Jimmy Starling’s adventures into the Unknown ( Part 1 )

I still remember that day.. I was running around the streets of Paterson. The street lights were not working for some reasons, resulting in almost a pitch black night. I was really afraid, cause I knew something was following me, I didn’t know what it was yet but I knew it was evil.

I was only 11 at that time, still going to school. Just went outside to get some drinks for me and my sisters around 9 pm when I saw IT.

I am not gonna try describing it, cause no words have been created by men that can describe such horror and evil. Only one thing though, it was huge, and I mean HUGE. As I stood there staring at this monstrous beast, it turned its eyes on me. Those eyes looked right into my soul.

And at that very moment, lights went out. I took advantage of this situation, and I ran…

That brought me into that moment when I knew it was right at my heels, one small mistake and I would be history. Air around me suddenly started feeling heavy, and I could feel myself slowing down… I knew it was now or never, I had to improvise and use my knowledge in order to live.

So I stopped running and turned.. The thing was staring right at me, it still could be seen in that dark night, not because of any light it emitted, but because it was darker than the darkness that surrounded it.

I raised my hand and clapped them both together, with smoke coming out from. Then I clapped them for the last time and I dropped them quickly towards the ground…. BANG!

A flash of pure yellow lightning emitted from my hand, creating an aura so bright that few mortals could stand it..

“Barakk Khazaddum”... I uttered and the whole city was engulfed in a ball of light for split second. I myself was thrown back by the lightning, after picking myself up, I saw the lights had came back and everything seemed normal, like no monster was ever hunting me…

Coming back to the present day.. My name is Syed Khalique, known to friends as Arabi. I am 24 years old, still living in New Jersey. I know, the tone for my earlier recollection was heavy, but that’s how it all started.

At present I don’t have any job, cause I am running my own business. Dunkin donuts, have 6 of them around Jersey City.

Before I go any further, I will admit that I am not the greatest story teller, so there will be a lot of going back and forth.

So where was I? I was telling you all about my businesses. I own 6 Dunkin donuts and I have shares in 3 Computer repair centers.. All in all, my worth is around 16 million US dollars. My point is, I am a rich guy.

I live in a nice two storied house, with my family. My mother, my younger sister and my two kids.

I will tell you all more about my life later on..

The question is…. How did I become so rich? Well, I am an illusionist and I will admit, I am pretty good at it. I used to perform under the stage name of Jimmy Starling, I was all over the internet. My youtube channel has over 6 million subscribers and I am not even counting other social media sites.

Why did I leave the business? Because after being in the limelight for that long, I had enough. I needed a break, just a place where I could relax. And that brought me right here.

Now, because of the line of work I was in and also because of the fact that I am rich, I have a lot of friends, and a lot of powerful and famous friends. You guys would be surprised.

That brings me to the point, why am I writing this all? The answer is that recently we are having a bit of a problem in the city ( I am talking about Manhattan). The problem is, I am friends with a couple of counsellors and psychiatrists. All of them are saying that their patients have been having almost the same kind of dreams since the beginning of this year. What’s weird about this is that the patient’s are all different kinds of people, age wise, race, culture, everything.

The dreams they are having is something along this line…

They see they are in an old countryside, surrounded by lush greenery and a glowing sun, walking along a well made road, ascending as it goes.At point they see a door between two trees. They have this uncontrollable urge to go through this door, which no one has been able to suppress so far. They see stairs leading through a dark tunnel. After they walked through the tunnel they find themselves staring at another , this time a gigantic one, a case of stairs.

They start going up and at one point, they can see that they are surrounded by deep blue ocean on every side, that the stairs are actually leading him over the ocean.

The ocean was tempestuous.

After what seems like an eternity, they arrive at the top. The scene looks like something from a fairy tale. They see a straight road leading upto a castle , with huge trees on both side of the road. They start walking , when they notice the ground beneath them is shaking. And then it stops.

When they reach the castle, they realise that the castle is odd. The front gate, which is fronted by huge iron rods reaching upto at least 70 feet. It is at that point that they see IT.

A huge tremor is felt, at which they can hear a huge roar. It is at this point that everyone realises that it’s not a castle but actually it is a prison.All of the patients wake up at this point, when the realisation hits.

Now, it should be noted that few of the patients are under 25, with none under 18, and also that most of the group seem to be normal folks who should not have any kind of mental problems.

My friends who consulted me about this phenomenon, state that none of the patient’s behaviour suggested that they had any kind of mental problem.

Why did they come to me though? Because I have experience in dealing with strange and grotesque cases. I can almost be considered an expert.

So starting from this entry, I am gonna page the whole investigation as it proceeds. This is gonna help me too, if I need to look back and retrace my steps, I can do that. This would be a perfect record.

09/23/2018

It was an interesting day. It was the first day of my investigation. After compiling the list of patients who were having those dreams, I decided to go to each of them and hear the things myself.

First one was a certain Mr Steven Gebrils, who lives in brooklyn. After making it to his home (which took me about 2 hours, thanks to the traffic) I was greeted by an amiable looking fellow.

Short and chubby, with spectacles on him, he was a perfect example of a middle class office room type of guy. He pointed out that I should not be standing outside, I should come in and have a talk with him.

“Mr Gebrils, I hope you do know that I was sent here by my friend Dr John Bohren. He and I both agree that your case maybe more along my line than his.” said I

“ I have no problem. You see, it’s not that I am having any sort of attack, or that I am getting suicidal. It’s just that I am really curious. Why am I having this dream? At first I was scared, terrified but now I am just plain curious.” said he

“ I will ask you questions and you just answer them with your best effort. What is your feeling when you're having that dream? I mean, we usually have a general vibe in our dreams which tells us if it is a nightmare or happy one.”

He looked at the ceiling for a moment.

“ Now that you ask, It is coming to me. It is like I am afraid,terribly afraid but really curious. It’s like when you are going through your attic, you are afraid that your mom might come in at any moment or that there could be something else lurking there but you still go through.”

It was interesting, to say the least. I couldn’t find anything wrong with the guy. He seemed amiable, even docile at points.

Even then, I still got some pointers out. With these kinds of cases, there is always something connecting all the victims, and my job was to find that out.

My next stop was down in Queens. Floral Park is a nice place, hardly a neighbourhood you think would have any sort of ‘excitement’. The house was at 247th street. I went towards the door and knocked. Just at that moment I heard a woman scream. It was not a “ I saw a lizard” kinda scream. It was a full blown- I saw the devil kinda scream.

I knew there was something wrong. So I took a step back and went crashing through the door. I could hear the scream coming up from the stairs. Ran as fast as I could, and when I came to the room, I saw it…..

I saw a woman lying beside the bed, , unconscious, and right in the middle was a boy with blood all around him. He was shot to death, smacked right in the middle. I quickly realised that the matter was not normal. With my gun in one hand and my phone in the other, I waited for the cops to arrive.

The lady gained consciousness, and upon seeing a stranger inside the room with a dead body might have startled her a bit.

“Oh God!! You Killed Him!!... “ and she threw her shoe at me, at quite an alarming speed.

“ Miss, calm down. I am with the police.” said I, as calmly as I could.

My voice and my appearance somehow made her understand that I was not the killer. She then started crying. I stood there solemnly when I heard the sirens of the law.

In came two officers…

They both entered the room, and I recognised them.

“ I hate to meet you guys at such a moment but here we are.” said I ..

“ Well, it is certainly a surprise”. And then they looked at the body .

“ This is gonna be a big one”. Officer Rudolph called for the forensics and backup, for we heard another gunshot and a cracking of the glasses..

Both the officers ran as soon as they heard the shot. I pulled out my gun and was just going to join them when I saw a shadow behind me. There was something standing in the window. It was going for the lady. I pulled out my gun and shot it…

The officers came up the stairs just when they heard the shot. The scene wasn’t any better. I had my gun on a dead man.

“ He was trying to attack the girl”. Cried I

They quickly realised the situation. The backup was quickly on the scene and so was the forensic and so was the media. The girl was visibly shaken by all that happened. I sat down outside on the porch when the captain himself came upon the scene. I knew him slightly, but he was a good guy.

“ Who do we have here? How the hell did you end up here?” asked he

“ It’s a long story and I would rather tell you guys at a more private place”.

“ Girl?” said he, nodding towards the girl.

“ No. I think it is related to the case”. He nodded in agreement and said we can talk later.

We were at the precinct. It was about 11 pm. I had the captain Sean infront of me. I had two detectives on both sides and a sergeant on the corner.

“ You were at the scene. How and why?”.. Asked the captain

I told them all. How I was sent by my friend to investigate the boy’s dreams and how I end up killing the guy.

“Could you provide me with a list of those people who had the dreams?”.. He asked.

I gave it to him without any question. He looked at them and I could tell he was surprised. He gave it to the other detectives and the sergeant. They were surprised as well.

“ There are two other people on this list who have been found dead. This is either you are killing them or this is just …. Shit.” cried detective Omar.

“I assure you I was not the guy. If you need alibis, I got them. On the other hand, who are the other people you are talking about?”

“It is a certain Ms Elliot of Flushing and Mr Gebrils of brooklyn.” told the sergeant

“ Interesting… cause I was just at his place around 10 am this morning. In fact I just came to Queens from his place.” said I

“ That’s interesting, cause He was murdered the same way”. Said Detective Mann.

“ Well, gentleman. I told you guys all I know. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?”

“ No. You may leave. If we have any other questions, we will contact you.” said Captain.

I left the office right away. I might have said a bit more than I would have preferred but it may have turned out to be good…. Cause now I know that someone or something is targeting the victims of the dream. If I am not wrong, this is gonna be an interesting one.

Back at the precinct,

“I want a couple of guys on that guy. It is not a coincidence that he ends up in two places where blood was spilled. I have heard of him and he is one of those guys, who deals with high level scandals. Be careful, this guy knows a lot of people, because as I said, he helps a lot of powerful people who are involved in scandals and such… I just want to know where he goes and what he does.” ordered the captain

The sergeant duly noted the orders and went to action, while detective Mann and Omar went out to investigate the matter.

See, I already have formed my base about this case. The dreams are related, in fact if you ask me, I think it might be one of the prime movers in this case.

Let's see what we have so far.

My friend gives me this list of people who have been seeing a particular dream since the beginning of this year. None of the people have anything in common apart from the dream. None of them seem to have any prior mental issues.

Now this morning, we have two dead people who seem to have no reason to be murdered. They were not working for anything important. One victim was a 11 year old boy. The other one was a 30ish fellow with no known family. There could be chances that both the murders are totally unrelated and that it is something the police can handle but I am not going to take any chances.

This is basically what I know so far and I can’t take the risk of making bricks without clay. So as of now I will take my time to gather information and find a steady ground.

09/30/2018

I was at panera bread with a certain young lady. Her name was Denise Alfonso. She was the sister of the kid of the Dream who got murdered and she was the one who tried to hit me with a shoe. Why did I have her with me on Panera? ….

First, she was a witness to her brother’s murder. Who knows, she could have seen something or have information regarding her brother’s dreams.

Secondly, I wanted to know more about the boy, see how he was affected by the dream and was he ever contacted by anyone or anything.

And because she was a pretty lady..

“ Why would you even try to do something for that loser?” Talking about her last boyfriend.

“I don’t know but I will be honest with you, I liked him. He was nice until he had his drinks.” said she

“ But you are a girl who has been brought up in a rich old family. Why would you go out with this guy who is broke, and by all accounts a very shady fellow?”

She didn’t have an answer to this. She was curling up her hair as she looked at me.

“ Why are you here then?” asked the lady

“ Because I like you. See, I even brought you the flowers.” said I

Now, I am a guy who is always talking, and talking and talking. I am that loud guy in the room who is always making jokes, just has a good time, and also makes other people have good time too. I also am a guy who is, what people say, very popular among ladies. Obviously for my charming manners and the fact that I am genuine.

She looked with those ‘no time for bulshit eyes’.

“ Ok, ok. I understand what you are asking. See, I actually came to see what was happening to your brother. The dreams that he was having, how was it affecting him. Sadly, I only came to see that he already left. So as of now, you are my only reliable source who can tell me about Dean. And also I was worried about you too. I decided to meet you here, because I was both curious and worried..”

She smiled…

10/1/2018

At this point, I am standing on a pretty solid ground. I have laid down the basic facts for the case I am working on. The reason why I haven’t written anything for the past 2-3 weeks is that I was busy investigating the many leads I had on the case..

So far, nobody else has been killed on that list, which might have led me to believe that maybe the dreams had nothing to do with the murders but just for one interesting fact I am still here..

All of the victims had been killed by a headshot. The killings looked like they were done by a professional. Somebody who knows the killing business. The coincidence was too much to believe in.

What I gathered so far is this..

Our mr Gebrils was , as you might have guessed it, a total normal dude. He married twice. Both wives left him, along with the kids, but from what I heard there was no bad blood among them, so he still would see his kids from time to time. He was a manager for the city bank down in Queens, Floral park, which isn’t that far from our little boy’s place ( a fact which the police seemed to find interesting).

He had a normal life so far, apart from his dreams. There is one interesting thing about his dreams though. He told it to one of his wife ( ex wife, as I should say). He said that the sky was red, as in almost red. And this change came on just recently.

Why is that so important? Cause I believe that sky’s colour in a dream is a very big indicator of its nature. You will hardly see a sunshine and bright blue sky on a nightmare, or a black gloomy night on of those happy dreams.

All of the dreamers ( as I will call them from now) remember seeing a very clean and blue sky. It was one of the striking facts about the dreams. Now here comes the interesting part, all three of the victims said, before they were killed, that they were seeing red sky in their dreams. You all see my point? This case has even gotten better.

I still don’t know a lot about this case but at least I now know how to stop other murders, or at least have a head start in capturing the villains.

Also, Dean, the little boy of dreamers, turns out to be the son of a really rich guy. Mr Mcborough. The case now has a lot of media coverage, because this dude has a lot of power and influence. He is using them all in order to avenge his son, also to protect his daughter. The media still doesn’t know about the dream part and I don’t want them to. Still having media on this case is gonna help, I don’t know how but I feel so

So my next line of investigation will be finding a meaning to the dreams. Why am I thinking that this case could be something paranormal? Cause I have seen something along my line of business. I have seen pretty rough stuff. And also the guy who attacked Ms Mcborough, was not a normal guy. Whoever it was, It had wings and teeth like razors.

I know what you all are thinking at this point. Mr Khalique has gone mad, or this is just another fantasy fiction book… NO. it is not.

I am telling you guys what I saw. This is not a normal case. I told you all, this is something out of the ordinary.

Let’s talk about something less scary for a moment, shall we?

My family is fine. My younger sister has just graduated from Oxford university. She studied medicine. She plans on doing research on the possibility of a zombie outbreak and if it does, what kind of concoction can they cook to stop that. Again, that’s not just a wild man’s theory. There have been, if I am not wrong, 7 outbreaks of the same kind in the last 17 years. I personally have been involved in helping out with the last two.

My mother is fine, she spends her time gossiping with her sisters and taking care of Deacon and Suzanna. Now, these two fine kids ( the boy is 7 and the girl is 9) are not biologically my children. Their parents were killed by a group of racist white KKK guys, I was involved in that case. After helping eradicate the group, I decided to adopt these adorable dorks. They did have some family but no one was interested in taking these kids, so I, your eccentric rich guy, decided to play my part.

I also have an elder sister. She is a forensic expert for NSA, so she deals with some weird stuff of oher own. I talk with her from time to time. I almost had this duel with her husband. The guy is a journalist and also an entrepreneur. It's a big showdown whenever we meet. Its always one sly comment after another. It's like a big roasting session.. But he is an intelligent dude who knows his stuff and I respect him for that, so does he. Many of you might know his name, Jimmy Stapleton.

From here on, I will try to put everything as a story with all the details and stuff.

10/03/2018

Today I was out with Denise again, this time we both had friends along with us. I need not mention again why I am going out with the lady, as I can remember that I already have done that before.

We were at a certain place called Miranda’s cafe. It is a very nice place and I know the owner. There were about 9 of us. Just a friendly hangout. What was in it for me?

See I still don’t get one thing. Why did the winged creature came at Denise? Dean was already gone by the time it came, so we can exclude that from our list. Denise is not having any of those dreams. So what is it that a Gargoyle ( I am pretty sure that’s what it actually was) came for Denise. It could be totally unrelated to the case but you never know. So having the excuse to spend more time with her, I went.

“ Why would you do that? You look like you belong to a nice family, which you do, but why would you spit in Gerard’s glass. That’s disgusting.” said Shawn

Mina, being the kind hearted and almost motherly lady she is, couldn’t take it.

“ I am gonna vomit right here if I see Gerard drink from that glass. Nope, I am going to tell him.”

After being told what was being served to him, Gerard duly thanked Mina and threatened to kill Zain if he did anything of the sort again.

Now about these three amigos, Shawn,Gerard and Zain. These guys are the best of friends since god knows when. The good thing about them is that they know how to have a good time and they are funny as hell. All three of them, good tall blokes, strong I should say, I mean these guys grew in the hood. They know how to be rough, especially Shawn, because he is a sergeant in the Air force. I know, I know, you all guys are ready to throw down all the air force jokes but the guy is solid. Gerard is a banker, for Chase and Zain has his own chain of supermarkets.

What Mina does or how old she actually is… I have no idea, cause I never dare ask a girl about either of those. I would say she is close to 27, if I am not wrong.

Then there were two of Denise’s friends. I knew James. James Rodriguez and Syed Arabi Khalique, we go a long way back. We both started our first together, named Hats off. We were good , old school hard rock, a tinge of punk in it with an occasional ballad or two ( the band was never successful but who knows.. We might start it again).. James was my man. Totally cool fellow and a cool head under stress.

There was one person I had no idea about. She was introduced to me as Ms Sarah, and if I was not wrong, Denise brought her to me for a business purpose.

“ If I am not intruding, can I have your name?”

“ Sarah”. Said she

“ I am really sorry for being intrusive but can I have your full name?”

She looked at Denise. Denise gave her seal of approval with a nod.

“Sarah Basker,” said she with fear.

“ I know you are afraid and me being a stranger is not helping the case either but I assure you, you don’t have to fear anything from me”.. Assured I again.

See, when I am charming, it isn’t that I am very eloquent with my words or that I am extremely good looking. It is just that I am a self made man, I became a millionaire working on how I interact with my customers, how I make them feel. So when I say that girls fall for me easily or that guys trust me quickly, it is because I know all those small mannerisms, all those small details that are essential in gaining trust. In this case, I was trying to be the dependable guy to Sarah. I was trying to be silent and understanding and at the same time telling her that I got her back.

She looked at me for a whole minute. Then she said “ You won’t believe me. What I have to tell you, you won’t believe me.”

“ Well, maybe or maybe not but let me tell you something, there are things I know that you might never even dream of.”

She took a deep breath and said ‘I think my husband is not what he used to be. He is a monster”

“ In the literal sense of the word?”

“ YES.” cried Sarah, then embraced me.

“ Don’t worry dear, don’t worry. Let’s see what we can do.”

I went outside for a little while. Denise came along too, standing by my side.

‘ Will you be able to help her?”

“ I will try but why do you think I will be able to help her? Your father has far more resources at his hand. He can even hire somebody to kill the dude for her. There is nothing I can do that he can’t.”

“Because her husband is not a human. He is something else. My father won’t believe me, he is too hard headed for that but you will. You said that.” said she

I looked at the sky for a couple moments.

“Ok. I will help her. But there is one thing you gotta do, you can’t tell anyone that you told me about her, and also you have to go with me to dinner this coming weekend.”

She smiled and I knew that was the clincher.

Many of you might ask, why did I say yes so quickly. It is because I know Sarah’s husband and I have had my eyes on him since the last couple of months. I believe in monsters because I have seen them. Whether Sarah’s husband is one is something I can’t say.

10/17/2018

Today we had a party at one of my cousin’s houses. He is rich and his house is a castle.

He is an old fashioned dude though, his parents live with him and he loves having all the family at his house for any occasion. There is his wife, the lovely Sadia, and three adorable dorks, all boys and brats but adorable.

My whole family was there too, the whole thing was packed and he had the security for it. It was a moonlit night and for some reason it had a certain air to it, almost mysterious.

Me and Khaled were talking ( the cousin)..

“ What do you think about Mr Mcborough’s son’s death?”

“ I think It’s related to mr Mcborough himself. His son was too young to be involved in anything..”

“That’s what we all are thinking but I am talking about what you know” said he

“ What do you mean by that?” I looked suspicious.

“ We know you are working on that case. I have my own resources mate, I know a lot. Also that you are going out with a certain girl, but I will leave it at that.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“It’s all bad business. I don’t wanna make any assumptions before I know anything.”

“ I get it. You will tell me in due time but tell me about Mrs Basker” said he.

He knew about Mrs Basker. That meant some other unsavoury people might know about her too. Quickly I realised that having Khaled on my side would be a big plus point.

“ You know that too?”

“ Yes. I said it before and I will say it again. I have my resources.” said he

“I think you are gonna be interested in this one. I have got dirt on Basker.”

He smiled. That smile always meant success, that’s what I have seen.

“ I like it already. What you got?” asked he

“ Wife says the husband's a monster. Got her under my protection. Is willing to do anything just to be away from her husband.”

Khaled laughed this time. He had a business rivalry with Basker and if I am not wrong, some personal rivalry too.

“ I am gonna make sure he goes down for this. You just take of Mrs Basker. Leave everything else to me. I am gonna go after him.” said Khalid.

“ OK captain. Just tell me what to do and I will do it. “ said I

“ I will contact Shiv and Ralph. Man, they are gonna be happy.” cried Khalid

It was around 9 pm.The party was going in full swing. Mind you, when I say party, It’s not like the ones you expect. It’s more traditional , like it’s all family members. I was just enjoying my tea on his balcony when I noticed something. A dozen car or so were going past the house at full speed. The guards were a note of this too. I knew something wasn’t feeling right. So I ran outside, without alerting anyone. I saw Khaled was outside too.

Then I heard the call. It was one long, haunting howl that sent shivers down my spine. I knew the call and it didn’t bode me any good.

Khaled was tense too. He signalled for the doors to the mansion to be closed, with that he brought his handgun. I knew things were going to get ugly. We heard noises coming from the forest that was on the south side of the house. And then they broke through.

These creatures have been in many legends and never has their arrival meant any good. They were , in general, just as tall as normal humans but their neck made them twice the size. Same went for their hands, legs, and fingers. They could be called a human spider. Another striking thing about them is that they have bright yellow eyes, which glows even dark.

They came in huge numbers and they all were running for the mansion.

It was at this moment that I realised that I had fallen asleep at the party. It was still 10 pm. So whatever I had seen was just a dream. I hoped so, because those creatures are not something you want to be face to face with.

The rest of the party went well, the usual jokes went around. Me and Jim ( the devil) had a good round. I must say he was good but I had the last laugh.

It was almost midnight by the time I came home. I was thinking about Denise. Maybe I do like her. Well, let's see what happens.

10/20/2018

I had a meeting today with Khaled and his buddies. They wanted the details out of Sarah. I gave them all they needed. I didn’t want them to disturb her anymore then it was needed. Plus, they won’t believe her words.

Because what she is saying is strange, and I am undermining it.

She is staying with us. No one knows that, not even Khaled. Only my mother, my two sisters, children and Denise knows about it.

My mother took a certain liking to Sarah. She is a silent soul but is always smiling. Also, she listens to all my mother’s gossip. I learned some other interesting things from her too.

She told me that her husband was always abusive towards her but up until recently, something changed her mind. He came home one day, drunk and in a pretty bad mood. He was screaming some gibberish. It was at that moment that she noticed that he was changing. His arms grew longer, he was no longer a human. He resembled a dog more than a human. It was a surreal experience for her. Seeing her husband in such a form, even in such a scene, she felt that somehow he fitted that monstrous form he had. If I am to give a good example of the kind of creature her husband is, it would be a werewolf….

He saw her. He understood instantly that she saw what he was. He came charging for her, breaking and destroying whatever came in his way. She took a run for it. Running for her life, she went through the backyard and went into the forest. She was deep in it when she realised that it was still following her. Thinking that death was just a time’s matter now, Sarah stopped. Then she realised that there were some things there besides her and the horrible monster.

It was a pack of huskies, and they were between her and the monster. They looked solemn.

She could see the devil lurking in the shadows but the huskies stood their ground. Then they started barking, upon which her husband ran away. After that she doesn’t remember anything, because she was unconscious.

I told her not to worry. She is now in my house and Sarah can stay as long as she wants, And I will do anything to keep her safe. She almost cried, and embraced me…..

I will admit, I am a reliable person. Everyone trusts me easily, that’s how I ended up taking care of celebrity scandal business. Always with a cap on my head, which says “what’s up buttercup?”, and my heavy boots, I am a character. Most of you know someone like this, who always has a backpack, torchlite and is always travelling. That’s me

Something was bothering me. The last few days, there has been a strange phenomena going on. It starts with a loud crash, almost like thunder but far louder. The ground starts shaking, it even measured on a Richter scale, 5.9. These incidents have the experts baffled, because these are not caused by any tectonic irregularity or any volcanic activity. People are terming these incidents as “ Skyquake”.

Why am I so interested in these? Because now we have a change in the dreams our Dreamers were having. The change is that the prison ( AKA the castle) has its door open, and something big is escaping. I don’t like that, I don’t like that at all.

I believe the dreams these guys are having, those are not just a dream, those are warnings of things to come. I have been following this trail of such occurrences. History has a lot of them, and it has never been good.

What it is I still don’t know but that’s what I am working on.

When I said these skyquakes are not the only ones in recorded history, I said it with a lot of knowledge. I still have the original copies of both Abraham Wilheimn’s Sapphire and Dr Saleh’s journal. They both have excellent narratives regarding this phenomenon.

See, I still could be wrong, but that’s my job. I got to look at every case along my line of business.

I know my way of telling a tale is not that good but I gotta do what I can, cause all my experience is saying this case is gonna be a big one.

10/29/2018

Shawn and I were talking on my balcony. He was telling me about some strange footprints they were finding in an expedition to one of the caves in Alaska. He was not with the team but apparently what they found was of such importance that they had to call in the air force to pick them up. He was one of the guys who went there to pick them up. ( by they I mean a subdivision of the army who are basically archeologists)..

“ I know mate. It's strange, and if you ask me, that is definitely something” said I

“ Yes, plus with all the earthquakes we have been having…”

“Skyquakes” I corrected.

“ Well, whatever you call them but it's all strange. There is something going on.” said he.

Just when he said that, we both heard a noise. It was coming from the street. We both looked and saw a man hunched over, sprinting and stopping, as if he was trying to find something.. .

An old lady at that moment came out of her house, right opposite mine and she screamed when she saw the guy. We both stood up. We saw the guy charging for the lady, she screamed and ran back to her place. We both ran to stop the guy, clearly he had no good intentions.

In a matter of moments we were in the streets. We saw the door was open, the guy had gotten in. Right at that moment the hunched man came running out, with two other men following him with guns. We both ran for hunchmen too. He was quick, real quick. But as it seemed, all four of us who were chasing him had prior hunting experience, so we couldn’t be beaten off.

At last one of the dudes, who I actually know, caught him, but now it started attacking him.

I went for it. I knew it was not a normal man. One punch right at the middle of his nose, and he went flying, hitting the ground hard upon landing. We quickly surrounded him.

He was not a man, because he had no face. There was nothing there, no eyes, no mouth, no nose, nothing. He didn’t even have ears. We all were surprised. Shawn quickly called someone. The other two guys were still in shock, they had never seen anything like this before. The hunchback then started screaming but it was almost a muffled scream, like he had a cloth gagged to his mouth. Let me tell you something, this seemed like straight out of a horror movie.

We stood there for like 5 minutes, watching a hunchback screaming in silence, then out of nowhere came almost a dozen trucks ( military trucks) they all were armed to the teeth. I assure you about 40 or more military fellows came running down at us.

“ Gentlemen, there is nothing to worry about. We got it covered. Our men will escort you to your respective home. I request you guys not disclose anything you have seen or heard today to anyone, especially the media and I will force upon that request again.” said one of the military guys, who I could guess by his demeanor to be the leader.

The two men, my neighbours, were duly taken to their home. They were going to take me too but I showed them my card. As I said before, I have worked with a lot of people, which also has the police and marine in it too. As a gratitude for my service, they gave me this card which gives me access to almost any restricted place I want.

“ Wait. I know you. General Armin has spoken about you before. No wonder you are here. He had said that you are always to be found wherever there is a mysterious case.” said the Captain.

I agreed.

“ So you are Captain Jane. I have heard about you too. It’s an honour to meet someone like you. This case is gonna be something along your line. I am pretty sure. If you ask me, I think he was coming for me” said I

“ how can you be so sure of that?” asked he

“ Cause look at his feet”...

He had his feet backwards. That meant he was not anything we guessed before.

“This goes deep. You don’t have to worry about anything. My men are guarding your house 24/7. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Thanks man but that’s all I want for today.” said I/

I walked to my house, leaving Shawn and the captain to deal with the hunchback themselves. There are a lot of things you guys may not know about me but you all will gradually learn them as the case moves forward.

This incident was not an isolated one. I think this is connected. I think it's time for me to go and have a chat with a certain man.

11/01/2018

Mr Baskerville sat on the opposite sofa, we both were looking at each other, trying to judge what the other was capable of.

“ See, I will get to the point right away. You know that your wife is with me, and I know that recently you sent a hunchback against her and my family. This is where I will draw the line. This is between us. You play the game with me, Khaled and his pals, we are fine but don’t cross the line. That’s all I am going to say.” warned I

“ It seems quite funny to me that you should be this scared. Well, in any case, it was your fault. You shouldn’t have tried to poke your nose in my matter. I don’t know about any game, I play whatever I want, and however I want.” said he, with a smirk on his.

“Well, don’t forget who you are speaking to” with that, my eyes went black. The sky outside turned black, the night had dawned already, even though the sun was still there.

“Don’t forget who you are speaking to. There are worse things than death that I can bring upon you.” said I.

He was afraid. He did his best to show none of that, but I could see that he was afraid…. And I left at that exact moment.

I came home and I saw the two dorks playing soccer. I raised them right. They were just fooling around with the ball, and I noticed Sarah was there. She noticed that I was there and instantly her face brightened up.

“ You couldn’t be that happy to see me, now would you?” asked I

She didn’t reply but just kept on smiling. I don’t know about you guys but she sometimes creeps me out…

At the comfort of my house, I was thinking about the case. There was something in those dreams, a point that was being made. I was missing something, what it was I don’t know.

See, The amount of sightings of unnatural creatures have increased a lot. There has been mass sightings of a 25 feet bird in Orlando, A 55 feet long snake has been seen in Oregon, and the list goes on.

Even the skeptics are starting to say that there is something wrong. Why am I so interested In The Dreams that those 25 guys were having? Cause I believe they saw The Door. What I mean by The Door is something I will tell you guys later, for now it should be sufficient to say that the door has opened and the horror that is coming out doesn’t bode any good for us.

11/02/2018

A new day for me and I felt different. It could be the case but I am not sure. I had a gig today. I played at Rachel Evancho’s birthday. Yep, and it was packed with a lot of celebrities but it was still homely. Everybody who came, just came to have a nice and peaceful evening. I played guitar, which many of you might not know. I am a maestro, it might seem like a boast but I always say the truth. Believe me when I say this, I am the party man.

As I came from there, I got a text from Denise. She asked me if I could meet her at Miranda’s cafe. I would never say no to a fair lady, so I went there.

I saw she was already there, waiting for me. I felt happy, in a way content, when I saw her. Surely there was music in the background.

I sat infront of her, she was looking amazing. I decided to think it through. She was talking about something but it all was going over my head, cause I was mesmerised by her. At the back of my mind, I was thinking of asking her out.

“Would you give me a moment please?” said I to her.

I went to the manager and asked if he had a guitar in the house. He gave me one just out of the corner, as if he was ready for it. I took that and went to the stage. The mic was there already, it was an open mic night, so I had it all for myself. I didn’t say anything, I just looked at Denise and smiled…

“This is my favourite song and I hope that the lady who is with me today appreciates it”..

With that , I started singing, with the guitar in my hand.. Hoping for the best.

When it ended, I looked at Denise. She was smiling. The crowd was clapping ( there were a lot of them tonight). I came down slowly, fingers crossed. Her face was glowing….

Right at that moment, chaos started. A dozen or so monsters came rushing in, attacking the folks and breaking everything in their sight. People were screaming, things were going bad to worse. It was then that one of them went for Denise and smacked her in the face.

Few people have seen me angry, now I am going to explain to you why.

My eyes went yellow. I raised my hand and cried…” Arretzz”.. and a huge ball of lightning struck the ground. Everyone of those bastards went down. I saw one of them was still alive, so I picked him up and I said..” Tell your boss that this is the last time I am gonna bear him. If he ever goes for anyone apart from me, I will bring hell upon him.”

With that warning, I raised my hand again. All the dead werewolves rise up from their death. With a wave of my hand, I commanded them to return to their master and attack him. They all went running back..

By this time we were starting to wake up, They all were surprised to see the cafe looking good as new. Denise woke up too, she was surprised too, because there were no claw marks on her face.

“ What happened?” she asked.

“ Whatever happened happened. You don’t have to worry about anything. What I was going to say was that I love you…..

11/03/2018

I never felt so happy. I actually found someone who I can live with the rest of my life. She is lovely, she is kind, she is sweet, she is all that I could dream of. During my morning walk, everything seemed colourful. I never felt better.

But even during this moment of ecstasy, Horror still came upon me. What it was that one of the victims of the dream was killed. Her name was Courtney Shire and she had left a note just before she was killed. The note said…

“ The door has opened. All hell has broken loose”..

With this cryptic message, she ended the note.

Without losing a moment, I called for a meeting for SS..

11/04/2018

Representatives from all over came to meet in the Chateau of Sirienburg, Netherland. People of the highest order were present in this meeting. Inside, I met the Australian PM.

“ Good thing you called it in. I would have done it myself.” said he

I nodded in agreement and we both went in.

The hall was large. It was made in the style of a stadium, So it could fit in more people. Everyone went into their respective positions. There were a lot of people from the private sector too. It was a pretty big deal and everyone was anticipating it.

Everyone was looking at the speaker.. He was Sir Charles Starling, the great oxford Physicist.

“ If I have everyone’s attention, I would like to proceed with today’s meeting. As far as I guess, most of us know why we are here today. Our American friend, Mr Syed Khalique, called for a black flag. He fears that a certain door has opened somewhere on this planet. We don't know where and we are not even sure if it has. With this being said, I leave it to the rest of the members to present their opinion.”

Sir Charles sat down, upon which the PM of China stood up. He spoke mandarin but for the sake of my readers I am gonna give a translated script.

“ Good evening to all my friends today. I will cut straight to the point. We have seen more than enough of the horrors that only legend so far had accounts of. I wouldn’t like to bore you all with all the incidents, so I will just say this… if he hadn’t set off the alarm, we would have.”

One after another, all representatives voiced their opinion. Everyone had the same opinion, it was time to take action.

“I suggest we form a team, composed of the best men we have to offer, who are gonna find the doors.” said the australian PM.

Everyone agreed. And so it was decided that we should form a team. It will take effect from the next day.

The only reason my account is so short is that I don’t want to disclose that much information regarding The Meeting. Some things are better kept secret.

But what do we mean by finding the doors? See, as legend goes, there are 13 doors on earth that lead directly to hell. So far they have been closed but as the prophecy goes, one of the doors shall open, which in turn may lead to the other ones being open too.

Therein lies the problem. These doors have been holding back stuff that only legends and folk tales had given us a fleeting picture of, what horror lies behind those doors, no one knows.

The last supposed opening of them brought in the Dark ages.

So what is the actual plan that the meeting had decided on? The task force that has been created is gonna use all the resources available to find the opened door and see what they can come up with.

Is it somehow connected to the Dream? I think so. In fact, I think it was someone or something that was in all those dreams, who was the cause of the door opening. I don’t know what it was but I knew it was not good.

11/06/2018

I was on my way to Pennsylvania. A certain place has been having some interesting sightings. It was quite interesting.The supposed sighting was of a legendary creature, popularly known as Wendigo.

What happened was that a girl, around 7 years of age, got lost in the streets. Her parents did their best to find her but they still haven’t been successful yet.

Where do I come in? A ufologist just yesterday sent me a video in which he captured a real, horrifying Wendigo. It was in the same area where the disappearance of the kid happened.

Wendigos have been according to legend, infamous for child abduction, and that’s where I come in. Appearance of a Wendigo never was a good omen, and considering the circumstances we are in, this is highly suggestive.

So here I am, in Pennsylvania, in search of a legendary monster.

The case of the Dream is still in my mind, everything makes sense, the only thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why would these folks get all those dreams. What did they have that made them have those dreams? What was so special in them, that only they had those dreams?

These questions need answers and I hope I can find them.

11/07/2018

I always need to have a coffee before I do anything, so there I was, in the middle of a forest, with a group of professionals, and a cup of coffee in my hand. It was comical but scenes were serious out there.

There were about 7 guys in the group. Before we began, we decided to have a quick discussion among ourselves.

“ If you ask me, we should go about this the old school way. I have my hunting hounds right outside, these fellas can track the shit in just a couple of hours.” said Smith, one of the younger members of the group.

“ I would agree with you but we don’t have anything to move forward with. There is no scent with which your hounds can work, so that rules out your suggestion. What else do we have, gentlemen?” asked Ralphie, the leader of our group.

“ I say we do this, where can it go? If stories are giving us a good idea, it should either be inside a cave or it should be hiding as a tree.” said Stuart, the smart one of the group.

“ I think he is right. That could be our starting point.” said I

We all agreed on that. We split into three groups and went in three different directions. It was simple, after 6 hours exactly we all met at the same place. If anybody is not here before that, we go where they were supposed to be.

I was with Sheen, a silent fellow but reliable. We silently scout the whole area, living no stone unturned. Many of you may ask, why don’t I use my magical power to find the girl or if she has been killed, avenge her. If you knew what my power actually was, none of you would advise that. It is not something I would like to use, even in dire situations. I will tell you guys more about it some other day.

We didn’t see a single thing that would even give us a single hint as to where the girl would be. 6 hours went by quickly, and we set off to our camp.

Much to our surprise we only saw one of them there. I asked him “ where are the others?”

He didn’t answer me,because he fell down. He was covered in blood, something had gotten to him. From the distance I heard gunshots, both me and Sheen ran towards the sound, both with our guns all ready.

When we reached the place, we saw the other three. They were hung on the tree, with blood coming out of their eyes. That was surely a warning to us. I saw Sheen trembling, he was a young kid, only 18. He shouldn’t have joined us in this thing… the poor boy was scared out of his wits.

At that moment we heard the call of the Wendigo. If you have read any book which mentioned Wendigo, you will find something about their horrifying call. We both froze in our place.

Sometimes courage comes at the worst of our times, same as the sun that comes out after the darkest part of the night. I didn’t know what it was, but for some reason I got angry. Here were 7 of us, who came to help find a girl. Now there were only two of us left, plus I could see Sheen trembling.

Words of the missing girl’s mother rang inside my head.. “ God sent you. I know that. I can feel that, Please bring my daughter to me. Please, please…….”

The words were ringing in my mind when I heard Sheen screaming. I turned around and I saw Sheen shooting at the horrible entity.

I have never seen anything like this before. The mere sight of it made one shrink in horror. Reaching as high as the trees that covered us, It was truly a monster.

I couldn’t see that much because it was dark but I saw Sheen shooting, And then the roar came. It was chilling, so chilling in fact, that it even made Sheen stop. Then it charged at us, the ground shook beneath it’s mighty steps.

I was on the very verge of losing it, when from our back, we heard the cries… the cries of the Hounds.

The Wendigo stopped. We saw a line of large blood hounds standing solemnly. I quietly pointed to Sheen that it was time for us to move away, cause this fight no longer was about us. As if fate had the same sense, we heard the cries of a little girl. Without making a sound, we both ran towards the girl.

The last thing I saw of standoff was that both sides still stood the same, looking at each other. I knew it was not my fight anymore.

We found the girl crying. Sheen picked her up and we started moving quickly. The girl was still crying, so I asked her “ what’s wrong? Did you get hurt?”

Sheen suddenly seemed to stop. He said, “ Arabi, she doesn’t have any pants.”

Those almost outrageous words suddenly cut through my heart, cause now I knew what that meant, why the wendigo had still kept her alive…

It was like God was giving me everything I wanted today, I heard several loud thunderous sounds coming from all directions. Sheen was breaking apart, and the little girl was crying even harder, as if she knew what was coming.

The sheer horror of the situation, along with the death of the guys I used to call as my friends, planted such a horror in my heart that I know I am never gonna forget this day.

I lost my humanity at that moment, The devil inside me came out and my eyes went black.

I looked at the sky and I raised my hands. All the Wendigos stopped , even at that moment I would have stopped, cause I didn’t want to fall into the curse that I had but the girl screamed. Something had killed Sheen and took the girl.

“ Arretzz!!!”

The whole forest turned into a plain land and I had all the wendigos before me.

“ Give the child back to me” said I, quitely

Even when death was this close to them, they still couldn’t get rid of their lust.

I clenched my fist, and everything in front of me erupted in fire. The girl was by my side. She was scared of me too.

“ Don’t worry dear. You are safe now. I will take you to your parents and nothing will ever touch you”

“ And now to all of you” cried I.. “ the doors of hell are not opened yet, for they wait for the day of judgement, but punishment never waits, justice shall be served swiftly. I will make this very earth a hell for you.”

With that the very ground beneath them opened, and out came creatures of hell, who dish out punishment to the worst of God’s creation.

“ What you sow, so shall you reap.”

I took the little girl with me to her parents' heart, she was still crying.

“ Don’t worry. Nothing happened today.” with that I placed my hand on her head… so that she never remembers anything that happened today. She opened her blue innocent eyes and started laughing. She was wearing new clean clothes and sandals and nail polish.

“ Thank you” she said, and she fell asleep.

Her mother was so happy, her happiness could not be described in words. Her Father shook my hands and didn’t say anything but I knew he would die for me if need ever arises. For the mother.. she said these words

“ You are my daughter’s godfather.”

11/09/2018

I was just having a usual, normal day at my home. I couldn’t ask for anything better, The dorks were running around, doing all kinds of stupid but adorable stuffs. My mom went out with a couple of her cousins to do some shopping for one of cousin’s weddings. My younger sister, Nuha, was in Oxford, because she is brilliant and her brother is rich. I hope to see some marvellous work from her in future.

Sarah was at home. I have seldom seen anyone work so hard as her. I gave her a job at one of my PC repair centers in the finance department. She does almost twice the work in half the time and she is such a sweetheart.

It’s good to see her in this condition. Makes me feel good about myself, especially after the horrors I had to face in Pennsylvania.

The weather outside was great, I thought why not go out and enjoy this while it lasts. You don’t get this kind of day in November.

I decided to go out to a park. The kids were ready as soon as I told them. I asked Sarah if she wanted to go out with us..

“ I can’t. I have work that I have to complete. You guys go and enjoy”

“ You do realise that I own that place and I hardly think anybody is gonna have my authority down there.. So don’t worry miss, just go and get ready, we have to be out by 2 pm.” said I

A pleasant afternoon, that’s all I ask. I was just relaxing in the sunshine when I saw something curious stuff. The trees in the park were all a little bent towards the east. I didn’t understand this, because I come to this park every weekend, especially during summer and I have never seen the trees like this.

Something wasn’t right but I decided not to worry about it, cause it was too pleasant a day for that.

It was about 6 pm when we came back. I got a text from Gerard saying he needs me at his place ASAP.

I didn’t need any more prompting from Gerard, was already on the highway. As I was driving, my mind kept going back to the last 3 months… that is, it keeps going back to the case of the Dream. I will mention all of the facts regarding the case and see what we come up with. I need to keep my case file in a clean and organised manner.

But still the question remains the same.. Why would these folks have those dreams? Why?

Plus, I don’t think the presence of the accursed Wendigos are a coincidence either. They have to be connected to this whole case of the Dream. Plus who killed Denise’s brother and the other two, that too on a single day. Nobody else has been murdered since then, why were these three killed? I gotta get the answers to these questions.

I was at Gerard’s place before long. He was at the door pacing up and down.

“ What happened mate? Is there anything wrong?” asked I

“ There is something wrong with Maria. I don’t know what to do.”

I could see that he was disturbed. Surely something had happened. He led me directly to his study and opened the door. I saw Maria tied to the chair. I moved away from Gerard and I pulled out my gun.

“ Arabi, I am not the criminal , man!!.. I had to do it, just look at her.”

Then I looked at Maria and I understood it all..

“ This is serious business, we need to do things calmly. Don’t you worry , we will get through this.”

I called Shawn and I called a friend of mine, who knew these things better than anyone.

They were here in 15 minutes. Shawn came in, he saw Maria gagged to her chair and he too had the same reaction as me. Gerard told him to look at Maria and Shawn understood what happened. It was at this moment that my friend, Shah Abdullah, came.

A tall fellow with a dark beard, he was a fierce looking guy. Why did I call him? It was because he was an Hafiz( someone who memorizes the whole Quran by heart) and had experience in dealing with such stuff. He didn’t come alone, his friend, Himanshi Patel, was with him too.

This guy knew his stuff, but I didn’t understand at that time why would both of them come here together.

“Gentlemen, could I have you close the door and the windows?” said Shah

We did exactly what he told us to do. We knew something was going to happen.

Shah looked at Maria and said “ I know who you are. Don’t hide in the shadows, come forward and show your true self.”

He said these words slowly but with authority. We saw Maria raise her head and her eyes were all black. At first we saw her looking at us with a smirk, like she knew what game we would be playing… but then her smugness disappeared. She looked at us with horror, screaming.

“ Get me away from him. Get me away from him!!”

At first we thought she was scared of Shah or Himanshu but then we realised it was me who she was scared of.

“ Please get me away from him.. Please!...” she cried.

“Why are you afraid?” asked Shah

“ No! No! No!.” cried she.

With that Maria fell to the ground, the ropes that held her to the chair loosened. Gerard quickly picked her up.

“ Let her lay down in the bed,” said Shawn.

We followed them into the bedroom. Gerard laid down Maria in the bed. She was looking better as minutes passed by. After about two minutes. She gained consciousness, at which she look at me and she was afraid. She was visibly afraid of me.

“ What’s wrong dear? It’s me, Arabi.” said I

She grabbed Gerards hand and cried “ You are the devil, you are the devil.”

Upon her cries, both Shah and Himanshu moved away from me. Even Shawn was startled.

“ Come on guys.. What do you think?” said I

They dismissed Maria’s raving thinking she was delusional, except for Shah. He said

“ I think Maria is safe for now. Yet I would advise you to go somewhere else for a week. Both of you would need that. I think we have done all that we could do.”

Saying that, he left with Himanshu.

Shawn stayed with Gerard, helping them pack. There was no use for me to stay there. I would just end up scaring the girl, so I left.

I know both Gerard and Shawn dismissed Maria’s words but I think Shah and Himanshu are not sure. They are in the profession, they could guess what my nature is. Stll, I don’t think they suspect me.

I still don’t know what happened with Maria. What was the spirit that had possessed her? Why did it run like this? Was it afraid of me? Most of the time, nobody even guesses what I am capable of. This case was different.

I know Maria since childhood. She was Gerard’s sweetheart since highschool. She is one of my best friends, I don’t know what she saw but I think she might have seen my true form.

It was 1am at night. I was walking in the streets, with the moon shining high in the sky. I just felt like it. There was nothing I could do that is going to change who I am. It has been a strange journey for me, somehow I feel like The case of the Dreams is connected to all that’s been happening to me.

I fear nothing that the night has hidden, for I am the night.

11/11/2018

I was at Miranda's cafe again. Denise sat right in front of me. She was talking about something, I didn’t know cause I was just looking at her. The sun was shining bright outside, there was music playing. Everybody was laughing and enjoying themselves, and I was sitting in front of the most beautiful woman I ever knew. She was smiling….

Then suddenly she visibly shook. She looked as if she had gotten a glimpse of hell.

“ What happened?” asked I

“ Your eyes. It turned blue” said she.

“What’s wrong with that?” asked I

“ Your eyes were completely blue. Almost a dark blue.” said she

“ You forgot that I am Jimmy Starling, one of the greatest magician the world has ever seen.” said I

“ Wait… You never told me about that, you are lying, right?” asked she

In answer to her question, I turned my eyes into a green, then I turned them into silver… needless to say, she was surprised.

“ Well, I love you”.. Said she and gave me a kiss.