Chapter 1

These chapters are all rather small, I apologize if this is a problem.

I stared at my plate of eggs and toast and listened to the quiet droning of some pop song that played in the kitchen, the night before was still causing my head to spin and for the life of me I couldn't remember how I had gotten to this restaurant.

 

Looking at the stretch of desert highway that spanned in both directions I sighed and went back to my plate of food.

 

I didn't even own a car, how the hell did I get to a little cafe in the desert? The toast was soggy and I closed my eyes and forced it down, the waitress filled my cup with coffe, stained apron stretched across her massive frame, I looked at her face and smiled, she frowned at me and the cigarette in her mouth dipped at a crooked angle.

The coffee tasted like burnt a*s but it helped clear my head a little, images from the night before came into black and white focus, still pictures obscured by smoke and bad lighting.

 

Nubile women on pillows, the smell of marijuana and spilt wine, a long curved couch and a silver plate that held a small mountain of white powder.

Those days were supposed to be behind me, I knew I shouldn't travel in those circles anymore, my psyche was damaged enough thanks to years of chemical abuse and the dangerous hunger in my mind.

 

The fork scrapped against the dull plate as I pushed the egg yolk around in circles, my mind saw the symbols and the fork shaped the mess into a quick sigil, the door behind me opened and the happy little bell chirped and broke me from my reverie.

The stranger sat next to me and picked up the menu that lay next to my coffee cup, his voice was smooth and had a slight austrian accent,

 

"Quaint little place you managed to find yourself, Aleister."

Sitting upright I felt cold sweat bead on my back, this was bad, I hadn't been called that since my mother died, that was the name she had given me at birth but it was my name, my secret knowledge that I had thought was hidden from the world.

 

I looked at the stranger but just as I guessed he was one of them, impossible to describe and even harder to remember, his features were so ordinary your eyes would slip down his face and to the ground like rain running down a window. One moment he was wearing a pale gray suit, the next a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans. He smelled like wet dirt and sweat one instance and dry wood the next.

 

Focusing myself I took a sip of the steaming coffee,

 

"It's all right, would have rather slept in but hey life is life."

He laughed and I watched the waitress walk right past him without so much as a glance.

 

"Still in the game, little Aleister?"

I put the coffe cup down and forced myself to breath,

 

"If you say that name one more time I swear I will end you, I don't care how old you are or where you come from." 

 

Another oily chuckle from beneath the fedora,

"Fair enough 'Jason', but the question still stands."

Suddenly I wasn't hungy, pushing the plate away I waved the waitress over to me, the music in the kitchen became an old fifties greaser tune,

 

"I don't appreciate your kind showing up when I'm trying to sort myself out, asking questions and speaking my true name out loud, now go away before I get angry or you'll see my 'game'."

 

I smiled at the waitress and pulled a pile of crumbled bills out of my jean pocket, I had just enough for the breakfast but no tip, oh well, such is life.

The dark figure was still sitting there his gloved hands folded and he stared ahead in polite silence, it looked like he was wearing a tan trenchcoat and a long brimmed cowbay hat, the shadows obscuring his face.

 

I swiveled in my chair and looked at the shadow beneath the hat,

"I'm serious and I'll say this three times to make sure you get the picture, begone, begone, begone."

 

With a long sigh the stranger spun around and stepped off his stool, flipping the green hood over his head he smiled at me with straight white teeth and for the first time i noticed his eyes, small black holes in the middle of two white orbs, like looking down a frightening well in a deadly blizzard, there was death in those black eyes, power too, bought with many long eons of existing 'outside.'

 

"If you are still in the game and you aren't just going to those absurd parties for the free sex and drugs I think you'll be interested in knowing the book has surfaced again, found in the belly of a one eyed salmon netted in a mountain stream just outside of Holland. After that, it fell off the radar, whoever found it was either smart enough to not try to read it or they have no idea what they now posess, and just so you know, you aren't the only one who knows this. Happy hunting."

 

The happy little bell chirped and hot desert air blew across my face as I watched the sand and dust of the desert consume the figure and as usual for his kind he disappeared just as I was getting a good idea of what he looked like.

 

"Damn it."

Reviews

[Forist.johnston]

�head he smiled at me with straight white teeth and for the first time i noticed his eyes, small black holes in the middle of two white orbs, like �

Very vivid descriptions. I had a great mental picture. The chapter is short, but short and sweet. Some spelling errors, but great writing. Kudos.