Day 29 –“Would you like fries with that?”

"Here you go, sir. One number two combo supersized and cheeseburger kid's meal," the small Hispanic woman behind the counter said as she pushed the tray with our food toward me.

"Thanks," I said smiling at her and picked up the tray. I turned to my son Andrew, who had been pulling napkins out of a dispenser and now had a pile that he stuffed into his pocket. "Where do you want to sit?"

"Over there," he said pointing to an empty table just outside of the children's play area.

"Okay. Wanna grab my drink. Diet coke." I said and handed him both of our cups.

"Okay Dad,"

We sat there eating in silence. I kept looking at my son and thinking about what Mr. Kristof said. Did Andrew look at me as a disappointment? I knew I hadn't been the best dad. I wasn't there for him every day and that thought made my stomach turn on a hourly basis. Doubt had eaten at me from the moment that I had signed the divorce papers. Could I have tried harder? What if I'd been more open and a better communicator? What if I had spent less time at work and more time with Andrew and Sharon?

I watched Andrew take a bit of his cheeseburger. What would Andrew and Sharon think about what'd happened at the 7-11. Was Sharon watching the news right now? What if she knew it was me who'd saved that clerk. Would it change things? Would it change things for Andrew?

"So how is school?" I asked as I took a bite of my burger.

"It's okay."

"Are you doing your homework?"

"Yeah. Mom makes sure I get it done," Andrew said and then took a sip of his drink.

I yawned. I hadn't really gotten much sleep after I had woken up from the nightmare. It also hadn't helped that my stomach had been in knots since I emptied everything in my stomach into the toilet. Probably shouldn't be eating McDonald's, I thought and then put down my cheeseburger.

I didn't remember much about the nightmare. I just knew that when I'd woken up, I was terrified. I could remember something about an old woman but everything else eluded me. Could the dream have anything to do with Kristof. My instincts told me that it had but I didn't think there was much I could do with the fragmented pieces of the dream that still rattled around in my head. Maybe more of it would come back to me.

What I needed to do was figure out what I was going to do if I got into another situation like 7-11. Kristof had said that more was coming. I couldn't let people know who I was. If I did it would just become too complicated. What happens if the cops get a hold of me? Did that mean Kristof would come and get me… kill me because someone knew about the whole thing? Or maybe he would just leave me there …

I just can't get caught, I thought to myself. I looked down at the bag Andrew's burger and fries had come in. The bag was covered with cartoon super hero characters.

No costumes. I won't wear tights. I just needed something to cover my face, and maybe some different clothes.

I looked up and could see Andrew looking at me, waiting for me to say something else to him.

"Sorry was just thinking about something… Are you going to play soccer this summer?"I asked.

"Nah. I don't like soccer. I want to play football but Mom won't let me," he said.

"How come?"

"She thinks I'm going to get hurt," he said shaking his head and then taking another drink of his soda.

"I'll talk to her. If you want to play football then I think you should give it a try."

"She said that she wasn't going to change her mind."

"We'll see. How's your burger?"

"Good," he said and took another bite.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked.

"I want to go see a movie," he said looking up at me.

"I knew you would say that. Two tickets to the new Transformers," I said as pulled the tickets from my coat pocket.

"Cool," he said smiling.

It was right then that I noticed the man sitting a few tables down from us. He was staring at me and when he noticed that I was looking at him he smiled at me. He was a big guy, over six feet tall and well over three hundred pounds, but he wasn't fat – just damn big. He had dark black hair and his skin was unusually pale. Something about him sent chills down my spin.

"I'll be right back," I said to Andrew and then stood up and walked to where the man was sitting.

I sat down across from him and said, "Look. I'm here with my kid and I don't want any trouble. Leave me alone right now and we can deal with this later."

"Uh, I don't know what you're talking about," the man said and then took a long drink of his coffee.

"Right. Then why were you looking at me that way? Why did you smile at me?"

"Dude, is it against the law to smile at someone. Just trying to be friendly."

I sat there for a moment. This was just some guy having lunch and now I've probably freaked him out. I'm lucky he hasn't called the manager or the cops. I'm starting to find bogey men in every corner, I thought and then stood up from the table.

"Oh … okay. Sorry." I said and quickly retreated back to the table where my son was watching me.

"Did you know that guy, Dad?" Andrew asked.

"I thought I did—but… You ready to go?" I said as I looked back to where the guy was gathering his food wrappers and standing up

"I've got to throw this stuff away. You want me to get yours?" my son said as he picked up his tray.

"Yeah, thanks buddy." I said and handed him my trash. Andrew walked to the garbage bin and began to empty the tray.

The man who had smiled at me walked toward me and then paused at my table.

Leaning down slightly, he said, "Have a good day with your son, Marcus."

"I will –" and then I stopped and my heart skipped a beat. "Bogey man" repeated over and over in my head. He was a bogey man and I need to get my son out of here as quick as possible. I stood up and pushed my way past the smiling man and made my way toward my son. Got to get him out of here.

"What's up Dad?"

"Just time to go," I said as I watched the smiling man. He never took his eyes off me and my son as we made our way out of the McDonalds.

 

Day 29 – Nightmare Somethings

The colors were all wrong, he thought as he stood on the edge of a cliff looking out at a crimson storm-raged ocean. He looked around him and found that the grass and trees were a gaudy blue instead of the green that he would normally expect. Everything felt wrong—artificial.

The wrongness around him made his skin crawl. It was as if someone had taken a magnet to the old color TV that was the world, bending and changing the picture of what should be into a broken neon mistake.

"Maybe this has something to do with what happened to me," he said out loud.

"Everything is because of you," a voice said from behind him. Whirling around, he found an elderly woman standing behind him.

"I didn't do anything."

"Lost one, this is your moment. Listen and understand that in time you will come to see things more… fluid then they are now," she said staring at him with cold gray eyes.

"Can't you just tell me?" he said.

"Open your eyes and see, Marcus. Many things are coming to pass that will shape how the world will continue to progress towards its end. Events are moving very quickly and the days are shorter with each new choice."

"What does that even mean? How can I even –" he said but she cut him off.

"Entropy must be halted," she screamed at him. "Now when everything will hang in the balance. Yes the time has come. Our task is a head of us. You must not fail."

"What do you want me to do," he said. Indigo clouds overhead crackled with the sound of thunder as the old woman moved toward him. Lightening struck the ground only dozen feet away from where he stood.

"Let faith guide you, Marcus. Have faith that those who know better have a purpose for you," she said as the wind whipped her thin gray hair. "A storm has gathered around you and it will take a great amount of resolve to survive."

Viscous rain fell from the indigo clouds as he stood there watching the woman as she feel to her knees and looked up at him. Energy seemed to crackle through the air and he could feel the hair on his skin stand on end. The light and color from the world around him seemed to flash brighter.

"Overcome your doubts," the old woman said. "Cherish everything you hold dear and guard them with every action you take. Help those in need, for they are helpless. Order is crumbling before the chaos of the world and you are one of the few who stands on the front line of the coming battle. Our choice has been made, Marcus."

Silence fell over him and the whole scene faded from color to shades of gray. Emptiness overtook him.

 

I woke up to the darkness of my bedroom and rushed to the toilet, barely making it there before I puked my guts out.

Day 30 – Before a cup of coffee.

 

    Martin Argyle had been up since around 3:00 in the morning and it was beginning to catch up to him. He rubbed his bald head and then went back to typing up his report on the ancient PC in front of him, clicking save every couple of minutes because his computer had been acting up recently, and the damn IT depart hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it.

    Martin had just turned forty eight the previous month and had been a detective for a little over twenty years now. He still hadn't gotten used to the early mornings. He wasn't a night owl, more of a go to bed at 10:00 get up at 8:00 type. When he had to pull late night shifts it threw everything out of whack.

    "So I don't get it," Martin said to his partner who was sitting in a desk kitty corner from his.

    Jose Soto looked up from the paperwork he was signing."What don't you get?"

    "A guy breaks up a crime, gets shot in the process, and then leaves on foot …disappears," Martin said leaning back in his chair.

    "Yeah that pretty much sums it up. What don't you get?" Jose went back to signing papers.

    "Where the hell is he? We've checked the hospital. We've checked the neighborhood? And there's no sign of him,"

    "Probably had something to hide? Or was a criminal?"

    "How do you figure?"

    Jose signed his last document, collected the stack, and straightened them with a couple of quick taps on the desk top. "What other reason could there be for running away when you have been shot. If the clerk was right, the guy is most likely dead. You don't walk away from the type of gunshot wounds she described. Gut wounds send you to the grave if they aren't taken care of. Any luck with the store camera?"

    "Nope, nothing but fuzzy. Its messed up from the time our hero comes into the store." Martin said as he scratched his nose, leaned forward again, and began to peck at the keyboard.

    "So we have to go on the description that the clerk gave," Jose said.

    "Yeah – great description. White, almost six feet, brown hair, wearing a black jacket and jeans. That could be just about anyone."

    "Maybe we should ask around the neighborhood some more. Go door to door-- get warrants?" Soto said joking.

    Martin kept typing away at his report ignoring Soto. When Soto started joking it meant that there wasn't going to be an end to it. At least not until Martin got pissed. Finally Soto suggested search parties, dogs and volunteers and Martin threw a pen at his face.

    "Hey maybe he was in on it?"Martin said after a few minutes of silence.

    "You think the guy was a part of the robbery?"

    "Makes sense to me. He goes in to scope out the store and if its empty and he calls or texts …" Martin paused to find the name of the robber, "… Clliff Boyer that its safe. But things go wrong when Boyer shots the clerk and mystery man tries to stop him."

    "Sorry Martin, doesn't even come close to working. The clerk said Boyer was surprised that someone else was there. And if they were working together, don't you think the guy would have taken off in Boyer's car?"

    "Hmm. Yeah, you're right."

    "This guy just didn't want to be there when we showed up. He was a good guy—he made sure that the clerk was alright—called in the robbery. Hundred bucks says we don't ever find him." Soto said as he turned around and filed several folders into a beaten up gray file cabinet. "Besides,Boyer's dead and the clerk is going to make it. Seems like this one is all wrapped up."

    "Just doesn't feel right..."Martin said as he finshed his report and hit save."What time is it?"

    "Little after 11:00," Soto said looking at his watch.

    "I need to get something to eat. Blood sugar is crapping out on me," Martin said standing up and putting on his jacket.

    "I'll come with you."

    "Starbucks first?" Martin said as they walked out.

    "Yep."

    "Rich person coffee. Don't understand why you don't just drink the free stuff we have here."

    "Free stuff tastes like crap."