"Mark!" My boss yelled at me from across the office floor. "Where is my coffee?" I was a little confused. I never brought Jim his coffee. That was always his interns job. I must have stood there with a confused look for too long because he gave me the meanest stare. "Just because my intern decided to cut work today with no notice doesn't mean I can be walked on. Get me my usual coffee." I had no idea what his usual coffee was. "A tall black coffee with no sugar can't be hard to forget. Go get it now and no doddering!" I didn't stick around to get yelled at more. I had been finding it hard to concentrate on my work and figured i could use a break from designing the new logo for Tommy’s Pizza. My advertising firm was very small. It was just a local business really. I got hired right out of my first year of college. There was a class competition to design a commercial for a family organic market. The winner was supposed to get it produced and run late nights but they decided to go with Toad and Kings advertising last minute. After the contest the owner of the advertising agency stopped by the class to see our work and speak about his career. He took one look at my video and gave me a job on the spot. I guess I was good. I passed my usual coffee house and went straight for Tim Horton’s. I got the coffee and headed back to work. As I was driving I noticed my clock. The read out blinked 12:01. As I was starring at the clock I had a flash of thought that I was late, which was weird because I was making remarkable timing. I hadn't hit a single light and the line at the cafe was short. What was I late for? I couldn't take my eyes off the clock.
Then it hit me. Like a Mac truck. Well, it was a Mac truck. I had drifted into the other lane and crashed directly into it. My car was totaled. The front end was folded over into the windshield. I was covered in glass and coffee. I unbuckle and step out onto the side walk. Bits of broken glass spilled off my lap and hot coffee dripped from my shirt onto the hot pavement. My abdomen stung from the burns. I saw that the truck driver was alright. He was fuming, but otherwise unharmed. A crowd was starting to form along the roadside. I couldn't hear sirens yet but I knew they were coming. People were spilling out of the Starbucks across the street and gawking at the spectacle of two machines mashed together. There were many people yet one stood out among the crowd. She seemed familiar even though I don't remember ever meeting her. She was old with white hair and heavy deep, wrinkles. She must have seen many things in her life by the age that marks her body. Her white curly hair was long and fell down to her hips. She had a cane and walked with a limp. She made eye contact with me and winked. Then she just turned and walked away. I wanted to know what she had to say to me. She must have known me as a child or something else. I ran across the street. It was a bad idea. Everyone had a good look at me and my car would just be traced back to me. I told myself I'll just run right back. I'll say I had to use the restroom.
The woman hadn't made it very far. I caught up with her as she was going back into Starbucks.
I dashed in past her to hold the door open.
"Do I know you?" I asked a little out of breath from the adrenaline pumping though my veins.
"You don't remember me here but we met in a dream" the old woman smiled as she spoke. She could have been senile. Somehow I didn't believe she was confused. She seem to have an intelligence about her that led me to think she was trying to tell me something I didn't understand. Perhaps I never will.
"Come sit with me" the woman walked into the store and sat at the closest booth to the doors. I didn't know if I should follow or just return to my car. The woman seemed to not be bothered by the crash outside, I guess that led me to think I shouldn't either. I had the strangest feeling that I was destined to crash outside this Starbucks. I felt that this woman and I needed to meet at this time. I walked in and sat down across from the old woman.
"You're just on time" the woman said glancing at her watch as the digits changed to 12:00. The clock in my car always runs a little fast. "I'm sorry about your car. Sub-conscious suggestions can be dangerous. That cut on your forehead will heal up just fine though and no other damage done." I didn't even realize my head was injured. "Now, I need you to remember. Remember the great hall, remember the court of nine corners." The woman looked serious. I had no idea what she was talking about. "Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"
"Not even the slightest." I responded knowing full well that however lucid this woman seemed she was in fact full loony.
She placed her hand on mine and her palm on my forehead and closed her eyes. "Remember the dome. Remember Clara." Her hands shook and her mouth quivered. Clara? That name seemed so familiar. I felt as if I was remembering something that never happened. Maybe it was a dream. I was somewhere where the world was old and dead. I was somewhere that had been doomed for a very long time. And there was a woman who knew everything but not that the world was falling apart around her. I closed my eyes and saw her face and when I opened them she was still there but much older.
"I remember it, I remember the dead world and the polished room of doors." The woman smiled and took her hands off me. "How is that? How do I remember something that never happened?"
"It happened, just not on this world. This is earth prime. This is where all decisions are made and where all doors of causality are created. If you blink..." A pair of police officers walked through the doors and turned to me.
"Sir, I'm going to half to ask you to come with us" the police were followed by a paramedic.
"Oh, hello officers. This young man just wandered in. He seems a little disoriented, he might have a head injury. Poor dear, would you please look after him kindly." Clara was playing off her appeared age well. She trembled and held her cane as she spoke. Who couldn't buy into the sweet old woman.
The paramedic rushed forward with some gauze and pressed it to my forehead. "Follow the light with your eyes" the man pointed a flashlight in my face and gauged my response. "We’re going to need to bring you in for a scan to make sure you're alright." The paramedic dragged my out of the Starbucks and Clara watched through the window.
The hospital was unbearable. I waited for hours only to find out I had a minor concussion. The doctors chalked up my disorientation to the trauma and the accident to an abnormally low blood sugar. I was released and sent home on bed rest after the last test was done. I laid on my couch thinking. I couldn't get Clara out of my head. I must have been lying on my couch so long I drifted off to sleep.
When I woke up I was on the ground in the middle of the street. The sun was high in the sky and a cold breeze was sweeping over me. I didn't recognize the street. It could have been a couple of blocks from my house. Everything seemed in place. There was a distinct sound of traffic off in the distance. I couldn't help but think I may be off in another plane of existence. but where was Clara? If I was truly not home anymore how did I get here. I started to stand as a car pulled out of the driveway just down the road from me. At least I knew I wasn't on that forsaken empty planet. I don't think I will ever be able to cope with that feeling of absolute abandonment.
"You're not alone" a voice chimed from across the street. I looked over to see Clara. This wasn't the old Clara, but the younger version I first met.
"How did you know what I'm thinking" I said. How did she know to chime in just then with those exact words. Was she a mind reader on top of all her other extraordinary abilities.
"Part of being who we are is knowing where to be and what to say at the exact time it is necessary to do so. We are harbingers of fate and couriers of the universe." I just cleared my mind and took in where I was.
"Are we on my home planet?" I didn't quite know how to describe that there was a place that looked and feels just like this one that wasn't where I lived.
"Don't think of it as a different planet. Think of it as the same planet just with a different history and a different plan for its future."
"Why do all these realities exist?" I had a suspicion why. I, like every person who keeps up with scientific news, knows the multiple universe theory.
"Just before you said that you blinked. That's all it takes. We aren't like ordinary people. We are sentinels, the chosen people of the universe. No one knows who decides us or why we exist. We have the power to pass between realities and create them. There are nine kinds of people. I'm getting ahead of myself. We aren't here by chance. We were brought here by the old king." Clara pointed over to the house we were standing in front of. "Tread lightly and don't make any sudden movements. We are only partly here." She held up her hand to the sun and brought it in front of me.
"It's translucent!" The light shown threw her hand like murky water. I was completely fascinated. Being able to see all the muscles and bones of her hand. When I looked to her face it looks solid yet she had a eerie glow. Like the light that hit her was passing right through. I wondered why we were like this but I wondered a lot of things. A car was coming and I wondered about that too. Would it hit us or would we pass through. Clara moved out of the way so I didn't feel like finding out first hand.
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Clara walked up to the door and rang the doorbell just once and stood there. Soon there was a woman at the door. She stood in the archway and looked left and right. She couldn't see us. I wondered for a moment how we were going to get in when she closed the door and walked away. Clara rang the bell again. The woman stomped back to the door and opened it with an annoyed look on her face. She stepped out of the house and left the door wide open. The woman looked around as we slipped in. After we seemed out of earshot I spoke up in a whisper.
"Why are we sneaking around this woman's house?"
"I didn't want to freak her out by opening the door. This is simpler. She now thinks that her doorbell is faulty, not that her door is. I've done this trick a couple of times. She keeps fixing it but I keep ringing it and every time she goes out side to see if someone is pranking her." Clara spoke at a softly and walked confidently up stairs.
"What will you do if she stops answering the door or removes her bell?"
"I'll knock" Clara smiled and glanced back at me. She really was having fun teasing this poor woman. I couldn't help but smile back at her childishly.
"Why all the secrecy?" I asked. "Does the king live here?"
"Yes and no. Yes, the he lives here and no, the king knows we're coming. It will make more sense in a minute." Clara walked to the end of the hallway and slowly pushed open a door. I wasn't sure what was going on. This was a nursery. There was a child sitting up in his crib. I felt like I was violating someone, being in a strangers nursery with their child. Clara sat in front of the crib and began whispering to the baby. "Yes, I know all to well... This isn't at all how I would have expected you to want to meet us." The baby sat there starring at Clara with a unusual focus. Then I heard something in the back of my mind. It almost sounded like it was coming from behind me.
"The dreamer that woke only to find he was yet still in a dream. You are one of the few chosen. Your fate is unset and you are destined for greatness. There is so much you must learn but I cannot teach you. Not like this, not now. Clara, I must set you in charge of this boy. Do you claim him?" The voice didn't come from any one source in this room. It was an ominous and forbidding voice. This is a voice I could come to fear or worship.
"I accept my role and I hereby claim this boy, Mark the Omniscient." There was a great echoing bellow of laughter that cracked though the air.
"So that is the badge he has chosen. You have both taken on a huge responsibility with the choice of that name. It has been recorded that you Clara shall guide this boy and you, Mark the Omniscient, shall work hard to keep that badge. Tell me now then. What is the last light in the sky when all the stars have fallen? Remember, if you are to know everything you must be able to tell me this."
This was to be my first test, a riddle from the king. I stood there for a while letting ideas flow through my mind. What was I doing. The title I chose was a joke. I knew that the joke was going to be on me if I couldn't come up with any idea. It hit me just as that thought crossed my head. This was about my badge. It wasn't about knowing everything, just knowing what I needed at the time it was necessary.
"Ideas" I stood up straight and looked down at Clara who had seemed to have lost hope that I would give an appropriate answer. She smiled for a second and then quickly hid it.
"Well done. You have passed your first test. There will be many more to come but remember. Your mind is your greatest tool. Keep it sharp and you will never find yourself unarmed.
I felt a little weirded out that this baby was the beacon from where this bellowing voice came. The child king. I wondered why he was called the old king. The baby stared into me and focused on me instead of Clara. It was as if this infant was sizing me up.
"It is time for you to leave. This form needs rest." Clara jumped to her feet and slowly bowed to the crib and turned to me.
"This is the tricky part. We need to leave completely unnoticed. Follow me and be careful." Clara walked down the hallway. She stopped at the stairs and pearled over the rail.
"The mother is coming. Whatever you do, don't alert her to our presence." Clara said all this without moving her mouth. She was speaking inside my head, just like the king. This woman seemed just as powerful as the king. It seems like there is nothing she couldn't do. We slowly backed against the wall and slowed our breathing. The woman walked up the stairs and turned toward us. Her line of vision passed straight through us. She just kept walking and turned into another room. Clara started for he stairs and just as I was about to follow the woman came back with a basket of laundry in her hands. I pressed back against the wall and Clara continued quietly down the stairs. Clara pressed into a corner across from the stairs just out of my sight. The woman walked by me with her arms wrapped around the large basket. As she passed me her elbow brushed against my chest. She took another step and then stopped. She turned and looked at me. She looked for almost three seconds before just continuing on her way. I didn't wait for her to completely leave the stairs before I followed after Clara. Clara was leaning against a corner watching me.
"We're lucky today. Julie is doing her laundry." I wanted to respond but I didn't know how to without speaking. I just thought on that silently. How was that going to help us? I followed Clara around the corner after the mother Julie who was putting a new load of laundry in the washer. We watched her work for a little while before I saw a clothes line on the back porch. Just as I noticed Julie gathered her wet clothes and opened her back door. Clara grabbed my collar and pulled me outside through the crack in the door before it closed. We lightly walked off the porch and slunk away from the house like a pair of accomplished thieves.
"We have much to talk about now that you have been accepted by the old king" Clara spoke as we walked. I followed her three blocks east of the kings house. "We will meet again and I will start to explain this world you are now a part of. We are almost to your house. I would suggest that you eat something to bring your blood sugar up. These trips tend to have a toll on the body. With trips this close to each other you are going to feel light headed and dizzy." I was paying too much attention to Clara to notice we were now just down the street from my house. If we were near my house then that means we are still on earth prime as she called it. I wonder how she expects me to get back to normal. I looked down the road toward my house and when I looked back to Clara she was gone. She left me alone stuck in a sort of limbo. I didn't seem to have any option but go back to my house. It was a short walk. In this form I felt strong and energized. I got back to my house and the front door was locked. I ended up crawling in through a window that I had to tear the screen out of. It didn't seem that there were many perks to this limbo. I couldn't pass through walls. I could still be heard. The only change was that I was invisible. I grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and started to eat it when I realized I was still on the couch. My body was lying in the same place it was before I left. I set the sandwich on the coffee table and thought on what I should do. I reached over and touched my hand. I gasped deeply and sat up. I was back in my body. I sat up way too fast. My head throbbed and I nearly passed out. I could barely lift my arm. The sandwich was still sitting on my coffee table next to me. I ate the rest of it and started to feel a little better. I was starving. I ate everything I could find with sugar in it including a couple packets of sugar on the counter left over from this mornings coffee. I was starting to get used to this new side of the world I'm living when I got a text message. All it said was "think of me tonight". I suspected it was from Clara. I wasn't sure exactly what she needed me to do but I figured it meant that if I thought of her tonight in my sleep I would be brought to her again.
I decided to do some online research behind the paranormal. I started with a simple web search "the court of nine corners" it brought up nothing I was looking for. I searched for abnormal abilities. There were many results. I spent hours pouring over forms and privately owned websites. There were reports of people moving objects with their minds and people who saw into the future. I even found people who said they could read my mind and tell me my fortune for a small fee. Like most of the Internet everything you read must be taken with a grain of salt and by the end of the night my mouth tasted very salty. I ended up heading to bed at an early eight pm. I was a little too excited to see what was going to happen. But try as I might I could not fall asleep. I ended up reading a book of poems by Edgar Allen Poe and when I felt tired I laid back and thought of Clara. She was a remarkable woman with too many sides to count. She always seemed to be hiding her happiness. Every time she smiled she worked quickly to force her face back to a straight look. Not too happy. Not sad. She just looked calm and collected.