Each step was more agonizing than the first. Cobwebs hung from the pipes, but I doubt that spiders even dared to live here anymore. Nothing could survive a place like this for very long. What in the world was I doing here, I though to myself. Hire someone else to crawl in back of this mess and fix this mechanical monster. Moey isn't everything, I thought. Things have been going well now that I started this new company. I should be able to pick and choose my jobs. That's why I did this in the first place. Yet, some benevolent force, urged me to move on. Call it stuborness or the inability to admit defeat. I had no choice. There was no turning back now..........
I had taken a few steps into the room, and could feel an evil presence. Someone or something was watching me. I'm sure of it now. The hair on the back of my neck started to stand on end. A foul odor wafted from the boilers. Over in the shadows by boiler #6, I could see something moving. It was some malevolent being. I seemed to have stumbled into an evil creature's lair. I say creature for I could not, call this thing human. Fear choked me. I stood parlyzed wanting so badly to run but instead, I stood frozen as that thing grew in intensity, like little Mike had years before. Hatred, pure hatred emanated from "that thing". The flames of the boilers seemed to belch and then grow dimmer as the darkness around "that thing" grew thicker and more overwhelming. Nowhere to run, I could feel it's evil presence surrounding me. No hope, only doom and sorrow. I was frozen with fear and could not move as the malignity grew and the darkness consumed everything from my sight. Surrounding me now was blackness, intense heat and pure terror. I lost my balance and stupidly tripped on my own slow to react foot. I fell right onto one of the boilers, searing a rather large patch of skin on my right arm. I could smell the burning flesh, along with the putrid sulfuric fumes emanating from "that thing". In terror, I tried to get up and run from that creature, but slipped again on the greasy floor. This time I would not fare so lucky. As my head hit a gas pipe on the way down. I could hear a large crunch as I lost consciousness.
I woke up rather slowly at first. I could see my feet poking out from under the covers. It was all just a nightmare. Not really a nightmare, but more like night terror. I slowly dragged myself out of bed and stumbled my way to the bathroom to shave away the stubble from my face. I felt like I drank a gallon of moonshine the night before. That cursed rain was still stabbing at the tiles on my roof. When will it ever stop? As I brought my head up to look in the mirror, I felt a sudden chill go down my spine. I noticed a deep shadowy figure standing right behind me. It was "that thing". I could feel its' evil malevolent presence and smell its sulfuric breath. My eyes zoomed to a round red lump on my right arm where in that lousy nightmare I burnt my arm. It wasn't a bad dream-it was real. The shadow grabbed hold of my neck and started to choke me with a violent force. I could feel my consciousness slipping away. Everything around me was now going black. As black as that violent thing that was choking me. I could feel my consciousness slipping away....Sinking deeper........and deeper........
Wham! I suddenly woke up with a jerk. Was I still dreaming or was I really awake? Covered in sweat, I could hear the sound of the first few drops of long needed rain. The desert wind blew the curtains and filled the room with a fresh scent of sage. It had been over three months since it rained last. This part of the desert never really gets much rain, so it is welcomed when it comes. It was all just a bad dream.... A nightmare within a nightmare. I was glad to be alive!
Istared deeply into space as my eyes slowly gazed down to my arm......To a small round burn mark
