23 Chapter 22: Again, For The Last Time

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our brave men dead."

Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1 by William Shakespeare

-----

"Is this it?"

"I hope so." I blinked, frowning at my reply. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, this is it."

After handing the cab driver a twenty, I stepped out of the car, waving him down as he stood to help. Even if I did have a bad headache, I didn't have much in the way of luggage. As the cab drove away, I stared at the building in front of me.

An odd sense of deja vu overcame me, and as I took my first step onto the path, I felt sadness for some reason, and oddly enough, hopeful. I didn't understand why, and it made me all the more worried. Ever since I'd stepped onto the plane, my head had been progressively getting worse. What had started as a mild headache was now on the level of a migraine. But it was also different than a migraine

A feeling of dread had been rising within me ever since i'd gotten off the plane and i was reaching a crescendo. I once again considered calling an ambulance because i had never felt like this before; like i wasn't fully in control of my mind.

When you feel an emotion, you generally understand why you feel it and the cause. I had no clue why or what was causing me to feel such dread. I should've been happy, excited to be here, away from New York and my parents, especially my asshole of a dad. I wasn't though. Instead, I had a banging headache that made me feel like someone was hitting the inside of my skull with a pickaxe, and my emotions were all over the goddamned place.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. My hands were shaking slightly. A new emotion rose. Anticipation. I reached for my phone, to call someone for help, but it stopped just at the edge of my pocket, as though an invisible wall was there. Something, deep down, was telling me not to. Like a forgotten instinct based on a memory, I didn't have.

I sighed. I might as well head into the house. Maybe some rest would help me, though I doubted it. The feeling of deja vu did not go away as I neared the house, if anything it got stronger. I had been here before, but it wasn't that. It was something else. If only I could figure out what the hell it was.

The door opened without a creak. I remained on the doorstep for a long moment, staring into the house. The dread and anticipation was still rising and my first footstep felt heavy. I let out a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. What exactly was I expecting to happen here? Someone to pop out and scare me?

I dropped my luggage and took another deep breath. My gaze moved to the stairwell, but just as I was about to take a step towards it, my body shifted in another direction, jarring me in a way I had never felt before.

Emotions were one thing, but my body moving like that, without me doing it? That was too much. I reached for my phone, determining, only for that same instinct to rise again, staying my hand.

"What in the…?"

My heart rate had picked up and I was on the verge of freaking the fuck out. Almost in slow motion, my heart seemed to slow and a wave of calm swept through me. It swept away the fear and replaced it with determination along with the still rising dread and anticipation.

There was something pulling me, I could feel it. It was myself, but also something else and I knew at that moment I should have been on the phone with a doctor or something, somebody, because things like this were a sign of a serious damn mental problem.

But, instead, I decided to follow the feeling. The pull. Maybe it was the messed up state of mind I was in, or whatever was causing me to feel this way, was also doing this. It was me, though, I was certain.

The pull led me through the house, into the kitchen, and, finally the backyard. I absently noted the second shed, which for some reason, I vaguely remembered. Like a memory from a distant dream, just out of reach. I walked forward, and abruptly stopped moments later. The pull dragged my head down to look at a hatch in the ground.

The feeling of dread and anticipation spiked, the emotion so powerful that I staggered. But a moment later, another wave of determination swept in and I straightened. Like some sort of robot. I felt like a passenger in my own body as I leaned down and turned the hatch.

It opened to reveal darkness, but I didn't stop to turn on a flashlight. I climbed down a ladder I shouldn't have known was there, and into a hallway. I moved Through the door, and into another room.

My entire body froze before my head slowly turned to a space that had been carved out from one of the walls. It was sort of like someone wanted to make a shelf or table of sorts. Atop it lay a book and a few sheets of paper. I ignored both in favor of the last item.

The white orb stood still. The dread I was feeling reached the edge alongside the anticipation. It was like a banging in my head. Determination swept into stronger than ever, and I took one step. Then another, and another until I was stood right up against the table. It was dark, pitch dark, yet i knew where everything was.

I reached down and grasped the orb in my right hand. I moved my left hand to my mouth and bit a finger, drawing blood. Just a drop, but that would be enough. Enough for what, I didn't know.

Time slowed as I moved my finger towards the orb. It was so quiet. Too quiet. The drop of blood landing on the orb sounded like a thunderclap in the silence. A sound to herald something. A second passed, and another before my whole body locked up, freezing in place. Blissfully, my mind froze. I heard a wiring sound followed by a ring. Then everything went dark.