"Oh, sorry." Rachel said, as she stepped back away from the door.
Before she went inside to the house Akiko turned and got some of the bags off of Graham that he was trying to carry to the door, some of the bags his, some of them Akiko's.
"Did you pay the taxi driver?" Akiko asked Graham as she lifted her bags off of him.
"He's gone, isn't he?" Graham replied huffing a little, and getting a better hold of his bags as Akiko took hers, as she looked over to the side of Graham at the now empty street behind him.
Akiko and Graham went inside to the house, putting their bags down near the doorway of the living room before sitting down on the couch, further in. Rachel's mom hearing voices from the kitchen, came up from behind Rachel who was standing in the doorway of the living room, trying to figure out where to start with what to say to her long time, now visiting friends.
"Oh, hi you guys.." Rachel's mom said, surprised. "What are you doing in town?"
"Hey, Ms. Carpenter." Akiko said to her, half raising her hand to wave, Graham doing the same thing with one of his hands, and letting out a small, "Hey."
"They're just stopping by, taking a break from school for a few days." Rachel answered for them.
"Well it's nice that they get to see you before you have to go to your classes later. Let me get everyone something to drink.." Rachel's mom left the room, and headed back to the kitchen.
"Sooo.. Your mom still in the dark about everything with, "You-know-who?" Akiko asked Rachel, doing quotation marks with her hands.
"Well I can't tell her.." Rachel said, keeping her voice down. "She wouldn't understand at all, seeing how she was never able to remember anything involving any carnival at all. I didn't even tell her about any of the nightmares I used to get, before we even came to live here from our old hometown."
"So, he is back than?" Graham asked, looking nervous.
Rachel looked over at Akiko feeling like she had been somewhat snitched on with what was happening with her and her recent, somewhat personal conversation with Akiko, on the phone the night before.
"What?!" Akiko said a little too loudly, putting her hands up in the air. "I had to say something to everyone. How else was I supposed to get everyone to try and get here so quickly?"
"So everyone knows about the nightmares coming back about Mr. Tophat."
"Not everyone, just the MS members of course."
"Is everyone coming back here for a reunion?"
"I tried to get all the members back here by this weekend, but so far only me and Graham were able to make it right away. Adam said he's got too many cases of animal appointments with pets and their owners coming into an animal hospital that he's visiting for his studies, Louise said she would try and find time and a flight over here even with the reunion being so unexpected, and Gavin said he was busy till Friday, and that you two had something planned. So how are you two, still trying to be an awesome couple?"
"We're mostly apart because of work and school, but we try and find time for each other when we can. We have a lot of phone conversations at least." Rachel said, trying to sound cheery towards the end of her sentence.
"Wow, so exciting." Akiko said sarcastically. "So what's happening with the nightmares? Are they quick, or does a lot happen, is Tophat there a lot, or just a litttle?.."
"He's there a lot." Rachel started. "At first I visited the carnival that seemed to be there again in the woods. Than I saw him in my mirror at school. Or I think I did. It was faint, but I could see a face that looked like his behind mine. It's been happening for a couple of days now. The face that was in the mirror, I was tired, but I was awake. I could have been imagining things, but it seemed really real. And now last night.. I still couldn't see him clearly but, I knew it was him. There were the gloves, the red suit jacket, the hat.. And his voice. It was the same voice I remember him always having. He was calling me over to a window."
"What happened?" Graham asked in a low voice, looking spooked.
"He pushed me out the window, while I was looking outside of it. I fell through to the ground, and than passed it, waking up in the bed I was in. I had slept in the guest room to try and keep from thinking about him at all here. But even being away from school and being here in my house didn't stop the nightmares and visions from happening."
"Whoa." Graham said, looking away.
Akiko stayed looking at Rachel for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to say. "So.. I guess we're not going to be able to stay here until we go back."
"Really?!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Don't worry, we're going to stay at my parents house for a few days. They're off visiting a relative of mine. The house will be empty." Graham stepped in. Maybe if you want, you could come stay with us for a few days while we're here."
"That actually might be a good idea. I told my mom that I was going to some classes back at school later. But I really don't want to go back there yet."
"Here we go.." Rachel's mom said, bringing in a tray of drinks to the living room. "I have some nice sun tea that has some cinnamon, ginger, and a bit of mint in it. There's also some fruit slices I cut up and put on the rim. I don't add too much sugar, it's not too healthy. But you can add a squeeze of the fruit slice from the rims of your glasses if you want."
"Thanks." Graham said as he took a glass. He took a tea drink which he thought had an orange slice on the rim, Rachel got the glass with the slice of watermelon, and Akiko took a glass with a lemon slice on the rim. Rachel took a drink of her tea and a bite of her watermelon slice after. Akiko took a small sip from her glass, testing the taste. Graham decided to squeeze some of his orange into his tea first before taking a drink, and regretted it immediately. His "orange" slice was not an orange, but a slice of grapefruit. He automatically spit the tea back into the glass after taking one gulp, trying not to drop the glass as he did.
"Oh I'm sorry Graham, is that too bitter? I ran out of oranges so I thought a nice grapefruit would do."
"It's.. fine." Graham gasped out, awhile coughing and wiping his mouth.
A repeated bell sound started to ring throughout the house than, signaling someone was at the front door.
"I'll get it." Rachel said again. "It might be another.. friend." She paused for a moment, stopping just before accidentally blurting out, about it possibly being another M.S. Member.
Rachel opened the front door and found Gavin standing behind it.
"Gavin?" Rachel said, surprised. "What are you doing here, I thought you had to work?"
"I did. But when I got Akiko's texts about the reunion, and more talk about the nightmares happening again, I made an excuse that I had to go care for a family member that needed me."
Despite being grateful for his support, Rachel gave Gavin a slight defensive look adding, "I'm not exactly helpless you know."
"I know, but still, you've been having a hard time. And now the M.S. gang is here in town all together again, I want be here."
"Well not everyone is here, but thanks for coming for me, first." Rachel said, moving forward and giving Gavin a kiss.
"Hey you two lip locking on the doorstep, wanna come inside? I don't think Iv'e seen you in a while." Rachel's mom said, having come from around the corner from the living room, and speaking to Gavin after, when she saw who rang the doorbell.
"Hi, Ms. Carpenter." Gavin said. "It has been awhile since Iv'e visited. How have you been?"
"Oh just fine, how are you? Your father still single?"
"MOM!" Rachel said loudly.
Gavin chuckled while Rachel's mom replied, "Oh fine, so you want something to drink Gavin?"
"No, I'm alright." Gavin said, aware of the somewhat bitter tea that was usually served.
"Alright, well let me know if anyone needs anything, I'll be in the kitchen." Rachel's mom turned and headed off to the kitchen, to finish cleaning up.
"Always fun visiting here." Gavin said, trying not to laugh more.
"Ugh.." Rachel sighed, rolling her eyes as her and Gavin headed to the living room.
"Gavin, you showed!" Akiko said at least half amused, when she saw Gavin enter the living room.
"Hey guys, did you have a nice trip here?"
"It was okay. Luckily me and Akiko were able to get seats almost next to each other, so we weren't completely sitting next to strangers. But there was a woman that was sitting in between us that fell asleep during the flight, and kept snoring on and off the whole way here." Graham said.
"Oh man, so seriously annoying." Akiko followed up.
"So what has everyone been talking about over here?" Gavin asked.
"About Rachel's nightmares and visions, how she's having them everywhere." Akiko answered.
"Even in the house?" Gavin asked, looking at Rachel.
"Yeah. I'm not sure what's going on, Iv'e been seeing things everywhere. It's like Mr. Tophat has come back as some kind of a ghost with a vengeance." Rachel said, feeling a bit spooked as she said that last part outloud.
"So you have any classes that your going to today?"
"No, I don't feel like going back to school right now, but my mom thinks I'm going back later today."
"Okay, so we'll just go somewhere else, give you a break from there."
"It's alright, she's coming with us for a couple of days. She can call her school and tell them she has to be away for awhile." Akiko said, letting Gavin in on the arrangement.
"Ah, good." Gavin said, surprised by the quick news. "I have to go to a warehouse real quick that the store has here. I was supposed to go at least by the end of the day. I just need to get inside to the office they have there with my key, and type in how many boxes of book shipments we got in. It's real important, I'm surprised my manager didn't ask about it before I left."
"Okay, I guess we better go then, before he calls you back to the bookstore." Rachel said.
Akiko and Graham got up from the couch and started to head towards the front door with Rachel and Gavin, stopping to pick up their bags along the way. Rachel's mom hearing all the moving footsteps, came out from the kitchen, a dish drying towel in one of her hands.
"Everyone heading out so soon?" She asked.
"Sorry mom thanks for the tea drinks, but if I want to get back to school later, than we better get going. I want to help Akiko and Graham get settled in, back at his parent's house. They'll be staying there while they're visiting for a few days."
"Alright, but call me if you need anything."
"Okay.. OH, wait!" Rachel said, before she was just about to step out the front door. "I have to get my bag from upstairs, I'll be right out." She told Akiko, Gavin, and Graham.
"Okay, we'll go load the bags into my car." Gavin replied.
Rachel hurried upstairs and went to the guest room and quickly put all of her things back into her duffel bag, from the dresser. She pulled off the sheets and pillow from the bed and threw the old sheet back on the old mattress. She picked up the sheets with the pillow and went to her room opening her closet, and quickly folding the sheets and blanket before putting them back into the closet with the pillow. Rachel just hoped that her mom wouldn't remember what the sheets looked like that were on the bed in her room, which would cause confusion if her mom came up to her bedroom for some reason, since Rachel had said she had changed the old sheets in her bed in there last night. She went back downstairs and said goodbye to her mom, as she went outside to Gavin's car. A couple of the bags that belonged to Akiko and Graham were being placed into the trunk, and than it was shut. Everyone got inside the car, Akiko and Graham in the back seats, and Rachel and Gavin in the front. They drove off, making a bit of small talk on the way.
"So, boss let's you have the special warehouse key huh? Guess someone's doing good.." Akiko told Gavin.
"It's just what you get as someone who has to help keep count of how many books and stuff we get in. Of course I had to be good enough at the store to be able to get to that advancement. I mainly just helped out the manager keep inventory while I interned. Now I get paid for helping with inventory, and helping out the customers."
"I bet you show people the good stuff though right?" Graham told Gavin, half playing around.
"You mean all the scary storytelling books and stuff? You know it." Gavin replied to the backseat.
They pulled up to the warehouse, and locked the car behind them as Gavin unlocked the warehouse front door, letting everyone in. The warehouse looked like a gigantic room, the size of a couple of gymnasiums put together with giant metal shelves holding large cardboard boxes on them. On the far right end where a forklift could be seen off to the side, was a small inner room with blinds in the windows and a door.
"That's the office." Gavin said, as he pointed at the room in the corner. "You can look around but be careful, I just need around five minutes to look at a list and make sure everything is in order before I put the results into the computer."
Gavin headed to the office and unlocked the door heading in, as everyone else started to look around. Akiko and Graham went to look at the shelves at the left side of the warehouse and discuss about how strong they must be made, in order to be able to hold so many large boxes of books. Rachel never having seen the bookstore's warehouse before either and just the bookstore, walked past the metal shelves and boxes towards the back, and saw how there were shelves that were smaller like the metal shelves you would find in someone's garage. As she got closer Rachel saw that the books were put on the shelves, front covers facing forward. She got to the very back wall where she saw a book with a dark burgundy cover and a gold foiled oval on the front. In the oval there was a dark picture that had some kind of image that couldn't clearly be seen. Rachel felt pulled towards it, yawning as she went to look at the cover more closely. She shook her head back and forth trying to shake the sleepiness she felt off, and looked into the darkness of the picture. Her head feeling dizzy she started to see what looked like the dark inside of a truck, a dark silhouette sitting in the seat of it. A glow began to surround the inside of the oval on the book, growing stronger until it reached the center of the oval, revealing a top body figure that Rachel recognized all too well, the head raising slowly up from being bent down, the top of a dark hat that was on the head, moving up towards the ceiling of the truck. Two cold eyes looked out from beneath the rim of the hat, followed by a nose, than a flat mouth that held no smile. Rachel moved back so fast that she backed up against the metal shelves behind her. As she gained her steadiness, trying not to knock over the shelves as she moved back away from them, she turned around and caught sight of a book with the same face on the cover that she just tried to get away from.
"I'll be there soon.." Mr. Tophat said, the book cover fading to darkness, after he spoke.
Rachel screamed and ran around the end of the shelf, heading back to the middle of the warehouse. Before she even got there, Akiko and Graham had come around to the end of the long aisle that Rachel had went down, before she had turned into the one where the books were. When Rachel got close enough Akiko put her hands on Rachel's shoulders and asked what was wrong. "He's there, he's over there on the books, on the shelves!" Rachel exclaimed.
"Who's there?"
"HIM! Mr. Tophat!"
Nervous and scared, Graham pulled up enough of his courage to go down the long aisle and into the smaller one that Rachel had come from, to take a look. When he got there he saw the disheveled books on the shelves as he looked back and forth. On the other side of the warehouse, Gavin came out of the office and ran over to where Rachel and Akiko stood.
"What's wrong?"
Rachel pointed over to the aisle she was at trying to explain what happened clearly while panicking, Graham walking quickly back to everyone as she rambled.
"I didn't see anything." He said.
"Okay I'm done in the office, take Rachel out to the car and I'll be out right behind you, after I lock up real quick."
Gavin ran back to the office and shut off the computer inside, coming out and locking the office door behind him. He ran to the warehouse door entrance after, and locked the door to the warehouse, after he stepped out. Akiko and Graham were on either side of Rachel calming her, as they waited for Gavin to unlock the car doors. When he did Akiko got into the back seat next to Rachel, and Graham got into the passenger seat in the front. Gavin started the car and drove off from the warehouse's parking lot carefully and quickly, heading off to Graham's parents house. Gavin helped Graham get the bags out of the trunk of the car and into the house when they got there, as Akiko guided Rachel into the house and upstairs to the bathroom. She put a wet, cool wash cloth on Rachel's face, leaving it for a few seconds on her either side of her cheeks, before resting it against her forehead.
"Okay, just continue to breath slowly.. It's going to be fine, we're all going to be downstairs together in the same room, right next to each other for the rest of the day and night." Akiko told Rachel, still trying to put her at ease. "I'm going to go find something cool for you to drink again, come downstairs when your ready, okay?"
Rachel nodded her head and put her hand to her forehead to hold the wash cloth, as Akiko let go of it and left the bathroom. From her view looking out of the bathroom doorway, Rachel saw Akiko walk to the staircase and down it's steps, out of sight. She continued to breath calmly, closing her eyes for a moment, trying not to continue to panic. But a thought came back to her that made that kind of difficult. It was what Mr. Tophat has said from the book. "He'll be where soon?" She whispered to herself. A loud thump could be heard downstairs, like something fell over. Rachel looked back to the stairs from the wash cloth she had been holding and looking down at, while thinking about what had just happened at the warehouse. She walked out of the bathroom, wash cloth falling to the ground as her fingers unconsciously let go of it, as Rachel went to go see what the sound was. She walked over to the stairs and began to walk down them, hanging onto the railing. She saw Graham laying on the ground in the kitchen, looking like maybe he might be reaching for something under the oven he was next to.
She didn't see Akiko, but maybe she was further in the kitchen. Rachel was just about to call out to Graham, when she looked down closer to her and saw Gavin laying face first on the ground, a couple of the bags laying next to him, almost right beneath the stairs. She stopped for a second in shock, than started to move faster down the stairs. A couple of steps past the middle of the staircase Rachel felt more tired and sleepy than she ever had before. She started to stumble, catching herself on the bars underneath the railing of the stairs as she sunk down to them. Her head was dizzy and her vision was becoming blurry. Rachel looked around trying to get her eyes to focus, when her vision caught a sparkley vision of something right in front of her at the front door of the house, just five feet from the end of the stairs. Blurry figures came through the open entrance behind the sparkely image which was now giving Rachel a panic attack, as she had a feeling of WHO that sparkely image was. She started to breath fast as she concentrated on just trying to put one steady foot on the next step in front of her to stand up, or to start pushing herself backwards up the stairs to get away. But as she did a form of vertigo came over her, and she sat down hard on the step underneath her, losing the small amount of lift that she had been able to manage to get her body up from the stairs. Her hands became weak and they loosened their grip on the bars she was hanging on to. She started to fall back sideways, her fingers slowly letting go of the bars as her body fell across the step she was on. Unbalanced, Rachel started to roll down the rest of the stairs until she hit the bottom where the floor was, and rolled a few feet across. Her body stopped as her rolling ended with her landing face up, her body sprawled out, her eyes unable to open. As she lay there in disorientation, Rachel could feel footsteps slowly walking towards her. They stopped close to her and she could feel the presence of someone now hovering over her. The last thing Rachel heard as she blacked out completely on the floor, was a very familiar voice saying to her, "Oh Rachel, trying to stay awake won't help you now..."