Encountering Darkness: The Great Pursuit (Book One)

Chapter Five

Pete could still hear the sound of the person laughing as he woke up to a man speaking to him. He would have yelled if the person he encountered didn't try to calm him down. This person said his name a few times like he knew him, and soon Pete noticed that the person speaking to him was a man in white. Pete at once panicked, but soon realized this person was only the milkman.

He remembered about his dream and how that person changed from the milkman to something else. The moving picture haunted Pete, but he shrugged it off.

It took all his effort, but Pete looked at the man he feared.

Hey, he thought, it was only my friend the milkman.

The milkman, Fred, saw the uncertainty and fear in Pete's eyes so he calmly said, "Hey Pete, how's it going?"

Fred looked into Pete's eyes for a second and those eyes were blank, and then Fred looked lower down him.

Pete looked into Fred's eyes and saw the comfort he hoped for, but also recognized something else he didn't want to see.

Pete said, "Ah...I'm...ah...." and that was all he could get out because his head hurt and Pete turned away to take something for his headache.

As he turned, Fred said in a somewhat joking voice, "must have been one heck of a dream!"

That statement shocked Pete, and he at once noticed that his pants were wet. He was very embarrassed and ran to the bathroom where he felt safe from the world. As he ran away, he heard laughing. By the time he got to the bathroom, the laughing became more hysterical. To dim the sound, he yelled all the way to the bathroom, slammed the door, and turned on the light. Pete attempted to clean himself when he caught someone come to the door and then they stopped.

Pete could pick up a familiar sound through the door, but he didn't want to listen right now. He tried to keep himself busy by cleaning himself, but still perceived a few words like, "come back...are you...wrong...milk." When he heard the word milk, he listened to this person because maybe they had a good reason to be by the door right now.

"Come on, Pete! Come out! I said I was sorry! I didn't know! Anyways, I will leave the milk here! Ahm...goodbye."

Pete wasn't sure why he acted that way to Fred, but he thought it might be because of his dream and then urinating on himself. He calmed down soon after and came out to clean up the mess he made. When he came out of the bathroom, his heart pounded as he came to the scene of the incident. He began to search for the mess he made, but couldn't find it. He only went on his pants, but as he inspected his pants, they were clean too!

Pete ran to his front door and in a haste opening it, looking outside for where the milkman might be. Not spotting him, Pete went back inside and sat down. As he sat for a while, Pete remembered that the milkman always comes on the day he hates. He, also, was one person who changes on these particular days, and that might have something to do with what just happened. He only hoped that the milkman wouldn't spread the word with how he acted.

Now he sat on the couch, and taking a pen and paper, prepared for the meeting he would have tomorrow. Pete prepared for what he would say and how he would say it. Along with preparing for the meeting, he reminisced about the past elections, and realized he needed to get ready for the next one. After an hour, he drifted off to sleep from boredom.