New Year's Eve (2) “Anyhow feed the fire, Sport and gaze deep into the flames.” Then Dylan vanished back to the haze from which he came. I was still in my trance but once again able to put more logs unto the fire. I remembered what Dylan had told me and as I placed the logs upon the burning coals, I gazed into the flames. Images started to appear within the flames. No, that’s not quite right, the flames started to become images, is closer to what occurred. At first everything was blurred but then like magic everything seemed to merge. Now, I was starring not into flames but rather something more like a high definition color television set but it wasn’t any show that was on. What was it? I recognized Christine and I but we were at some place we’d never been before. Where was this? The images were somehow implanted into my mind at an increasingly rapid rate and the more input I was given, the more I understood. It was the future. I was witnessing, not just mine but Christine and my life together. In the beginning this was almost fantastic to watch. Christine and I smiling sharing good times to come but as our lives unfolded it became, first a tragedy and later a horror show. This was by far more shocking and mind boggling terrifying then any of the spirits(?) that had visited be early that evening. I watched our beautiful relationship deteriorate before my eyes. Not all at once but over a period of several years it went from paradise to a living hell. Somehow I was able to watch this all in a time frame of minutes perhaps even seconds. It was like a dream only everything about it felt all to real. It seemed we started to have a clash of wills over everything. It was like we were in some absurd contest. Where each one of us felt we must win, but win what? We argued constantly about anything. The smallest obscure incident became the cause of some of the biggest fights. Pride and pettiness seem to be our major drive. It was although neither of us even had any interest in stopping the insanity. That somehow the madness was needed or even worse wanted by us both. In fact, it was almost as if we fed off it. Like this fire feeds off these logs, I thought. Was there a connection somehow between this cabin and turmoil to come. What had the old man said? “We all come back and so will you.” But that wasn’t exactly true was it? They didn’t all come back, only the men did, and only after their woman had left them in one way or another. Oh God, please not Christine. Somehow we had to work it out. I became enthralled again by the imagery of our future playing out within the flames. The fights between us became worse but it now became clear that she had it all planned. Christine was playing me, purposely provoking fights. Constantly looking for excuses to ridicule me. But why? And why wasn’t I able to stop it? I mean like the old saying goes “it takes two to fight.” Some of the things I saw myself doing made me ashamed. I called her terrible names and tried to make her feel as bad as she was making me feel. It was like our relationship had become haunted and neither one of us had any control. Perhaps, there was something about this cabin some strange demonic pull. I saw us going together to many clubs but now it was never alone. Christine always insisted on meeting with a group of people. Our trips alone together became fewer and fewer. She was on the hunt for another guy, I thought, and it was true. I knew it but somehow was incapable of stopping it. Christine was a con artist and I was her mark and before this was over she would use not only me but most of her family and friends to accomplish her goals. The only reason she was interested in the clubs was to meet some one else. Christine was already through with me but first she wanted to replace me. Then one gray night it happened. I saw the man that Christine had decided to be with. She had pre-arranged the meeting at the club, just to meet Mathew. It was cruel, it was distasteful, and it was New Year’s Eve, two years from this very night. Christine and one of her friends had set it all up. I was set up and shot down. Christine had found her new man, now all she needed to do was get rid of me. After that New Year’s Eve Dance, Christine began to meet with Mathew regularly. She wasn’t even trying to be discrete, it was as though she wanted me to know, she seem to enjoy the fact that I knew. I would confront her with the evidence of the affair but she would only use this as ammunition to start yet another fight. It was as though she wanted to see me suffer and suffer, I did. In return, I must admit, I tried to make her suffer too but not with anywhere near the degree of success. Suddenly, the images flickered and everything became blurred. The last thing I do remember was seeing myself sitting in my own apartment, all alone. She was gone but somehow through it all my love for her had never died. That was the worse of it, in a way, I felt for her then, as I do this very day. The imagery was completely gone by the time I heard Christine yawn. She was awakening unaware of any of the strange events that had unfolded the previous night. Should I tell her? No, I thought I would sound like a lunatic and how was I to know if any of it was even true. Perhaps, these were all just nightmares, although that didn’t feel right. I quickly scanned the amount of logs remaining. If I had been asleep, I couldn’t have been feeding the fire, I surmised. Unfortunately, this only re-affirmed the validity of the stranger’s visits and to the eerie glances into the future. I had used almost all the logs during the night so I must have been awake. “Did you stay up all night;” Christine asked me, in a voice so sweet it melted the icicles that had been forming around my heart. “Yeah, umm it was no big deal just watched some old movies, I said and kept the fire going” “You are so sweet, I love you so much,” Christine exclaimed . “Love you too honey,” I replied. And I did some how I knew regardless of what was to come that would never change. The strange visitors and images in the flame couldn’t be explained but I wasn’t about to end our relationship on what may someday may be. Besides, it was all insane. I’d never experienced hallucinations before, but there was always a first time for everything. I decided right then and there, I would simply try to forget the night before, although I knew that would be impossible. The strange events of the previous evening made me terrified and lousy company on the ride home. Luckily, Christine assumed I was only exhausted and even offered to drive. I told her that wouldn’t be necessary. I wanted to keep my concentration on something so I could try to forget other things. It didn’t work of course but it helped. Christine and I got along great the next couple of weeks and that helped too. We continued to go to hotels with hot tubs and a variety of clubs. It didn’t appear that Christine wanted to meet anyone, she seemed as though she was already deeply in love, with me. I realized that it was crazy to believe anything from that night. I must have either blown a fuse or was half-asleep and just groggy from the wine. Maybe it was all just a part of a mind with too much active imagination. There was no way that things between Christine and I were going bad, in fact everything seemed better then ever. We shared everything together and were not just lovers but the closest of friends. I knew in my heart that Christine could never betray me and I would never do anything to hurt her. Of course we had our disagreements but what couple doesn’t? The strange happenings of that evening even begun to fade from my memory but they never went away. Surely, the future is as unpredictable as a freak summer storm. No one, not even the departed can tell us what may happen to any of us. I believed this, but now I found, I needed to convince myself more each day. Something had changed and for some reason our fights became more frequent and usually over nothing in particular. Christine did start seeming to enjoy the bars and being around others more then our time alone but this could easily be explained. She liked to have fun and was always an outgoing person and what’s wrong with friends anyhow. We started to mainly follow one band to different clubs, but they were all good people and I felt they were my friends as well as hers. When we danced together it always seemed just the two of us sharing in each others world. Christine became real good friends with a girl named Molly. Molly was the wife of one of the guys in the band we followed and having an affair with another member of the band. I sensed trouble from the moment I met her. My mind immediately thought back to the cabin. What was it in those visions of the future... those strange prophecies of doom? Hadn’t they predicted that the man that Christine was suppose to leave me for would be introduced through one of her friends? Molly, I thought, it had to be. Christine and I, were now fighting almost constantly. Most of the time I didn’t even know why but I sensed it....it was that strange demonic pull...the cabin. Molly and Christine meanwhile were becoming even closer and more secretive in their discussions. I was watching it all unfold, Molly was going to introduce Mathew and Christine. I knew it but it seemed as though I poweless to prevent it. I couldn’t even talk with Christine without her finding some excuse to make it into a fight. If I had brought up the idea that she would soon have an affair on me because some ghosts had predicted it almost two years ago, she would have thought, I had lost my mind...and maybe, I had. I was very confused. I didn’t know why Christine and I were fighting. Our relationship was crumbling and all the visions were becoming true. What should I do? I thought maybe I should leave her before she did it to me but that was crazy. How did I know she was going to leave me? Because of some ghouls in a haunted cabin almost two years ago? The whole cabin incident had taken on a dreamlike quality for me anymore. How could I be sure any of it even happen? I loved Christine. Was I going to end our relationship based on some images, I thought, I saw within some flames? I mean it was insane. I was losing my grip on everything, the relationship was falling apart and inside I was mentally deteriorating. I decided, somehow I needed to work things out with Christine and forget about some silly visions in a fire. No matter how I tried to make things better between us nothing seemed to work. It was as though Christine was purposely following a path that she knew would end in the destruction of our relationship. Like she was playing a con and I was her “mark” Everything seemed inevitable and I feel into a deep depression. This just tightened the already severe tension between Christine and myself. So, what did I do? Well, I let it all play out and now I sit in my apartment all alone. It all came true. Everything I saw in that cabin became a living nightmare for me. Christine left me and is now with Mathew. I tried to get her back and work things out even after the affair but she wanted nothing to do with me. Her emotions for me were turned off like a faucet, that would never flow again. Was it the cabin that somehow caused it all? Who knows? Maybe it was my belief in the visions that made them become true. Perhaps, I was granted a rare opportunity that mortals have never known, a change to glimpse into ones own future but a future that is set in stone. One that can never be altered but one you already know. Believe me this insight is not a gift but a curse. Do I still know what the future holds? No, but I know what my plans are for it. I still remember the old mans words: “we all come back and so will you.” And I plan to do just that, return to the cabin this coming New Year’s Eve. Is this cabin real or just apart of a short fiction story? I wish, it wasn't real but it’s real, all right The cabin is located right near Senca Rock in West Virginia. Did all these incidents really occur at this cabin? I believe they did and that’s why I'm going back. It needs to be stopped. I also, plan to remember some fond memories upon my return. The way it used to be between Christine and I. The magic and tenderness we once shared together and the true love, I once knew. Lightning in a Bottle, isn’t that how that old expression goes? It was true for us, it was all true. We held lightning in a bottle...only this time around... I’m going to be holding gasoline in a bottle. That demonic cabin and I are going to burn. I can find no happiness or peace in this world. It feels like, I'm on fire and everything around me has burned. I wish all of you the best...but for me...it's simply time to RETURN.
Go to part: 1 2
Copyright © 2002 Dougie Dosha |