Reikon

Part 1 - Catalyst

1

In a way, Daniel Ravin had always been scared of the dark; the shadows that moved and shifted in the corners of his bedroom whenever he woke up from a nightmare, the black mouth of the basement before he switched the light on. Little things like that always shoved an icy spike of fear into his stomach. But, at the age of 29, Daniel had to push them away. He was an adult for chrissakes. Grow up.

Daniel couldn't grow up, though. Not completely. He had a nice job, a nice apartment, and a nice fiancée. He paid all his bills on time, he had money in the bank, and he didn't even have a speeding ticket on his record. But, there was a part of him that refused to grow up. He always kept a flashlight next to his bed, which might have made the horror disappear if he hadn't used it, hadn't looked at it. Almost like the phrase kids use when confronted with terror and they cover their eyes: I can't see you, so you can't see me! Something so absurd, yet so poignant and practical. If only it had been that easy. Then again, some things are supposed to happen. In some way, Daniel Ravin had known this all along.

2

The alarm clock buzzed like a mutated hornet, squawking and rattling on the bedside table.

He awoke with a start and slapped the clock so hard that he knocked it off of the night table. But, it was off at least. When all was said and done, that's all that mattered to Daniel. The fucking thing had shut up.

Shelley rolled over and tried to pull him back into the realm of dreaming by weighting him back down to the pillow with her arm. She was doing this in her sleep, of course, but he still felt like she was trying to tempt him into it.

Even though he knew she was sleeping, he still said, "Shells, I have to get up," and laughed as he struggled to get up under the weight of her relaxed arm. She had a lithe and graceful body, but it was five in the morning and everyone is weak at five in the morning.

He softly rolled her slim body so she was sleeping on her back, the oppressing arm now slung over her eyes as though she were Scarlett O'Hara and had just contracted a particularly strong case of the vapors. Daniel grinned at this thought. Perhaps he would let Shelley in on it later.

Daniel finally pushed himself up off the bed and shuffled into the bathroom in the designer boxers Shells had gotten him for his birthday. They were more a present for her, he thought, than anything. He was more of a Jockey-type guy.

Once in the bathroom, he just stared at his reflection. His frame was graceful, strong and lean. He ran a hand through his cork-screwed sandy blond hair, and checked his chin for stubble. "I am definitely not a morning person."

As he stripped and got in the shower, the phone rang. He decided not to jump out and leave a trail of water into the bedroom and elected to let Shells get it. Sure enough, he heard the fifth ring cut off as she picked up the phone. He heard her talking, but it was muffled by the closed door and the shhhhhh of the shower.

"Who was on the phone?" He asked as he came out of the bathroom, a towel tied around his middle.

Silence.

Daniel looked up. "Shells, you okay?"

She was sitting on the right side of the bed. Her side, as they had always called it. Her hand was still on the phone and a look of shock on her blanched face. What came out of her mouth was a series of squeaks and grunts as she tried to push the words out.

He moved quickly to the bed and knelt in front of her. "Honey, what's wrong? Who was that?"

"Time's up." Her voice croaked, as though with laryngitis. Her eyes were glazed, looking through him.