the second sight episode 28

THE SECOND
SIGHT

Chapter 28

VISION OF A HOLE

Location: JOE BOAT RESIDENCE

Perspectives, reasons and fear.

What is real and what isn’t? Where does sanity end, and where does madness begin?

Boat sits in the car for a long time.

His father has informed him that he is back from Canada. He has gone to his church headquarters for a short meeting with the Apostle and some church executive elders, and will be back home with Boat a little while.

He wants Boat to wait for him at home.

Yaw Boat finally heaves a sigh of relief.

It is all really nice. After putting down his mobile phone he sits still in the car for a long time.

The relief he feels is phenomenal.

Hideous disappeared as soon Boat came within sight of his father’s house. It hadn’t done any of its panic flights this time, though.

One moment it is there in his backseat, an ugly green sheen Boat tried not to notice, and then it was gone. It vanished just like that… poof!

Really, it had been refreshing to see the faint halo around the house, standing out like an angel on a dark night. It reaches out into the night sky, ba-rely discernible, but there.

And because it is there, because the house is protected, Boat sees no uglies around their house.

Bliss!

For the first time in what seems like ages Boat knows great relief, and the weight on his shoulders seems bearable. He doesn’t feel so alone anymore; his problems are now for his Dad.

His father un-derstands, and he is experienced and he knows exactly what Boat is going throu-gh, and he is going to help his only son.

Boat sighs and ru-bs a trembling hand across his face.

Everything is okay now.

He is surrounded by serenity, and he knows that with his father on the scene he will be out of his misery soon enough. All that has happened will soon seem like a dream. Life will go on, but not his other life of wanton s-×, sloshing alcohol and abusing ha-rd drugs …no, that part of him is dead now.

He will re-evaluate his life, commit to clean things, and settle down in sweet marriage with Elaine. He is going to be responsible.

No more anaconda holes for Yaw Boat… not ever!

He chuckles sheepishly and gets out of the car slowly, wincing at the wicked destruction he has put that car throu-gh. It looks as if he has run it throu-gha shredder. The once elegant car is now badly wounded and limping.

As he walks towards the front door he tries to put a call throu-ghto Elaine, but her line is busy at first, and as he glances at the phone a little message comes on: ‘bad signal’.

It seems he is still being quartered rather nicely.

As he puts the phone back in his pocket he stops suddenly.

Unconsciously, he has walked past the main house, and is halfway down towards Samson Basoah’s little cottage down there in the exotic plants and woods near the beach.

He looks at the main house, and looks at Uncle Samson’s cottage, and then a silly thing suddenly happens…

First he feels a cold whisper of wind, not strong, not so much felt than heard!

It is a whispery, unpleasant feeling, crawling down his arms, bringing goose bumps on him. He trembles, and then two security guards come into view from around the main house, breaking the spell.

Boat breathes shallowly.

It is true that he has grown up mostly in Uncle Samson’s cottage. He had detested the main house as a kid, and spent most of his growing up years with Samson Basoah.

un-der any other circu-mstance he would have gone to Samson’s cottage straight away, but these are not ordinary conditions.

First, his father is back, and the most convenient place to wait for him is in the main house. Secondly, Samson will be with the older Boat, as usual, driving him round, and thus he will be all alone in Basoah’s house.

He will be all alone in Samson’s cottage, without company, alone and forlorn. But there is a protective halo around the main house, and he will be safe there, free from the sight of demons until his father returns.

The scariest fact is that he has had no intention of going to Uncle Samson’s house; he had wanted to get into the main house, straight to his bedroom and then wait for his father.

He has just been on the phone, trying to reach Elaine, and he has walked past the house as if it does not exist, as if his feet are headed in a different direction to his mind.

As if he is being guided!

The two guards greet Boat politely.

He responds and watches them move on, and as usual he can’t suppress the little smile that plays around his li-ps.

His father is always espousing the ability of the great God above to protect His people, and yet there are always armed security guards around the house.

Boat doesn’t his father though. He is a wealthy man, and in the past there had been bad experiences with armed robbers who had erroneously thought he keeps large sums of money at home.

The security guards are thus a necessity.

Boat looks at Uncle Samson’s house again, nestled so far down the slopes, partly hidden by tall royal palm plants.

A place he loves; a place he has always felt absolute confidence in. This is a place he has spent countless hours cooped in during his lifetime. A place which is more homely than the house he shares with his father.

And yet, as he stares at it now there is sudden apprehension in his heart!

It seems to him that Uncle Samson’s house is suddenly beckoning to him, almost reaching out for him. He can feel its pull – its drag – calling out softly, reaching out with icy fingers.

For a crazy moment everything recedes, and it is just him and that white building nestled among the plants, seeming to be luring him with hidden eyes, calling, calling, calling!

He feels cold, and he turns away with a little shudder.

Why is he suddenly spooking himself now over Uncle Samson’s house? He loves that place. He loved every second he spent there with Uncle Samson, and he has slept over there countless times.

So why the sudden fear? Why the apprehension?

And yet he knows he cannot go down to Uncle Samson’s house, not that night.

He takes a couple of steps towards the main house, and that is when it happens!

He has a sudden flash, a vision!

It opens out right there in front of his eyes, as if he is looking at a giant screen television!

He just sees it, hu-ge and clear …a vision right in front of him!

It is the vision of a large bedroom, with a bed, a wardrobe, a little television fixed on a stand against the wall, a little reading table, hu-ge French windows that have a great view of the beach below. A bed made extra hu-ge to accommodate an extra hu-ge owner!

There is no doubt about it!

It is a bedroom Boat knows very well!

Uncle Samson’s bedroom!

And then, suddenly, the giant bed moves to one side suddenly, as if shoved by a powerful hand!

The bed moves against the wall, revealing what is hiding un-der.

It was a hole! A perfect square hole in the floor!

The hole has stairs leading downwards!

Stairs that ends on a flat landing, and then there is an entrance leading into an unknown place, and what lies in the other side is a mystery, a dark secret!

Boat’s sudden scream is anguished, pitiful, harsh!

BOAT

(screaming)

NO!! NO!!

It is a cry of crystallized fear and panic.

The vision – or whatever the heck it has been – is gone!

And Boat realizes that he is no longer on his feet!

He is lying on the slightly-w£t gras-s, M0-ning up at the night sky, his body trembling, the horror locked de-ep in his soul.

He has a sudden terrible headache, and his sight is blurred. My breathing is erratic, and he can hear his heart beating so loudly that it seems it is about to explode right out of his che-st.

What has he seen?

What has happened?

Oh Lord, what does it all mean?

Boat feels so weak, and he turns on his stomach, little M0-ns of agony coming out of his throat as his eyes fall on that house again.

For a moment, a very frightening little moment, the fronds of the plants seem to part, and that house seems to lose all its colour, becoming a terribly dark structure glaring at him, screaming at him not to dare!

But it is only for a moment, and he wonders soon afterwards if he has imagined it all.

After a moment the crippling fear in his heart dissipates, and the agony in his head subsides.

He stands up slowly, and watches Uncle Samson’s house.

He knows that house, and he has known Uncle Samson all his life.

All his life he has been in that house, and he has never come across any hidden hole un-der Uncle Samson’s bed!

True, he has never gone un-der Uncle Samson’s bed, but Boat knows for a certainty that there isn’t any secret square hole there.

But what has he seen?

A vision? Is that it?

If it is how did he have it?

Who sent it?

No it can’t be; it just can’t be!

…I want you to know one simple fact: Time has run out for you! Even as you read this, a demon of old is ready to take over your body and your soul. Believe me, son, it is true…

Anderson’s letter!

BOAT

(weakly, with great despair)

You bastard, Anderson! You horrible stupid bastard!

He still doesn’t know what has happened, and he still doens’t un-derstand it.

He doesn’t know if some for-ces too powerful for his br@in to grapple with has given him a vision, or whether his mind has finally snapped and he is beginning to go mad.

Whatever it is, he is going inside that house, into that bedroom and he is going to pull that bed and find out!

Fear, like a dark heavy cloak, covers him.

Slowly, his legs feeling as if tons of lead are tied to them, Yaw Boat takes tortured, reluctant steps towards that house.

He nee-ds to find out!

POTENT EVIL

There is certainly something wrong that night about Uncle Samson’s house!

The moment Boat steps onto the porch he feels the palpable hatred, the pull of a latent evil so strong that he can almost smell its foul breath in the air.

The house seems alive – breathing – with equal measures of fear and fury, physically trying to Boat me, and trying to push him away.

He swallows painfully.

His throat is so parched it feels as if he has swallowed a thousand razor blades which are all stuck down there in his oesophagus.

Boat takes a step towards the door, and this time there is a slight tremble, the whole building creaking, and the lights dimming perceptively.

He almost hears it, a low sort of growl, a ‘reaching out’ that blasts fear throu-ghhim again.

Boat can even hear his inner voice speaking a warning to him:

Better not, kid, better not! This shit is scary, scarier than Funky Grounds blues, kid! Turn away, kiddo, turn away …don’t enter that place, please!

Yaw Boat stops and takes a look back up the slopes. The main house glows, hu-ge and friendly, utterly inviting, calling out to him.

He looks at Uncle Samson’s door.

It has always been open, always welcoming, always filled with love!

But not tonight.

On this particular night it seems to move inward, closing in on itself with an audible clic-k, trying to keep him away.

Boat suddenly knows with a hidden certainty that if he steps throu-ghthat door he might not come out again.

Panic washes over him with sudden intensity, and he almost turns and flees.

…what is also true is that you can always beat them. Remember that! It is your only weapon…

Again Anderson’s letter, his words, his convictions …his madness!

Somehow, remembering those words floods Boat with a strange kind of hope, of strength and resolve.

He has to know the truth!

Tbc…