The Devil's Pet

Chapter 13

Thursday June 25, 2008

The nuclear flash was blinding followed by a shockwave that leveled every structure in view. It moved toward him with incredible speed swallowing all it touched. Sean instinctively jumped back from the window expecting the destruction to come through the walls of his house and engulf him but it never did. The flash—shockwave—flames rolled devastation outward in every direction but his house, his property, and he were untouched as it went past. From his fenced yard inward it might as well have been a calm summer day. The sliding glass door to his backyard opened easily so he could walk outside to witness the rest of the landscape in sight blown down and burning. He didn’t dare take more than one step outside the door. This was the second time he was plagued by this dream since his meeting with Sister.

Unlike the last time, a shadowy figure came into view far out in the maelstrom, beginning as flames themselves lashing together to form a silhouette, then a shape taking more defined contrast as it came closer through the inferno. Moving steadily toward the house finally Sam opened the metal yard gate and stepped through, cascades of smoke billowed from him but dissipated quickly as he walked toward the house. When he arrived at the door he was done smoking. He took the time to wipe away some flecks of ash from his otherwise spotless black jacket and motioned to Sean to join him saying,

“This is a good dream you’ve created, I like it. Come over here Sean Francis I have something you need to see. Things you need to know.”

Sean woke up in a sweat, his heart racing. Disoriented, he sat up and looked around to get his bearings, was he still dreaming? No. Sunlight was streaming in through the half open curtains on his bedroom window. He hadn’t been sleeping well at night so he decided to take an afternoon nap. It didn’t go well. He never knew when Sam would penetrate one of his dreams. As always he had a message, this time it was important, it was disturbing—it required action.

As much as he wanted to not believe it, he couldn’t ignore it, he had to act on it. He looked at his alarm clock, 3:13pm. He should have enough time to drive there and get ready. It didn’t take long to gather what he needed and get on the road.

Rush hour traffic was worse than he expected and it took him an hour to get to Buffalo Grove. The information Sam gave him in the dream was correct but not complete. He saw himself getting there sooner, he better not be late or he would lose the opportunity. Although he had never been there before, he knew exactly where to go. He parked the car on Maple Street then put on his Cubs hat and sunglasses before getting out of the car.

This was a nice neighborhood of older three and four bedroom homes that sprawled in between the main traffic arteries of County Line and Dundee Roads. Its proximity to these roads afforded an easy in and out. He walked two blocks West past the neat suburban houses lining the street then cut across another two blocks through back yards until he came to the house he was looking for. It was exactly as he had seen it little more than an hour ago in his sleep.

He put his gloves on first. As he pulled them over his fingers he fondly remembered Cathy had given him these black leather gloves for his birthday a few years back. Cold awareness washed over him that he was rapidly approaching the point of no return. If Cathy knew she would never forgive him, she might not even love him anymore. That was a price he would have to pay if it came to that. He climbed over the fence and walked through the small back yard to the house. It hadn’t rained for a week so the ground was hard and dry, he wouldn’t leave footprints. Just in case, he had put duct tape on the bottom of his shoes to cover the print pattern.

The back of the house had a cement patio leading up to a set of double French doors. Scanning around revealed the five tacky plastic garden gnomes dotting the untended flower garden on the side of the patio. The back yard looked as if it was largely ignored, with the grass mowed only sporadically. He picked out the center gnome, closed his eyes and flipped it over with his foot. When he reopened his eyes there was the key for the back door underneath.