Phantom '91

SO...SOMEWHERE AROUND MIDNIGHT, I HEARD A SOUND COMING FROM THE ROOM ACROSS THE HALL. WHICH HAD WAKENED ME FROM MY SLEEP AND THAT COMFORTABLE SPOT, I HAD FOUND, IN THE CHAIR NEXT TO THE BED. APPARENTLY I TOO HAD FINALLY FALLEN ASLEEP, AS I WAITED AT BETH’S SIDE, FOR HER TO GO TO SLEEP.

    GLANCING OVER AT HER, SHE HADN’T APPARENTLY HEARD THE SOUND THAT HAD AWAKEN ME, AND THAT WAS GOOD. AS I TRIED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IN SAM HILL THAT NOISE WAS, AND WAS IT REAL, OR WAS I JUST DREAMING IT.

     THEN… IT CAME AGAIN, BUT LOUDER THIS TIME.

 I JUMPED FROM THE CHAIR AND RUSHED OUT OF THE BEDROOM INTO THE HALLWAY. HOPING, THAT WHAT EVER IT WAS I COULD GET A GLIMPSE OF IT AND WHY IT MADE THAT SHRIEKING, AWFUL, SOUND.

     SEEING NOTHING FROM EITHER END OF THE HALLWAY, I STARTED BACK TOWARDS THE BEDROOM TO WHERE BETH LAID PEACEFULLY. JUST A RESTING AS COMFORTLY AS POSSIBLE WHEN IT CAME AGAIN. SUDDENLY I TURNED AS QUICK AS I COULD, TO SEE THERE BEFORE ME, THIS HUGE LIFE SIZE IMAGE OF OLD #91 COMING OUT OF THE BEDROOM ACROSS THE HALL.

     THE DOORS OF THE BEDROOM ACROSS THE WAY WERE OPENED WIDE, AND THE MIDNIGHT VOYAGER WAS BARRELING TOWARDS ME, AT FULL THROTTLE, AS THE OLD HEADS WOULD SAY.

 I FROZE DEAD IN MY TRACKS, STUNNED AND WONDERING WHICH WAY TO GO, OR WHAT NEXT TO DO. ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS TO JUST CLOSE MY EYES, HOPING THAT THIS WAS JUST ANOTHER SPOOKY MIRAGE, AND THAT IT WOULD JUST GO AWAY.

    LO AND BEHOLD, WHEN I OPENED MY EYES, IT WAS STILL COMING, AND THERE I STOOD IN IT’S PATH. SO I CLOSED MY EYES ONCE MORE. FIGURING, IF I WAS TO DIE RIGHT THERE AND THEN, I’D RATHER NOT LOOK.

    WITH EYES CLOSED TIGHT AND BRACING MY SELF FOR THE IMPACT, I WAITED, AND I WAITED, AND WAITED SOME MORE. WAS IT GOING TO HIT WHAT OR ME? WHY WAS TAKING IT SO LONG? I WAS AFRAID TO OPEN MY EYES, TO SEE IF IT WAS EVEN STILL THERE.

     BUT...COWARD NESS SEEMED TO HAVE GOTTEN THE BEST OF ME, SO THERE I STOOD WITH MY EYES CLOSED TIGHTLY. JUST WAITING FOR DEATH TO TAKE ME AWAY. THEN...SUDDENLY FOR SOME WEIRD UNKNOWN REASON I OPENED MY EYES ONCE MORE, AND TO MY SURPRISE, THERE WAS NOTHING THERE, NOTHING AT ALL. THE BEDROOM DOORS ACROSS THE HALLWAY WERE CLOSED AND NOTHING WAS TO BE SEEN OF THE VOYAGER, IN EITHER DIRECTION. YES...THANK YOU LORD I WAS ONLY DREAMING, OR SO I THOUGHT.

    RELIEVED OF COURSE THAT IT DID FINALLY GO AWAY. STILL...I WAS FEELING ANGRY, AS TO WHY THESE GHOSTLY IMAGES KEPT APPEARING TO ME, AND THEN DISAPPEAR AS FAST AS THEY CAME. WHAT WERE THEY TRYING TO TELL ME, I ASKED OF MYSELF. USUALLY, EVERYTHING HAS A PURPOSE THEY SAY, OR MEANING.  BUT WHAT WAS IT? WHY COULDN''T IT JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?

    THEN OFF IN THE DISTANCE, LIKE A TRAIN EMERGING INTO A DARKENED TUNNEL SOUNDING IT’S WHISTLE TO WARN ANYONE OF IT’S COMING. I HEARD THIS VERY LOW ERIE SOUND OF A TRAIN WHISTLE, TWO LONG, ONE SHORT AND ONE LONG BLAST OF THE WHISTLE. THE COMMON USE OF THE ENGINES HORN WHEN CROSSING OVER ROAD CROSSINGS

    I WAS CURIOUS, BUT BEING THAT IT WAS SO LATE, I DECIDED TO JUST RETREAT INTO MY BEDROOM AND CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND ME, AND LOCKS IT. HOPEFULLY TO TAKE THIS ISSUE UP SOME OTHER DAY FOR I WAS TIRED, AND I’VE HAD ENOUGH FOR ONE DAY, I JUST WANTED TO GET SOME REST.