Yay! This will be fun!
“Well, it didn’t turn out the way I’d planned that’s for sure.” Paul loosened his tie with a free hand. Nodding in response to whatever was being said on the other side of the line.
“No, I’m amazed actually. For once it turned out better! Yeah. I know, that’s what I thought too.”
Paul crossed the dark street. Eyes set on the next illuminated spot beneath the nearest towering streetlight. Steam hissed from a vent on the massive building watching like a stony, glassy gargoyle as he passed beneath. Its empty eyes followed Paul as he wandered purposefully through the night.
“Hey, Ronnie, can you say that last part again. You said you had something to tell me? You’re cutting out. I don’t know if it’s on your end or mine, but I’m only catching about every other word. Ronnie?”
Paul stumbled over his untied shoelace. He stopped and held his cell up in the air, squinting into the bright screen before bringing it back to his ear. “Ronnie?”
He held it up again. The call had been lost.
Paul impulsively redialed his oldest friend, eager to know what Ronnie had tried to tell him. His voicemail poured through. Paul sighed. Pressing his phone between the side of his head and shoulder while he stooped to retie his shoe.
“Hey bud, sorry about that. I don’t know if that was my phone or yours, I’m assuming yours since I have full bars. I guess I never asked where you were but I figured that had something to do with what you were saying just before you cut out. Thanks for helping me through this last week, I don’t know if you noticed but I was kind of a wreck until I heard the good news.” Paul paused for a moment, enjoying the rush of gratitude as he breathed in the night air around him. “I think that meeting might have turned out differently without the coaching you offered. Anyway, as always thanks for showing up. I owe you one and will give you a call at the end of the week if I haven’t heard from you. See ya. It’s Paul, by the way.”
Paul stretched and hopped his way over a puddle and fell into step behind a gaggle of boisterous pedestrians. The little gaggle appeared to be heading from one place to the next on a tour of the central vein encompassing the downtown arena.
Paul looked both ways, suddenly feeling less social than just moments before. This was his special moment to celebrate, and he didn’t want to share it with just anyone. He was excited to get back to home base and soak it all in.
He skipped over the lip on the sidewalk.
He was moving up in the world. The winds of fortune were finally shifting. He could see the possibilities unfolding. Paul closed his eyes and felt lifted into the infinite possibilities coming to mind. This might lead here, and that, too over there, and then the other may fall into place. Yes. He could see it all so clearly.
Unlike their phone connection, the conversation had been a clear signal from the universe that everything was changing for the better. Not just for Paul but for others close to him. He stuffed the phone into his pocket and fell into step behind the lively party on their way to celebrate some worthy cause. He smiled, breathing in the energy in his surroundings. The music poured from some door opening, fans were clapping and whooping along with the melody. The sounds of the entertained crowd then grew quiet as the entrance closed. Paul stuffed his hands into his pockets, satisfied with the moment for the first time in a long time, his mind was hungry for peaceful silence. Success and growth were in the air. It was everywhere he looked.
Paul breathed in, his internal compass guiding him home, allowing him to experience and express his contentment over feeling more sure than ever his lucky stars were in full bloom.
…
Thud. Ronnie stumbled back. “Ouch! What the heck!”
He’d only looked down for a moment, and the sidewalk had been completely open. There hadn’t even been any vehicles outside the Grill Ronnie had cozied up in. All he wanted was some warm grub and ice-cold bubbly booze.
He had barely put in his order when his phone had lit up. Paul’s face painted over the screen.
Ronnie groaned, he lifted his hands above his shoulders and tripped over his own feet while trying to balance on them. He landed hard on his backside and skidded his palms over the rough, uneven surface.
“Ooft.” He gasped, heaving uneven shallow breathes while he recovered from the double impact. Maybe he shouldn’t be drinking if this was his luck while sober. Ron’s head swam, his spine and elbows tingled. The abrasive reflex to throw his hands down behind himself might have saved his skull, but he could feel his heart throbbing through his wrists.
This was going to hurt later. He groaned, reaching to rub his head only to flinch at the surge of pain radiating through his thumb and ring fingers on either hand. He shook them out gently while gathering together his bearings.
Once his eyes uncrossed from the shock of the impacts, Ronnie followed his assailant from its jagged brick foot to its slanted roof four stories above. What the heck? He puzzled. How had he missed this looming building?
He looked behind him to find an utterly barren street. Just moments before he had walked out of a lively bar and grill. He’d been ready to dig into a beer and some wings and just wind down after a long day. He could have let the phone ring and called back after he’d eaten. He had been in the process of letting his oldest accomplice in on a secret he’d been keeping to himself.
Ronnie rubbed his head. I guess that’s what I get. He thought. I should have just told the truth to begin with.
At the time, it seemed selfish to lay his situation out. After all, Paul had called looking for a boost. Someone to tell him everything would work out. Ronnie put more pressure on his forehead, he enjoyed helping where he could but this was getting ridiculous. It hadn’t taken Paul’s pending breakthrough long to explode into existence so why had his life purpose been dragging its feet so hard.
Ronnie slouched around himself, feeling his joints to see if anything was out of place.
He was happy for his friend, it hadn’t been difficult to offer Paul encouragement because what he was asking for made sense. It seemed reasonable and fit in perfectly with the training and experiences he’d developed over the span of their lifelong friendship. Being Paul’s friend wasn’t difficult at all. He was the kind of person you’d be crazy not to believe in. The kind of person who got stuff done.
All Ronnie had to do was offer Paul the input and encouragement he’d wished someone would have given him as freely. They were both in different fields of expertise, but their approach to life had always been similar. Run in with both hands and feet fully engaged. Turn the space on its head if necessary. They were each other’s greatest competition. This last interaction had been about Paul. It was his turn and Ronnie’s duty as his best friend to play sidekick and keep his struggles to himself until his support was no longer needed and the roles could reverse for a consult of his own.
Walking face-first into a wall wasn’t the first thing to blindside Ronnie in the recent past. The action was something of an analogy to his life as of late. The collision had felt symbolic immediately. Ron rubbed his temples for a moment more while cupping a cold hand over his forehead forcefully in the hope it might combat any future swelling.
To put it short and sweet. Ronnie felt his patience was running low. The smallest things had him on edge. He’d been certain up until running into that wall that he might lose his marbles completely if anything else played out poorly. Unlike his closest companion, things in Ron’s life hadn’t panned out as expected. His ideas had always been a little more far-fetched but, he’d never seen them as unattainable. Until recently. He dropped the full weight of his head into his hands. Trying to feel his way through the throbbing in his temples. He’d really rattled his brains’ cage.
It wasn’t like he felt that where he was at would be the end or anything, Ronnie knew in his heart of hearts it was just a stop along the way. He could almost picture his insides tapping their feet and looking at the watch on their wrist like, any day now…
He squeezed his fingers over his eyes, giving them a moment to rest and readjust. His wings were probably getting cold, the beer he hadn’t touched was probably getting warm, He groaned. Something felt off, and out of place. An alien sensation skirted the outer rim of his consciousness concocting something close to anticipation over some undesirable outcome. Then the question surfaced through the ocean of discomfort, Where am I?
Ronnie struggled to his feet. The grill he’d left to take his phone call was nowhere to be found. The window that had housed the flashy neon bud light sign was dark, and instead of the standard bar front windows he’d grown accustomed to, the window space was dark and appeared to be some kind of mosaic made from stained glass. A burst of anger sliced through Ronnie’s mind. Nothing made sense. Where the hell was he?
He spun and limped in a full circle. Nothing was the same as it had been, he tried to recall when the shift had occurred. When the jubilant voices in the bar behind him had twisted into dead silence. When the lights in the windows faded into dark reflective surfaces. The two buildings at either side of the grill were completely different in stature and style.
What had once been office spaces with slender studio apartments relaxing above were now towering stone buildings with wooden features and sculpted window frames.
They looked nothing like the coveted highrise apartments. Ronnie had known them well. He’d looked into renting one when he’d first moved to the city, It’s how he’d found the tavern next door. The apartment hadn’t worked out, the demand and price had been high.
Donnie gazed in wonder at the new buildings in their place. They had a timeless feature to them. Each seemed to hold elements from eras that made no sense blending into one another as well as they did. He couldn’t look away as his eyes started to focus more clearly. The throbbing in his temples dissipated. He rotated his throbbing wrists hoping for the same result.
He took a few steps forward then his feet continued to shuffle along the side of the building as if on their own accord. His eyes wandered over the various details presenting themselves through the dark.
The streetlights shone different than he’d remembered them being. They, Sparkled and danced as if full of actual flames. He scooted into a slumped sitting position while he rubbed his wrists gently over his chest to ease the discomfort. His eyes traced over the dark shadow of vines crawling their way to the top of the building. The feeling of the lane he’d been walking was different. The lighting was more orange and golden than blue and fluorescent. It came with a deep thread of nostalgia.
Ronnie looked down at his phone screen. It was cracked and appeared to be dead. The screen shone black from his hand. Crap, I must have smashed it on the concrete. For the first time since he hit the wall, he looked closer at the surface he was seated on. It wasn’t concrete. The street was made of cobblestone.
This was strange. Now suddenly, in his memory, items began to shift. It was as if the unknown and out of place suddenly morphed into familiar and useful. Normal even. The idea of a device to call from felt foreign and strange. He slid the cell phone into his pocket as if in a daze.
No. He challenged. No, He repeated defiantly. This is not where I was. But now, where he had been felt, unreachable.
The memory of his conversation with Paul fell into the shadows. Life felt hazy.
“Hello, Tapertie.” The deep multilevel voice rumbled in all around him. It was as if the words had echoed from inside his head. Whatever had spoken knew his last name. Ronnie limped in a half-circle until a prominent figure holding a torch caught his attention. It was positioned under an archway with strange symbols leading into the alleyway resting between two buildings.
He squinted through the blaze, his eyes resting on the shadow extending out behind. It was strange. It stood on two legs. Massive green-shaded objects extended toward him, which he assumed were the creature’s feet. Three gourd-like extensions protruded from the feet. Ronnie believed to be toes.
Again a piece of him drew back at the sight of something so monstrous, while another felt less surprise with each passing moment. It was surrealism in the flesh.
“How do you know my last name?” Ronnie called across the open space between them.
“Lucky guess.” It rumbled.
“I find that highly unlikely.”
A low hiss sliced through the cold night air.
“I guess I could smell it on you.”
“You could smell my family name?”
“That’s what I said.”
The option seemed about as likely like it, being a lucky guess.
“Okay, you know my name. What is your name?”
“No, I don’t know your name. I know what your blood currently goes by.”
“Well, my question still stands. What is your name?” Ronnie pushed his question out with as much authority as he could muster without his knees shaking.
“I’ll give you three guesses.” The deep voice purred. It sounded more like boulders scrapping over a rocky surface. Ronnie resisted the urge to cringe at the echoes coursing off the walls surrounding him.
Something in the confident challenge rumbling from the massive shadowed stranger sent a shiver down Ronnies spine.
“What if I say no?”
“Then You lose,”
“How can I lose if I don’t agree to play?”
“Because it will disappoint me. And that isn’t polite, which means you lose twice I turn into a bit of a glutton when I’m unhappy.”
“Okay? That makes literally no sense.”
“My house, my rules.” The looming figure took a step closer to the light from the streetlamps. Its highlighted features were strange.
“Okay well, by your rules standards, you would be being rude by demanding I play a game with no incentive for myself. That’s bullying and you are being a bully which means you make me disappointed so. Yeah. Work that one out.”
The massive frame shook causing the tiny rocks around Ronnies feet to shake, rattle, and roll in all directions. He looked back up at the looming figure. It seemed like it was humored by what he was saying. It didn’t say anything to reveal one way or another.
“Okay, what happens if I lose?”
“If you lose, I get to eat you.”
“Wow, that. Is excessive.” Ronnie sounded unsettled.
He took a step backward before stammering. “So what if I agree and I can’t guess your name?” Ronnie asked, his voice quivering ever so slightly, causing the giant to step further from the shadows, revealing a gruesome grin. His skin was not only a horrendous shade of green that clashed with everything around it but it was riddled with scars and warts. Ronnie was almost convinced he was looking at a toad person. But there was a hint of lizardness and an ogre to it. With all the details pouring in at once Ronnie felt his fingers beginning to twitch in anticipation. It was hard to say what this crazy thing was outside of a foe. Maybe classification didn’t matter at a certain point when life and death are the options extending forward. Don’t be so hard on yourself. This is your first encounter with a creature you’d have otherwise deemed fictional. And yet, here it was. In the flesh and making promises of turning Ronald into a late-night snack.
All because he’d wanted a damn burger and decided to be a good friend first.
The creature spoke up. “Then I guess that’s another way for you to lose then.”
“Well, that hardly seems fair!” Ronnie complained. “You have two ways of winning, and I only have one way of winning and I’m not even sure you will let me live if I do win because I don’t know you. The odds are against me from the start.”
The creature scratched its silhouetted head with its freehand.
” Why should I care about what you find to be fair.” The deep voice returned in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Well, I think you should. Don’t you know anything about humans? If you are going to turn me into food then it might be the prudent thing to get to know what you’re about to eat. I could be poisonous for all you know.”
“Huh.” The creature snorted.
Ronnie hurried forward. “If I disagree to be eaten, my meat won’t be half as tender at the very least. If I am upset, angry, or feel you’ve slighted or cheated me in any way my meat will become toxic to you. It is our perfect defense against anything that might wish us harm.” Ronnie did his best to be matter-of-fact as he looked down his nose and up at the figure just out of his eye’s ability to interpret properly. “It would be really wasteful over an opportunity on your part. Sad, really.” He blabbered on nervously his uncertainty building as he started to realize this wasn’t a prank or practical joke. He stepped backward carefully, taking cues from the confusion in the shadows body language.”
The giant stepped into the light, revealing a massive bubblehead. Ronnie did his best to be polite but he felt the grimace deeply. A shiver ran down his spine. Two globular watery eyeballs bulging above a wide toad-like mouth. The forehead was shiny and led into a hairless scalp. A halo of scraggly hair escaped around the creature’s head. What on earth was this thing? Why did the term troll come to mind? At that moment, it was as if his mind flip-flopped. The entire thing, the whole situation was too strange to be weird. It felt, almost natural that he would be sitting in this odd place that was completely separate from the scene he’d just been in.
I’m dreaming…
The thought had occurred to him previously but he’d shrugged it off. This time, it seemed the most likely option. His headache from the impact with the wall had all but disappeared, perfectly dissolved into the shock of it all.
Ronnie took a few steps backward to even the distance. Just in case.
“No, you know what.” He threw up his hands in exasperation. “You know what’s rude Mister Troll? I am in a strange place, a complete stranger. I don’t even know exactly what it is that would be eating me. I think What’s rude is that you wouldn’t properly introduce and inform me of what I don’t know before you eat me.”
The toady snarl offered in return might have been a smile but Ronnie couldn’t be sure. He smiled nervously back, just in case.
The creature was big on niceties, rudeness, and riddles. Maybe that was Ron’s way to survive this. Dream or not.
“Are you already decided on losing then little man grub?”
“Grub. I am not that, for someone who cares so much over rudeness, you are completely rude.”
The creature laughed. The ground shook in the vibration of it. The brick wall rattled against something resting on the window ledge. A flower pot maybe?
“Fine then. What would you have me call you instead?”
“A name for a name.” Ronnie held up his hand. Suddenly grateful for the years he’d been obsessed with fairytales and folklore. The mythology of any kind really. And they said it would never come in handy. His father’s face came to mind. Complete with the disapproving side gaze he had really practiced into perfection.
He pushed his hand forward to emphasize he was waiting.
The creature’s snarl twisted and widened. It took another step forward and plopped hard to the ground. Ronnie threw his hands out to stabilize from the impact shaking the ground around him more violently than he’d imagined it might.
“Whoa.”
“Okay. I have my rules. It would only be fair you might have your own.” The creature reasoned while crossing its massive legs. “Whatever I have to do to keep ya tender.” Its stumpy teeth clenched and unclenched as if it were already picturing eating him. The drool that dribbled from one side all but confirmed Ronnie’s gut feeling.
“Stop that.” Ronnie’s nose crinkled into a frown. He took a deep breath and sat down on his side of the open space with a grunt. The cobblestone was cool to the touch. Refreshing under his now sweating palms, though, they didn’t hurt from the fall anymore. Not that he could feel anyway. That might change once the shock wore off.
“Well, what are they then.” The creature demanded impatiently.
“Hold on, Hold on. How long did it take you to come up with your rules?” Ronnie accused, adding with an eye-roll. “I have a feeling I’m not the first of poor creature you’ve come across with your stupid game.”
The creature pointed around them. “You wouldn’t be wrong.” His face split wide open again. His slitted eyes grew smaller. “When I first moved to this place it was teaming with living things. Alas, I am the only one left.” An expression dangerously close to self-satisfaction flashed over the creature’s countenance.
To Be Continued… (Maybe?)