Monday, January 09, 2006

The twilight zone

Note: If you are easily freaked out, don't read any further... And I am NOT making any of this up. I'm just as creeped out about it as you will be after you read it. If you do chose to read further, I must quantify some things. I do not claim to be a UFO abductee or claim to be implanted with some alien device in my brain, I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories, believe in black helicopters, a "Shadow Government" or even believe we are in the "End Times" as a lot of mainstream Christians believe. I'm just a normal, run of the mill guy, who isn't seeking notoriety or riches. All I want to do is drive trains, meet a nice woman and maybe be a father at some point and die of old age in obscurity... I am in no way mentally disturbed... But sometimes shit happens to me and I feel I'm in an old episode of the X Files or the Twilight Zone...

Yesterday morning I got home from work, posted here as usual, chatted with a friend on YIM for a while and did a little writing. Around 11 AM I went to bed... But I was having a really weird dream. I'm prone to them, and sometimes I have this one recurring dream which I believe I blogged about before.

Anyway, I digress...

In this dream, I'm sitting in the patrol vehicle... Of course it's night and I look out over the company property. I'm sitting atop a hill where I usually sit and do paperwork (crosswords) and watch the stars. In the dream I notice a bright streak falling out of the sky... White, to red then orange it glows... It falls beyond the eastern horizon and moments after there is a blinding white flash over the mountains to the east, followed moments later by a shockwave that knocks me down...

I guess in my dream I forget those "Duck & Cover" drills...

This wakes me up...

I get up and look at the clock. It's 6 PM... I have my alarm set for 9 PM, so I go to the bathroom, boot up my computer, check emails and my comments and leave a few and decide it's way to early. I lay back down to get at least another hour or two of sleep. I'm back asleep almost in an instant. I don't remember my head hitting the pillow it was that fast.

I'm awaken later, precisely at 9 PM, not by my alarm clock... But by my phone. Now those of you who have been reading me for a while remember that back in the beginning of October I had my phone shut off... The phone company didn't do it, I had it done because it was costing me more money that it was worth... I hardly used the thing so I was saving myself $75 a month.

I had it shut off, but left it sitting on my nightstand... Don't ask why, I just did. It wasn't in the way I guess so I just didn't bother putting it away.

So now I'm full awake, sitting there looking at the phone ringing, staring at it... I'm definitely NOT dreaming this time. I turn on the light, look at the clock... It's now winking 9:01... The phone keeps ringing well past where my voice mail would have picked up. I take the handset and look at the display on the caller ID:

Unknown Exchange
123-456-7890

Exchange? No one uses the phrase "exchange" anymore... The curious part of me answers...

"Hello?"

A far away, tinny voice replies...

"Tom?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"One hundred, forty-nine days." The callers says in a flat metallic monotone.

"Who is this?"

"One hundred, forty-nine days." He replies again, then the line goes dead.

I'm freaked at this point and try to use the phone... Maybe *69 him... Of course I don't have a dial tone. The phone's been shut off for almost four months.

I'm wide awake at this point. No sense going back to sleep now. I'm a little rattled, but I try to stay normal. Odd shit like this has been happening to me all my life. Ghosts in the house where I grew up... Vivid recurring dreams, lights turning themselves on and off, along with my computer rebooting by itself...

Never a fucked-up call from I haven't a clue where or whom...

So I get to work and my night is pretty normal, meaning nothing really going on... That is until around 1 AM and I'm sitting in my usual spot. The night is clear, although a little windy. Temperature is in the low 50's so it's not cold at all... And just then I see a orange-red streak, traveling out of the western sky heading to the eastern horizon... Followed by two more in rapid succession, burning out before the hit the ground...

But they were in the very same place as the big one in my dream...

I'm still really freaked over this. If my math is correct, 149 days from yesterday in June 6th... What significance does that hold for me, and that dream? Or the meteor? All I know at this point I didn't dream this and I am definitely not making any of this up. I can explain away the dream of the meteor as my overactive imagination, but the phone call was very real.

Help I'm steppin' into the twilight zone
The place is a madhouse
Feels like being cloned
My beacon's been moved
Under moon and star
Where am I to go
Now that I've gone too far?

~Golden Earring

Copyright 2006 Thomas J Wolfenden

15 comments:

Sherri Sanders said...

OMG!! So freaky I'm absolutely fascinated!

berly02 said...

Is this some elaborate joke???????
Seriously freaked out for you btw.

Kev said...

Your math is correct, 149 days from yesterday is June 6, 2006.

I don't mean to make this any more ominous, but that's 6/6/6 if you write it out in m/d/y format, BTW.

DivineMsN said...

Kev! Dont freak him out more!
Tom if you get abducted we are going to WVA to find you!

Kev said...

You also might want to take some vacation time in April or May, just in case.

Cheryl said...

Wow. I am a little nervous for June 6. Although maybe the meant 149 ago? That it's been 149 days? Anything happen then? I have heard of those phone calls, freaks me out.

cmk said...

Sheeeeeeiiittt!

honkeie said...

the phone thingie alone would have done me in. Good luck on June 6th

Christina_the_wench said...

OK Tom, I am freaked out for you. And you brought back this memory...

In high school, I was reading Helter Skelter, when one Monday morning a guy named Charles Manson called my house at 7:00 am. Noone knew I was reading the book at home, so practical jokes wouldn't apply. My mom just told him he had the wrong number.

I didn't finish the book nor have I picked it up again. You don't tempt fate, ya' know? Let us know if anything else happens.

dasi said...

Very strange... keep us posted!!

Crazy Me said...

You have totally freaked me out. Totally!!!

Thomas J Wolfenden said...

Everyone: Day is duely marked on my calendar... The dream and me seeing the shooting stars later I could maybe chalk up to coincedence, but I'm definately not imagining that phone call...

And thanks bunches Kev... That little tidbit of information I didn't need... LOL

bevy said...

Shit, maybe that's the end of the world. I better get my act together before then. Yikes, scary and now it's my bed time.

Thomas J Wolfenden said...

Update...

I've since unplugged the dead phone and put it away...

I definately do NOT want anymore super-long distance phone calls.

Lisa said...

I took it to mean 149 days prior... And I got goosebumps...