I went to sleep at a quarter to twelve and woke up almost four
hours later, screaming. My heart was ricocheting around my rib cage and my
throat felt like someone tried to drown me in a pool full of sand. I was slick
with sweat and my wife was up and peering down at me, asking me what was wrong.
Was I OK? She seemed like she wanted to touch me but didn’t know if that was a
good idea. “You were screaming and fighting in your sleep.” She told me. “Was
it a bad dream?” I nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?” I didn’t but I didn’t
tell her that. Instead I gently pushed her aside and sat up. “I need some
water.” I stood up, teetered a bit and stretched my arm out, planting my palm
flat against the wall to steady myself. After a moment I found my equilibrium, found
my slippers and shuffled out of the room.
Three cold glasses of water and I still wanted more. I had
to stave myself though, I was no longer drinking because I was thirsty or even
hot but because I was trying to wash away the details of my dream, with little
success. And so I opened up my lap top and began to type:
He was lying on a
steel autopsy table a few yards in front of me. From what I could see he was
naked except for a white sheet that covered him from ankle to sternum. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t even breathing but
my hand still instinctively moved to the holster on my right hip. I didn’t draw
but knowing my weapon was there was still reassuring.
I slowly closed the
distance between me and the table. It was him alright; I would recognize that
face anywhere; Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of Uganda. For someone who
had been in power for close to sixty years he looked awfully young. His skin
was not only unlined but had a synthetic, rubbery look to it. Taking a deep
breath I took a finger and ventured a stab at a cheek. It felt like skin but
there was something off about it. I leaned in, examined the face that I knew couldn’t
possibly be real. I poked at his nose and when there was no reaction I pulled
at it- still nothing. And then, on a hunch I’ll never be able to explain, I
grabbed his left ear and tugged at it like I was turning a page. At first there was a
little resistance but then suddenly his ear came off, the rest of his face
along with it.
It took a moment to
process but I was staring down at a skull of gleaming metal, a ghoulish grin
of human teeth aimed up at the ceiling. Another moment and I
remembered that I was holding this things face by its ear and letting out a small scream I chucked
it clear across the room. I turned so I could put some ground between myself and
whatever this thing was when a cold hand grabbed me by the wrist and pulled. Turning back I
reached for my holster and drew my weapon. I---
“Hey, what are you doing?” I looked up from the screen of my
lap top; my wife was standing in the doorway in one of my boxers and a vest.
She looked concerned. “Nothing.” I told her. “Then come to bed.” I didn’t move.
“Now.” Without thinking about it a second more I closed the lap top and went to
bed.
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