Writer's Curse: (Or A Turbulent Mind)

Then…

The sign twisted gently in my hand and softly landed back against the panel glass door, ‘CLOSED’ would now greet people as they approached the shop. It would do so for some time I presumed, until a new owner could be found at least.

Somehow I knew I wouldn’t be coming back here again, strange, I thought to myself, I always thought this would be a bigger deal. But in context of the events of the past few days I suppose getting emotional over a shop would seem somewhat silly.

Everything changed the day that maniac with the lobsters showed up in town. Everyone had agreed the town got weirder from that day.

I walked to my desk, letting my fingers drift slowly along the polished oak, my eyes stopped at the letter that set all these events in motion.

I still don’t understand any of this.

All I could think back to was that morning; I was enjoying a late breakfast before opening the shop, thinking of ideas for my next story when the noise of the letterbox in the shop front door startled me…

Now...

Leaving my shop for the last time I maintained a steady pace and tried to remain as casual as possible.

Just act normal man, you’re a reasonably respectable citizen. Just keep calm and keep moving, don’t draw any attenti-

My face hit the ground first and it hit hard, even as I fell my hand stayed tightly holding on to the wax sealed envelope.

“Oi, watch where you’re going!” Yelled a small boy as he gathered himself up from the ground. Where did he come from?

“Sorry there, sport,” I apologised back, doing my best not to sound flustered and panicked.

“Didn’t see you there, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Said the boy.

He looked me over and I got the sense that he was sizing me up for a mugging. Ridiculous, he’s half your size. I could take him in a fight, easy. His eyes reached the envelope in my hands, saw the red wax seal and widened.

He knows!

He started backing away, then ran and disappeared down a side alley.

“Wait! You know something about this don’t you?” I demanded as I chased him. But was greeted by nothing but an empty alley, brick walls and a sewer grate. This is getting weird. Wait, am I being followed?

… Run!

Then...

“Ow! Buggering hell!” I cried as the steaming hot tea started to soak into my trousers.

Quickly grabbing some napkins from my kitchen table I tried to dry my trousers as best I could as I walked through the door into the shop. I could see from here the post had been and that is all, nothing else to startle me but this daily occurrence. Getting paranoid, as I was gathering the mail into a neat pile I noticed a plain brown paper envelope in the mix, sealed shut with red wax bearing a wolf on the seal.

“There’s something you don’t see everyday.”

There was a man standing outside the door in the increasingly heavy rain, miming entry. Looking up at the wall clock it was 9:15 and while I would normally refuse to open before 9:30.

What the heck, seems to be the day for oddities I thought looking back down at the sealed envelope and my tea-soaked trousers.

Opening the door I greeted the man, “Morning sir, weather looks to be-“

A strange cough-like noise from outside interrupted me. The man suddenly dropped to the ground with a perfect circle through his skull. From his hands dropped a book; A cheese lover's guide to the world, out of it fell an envelope, with a wax seal identical to the one on my envelope, complete with a wolf in the seal.

Now…

Run you fool!

My body had shifted gears on me, entered the fight or flight mode and it was certainly in flight. They’re gaining. I turned a corner and quickly jumped into the next open doorway.

My pursuers flew past in a blur of slathered rage, their vicious mongrel dogs barely contained by the chains holding them.

“Gjeni atë! ai ka recetë!” Ordered one of them and they started to split up. The leader also kept searching in his own direction, screaming as he departed.

“Ju jeni një njeri i vdekur, kur kemi gjetur ju!”

Sweet baby Zues! They’ve got the Albanians onto me! I thought.

A cold sweat came over me, and a feeling of nausea that was usually brought upon by a swift kick in the prize anatomy. I’m dead now, why are they after me too? I mean, it’s bad enough that I’m in the middle of some crazy conspiracy, but this is too much.

“Mae'r ceiliog ganu uchaf yng ngoleuni wawr.” My brain snapped I thought, exhausted and dehydrated I’d finally started to hear voices in my own head like some kind of freak, then it happened again, louder.

“Mae'r ceiliog ganu uchaf yng ngoleuni wawr.”

There was nothing around me but brick walls and a sewer grate on the ground, the walls were covered in all types of graffiti. Despite the panic and the lack of spare time, I couldn’t help but stare at the writing…

‘The Void Awaits us all!’ ‘Kilroy was here’

‘And it was all... just a dream’

‘Immortality awaits’ ‘This is where it all ends’

…

As I stood motionless, staring at these strange phrases, graffiti-ed on the wall in front of me. I was beginning to completely lose what grip I had left on reality when I looked back down at the two hand-written letters I had. Both seals broken, I finally noticed when you put them together, the scattered letters at the bottom formed a statement.

“But the farmer is already awake.” I read from the parchments I held together.

The moment I finished speaking, the sewer grate opened with a compression of air. A familiar face poked out and motioned for me to follow. Can’t be worse than the Albanians, I reasoned, and so further down this strange rabbit hole I went...

It was dark, very dark. I could tell I was moving fast, but was inside a transport of some sort. A Train maybe... There was suddenly blinding light and a sudden jolt beneath me. Something's wrong.

I felt like the whole place was about to be shaken apart. While on some rusted, crackling megaphone there was a man yelling incoherent babble.

“Teithwyr da bore a chroeso i derfynell rhyngwladol destination. Wij hope dat u uw vlucht genoten en we verontschuldigen ons voor de turbulentie. Gelieve geni-joy you-w time here."

Suddenly there was a woman, trying to take the envelopes from me.

“Sir... Excuse me... Sir?”

My eyes adjusted to the light and I was looking at the woman, who was now wearing a stewardess outfit and gently shaking me.

“Excuse me Sir, but we have landed. If you would like to disembark. Please enjoy your visit.” She smiled as she continued down the aisle of the plane. I groggily got up and looked around.

That was strange. Must have been the air pressure messing with my hea-

Things started to slow down, my thoughts, my breathing, everything stopped for a sickening moment, as I was reaching for my carry-on bag, next to it was a small, plain brown paper envelope... with a red wax seal.

The seal had the image of a wolf...