Lady Luck

8

      Luck tends to run along a scale with two ends: good and bad. Most of my experiences involve the "god-awful" end of that scale, to the point that I'm left largely desensitized to it. Near-death experiences can get surprisingly normal after escaping from disasters completely unscathed so many times. However, while bad luck tends to dominate my experiences, that doesn't mean I don't have any experience with good luck. Actually, it's quite the opposite.

For me, luck always balances out. For every disaster I face, at some point afterwards I'll run into something good. Vending machines will give me extra drinks or snacks when I use them, my name would be drawn in raffles at school... Hell, after a while my parents started taking me to buy scratch cards after really bad incidents because I'd always win at least twenty dollars. The good stuff just gets kind of drowned out by all the bad stuff because seeing a person die tends to be more memorable than finding a hundred dollar bill.

Considering all the bad disasters I'd run into lately, some good luck was well overdue—especially after all that stuff in that abandoned building. The drug deal, getting chased by Hoody, that faceless monster... That one night racked up more dangerous encounters in a couple hours than I usually experience over the course of a couple months. I was owed a LOT of good luck for it, and that luck manifested in meeting Tim.

Becoming friends with Tim really was the best thing that's happened to me since becoming homeless. Perks of having a friend with an actual place to live, even if you yourself live on the streets, are almost endless. On that very first day we met, I took my first free shower in five months. So much of my money was spent renting a motel room just so I could use a shower, but now I had a free place to shower and could save that money for other important things.

Cooking also became infinitely simpler. A lot of the food I can afford requires some form of preparation, and most homeless people can't exactly afford to buy pots and pans, let alone microwaves or stoves. Tim, meanwhile, a full-ish kitchen with all of that stuff, so for the first time in ages I was able to make myself a full-fledged meal. We worked out a potluck sort of deal: a couple times a week, we'd both pool together our own food to make a nice meal, ultimately saving us both money.

Those are just two of the perks I get from using Tim's place; I could go on for hours about all the other benefits from knowing him. For the first time in ages, I finally have a bit of stability in my life. However, even so, this arrangement is more one of mutual beneficence than friendship. Tim and I are on pretty good terms, yes, but we're not best friends. Most of my visits last a couple hours at most, and I only go every couple of days. Outside of those times, we rarely meet except if we run into each other on the street. He's only come to the park once since then.

Today just happened to be the second time.

"...And then he said I had a pretty good resume, but he wanted someone with at least five years of experience, and that program's only two years old!" He groaned loudly, leaning his head back against the tree. "The job doesn't even use computers that much, it's mostly physical labor!"

"Sounds like they'll be looking for new employees for a while," I remarked, taking a sip from my water bottle.

"Oh, definitely, unless they change the standards or find a time traveler." He smirked a bit, but it quickly faded as he sighed. "But yeah, either way, I still don't have a job."

"That sucks."

"Yep. Anyways, are you sleeping alright?" I looked at him in surprise, not expecting the sudden topic change.

"What? Oh, uh, yeah. Why?"

"Well, for starters, you've yawned ten times in the past fifteen minutes. Also, you have really bad bags under your eyes." As he spoke he took out his phone and snapped a photo, quickly turning it to show me. Sure enough, my eyes had circles under them, not too dark but still noticeable. I studied the photo for a few moments before giving a small shrug.

"Sleeping in tents isn't always that great," I replied, and rolled up my sleeve to show him a small cut on my arm. "Look at this. This morning I woke up with this cut. Must've come from a twig or something I'd accidentally tracked in. That's NOT good for sleeping." As I rolled my sleeve back down, though, Tim still had a skeptical look to his face.

"Maybe... Is that really all, though?" As he looked at me I felt myself start to waver, until finally I just sighed and looked down.

"...No, not really. I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately." Lately I'd been dreaming of that thing more and more often, finding myself running through that maze until finally coming face to face with it—if you could even call that a "face". Every time I looked up and saw that blank, moon-like head, I'd wake up with my heart pounding too hard to go back to sleep. Needless to say, that kind of thing quickly starts to take a toll on you.

"Nightmares, huh? I know the feeling. Maybe talking about them will help."

"Maybe," I muttered, though deep down I felt a bit of doubt. Still, I didn't have any better ideas, so I launched into it anyway. "Well, in my dreams I'm running through some kind of building, kinda like a maze. Eventually I run into this monster, and when I look at its face I wake up."

"What's the monster like?" he asked, and I paused and frowned.

"...I'd... rather not say." Stressful as it was, I found myself reluctant to talk about the faceless monster. While I had no problem talking about the dreams, something told me I shouldn't tell him about the monster itself—like something bad would happen if I did. I really didn't get why I felt that way, I just did. To my relief Tim nodded, letting the subject drop.

"Alright, I won't ask. But is it the same one every time?" Frowning slightly, I slowly nodded, wondering what he was getting at.

"Uh, yeah... Why...?"

"Then maybe it's something you saw a long time ago." Gee, you don't say, I thought, but kept it to myself as he continued. "Like from a movie or something. Maybe if you find out where you saw it or what it is, the dreams will stop." I started to roll my eyes, already fully aware of where I found it, but then I paused. Wait... What it is?

"...And how would I do that?"

"Ah, yes. The answer, (Name), is very simple." Taking out his phone, he tapped the screen a couple times before turning it to show me. Prominently displayed on the screen was the homepage for Google, the phrase "With this" typed into the search bar. Rolling my eyes, I reached out and punched his shoulder.

"Ah, yes. The internet. Which I do not have. Because I'm homeless." Tim smiled a bit and held out his phone.

"You can use my phone to look it up," he offered. "Or one of my laptops. I actually have an older one that's really slow, so I wouldn't mind if you borrowed it to use at McDonald's or something. Thing's crap and has a sticky keyboard, but it still works." I paused, considering his offer.

"I'll have to pass," I finally said, though I was a bit reluctant. Tempting as it was, I didn't want to look it up on his phone or laptop and risk him later finding out what was haunting my dreams. It just felt dangerous for some reason. "I AM curious, but I'd rather look it up on my own time than on one of your devices."

"Fair enough," he said with a shrug as he pocketed it. "Well, there's one other place you can go to use the internet." I perked up at this.

"There is? Where?"

"The library."


Following Tim's advice, the next day I found myself at the local library. I would have gone sooner, but the library was too far from the park to walk. Walking to the nearest bus stop early the next day, I waited fifteen minutes for it and then rode for another half hour before reaching my stop. All in all, it took a little over an hour to get there, but I really didn't care. I was sick and tired of my dreams being haunted by this thing, and if it meant I might get some answers, I'd be willing to spend two days climbing a mountain to talk to a wise old guru. This was MUCH more preferable than that, though.

Just as Tim said, there were indeed computers at the library free for anyone to use. Slightly old and slow, but still computers with working internet connections. The only caveat was that they could only be used for one hour at a time, and signing up to use them was a pretty tedious process, but I didn't care. I just found a librarian and filled out a few forms, and as soon as a computer became open I took a seat and started my search.

Clicking through the search results one by one, it took a minute or two for each page to load, but I remained patient. Every minute was just one minute closer to finally finding some answers. I didn't even care if it turned out this thing was some omen of death and was going to whisk me away to the deepest depths of hell. As long as I discovered what it was, I'd be able to feel some closure.

However, though I can now tell you all about the noperra-bo and its appearances in both Japanese and Hawaiian folklore, I couldn't find anything about the white-faced being that tormented my dreams. I'd modified the search terms countless times, growing increasingly specific with each one and omitting more common monsters' names, but I still could not find my monster.

Time quickly passed as I read each page, and before I knew it a librarian was tapping my shoulder to tell me my time was up. Ruefully I got off and left the library, just as clueless as when I entered. One hour wasn't nearly enough time to go through all of the results online, especially since the computers were so slow. Clearly I'd need to take a different approach to this...