Irena's Tale - the beginning

Disclaimers may be viewed in the previous posts or accessed here: Disclaimers.

I received an email from Irena the other day. At first I was excited, we had drifted apart a bit after we had graduated college. As I read her message I began to wonder what had happened to her. I remember she had started living with the crazy purple haired Goth girl we had met in school, but what she said in her email, well, it was hard to accept.

Still, I did a little checking and some of what was talked about did have some analog in the news and events. She asked that I consider publishing her tales. I present them here, cleaned up a bit for clarity, but mostly as her emails narrated them. She sent a few pictures, which I have included, when appropriate.

Irena's Tale:

"Shan, are you home?" Irena called as she opened the door to the apartment she shared. Silence greeted her, as it had every day for the last month. 'Damn it, I really needed to talk to you!," she thought. Her main reason in staying with Shandi had been their friendship and the support they gave each other when life sucked. Now Shandi was missing more than she was around, dropping vague hints about some important project she had gotten involved in.

Irena tossed her bag on the couch and glanced at the phone. The light was blinking and the counter showed one new message. She punched play and reached down to undo her boots. Her sister Katyarina's voice began, "Hey sis, just a quick call, I'm almost late for my shift. Anyway, I ran into Shan when I came by to see you earlier. She was being kind of secretive and dropping something on your bed. I called to her, but she just vanished in front of my eyes. She left you some kind of book. Now don't be mad, but I looked in it. Something really weird happened to me. I can't explain in the time I have, just remember these numbers. They will let you find people that will help once you look at the book on your bed. Oh, and go inside your little hut, open the only book on the shelf, and go to the place it shows. Follow the signs there. The numbers are: 990000001, 990000002, 990000003, and 990000004. 990000004 is a rather nice guy named Kreel, I think you'd like him, he's a little quiet, and maybe a bit shy, but really cute. Anyway, gotta run! Love you, sis."

Irena stared at the phone in her hand for a long time before kicking off her boots and walking slowly to her room. There, in the center of her bed, was a small green book with a yellow postit note attached. She took a deep breath, reached for it, and paused. Instead she turned to the clothes at the foot of her bed and changed out of her work costume. Once she was comfortable she settled onto the bed, reached for the book, and read the note attached to its cover.

"Hey roomie, Sorry I've been gone so much of late. I was going to wait and surprise you with this, but Katya interrupted me. I don't have enough time to explain everything right now. I'm late for an appointment I have to keep. Touch the picture in this book and the explanations will begin. I hope to see you soon, Shandi."

The book opened to a single place, the rest of the pages seemed glued together. A picture and a few inked symbols were the only content.

No words, no explanations, were included. Curiosity warred with an unreasoned dread as she inched her hand to the picture. She stopped for a long time with her fingertips inches above the image. With a final breath she dropped her hand and touched the picture.

The room faded from her view as a weird almost subliminal sound echoed around her.