MarauderX
Explorer
Taladas vs. MarauderX
Jasper
* * * * *
Marca had been fortunate enough to have kept her glasses on when she drove out to the project site on Tuesday. As an interior architect, she was headed there to inspect what the contractor had built. Usually David, the contractor, got everything right, but for whatever reason the client wasn’t happy and Marca was going to see why. Having seen her fair share of projects in Singapore, Marca had dealt with all types of picky clients.
The sun was dazzling as her car pulled around the bend then screeched to a halt. A lock of hair fell over Marca’s eye as she gripped the wheel and watched the street in front of her begin to drop. The radius of the dropping circle increased at an alarming pace, and without looking behind her she slammed the gearshift into reverse and the car lurched backward to keep pace with the disappearing road.
As soon as it had begun, the road had stopped sinking. Marca looked around, expecting someone else to see what had just happened. She crept towards the edge and peered across the hundred-yard depression in the earth. In the middle of the pit sat a young woman, a few years younger than Marca, and her head pitched backward. Their eyes met and it was clear to Marca that she was ill, her face drained of color. Racing back to her car, Marca called the police and explained what had happened and to send help.
Right after David called. “What happened to you? I thought you were going to meet us here.”
“I was,” Marca said as she monitored the woman in the pit, “but a sink hole nearly ended my day entirely.”
“Wow, glad you’re alright. Well, ah, let’s meet in an hour?” David said.
“Well, if you can wait I’ll be over there to wrap things up. I just want to wait until the police gets here to make sure this woman is okay.” Marca said.
“A woman? Is she in the sinkhole?” David asked.
“Yeah.” Marca replied.
“And she’s sick? How can you tell?” David said.
“Well, her face is pretty pale, like nearly blue.” Marca replied.
“Blue? How blue?” David asked.
“Like, I don’t know, like the blue of the tiles in the bathroom.” Marca answered, her brow furrowed.
“Um, yeah, we still have to talk about that. But Marca, you need to leave before things get messed up. You should head here, now, and I can tell you a bit more.” David said.
“Like how in the world a sinkhole just happens in Singapore? That would be good to know.” Marca said.
“Sure, I can tell you all about it, just come over as soon as the police arrive. And don’t go near that hole!” David said.
Marca sighed, “Of course not, and I’ll see you soon.”
Marca arrived at The Esplanade, a group of theaters on the bay, where she finally parked near the construction trailer. David was at her car in a moment, opening her door.
Marca greeted his kind action with a smirk. “I thought you’d be hiding on the job site somewhere trying to avoid me like usual.”
“Well, not this time. We gotta talk, but not about the project right now.” David said, a hint of worry adding to the heaviness of his words.
Marca’s eyes searched his. “Sure. What’s wrong? Is it that bad?”
“It’s about that woman you saw,” David said as they began walking.
“Her? Why?” Marca said.
“I don’t want this to sound as weird as it’s going to, but right now I need you to know something,” David said, “I believe there are monsters in this world, born from those among us to human parents. Some are born with no arms or legs, or blind or deaf, but that doesn’t matter really. And just as there are physical abnormalities, there can be mental ones too, right? Y’know, like a child can be born without hearing, and another can be born without a conscious or a soul. They’re accidents, and no one’s fault, but some become accidents on purpose, if that makes any sense. They defile themselves to become a monster. A man that lost his hearing has trouble adjusting, but one born deaf suffers from only those that find him disabled.” David said.
They had ascended to the studio on the 4th level and Marca peered at the work she had done for the building’s opening in 2002. They moved to the stairs to continue up to the 6th level.
“Ahh, I think you were starting to lose me with the monster thing.” Marca said.
“Okay, um… a monkey has a tail that can grip things just like a hand, and we can imagine how it might be to have a tail like that, to be able to do the same. But not to a monster. To someone like that the norm might seem ridiculous, since everyone is normal to himself. For the monster without a soul, those with a soul must seem to be ridiculous. Like for a pathological liar, honesty must seem foolish. Also to a monster the normal is their monster.” David said.
She didn’t understand what he was getting at, and his talking seemed to be getting off-course. She liked the man as he was honest and they both loved to trade jibes to keep work more fun than serious.
He said, “I was saying be careful. That woman, in the pit, she probably wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t? Wasn’t what?” Marca asked.
“Normal. Our standard of normal anyway.” he said.
“I don’t know what to say, besides that I think we need to talk about these finishes,”
David seemed put out. He had tried, but knew that she didn’t understand and his face went red. He pursed his lips and ran his hand through his hair several times before letting the subject drift back to work.
* * * * *
The next weeks passed, and Marca had forgotten the woman in the sinkhole to a degree. She hadn’t seen David since the The Esplanade and pushed the thought of his strange talk back into the recesses of her mind.
Marca guided her car onto Orchard Road and looked for parking. Finding a space, she hurried into the office of the Building and Construction Authority, where she hoped her visit would be short. Marca walked by the front desk toward the permit office when she saw David coming the other way.
“Hello stranger,” she said.
“Hello to you too,” he replied as they both slowed to talk.
“Which permit are you going after?” she asked.
“Actually I just came from a seminar on green building and such. We want to do our work better for the city.” he said.
Marca smiled, “Are you sure it’s not just so you can stay competitive? Or is this how you flirt with architects?”
David smiled back, “Yeah, it helps with that too. Look, I have to get going or I’ll get a parking ticket for sure. Catch ya later.”
“I’ll see you.” she said as she waved goodbye.
Marca took the elevator up several floors, walked down the bright corridor and turned the corner toward the permit office. She slammed hard into someone and jumped backward, startled.
“I’m so sorry…” she started, and then she reflexively inhaled, shocked once again by who she saw. It was the woman from the pit, whose eyes were desperate and pained. But now those eyes were languid. Marca looked into those eyes hoping for a hint of recognition, but the woman only gazed at her. Marca beckoned the woman to the end of the deserted corridor and she followed. At least she understood that much, and that’s a start, Marca thought.
Marca gripped her hands and asked the woman her name, where she lived, and why she was here. The girl just stared blankly. Like a lightning bolt, the idea that she was deaf struck Marca. No wonder she hadn’t answered her questions and didn’t speak, she couldn’t! Annoyed with her own foolishness, Marca thought of how to communicate with her.
Marca prattled on as the memory of that day popped into her head. “No wonder, I’m such a dunce sometimes. Well, perhaps you can’t hear me, but you can see me. I know, I bet you can read, yes? Just give me a moment to find a pen, and then you can write your name.”
Movement caught Marca’s eye. Something on the girl’s face was moving, her jaw dropping and something swirled out, and Marca thought at first it was her tongue. Pen in hand she looked up from her purse to see the woman, her mouth open, still staring at her. But there was no tongue. Instead there was a mass of carroty-orange sliding discs, and they slipped back and forth as they swelled in her mouth. She vomitted them at Marca, and they spilled down her chest and to the bottle-green tile floor. The discs slipped over her clothes and somehow slid upward to her mouth, and she refused to scream to let them in. Her legs propelled her down the corridor to the elevator as she swatted several of the discs from her neck and clothing, and she could feel those that had fallen on her feet work their way up her calf underneath her pants. The elevator opened and Marca watched the girl vomit again, sending a second stream of discs cascading onto the floor.
Marca fought the strange things the entire way to the ground floor. She emerged squirming from the elevator to dance across the building lobby as everyone looked on. Outside she threw her blazer to the sidewalk and ran to her car, still feeling several of them crawl upward beneath her blouse. Outside her car she found each of the remaining half-dozen discs and threw them to the ground. Still shivering, she patted herself down to ensure that none remained as onlookers stopped to gauge whether she needed help. With a quick huff Marca was in her car and speeding off.
She replayed what had happened in her mind and thought to call David. He did say some unusual things before, and maybe he knows what it might mean. The third time she called him he picked up.
“Hey, is this you Marca?” he said.
“Yes, yes, remember that girl that was in the sinkhole that you warned me about, it was her, that girl in the hole, she was there, and she was sick… do you know who I’m talking about?” She knew her voice was shaky and that she was rambling, but she couldn’t help it. She was afraid, and David heard her voice rise as she talked.
“Yes, I remember, and you saw her at the permit office just now? What happened?” he said.
“She, she was around the corner and I ran right into her. I tried to talk to her, I thought she was deaf, David! Then she threw up all over me, with these orange things, like poker chips, but they moved and were warm, and they crawled all over me!” said Marca.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think so, but-“
“Did you eat any of them? Or swallow them?” he said, and now his voice was rising, and Marca began crying with fear.
“No! No, I didn’t! David, I didn’t! What are they? What is it, like a disease?” she said.
“I’ve seen her before, and it was something like that. We should meet. I’ll tell you what I know. Where are you now?” he said.
“I’m… turning onto Victoria, headed east - what do you know, David?” she said as she sobbed.
“I don’t know for sure, let’s just meet at the airport and we can talk there. Take the parkway, and I’ll see you soon. Remember the executive suite project that we did there? Meet me there.”
“Okay, David you will be there, right? Because you’ve got to tell me what’s going on,” she said.
He replied, “Yes, of course I’ll be there.”
David was outside the suite and pulled her to one side as she approached. The force had surprised her and her eyes instantly were moist once again. Then David nodded his head towards the suite to indicate someone.
“The woman with the fur hat.” he whispered.
Marca put on her glasses and instantly she saw who he was talking about. When she came into focus her back was to them. Her fur hat hid her head and the tail of it flowed down her back as David pointed distressingly. Marca looked back to David, anticipating that he would at least have an idea of what to do. By the look on his face it was clear he didn’t.
In a moment of clarity Marca slipped around a structural column and David followed.
She asked him in a whisper, “Are you sure that’s her? She was just down on Orchard Road, and was sick all over, how could she get here?”
“It’s her, I saw her walk right by me. I know it’s her, alright!” David said.
“Are we talking about the same woman?” Marca asked.
“Yes, I know it was her that was at the sinkhole. I know it because… I dreamt it for a week, and know exactly what you saw, how you stood near the edge of the hole and peered in, how your eyes caught hers, I know how it happened because I saw it too! In my dream! That’s where I see things, in my dreams, and now you’re gonna think I’m as crazy as she is!” David said.
“No, David, no, I believe you, I do! I understand what you were saying before, and that’s why I called you first. I want to know what’s going on and, and…stop being scared, so let’s find an answer, ok?” Marca said.
David spoke in controlled, hushed tones again. “Right, but the next dream, it was so horrific, I think you end up being overwhelmed by the things as she climbed on top and forced your mouth open, I saw it through your eyes in my dream, I saw your reflection in the window glass, again as if I was you!”
“Well, I’ll stay far away from her then. Can you confront her?” Marca asked.
David poked his head around the column to see her taking a seat facing toward the bay windows and the airplanes beyond. “Okay, I’ll go sit next to her and try to see if it’s like you said, and try to see if she’ll talk. But if something goes wrong, you have to promise me to go somewhere. Just in case we get separated I want you to go here.”
Marca looked deep into his eyes and nodded as she took the plans from him. “David, don’t get too close, just try to see if she’s alive, like if she has a pulse or not. Just…”
She stopped and grabbed his jacket. She didn’t want him to go now, she wanted him to stay there and make her feel secure again. Sensing her fear, David pulled her close and they hugged each other tightly, the smell of his musky jacket blending with her sweet lilac perfume.
David let go and said, “Just stay here, I only saw you in the dream, so no matter what happens don’t come to help, because I didn’t see me in the dream. And my dreams have always been right. You’ll stay here, okay?”
She nodded and again tears began flowing down her cheeks.
David walked up slowly, quietly moving between the aisles of chairs. He was certain the woman hadn’t heard him with the din of noise in the airport. He sat next to her and perched himself forward so he could easily leap away.
“Nice weather we’re having, wouldn’t you say?” he asked. No response from the woman, her hat and coat hiding her face. Strange, he thought, no one wears that much clothing in Singapore.
“Where are you headed to today? Is your flight going to be long?” Again no response and David leaned forward to see that her eyes were indeed open and that she was staring out the window.
“Where are you from? I’d say Europe, you don’t have enough of a tan to be from here.” David was closer, trying to discern whether her chest was rising to take in breaths. It was then that David saw Marca’s reflection in the window, saw that she was safely thirty meters behind them, and knew that in his dream he wasn’t looking through her eyes, but his own.
The woman caught David off guard as his mind raced to the conclusion of his dream, and she was on him, spewing orange discs into his disbelieving face. He felt them swarm over him, filling his mouth and forcing their way down his gullet. Marca watched David gag reflexively several times and she screamed out, taking a step in his direction. His eyes rolled back in his head and he quivered until prone as several others nearby gasped and retreated away from him.
David rose, his movements rigid and jerky. Marca took a step backward. The woman’s body was slumped in the seat, and the vacant look had turned to one of death, her pupils dull and her muscles relaxed. David, the ghastly David, ambled toward her, slapping his shoes awkwardly on the tile. Marca didn’t want to know if he could talk to her, she didn’t want to even try. She gripped the plans in her arms and heard them crumple as she jogged away, tears streaming once again.
* * * * *
Marca looked at where the plans would lead her. The zoo. It had to be a joke, she thought at first, but she had to follow it since it was the last thing David had given her. She kept having to pull the glasses off to see the map of the zoo then put them back on as she drove to it. Living in Singapore for seven years, Marca had considered the Singaporean Zoo as a great family place but had never been there.
Marca parked her car and glanced over the plans that indicated which part of the zoo David had highlighted. It was after sunset when she arrived, but Marca was able to get in during the Night Safari hours. She made her way through the zoo and heard a howler monkey shouting somewhere close by. By David’s notes in the plans, she needed to head to the open exhibit and look for something like a magical lemur.
Marca moved around the walkways looking for what she thought would be a magical lemur when she heard a voice behind her.
“And you are looking…for…me?” the voice said.
Marca turned her head then her body followed to face it. On the tree was a monkey of some type, with huge eyes, but it wore a top hat, cane and had wads of American dollars stuffed into a pouch along its side. This had to be what David was talking about.
“Yes, I think so.” she said.
“I should think so too. You are much like he said, skeptical and sincere at the same time.” it said.
Marca held up the plans. “I was directed here to see you, by a man named David, do you happen to know him?”
“I know those plans, I did everything but write them for him. Listen, dear woman, you must take me to him.” it said.
“But, how do I get you out of here? Aren’t you trapped here? No, what I mean is, this is your home, and wouldn’t someone notice if you were missing?” she asked.
“No, no not really, I can’t think of anyone that would. My name is Jasper, and you must take me to David immediately. He finally figured out his dreams for himself, and it’s finally caught up to him. Come, fit me beneath your shirt.” it said.
* * * * *
In the parking lot Jasper asked what had happened to David, and soon they were on their way to the airport to see if he was still there. Arriving at the same point near the executive suite, Marca’s mind raced with how to smuggle a talking lemur into the airport. She decided to use her large presentation case, a flat, wide leather case that would work, but the lemur would definitely make the sides bulge.
Inside the airport Marca saw David from a distance. “Now what?” she asked.
Jasper rustled in the flat bag to get a look. “You have to make the orange discs appear once again, and then I can deal with them. You need to bait them into emerging. Can you do that?”
Marca’s knees went weak for a moment. The thought of risk had never occurred to her and she thought about dropping Jasper and running away. But she would have to do it. “Yes, I will, should you come with me?” she asked.
“Take me with you, but let me free when you get to him. Don’t let him see me!” Jasper said.
They crossed the lobby to David as he sat in an uncomfortable position facing the bay window, the unmoving corpse of the unknown woman to his right. Marca had given herself a pep talk before walking straight to him. He saw her coming and struggled to stand by the time she got there. They looked at each other, Marca’s puffy eyes meeting David’s blank gaze. She grabbed David by the shoulder as his mouth began to peek open, revealing the sliding orange discs in his mouth. Marca dropped the case to the floor and closed her eyes, waiting until the discs began washing over her, tugging at her mouth. She waited and waited as she felt them swirling over her, bearing her down to the floor with their collective weight.
Marca risked opening her eyes and brushing some away to see where Jasper had gone or what he was doing. When she did she saw the blurry form of the lemur on the seat next to the woman, she could tell that he was watching, as if waiting. Jasper saw her eyes on him for a moment and couldn’t resist talking to her.
“Are you wondering why I’m just sitting here, hmm?” Jasper began. “You see I found these pets in the zoo, where they inhabited a rhinoceros.”
Marca struggled to hold her mouth shut against the discs and tried to clasp her hands over her mouth. When she did she felt a snap, like static electricity, hit her hands and arms.
Jasper continued, “They are an amazing parasite, don’t you think? Now that you’ve helped me thwart David’s clairvoyance I can try to escape this damned city-nation for holding me captive for so long.”
Marca could no longer resist. She felt the first disc enter her mouth as she struggled on the floor, electrical pulses causing her body to spasm. She bit into the thing, hard, hoping to feel the hard carapace give between her teeth, but it only held her jaw open wide enough for the next one to slide into her mouth.
“Sinkhole by sinkhole I would have made this place the next Atlantis…but now that I’m free we’ll see if anyone can stop us.”
Marca felt them slide down her throat one by one, electrical zaps coursing through her body, and she felt herself giving in.
“Come, let’s find ourselves a nice flight out of this place.” Jasper said as he climbed onto Marca’s shoulder, tipping his hat at the few onlookers who had witnessed what had happened but questioned themselves if they had really seen what had occurred.
Marca was in a dream now, a terrible one, where she saw herself ambling down the wide corridor and could do nothing.
* * * * *
Jasper
* * * * *
Marca had been fortunate enough to have kept her glasses on when she drove out to the project site on Tuesday. As an interior architect, she was headed there to inspect what the contractor had built. Usually David, the contractor, got everything right, but for whatever reason the client wasn’t happy and Marca was going to see why. Having seen her fair share of projects in Singapore, Marca had dealt with all types of picky clients.
The sun was dazzling as her car pulled around the bend then screeched to a halt. A lock of hair fell over Marca’s eye as she gripped the wheel and watched the street in front of her begin to drop. The radius of the dropping circle increased at an alarming pace, and without looking behind her she slammed the gearshift into reverse and the car lurched backward to keep pace with the disappearing road.
As soon as it had begun, the road had stopped sinking. Marca looked around, expecting someone else to see what had just happened. She crept towards the edge and peered across the hundred-yard depression in the earth. In the middle of the pit sat a young woman, a few years younger than Marca, and her head pitched backward. Their eyes met and it was clear to Marca that she was ill, her face drained of color. Racing back to her car, Marca called the police and explained what had happened and to send help.
Right after David called. “What happened to you? I thought you were going to meet us here.”
“I was,” Marca said as she monitored the woman in the pit, “but a sink hole nearly ended my day entirely.”
“Wow, glad you’re alright. Well, ah, let’s meet in an hour?” David said.
“Well, if you can wait I’ll be over there to wrap things up. I just want to wait until the police gets here to make sure this woman is okay.” Marca said.
“A woman? Is she in the sinkhole?” David asked.
“Yeah.” Marca replied.
“And she’s sick? How can you tell?” David said.
“Well, her face is pretty pale, like nearly blue.” Marca replied.
“Blue? How blue?” David asked.
“Like, I don’t know, like the blue of the tiles in the bathroom.” Marca answered, her brow furrowed.
“Um, yeah, we still have to talk about that. But Marca, you need to leave before things get messed up. You should head here, now, and I can tell you a bit more.” David said.
“Like how in the world a sinkhole just happens in Singapore? That would be good to know.” Marca said.
“Sure, I can tell you all about it, just come over as soon as the police arrive. And don’t go near that hole!” David said.
Marca sighed, “Of course not, and I’ll see you soon.”
Marca arrived at The Esplanade, a group of theaters on the bay, where she finally parked near the construction trailer. David was at her car in a moment, opening her door.
Marca greeted his kind action with a smirk. “I thought you’d be hiding on the job site somewhere trying to avoid me like usual.”
“Well, not this time. We gotta talk, but not about the project right now.” David said, a hint of worry adding to the heaviness of his words.
Marca’s eyes searched his. “Sure. What’s wrong? Is it that bad?”
“It’s about that woman you saw,” David said as they began walking.
“Her? Why?” Marca said.
“I don’t want this to sound as weird as it’s going to, but right now I need you to know something,” David said, “I believe there are monsters in this world, born from those among us to human parents. Some are born with no arms or legs, or blind or deaf, but that doesn’t matter really. And just as there are physical abnormalities, there can be mental ones too, right? Y’know, like a child can be born without hearing, and another can be born without a conscious or a soul. They’re accidents, and no one’s fault, but some become accidents on purpose, if that makes any sense. They defile themselves to become a monster. A man that lost his hearing has trouble adjusting, but one born deaf suffers from only those that find him disabled.” David said.
They had ascended to the studio on the 4th level and Marca peered at the work she had done for the building’s opening in 2002. They moved to the stairs to continue up to the 6th level.
“Ahh, I think you were starting to lose me with the monster thing.” Marca said.
“Okay, um… a monkey has a tail that can grip things just like a hand, and we can imagine how it might be to have a tail like that, to be able to do the same. But not to a monster. To someone like that the norm might seem ridiculous, since everyone is normal to himself. For the monster without a soul, those with a soul must seem to be ridiculous. Like for a pathological liar, honesty must seem foolish. Also to a monster the normal is their monster.” David said.
She didn’t understand what he was getting at, and his talking seemed to be getting off-course. She liked the man as he was honest and they both loved to trade jibes to keep work more fun than serious.
He said, “I was saying be careful. That woman, in the pit, she probably wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t? Wasn’t what?” Marca asked.
“Normal. Our standard of normal anyway.” he said.
“I don’t know what to say, besides that I think we need to talk about these finishes,”
David seemed put out. He had tried, but knew that she didn’t understand and his face went red. He pursed his lips and ran his hand through his hair several times before letting the subject drift back to work.
* * * * *
The next weeks passed, and Marca had forgotten the woman in the sinkhole to a degree. She hadn’t seen David since the The Esplanade and pushed the thought of his strange talk back into the recesses of her mind.
Marca guided her car onto Orchard Road and looked for parking. Finding a space, she hurried into the office of the Building and Construction Authority, where she hoped her visit would be short. Marca walked by the front desk toward the permit office when she saw David coming the other way.
“Hello stranger,” she said.
“Hello to you too,” he replied as they both slowed to talk.
“Which permit are you going after?” she asked.
“Actually I just came from a seminar on green building and such. We want to do our work better for the city.” he said.
Marca smiled, “Are you sure it’s not just so you can stay competitive? Or is this how you flirt with architects?”
David smiled back, “Yeah, it helps with that too. Look, I have to get going or I’ll get a parking ticket for sure. Catch ya later.”
“I’ll see you.” she said as she waved goodbye.
Marca took the elevator up several floors, walked down the bright corridor and turned the corner toward the permit office. She slammed hard into someone and jumped backward, startled.
“I’m so sorry…” she started, and then she reflexively inhaled, shocked once again by who she saw. It was the woman from the pit, whose eyes were desperate and pained. But now those eyes were languid. Marca looked into those eyes hoping for a hint of recognition, but the woman only gazed at her. Marca beckoned the woman to the end of the deserted corridor and she followed. At least she understood that much, and that’s a start, Marca thought.
Marca gripped her hands and asked the woman her name, where she lived, and why she was here. The girl just stared blankly. Like a lightning bolt, the idea that she was deaf struck Marca. No wonder she hadn’t answered her questions and didn’t speak, she couldn’t! Annoyed with her own foolishness, Marca thought of how to communicate with her.
Marca prattled on as the memory of that day popped into her head. “No wonder, I’m such a dunce sometimes. Well, perhaps you can’t hear me, but you can see me. I know, I bet you can read, yes? Just give me a moment to find a pen, and then you can write your name.”
Movement caught Marca’s eye. Something on the girl’s face was moving, her jaw dropping and something swirled out, and Marca thought at first it was her tongue. Pen in hand she looked up from her purse to see the woman, her mouth open, still staring at her. But there was no tongue. Instead there was a mass of carroty-orange sliding discs, and they slipped back and forth as they swelled in her mouth. She vomitted them at Marca, and they spilled down her chest and to the bottle-green tile floor. The discs slipped over her clothes and somehow slid upward to her mouth, and she refused to scream to let them in. Her legs propelled her down the corridor to the elevator as she swatted several of the discs from her neck and clothing, and she could feel those that had fallen on her feet work their way up her calf underneath her pants. The elevator opened and Marca watched the girl vomit again, sending a second stream of discs cascading onto the floor.
Marca fought the strange things the entire way to the ground floor. She emerged squirming from the elevator to dance across the building lobby as everyone looked on. Outside she threw her blazer to the sidewalk and ran to her car, still feeling several of them crawl upward beneath her blouse. Outside her car she found each of the remaining half-dozen discs and threw them to the ground. Still shivering, she patted herself down to ensure that none remained as onlookers stopped to gauge whether she needed help. With a quick huff Marca was in her car and speeding off.
She replayed what had happened in her mind and thought to call David. He did say some unusual things before, and maybe he knows what it might mean. The third time she called him he picked up.
“Hey, is this you Marca?” he said.
“Yes, yes, remember that girl that was in the sinkhole that you warned me about, it was her, that girl in the hole, she was there, and she was sick… do you know who I’m talking about?” She knew her voice was shaky and that she was rambling, but she couldn’t help it. She was afraid, and David heard her voice rise as she talked.
“Yes, I remember, and you saw her at the permit office just now? What happened?” he said.
“She, she was around the corner and I ran right into her. I tried to talk to her, I thought she was deaf, David! Then she threw up all over me, with these orange things, like poker chips, but they moved and were warm, and they crawled all over me!” said Marca.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think so, but-“
“Did you eat any of them? Or swallow them?” he said, and now his voice was rising, and Marca began crying with fear.
“No! No, I didn’t! David, I didn’t! What are they? What is it, like a disease?” she said.
“I’ve seen her before, and it was something like that. We should meet. I’ll tell you what I know. Where are you now?” he said.
“I’m… turning onto Victoria, headed east - what do you know, David?” she said as she sobbed.
“I don’t know for sure, let’s just meet at the airport and we can talk there. Take the parkway, and I’ll see you soon. Remember the executive suite project that we did there? Meet me there.”
“Okay, David you will be there, right? Because you’ve got to tell me what’s going on,” she said.
He replied, “Yes, of course I’ll be there.”
David was outside the suite and pulled her to one side as she approached. The force had surprised her and her eyes instantly were moist once again. Then David nodded his head towards the suite to indicate someone.
“The woman with the fur hat.” he whispered.
Marca put on her glasses and instantly she saw who he was talking about. When she came into focus her back was to them. Her fur hat hid her head and the tail of it flowed down her back as David pointed distressingly. Marca looked back to David, anticipating that he would at least have an idea of what to do. By the look on his face it was clear he didn’t.
In a moment of clarity Marca slipped around a structural column and David followed.
She asked him in a whisper, “Are you sure that’s her? She was just down on Orchard Road, and was sick all over, how could she get here?”
“It’s her, I saw her walk right by me. I know it’s her, alright!” David said.
“Are we talking about the same woman?” Marca asked.
“Yes, I know it was her that was at the sinkhole. I know it because… I dreamt it for a week, and know exactly what you saw, how you stood near the edge of the hole and peered in, how your eyes caught hers, I know how it happened because I saw it too! In my dream! That’s where I see things, in my dreams, and now you’re gonna think I’m as crazy as she is!” David said.
“No, David, no, I believe you, I do! I understand what you were saying before, and that’s why I called you first. I want to know what’s going on and, and…stop being scared, so let’s find an answer, ok?” Marca said.
David spoke in controlled, hushed tones again. “Right, but the next dream, it was so horrific, I think you end up being overwhelmed by the things as she climbed on top and forced your mouth open, I saw it through your eyes in my dream, I saw your reflection in the window glass, again as if I was you!”
“Well, I’ll stay far away from her then. Can you confront her?” Marca asked.
David poked his head around the column to see her taking a seat facing toward the bay windows and the airplanes beyond. “Okay, I’ll go sit next to her and try to see if it’s like you said, and try to see if she’ll talk. But if something goes wrong, you have to promise me to go somewhere. Just in case we get separated I want you to go here.”
Marca looked deep into his eyes and nodded as she took the plans from him. “David, don’t get too close, just try to see if she’s alive, like if she has a pulse or not. Just…”
She stopped and grabbed his jacket. She didn’t want him to go now, she wanted him to stay there and make her feel secure again. Sensing her fear, David pulled her close and they hugged each other tightly, the smell of his musky jacket blending with her sweet lilac perfume.
David let go and said, “Just stay here, I only saw you in the dream, so no matter what happens don’t come to help, because I didn’t see me in the dream. And my dreams have always been right. You’ll stay here, okay?”
She nodded and again tears began flowing down her cheeks.
David walked up slowly, quietly moving between the aisles of chairs. He was certain the woman hadn’t heard him with the din of noise in the airport. He sat next to her and perched himself forward so he could easily leap away.
“Nice weather we’re having, wouldn’t you say?” he asked. No response from the woman, her hat and coat hiding her face. Strange, he thought, no one wears that much clothing in Singapore.
“Where are you headed to today? Is your flight going to be long?” Again no response and David leaned forward to see that her eyes were indeed open and that she was staring out the window.
“Where are you from? I’d say Europe, you don’t have enough of a tan to be from here.” David was closer, trying to discern whether her chest was rising to take in breaths. It was then that David saw Marca’s reflection in the window, saw that she was safely thirty meters behind them, and knew that in his dream he wasn’t looking through her eyes, but his own.
The woman caught David off guard as his mind raced to the conclusion of his dream, and she was on him, spewing orange discs into his disbelieving face. He felt them swarm over him, filling his mouth and forcing their way down his gullet. Marca watched David gag reflexively several times and she screamed out, taking a step in his direction. His eyes rolled back in his head and he quivered until prone as several others nearby gasped and retreated away from him.
David rose, his movements rigid and jerky. Marca took a step backward. The woman’s body was slumped in the seat, and the vacant look had turned to one of death, her pupils dull and her muscles relaxed. David, the ghastly David, ambled toward her, slapping his shoes awkwardly on the tile. Marca didn’t want to know if he could talk to her, she didn’t want to even try. She gripped the plans in her arms and heard them crumple as she jogged away, tears streaming once again.
* * * * *
Marca looked at where the plans would lead her. The zoo. It had to be a joke, she thought at first, but she had to follow it since it was the last thing David had given her. She kept having to pull the glasses off to see the map of the zoo then put them back on as she drove to it. Living in Singapore for seven years, Marca had considered the Singaporean Zoo as a great family place but had never been there.
Marca parked her car and glanced over the plans that indicated which part of the zoo David had highlighted. It was after sunset when she arrived, but Marca was able to get in during the Night Safari hours. She made her way through the zoo and heard a howler monkey shouting somewhere close by. By David’s notes in the plans, she needed to head to the open exhibit and look for something like a magical lemur.
Marca moved around the walkways looking for what she thought would be a magical lemur when she heard a voice behind her.
“And you are looking…for…me?” the voice said.
Marca turned her head then her body followed to face it. On the tree was a monkey of some type, with huge eyes, but it wore a top hat, cane and had wads of American dollars stuffed into a pouch along its side. This had to be what David was talking about.
“Yes, I think so.” she said.
“I should think so too. You are much like he said, skeptical and sincere at the same time.” it said.
Marca held up the plans. “I was directed here to see you, by a man named David, do you happen to know him?”
“I know those plans, I did everything but write them for him. Listen, dear woman, you must take me to him.” it said.
“But, how do I get you out of here? Aren’t you trapped here? No, what I mean is, this is your home, and wouldn’t someone notice if you were missing?” she asked.
“No, no not really, I can’t think of anyone that would. My name is Jasper, and you must take me to David immediately. He finally figured out his dreams for himself, and it’s finally caught up to him. Come, fit me beneath your shirt.” it said.
* * * * *
In the parking lot Jasper asked what had happened to David, and soon they were on their way to the airport to see if he was still there. Arriving at the same point near the executive suite, Marca’s mind raced with how to smuggle a talking lemur into the airport. She decided to use her large presentation case, a flat, wide leather case that would work, but the lemur would definitely make the sides bulge.
Inside the airport Marca saw David from a distance. “Now what?” she asked.
Jasper rustled in the flat bag to get a look. “You have to make the orange discs appear once again, and then I can deal with them. You need to bait them into emerging. Can you do that?”
Marca’s knees went weak for a moment. The thought of risk had never occurred to her and she thought about dropping Jasper and running away. But she would have to do it. “Yes, I will, should you come with me?” she asked.
“Take me with you, but let me free when you get to him. Don’t let him see me!” Jasper said.
They crossed the lobby to David as he sat in an uncomfortable position facing the bay window, the unmoving corpse of the unknown woman to his right. Marca had given herself a pep talk before walking straight to him. He saw her coming and struggled to stand by the time she got there. They looked at each other, Marca’s puffy eyes meeting David’s blank gaze. She grabbed David by the shoulder as his mouth began to peek open, revealing the sliding orange discs in his mouth. Marca dropped the case to the floor and closed her eyes, waiting until the discs began washing over her, tugging at her mouth. She waited and waited as she felt them swirling over her, bearing her down to the floor with their collective weight.
Marca risked opening her eyes and brushing some away to see where Jasper had gone or what he was doing. When she did she saw the blurry form of the lemur on the seat next to the woman, she could tell that he was watching, as if waiting. Jasper saw her eyes on him for a moment and couldn’t resist talking to her.
“Are you wondering why I’m just sitting here, hmm?” Jasper began. “You see I found these pets in the zoo, where they inhabited a rhinoceros.”
Marca struggled to hold her mouth shut against the discs and tried to clasp her hands over her mouth. When she did she felt a snap, like static electricity, hit her hands and arms.
Jasper continued, “They are an amazing parasite, don’t you think? Now that you’ve helped me thwart David’s clairvoyance I can try to escape this damned city-nation for holding me captive for so long.”
Marca could no longer resist. She felt the first disc enter her mouth as she struggled on the floor, electrical pulses causing her body to spasm. She bit into the thing, hard, hoping to feel the hard carapace give between her teeth, but it only held her jaw open wide enough for the next one to slide into her mouth.
“Sinkhole by sinkhole I would have made this place the next Atlantis…but now that I’m free we’ll see if anyone can stop us.”
Marca felt them slide down her throat one by one, electrical zaps coursing through her body, and she felt herself giving in.
“Come, let’s find ourselves a nice flight out of this place.” Jasper said as he climbed onto Marca’s shoulder, tipping his hat at the few onlookers who had witnessed what had happened but questioned themselves if they had really seen what had occurred.
Marca was in a dream now, a terrible one, where she saw herself ambling down the wide corridor and could do nothing.
* * * * *