If you haven’t read the past (Part 1) chapter here is the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/wmohz7/i_now_know_im_not_crazy_but_i_wish_i_was_part_1/
Chapter II
Pablo and Alex knew of my intentions of taking a sabbatical year, and they took this opportunity to plan a trip, just the three of us. Alex another good friend of mine, pilot par excellence; He offered us to travel in his plane to a yet unknown for us destination, as always with his unpredictable adventures. Although I don’t enjoy exposing myself to situations that I consider out of my control, for some reason I was somewhat anxious but extremely excited about where it would take us; although knowing Alex, he surely didn’t even he know and probably he would end up deciding a couple of days before the trip.
Alex, Pablo and I are very close because we have known each other for years; Pablo also used to live near my house, we were 10 years old when we first met. Pablo and I met 3 times a week in a vacant lot near our houses, there we would spend hours playing until nightfall, we liked to chase grasshoppers to catch them, and we had the project of build a small “fortress” with pieces of old wood, tires, and worn furniture that we collected throughout the streets. Honestly it was difficult for me to make friends because nobody wanted to get close to me, it was well known that I was the child who woke up the block screaming at night, which is why I convinced Pablo to build the fortress.
«Furthermore, Pablo’s parents always approached my family when my “accidents” happened to try to help us, and they always insisted for Pablo and I to be friends>> One afternoon we had given ourselves the task of finding a good roof for the fortress, we had set our minds on a large satellite dish which we would have to roll for at least 5 blocks, it was definitely not a job for 2 little prepubescents; we took the antenna to where the neighborhood park was in search of help and it was at that moment that we met Alex; The image of a boy of approximately 12 years old, quite tall for his age and with a robust physical complexion caught our eyes, immediately Pablo and I exchanged glances because we both knew what the other was thinking, “that boy will be the one who helps us carry the antenna to the fortress”. We left the antenna on the sidewalk of the park and went to where Alex was.
-Hello.- Pablo exclaimed energetically, he knew well enough that I would not be the one to break the ice.
-“Hello…”- Alex replied softly, turning his back on us as he tried to climb a tree.
Both Pablo and I found it strange that he had no interest in looking at the people who stood behind him. Never did he turn his head or try to see us, he just continued climbing through the branches.
-Hey, could you help us move that antenna? .- Alex added while pointing to the sidewalk where the antenna was.
“My mom used to tell me that I should play alone at all times at the park.” Alex whispered looking down at the ground, with such volume that he seemed not to try to be heard.
Pablo and I expressed our confusion as we exchanged glances. Without adding more we decided to turn and search for someone else.
“Wait!” Alex yelled. -What do you plan to do with that antenna? .- He spoke while descending between branches until reaching the ground.
- We want to build a fortress, on the vacant lot on Carranza Street. - Pablo exclaimed happily.
Alex moved closer to us, however keeping a significant distance.
- And… why do you want to build a fortress?- Alex continued to move closer as he spoke, his gaze dropping to the ground as if terrified to make eye contact.
At that moment I felt nervous, I wanted to answer something funny to distract attention from the real reason, fortunately Pablo got me out of that predicament… in his own way of course.
-We want to have our secret place where we can play without anyone bothering us, but you can tell nobody about it.- Pablo added, trying not to say that the real reason was that I felt judged by the looks of the other kids in the park.
From the apparent nature of Alex I saw coming the following; Without further questioning our motives, Alex added one last question: Where is the antenna located? He followed us to that place where the roof of our future fortress still rested, with the collective help of the three of us we rolled it to that small vacant lot near my house; During the journey Alex did not produce a single word or sound for that matter, he only looked at us out of the corner of his eye.
When arriving at the chosen site “the vacant lot” those words had a different connotation for a child, they meant rebellion and independence but to me they meant peace; on the ground there was a large tree approximately 3 meters high which would serve for hanging the antenna and to our surprise Alex had a rope in his hand while he looked towards a large branch of the tree, his body language indicated that he already had figured out how to accomplish this challenge. Alex took the initiative and used the rope, tying a large knot that would work as an anchor to handle the pulley and raise the antenna, Pablo and I were supposed tie a knot at the other end of the rope or at least that was the plan… I remember with great detail that moment, while Alex raised his arms to pull the rope, a small portion of his lower-back was revealed to our eyes.
Abstract art is complex to understand, it is an explosion of colors, figures or strokes that for its observers has a great variety of meanings, it is even considered that abstract art does not represent concrete things unlike figurative art… Alex’s back seemed like an abstract painting but this one did represent a very concrete thing: violence.
-What happened to him?- I whispered to Pablo’s ear, with my gaze fixed at the image in front of us.
Pablo looked at me, and once again he looked at Alex’s back.
-What’s that on your back?- Pablo yelled.
All of a sudden I felt a pain in my hands, the rope quickly slipped from my hands while the antenna quickly fell to the ground. Alex placed his gaze at the ground as he arranged his clothes, trying to hold his tears with agitated and aggressive sighs.
-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…- Pablo was interrupted by the figure of Alex walking away from us without saying a word.
Pablo and I stayed quiet for a few minutes, our hands were hurt but nothing serious so we agreed that it was time to return home and we left.
«That is the story and the way I met Alex, to be honest I did not think I would see him again after that event but to my surprise the next day I found Alex in the vacant lot with the antenna perfectly hanging from the branch. A small fragment of my childhood that was important to remember when trying to write this tragedy that I called my story. Now I will tell you about my first revelation.»
Just a few months ago, I had purchased a book about the interpretation of ancient texts via Internet, with the intention of furthering my discreet search about the meaning of my dreams. For years I gave myself the task of trying to transcribe the symbols and phrases that constantly appeared in my nightmares; it is necessary to emphasize the following, my small investigation is all reflected in a notebook, which I treasure as a great feat, because it depicts years and years of effort; it contains key points to interpret texts correctly, conjectures, notes and personal conclusions, and everything that I have managed to remember and transcribe from my dreams.
I found myself particularly obsessed with this quest when I tied up the first couple of threads. I couldn’t believe that even though these symbols were the product of my dreams, they had a meaning, and for the first time I could look at myself in the mirror, without thinking that I was crazy for imagining that this was more than just a fantasy. I had been studying ancient texts for about six years; After several attempts and corrections, I came to this conclusion: the symbols वल मान, which, adapting from ancient Sanskrit, and various Hindi languages, to the Latin alphabet, translates as: “vála Rayani”. In this case, the word “vála” didn’t make any sense (or so I thought) because I couldn’t find the right context. When the word “Vála” (वल) is followed by an adjective, a contraction “vál-” must be used and it is written together with the adjective as an individual word, in this case “Rayani”.
Normally translating this last word would have been a challenging task, because the longer the word, the greater the difficulty to transcribe from Sanskrit to the Latin alphabet; however it was less difficult than I expected to come to the conclusion that “rayani” means “night” or “darkness”. I must say that even with my best of my efforts, this was the interpretation I gave to the text, being aware that it may have been biased by my abstraction and lack of knowledge, I came to the following conclusion.
What I am about to write, I can tell you that it was a turning point in my life. It makes me nauseous and makes every single hair on my body rise, just thinking that from this moment on my search would take a sinister course, maybe if I knew what life had prepared for me probably I wouldn’t do it. According to various authors, “vál” can be interpreted as “attacker”, however it is not the most accepted definition. To my surprise, the most popular interpretation for “vál-“ is … “demon”.
Therefore, the “valrayani” conjuncture can be interpreted as: वल मान: “«Demon of darkness»”.
The nature of the message terrifies me, but I think what terrifies me more is the fact that this discovery filled me with excitement, not fear. I guess I lost perspective for just an instant that at the end of the day…this was quite real. Precisely for this reason I couldn’t wait a second longer to further increase my knowledge on the subject. Knowing that the trip with Alex and Pablo was coming up, my biggest concern was to have the new book in my possession before I left home. Unfortunately, the delivery service had some trouble, and as if that were not enough, they did not deign to explain the reason for the delay.
«I know what you are thinking, why didn’t I acquire it digitally?; I have never been in favor of depending on technology, I can take a book with me everywhere, without having to worry about my connection to the “internet”, or access to a power outlet. I also consider myself a book lover, so I consider digitizing these books a sacrilege.»
With great emotion I longed for the arrival of the parcel, hoping that that book would help me to finish deciphering the message; because despite my efforts, my research was cut short due to my insufficient knowledge.
I had enough punishing myself, and cursing this life for giving me this torment disguised as illness, as well as exacerbating it even more with the judicious criticism of others, masked with concern, for this reason I needed to hide the package from my parents, I do not want them to question my reasons for carrying out this very questionable task, I doubt that anyone could legitimately understand my motivation, I need to know I’m not crazy. Fortunately, it was still a few days before its arrival, and to extend my fortune, I was able to track the parcel through the official website. This gave me enough time to come up with a plan to divert my parents’ attention when the moment called for it.
I know this chapter might have raised even more questions than it answered but stay with me, there is a reason for why I’m telling you all of this. I’ll try to be back soon.
Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/x8bmhz/i_know_im_not_crazy_but_i_wish_i_was_part_3/