Memories

The train horn was the first sign of things to come. The whistle woke Baker up as if it had been right in his room with him. Jumping out of bed, he alertly looked around the room until he realized where the noise originated from. Relaxing, he thought to himself, I came to live here because it was quiet, so I wouldn’t be on edge all of the time. He looked at his watch. Seeing that it was 4 am, he realized he might as well begin his day, as he would have to wake up in an hour anyway. But, after making his morning cup of coffee and sitting in front of his computer, he saw that work was cancelled due to a pipe burst.

Due to the nature of his unnatural feeling desk job, Baker had some work he needed to catch up on because of his lack of efficiency while at work. However, after many hours, he thought he’d take a walk as he hadn’t been outside all day. Setting a timer to make sure he’d be home by 5pm, Baker set off on his walk, moving towards the park on Only Way street because it would be less crowded than other parts of the city. Strangely, the train was stopped nearby, but this only deserved an acknowledgement in the mind of Baker; he just wanted to enjoy his walk through the dense fog, as it was just him alone with his thoughts, nothing else in sight to distract him.

Walking through the park, Baker was startled to see an old man and a child sitting together on a bench. Walking closer to the pair, he began to hear noise coming from the man's mouth, and saw duct tape over the child’s face. Upon hearing footsteps, the old man yelled out, “The truth with all its power lives inside me!” This stopped baker in his tracks, as he only had one secret that only he knew; He hadn’t even told Rory, the only person he conversed with in the whole city. There’s no way he could know that. He’s just a crazy old man. Making eye contact with the child before turning away, he began walking home. But through the fog, he could have sworn he saw a person running around, lit on fire from head to toe. Baker flashed back to 3 years ago, in some unknown Province in Iraq, watching as his squad was engulfed in IED flames. That was the final straw that caused his desertion after his leader left them for dead in some small town.

There’s no way this has anything to do with that old man, it can’t be. And with that image in his head, Baker ran back to his apartment as fast as he could, trying to figure out how someone knew his most private secret; the truth about why he was in this no name city.