Megan in Dream Valley

In a half hidden valley, about a huge mountain range, there is a forest. Within that is a meadow, seemingly vacant field. At the edge of it is a solitary house, an outhouse next to it. Humble structure. One who was hovering over it would notice the stoop with a young girl, likely around seventeen knitting away at a scarf.

Sway away she does, carefree to the world she is at the moment. No sound is to be heard, until one member of the herd steps in.

Out of the house steps clot of the year Lyle. Aquamarine coat, silver hair, and hazel eyes, the latter of which are intensely focused on the young lady with the scarf about her neck. His eyes follow it until they see the two letters stitched into the one she's wearing: MW.

"hmm, mmm."

She stops, and looks around. "Hello, Lyle. What brings you up about this hour?"

"I'm restless."

"Oh. I am terribly sorry. I know what that's like. Eight am. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is. Where did you get such a marvelous scarf?"

She fondles he old one about her neck,"This old thing? That's a tale to tell, dearest. Take a seat and listen. Unless you want to get bored, of course."

"Never with you, Megan." "Alright."
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"Megan!" uhh. "Megan!" Damn. "Get your ass up and sweep this floor ii you want breakfast. We don't provide free meals, don't you know?"

I forced myself to get up and took a look in the mirror. In it was an embedded clock that read six AM. Next to it was a cute looking young woman with disheveled hair, frizzy as can be. She didn't look very happy, and she would very, very soon get irritated. I took a look out the window at the flat, mostly barren Kansas landscape. More soil to turn than yesterday.

I came down the stairs to have a nice meal, but only after I took the broom and dustpan into my hands. In three seconds flat, the tiny kitchen floor was about as clean as it could get. I then went out to the porch to sweep away a few leaves that had fallen the night before. I hate these things. How anyone thinks falling leaves fun is beyond me.

I came inside with a thick log and cast it into the fireplace, then entered the kitchen where Mum was flaring away at the stove. Tommy and Margaret were there waxing the table and polishing the silver when I took a seat and I buried my head in my hands. "Hey, hey, none of that. We don't do that here, remember?" I lifted my head and took a fork as a platter with a tall stack of pancakes greeted my nostrils. MMM.

Per usual, Tommy and Margaret finished as quickly as they could, leaving me alone to savor my meal. Just as I finished, a knock came to the door. When Mum answered, a man in a dark suit was standing there. I couldn't make everything out, but it sounded like he wanted a word with me. She didn't ask questions about it, and brought the man in, along with a woman in a dress.

"May we have a moment alone with her, please?" The man asked this with a low voice. Mum replied with a nod and a hum, then left the room. Just as she did, the woman locked the door, turning the inside knob after pressing it. The man reached into his sack and pulled out a stack of papers, which he then placed on his lap. "I hope you don't mind looking at a few pictures, but first, I must ask you: Have you seen anything unusual lately? Been anywhere nop-- nobody has been?"

"I have not." I said on reflex.

"Have you recently been given gifts from strange persons unknown to you?"

"Never." What was this guy's deal? And why is that lady standing there staring daggers at me? And blocking the door? "Are you the police?"

He dodged this by saying,"We are a couple of concerned citizens looking out for the welfare of our great nation."

"Climb off it, man"

"Alright, we are searchers of the paranormal, and think you may have come into contact with it." As he said this, Tommy and Margaret could be seen out the window heading for work. Back to him, the man pulled out a page from the stack. "What have you been doing and/or seeing this last year?"

"Nothing." "Is that so?" "MMM-Hmm."

"Then dig this." He cast the laminated page across the table for me to see perfectly, then asked if it rang a bell.

On it, a photograph of a small horse could be seen, one with an orange coat and large, expressive eyes, not at all the dark black or brown most animal's eyes are. I had to swallow a small gasp of surprise. He can't have that. Damn that Danny. I told him those infernal pictures of his would bite us.

"I think it has stirred something in you." The woman in the straight dress nodded, then grinned at me.

"I have not. That has to be some cardboard cutout, or a statue."

"Perhaps so," Said the man, "But we have more of this creature from behind, and in front."

He had to be bluffing. He wasn't. More of Danny's damning photographs slid to me, revealing AJ's front and rear, and none were in identical poses. And they all had that "dollhouse" in the background.

He slid me one more photograph featuring three more figures. Bray, Zeb, and Spike. "We have found no indication of photo-manipulation. These are about as real as can get. Now where did these come from?"

What? Danny did not hand them over? He must have left them someplace where they should not be, and could be easily found.

"You must be mistaken. I have not seen these pictures before."

"Yet you must have seen the beings within them, no?"

"NO."

He sighed, then pulled out something from the sack. A maroon scarf. Silk. he fastened it around his wrists, then approached me with them. "How would you like this? It's made from the most luscious fabric you have ever seen. Want it? We'll embroider your name on it."

"Get out." They paused. "GET OUT!"

The woman unlocked the door, then the lady apologized for interrupting us, not that we were doing anything. Out I came, and the whole thing went up. Up in my head. They left the house in a hurry, then sped away in a jeep. Mum did not answer anything else, or talk to me. She just went back to dusting, not remotely curious what I was doing, or why those two were here.

I needed to distraction, a diversion. And to inform my colleagues. I pulled out my pendant and raised it above my head. I then crossed my arms and waved them over my head. Step out into the yard and wave with frenzy. In minutes, a pink mass, a blur, appeared in the sky, just in front of the sun. It came to the side, and rapidly grew. At a glance, the uninitiated would think it nothing but an exotic bird, but I knew better.

Before it got too close, an engine roared, and a net flew into the sky, engulfing the form, which then collapsed to the ground with a thud. When I looked, the jeep was there, top down, and what looked like a harpoon gun raised over the vehicle. Then I realized, that woman resembles Reeka.

TBC