Ganama

Day 18.

There was the chopping sound of a helicopter overhead as I woke up, lying in the middle of a field in the forest. The sun had just started to rise, and I layed on the ground in the fetal position on my left elbow, feeling cold and hungry. The taste of grass filled my mouth, and my clothing was covered in grass marks. My car was just at the edge of the clearing, instead where I left it at the diner. A few feet infront of me the wooden rifle Andon had given me. I walked by it as I stumbled toward my car in a daze of bewilderment.

Out of the field and back into the cover of the trees, I made my way towards my truck as the black helicopter started to land in the field behind me, and soon a group of armed men quickly exited and started to make their way towards me, yelling at me and waving. I was half awake, and after seeing a god, I was might as well have been having an out of body experience. I grabbed my keys from the glove box, and made my way down the path towards town. At some point the helicopter lifted back to the air, and continued to follow me with the spotlight fixed on my car. A few minutes later down the path, at least twenty other armed men had set up a block at the edge of town. They stood with their guns pointed at me, ready to shoot.

Slowly stepping out of the car I felt the bright spotlight illuminate me. There was now 3 helicopters flying around me, and about twenty police, ready to kill me if I would even just flinch. A man in a black coat pushed his way through the armed men, and towards me. He wore a badge around his neck that hung on top of his ruffled white collared shirt. Besides being bald he looked fairly young, and had stubble that suggested he could grow a full beard.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?" he yelled at me barely audible through the noise and wind from the choppers.

He made his way closer to me, almost directly in front of me,

"DO YOU KNOW WHO ARE?" he asked again.

"..yah...YEAH!?"

He grabbed me by my shoulder and pulled me into the crowed of police, as they started to search and handcuff me. A van sat behind the blockade that we moved me to. Two of the helicopters kept their lights on me, and the three men who were now moving me into the van. The other helicopter stayed, shining down at my idle truck as the other men started to search it.

We sat there silent in the back of the van until they unloaded me, and guided me into my town's police fortress. They moved me to a small concrete room that had one long table inside with two chairs that sat across from each other, and a camera in the back left corner. Two of the men watched ready as the other took off my handcuffs and placed me in the seat facing the door. I sat there for a long time making patterns and shapes out of the holes in the concrete, until an orange haired man in a white vest walked in with a folder, and sat across from me. He pulled out a small silver pocket recorder, placed it in the center of the steel table, and turned it on.

"Do you know who you are?"

"Why do people keep asking me that? I know who I am. Who are you?"

"My name is officer Patrick, do you know where you live?"

I explained to him where I lived using my best effort with hand gestures and landmarks.

"Do you know where you are now?"

"I'm at the police station."

"Do you know why you're here?"

"I would assume it's because you found me in a forest.". The man's expression kept it's serious tone.

"How did you get that gun?"

"My friend... He gave it to me".

After some chatting he went out to get me papers so I could write him a written account. This was my chance to tell the police about the holes, the cave, and the people who died there. I wrote warnings about the numerous figures that we had seen there, I explained to them where Andon's body was, and I wrote down my experience with Ganama the best I could. Eventually I finished writing as Patrick took the papers from my hands and read them over. I could see his eyes moving back and forth as he read it, he thanked me and left with my report.

Some time the door opened again. I could see my parents and aunt peeking in as it opened. My mother stood in front, my father with his arms around her as she cried, and my aunt had her hand on my father's shoulder as she looked at me with pity. The bald man walked in the door and glanced back at them as he noticed I saw them.

"They were worried about you." he spoke with a smile.

"How long have I been missing for?"

"About 5 days.", he said, still smiling.

We chatted about my report for hours. He nodded politely as I talked, and made simple inquiries about the details I had written down. It felt like I was child talking about a makeshift story I had made up, and he was the adult politely listening. As I talked on, his face became more and more serious. Eventually the conversation ended and he stood up to leave. As he opened the door I could see my family had left. He turned to look at me just before walking out the door.

"I am so sorry of what you have been through." he spoke to me in a way that made me feel bad for him.

As he closed the door I heard the mechanical sound of the camera moving to get me in better view. I turned to my right to see it, but instead met eyes with those of a black haired pale naked woman. She stood just beside and a little behind me in the corner of the room, underneath the camera. Her body was littered with scars that dripped blood like loosely sewn stitches. There was a large one around her neck with the most blood seeping from it. It was Meg, but not... not anymore... A few small pieces of flesh that had been torn off were missing, and her once pretty petite face now now hung on her head loosely, covered in scars. For a few moments we stared at each other, each of us with equally blank expressions.

"HELP! HELP! HELP!" I panicked.

The man quickly opened the door seeing me shaking, already out of my chair and against the right wall facing the back left corner.

"What is it?!", he seemed almost annoyed that he had to come back.

"It-was-one-of-those-white-people..." I quickly stuttered, following with "IT WAS MEG".

He put back on his familiar comforting smile so quickly it seemed nothing more than a role, though a good role, it was still comforting. He sat down and talked me into sitting down, and I explained to him what I saw. He volunteered to spend the rest of the time in the room with me, watching my back, and I could watch his. Though he spoke to me like a child again.

"What time is it?"I asked after hours of sitting with my face down.

"I don't know. But good question."

He had continued to face behind me the whole time, looking exceptionally bored. A few minutes later someone came in with a small LED alarm clock, and he waved at the camera. It was almost midnight. Knowing the time made me even more tired. I slumped back down, and used my arms as a pillow.