Dog Ears

 

Being a dream whisperer gives me dog ears.

From extreme distances from the source, I can hear… the screams, the whispers, the callings, the begging, the mumblings and the dream secrets that hide inside the minds of humans. Like a canine with its dog ears, I can turn my focus from here to there and locate the human object of my focus.

As a youth, I was frightened near insanity of my ability. Even though my mother taught me how to focus on my center, so that I could effectively push the thoughts and images away from my line of mental sight, I was convinced that I was a helpless leaf swirling about in the center of a horror hurricane.

Mother’s Japanese customs are still lost to me, even today. I respect her and the ways of old… but I leave it to her personal devices to show respect to the old spirits. Once I gained control of my dog ears, at 13 years old, and I came to terms with the fact that I am not necessarily a direct part of The Horrorwalker’s horror monster world, I immediately dropped my fear of what I thought were the ghosts and spirits of ancient Japan haunting my dreams and reality.

Oh, I have seen horror!

To date, I have come into contact with three vampires, two werewolves, one Baku, three ghost spirits and one poltergeist. I entered the dreams of the human-creatures by way of locating them with my dog ears. I fought with the ethereal entities by entering the dreams haunted by them… by way of locating them with my dog ears.

I entered their minds, fought with their souls and demons and left them… ah, I’m getting way ahead of myself at this moment.

I decided when I was 12 years old that I never enter the minds of the innocent. The trauma of normal people having me invade their personal sanity can create a breaking point with that sanity once they realize they are being manipulated from the brain outward. I am not going down that road again. I destroyed Anne Marks’ sanity when she was 12 years old.

Anne was my next door neighbor. She was also my best friend. We played together, rode the school bus together, studied together and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches together. We were best friends.

She stood up for me when the racial bullying began and actually punched Darrell in the nose the day he called me slant eyes. Her legend was already beginning to form.

One day, Anne came to my house to study. We were working on math problems when she began to cry. I asked her what was wrong with her, but she refused to answer. When I pressed her for an answer, she grabbed her books and ran home. My mother asked me what was wrong, but I did not have an answer.

Later that same day -- now into the night, I was lying on my bed in my bedroom… in the darkness. I was on my back, quilt pulled up to my nose, staring up at the darkness where my ceiling was. I was thinking about Anne, trying to imagine what her issues could be. I then slipped off to sleep.

I could hear Anne calling for help with my dog ears. She was actually only a few yards away from me, and so her calls were loud and clear. Without an effort, was was standing in her dream time… watching her from the side as she was dangling by her hands from a branch of a huge tree. She was holding on and yelling for help in a panic state of dream. The grassy ground was only two feet below her dangling bare toes, but she was fear filled in the dream and too frightened to drop to the grass.

I could not help her, because even at that young age I realized that to let her know I was there might traumatize her actual mind. So, I stood in silent invisibility… watching her and knowing that as soon as she let go of the branch she would have her falling dream. Although she would be frightened by the dream of falling, she would be OK when she finally landed all the way down for the two feet of distance.

I’ve even had that dream.

So I waited, just to make sure my friend was OK. I turned to the right to smile at the Teddy Bear floating over by the candy cane house. Then Anne yelled again and I turned to her. And suddenly, things took a dramatic turn for the worse. Darrell Missi was standing on the branch and he had just stomped Anne’s left hand. She was now dangling by her right hand.

I panicked! I broke through the dream invisibility barrier and rushed to her aid. I jumped through the air like a baby super hero and grabbed Darrell’s dream body by both hands. I ripped him in half like he was a piece of paper and threw both halves back into the recesses of Anne’s mind. I then gently helped Anne to the ground, all the while feeling her dream eyes staring at me like I was… a dream.

“You’re real, aren’t you?” Anne said to me as she took a step back.

“Yes,” I answered. “I heard you scream and I came to help you.”

“But…” Anne whispered as she took another step back away from me. “How can you be in my dream?”

“Don’t be scared,” I begged of Anne taking a step toward her with my hands outreached to her. “Let’s just wake up and I’ll come over and tell you everything about me.”

The fear and confusion overtook Anne. And before I could grab her, she turned and ran into the candy cane house. I ran after her, right on her heels. When I opened the door to grab her to take her to reality… I was too late. She had run off into another place in her dream state, and I did not know how to find her. She was gone… running lost throughout the recesses of her mind.

There was nothing I could do but hope she could find her way back to the candy cane house… and back to what was now sanity lost. But, at the time, I did not know that Anne has just lost her mind to insanity… at my hand. But I learned all about it as the years rolled by. And, my guilt has eaten away at me for a lot of years.

My friend, after all these years… I have finally gained the confidence to face you again. You have been in this coma state since that night so long ago. This hospital prison, these nurses guards and the lost time of life must end tonight. The time is now for me to enter into your mind, and soul, and find you to bring you back to reality! Shame on me for waiting so long, but I have always been too afraid to touch your mind.

I have seen real horror. I should be dead. But, I am here… and they are gone! And now is the time to find you and bring you back. I hope you are ready, Anne. This is going to be a hell of a ride!

 

RLJ