I hate waiting...

"So what brings you to my house, friend?" Kris asked.
"Oh just in the neighborhood, trying to get some exercise. You know me, I'm always trying to be a little healthier." I lied. The answer came so quickly that I knew she wouldn't hesitate to believe me.
"So, Kris can I use your phone? I think I need to call my husband." I'm not quite sure why I didn't tell Kris what had happened. I think I just didn't want to upset her. plus, I was unsure she would even believe me.
Let see: Kris a big man in a velvet duster attacked me with a violet flying bubble of energy, but don't worry I defended myself using my glass ring and knocked him out. Then, I ran here to your beautiful home and your two children, in the hopes that the big man would not find me. Yup, crazy nuts.
There was no way to explain it so I was not going to try. Unfortunately, I knew that I had to at least try and explain what happened to my husband.
Kris allowed me to use her phone and I stepped out on her shaded patio to call him at work. Bob only worked about 2 miles away so I knew it would be easy for him to come and get me from Kris' house.
Before I dialed on Kris' phone, I found my cell phone in my pocket. I decided to use mine instead in order to keep her out of any "drama" that might be coming.
The phone rang three times before a deep, gentle voice picked up.
"Thank you for calling the best husband in the world, how may I assist you."
I laughed. I always loved hearing my husband speak. His voice was so powerful, some said he sounded like the voice of God. I wasn't sure about that. I just knew he sounded like someone that could make the sun shine on a cloudy day, and make my heart skip a beat; even after 10 years of marriage.
"Bob, you are lucky that your company has caller I.D." I teased.
"I know, I know. What going on, Love?" he asked.
"When is your lunch break?"
"In about a half hour, why? "
"No reason, I just need you to pick me up at Kris' house. I think I got a little over tired on my walk here and I don't really want to walk home. Plus, I am sweating like a pig and it's gross."
"I'm sorry love, why don't you just ask Kris to take you home and I will meet you there in a half an hour."
"I would but Kris is leaving to take here son to ...soccer practice. She was planning on leaving in just a couple of minutes." I felt bad about such a brazen lie, but I really didn't want to involve Kris.
"Well, I'll ask Shelly if I can take my lunch early. Just stay there and I will be there soon."
"okay, sorry to be so annoying. I should just walk home. But to tell you the truth," I took a moment to look around to make sure Kris wasn't listening before I whispered, "I think our house got broken into."
"Well then...are you sure? Never mind. I will pick you up as soon as I can. love you." Bob hung up and my heart started to race again with worry. How was I ever going to tell him about a past that I couldn't remember much of myself. It had been 20 years with no contact from either side. I knew I wasn't even supposed to have a life, other than my given path. I knew the generalities of my task, but not the details. So, I worried about how I was going to explain about something that I didn't remember much of. I mean, who really remembers details of when they were 13 years old?
++++ ++++++ +++++ ++++

In about 15 minutes Bob showed up in his gold 1973' Cadillac that we had gotten off of eBay for a decent price. He loved that car, it gave him the extra leg room and head space that a man of his height required.
I had decided to wait outside, in front of her garage, since it would avoid any small talk with Kris (she was a gossip monger). As soon as I saw Bob I ran to the car, and then remember the broken staff and went back to get it. The staff was still laying on top of the bushes, but I had to maneuver a little in the branches to reach it. When Bob saw the staff, he gave me this "please explain" kind of of look. I still had no idea how to start so I just shrugged and threw it into the trunk, that I unlocked with my set of keys.
"are you okay?" Bob asked. I could tell he was very concerned about me and my proclamation on the phone. My body started to experience a little shock and all I could mutter was, "I'm unhurt, although we might want to call the police just to be safe."
As we drove towards home, all I could hear was the sound of the Cadillac engine. I stared out the slightly dirty window, secret hoping that when we got there all would be as it usually was. Calm, quiet, and with out a speck of Earl...or what ever his name was. Bob stopped the car a couple housed away from ours to call the police. After he was finished, we sat in the car watching the house and waiting. Everything seemed to look okay from the outside. My car windshield still looked broken and the garage was bent in at the spot Earl had hit it. I tried to see any sign of Earl, but then seemed to be nothing.
"I'm sorry Tiffy, but I really need to know what happened?" Bob looked at me, his blue eyes were so empathetic. I could tell he was ready to believe what ever I would say. But, I couldn't have this conversation now. I just turned my head and glazed my eyes as I looked out the window," I told you, I was just relaxing when someone broke down the front door and broke into the house." His caring face fell and was replaced by a look of disappointment. After 10 years of marriage, he knew there was more to it than that.
"Okay, " I said " let me start from the beginning."
As I started to explain a cop car pulled up in front of our house, I took a breathe and mouthed the word, 'later". He nodded his head, and we both opened the car doors and introduced ourselves to the cop.

The Past returns

"Nice shot" I yelled, "but you missed."
I turned the glass ring around in my finger so the the ball of the ring looked like it was being held in my palm. The pulsating grew stronger. As I flicked my wrist, a white bubble started to form. I could feel my hand tingling as the bubble grew.
The memory of me standing in front of the man with the blue robe flashed. I had the feeling that this was my favorite training game. Only this was not a game.
"Here it goes," I thought.
"My turn" I yelled as I pitched the white bubble underhand, now burning cold in my hands. The bubble quickly picked up speed and blasted into tiny pieces before targeting Earl. After being hit by the blast, Earl lost grip of his staff and sailed backwards into my garage door.
I moved to where his staff had fallen and hit Earl again with another white bubble of energy. This time I used a flicking motion so it would hit Earl and return to my hand. When the bubble returned to me I felt a surge of confidence. I grabbed Earl's staff and ran as fast as I could. I didn't think. I just ran. My heart was pumping so fast and I was having trouble breathing, but I didn't care; I knew I had to get as far away as possible. My thoughts flashed, for just a moment, to Mugsy who was still locked in the car. I was sorry that I had forgotten to let her out but there was nothing I could do about it now. Suddenly, Earl's face came to my mind. I stopped running, as I thought, "I know him, but how do I know him?" I turned around and saw nothing but the eery quiet street. My face started to sweat in the afternoon sun as I headed towards a friend's house that lived across the street, past the park. Maybe I had lost Earl, "no, not Earl, his name is...is.." It was so frustrating that I couldn't find the information that I was desperately searching for. I continued to look around me and spotted the same green-looking squirrel cross my path. My body flinched as I made a break for it and headed towards the path through the park.
Was exactly is that green squirrel creature, and was it a friend or an enemy. I tried to access any twinge of memory; but couldn't so I bit my lip and moved into a sprint.
+++
I banged on my friend's door, my chest burning inside from the lack of oxygen. I waited in the corner of her shaded porch, trying to will her to be home and answer quickly. I paused for a moment to listen through her door, I could hear footsteps coming down the staircase. I remembered that I was holding the cracked staff and thought there was no way to explain it so I threw it into her block shaped bushes a millisecond before the door opened.
"Hey friend, what's going on?"
'Um...hi Kris. I was wondering if I could come in for just a minute." I stammered
"Sure friend, come in." Kris welcomed me into her beautiful three story redbrick home. Every time I stood in her house, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. I glanced at the black chandelier hanging above the Baby Grand piano in her sitting room as I followed her to the kitchen.
"you look like you need a some water. Jack!" Kris yelled upstairs to her twelve year old son. "Miss Tiffany is here, make sure to get some pants on before you come down." We looked at each other as Kris commented, "Maken sure we avoid any embarrassment, for you I mean." I took the plastic water bottle Kris offered and leaned on the counter. Kris started talking about the new Cordell Wide Oak hard wood floors they were going to have put in next month. I tried to sound excited but I all I could manage was a couple of ohs and uh-huhs, here and there.
As I sipped the water, I glanced down at my glass ring now and again. I knew that it would flicker to let me know if Earl had followed me here. I doubted that he had, since he looked quite unconscious before I took off toward the park.

Some pent up energy

As I squatted next to the side fence with the car keys clutched in my right hand and holding Mugsy in my left, I listened very closely for the right moment to move. I could feel my heart beating wildly out of my chest and thought that Earl could probably hear it too. I strained to hear a sound as everything suddenly went silent. The moment seemed to slow to a crawl and all I could hear was the beating of my heart pounding in my ears. This moment was going to last forever, I just knew it.
The quiet was suddenly split by Earl. I could hear glass breaking from what sounded like my sitting room. "I WILL FIND YOU DREAMCATCHER AND I WILL TAKE THE STORY RELIC I NEED!" Earl yelled as the destruction continued. "All my beautiful collectables!" I thought. "He better not break the crown of Aurastar." That was my favorite crown. I listened to what sounded like a fire being started in my living room and decided it was time to go. The noise of my bookshelves crashing and my chandelier coming down would hopefully hide any sounds I made.
I crept toward the car and unlocked it as quickly as I could. I threw Mugsy into the passenger seat and apologized as she yelped in pain. I took one last glance at the front door as I jumped into my blue Chevy Tracker. As I closed the door, the destruction noises stopped. I didn't want to start the car or even lock it until I heard some movement that would mask my departure.

Minor mistake.

A moment later a violet bolt hit my windshield, blasting the glass into a million pieces. Mugsy ducked under the passenger seat as the glass headed towards her. I wished that I could do the same thing. As the glass started to settle, I saw Earl in front of me wearing a ghoulish leering grin. At least the voice sounded like Earl; he was wearing different clothes...very different. He was wearing a ragged looking velvet red duster. Around his neck was a silver pendant in the shape of a lion. In his right hand he had a old staff split in half at the top. He laughed as he beckoned me to get out of my car and face him. I decided that was not a good idea and tried to make a break for it, but the car would not start. Suddenly, the glass ring started to make a pulsating "whirrr" sound and I noticed my fingers were tingling. I stepped out of the car, slammed the door, and never took my eyes off Earl.
"You want me, you got me!" I yelled unflinchingly. I may have sounded fearless but my mind was yelling something completely different. My thoughts went something like, "oh crap, oh crap, oh God, oh God. please help, please help! "
"What do you want?" I demanded "Oh crap, stop talking just stop talking"

"You knows what I want. Give me the chamber key." Earl demanded and moved forward.

"I don't know about any chamber key. Look I think you've got the wrong...person...um dreamcatcher." I stammered as I took a step backward. My plan was really simple...throw my keys at his head and run.
"Oh nope I don't, I can tell by that little glass ring that you're wearing. You think I wouldn't recognize the symbol of your people?" "Plus, you have a different...light about you, sews I could tell. I must admit you are not like I pictured you would be. you got a little.." he gave a mean spirited laugh "fat."
"That's something coming from a guy who looks like a Biggest Loser reject. what do you weigh under that velvet duster ? 425..450?" I criticized and took another step back. "what are you doing? stop making him mad. shut up shut up, shut up."
"Let's see how out of practice the little Taloa Dreamcatcher is." As Earl grabbed his staff with both hands and started chanting, a violet bubble began to rise out of the top. I rocked back and forth, not really knowing what to do, and hoped that I would soon wake up from this obviously terrible dream.
Earl gave a final yell and sent the violet bubble racing toward me. I instinctively moved to the left as it barely sailed past my face at a breakneck speed. As my driver's side mirror shattered, I caught a glint from a piece of broken glass. In this moment I felt my past returning to me. I knew what I had to do.

My First Memory

After the incident with Earl the other night, I started to think that the odd things that were happening were a series of connected events instead of just a coincidence. It was my first day off in a while and I decided to go to my hope chest and open up my old memory box that I thought would help me to connect the Chow-chow, "the face" , and the green squirrel. It was a small wooden box with two humming birds carved on it facing each other, holding a rose between them. The box was also carved all the way around and was very detailed. It took me a while to find the special key that went to the lock. In fact looking at the key you wouldn't think it did anything at all. The key was gold, flat and about an inch long with two prongs at the end. The key always used to remind me of a tiny crow bar.
I hadn't looked in this box for years but I was convinced that the things that were happening had to do with my past. I just didn't know how. I found the whole thing to be very frustrating mainly because I couldn't remember details from when I was young. As I opened the wooden lid, I spotted an old letter wrapped in a plastic sandwich bag. The Letter read on the outside "My Dearest Dreamcatcher" written in beautiful script. I slowly fingered the letter as I slipped it out of the plastic sleeve. I took a deep breath and started to read.

My Dearest Dreamcatcher,
You have a lifetime mission to fulfill. You have been called to greatness. This is a position of honor that has been a corner stone of our Legacy. I am proud of who you have become, but you are still young. How I wish that I could come with you. I believe in you. Please allow me to offer this word of advice: Remember each item that is put in your charge is precious and must be protected at all costs. Practice your talents each day, prepare for the day when the adversaries will find you (for it will come), and remember that we will be watching.
With all my devotion and love,
Otec

I stared at the letter for a moment as tears filled my eyes. I wiped the tears away and remembered a man with deep brown eyes wearing a blue robe. He was standing away from me as he threw what looked like a flaming hot white baseball at me. I felt a twinge of worry, but then felt a surge of brilliance and caught the ball as it came toward me. As I looked around, and realized I was standing in a grassy arena. I couldn't see the faces of anyone else but I knew I was being watched ...and tested. The man with the deep brown eyes gave me a look of encouragement and said, "Good deed my little dreamcatcher in training, now just one more." I giggled...
My doorbell rang and I was pulled back to my bedroom clutching the letter in my hands. I was a little annoyed as I walked to the front door. I was about to give the person at the door a piece of my mind for taking me away from such a great memory so I decided to take a deep breath before I opened the door. As I reached for the door handle with my right hand I saw the gold symbol on the glass ring flicker. Of all the things that I did not remember, this was not one of them. I remembered that when the ring flickered it meant someone sinister was near. I felt a shiver up my spine and did the only thing I could think of to do. I panicked.
I quickly grabbed my keys and ran the other way, out the side door through the garage. I got to the locked gate that would let me sneak to my car and hid. I couldn't remember the combination to the lock. "Oh crap", I thought. "okay just breath" I told myself. I remembered I had written a hint on the back of the lock to help me...in case I forgot the combo. As I reached up to turn the lock over, I heard the voice of Earl say, "Come on ...miss. open the door. surely you remember me." he hesitated then continued, "I just wanted to apologize for scaring you the other day."
When the door didn't open I could hear him getting irritated. His breathing got harder and harder. I got the feeling that any minute now he was going to put his fist through the door. "Open up you stinky dreamcatcher. I know it's you. I have been searching for you for decades."
I remembered the combination and fumbled a couple times as my heart was racing. I tried to stay quiet but Mugsy thought we were playing and kept rubbing up against my leg. I finally released the lock, open the gate, and peered out. The ring on my finger was turning hot white as I heard the bolt on my front door unlock.

Stranger Danger

I looked up at where "the face" had been as my heart stopped while holding my breath. The face was gone. I looked behind me at the gate that I had come through a couple seconds ago and saw a man staring at me. He was wearing a greenish city uniform with the name Earl embroidered on the upper left chest area. He was wearing a huge sun hat and a skull bandana around his neck that sparkled and glittered in the left-0ver sun.
"Excuse me" I muttered, unsure of whether he was someone I could trust.
"You're not supposed to be here...miss" he said. There was something in the way that he added the "miss" at the end that told me that he was speaking from a place of bitter authority. I decided to be as kind and get home as fast as I could.
"Oh sorry" I stuttered "I was just getting my dog back, she got loose from me when she saw a ...squirrel and took off down here."
"Uh huh" he commented, looking me up and down, trying to rip the half truth from my lips.
He finally smiled and nodded his head as if he decided to believe most of what I was saying.
"Well then you got your dog now so you better leave before I call them cops."
I gave a nervous laugh and pulled Mugsy back up the path. I didn't take my eyes off of Earl as we walked up the path. When I got on the other side of the fence I muttered an "I'm sorry" and thanked him for his time and patience. "Uh huh" was all he said.
As I walked back down to the sidewalk I could feel him staring at the back of my neck. I was anxious to be out of his sight line so I started to run back home even though it was a half mile away. As I ran, I could hear his first statement in my mind, "You're not supposed to be here yet." "Yet." He had said the word "yet." The second time he left that part out as if he was testing me to see if I heard him.. What exactly did he mean by "yet?" I thought about it all the way home as I tried to forget every detail of him. As I rounded the final corner Mugsy took off and pulled away from me. "Home!" I commanded. She obeyed and took off towards home. When I got there she was waiting for me to open the door, obviously glad to be home. So was I. As I walked inside and locked the door I heard Earl's voice. "You're not supposed to be here yet." I jumped and my heart skipped a beat. I knew the voice had to be in my head but my heart was telling me it was something more sinister. I ran to my room, quickly closing the door behind me As my breathing slowly calmed, my eyes fell on a blue glass ring with a tiny gold symbol in the middle of it in my open jewelry box. I hadn't worn this ring or even thought about it in...years. Two decades to be more precise. I slipped it on my right middle finger and decided to do a quick inspection of my small three bedroom house.

something in the air

Mugsy would not stop acting strangely as we walked. She refused to go, whimpering and pulling at her pink leash. I could ignore her pulling; there were occasions when she would pull at her leash because she was smelling something "important" in the grass and was not finished with it. But, I could not ignore the whimpering. My dog would bark at huge greyhounds but the moment the dog got closer and she could see that the dog was bigger than her, she would stop barking. It was usually very funny to watch. She was a lovable barking mutt, but I could not ignore her cries of concern. I knew that dogs usually had a keener sense of the things happening around them.
I looked forward towards the trail and decided to calm my puppy and go home.
As I leaned down to calm her and pick her up, I saw a flash of something that my heart recognized as...home. I thought I saw a dark shape running across the path, it reminded me of a squirrel except greenish. It was strange but, when I saw it I had a memory of a place that I felt I used to live. The place the colorful, like stepping into a beautiful landscape painting. I was standing in front of some older men in blue robes with caps on their heads. They were telling me that my time had come and that I needed to go through the door. I looked around and the door was a tree that was broken in half with a rainbow paving the entry.
I returned to the moment and picked mugsy up to let her know that she was okay and that if she did not want to go I would not make her.
I lied.
I took a couple of steps forward as she was calming down, I looked at her and she looked at me with her big brown eyes as if to say, "I love you, please let's go home." I apologized and we moved forward. With each step I could feel something in the air, something that was calling me back to the place 'it all started." What it was exactly, I did not know, I just knew that I felt like I had to go, I had to see it, the Katura tree, plus I wanted to make sure the green squirrel was just my imagination. I mean a green squirrel, that smacks of crazy right?
It was just a couple more minutes until I got to the location as I started to break into a run. I noticed how utterly out-of-shape I was a decided that the target zone wasn't going anywhere and I could walk fast instead. As, I got to the sign that read, "No trespassing" I found my heart beating faster. I had not idea why, this was no big deal. It was just a bunch a shrubs, broken logs, and one beautiful tree after all. I looked up to the top of the branches to see if I could see the "face" that I had seen before. My heart skipped a beat as I saw it again. The wind blew and the face moved with the wind. I smiled at the face and giggled under my breath as I told myself that I was being silly. I moved under the trespassing sign as a warm breeze came through. The breeze felt like a hot breath on my ear and I shrugged my shoulder to shake the weird feeling.
The face, I noticed was still there and I looked at it as I walked down the hill. I felt like a child that sees a shadow in their bedroom during the night and thinks it a ghost so they stay up all night staring at it, waiting to move.
I decided to try and talk to it just to prove to my imagination that it wasn't real.
"Hello, nice to see you here." I said
I waited a few seconds and then took my eyes off the face as I made a sigh of relief. Then I heard a voice say, "you're not supposed to be here yet."

and so it continues

Today was a beautiful spring day. it was 78 degrees outside and I was ready for a walk. I got my dog and grabbed her pink leash with the light pink hearts on it, so people would know she was a girl, and headed for the door. I don't know why but I started to think about the last time I had let my dog outside. My thoughts flooded to that dog that attacked Mugsy, which I later found out was a dog called a Chow-chow, a nice name for such an aggressive and giant dog. I realized that it had been several months since I had wanted to go outside with Mugsy at all. Today unfortunately, i knew that i had to "start somewhere" since mugsy was getting very pudgy for her little chihuahua/pug mix frame. Plus, I wasn't in the best shape of my life either so it was a beautiful day and it was time to get moving.
I started to walk up the usual way, up the street to the first main light about a quarter mile up the road then turn right and come back. The whole walk was usually a mile and took no more than 14 minutes. as I went to go toward the main stop light I stopped and thought about a place that i had not been to in years. The place was a doorway of sorts at least it felt like that to me. It was up the street a little and was the sight of an old drainage ditch. After years and years of water running through it, it had grown to be full of shrubs, flowers, herbs , weeds, dead broken logs, and one really beautiful and full Katsura tree whose leaves always reminded me of a heart.
I decided that I wanted to go see it even though it was gated off by the city and had a sign on it that read, "trespassers will be prosecuted." in my mind I had a right to go there and no city was going to stop me. I tugged at Mugsy to go left instead of right, she resisted for a moment but soon gave in and walked along side of me. Occasionally she would switch sides as she usually does in order to smell everything within her level.
About 15 minutes in to walk she started to whimper as we got closer to my memory area. I was determined to go since I kept getting lost in my own memories. I remember playing there with a young group of children that I was looking after. we were using it as our own imagination arena. We pretended to fight the goblins and monsters that were there as we flung spells and hid behind the broken log from our unseen attackers. I could remember how frightful and scary it had been when we heard a tree branch break on it's own while we silently listening waiting for the right moment to attack the imaginary goblins. That very real small moment of hearing the branch break caused us to wonder if there were more sinister, real forces at work as we hastily decided that it was time to go. the kids climbed up the small ravine first and as I looked back at the beautiful Katsura tree I would have sworn that I saw a face looking at me from beyond the leaves. I was both secretly scared and intrigued by that moment. Scared because of the feeling I got that the face I saw was really there and intrigued because the faced seemed to have been smiling as if to say, "i missed you."
I was torn from my memory as Mugsy started to forcefully pull backward and bark at something that was sending her into behavior that I had never seen before.