Chapter 6
Dominik sits, drinking tea after eating greasy Chinese takeout at one of only two tables in the place. While he waits for the check he watches the TV mounted up near the ceiling opposite his table.
“That’s right Jean, it does feel like summer. You’re not imagining it. And the people of Chicago weren’t imagining it either as they enjoyed an historical high today of 82 degrees. That’s right! Could it be global warming? I don’t know but it did cause a lot of confusion as people stripped down while walking home from work today. So far the forecast is predicting this heat wave will last another two days then subside leaving in its wake the brutal winter we were preparing for. Back to you Jean.”
“Wow, thanks Daniel. Do you think people will be wearing their bathing suits for Halloween?”
Cheesy laughing…
Dominik feels for his wallet and gets it out but realizes in the moment that he doesn’t have his cell phone and this makes him anxious. He’s still not himself, the OCD shouldn’t let him forget things like this. The time is 6:32pm. The check comes, he pays and leaves. Back at the loft he wonders what to do with the rest of the day. The dream is still freaking him out. It’s too late to call doctors for appointments and he’s not in the mood to do research. He finds his cell phone and sees a missed call with a Massachusetts area code. He listens to his voice message with feelings of excitement.
“Hello, this message is for Dominik. This is James Hannagan, you called earlier today about the online journalism course. Unfortunately I am not inclined to admit students this late in the semester but would encourage you apply for next semester’s course. If you’d like to discuss this further or receive materials early you can call back. If I don’t answer my office you can reach me on my cell…. Goodbye.”
Dominik isn’t phased by the bad news as he doesn’t care about the course, but now he has a private cell number for Hannagan. He’s getting further and further down the road to getting the information he’s after. He calls Hannagan on his cell immediately.
“Hello, James Hannagan.”
“Yes, Mr. Hannagan, I’m sorry to call you late like this on your cell. This is Dominik and I just got your message.”
“Oh hi. No problem, I’m not busy. Look I am sorry but I just can’t justify opening the course up this late. I hope you understand.”
“Yes, no problem. I really appreciate you contacting me. Can I ask another question? I won’t take up too much time.”
“Sure.”
“Well you see. I’m kind of researching something and I’ve come across references to some of your articles. I’ve been looking for copies of the articles and can’t seem to find them.”
“Well if can help I’ll try. Which article are you looking for?”
“Please don’t hang up. It’s the 1987 article on the Jimmy Sullivan case.”
“Oh yeah that one. There’s a story behind that. Where did you come across it?”
“Well I’m an undergraduate at University of Chicago, I’m supposed to go to Harvard next year… Anyway, I’m doing a research paper on Cults and Occultism and this case came up in an online search. There’s just a snippet. I found a microfilm copy at the university but can’t find anything online. When I called the Salem Gazette I kind of got the run around.”
“You found a copy on microfilm. That’s interesting.”
“Yeah, well anyway I could always go back to the library and print from the microfilm but when I couldn’t find it online I just thought that was strange.”
“I agree. Look I can’t really talk about that on the phone but you’re in luck. I’m at the airport now, on my way to Chicago for a journalism convention. We could meet if you want and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s not as mysterious as you might think but a lot of people could be embarrassed so I’d rather talk in person than over the phone.”
“Yeah, great! That’s great. You have my phone number, give me a call when you’re here and we’ll meet.”
“Very good. Talk to you later. Bye.”
“Thanks, bye.”
Dominik is elated and he hopes to get a complete firsthand account of what’s going on. He decides to spend the night thinking of questions to ask Hannagan when he gets in tomorrow. As he starts making a list the phone rings. He looks, it’s Sanjay.
“Hey Sanjay.”
“Dom, man are you okay? We’ve been worried about you since we didn’t hear from you. We went back to the hospital yesterday and you were discharged.”
“I’m alright. Not 100% but better.”
“What was it? You said food poisoning?”
“No a spider bite, brown recluse. They’re poisonous.”
“Shit man. You could’ve died!”
“I don’t know about that but I’m okay now.”
“Well, we’re meeting to go out tonight. If you’re up for it do you want to come with?”
“I don’t know.” Dominik thinks about it. He would like to hang out with friends. I would make him feel better and take his mind off things. “Where?”
“Just a local bar for drinks and food. Hawkeye’s by University of Illinois campus. Nothing crazy.”
“Okay, I’m in. I’ll meet you there.”
Dominik drops everything and rushes for the door. Suddenly he’s stopped in his tracks as if by a force field. Without any will power he walks slowly back to the dining table and takes one oxycodone. It’s as if he’s having an out of body experience, like he’s telling himself “Don’t do this!” yet he’s not listening. After it’s over he rationalizes that it’s no big deal and leaves.
On his way to Hawkeye’s he thinks about what he just did. It bothers him. He also wonders how many oxy he’s had in the last few days. But then he starts thinking about Hannagan and that he can’t wait to interrogate him over the book tomorrow. It feels like no time has passed when he arrives at his destination, much like his trip to the doctor’s office he can’t even remember how he got there. Dominik finds his friends and joins them. Now he feels safe, almost as if being around other people will protect him from the strange things that have been happening. But why should he need to feel safe, he’s rational, logical and doesn’t believe in superstition. Feeling safe around his friends makes him feel ashamed.
They spend several hours there, drinking and talking. Mostly about useless things, the weather in particular. Chicago just had an 82 degree day in October. That’s a real Indian summer. They talk about music, food, where everyone is going after graduation. Dominik is quiet, not really participating, just listening. Then an idea strikes him.
Dominik get up and sits next to Katie. “Hey Katie? You’re a biology major right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, I have something that I want to have tested.”
“An STD.” Sanjay says as he leans into the conversation.
Dominik laughs. “No, but thanks.”
“I have an old book that looks leather bound but I’m curious about the leather. What kind of animal it is. I’m also interested in seeing if we can determine its age.
Katie replies. “You have access to carbon dating equipment at the anthropology lab.”
“True. But I’m not really a student this semester. If I get a sample could you run tests on it?”
“Sure. I don’t see why not. It’ll be interesting. What’s the book about?”
“I don’t know. It’s just an old book.”
“Bring it over next week and I’ll do it.”
“Thanks.”
Katie goes back to the discussion at hand and Dominik retreats into his thoughts.
The night ends at 2:00 am and everyone goes their separate ways. Dominik takes Halstead Street home and decides to walk. He feels just fine in this neighborhood, it’s not as bad as it used to be. He gets home and thinks about what to do next. He’s still not back to his old self or he’d stay up all night doing research. He’s afraid to sleep after the nightmare yet he’s too tired to do anything. He sits up for a while surfing the web trying to look up Prof. Armistead. Last time he searched the Harvard site only. He figures the name Armistead has to be in an electronic archive somewhere, at least for old journal articles he’s published. He does a generic google search Professor Edward Armistead. Several hits come up. He scrolls through them and finds one that looks interesting.
Jstor: Symbols, Language and Magic. E. H. Armistead, Harvard. Journal Computational Linguistics. We review the symbols found in several medieval grimories and demonstrate that the information contained within has a pattern which identifies them as elements of a mathematical category commonly found in the study of modern mathematics. …
“This is interesting. Magic and mathematics. This I can get into. Maybe ancient man was not as dumb as we think, maybe he could do group theory and we’re idiots for thinking they believed in magic.” Dominik downloads the article but is too tired to read it. Satisfied with the find he walks over to the bed and sits up with his back against the wall. For some reason he feels like if he sleeps sitting up we won’t have a nightmare. He slowly drifts into unconsciousness.
Dominik awakes up to find himself siting in a park. It’s a beautiful summer day. He’s sitting on a bench with his shoes off and his feet in the grass sliding his feet back and forth, wriggling his toes. It smells nice there too, smells like a summer from his childhood. Off in the distance he sees a family playing in the park. Mom, Dad and four or five year old girl. They are having fun and seeing them reminds Dominik of his parents. He sits quietly, watching for some time. Then he notices something lurking in his peripheral vision. He turns his head and sees a Bengal Tiger crouched in the tall grass, just meters away from the unsuspecting people. Frozen in fear Dominik tries to yell, to warn them. No sooner does the urge to yell come to his mind than his rational brain tells him “It’s hopeless. What can they do if they know it’s coming? If you don’t tell them they may die in peace.” Then the tiger strikes with lightning speed attacking the little girl. The parents try to stop the tiger yelling, screaming to let go. The father picks up a rock and tries hitting the tiger but nothing works. Dominik sits in shock, his fingers clenching the wood planks on the bench seat, then he finally screams “No!” Everyone looks. The tiger drops the dead girl’s body on the ground and slowly walks over to Dominik. The parents pick up their daughter’s dead body holding it and crying. Dominik can hear them sobbing and yelling “You killed her, you killed our daughter. You monster.” His heart races frantically as the tiger approaches. Face to face, nose to nose the tiger sniffs Dominik’s face, blood dripping from its mouth. Then it starts to lick Dominik on the face, playfully. As it does it deposits copious amounts of the girl’s blood all over Dominik’s mouth. The tiger walks away leaving Dominik to see the two parents standing over their daughter’s body, pointing at Dominik and shouting “You monster! You killed our daughter!” Dominik suddenly wakes up with a jolt. Panting, he tastes blood. Reaching for his face he realizes he has another bloody nose. Without thinking he gets up, walks to the table and takes two oxy. Then after a few moments he realizes what has happened. The dream, the unconscious act of taking oxy. He wakes up fully and looks at the clock. 7:45 am.
“Oh well, I’ve survived on less sleep. May as well be up.”
He goes to the bath room and showers, trying to get the blood off his face. He must have bled in his sleep and it dried. This probably triggered the bizarre dream. Still, it felt real. This is the second dream in a few nights and they were both so real. After a long shower he goes to the kitchen to make espresso. He needs the strong stuff and the ritual will relax him. As he drinks he starts thinking about the other dream and the trip to the ER, and how he started thinking that these events were related to the notes he made about the symbol. But this was different, this dream wasn’t related to the symbol or his notes. He thinks out loud.
“Lines, Rays, Sun… Hey, sun. It’s been so hot after the… Wow I’m getting really messed up mentally. It’s gotta be the poison or the oxy. I gotta stop taking oxy. There is no way drawing a symbol made the weather change.”
Dominik continues drinking espresso, slowly, while looking for the Gorilla Munch. “Ah, a handful of munch would be good right now.”
As he eats cereal and drinks espresso the phone rings. He picks up.
“Hello.”
“Hello, Dominik. This is James Hannagan. I hope this isn’t too early. I just arrived at my hotel and wanted to touch base, get your schedule.”
“No, this is great. Yeah. I’m up, when can you meet?”
“Well, I need to get settled in. Maybe take a shower and change. Then we could meet.”
“Ok. Do you want to call or…”
“I’m at the Renaissance on Wacker Drive. Let’s meet in the lobby in an hour.”
“Great, see you then.”
Dominik hangs up and rushes to get dressed. He doesn’t care if he’s early but doesn’t want to be late. He picks up his backpack, turns it over and shakes it out, looking carefully inside to be sure there’s nothing in there that shouldn’t be. He packs his notes, sketch and laptop. Then he picks up the box and wonders if he should bring it. He decides not to and leaves it on the table, its new semi-permanent home. He leaves and makes his way to the Renaissance, stopping for nothing, looking at nothing, he is fixated on Hannagan. He arrives a little early and waits in the lobby. After a while he sees a middle aged man in jeans and a sports jacket looking around. He looks like a reporter. Dominik gets up and says “Mr. Hannagan?”
“Yes. Dominik. So nice to meet you.” He reaches out to shake Dominik’s hand. Dominik reciprocates.
“Thanks for meeting me.”
“Oh, it’s really no problem. Hey do you know any place kind of private where we could talk?”
“I don’t know. Like a bar? A library?”
“Well a bar or restaurant might do as long as we could be secluded from others. It’s a little early for drinks though.”
“True. I’m not sure. Here’s a weird idea. There’s a music store in old town, instruments and stuff. They have sound proof rooms for people to test out equipment. They’re open early today.”
“That is, ah, creative. Ok, let’s go.”
“We’ll have to take a cab.”
“No problem. I can pay, it’s business. So do you play anything?”
“Yeah, guitar. A little. I’m not very good. How about you?”
“Na, nothing. I have no talent for music. I’m all words.”
James and Dominik grab a cab and make their way to the Old Town Music Store.