Quest (The Quest Saga)

10 - It's Coming

“I’ll just have a shower before we go.” Dean’s Dad said.

Dean decided to change into something better; he went to his room and took of his shirt and trousers. A small parcel fell out of his pocket about the size of a 50 pence piece. He picked it up and opened it.

Dear Dean,

If you are reading this it means my worst nightmare has come true…

The letter didn’t make any sense. It talked of another planet called Astran and monsters and a thing called a Cyba. Dean read it and thought to himself ‘What nonsense.’ He put the letter in his beside drawer and finished changing. It didn’t even say who the letter was from, probably a prank.

            As Dean walked past his Dad’s room he noticed his Dad had forgotten his towel. He picked up the towel and went to the bathroom, the door was unlocked but he knocked first.

“You forgot your towel.”

“Don’t come in!”

“Just stand behind the shower curtain.” He opened the door. The towel hit the ground.

The shower was on but no one was under it. In the bathroom was a male Serenad. Suddenly all the lost memories flooded back to Dean. The Serenad shot out its tentacles and wrapped them painfully around Dean’s head. He lost his balance and pulled the Serenad into the bath.

“What have you done with my Dad?” Dean gargled while puffs of steam that were coming out of the Serenad. He heard vile cackling and threw a fist into the Serenads face. “My Dad was here a second go!” Water trickled into his eyes but he pushed the Serenad even harder in his desperation. “Cyba gave me my Dad, he gave him back!” With every punch he grew more and more violent, the bath started to filled up with water, Dean felt the plughole desperately sucking on his back. “Where’s my Daddy?” He screamed. The Serenad gurgled on black blood. “I want my Daddy!” Dean cried.  He pushed upwards and the Serenad slumped hard on the bathroom mirror and pulled it of it’s wall fittings. The bathroom rained glass and water. The Serenad was limp and face down in the bathtub with every drop of water that hit the Serenad it shrivelled up a bit more.

“You never had your Dad back, it was always me.” The Serenad coughed through the watery blood. “An Illusion!”

“No!” Dean screamed. “Your lying!” He waited for a response. The Serenad was dead.

*

“Did it work?” Katherine had her eyes firmly shut. Taryn stood next to her and looked around. “I don’t know Katherine?”

“What do you mean you don’t know!” Katherine clamped her hands over hers eyes.

Taryn pulled her hands away, Katherine looked. A world of books surrounded her.

“Oh! I know where we are.” She relaxed “The Hosptial.”

Taryn was confused, she had asked the crystal to take her home. Suddenly she hit the ground hard, as she was trampled out of the way by a rush of people who ran past screaming. A voice resonated inside Taryn and Katherine’s skulls. It said, very camly, “Here they come.”

*

            Dean stood in the bathroom. The wrinkled Serenad had shrivelled into transparency. The illusion had passed. He went to his room to fetch his keys and his wallet. Dean walked past the bathroom again; the space where the Serenad had been was now unnaturally roomy. He located his keys and left the room again. He ran down the stairs and out of the front door, slamming it behind him, how his father had told him not to every time he’d done it. He went to the park across the street. He released a quiet sob.

The park was an unloved small square of green grass with rusty swings and a climbing frame. The roundabout didn’t turn and the Wendy house was full of syringes. Dean sat on the swings, he wanted time to think. The park was empty and peaceful because there were dark clouds entering the sky, the only sound was the repetitive creak of the swings.

            Dean closed his eyes. His mind was silent. He stared into the blackness and filed his thoughts neatly, clearing the clutter inside his head. He could think clearly now.

‘Here they come.’ The voices echoed inside Deans mind. It was so quiet he could barely hear it.

‘Here they come!’ It was louder now. Almost a shout.

‘Here they come!’ Screeching.

“Here….!” Booming through his skull. Cluttering his mind.

“They..!” He fell of the swing. Thud on the ground. He head rattled.

“Come!” His bloodshot eyes slammed shut. The voices screamed. Every headache Dean ever had was squeezing his head like a bus was driving over it. His mind was blender set on smoothie.

“Here they come, War has begun!” As quickly as they had come the voices left. Dean lay on the ground face down in the grass. The thudding in his head was still dying down. The pain still gradually fading. The thudding and pain eventually silenced.

However much they thought they knew about the invasion, the War, they were wrong. It had already started. In fact, it was nearing it’s climax. If you listened you could hear it.

Here they come, here they come, here They COME.