Episode 5: The One

It was a beautiful sunny day, Agatha's BMW went to a stop. She's been picking up Charlie from his work located west of Bern, as a budding associate writer, ever since he's back.

"Agatha, you don't have to do this! You promised!" Charlie scowled as he removes his jacket.

"Coffee?" As she hands out a covered paper cup, smiling.

"Damn, don't bribe me, I'm already 21, not a child!" Charlie told Agatha as he reached for the coffee.

Charlie thought to himself, 'I've never felt her this protective as before, and I think it has heightened.'

The two went to the car, but Charlie's stepped a bit off from where he's heading. He's like waiting for something in a very odd position. He was in that manner for about 5 seconds then suddenly he ran towards the woods.

His dropped his cup and spilled coffee all over the pavement.

His speed is topnotch. Agatha followed in attempt. She could not call out Charlie, all she knows is she has to follow his brother.

But Charlie is nowhere to be found. He is too fast for her. Agatha found herself in the middle of the woods, she called his name at the top of her lungs and started panting hard. Her adrenaline subsided abruptly. She almost felt fainting. The trees around seemed blurry, then a bright light almost consumed her. Still panting, she went on her knees closed her eyes and tried to rest.

All she could think of is her constant dream of his brother.

In Agatha's recurrent dream, Charlie has been constantly walking away towards the darkness. Agatha calls for him to come back but Charlie just kept on walking until he disappeared into the nothingness of an empty dark space. Charlie never looked back, nor came back. He's gone.

Charlie went to an abrupt stop. His eyes were surveying the area like a predator. It was an open grassland that he had stumbled upon. Drenched in sweat he called out, "Whoever you are, show yourself!"

He was waiting for a response but all he could hear is the whistling of the wind over the grassland bounded by the woods. Then he heard something, smelled something, felt something. The 'thing' seemed to be nearing him in an uncanny way. Charlie's pulses went up, fast, soaring as he anticipates the horror of the unknown. He is neither excited nor afraid. He is just dead seduced. Sweat is trickling over his nape and chest. The cool wind negates the warm core of his body, his skin is near icy. An unexplainable energy surges then stopped. It was behind him, breathing.

"I knew you would find me, but I found you first." A man's voice said.

Charlie froze.

Agatha regain consciousness, drenched in moisture.

It was near dusk, Agatha helped herself up, dusting the soil off her dress. Her worried face became more and more gloomy. Tears fell from her eyes. She wiped them off leaving soil on her face. She can't do anything, she don't want to leave his brother, she wants to follow him, but where? She can't think right now, she just went back to her car hoping her brother is there, waiting for her. Upon reaching her car, she got a hold of her cellphone inside it and tried to call Charlie. It rang.

Charlie melted.

While his phone is ringing, cold sweat continuously pours down. Though he wants to pull it out from his pocket, he could not. His knees became wobbly.

"I thought you want me to show myself, here I am, all you need to do is to turn around" The man said almost to his ears.

The man's voice is velvety, almost seductive. The treble is old but the pauses are modern. It's like the past met the future yet indescribably coerced. The energy and the presence is so strong that Charlie felt enveloped by the power the man is presenting or not. Charlie closed his eyes and went to a daydream.

Down the staircase he immediately went out of the house, almost running past the wooden door. That door is unlocked and it was half open. It was night, again. The air is crisp and cold, stars are scattered among the skies, little lights from the neighboring houses from afar are seen as if they were stars as well. The fields are vast and lonely. He looked over his shoulder to see the house behind, it was a grandeur, a mansion. He is at awe. Then he became scared and as he went on, walking, a man standing immediately in front of him. In a black tie suit with his right hand half-raised with cuff links shining all bright, he said with fear, "Where are you going Charlie? Go back Charlie, go back now!"

Still sweating and wobbly, Charlie gasped for air. He opened his eyes and a blurry vision stood in front of him. He backed down, submitting to his weak knees as he refocus his eyes. He then gasped again.

He gasped not in terror but in awe of beauty and amazement.

The man in his daydream reached out his hand to him in a white knitted sweater and plaid khaki shorts then said, "Come on Charlie, hold my hand."

Charlie hesitated but the voice, the eyes, the mouth, the angular face of the man seduced him. He held out his hand and the man helped him up.

"There is so much I wanted to tell you." The man said in a most endearing way.

Charlie finally said something, "Okay..."

"By the way, I'm Daniel Beaufort. I've been waiting for you for a very long time."

Sunset came.

Episode 4: The Power

Charlie is walking down a staircase, it was an evening. All he could hear is the ticking of a Grand Father's clock. It was almost pitch dark. Thanks to the moon's light, it gave the room a recognizable spatial sense. His footsteps can't be heard, though the floor was made of wood. He sees books everywhere, old scrolls, hardwood chairs and a metal-top table. He doesn't recognize the place though he always meant to go there and beyond. He picked up a book and dusted it off. It's a history book of old England. He placed it back where it was and looked outside the window.

There was a white horse pulling a carriage, and it came to a stop. A man stepped out of the carriage, in tuxedo. Then a woman in a beige ball gown almost followed him with a kiss but he held her back to the carriage. Charlie saw him shut the door close and gestured the man in-front of the carriage to go. The white horse shrieked and went off.

Then someone walk behind him. Charlie was startled and turned his head in fear to see who it is. A woman is in front of him holding an unlighted lamp. She was directly looking at him, the woman was showing emotions of demise and hurt. Charlie is puzzled. Charlie stepped aside as the woman looks through the glass pane.

Charlie is somewhat invisible. But he could lift a book, hear things apart from seeing things.

Then the woman placed the lamp on top of the table and quickly ran through the arch of the room to the main door. The door opened by itself and the man in tuxedo went in. The woman immediately hugged him and gave him a passionate kiss. The man gave in but suddenly released the lip-lock and said, "I'm tired, I want to retire for the day." The woman nodded and took of his coat and hang it. The man took the stairs swiftly, the lamps upstairs was turned on. Then Charlie saw the woman in faint light, at the bottom of the stairs, scorned. She was almost crying as she slumped down at the staircase's first step but quickly composed herself. She walked back to the room as she wiped one drop of tear on her cheek. The woman went for the lamp then suddenly she stopped and looked over where Charlie is stapled. He moved a bit and accidentally knocked a bottle and a quill off the table. The woman threw the lamp at him.

Charlie opened his eyes and saw that someone has been buzzing him through Skype. He was in front of his desktop PC, doing stuff. It was his friend, Anya, saying, "Damn, you went into a daydream again Charlie! You could have at least warned me! LOL."

Charlie apologized. Anya. Annaliza Tan or just Anya, was his classmate back in high-school and she's the only one that gets him. She's is a self professed weirdo. She never went to college, she took over her brothers' dress boutique and created a punk rock line which she was dreaming of. She's now in Canada for some fashion schooling.

Charlie was a loner and Anya was an anti-social back then so they are so good together. They barely even speak to each other during or even after classes, even in break times but they are always together. Kind of inseparable but not as jolly friends. One thing they both like is the arts. They would go to art exhibits, open photo shoots, writing classes and the black arts event even after high school. Their relationship matured when Anya started working for her brother. Back then their friendship is purely 'we are kind of the same so we should stick together', but now it's about their lives.

Secrets are shared and kept, but he omitted to share a disturbing fact the night he woke up in the hospital.

"So how far have you gone now?" Asked Anya. Charlie has been having daydreams since he was small and his daydreams are comprised of him looking at a staircase trying to go down.

Charlie replied, "This is the farthest and I think something is very wrong. You know and I know that there are weird things that has happened and is happening right now plus this. I went down the stairs."

"What, like you're on the floor? Like you're feet are on it?" She shooted.

"Like yeah, and moreover I saw people, and I think someone saw me." Added Charlie.

Anya, in excitement, said, "Tell me exactly what happened!"

Charlie enlightened Anya.

"The accident really did something to you, I mean you are weird and all but things got weirder, you go in a daydream more often now. In a sense I think this is something beyond us." Anya said is such fear and amazement.

He glanced at the calendar, it says November 2010, that is four months after the accident and more than a month from waking up.

"You know Anya, I'm afraid. I can't help myself getting into a trance. It's like I'm seduced, and when I'm in it It seems so real. And yeah, I believe this is beyond me and I want to discover this and understand this!" He stressed.

"Another question is why the same place and probably the same hour of the night? It is definitely saying something. And who are they, do you recognize them?" She scrutinized.

"I don't, back then I don't care what this daydreams meant, but now after all that has happened and the moment that I saw the woman's scorned face I knew I had to do something, maybe not to help, but to know and dig for something. Anya, I don't even know if it's real, It's a freaking dream!" Scoffed Charlie.

"Try lingering, try controlling it Charlie. Have power over it!" She persuaded.

Charlie thought of what Anya has said. He is afraid, he also told this to his sister but not to their mother. Maybe this'll tell him exactly what happened that night in the hospital. Maybe he'll understand why he's having these constant daydreams. He even thought he's got a brain problem or something but he knows he's completely sane. Charlie can't just let this pass and try living his life the way it was before until now because he knows it won't stop. He knows its telling him something and he knows something has changed, within him.

'Have power over it', that's what his friend said. Power, over something? If we are talking about power it is one of the things that Charlie isn't cultivating. But now he is directing his thoughts into pulling his innate power over things that seems to be unreal.

With that, could it be that Charlie possesses something that may count as a viable power in this world?