The Nightmare Game (40 page)

I soon began to get bored waiting for Ben as he
meditated upon the black water. The minutes passed and with nothing else to do,
I started to look around for something to occupy me. As I did so, however, I
began to understand the attraction that this peaceful, open, column-framed
space held as a meditation spot. The soft, gentle breeze that had been blowing
all day picked up a little, bringing with it the sweet smell of honeysuckle, my
favorite fragrance. And while the wind was strong enough to cause soft ripples
upon the surface of the water, the liquid remained steadfastly still, continuing
to reflect back all that fell upon it in perfect detail. The sphinx, its face
yet another portrait of Arrosha, sat regally at the pool’s head and seemed to
peruse all that lay before it with confident ownership. There was nothing
strange about the statue itself, the body of which seemed to be an exact
replica of the one within the Giza complex in Egypt, but the more intently I
stared at its reflection, the more noteworthy became its image upon the water.
Of everything that was reflected, only the sphinx’s mirror twin was not
completely true, for upon the still water, it alone seemed brighter than its
original, glowing with a gold sheen the onyx statue itself lacked, a reflective
quality which I had never before seen. This strange incandescence locked my eyes
into itself until, beyond the confines of my own volition, I began to stare,
ever more engrossed, into the pool. For the first time, I gave the liquid it
held more than a simple passing glance. As I peered intently down into its
blackness, I now saw that while the dark surface itself remained still as
glass, the forbidding depths of the fluid glowed with swirling hues which,
despite their intense brilliance, refused to reveal themselves to anything shy
of a direct, prolonged gaze. Their movements never stopped, continuing always
to gyrate in a slow, lazy pattern. It reminded me somewhat of an oil slick,
although rather than floating on the surface, these intense, fluorescent colors
were trapped deep within their liquid near the bottom. As I continued to stare
downward, my thoughts stirred and I recognized that held within my nagging
memories, thoughts that stubbornly refused to materialize, sat information far
more important than just the obvious details of my own life; there was
something deeper, more urgent, that I needed to remember. If only it would come
to me, this secret buried far within me, this secret my mind withheld, I would
be free of the awkward discomfort that it brought with it. Perhaps if I
reflected longer, gazed deeper, the secret locked within my own mind would at
last reveal itself to me and perhaps I would at last know my true purpose.

It was then that the pool began to exert its real
magnetism over me. The longer I stared, the stronger its hypnotic power drew me
further and further into itself. Once again, the steady breeze picked up,
caressing my hair and my skin, coaxing my gauzy robe to flow with it, to
undulate against my naked flesh beneath it in a relaxing, smooth, even sensual
way. The air around me was now as fresh and clean as that surrounding a
waterfall and I breathed deeply, taking in as much of its invigorating energy
as my lungs would allow. Although it was late afternoon, the soft smell of
morning glory continued to permeate the air in this land without rules. Along
with the fragrance, the breeze now brought with it also the faint melodic music
of far away wind chimes. I began to sway with the wind, feeling as if I weighed
next to nothing, as if my body might actually be capable of being blown away by
the breeze like the wisps a dandelion’s head. I liked this feeling; it made me
happy. I could stay here forever with my mind and my body connected to this
pool and its still, dark water as the softly shining sphinx glowed upon its
surface. I could not remember ever feeling such a calm, peaceful joy. I stood
quiet, not a care in the world, at one with everything that was good and pure
and perfect. Perhaps I would stay at this estate forever. Then I could come
back to this spot as often as I liked for as long as I liked, returning to the
house at night only to sleep, drink water and take essence. The more I thought
about it, the more desirable that thought became. Yes, I really did want to
stay right here, I decided. I needed to be near this spot which cried out to
me, telling me that I was home. In fact, everything else that Ben had shown me
was only prelude and now paled in comparison as I realized that this reflecting
pool was the only thing I needed and the only place in the entire world where I
really wanted to be.

No sooner had I come to this conclusion than I
felt a light, pleasant vibration near my throat, a vibration that grew in
intensity as I stood, mesmerized, by the pool. My swaying had turned into a
back and forth rocking motion that was in perfect sync with the breeze and the
wind chimes, a movement of which I was aware but of which I was not in control.
As my rocking increased, the vibration at the top of my chest became stronger,
now joined by a gentle warmth that emanated from the very same spot as the
vibration. The pool called out to me, called for me to jump into it while the
vibrating warmth at my neck evolved into a gentle tugging, prodding me to take
the leap into those dark depths. It would be so easy to fall into the pool now;
even the sound upon the wind seemed agree, to murmur in accord how very, very
easy it would be for me to submit, to let go, to permit the swaying take over
and allow the gentle tugging to pull me into the swirling depths of that black
water.

“Ashley!” I heard Ben cry out from far away. Out
of the corner of my eye, I saw him rush to me. Then I felt him grab me as he
dragged me from the edge of the reflecting pool.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, startled at being
pulled from my trance.

Fear was in his eyes as he looked at me. “I
thought you were going to fall in!” he said.

“I suppose I got caught up in meditating,” I said,
now fully awake. I looked around at my surroundings as Ben explained that I had
not been standing near the stone benches, where he had left me. Apparently,
without realizing, I had made my way up to the very edge of the reflecting
pool, and my toes were hanging over the side.

“I never should have let you stand so near,” Ben
said, visibly upset, as if the unthinkable had almost become real. “I got so
caught up in my own meditation that I became negligent. I’m sorry, I am so, so
sorry.”

“That’s okay, it’s no big deal,” I said to solace
him, still not comprehending the cause for his alarm.

“No, it
is
a big
deal,” he said, shaking, taking my hand to lead me even further from the edge.
It was only now that he began to calm down. “It’s a very big deal. That’s not
water in that pool.”

“Oh, I thought it looked strange. What is it?”

“I don’t really know. None of us does. But it
certainly isn’t water and it is very, very dangerous. Watch this.”

He went over to a nearby tree and plucked off a
long, thin, low-hanging branch. He then walked back to the reflecting pool and
stuck the leafy end into the liquid. I heard a sizzle and when he pulled out
the branch, everything that had made contact with the liquid was gone, leaving
in its stead a dripping, dissolving stump that was growing ever shorter by the
second. He then threw the remainder away into the pool where it was immediately
consumed. The only evidence remaining that it had ever existed at all was a
bubbling upon the surface and a small plume of smoke and soon, even that was
gone.

“It’s as caustic as sulfuric acid. Arrosha arises
untouched from this pool during our outdoor rituals as a display of her power.
The lily pads floating in the liquid are the only other things that can survive
in there and I have no idea how they do it,” he continued. “If you would have
fallen in, that branch would have been you. Ashley, when did you wander so
close to the edge? I didn’t see you do it. And why?”

“I don’t know, Ben.” I said, wondering why I had
been so drawn to this pool, so willing to fall into it. I couldn’t understand
why something so deadly had seemed so alluring. “I got hypnotized, I guess. The
pool was calling out to me.”

“This area puts us into meditative states, so I
can understand being mesmerized,” Ben said. “But that you wanted to jump into
that pool really scares me. I would have been more careful in watching you, but
nothing like that’s ever happened before. Never. If anything, there’s always
been a repelling force during our meditations to protect us from just that.
This bothers me, Ashley, this really bothers me. It sends chills up my spine to
think of what almost happened to you. I’ll definitely have to talk this over
with Arrosha when I see her. For now, though, maybe it’s better that we walk
back to the house. I think that maybe you’ve had enough for one day. I know I
have.”

“Sure,” I answered, because I could see that Ben
was still shaken and I thought that heading back would help him. By all logic,
this near brush with death should have terrified me, but I remained
uncharacteristically relaxed and unafraid.

“That sounds fine to me, Ben.” I said, hoping my
acquiescence would help to calm him down. “Besides, it’ll give you more time to
give me that explanation you’ve been promising me. I’ve been waiting for it,
you know.”

“Yes, yes, that’s a good idea,” he said, trying to
act nonchalant, although the smile upon his still-worried face was forced.
“We’ll go back to the porch and sit down there. Then I’ll tell you everything
I’ve been promising to explain. You deserve to know our full story.”

Ben and I stepped off the platform and down onto
the pathway, following it without stopping until we reached the mansion. We
walked up the steps leading back onto the verandah, where I plopped down upon
the porch swing closest to the door from which we had exited and yawned
broadly.

“Getting tired?” Ben asked. We hadn’t spoken since
the incident at the reflecting pool but the stress in his voice suggested that
he was still quite unnerved by it.

“A little, maybe,” I said nonchalantly. “I think I
might turn in sooner than I planned.”

As I slouched back into the swing, however, I
realized that I wasn’t really tired, just incredibly relaxed from my
meditations at the reflecting pool. Why hadn’t that near catastrophe hadn’t
rattled me in the slightest, despite Ben’s dissolving branch demonstration?
Where was the adrenaline rush that such a close call demanded? By all rights, I
should be wired right now or at least more perturbed from almost falling into
that vat of lethal liquid. I had no business being this calm. Denial. That was
it. I was probably in denial. Oh, well, whatever the reason, at least my
uncharacteristic serenity was helping smooth over Ben’s ruffled nerves.

“I hope you’re up to staying up and chatting a
while. I’d like to discuss a few things with you and then later tell you more
about us and who we are,” he said, beginning to wind down. “I think it might
help you in your decision to stay.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. There’s no way I’m skipping
out on the stories you promised me.”

“Great, but before we get started, I could really
use a glass of water right about now. How about you? It’ll perk us both up.”

“Sure.”

He walked over to a small table that sat next to a
ceramic fountain of a bearded man within the center of a sun-ray pattern.
Picking up a couple of glasses from the table, he held them under the water
that poured continuously from the mouth of the fierce face.

“About tomorrow, you wanted to spend the afternoon
swimming, right?” he asked as the glasses filled.

“It would be awfully nice.”

“Right now, I don’t see that being a problem, but
Arrosha might want to hold your transformation ceremony tomorrow, in which case
we’ll have to postpone all other plans.”

“Transformation. There you go again. What does
that mean, Ben?”

“I’ll explain it to you in a minute. Usually, the
ceremony is held the day after someone’s arrival here, but Arrosha hasn’t told
me yet when yours will be. I’m sure she tell me when I see her first thing in
the morning, though. In case we have the day free, let’s go ahead and make our
plans, because can always cancel them if we have to.

Glasses now full, he walked over to the swing and
handed me mine.

“Thanks,” I said, taking it. While I sipped at the
ambrosial water, Ben finished his immediately.

“Want another one?” he asked.

“No, thanks, still working on this one.”

Ben went back and poured himself a refill. Then
returning from the fountain, he joined me at the other end of the swing, taking
another long draft from his glass before settling it into the cup holder in the
armrest. He stretched, sat back and relaxed. “Ah, that’s much, much better.
Tell you what, on the way out to the pool area tomorrow morning, I want to show
you where a few of the water fountains are, since I kept forgetting today. Most
of them are either disguised or hidden and not nearly as obvious as this fine
fellow here. Since you’ve already taken essence, it’ll be easy for you to see their
‘on’ switches. Why don’t you bring a water bottle with you in case you want to
sunbathe and don’t feel like disturbing your tan by getting up?”

“I don’t tan, unfortunately. I just burn. I think
I was born with a melanin deficiency. Irish skin, you know.”

“Ah, but that was before you took essence. You can
tan nicely now and not age a whit.”

“Now, that’s good to know. I always did want a
tan. But what water bottle?”

“The ones I haven’t shown you yet,” he smiled,
relaxed at last after my near-escape at the reflecting pool. “Sorry, I forgot.
It’s not a part of my usual duties, either. You know those cabinets in your
bedroom closet?”

“The ones that are built in?”

“Yeah. There’s a bunch of empty bottles in there.
Just pull one out if you want to take it with you to the pool. We can fill it
at one of the fountains.

“Those bottles come in pretty handy when we’re
sunbathing or playing sports. Their main purpose, though, is to take with us
when we travel, since we don’t drink outside beverages. In case you forget when
we go into New Orleans, there’s also a bunch of pre-filled bottles at Arrosha’s
townhouse; just make sure you don’t drink the water from the townhouse faucets
because that’s just city water.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Well, all in all, Ashley, I feel like we’ve both
had a pretty productive day. So, do you feel like you’re getting your bearings
around here?”

“Pretty much. I’m a lot more oriented than I was
yesterday.”

“Great,” Ben continued, “After I point out a few
more of the water fountains, I’ll need to tend to Geoffrey. If you want to
explore anything else further but don’t want to go by yourself, just grab Illea
or any of the others. They’ll be more than happy to help. I know that Illea
really wants to be friends with you and it goes without saying that Robert
would be absolutely thrilled if you asked him.”

 “Alright,” I replied, becoming aware once again
of Ben’s importance as my security blanket in this strange estate. It was so
odd how incredibly comfortable I felt whenever he was around and how apprehensive
I was without him. I definitely needed to establish a comfort zone that did not
rely on hanging onto Ben’s coattails, so striking out on my own tomorrow
afternoon and bonding with some of the others might prove to be wise.

“How long do think that you’re going to be out of
touch after tomorrow afternoon?” I asked. The question sounded more desperate
than I’d intended.

“That depends on Arrosha. I’m always on-call for
her and for official business. But for all of the regular stuff, let’s just say
that I plan to keep a low profile for a few days, at least. I’m starting to
miss Geoff and need to spend some quality time with him. And I know that he
definitely needs me to provide enough tender loving care to smooth over those
hurt little feelings of his. Hopefully that’ll be enough to cure his latest
bout of petulance.

“By the way, Ashley, since I know you’re probably
going to be spending the afternoon in the pool area, I just want to give you a
head’s up that Geoffrey and I will probably be taking a dip tomorrow ourselves.
Not to worry, though, I’ll be sure to keep him out of your hair until he’s
managed to work himself back into a good mood. Wherever you are, we’ll just go
to another area of the water park and you won’t even have to know that he’s
there, okay?”

“That’s fine,” I answered. I wasn’t looking
forward to seeing Geoffrey again, but as long as I didn’t have to do anything
more than wave or say hi, I didn’t mind.

That being said, we relaxed quietly for a while,
just swinging back and forth, enjoying the mild temperature of this beautiful
day as the soft breeze blew gently over us, caressing skin and hair. I
continued to sip at my water glass, feeling all residual tension slip away as
it was replaced by the calm, upbeat energy to which I’d already become quite
accustomed. In the silence that surrounded us, the only chink in my tranquility
continued to be the nagging in the back of my mind as it pecked away in search
of lost memory. Now far less intense than it had been earlier, it was currently
proving to be more annoying than disturbing. Although the largest section of my
consciousness remained hopeful that the recollections would finally break
through, I had to admit that there was another part of me that wished
everything unpleasant would just vanish forever. I wondered why the magic water
wasn’t washing away all of my uneasiness like it had before. For some reason,
it seemed a little less effective than it had been just this morning. Was my
body already starting to build up a tolerance to the precious liquid? What a
pity, I thought, for I really missed the carefree feeling it originally brought
with it. Oh, well. Maybe it wasn’t a tolerance. Maybe I just didn’t need it as
much now as I did earlier. Determined not to let such a tiny imperfection ruin
everything else that was so pleasant about this day, I decided to tuck back all
of my concerns for now and enjoy the rest of this delightful afternoon as it
very slowly slipped toward evening.

From our perch at the swing, Ben and I watched
from a distance as the others passed in and out of our sight, the grace of
their voices and laughter sounding so like the peal of little chimes. It was a
perfect moment and from all that Ben had told me, I knew that such perfect
moments were never rare in this land in which the uncontrollable was so very
well controlled. All things here were impeccable and would continue always to
be, wouldn’t they? Even the leisurely pace at which these flawless people lived
their pampered lives created the illusion of a world long gone by, a world
which, for the most part, had ever only existed for the very rich and even for
them, rarely in reality for any length of time. This setting was the
happily-ever-after section of a modern fairy tale, wasn’t it, one to which I
had actually been invited. My general memories kicked into my barely existent
personal memories just enough for me to realize that things like this didn’t
happen to me. As far as the world was concerned, I knew somehow that I was just
another face in the crowd, yet one more person with a losing lottery ticket.
Why was this being offered to me? And why now? What had I ever done to deserve
this invitation to become one of the beautiful people and to live a lifestyle
that was far too good ever to be true? I looked around me, soaking up the
delight that that greeted all of my senses from every side. This world was
truly magical, wasn’t it? I had finally won the jackpot and the longer I was
here, the more I saw, the more I wanted to keep my winnings. Within this moment
in time, everything was perfect. At least, it would be if only the pestering
grating of recollection would stop trying to scratch its way to the surface.

I sucked down the rest of the water in my glass
and it helped a little but not enough; so I got up from the swing, refilled
both my glass and Ben’s, and returned to my spot where I drank most of it.
Still, the grating did not stop. I couldn’t understand it; if my memories
wanted to come back so bad, why didn’t they just reappear without all of this
damnable discomfort? If only they would materialize without the effort of all
of this annoying fanfare, I would have more than welcomed them back because
they would make my decision so easy. If I knew what my life in the outside was
like, I would be able to tie up all of the loose ends in a neat little package
with a bow, for I could then understand exactly what needed to be taken care of
in order to make a move of this magnitude successful. If I could get to that
point, I knew I would want to continue here, to become ensconced in this
marvelous, magical, mystical world where I could live in true luxury, beauty
and peace. But despite the water and despite all of my pretty hopes, the
scraping of memory against mind still would not stop.

“So tell me, Ashley, how do you like it here so
far?” Ben asked casually.

“It’s like paradise, isn’t it?” I replied, glad to
be taken away from my thoughts, for I sensed they’d been on the verge of taking
an unhappy turn. “So incredibly beautiful.”

“Have you given any more thought about staying with
us?”

“I’m seriously considering it,” I answered. “I’ve
always dreamed of living in a place like this. I least I must have, because who
hasn’t, right?”

“So you’re starting to get used to our lifestyle?”

“It’s not hard to get used to,” I laughed. “It’s both
magnificent and so peaceful here. Tell me, Ben, is it always this tranquil?”

“It is if you want it to be. If you ever do get
bored, there are always excursions into the city, pending Arrosha’s permission,
of course, and team sports right here at the mansion. A lot of the guys here
are into racing. Motorcycles, cars, jet skis, that sort of thing.”

“Ah, so it isn’t always this tranquil. It does get
noisy from time to time.”

“Oh no, never. You can rest assured that you’ll
never hear any noise outside of the participation zones. Both indoors and
outdoors, everything in the mansion and on the grounds is completely
soundproofed.”

“Wow, so there really is something to tempt every
taste.”

“It’s like I tried to tell you before, that’s the
name of the game.”

“This place really bowls me over,” I said. “You
know what’s funny, though, is that out of all these temptations, I honestly
think that the one thing that I like the most is feeling so darn good; I can’t
imagine ever feeling this healthy before.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. Without the essence and the
water, I don’t think it’s even possible. Never forget, either, that the longer
you stay here, the more your health will improve until it reaches the point of
absolute perfection. Everything that you’re experiencing now is just the tip of
the iceberg. At this stage of the game, you can’t even realize yet just how
wonderful you’ll eventually come to feel.”

“I like the sound of that. So, Ben, when do you
need my answer?”

“I don’t want to rush you too much, Ashley, but
now that you’ve been officially approved by Arrosha, the sooner the better.”

“Okay. Well, first of all,” I told him, “I want to
tell you that I’m incredibly flattered to be asked to join your group and I
should have an answer for you pretty quickly. I know you’d think that being
offered to be a included in all of this wealth and luxury would be a
no-brainer, but there’s a part of me that’s still holding out. I don’t even
know why. I hope that being alone tomorrow with my thoughts will help me figure
that out. I honestly think that the only thing that could change my mind now is
if my memories come back with a darn good reason for me to have to leave.”