Beyond the Veil

Chapter 1: A New Case

The light of the morning sun poured through the large windows and into a spacious office, it was surprisingly bare for a detective agency that had been up and running for almost two months now.

This was no ordinary detective agency however, this was 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' clearly stated by the enormous plaque that took up a large portion of the wall opposite the main door, making sure that it was the first thing visible when a customer walked through.

One man was fast asleep, his head down rested on his arms that were folded on the desk.
A yellow leather jacket with a singular black stripe across the arms and chest was daped over his back covering him completely.
Only a head of short cropped brown hair could be seen poking out of the top of the jacket.

A woman dressed all in black with a mop of frizzy black hair was asleep on her back on top of a plush looking leather sofa. Cradling a gun as if a child would a stuffed animal.

The last person was snoring loudly face down on a large beanbag near the center of the room, arms above his head loosely resembling a skydiver mid fall.

This wasn't a particularly unusual sight to see in the office, they would often stay late and hang out until they all eventually fell asleep.

As if it had been rehearsed, all three jolted up, startled awake by some unknown force.

looking around at the two others in confusion the man shrugged off the jacket that was on his back.

"Why is Todd... on the ground?" He mused, pointing at a bleary eyed Todd who had fallen from his spot on the beanbag from the force of whatever had woken him up. He rubbed his eyes, squinting up at the bright light coming through the windows.

They slowly all came to their senses and seemed to have a collective moment of realisation.

Dirk broke the silence with a gasp, looking excitedly at his friends.

"I had a weird dream"

Now if it had been anyone else this would have been of no significance. However, this was Dirk. Nothing was ever of no significance with him, no matter how trivial it may seem.

"I did too" Farah said groggily, scratching her head.

Todd got up from the carpet and stretched, his joints creaking. He let out a long and deep yawn before speaking.
"The dream I had was pretty unusual too"

Todd gestured towards Dirk.
"Ok Dirk you first, what was yours about?"

Dirk smirked, rubbing his hands together. "well. I was standing on this hill by a big tree and the sky was all red and there was all this thunder and screaming" Dirk shuddered, remembering the chilling scene before continuing.
"Then a deer came over, turned into a woman and she told me that" he paused, trying to recall exactly what she had said. "The key would help me close the gates" he ended his monologue with open arms, gesturing at the other two to say something.

No reply.

"so what were your dreams about?" He said quickly trying to break the silence, completely oblivious to the shocked expressions and open mouths of his audience.

Farah was the first to speak
"Um... The exact same?" suddenly feeling a lot less tired and sitting up on the sofa.

"Yeah, me too. Like word for word" Todd said nodding.

"All three of us, having the exact same dream. That must be a thing right?" He looked expectedly at Dirk, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa next to the still shocked and confused Farah.

Dirk had a far away look on his face, elbow resting on the desk and chin resting on his hand as if he was thinking intently about something. Perhaps trying to figure out what the strange dream meant or of the general interconnectedness of everything.

Todd and Farah didn't dare break his concentration in fear of losing vital information and jeopardising the new case.

He suddenly snapped out of his thought.

"Waffles" He exclaimed, jumping up excitedly from the large chair behind the desk and grabbing his signature jacket.

"Wh..." Farah was at a loss for words.
"What do you mean waffles? What does that have to do with anything? What about the dream? The new case?" She threw her arms up in the air in frustration.

"You were thinking about WAFFLES? this whole damn time?" Todd asked in a harsh tone. As usual, he was quickly iritated by Dirk's antics.

Dirk was already half way out of the door before he replied.

"Yes Todd, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now chop chop I'm starving"

Todd looked to Farah. "I can already feel my blood pressure rising"
She could do nothing but shrug and give Todd's hand a reassuring pat.
"Come on, we better follow him before he runs off too far" she quickly stood up, pulling Todd to his feet as they too, headed toward the door.