A White Halloween and Yet I Missed the Celebration

An abominable story of snow like proportions.

Day 10:  After the Bald Mountain adventure, Robin and I were both glad, I mean seriously glad, happy, to be heading toward our ultimate destination:  HOME.  We decided we would try to get to Amity Bridge, Oregon.  Considering all the delays, and the roadblocks, the rogue snake, and the unintended side trip to Bald Mountain.  I didn’t think it would be plausible to try for Ogden, Utah.  That would have doubled the trip distance from Portland to Amity Bridge, Oregon.  As we passed The Dalles, and the Columbia-Snake River system.  Our drive towards Amity Bridge could not have been more pleasant or more event free.  Nothing happened for that entire distance, and I was beginning to think that it might be possible to go the remaining two thousand miles without any additional drama.  I really should have known better.  That to even consider thinking that way, thinks the Ethereal One in the GPS, that I should get a ‘CAT’ scan.  As Robin and I approached Amity Bridge and its suburbs, we began to see all the bright lights and all the cars, and a lot of people seemed to have made that area their destination for the evening.

But not me, Robin was already spitting out directions, and as usual, telling me what to do.  I scanned the night sky just north of The Dalles, and couldn’t help but notice that there was a fireworks display.  Wished I could have stayed to watch but I had at least six hours of hard driving, and to make matters worse, I was already tired and sleepy.  I think Robin said, “Don’t even think about getting off the interstate to see fireworks.  We are only one hundred miles from where we started, that means, PaPa, you still have 289 miles to go today.” 

Like I said, I’m already tired, Robin.  I need your help, not badgering or cheap commentary.”

So on we went.  We might make it in four hours, but with all the highway work zones, you have to figure it is going to be five hours or more because I knew I would have to get off the interstate for a break and to get gas.  I believed a thirty to forty minute rest break off of I-84 would help to get us there safely. 

After driving about two and one-half hours, I felt tired and decided to get off the I-84 for gas, and a break, and a snack maybe some coffee would keep me more alert.  We arrived in Amity Bridge, Oregon at 9:45 that night, found a motel and checked into a single, non-smoker, got my luggage and went to the room.  I was so tired.  I was looking for a longer ‘winter’s night’ of restful sleep.  It was a long way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, which was my original destination for second day.  If I made it to Cheyenne that would 789 miles to drive tomorrow.  That would take nearly twelve hours to accomplish.  Maybe I could get to Laramie, but it was only fifty-five miles closer.  It would be nice if I could find something between Ogden, UT and Laramie WY.  Well, it was 737 miles from Amity Bridge, Oregon to Laramie, WY.  Just fifty-five miles different.  There was only one other place to stop and that was Arlington, WY.  It was 700 miles and almost eleven hours.

We made it to Arlington, WY.  It had an Econo-Eight Inn with one room available.  I gladly took it, and after getting my stuff into the room, I got ready and went directly to bed.  What happened later that night was not a bad dream.  It was ten times worse than a bad dream. A nightmare, as bad as they can be would have been a much more pleasant evening than what I was about to have.  It was ten times worse than a nightmare.  For no matter how bad a dream is, and no matter how much worse a nightmare is.  You can wake up from a nightmare, or a dream.  You can wake up from a dream, you can even wake up from a horrible nightmare, but you can’t wake up from something you are actually experiencing.  Reality doesn’t get lost in the vagaries of the day that follows it, but a reality will last you as long as you last.  And, reality can stop a weak heart.

I was tired, that sleep came to me as soon as I put my head on the pillow is an indicator of how really tired I was.  I had gone into R.E.M. sleep almost immediately.  And, I had descended into that ‘deep sleep’ so deeply that I could not have been awakened easily.  But, as a night wears on and your body heals, the focus on repairing everything mostly done, the body " mind sleep state becomes more easily disturbed.  But, at that point, the wakeful state of the person is similar to being in a zombie state.  You may be awake, but your brain doesn’t seem to be connected.  There is no state, at this point, that readily connects to reality and memory.  This period is usually likened to being in a ‘cob webb.’  Thus, anything that you experience in that state is not remembered well, and things that are remembered are not easily reckoned with actual facts, or within a framework of time.  Toward the end of a normal sleep cycle, the body and mind are usually well associated, and recollection of reality is at ‘normal’ for that person in their normal wakeful state.  Interpretation of reality is then only a function of that person’s life experience.  And, so comes the dictum that ‘Ignorance is Bliss.’  Rough translation: the more knowledge and intellect a person possesses, the more easily such a person relates to reality because a person who does not have those qualities does not comprehend reality as well. 

But, when a person that is at a low energy level, who is so weary that maintaining a wakeful state is impossible, does achieve ‘deep sleep’ they do not easily wake up for four to five hours;e and if disturbed do not easily comprehend what might be going on when they achieve wakefulness.  They may, when disturbed, gain some degree of wakefulness, but they have no ability to move.  They can be scared out of their mind by a nightmare, but, they cannot scream though they may try.

Just before midnight, on this particular day in October, I was in that condition.  In order to recover from the extreme stressfulness of the last two days, my body would need at least five hours of ‘deep sleep,’ and nearly eight hours of sleep to be at a point where I could wake up refreshed.  So, at 2:40 am, when the disturbance came to my door, I was not able to move, neither would a single muscle respond to any stimulus, and neither would my ability to speak.  All I could think of was that my wife had gone outside, or maybe it was time for breakfast and my wife was waking me for that, but then I understood somehow that she was not on this trip with me.  I couldn’t get my eyes open.  They were glued shut.  I could not speak or even roll over for that matter. 

The knocking on the door became more persistent and insistent.  After what seemed to be a long, long time, I was able to get my legs out and my feet on the floor.  I was finally able to come to a seated position, I think.  There were now other sounds that I could hear, but I just couldn’t recognize what that sound was.  I think I yelled something like “go away, let me alone,” but whoever it was, they apparently weren’t going to stop.  I don’t really even know if I actually said that or if I was just daydreaming that I was talking.  I couldn’t be sure.  Then, I remember, I think, that I said, ‘Karen, where are you, why don’t you get the door.  Tell them to go away, and let me sleep.” 

The knocking became pounding, and the door was rattling every time it was struck.  Again, I screamed, I think, “Please, go away, Please, let me alone.  Of, course my wife, Karen, was not there, but I still begged her, “Please tell them to go away, why don’t you call the police?  I’m so tired I can’t seem to wake up.”  And, now I was angry at her, because she wouldn’t answer me.  She was ignoring me and now I was going from upset to anger.  With one last blast, I screamed, “GO AWAY OR I WILL CALL THE COPS.” That didn’t work either, and so I got to my feet and walked to the door.  In my mind, the door wasn’t where I remembered it being when I went to bed.  Somehow, the room was completely reversed, the door was now on the right, not the left.  The bed was still in the right place, but the door was in the other corner.  That was strange to me, and I figured that I would figure it out in minute.

I moved down to the right and found myself in front of the door, but the door had a hole in it.  And, I knew that my bedroom door didn’t have a hole in it.  And, I said to Karen, “who did this to my bedroom door.  I found the pinhole in the door again and I realized that there was some small amount of light coming through that hole in the door about eye level.  It was only then, that I remembered where I was, the Econ-o-me-what, what was it?  I looked through the pinhole to see if I could see anybody, or see anything.  The light coming through the pinhole was now flickering.  Maybe the wind was blowing hard and tree limbs were blocking the light reaching the door.  Occasionally, I could see things outside the door.  The Malibu was out there, the parking lot, the sidewalks.  That’s when it happened, and I was totally confused, but just for a moment.  Then, for the first time in my life I felt fear.

What I saw when I focused the vision in my right eye so I could see through the hole really scared me not just a little, but a lot.  It absolutely chilled me to the bone.  As I began to look through the pinhole, I could see the car and the parking lot.  But, all of a sudden, the light coming through the hole began to darken until it was pitch black.  And, in its place something else slid into place and replaced the darkness.  For several seconds, I stared through the hole in utter disbelief.  At first, I just didn’t understand what I was looking at.  I was seeing but not comprehending.  Then, as my mind slowly unraveled the mystery, it became clearer that what I was looking at.  Then, disbelief renewed as my brain said, ‘No, this can’t be real.’  I thought to myself, ‘It cannot be that, it just cannot be that!  It had to be something else. 

I could not see any background behind.  There was no ground anymore, no sidewalk, no parking lot, no snowfall laying around, no bushes, and alarmingly NO MALIBU.  Wait, where is the car?  It was there a moment ago.  I looked at it not more than an hour ago.  Now, I can’t see it.  Why?  Where is my car?  In an instant, my mind finally began to accept that what I was looking at through the pinhole was looking back at me.  And, then it was gone.  There was the Malibu again.  Right where I parked it three hours ago.  Right where it had been an hour ago when I had looked out the big glass window in the center of the room.  It was there.  And, so was the snowfall laying everywhere.  The grass was slowly being covered, slowly disappearing beneath a mantle of white.

What had I been looking at just moments ago?  It was a circular disk, and within the disk it was almost completely black in the central area.  Above, and to each side an inch or so, were also circular spots, but these circles were a very dark red, almost crimson red.  You know, I might be crazy, but if I didn’t know better I’d have to say I was looking at someone, and something was looking right back at me.

Just then, the phone in the room began to ring.  I reached it just in time.   “Hello,” I said putting the headset to the right side of my face. 

The voice on the other end of the line, said, “Mr. Mike, this is the evening manager at the hotel’s front desk.”  There was a hurried, trembling in his voice, and he said, “Are you alright?  I can send someone down there to assist you if you want or need any help, anything at all.  We would be glad to move you to another room closer to the office.  You would be within your rights to demand another room for the remainder of the night.

I said, “Why would I want to move?”  I think I will go ahead and check out just get my bill ready and I’ll be up there just as soon as I can get my car packed, and get everything loaded into my car,  So, have my final bill ready.”  It was then that I experienced a total and complete suspension of disbelief.  Because right then, the entire lower wall of my room disappeared.  It just fell away in a cloud of dust.  My brain instantly shut down, and I realized that I was losing consciousness.  I had fallen directly into a coma or something.

I do not know to this day how long I was unconscious, but when I woke up I was apparently in the back of a cave.  The room was almost completely dark, but there was enough light that I could see what was in the room.  I could also see an opening at the side of the room.  Again, I could not believe what I was seeing.  There was a big fire right in the middle.  And, right in the middle of that humongous room, there were people dancing around that fire.  Then, I realized that the fire was being enlarged.  It occurred to me that those people out there were building a bonfire.  I think that was when I lost consciousness again.  Because, right in front of me appeared another one of those Great Red Circles things.  The last thing I was aware of was loud, really chanting and that big round, red creature was right in the middle of the jumping and bouncing all around.

These people must have just splashed me with several gallons of water all at once because as I woke up, I also realized that I was soaking wet from head to toe.  And, the other thing that I