Phenomenology: Part 3

Jordan has been away so much , that I have resumed babysitting for my now 12 year old neighbor Meagan. I really missed Meagan. Her mother is a single mom, so she always has errands to run. So she really appreciates my helping out, and I am glad to do it. Anyhow I feel I missed out on babysitting as a teenager. I was considered a girl genius,Although the genius did not extend to my social or romantic life, which was a disaster. I was working on my B.A degree at fourteen, and no one wanted the blind girl to babysit. I felt cheated. So I guess this is helping me to make up for what I missed. I decided to use the babysitting to try out some of my theories , well one theory. Meagan is scared of the dark, like most sighted children. So I decided to teach her to how to get around safely in the dark, to see whether it would decrease her fear of the dark. Yes, it is working; maybe more parents with children that are scared of the dark should get a blind babysitter. Anyhow no one asks my advice. As I suspected the fear is a result of feeling helpless. And in turn I asked her to help me by observing and collecting girly flirty mannerisms; for some reason this was never taught in any of the blind programs I attended when I was young.I must say she attacked the the research with an enthusiasm I have never seen in all my time in academia. Anyhow, I picked up a couple of new mannerisms: the parade float wave, and a new way to point. I now point like a young boy makes a gun with his hand, thumb held straight up and down, with a snap of the wrist. The parade float wave is holding your forearm up and down while rotating a cupped hand. This was what I was doing a few days before the weekend I due to fly out to the philosophy conference with Nora, and Paul. The only reason I was going was to get the cube piece of the Mystograph. Paul had told me that Professor Adrian Manafort was going to sell me the cube for the same price I paid for the octahedron. I should have been suspicious, because Paul seemed to know it was I who wanted the cube, and not the store. I really wanted the piece, and the only condition was I had to pick it up myself. It seems Adrian Manafort, or Adrian had been something of a mentor to Nora and Paul when they were undergraduates. Adrian had also been a friend to Paul's uncle who had the octahedron. Like I said I should have been more suspicious, but Adrian was a tenured academic, and I felt safe in academia. Anyhow, it was summer, and even though I don't like flying and airports, I had no choice, but to go if I wanted the other Platonic solid, and I was bored. Nora, and Paul are both good at navigating me around, so the airports and flight were uneventful. it was so uneventful that I decided to take stock of Nora, and Paul. Nora was about 5 feet 2 inches tall, whole Paul I estimated at 5 feet 5 inches slightly shorter than me in flats, I towered over him in heels. Although I was not taking any heels this trip, everyone had assured me the seminar was casual, you know the hot humid mid-western summer. I had decided to wear leggings sneakers and oversize T-shirts. I also don't like packing. To get back to Paul and Nora, they were both soft, slightly overweight. I was an more physically fit than usual, I had started working out with Jai, and she pushed. I am firmer and leaner than ever. Jai had been a college track star (high hurdles were her best event), and she kept in magnificent shape. Standing at 5 feet 9 inches I have heard her described as a bronze goddess. So Paul and Nora were a good match physically; As for mentally Nora was the smarter and more aggressive, like I have said it is hard to find anything in Paul that stands out. Although I am told he has beautiful blue eyes. Anyhow, the first surprise was that we were staying with Adrian at a large farm house that he owned. It had more than enough room for all of us. I remember when Nora was navigating me into the farmhouse the crows were cawing like crazy. I should have taken the warning, but I didn't. We arrived late Friday afternoon. Adrian had a delicious dinner for us, it was supposed to be pork roast, but it wasn't. It tasted odd good but odd, I just thought it was seasoning. After dinner we sat in the huge living room and talked. I must say talking to Meagan is far more interesting than listening to Nora and Paul. Adrian was a perfect host, and assured me that tomorrow night he would have the Platonic solid (the cube). With this news I lost all interest in the three of them, and excused myself to take a long leisurely bubble bath, and go to bed early: flying make me tired. I had very strange dreams that night, probably something I ate. The seminar turned out to be a very casual affair, it was grad students and Professors talking about what they were working on. They asked me to speak, I accepted of course, I love talking about my ideas. I led off with the theory of time, I had received from Yog Sothoth. I did modify the example of crossing the street to fit my blind phenomenological approach. Explaining that when you decide to cross a street, you listen for traffic, check the curb with your cane, before crossing. This was a bridge into my ideas about the visual bias in thinking. I expanded by explaining why I thought blind arthors should use a phenomenological approach when writing. I would love someday to read a blind counterpart to Sartre's novel "Nausea". That blind authors need to build up a tradition of metaphors, and associations for the blind experience. I even got a few intelligent questions, which was a change, mostly I get silence when discussing my ideas. Everything seemed to going well. We all went out for dinner after the seminar. When we got back to the farmhouse, we sat around in the living room talking about the seminar, and philosophy. I mostly listened Adrian brought the cube in and I paid him. The hours ticked away, it was getting late, near midnight, it was a most enjoyable conversation. I don't know if it was the smell, or Nora's screams that first alerted me that things had gone very wrong. I knew instantly what the smell was, even though I had never encountered it before: Ghouls.They smelled just like you imagine, a stink of matted, dirty fur, rotting corpses, and filth. I checked back my vomit reflex. I head the Ghouls grab Nora and shut her up.Paul was silent, he had gone into shock. I think I heard a gasp from Paul, but it was hard to hear anything, but Nora's screaming. Once Nora was gagged, Adrian explained: " I am so happy that you could meet my new bride, and my fathers' side of the family. You see I am half Ghoul, my father was a Ghoul. It has taken me a long time to accept my Ghoul half. Now, I have not only accepted it, I have married a Ghoul princess." I found out later the Ghoul princess was daughter of King Grom, the leader of the Ghouls in that area. Turns out Ghouls art tribal. Of course Ghoul Kings were more like chieftains than Kings. He concluded with: " I am finally happy with who I am." I was feeling stupid for ignoring my warnings and not trusting my instincts, and I had no plan. So to stall for time I asked: "Why the introductions?" In times of crisis I become calm, danger seems to focus my mind like nothing else. Adrian seemed pleased with the questions, and continued in the same triumphant tone: "You see Gwen, I told Paul to have you bring the octahedron, but he forgot to tell you. I now realize how much I must have hated myself to like Paul, and think he had any potential. That time of my life is now over. I was supposed to receive the octahedron at the death of Paul's uncle, but was not informed of his death till after his possessions had been sent to Paul, or you would not have been involved. I have found a good use for Paul, He is going to serve as the feast of my half brother's wedding to Nora. When I say serve I mean we are gong to eat him." At this I heard a lot of chittering laughter from the Ghouls. I heard Nora struggle some, but Paul must have been in shock, I heard only silence from him. Adrian than continued in the same exuberant tone: "Paul has always been useless." Adrian than spoke to the Ghouls in their chittering language. We were then handcuffed at the wrists, and ankles, and carried into a series of underground tunnels below the farmhouse. When I say tunnels they were nothing like the eldritch tunnels of the Elder Race, that I had explored with Jai.. Instead, they were like a rat borough. The tunnels were not laid out with any plan, and had no logic to them,they just seemed to dig them as needed. The varied in height and width, most of them only wide enough to go thorough single file and seldom higher than than 6 feet. They were tight. Ghouls are around 5 feet tall. And they smelled awful, Ghouls have no hygiene, I had to breathe through my mouth the smell brought on retching. I was glad I was still wearing leggings and sneakers and a T-shirt. I would have rather been garbed in tactical clothes, but it was better than heels and a short skirt. In carrying me the Ghouls jostled me against the walls. The walls were just loose dirt with enough scaffolding to keep the tunnels from collapsing. We finally arrived at a room, which seemed to take a long time, and dropped on the ground. I use the term "room' loosely, it was just a wide spot in one of the tunnels. There were no proper rooms, only wide spots where the Ghouls would store stuff. The floor of the room was loose dirt and filth, Ghouls drop there garbage anywhere. Paul came out of his stupor some when we were dropped. He started pleading with Adrian to release us. Adrian's only reply was "Aw, No" the Ghouls also took the took the gag out of Nora's mouth, I could hear her sobbing and crying. Not that it did any good. Adrian's parting words were: "Scream all you want, you are deep underground. I want to give you all time to think your fate, especially you Gwen. I want the octahedron. I will fetch all of you later I need to eat and relax." At this they left. I yelled over to Paul, it took several times to get an answer. I asked if he saw anything we could use to escape. I got back the weak and depressed reply: "I can't see anything, we are in total darkness, there is no hope!" Great, I was with two traumatized sighted people in total darkness, that meant it was all up to me. Adrian took our phones and personal belongings. I had to think, and Nora's shrieks and sobbing was distracting me. I told Paul to roll over to her, and try to comfort her. He did as I told him. I racked my brain. It took some time, but I did I did come up with something. It seems I was being force to use my new power of necromancy, I had tried to forget about it, it is such a creepy power. You know, accessing the minds of the dead. I stilled my mind and sent out a mental probe to the dead .I got a hit, there was a dead policeman about twenty yards up an adjoining tunnel. Yes it was getting even creepier. It seems Ghouls like their meat aged, you know, putrid, and rotten. I picked out of the dead policeman's brain, that he had been killed in another town (it makes you wonder how far these tunnels extend) and brought here to age. The thought of what that pork roast was flashed in my mind, I pushed out the thought. Anyhow the policeman still had his keys and gun on him. I yelled out to Paul, that I was going to try something, and to try to keep Nora calm. I got a grunted "Ok".The first thing I did was to pass my hands under my feet, so my hands were in front. I then started to roll, crawl, and move in the direction of the corpse of the policeman. I tried not to think about what the wet spots on the floor were, although when I forgot to breathe only through my mouth, I was reminded. I would say that the rolling and crawling through that tunnel was the most disgusting thing I have ever done,if it was not for what came next. On reaching the rotting corpse, I had feel around for the key ring. Ick, yuk! I did find the key ring on the policeman's gun belt.I felt the keys till I came to one that was smaller than the rest, I recognized it as a handcuff key. My knowledge of handcuff keys is of course thanks to Jai. It worked, I guess handcuffs are pretty standard. I got the cuffs off my hands and feet. I finally stood up, what a relief. I still had to reach down to get the gun belt off. I checked the gun, it was also a standard police issue semi-automatic pistol. Again this knowledge was thanks to Jai. She has also taught me how to use use police weapons. I returned the gun to its holster, and lung the gun belt over my shoulder like a bandoleer. I was taking some time to collect myself, and brush myself off. My clothes were covered in dirt, and my hair was a disaster. I was wondering if I would ever feel clean again, when I heard a mental voice: a Ghoul voice: Great Necromancer, I am called Velk. I did not realize who you are." This is a loose translation Ghoul language and thinking are very feral. I felt something being nudged against my leg. It was my backpack. Velk continued: "I am scared, but brought you your stuff. Also put the cube in pouch (backpack) " I yelled back mentally: "Velk,Don't go, please?" He stayed, but I could tell it was not going to be for long, his fear of me, and Yog Sothoth was about evenly matched by his fear of King Grom, and Yig. I asked as authoritatively as I could: "Can you help me out?" I guess he was getting used to me, even though he was in a hurry, he got chatty for moment: "Can't do much, I am not of King Grom's clan. I will desert, and all those who are not of the clan will follow me. I hoped you liked the dinner I helped prepare, it was not aged properly." I asked again: "How do I get out of her back up?" He gave me some directions, the trouble was they were Ghoul directions, Ghouls use smells, and the widening and constricting of the tunnels as landmarks, but I did get a general idea on which direction to start. Velk scurried away. I checked my backpack, no phone, but the cube was there,and my cane. I put on my backpack over the gun belt. A wave of relief, and optimism washed over me on feeling my cane. At least the smell, and the events were keeping me form getting more scared, there was no time. I made my way back to where Paul, and Nora were still bound. I found them with my cane. Nora was still sobbing,but seemed better, well a little better. I tried to sound confident: "Don't give up yet, I found a handcuff key, and have an idea how to get out." I unlocked them but they still did not get up. I was getting angrier and angrier, I mean they got me into this, and they were no help I yelled at Paul' " Get up, and get Nora up right now, or I leave you here!" My angry tone must have convinced him I meant it, which I did. He got up , and hot Nora up.They were both docile, and defeated. I put Nora in the middle of the human chain, me in the lead, and Paul in the rear. Getting up must have helped Paul, because he was starting to ask coherent questions: "What are we going to do? I still can't see anything," I could not resist, even with all the danger we were in. I did my best point with a snap of the wrist, and said: "We shall try that tunnel right over there!" Even with the danger it still gave me satisfaction to say "over there". Can't tell you many times this has been done to me. "Over where?" Paul asked, he was definitely coming around. My reply was to enter the tunnel I was pointing at, the one I had gotten from Velk. Nora was still in shock, but was moving. Anyhow, there was no time for small talk, I was trying to focus on Velk's directions. There was supposed to be an exit in the cornfield outside of the farmhouse. I moved as quickly as I could with two useless traumatized, sighted people hanging on to me. Nora managed to get several faces full of dirt when I did not warn her about changes in the wideness or width of the tunnel. The first face full of dirt was when I forgot to warn her, the other times, I felt I was owed. I was still very angry with her for getting me into this, and I felt owed for all the times I had been led into low hanging leave, bushes, walls, etc. And I still had not forgiven her for spying on me. My echo location was working great in such a confined space. There was only enough room to move single file. Anyhow, I soon lost track of where I was going. Like I said Ghoul directions don't translate well, and Ghoul tunnels have no logic to them going up and down for no apparent reason. I could not pick out any smells or detect any air currents, as for smells the less said the better. So I kept moving in the general direction Velk had given me. I wanted to put as much distance between Adrian and us as I could. At least my anger, and nausea kept me distracted form all the danger we were in. I has lost all sense of time. Paul at least was following directions, Nora still was not coherent. The I got my break. It must have been dawn, I heard the raucous cry of the crows. At that moment, and ever after crows became my favorite song bird. It was soft, but definite, the crows became my guide. I listened for their calls at every entrance we came upon. Always following the sound. We had been walking up a steep up grade, when all of the sudden Paul yelled: "I see light!!" We had reached the entrance to the tunnels in the cornfield. We came out on the side of a low dip in the cornfield, we had to stoop to get out. I could hear the crows loud, and clear now, it was sweet music to my ears. The sight of the light even helped Nora, she stopped sobbing. The trouble was I could also hear the sound of pursuit, and they were near. The tunnel acted as funnel for the sound. We were facing the mouth of the tunnel in the cornfield. I tried to give the gun to Paul, i didn't bother with Nora. I am known to challenge the superiority of sight on many occasions, but am perfectly willing to admit sights' superiority in aiming and firing guns. Paul refused, mumbling that he knew nothing about guns. It was all up to me again, and I was really ready to let someone else help, I mean, you know I had gotten everyone out, and we were back in the light. I was going to have to shoot, I sure hoped the stories I had heard about if you killed a Ghoul leader the rest would run were true. I stood there facing the tunnel, with the gun cocked and loaded behind my back. When I judged they were in the line of fire form the sound (they were less than fifteen feet away). I yelled: "Adrian go back, I am warning you!" Of course he did not, instead he yelled back: "I underestimated you Professor Chu, but you have no where to go." I was impressed he called me "Professor Chu" usually in similar situations I get called "a blind bitch" His voice told me I had a clear line of fire. I swung the gun around, and pointed and fired, pulling the trigger till the gun was empty. I guess I hit him, for I heard a Ghoul voice in my head: "Necromancer, you have won for now." At this Paul finally took over leading us out of the cornfield, before we reached the street, I felt a pulse under my feet. The Ghouls were collapsing the tunnels. By the time we got to the road, the house was on fire. The police, and fire departments arrived soon. That day I learned something else about the Old Ones. It was like everyone, but me were sleep walkers controlled by a dream. The Old Ones had implanted a cover story in everyone, that it was just a tragic fire. Adrian's remains were never found, I kept the gun. I like to have tangible souvenirs from my adventures, When I got back I had Jai run the serial number on the gun, the gun had ceased to exist. The Old Ones like to keep their secrets. Anyhow, I had two parts of the Mystograph, and the Old Ones allowed me to stay the hero, heroine, whatever of the events. This should improve my reputation. Well, maybe not. End of Phenomenology