The Heart of Elysium

Chapter Two

                                                     Friday August 26th, 1983

David looked out across the vast, desolate landscape. The tentacles of stale air choked the spirit from anything resembling life. The dry, cracked ground stood ready to swallow up any victims of this cruel environment. Rock piles were strewn across the desert floor, making it look like an expansive graveyard, and the reddish-tinted sky was in sharp contrast with the dark, barren ground, as if the lifeblood of a million tiny souls evaporated towards the heavens. Sand and debris whipped in the air like small dust devils, in a fitful dance around each other. David couldn't see any visible life, just the wilted succulents littering the ground like deflated balloons.

Something in the distance caught his eye. A mirage? He squinted, trying to bring the far-off mass into focus. He watched as dust kicked up around the mass, moving in his direction. Then disappearing from view where the land sloped downward. David stood on flat ground, watching the dust cloud continue towards him. The mass crested the hill, revealing not one entity but several unique life forms moving at a sluggish yet deliberate pace. David could not comprehend what he saw. A legion of warriors moving towards battle, an army.

The army continued towards him. The dust cloud grew higher and denser, blocking out the white sun. David darted behind a pile of large rocks, providing enough concealment for him to watch from a safe distance. As the army closed in, he watched terrified but could not peel his eyes away. 

What are these monstrosities?  

                                                                                            ***

David's eyes snapped open, and he tried to jump to his feet, but the ground felt mushy, and his ankles were bound. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, letting out a whimper. He realized he lay in his bed, all tangled up in his covers, and laughed at himself for being such a scaredy-cat.

The images from his dream were just a memory, but he still felt an unnerving presence. Those creatures were nothing like the fluffy and loveable creatures he'd read about in "Where the Wild Things Are." David straightened his covers, careful to smooth out his Star Wars blanket so he could see Luke Skywalker holding his lightsaber upwards to the sky and Princess Leia at Luke's feet. Comforted by his hero, his heartbeat slowed to a normal rhythm. Luke and Leia would escort him to the safety of his mom's room.

He had an iron-clad strategy to get to his mom's bed, that he had tested out before. The apartment was small, just a short distance to his mom's bedroom. His mission needed to be accomplished with speed and stealth. If he woke his mom, she would send him right back to his room where he would never get back to sleep.

David gripped his Star Wars blanket and scooted to the edge of his bed. Working up the nerve to put his legs over the side. He needed to be ready to run the second his feet hit the carpet, so nothing could grab him from the dark space under the bed. On the count of threeeee... twoooo... ONE! With a surge of adrenalin, he darted to the hall, his mind imagining a thin, boney hand ready to close around his ankle. He stayed ahead of anything that might be on his heels.

He crossed the threshold into the hallway and gambled a backwards glance to make sure nothing followed him. There was only darkness. He moved towards the halo illuminating from the small night light his mom placed in the hallway. He kept moving while assessing whether his mom continued to sleep. The dim light, coupled with his mom's deep breaths, clued David in she was in a deep, sound sleep.

He crept to the other side and eased himself on her bed. She continued to sleep. Lifting his knees, he froze in this position while surveying the room for danger and listening for any sign he had woken his mom. The room looked clear of any danger, and his mom's breathing continued at a smooth pace. He pulled his feet up on the bed while pivoting his head towards the pillow and sunk into the soft mattress. Pulling his Star Wars blanket over his body and laid very still, listening to the lullaby of his mom's breathing. He fell into a deep, uneventful slumber.

                                                                                          ***

David woke to his mom's alarm clock radio, tuned in to Z96. The DJ announced, "This next song is "Soldiers" by ABBA." The song lyrics reached his ears, and he felt a strange déjà vu. Like an old silent film, the lyrics brought his strange dreams back to him in short bursts.

He laid there listening to the song while his mom slept right through the alarm. When the song ended, she reached over and hit the off button hard, never opening her eyes. He hopped out of bed and skipped on his tiptoes to the kitchen to start his Saturday morning cereal and cartoon routine. His stomach growled as he pulled out a box of Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries and filled a deep cereal bowl to the top. He poured milk over the cereal and watched it rise until several pieces spilled over the top and onto the counter. One red crunch berry attempted a getaway as it rolled towards the edge of the table. He caught it just in time and popped it into his mouth, then returned the other escaped pieces to his bowl. He walked to the living room heel to toe, heel to toe, ensuring the cereal didn't slosh over the sides. He set the bowl with ease on the coffee table, not spilling a thing.

David flipped on the television just in time for the Saturday morning line-up. By 7:30, all good cartoons were just starting to air. He watched Scooby-Doo while eating his first bowl of cereal, then went to the kitchen to pour a second bowl before the Smurfs came on. The hard cereal tattering the roof of his mouth, didn't deter him from his comforting Saturday morning routine.