A Method of Speech

Chapter Three: Stranger

I dreamt that night, well, it was more of a nightmare. I stood in a room, a room covered in
mouths. They were laughing at me, fluid, human laughter. The walls kept getting closer,
squeezing in on me. The room got smaller and smaller until I felt like I could barely take in a
breath, but the walls kept getting closer… closer… closer, suffocating me. I woke up curled in a
ball on top of my sheets. All I could hear—even after I awoke—were those accursed noises in
my mind.
I sat in my bed for almost half an hour in denial about the previous night’s events.
Eventually I decided that I had to get up if I wanted to do anything at all productive today. In the
kitchen I put some tea on the stove to help calm my nerves. Sitting there, thinking about my
dream was almost maddening. It had to mean something, there’s no way I happened to have
such a strange dream just after my encounter with Johanah. I don’t dream often. The scariest
detail was that I remembered every detail as if I had been conscious. The dream wasn’t just a
series of ideas that I could barely piece together, it was a clear, linear, vivid memory.
I couldn’t help but speculate: Were there more people out there like Johanah? Did
Johanah have connections? Could people be coming for me if they find out I killed her?
I should stop thinking like this.
I decided to take a walk to clear my head, I really needed one. I plugged my earbuds to
my phone and started walking to the beat. It only took a few moments for me to get into the
groove of my music, drowning out everything else. I wasn’t paying attention to anything around
me, not even the ground in front of me. I didn’t realize where I was until I noticed the worn down
brick road beneath my feet… The bad part of town. As I looked up I surprised myself, I didn’t
think I could find my way back here so easily, not that I wanted to. I stood in front of Johanah’s
apartment. The front door of the building was blocked off by yellow police tape, so were the
cellar doors
I felt an urge to bolt back to somewhere safer, or somewhere that felt safer. Another part
of me wanted to investigate, I wondered what had happened in there after I left. Was her body
still there? Actually, now that I thought about it I don’t want to go in there. I turned to walk back
in the other direction and almost ran straight into someone standing behind me. I tripped and fell
flat on my buttocks in surprise. He was a man, quite short. His face was wrinkled and old. He
had an expectant expression on his face. Had he asked me something? I wasn’t even looking, I
pulled out my earbuds and signed to him, “Did you say something?” He just kept looking at me,
as if he was memorizing my face. It was very unnerving. I stood up and brushed myself off,
“Sir?” His eyes never left my face as he brought up his hands and signed a simple question,
“Was she one of them?”
I had no idea what he was talking about, “Them? What do you mean by them? Did you
know Johanah?” He simply looked into my eyes, a strange expression on his face. Almost… like
he had seen a ghost. He pulled out a paper and signed with his right hand, “Have you seen any
of these?” Drawn on the paper was a symbol, it looked like an eye with a sort of hashtag-like
shape drawn around it. It was identical to many of the symbols I saw on Johanah’s robes. I was
taken aback, “Do you know what that means?” He simply grabbed my wrist and pulled me away
from the house, “Not here, there could be people watching.”
He dragged me a few more feet before I wrenched my arm out of his grip. I signed in
annoyance, “I can walk myself.” I followed him a few blocks to one of the large empty buildings, he opened to door and walked in. At this point I was debating whether or not I should keep
going with him, this was all very shady. He could be some psychopath cultist like Johanah for all I know. I signed at him to wait. “Look, there’s no way I’m going in there with you.” He turned
towards me and looked at me questioningly. I explained further, “I’m not taking any chances.”
The man sighed and stepped out of the door, closing it behind him. “Alright, how much
do you know already?”
I just answered honestly, “Just that the lady from that building could talk, not anything
else.” He seemed worried, his hands quivered as he signed, “It should probably stay that way,
the more you know the more danger you put yourself in. I’m very… hesitant to explain any of
this to you and-” I interrupted, “Wait. No, I’m already in danger. I killed someone. What if…
whoever Johanah was associated with comes for me? I know nothing about them, I need to
have the knowledge to defend myself.”
He looked around to see if anyone was near again, “I will tell you, but only if you come in
here with me. If I sign out in the open, I fear they might see.” He opened the door behind him
again and gestured for me to enter.
If I went in there’s a chance he could have killed me, but if he doesn’t I can figure out
who Johanah really was. I took a deep breath… and nodded. That was my first step to
unlocking the mysteries of the Deep.

Hey guys, I'm not really proud of this chapter, I expect to rewrite it someday after I finish the book. I just don't feel this chapter is at all worthy of this story. Anyways, how did you all like it? If you did enjoy it more than I enjoyed writing it how about you consider leaving a vote? Thanks for reading! <3
Love,
Jay