away in the opposite direction at first, in case he turned to make sure I had followed his order. But even as I walked away, I continued to watch him, from quite a distance.

I realized that his built-in homing mechanism was leading him to the ball, and if I didn’t do something quickly, he would replace it before I would. So I decided to follow him, very carefully. I ran in his general direction and hid behind a tree. There were so many people hanging out and playing in this huge grassy area, that my behavior went unnoticed. So again I waited for him to be looking elsewhere and I darted to the next tree.

There was a building on the edge of the grass. I didn’t know what it was but it became my next refuge. I peered out from behind the building but couldn’t locate him. I walked along the sidewalk, making sure I bunched myself with tourists of all shapes. Across the street were those two spooky, dilapidated shacks that I had seen earlier. At the time I wasn’t sure if they were just a vision but now I was quite certain that they were really there.

The last I saw the green hat homing pigeon was across the street, so I figured I needed to go there too. I looked both directions, partly looking for cars but mostly for him. I darted across. I was directly in front of the pair of haunted houses when I glimpsed the lime donned villain coming my way. I don’t think he saw me amidst the crowds but no way could I cross the street again. So I hopped over the fence that was surrounding one of the run-down houses, with ‘no trespassing’ signs all over it. I scampered through the over-grown weeds, up a slight embankment then hid behind shack number one.

I heard my enemy’s commanding voice as he walked in front of this abandoned house. Then he seemed to stop. A moment later I heard footsteps in the weeds coming my way. It had to be him, but why? I grabbed the back door, which was right in front of me, and surprisingly enough, it opened. I slipped in, closing the door behind me. It was pitch black dark in there. I hated this dark place. I just knew there had to be spider webs and rodents and dead bodies and ghouls around every corner.

I wanted to open the door, just a little to let some light in but I dared not do that. Good thing too because I heard the three men in the back yard. I couldn’t let them open the door and replace me standing there. I had to move through this blackened, unfamiliar, scary house. So I started walking, slowly but purposefully, totally blind, my arms waving in front of me. Hopefully this empty house had no furniture, and no zombies. After a few steps I came to a wall, then slid along the wall until I found a doorway. It smelled really bad in this house, not unlike the spider tunnel.

This interior door was open so I went through into another room. It could have been a bedroom, maybe the living room, I really didn’t know. I was still walking slowly, still waving my arms in front when my face plowed right into a spider web. I guess my arms were waving too low to discover it. It was a horrible feeling, in the pitch black of an abandoned shack, spider webs all over my face and perhaps a spider crawling on my body. I panicked and quickly started wiping my face and flicking my hair. As I awkwardly stumbled sideways, attempted to remove all traces of webs and crawling things, I tripped on something. Down I went, crashing onto the dusty wooden floor.

I’m sure I made quite a noise, probably enough to arouse curiosity from my evil friends outside. I froze, trying to remain as silent as I could. I so wanted to continue ridding myself of any spider residue but couldn’t take the chance at any more noise. I laid on the dirty floor and waited. Then I heard the backdoor open followed by footsteps. There was a tiny glimmer of light coming through the backdoor then reflecting into my room. It wasn’t much but I could see another door at the far end, this one was closed.

My heart was pounding out of my chest. There was nothing stopping these men from killing me in here. I had to get to that next door and fast. I started crawling, as quietly yet as quickly as I could, toward that closed door. Just then the glimmer of light ended. They must have closed the backdoor, and I assume with them inside. I got to the new door, jumped up, opened it and went through into another mystery room, closing the door behind me, all as quietly as possible.

I heard some whispers and careful footsteps. I think I got into this room with only a millisecond to spare. Then a very dim light shone under my door. They were probably using their phones as flashlights. It provided almost no light in my little alcove but enough to realize that there was a stairway, heading downward right in front of me. If this dark haunted house wasn’t scary enough, the thought of climbing down dark stairs toward a mystery dungeon gave me chills. But any second now these morons would be opening this door, then who would the moron be? There was no question about it, I had to go down those stairs. It was so dark in this room that I could only see down the stairway two steps or so. What was beyond that was unknown. I was as scared as scared could be. On one side were three killers that would just as soon finish me off as have their morning coffee. Then on the other side was a dark, ominous stairway to hell.

I started down, one step then two. I didn’t want to continue but I had to. Two more steps, cold and clammy was an understatement. There was a pungent death smell that got stronger as I descended. Maybe some rats died down here. I kept going into this consuming darkness. I got to the bottom, the odor was horrible and strong. I could hear the bad guys upstairs, moving about. I had managed to keep one step ahead of them in this shack but my options were running out.

Then as I slowly walked, as my arms ran interference in front me, cold fingers touched my face. I was totally freaked out. This was why I don’t go into haunted houses. I whipped my arms around lightening quick to slap away this noiseless resident, but no one was there. My arms hit nothing. Then more fingers started touching my neck and face. Again, as I desperately tried to rid myself of this, nothing was near me.

I was scared right up to my eyeballs. I couldn’t make a sound though, and I couldn’t move too quickly either, but someone or something kept touching me. Then I realized something, it was time to harness the energy. This finally made sense, the ploncedite was here. This was the next phase that Finnegan talked about. The ploncedite wasn’t strong enough for the task so this next, hopefully last phase is what was needed. No ghost was here, there was no creepy touching, just my enhanced imagination. At that realization the fingers were gone. And something else happened. I sensed the three ball. The darkness beam back at the gallery courtyard must have been a foretelling of this place. Unfortunately if I could sense it, then probably so could Mr. green hat, just a few feet over my head.

A mouse ran by, I heard him. I listened to his tiny footsteps. I knew he would take me to the ball. Sure enough, a second later I heard the mouse explode off the three ball like the crabs did. I could hear the pop, I knew right where it was.

“Did you hear that?” the green hat guy said from above.

Oh no, he heard it too. He’ll be down here any second. I moved carefully but quickly through this large dark room, maybe I was in a garage. I got to one end and reached down. There was an energy pulling me like a magnet. I could not see it but I could sense it, I reached a little farther then grabbed. There it was, the three ball now securely in my right hand where it belonged. An incredible symploncy flowed through me. I really felt ready now, ready for the task, but how to get out?

Just then the interior door at the top of the stairway, that I came through a moment earlier, opened. Light now existed at the top of the stairs. They started to come down. I gripped that ball with both hands and concentrated on those cell phones. If there was magic in this ball, now would be a good time to let it fly. Two more steps, they would see me any second now. I concentrated even more, then - pop. Their phones went dead. It was now an even playing field, we were all in total darkness.