Chimere-chapter1

Chapter 1

Monday morning.

 

            It all began on a normal day. A very normal, dreary day. An oppressively normal, dreary day. As the sole illustrator for a small publishing company, I was supposed to send in my thumbnails for a current project, an illustrated teens’ novel. I did not have much faith in the work I had done so far. The author of the novel was an unknown and his story was mediocre, something destined to remain in the dusty corner of a rural bookstore. My illustrations, far from trying to redeem any semblance of dignity for the novel, was subconsciously reflecting my boredom at the author’s apparent lack of talent. My work was so unremarkable that it would have caused me to pull out a few tufts of hair in frustration were I not completely apathic to it by now.

 

            This had been the current tone of my work for the past three years. Just a blank grey field of apathy. I was beginning to wonder if it was indeed the fault of the substandard scripts that I had received, or my own lack of determination for each project. Either way, it was all the same to me. Today, as I drove my clunky old white car to the publisher’s office, I played with the thought of changing companies, if only to have some variety in life. Just stick my head into the lion’s mouth just to see what would happen.

 

            Only half listening to the morning political commentaries on the out-of-tune radio, the smell of old papers and the ghost of pass cigarette butts wafting around the car, I let my mind drift as I drove, taking it for granted that I would automatically drive my way to the office, after so many years of repeating the same old route. I remember passing the antique records shop, the convenience store and the donut place just fine, but the next thing I knew, I was lost. I might not even have noticed, but the total lack of any other vehicle on the road at peak hour was too suspicious to pass unnoticed.

 

            Switching off the radio, I snapped out of my daydream and turned my attention to finding out where in the world I had accidentally driven myself to. It seemed to me that I had come across a rather strange neighbourhood. The houses here were spread far apart and shaped irregularly, vastly different from the compact blockish town houses of my area. The architecture was something I could not put a finger on, it seemed to be a sort of Victorian style, but with none of it’s formality and dustiness. It looked like it could be a variety of de stilj, but, no, it was not as rigid as that. Maybe the only word that would fit the description is ‘fantasy’. The houses looked like they had come out of a children’s storybook; no normal town folk would be seen living in a house like this.

 

 

            Involuntarily, I drove my car slower than usual, my eyes dragged away from the road to wander in the sight of  this foreign territory. Involuntarily, I was getting more and more lost by the minute. Moments later I was in a trance-like ecstasy, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small lithe figure dart in front of my windscreen. In a panic, I slammed on the brakes, bringing my car to a total and sudden halt. As my car was a manual and in it’s twilight years, this also caused the engine to give a dramatic wheeze and die off. I got out of the car, but the figure was nowhere to be found. I glanced between the houses, in the alleys, heck, even under the car, but there was nobody around. Which was fine to me, as long as I had not hurt anyone because of my negligence. Suddenly, it struck me that this neighbourhood was completely silent. The houses did look lived in, but there were no actual residents to be seen. No housewives dusting the windows, no grandparents reading the papers in comfy armchairs, no children playing with their dogs in the yard. However, the light out in the open somehow seemed different. Sounds illogical, but the light seemed to literally dance and sparkle, as if it was blessed. And there was a pleasant smell with no certain origin. The smell of strong sea breeze, enigmatic deep green woods and exotic spices of lands far away.

 

            Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I walked back to my car and tried to start the engine. Old rusty gave a few feeble coughs at the turn of the key, but refused to start up. I got back out of the car and opened up the hood to check for any signs of damage. However, everything looked fine, so fine that it was almost a disappointment. Soon I would have to call for a tow truck and they would find the problem in five minute flat. The problem would have been staring at me all this time. Frustrated, I closed the hood and went back into the car to see if I would get lucky trying to start the engine again. But again, there was no sign of life in Old Rusty. I really did expect something to be visibly wrong with my car, perhaps some smoke coming up from beneath the hood. To my horror, I had barely finished conjuring up this image in my head when a thick cloud of white smoke really did come up from beneath the hood. Or billow out, to be more precise. Immediately. I rushed towards the hood with my water bottle, ready to douse the flames before anything exploded dramatically.

 

            Sitting in the driver’s seat with the door open, I took a look at my watch. 10:45am. I was sure to be late for the editor’s meeting at 11:00am now. Hastily, I dialed for the towing company on my hand phone.

 

            Beep…

 

            Beep…

 

            Silence. The line was cut off. I looked at my hand phone’s screen and saw the message: No network coverage. Damn… Where the hell was I? I could kiss my meeting goodbye now. The editor would not be happy.

 

            I slammed the car door and half ran to the nearest house, with the intention of borrowing their landline. I knocked on the door. No answer. I knocked again, harder this time. Still no answer. There was nobody home.

 

            I went to the next house and rang the doorbell. No answer. Next house. Yelled for an answer. Also nobody home. Next house. And the next. And the next. Nobody home. The whole neighbourhood really was deserted. I was starting to freak out. There was something wrong with this neighbourhood.

 

            Desperate, I ran along a few roads, trying to find a way out, or a main road, or at least another vehicle. But if I had a hard time finding my way around in a car, I was faring even worse on foot. Soon, I was winded and, sweating profusely, I sat down on a curb to catch my breath. My mind went momentarily blank. I did not know what to do. Maybe wait for the evening to come to see if anyone would return to this ghost town, then ask them for help. Or maybe not. Angrily, I got up and kicked a letterbox with all my might. That’s right, kick it. Nobody would see the damage because nobody actually lives in this freak town.