Roger and the Necromantic Abode

Ziphora's Fears

He went with a happy heart and slept. He dreamt of a preternatural place.

“It was a place with blades and blades of grass, a clear blue sky with pure white clouds, there was a beautiful plateau with animals and there was a tremendous lake down the plateau. There were lions, geese, finches, love birds, tigers, dogs, cats, cheetahs, swans, leopards, bears, polar bears, penguins, horses, squirrels, donkeys, wolves, reindeer, unicorns, sharks, whales, dolphins, crows, kangaroos, rabbits, fighters, jellyfish, crab, starfish, octopus, cows and more animals than you could ever imagine.

All of them were saying a fate of someone and dancing.

Lion: “‘Oh, there is going to be one of us, the one who can talk with the believing one. Oh, it’s exciting he’s going to have a partner and his name will be Roger. Ooh, Roger will have a companion and it’s going to be a human.”’

All of them, except the lion together: “And it’s going to be a girl. Yes, a girl and her name will be Avi.”’

Lion: “‘And they will be best friends forever”’

All of them: “‘Oh, there is going to be one of us. Ooh there is going to be one of us.”’

The dream shifted. In this dream he was running down a lane. He stopped running when he reached the second house on the right. The gate was open and he went inside. There was a car parked at the right side of the gate. He went and saw a golden brown and black dog. It looked at Stevenson. It had brown eyes and his left ear was cut.

It smiled and said,“Dad, this is my home.”

The dream shattered and vanished.

He woke up in a shock. It was morning around 9 a.m. He never slept more than 8 hours.

He went to see if he could get his breakfast from a nearby restaurant. Sometimes they threw out leftovers. He saw the worker throwing out food. Stevenson waited for the worker to go away so that he can eat something for breakfast. After sometime the worker went away and he ate his favourite food, burger.

That night, he went to see Ziphora as usual. The gate was closed but that did not bother him as he used the broken wall entry. He stepped on some leaves and this caught Ziphora’s attention. She ran and started to bark at where the sound came from.

Stevenson said, “Relax, it’s me. Please don’t bark and wake up the owners of this house.”

Ziphora said, “Phew! It’s you. I thought it was a snake. There are so many because there is a place where they live nearby.”

“There are snakes here???!!!!!”

“Of course there are.” She was quiet for a second and then she asked. “Wait, you aren’t afraid of snakes, are you?”

“Yes, I am ophidiophobic.”

“Any other phobias?”

“No, why?”

“Because I have some of them.”

“How many?” he asked curiously.

“Two.”

“Which of them?”

“Pyrophobia and thanatophobia.”

“Wow,” The meaning of pyrophobia is the fear of fire. He thought. “I just remembered, I had one more phobia. It’s called claustrophobia.”

“I know. Fear of closed spaces, right.”

“Yes.” He said. “And what is the meaning of thanatophobia?”

“Thanatophobia means fear of losing loved ones.”

“What was the reason for you to have thanatophobia?” he asked.

“My mother died in a car accident and I witnessed it when I was just two months old.” She said sadly. “From that day onwards I have thanatophobia. And I always remember it. At first I wanted to get revenge. Then I thought I was too young for it and I will do it when I will be an adult dog.”

“Then why did you stop?” he asked.

“One day when I was exercising, I saw his son, well I don’t know if it was his son or father or just a friend, he came to tell the oldest member of this house, Elizabeth, that the one who had killed my mother had committed suicide. So I thought that god helped me to get revenge.”

“So where was your father the whole time?” he asked curiously.

“He ran into a building of fire when I was just one year old. He died in that fire outbreak. You see, that’s why I have pyrophobia. I have witnessed two accidents when I was too young.” She finished, breaking down.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad.”

“It’s fine. I just can’t get over it even after it has been years.” She said. “Forget it. Anyway, are you hungry? Did you eat anything today?”

“Yes.” He said.

“What did you eat?” she said unbelievably.

“Chicken burger and fries.” He replied.

When he said that, a gust of wind came and interrupted Ziph’s hearing and she asked. “What?”

“Oh, I forgot to ask. Did you drink any type of alcohol like beer, brandy, whiskey, etc.” he said making fun of her.

“No.” she said confused. “I couldn’t hear you that’s all. Why did you ask me?”

“Because you were yesterday.” He reminded her.

“It’s because yesterday, the owner of this house, Elizabeth, was drunk. And when she gets overdrunk, she gets ballistic and she forces me to drink alcohol.” Ziphora said.

“Is she here now?” Stevenson asked.

“Yes.”

“Does she always drink too much?”

“No, whenever she gets sad about her son’s death.”

“Is he the only son of hers?” he asked.

“No, she has a daughter at whom she is mad because of her son’s death.”

“Why?”

“Because that night, when her son died, her daughter craved some ice cream because she was pregnant. And he couldn’t say no to her because she helped him through hard times. As he went to buy some ice cream, a truck hit him. And from the moment she knew that her son died, she blamed her daughter for his death.” she said.

“That’s bad. You shouldn’t blame others for a decision that is made by god.” Stevenson said.

“Anyway, that’s not our problem.” She said.

“That’s right. I have to go.”

“Wait. You can stay here.”

“What?” he asked stunned. “Elizabeth ma’am will be foaming at the mouth, Ziph.”