MARIEL

2 ~Ten Seconds~

Fr. Jerome remembered a lot about his childhood nightmares. He had always thought it was odd since he considered himself an old man. Most old men did not remember nightmares. But he did.

There was one nightmare that specifically haunted him the most. He clearly remembered the terror he had experienced, within the nightmare and when he had awakened. When he had opened his eyes, his body had been stiff for a frightening ten seconds, and then relief had flooded over and through him like a cool wave on a hot day.

But those ten seconds had been the most terrifying experiences in his childhood.

He was around ten or eleven... ages were one thing he could not remember. He had had a good evening that night. He and his father had played a game of cards, Battle to be exact. Jerome had been thrilled because he was winning. He never seemed to win anything. He had never been good with sports because he was such a scrawny kid, and his father always outsmarted him when it came to games. But this time he was winning.

His father had told him it was time for bed, and he had been upset. The game wasn't finished. To his father, it hadn't mattered.

Jerome had gone to bed angry. He felt a little betrayed... no, very betrayed. He felt as though his father had purposely sent him to bed so that he would not win the game.

After an hour of fuming, he had fallen asleep.

The first part of his dream had been a series of senseless images. Then, he was standing alone in a desert. As he remembered, all that had been there were the sand, the moon, and the sky. Then, distant shadows appeared...rectangular shadows that gracefully moved towards him. While he did not feel terrified, he felt uneasy. He stepped backwards. As the shadows came closer, he realized that they were cards. Three were Kings, three were Jacks, three were Aces, and one was a Queen. The shadows stopped. They had no eyes, and yet they stared at him. Then, one by one, cards fell to the sand and mixed themselves, getting faster and faster until all he saw was a blur of objects. He stood in a trance, unable to look away. Finally, the cards collapsed face down on the sand. Jerome blinked. The cards just lay there.

Why ten?

Why not fifty-two?

Warily, he stepped forward. One foot ahead of the other, he got closer, and closer, and closer. The cards did not move at all. As he approached, he realized that the cards were twice his size and three times his width. Scared, he bent down to touch the first card. Nothing happened. He touched it again. When, again, nothing happened, he bent to lift the card and flip it over. He expected it to be heavy, but it was as light as a piece of paper. It flipped, and a little dust scattered.

It was an Ace. He stared at it, and it stared back. Then, it flipped over onto its face again. Strange irritation crossed him. He flipped it over again. It flipped back. Jerome tried the next card. It was a King. The King seemed to lie on its side longer than the first card. But it also flipped. Grunting, he kicked the corner of the card. A blast of wind knocked him backwards and slammed his body into the sand. Groaning, he sat up slowly, trying to breathe properly. The cards were still face down, and he suddenly had the cold sensation that someone or something was behind him. He did not want to look.

But he did.

The figure of a man stood about fifteen feet away from him. His shadow loomed against the sky. Jerome scrambled to his feet, his stance as if he were about to fight. However, he felt incredibly small and weak compared to this figure.

The man walked toward him. His steps were swift.

The boy began to stagger backwards, shuffling through the sand, but when he turned around, he found himself face to face with a Jack. Screaming, he looked around and saw that he was surrounded by the rest of the cards. They began to spin around him, getting faster and faster like they had earlier. Through the blur, Jerome saw the man step into the circle.