Chapter Three: Haven

“Well, what did you find?” I ask the strange man in front of me.

“Remember that old warehouse? The one where the old group breached the barrier for a moment? We found those books there.”

“Yes,” I tell him.

“Well, I was going through them once more, just in case we missed anything. And this folded page fell out; it was tucked in the back of the one that looked like a school textbook.”

The man laid the page out on the table in front of us. “It’s a recipe! It mentions a few things, including this weird kind of stone. I’ve never heard of it, but apparently, it has a certain energy that is key to gaining access.”

My pulse quickened as I leaned closer to the page. It was cryptic, sure, but it was something tangible at last. “Finally, a real lead! You’re a genius.” I tell him, a strange excitement building in my chest.

——

Haven jolted awake, a strong and familiar sense of anxiety nestled deep in her chest. Her heart hammered as though she’d been running. She glanced at the clock - 3:00 am, of course. She’d been having similar dreams for the last several years, always from this first-person perspective and always featuring strangers, though within the dream, she knew them.

Haven shook her head and ran her fingers through her messy hair, unable to make sense of it. It took a few moments, but the unwarranted feeling of panic that often accompanied bad dreams subsided. Rolling over, she attempted to fall back asleep but found her efforts fruitless.

It seemed like every time she dreamed about these people, the longer it took her to forget about them, the characters lingered in her mind like smoke that wouldn’t dissipate. This dream felt especially unsettling - the physical sensations were much more visceral.

After about an hour and a half of trying to get more sleep, Haven finally gave up and hopped out of bed. Ralph stirred from the bottom corner of the bed.

“Sorry, little man, it’s an early start today.”

She went through the motions of making coffee, tapping her foot quickly as she waited. She poured the finished brew into a travel mug and slipped out the door for a sunrise walk, hoping it would help.

Not quite 5 am, the sun wasn’t set to rise for a little while yet, though the sky was clear and filled with beautiful stars. Haven admired the many constellations, not that she could pick any out specifically.

With several street lamps assisting the stars, the sidewalk stretched out into the quiet morning, and Haven felt her mind calm as she took a breath in. She felt surrounded by community and simultaneously alone as she took in the rows of dark doorsteps and blackened windows.

That is, until she noticed a strange shimmer out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head but saw nothing of note. The shimmer returned, this time in the opposite peripheral. She whipped her head the other way, catching a streak of silver above the only street lamp that flickered on and off. Focusing, she started crossing the road for a closer look when it slowly faded away.

Haven stood there for a few moments as she shook her head back and forth and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

“Of course, as soon as I start feeling better, I go crazy instead.” She mumbled to herself, opting to head back home before she started seeing proper apparitions.

Only a few houses away from her own, she stopped as a chill suddenly crept over her, cutting through the summer warmth like a knife. She took off at a brisker walk than before as the cold seeped beneath her light jacket. She broke into a trot, despite feeling silly, as the cold air seemed to surround and follow her.

Her hands trembled as she fumbled with the key, the cold still pressing against her. Finally, the lock clicked, and she burst through the door, slamming it shut behind her as though it could keep out whatever had followed.

After double-checking that it was locked behind her, she flopped onto the couch and tried to catch her breath. She clicked on the TV and set an old, familiar show to stream, hoping this would return a semblance of normalcy to the bizarre morning. As the sun began seeping through the slats of her blinds, she felt better as the reality of another normal day set in.