Before the Horns - A Bob Velseb Story

Chapter 24

Bob sat up quickly, hyperventilating and in a cold sweat. He looked around in an attempt to ground himself.

He'd had another awful nightmare, much worse than the previous night. He'd been sitting in a void of nothing, watching as the universe died before his eyes. It was horrifically beautiful, and yet more bone chilling than anything he'd ever experienced before. Once everything had been destroyed, all of existence was overtaken by an ominous cyan glow. Beyond the luminance Bob had heard a voice which he initially assumed was his minds interpretation of God, but was quickly dissuaded when it was chilling and demonic in tone. 

Look to the stars, it had said, You cannot deny your fate. You will take all and get everything. Everything will give you more than is all. Give in to what is true and you will receive all that is not.

It was a haunting dream to think back on. Everything had felt so real, Bob could have sworn he'd actually been there. He wasn't even sure if this was the actual dream and the dream had been reality all along. 

Bob shook his head, sitting up and looking out across the room. It was clean. At least something was starting to feel stable. Work had been for a while, up until Sarah started acting weird. Work. 

"I HAVE WORK TODAY!" Bob exclaimed, throwing back the blankets and jumping out of bed to get ready.

He swore he'd set an alarm last night, but it had never gone off. In a flurry, Bob got ready for work in record time. Once ready, he glanced at the stove clock as he passed. 7:56. Bob could still make it on time, but he'd have to run. Without even thinking to take his car or grab breakfast, Bob took off down the sidewalk.

It'd been a while since he'd last properly gone for a run, so Bob was pretty out of shape and practice. Even as a kid, Bob had always been at least a little overweight. It wasn't much of a problem as he stayed pretty active up until recently, and even now he still walked to work and spent time having to move pallets around from time to time. Even with mild exercise, running was a whole different story.

By the time he'd made it halfway to the store, he was huffing and puffing. Bob had nearly completely petered out by the time he made it to Boys & Grills. He checked his watch as he finished the final stretch of sidewalk, still gasping for air. 7:59, Oh my God I made it.

Bob doubled forward to his knees so he wouldn't collapse while trying to catch his breath. Sarah was waiting by the door for him, seemingly surprised to see her manager in such a state.

"I'm here!" he panted, "I'm here, I'm not late! Gah!" He stayed leant forward onto his knees for a while, huffing and puffing, trying to return to a normal breathing pattern. Bob didn't care that she'd see him so breathless after running. She was pretty understanding after all. 

Other than maybe the previous night. Standing on the sidewalk with her, slowly watching her become more and more insistent over something that barely mattered had caught him off guard and made him uncomfortable. It was so strange seeing someone who seemed to care about him that he cared for as well snap so suddenly. Bob let his mind wander, quietly digging itself into a hole of assumptions that Sarah had lied the entire time he'd known her. It was a disturbing train of thought, so Bob merely decided to ignore it. 

"Is everything alright, sir?" Sarah asked in a concerned tone. It was nice to see she still worried about him.

Bob coughed huskily before replying, "Yeah, I'm all good, my alarm just never went off. I've been awake maybe twenty minutes at best, I had to run the whole way here so I's still be on time." Still panting a little, he unlocked the door for Sarah with a shaky hand. "Man I'm outta shape," he muttered under his breath, earning a silent chortle from Sarah. Bob smiled at her grin. Thank God last night hasn't gotten in the way of things.