The air was different, too. He took in a long slow breath, catching a familiar taste. His chest expanded, there was a need to stretch it further. His whole body, in fact.
He blinked, and that's when he noticed it: the darkness wasn't a pure black. There was a fuzzy gray above. He knew he was facing upward, because he was lying down.
Expelling his breath, he let his eyes adjust to the space. His back cushioned by the pallet he laid out before, he felt for the pocket of his pants. Finding it, he patted his thigh, making sure it was empty. Then he let his arm fall at his side to rest along the floor.
By now, Chantale no doubt had the contents fixed into her dreds. He grinned in that darkened middle room, but his expression was quick to fade away. He thought he'd have just a little bit longer with Eliska.
Now he was alone. All of that seemed so far away. He was already homesick for it. There was a type of unequipping that took place. His arms no longer carried within the strength he exhibited in the village and in that land beyond. He reached up and touched his chest. Finding nothing there but his bare skin, he slipped down to his stomach. The patches of armor that had been given to him were left back there. Eliska probably already picked them up from where he had been sitting as soon as he vanished. She didn't get the gift of exchange this time, so perhaps she would keep all of those pieces of cloth for herself.
His eyes had adjusted so he could make out some of the texture of the paint along the ceiling. Holding his eyes open, he watched, not sure if he had caught a flash of pale blue or not. Something snapped him from his thoughts to search out this stray color.
He felt a tickle in the left side of his vision. Squinting, he followed the sensation, not having to go far. The pale blue he thought he imagined reached over, barely entering his focus. Turning his head further, he found the doorway between this room and the first one. The pale blue was shooting through that opening and touching the ceiling of this middle room.
It had a rhythm. A pulse that repeated over and over. Something anyone who lived in the city would recognize. Were the cops just outside his building or further away? They had to be on this street. Why, though? This sleepy part of town at this time of night? What time was it, anyway? He dreaded to find out. As groggy as he felt, how would he be able to go back to sleep after everything that happened? It wouldn't be until sunrise that he would finally crash.
He wondered if he should get up and peek through the windows. See what was going on, but he just wanted to lay there. Hope it would pass. Then again, how would he ignore the repetitive flash of those blue lights. Closing his eyes wouldn't help. He'd just lie awake, bored.
"Guess I'll check it out." He croaked. Then he grunted when sitting up. He wouldn't go right away. Sitting there in a hunch,
he stared ahead. The back wall was just as it was when he bought the building, but he couldn't help but think of the new doorway in the spirit realm. What would it manifest here in the physical? What options would soon come his way?
Turning to look through the doorway into the first room, he focused on the windows along the side of the building. The flashing blue lights were painting that alley in quick succession and reaching in through the windows. He stared, mesmerized by the strobe effect.
He shook it off with a sudden thought: those lights were close. Before getting to his feet, he paused when he noticed the face of his cell phone was lit up next to his cooler. He grabbed it just as the screen went dark. His phone was always on silent, but he was sort of surprised he didn't notice the moment it came on.
Touching the screen, he put in his password to bring up the main menu. The top left corner was full of notification icons. He used his thumb to pull the sub-menu down. There were several missed calls. He just missed the last one. They were all labeled from the local police.
Grunting again, he got to his feet and stumbled his way into that first room. He had to throw his hand up to shield his eyes. The window in the front door threw the flashing lights at his face. He tried to look between his fingers and see if he could pinpoint exactly where the cops were. Maybe there were more than one. That's usually the way it went.
But still, why?
And how did they get my number?
His car. As far as he knew, he was the only one parked along this street. Did they read his license plate? He wondered if they had even tried to check to see if he was here.
He started for the door, but then stopped. Placing his hand against his chest, he scoffed. He couldn't go out looking like this.
Silly Tamara.
Looking back toward the middle room, he remembered the backpack he brought with him. Running back inside, he fumbled through it, yanking the contents out onto the floor. Knowing which piece of clothing was a shirt, he slipped it on and hurried into the first room. He didn't care that he was barefooted. If he had to, he'd explain himself to the cops. He wasn't doing anything illegal, after all.
Getting to the door, he switched the lock and twisted the knob. As soon as the door opened, the policeman turned toward the sound. The man was standing between the front entrance and Joseph's car next to the curb.
Joseph squinted and shielded his eyes again from the flashing blue lights. It was as he assumed: there were more than one. Angling his hand, he looked to the right and down the street.
Was that an ambulance?
The cop in front of him was holding a flashlight in his left hand, but didn't see the need to raise it. "What's your name, sir?"
"My…" Joseph croaked, cleared his throat, and tried again, "My name is Joseph Adebisi. This is my establishment. It's not open yet, but…"
The cop nodded over his shoulder toward the street, "That's your car, right?"
"R-right." Joseph said, taking a step onto the sidewalk. He paused when he looked past the cop and at his car. It was subtle, but somehow he just knew it wasn't sitting at the same angle he parked it in.
"Oh." He whispered, his shoulders sagging. Then he looked toward the ambulance.
The cop pointed his flashlight in that direction, "You might not like it, but your car actually stopped a drunk driver from causing anymore damage."
Joseph stepped out onto the sidewalk. He was still having to shield his eyes while making out the scene in the distance. Several buildings down, there was another police car and the ambulance. Between them was what he could only assume was a small pickup truck. He was looking at the undercarriage. A wrecker was parked ahead of it.
Two cops were standing at the end of the ambulance. The back doors were open, but he couldn't see inside because of the angle the vehicle was parked. Scanning the road between the scene and his car, Joseph saw bits of debris. They were trailing alongside streaks of tread curving in and
out of either lane.
"Yeah," the cop continued, "he caught the whole passenger side of your car, if you wanna come see." He looked down at Joseph's bare feet. "You should be alright without shoes. All the mess is down the road. He was moving pretty fast."
Joseph nodded, lowering his hand, "Yeah." He muttered and followed the cop to the curb. Before stepping out in the middle of the street, he already saw the passenger-side headlight was destroyed. When he finally saw the extent of the damage, he wanted to groan.
The cop turned on his flashlight and marked the crumpled surface with it. The end of the bumper under the missing headlight was bashed inward. From there, the truck cut several gashes all the way to the taillight. Both windows were busted, but still sitting in their frames. Both hubcaps were missing, and the rims were scraped up. The front tire was flat, of course, but the rear one wasn't.
Joseph sighed, "Great."
The cop flicked his flashlight toward Joseph's building. "You said that's your establishment?"
Joseph tore away from the sight of his car to look ahead, "Uh, yeah. Yes, sir." Then he looked down at his bare feet and shrugged, "I just settled on it. Was gonna work on it tomorrow, or…" He looked at the cop, "…today? I don't even know what time it is now."
The cop turned the watch on his wrist up to check it. "Going on…two twenty-five."
Joseph was taken out of the moment to consider his time spent in the spirit realm. It seemed so much longer, but around an hour and a half? Two hours? He wasn't sure. He was right about dreading the lonely night until sunrise, but then there was this.
The cop looked down toward the sideways truck. After a moment, he turned back to Joseph. "Well, hey, if its any consolation, that guy's insurance is gonna pay for your car. Don't know how much this will set you back, though. You married? Your wife got a vehicle?"
Joseph shook his head, "Not married. No, but…"
"Got someone else that can help?" the cop asked.
Before Joseph answered, he ran several thoughts through his head.
The cop saw that he was having to think things over, so he decided to give him time. "If you'll wait here a moment, I'll be right back to get some information from you. That okay?"
Joseph just nodded in response, which satisfied the cop who then walked away.
Manifestations.
Setbacks, but…
Calarapan had tried to infiltrate his named land and the land which he had yet to declare. Parts of the land were given over to the abyss. Boundaries were forced to adjust. He hadn't explored them yet. Apparently, he was supposed to start that journey in the physical realm.
A drunk driver.
How bad could things have been? There was no way of knowing, but the cop spoke like the worst-case scenario had been avoided. His car was damaged, but he wasn't going to have to pay for it. A loss, but he would be compensated. He could easily get a ride from a friend. Besides, he was going to have to rent a small cargo truck anyway. Moving things into his building and setting things up might not even be delayed.
He looked up the street in the direction the driver came from before hitting his car. There were tire marks coming from the
opposite lane, heading right this way. The drunk was on the wrong side of the road to begin with. Then he was suddenly inspired to correct himself when coming upon the only other vehicle on the road?
Joseph turned to look toward the truck on its side. The wrecker driver was standing near the front of it, probably going over in his head how he was going to get the vehicle back on four wheels. Joseph studied the tread marks past his car. Almost positioned halfway between either vehicle was a powerline pole. The drunk driver could have hit that instead of his car. Sure, a crew would try to get power back to the street as quick as they could. That might not have been a setback for his own business.
Still…
Just by being here tonight, he and others were spared an aggravation.
He started to grin. Depending on the drunk driver's insurance, he might even get to put the cargo truck on the guy's tab. Lifting his gaze, he studied his building. It remained untouched by this incident. It no longer appeared as a cloud of moving memories and ideas. Though, he knew that was still happening in the spirit realm. Yet, he had a sudden thought. Sparing a moment to consider how the shape of the cloud might have been shifting even now, he moved his focus to that third room. The windows were dark, but he was seeing something beyond them. Shapes and actions no one else would see until he set things in place.
The first room was simple. A sort of lounge area. The second room was the internet café. The third room, he saw rows of tables taking up the middle area. All turned the same way. Surrounding them were shelves just tall enough that they didn't block the windows. That was okay, because he would
display some of the tabletop games there. Maybe people driving by wouldn't notice, but the sidewalk was busy at times. Those who walked by would see the games through the windows. If they weren't into them, maybe they had teenagers who were, or knew someone who had kids that would be interested.
The rest of the shelf space would hold many more games, guides and additional pieces just in case customers didn't bring something to keep score with. He would even have sets of dice for sale or for rent. He'd also include decks of cards, starter packs and expansion packs. He had his own collection to add to what would be available to customers. He could set up speakers that they could connect with via Bluetooth. There would be posters and figurines.
Even though he was standing beside his wrecked car around three in the morning, waiting on the cops to ask him some questions, he was elsewhere.
He knew the truth of the matter: that the spirit realm was more real than the physical. No one else could see what was no doubt happening to his building in the spiritual sense. But with a flutter of his heart, he knew the villagers and those three guardians were witnessing the change. If not all of them at once, someone would be running and telling the others. Maybe they all would stop what they were doing with Calarapan's structure to go and see the cloud of ideas solidifying.
Yes, they all had access to that undeclared land. He may have lost a portion of something once established, but what did this almost insignificant incident in the physical world offer him, but a bit of inspiration.
He stepped out of his thoughts to observe the street block. If things were lined up as he thought, he would be standing in the middle of Calarapan's structure in the spirit realm. In fact, this very spot in the middle of the road might have been where the demon was trapped by Eliska.
Joseph looked down at his car. At what moment in the spirit realm did the driver strike his car? When Henry and Ernie forced the tower to change, forming Calarapan's true structure? Or was it when Calarapan started trying to punch his way out of his prison?
Joseph's grin brightened when he thought about how that old man had Calarapan by the ankle with the sash from his staff. Was that when the trunk rolled onto its side, preventing the drunk driver from getting away?
Joseph expelled a snort, but was quick to cover his mouth. He glanced toward the scene down the road. The cop that was to question him hadn't noticed his outburst. Having settled, he still couldn't suppress his grin, but he lowered his hand anyway.
Giving his body something to do to exert the swelling excitement, he swung both hands together into a mild clap. Intertwining his fingers, he glanced toward the cops again, but still, they hadn't noticed. Turning away, he settled upon his structure.
He still had his business. His plans. A future. When it was time, he'd celebrate here with friends and family. Then, when he had the place all to himself, he'd celebrate again with those three guardians, and the villagers who helped him build his dreams.