 The problem with ghosts, especially one with a warped sense of humor, is you can never tell when they are telling you the truth or just playing with your head. Brian always did have a bizarre sense of the dramatic, but in death he had learned to bring it to a new all time low. Moments after announcing I was about to stumble onto one of the biggest mysteries since the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, Brian vanished. I must have wandered aimlessly for hours after that, because before I knew it, night had fallen and I was very lost. In fact I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Somehow, I had managed to end up deep in the woods. A really neat trick, considering there are no heavily forested areas anywhere near the city. I wasn’t even sure how I got there, or if I had even gone there at all. The last thing I remembered after Brian disappeared was leaving the alley. Then suddenly it was dark and I was knee deep in moss, fungus and dense vegetation. And I wasn’t alone. I couldn’t see anyone, but a part of me knew they were there none-the-less. I sunk to the forest floor, and moved quietly, trying to hide myself in the dense brush. As I stood there hugging the trunk of a tree, obscured from view by tree limb, leaves and the cover of darkness, I could feel myself tremble in fear, as soft whispers filled the air.
Page - 18 J.D.Tanner - PsiTronix There were voices all around me. I felt trapped, and yet I had no idea what I was being afraid of. "More ghosts?" I wondered. If that were the case then my recent experiences with Brian should have tempered my responses. And yet there I was cowering in the dark like a frightened child, afraid of whispers and shadows. But shadow refused to stay shadow and I could no longer hear the whispers over the pounding of my own heart. I could feel myself being grabbed by unseen hands as they dragged me from my hiding place and lifted me high into the air. Terrified far beyond my capacity to think, I instinctively opened my mouth to scream, but I was too paralyzed with fear to utter a sound. Time blurred into a frozen moment of terror... and then nothingness. I awoke to find myself lying face down in the middle of the same alley I had been in when I had my last conversation with Brain. I’m not sure if I passed out, had fallen asleep or simply had been hallucinating the events of the night before. I spent most of the day trying without success to put yesterday’s events of into perspective. But it wasn’t until later that day while reading the old rag I used to work for, that I began to realize something was really amiss. The date was wrong. At first I thought it was a printing error, but a quick check with the competition, told me otherwise. Something was very wrong. According to the two tabloids, I had somehow traveled back in time to the day before all this started.
Page - 19 J.D.Tanner – PsiTronix At first my mind refused to believe what it was seeing. But what were the odds of both papers making the same printing error? I wasn’t sure at first, but I knew it wasn’t very likely. Still, the mere thought of it made me laugh. It was ridiculous after all. People simply do not travel back and forth through time. I had just finished doing a through job of convincing myself it was all a big mistake, when I saw something that made stop dead in my tracks. At first I thought I was losing my mind, but as I watched myself walking across the street from where I stood, I became convinced of it. Feeling like a complete idiot, I began tailing myself. I watched from a distance as I saw myself enter the same building where it all began, headquarters of PsiTronx investigations. I kept a discreet distance, unsure of what might happen if I actually ran into myself, and followed as my earlier self entered the building. I waited until I saw the elevator I was in leave, then took another one to the same floor, arriving there a few moments later. Keeping my distance, I watched as I walked through a door with a sign on it saying Supply Room, and closed the door behind me.
Page - 20 J.D.Tanner – PsiTronix Now I was really confused. I had no memory of seeing a supply closet at PsiTronix, let alone entering one. Curious, I carefully reached for the doorknob, and opened the door crack so I could see inside. There I was standing in the middle of a janitorial room, eyes unblinking. At first I thought I was simply staring off into space, but soon realized nothing could be further from the truth. I heard myself speaking as if there was someone else in the room, except this conversation was very one-sided. I heard myself responding as I had when I was being interviewed, except this time there was nothing there. No computer, no desk, and no mirrored walls, with prying eyes behind it. There were just cleaning supplies, a ladder, an old rusty mop bucket, and I. I quietly closed the door and was just turning to leave when I ran into Brian. Well I didn’t actually run into him, it was more like I oozed through him. I once again found myself covered from head to foot in ectoplasmic goop. "Damn it Brian, can’t you just say hello like everybody else?" Brian was too busy laughing at my obvious distress to answer me at first, but he abruptly stopped and started talking to thin air.
Page - 21 J.D.Tanner – PsiTronix "Alright, alright, I will," he said to no one in particular. "Brian?" He glared at me, and motioned for me to be quiet. "Yes, of course," he said, seemingly once again to be talking to empty air. "Damn it Brian," I barked, "Will you quit doing that and tell me once and for all what the hell is going on?" Brian turned towards me and laughed. "Can’t you tell?" He said with a sarcastic edge in his voice. "If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t be asking you now would I?" I said as I wiped some of the goop from my face. Brian placed his right hand on my shoulder, adding to the oozing glop that covered me from head to toe, and smiled. "Pete my boy, welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. Enjoy it while you can, because from here on in, it’s only going to get stranger." |