Parallax

I would consider this more of a "weird" tale rather than a full fledged horror. But horror is the closest genre I could find on here.

It is unusual that a man is consistently pestered by a scrawny, hairless mathematician with a big nose but that was the case for Aiden Brown. Aiden managed to get by that problem by bringing ear plugs to work every morning. He sat nodding and working while Jerrold went off on his caffeine powered rampage and then crashed around 12 o’clock. That was when Aiden would pull out his ear plugs and throw them in the garbage bin. Such was the dynamic relationship between Aiden and Jerrold, they both worked at a meteorology research institute. When the day was done Jerrold caught Aiden on the way out.

 

“Aiden! Are you coming with us tonight?”

 

Aiden watched the tall, scrawny form pass through the revolving doors, awkwardly running towards him.

 

“I don’t know Jerrold, I have a lot of work.”

 

They walked beside each other.

 

“Have you listened to the CDs I gave you?”

 

“No, I haven’t.”

 

“You’re not even giving abstract jazz a chance.”

 

“Of course I am. I’m just too busy to give it a chance now.”

 

Cars were honking, construction workers drilled into the street. Aiden’s frustration was rising.

 

“Come on Aiden you need to get out!! Trust me, once you hear the music you’re gonna be hooked.”

 

“I have lots of work.”

 

“You are such a nerd! I bet you are thinking about mathematics right now aren’t you?”

 

“Maybe….”

 

“No you are, I’ve worked with you for a while. I can tell when you are thinking about mathematics but what if I told that these guys,” his face took on a serious expression and he leaned forward for emphasis, “solve mathematics with their guitars.” He whispered.

 

“Sounds eccentric….”

 

“We are going tonight!”

 

“I don’t know Jerrold…”

 

Jerrold suddenly stepped in front of Aiden staring him dead in the eyes.

 

“Aiden…if you don’t come tonight I will kill you.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Good because I really mean it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aiden sat at his work desk, twirling a pencil. The lamp cast light on a sheet scribbled with equations, calculations and patches of eraser mess. Somewhere he lost his way and now he had no way of knowing where he started. His concentration and sequence of though disappeared. He slowly crumpled up the sheets of paper, meshing them all together as he dropped them below. Heaving a frustrated breath, he fell over the desk, burying his head.

 

A short while passed and he got up twisting the lamp off. He walked over to the window and slid it open to let the evening air filter the stale room. Music flowed from the street below. He stood lingering by the window, attempting to forget his work, but the problem would not go away. Finally he gave in, he realized that he couldn’t enjoy the night unless the problem was solved. Walking downstairs he quickly dialled Jerrold’s number and left a message,

 

“Hey Jerrold, kinda feeling sick tonight, I can’t come out. Sorry, maybe some other time.”

 

He put the phone back in place and walked over to where Jerrold’s CDs rested. Dusting off the top CD, he saw the title “Dark Matter.” He popped it in the stereo and fell back against the couch, letting the jazz stream in the dimly lit living room.

 

He looked at the CD cover again. He thought, “I can see myself listening to this.” He placed the CD back on the coffee table. The problems and math slowly drifted from his mind, he felt his body sink into the couch, eventually he dosed off.

 

 

 

The buzzing doorbell sent him scrambling from the couch. He rubbed his eyes yawning, the sun streamed through the windows.

 

“I slept the whole night!” He mumbled to himself as he ran to open the door. Unlocking the door he swung it open and came to a startled halt. Before him there was a tall balding man with a thin black jacket and a black beard. He held a bottle of wine, rows of yellowish teeth grinned down at Aiden.

 

“Cousin! It is you!! I found you!” A crushing embrace followed.

 

 

 

Aiden apparently had a long lost cousin, George Mikhailovich from Drokiya, a village in Moldova. Aiden’s grandfather had passed away. They were sitting on the couch, the big man’s arm was around Aiden. Long silent moments followed.

 

“So grandfather finally passed away huh? I wish I could’ve gotten to know him better.”

 

“Yes, very sad, you look like his face, you have the Maygaro-Pencheneg jaw bone.”

 

Silence.

 

“Yeah so……I can bring some glasses for the wine.” Aiden suggested in an attempt to break off the awkward hug.

 

“Of course bring the glasses!” The man answered.

 

Aiden was more than happy to rush to the kitchen, moments later he brought two glasses and set them on the coffee table. Taking a seat at the adjacent couch he asked.

 

“The wine has no label, what is it?”

 

“Home made. I sell wine.”

 

Aiden poured a glass and tasted it. “Very good.”

 

The man smiled. “Thank you. I personally step on the grapes myself.”

 

“You mashed up grapes….under your feet….to make this?” Aiden looked at the glass.

 

“Yes.”

 

“So your bare feet were submerged in what I’m drinking now?”

 

“Yes. Nice home you have here. What you job?”

 

“I work in a meteorology research institute, I try to derive equations that accurately predict weather patterns.”

 

“Interesting, you a smart man, but tell me are you strange?”

 

“Strange? What do you mean?”

 

“Like strange!” He made incomprehensible hand gestures slapping the palm of his hand against his closed fist.

 

“I don’t know….what does that mean?” He tried to imitate the gesture.

 

“You like woman?” He asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Where is wife? No wife so I assume you a little strange.”

 

“What no! You mean homosexual, no!”

 

“Also no beard…no moustache…talk with whining voice like woman.”

 

“Great…..really enjoying your homophobia and Moldovan hospitality. ”

 

He laughed with a booming echo, then he came to a gradual stop. “No, no, I just bother you like little brother. So when you come down to Moldova, you can stay with me. I pay your ticket you come with me.” He drowned the wine, and poured another glass.

 

“Wow, thank you George, I’m really grateful that you wanna get me a ticket to Moldova but…..”

 

“Drink your wine.” He interrupted.

 

“I will a little later…”

 

He pulled out the ticket from under his jacket and placed it on the coffee table.

 

“For you.”

 

Aiden picked it up, it was a return ticket. “George, I don’t know if I can come.”

 

“You need to come, you need to see where you from.”

 

“I really wish I could come but I got so much work here, I don’t think I can take any days off.”

 

“Call job now and ask?”

 

“Well technically I’m in charge of the project so I don’t need to call anyone.”

 

“Aiden look at me.” Aiden looked him in the eyes. “If you don’t come, I kill you.”

 

 

 

The crowded bus shook violently as it made its way through uneven road, an endless stretch of farmland and forests spanned in all directions. George’s head drooped to the side, his mouth open, thin strings of saliva fell and Aiden could only avoid them by plastering himself against the window. 

 

The man in the seat behind him had a pair of chickens in a portable cage. He also couldn’t keep them quiet.  The bus suddenly shook and George’s saliva shot landing across Aiden’s blazer. Aiden instantly slapped the big man awake.

 

George abruptly woke up and Aiden gave him an apologetic smile. “Are you alright? Sorry, the bus shook and your head just flew into my arm.”

 

George shrugged and fell back against his seat, he was instantly asleep. The bus left both of them at a tree amid vast, rolling, fields.

 

“So where do we go from here?” Aiden asked.

 

“Just straight ahead.”

 

“Where? To the horizon? I don’t see anything in sight.”

 

“Get some exercise!” George gave him a smack on the back knocking him face down in the mud. He shrugged apologetically. “Uh sorry my hand slipped and I hit you too hard.”

 

Aiden furiously wiped the mud off his glasses.

 

 

 

They arrived at a farm house, surrounded by chicken and sheep. Aiden was instantly greeted by Uncle Dan, George’s father, an old man with more gold than teeth, rough skin and a flat wide nose. The wooden door flew open and a black haired woman with a round face dressed in white and grey rags came out of the house and ran to embrace Aiden. This was his cousin Geta.

 

George showed Aiden around and then eventually took him to a small wooden shed.

 

“Say hello to your sleeping space little cousin.” George opened the door.

 

Aiden’s eyes fixed on what was a mostly empty barn with a window and a bed.

 

“I’m gonna sleep here?”

 

“Yes this was where animals sleeps but we clean up the hay for you and bring you bed.”

 

“How generous.”

 

“Get comfortable.” He winked at Aiden and closed the door.

 

Aiden looked around his new room. “I’ll get through this.”

 

 

 

Aiden was not expecting what the next two weeks brought, George and his friends would take a car out to the city, where they would get drunk out of their minds and spend entire nights at clubs and bars.

 

Every morning, Geta, would have eggs and milk prepared for them. Aiden did not expect to get accostumed to living here but he did, and life was good. As the weeks drew to an end Aiden was beginning to feel his mind slowly creep back to unfinished work. The day before he left they went out and celebrated. It was 3 am when they came back home. Aiden, walked out of the kitchen, drunk out of his mind. Behind him he heard George and a bunch of townies arguing over a card game. Uncle Dan was sitting outside, taking swigs of the home made wine. Aiden fell into the chair next to him. The old man turned and offered him wine.

 

“No I’m good, I feel like exploring. I wanna go there.” Aiden pointed to a dense forest in the distance.

 

“No, Likho live there.” He said, shaking his head. “No go there.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Old song forbid men to go into forest and cross river, if you do, you get wish but no man like his wish.”

 

“The woods can grant me wishes?”

 

“No woods, Likho, they cannot cross river. No crossing the river.”

 

“But if I do they grant me any wish.”

 

“Yes but no good. You smart man you know the math and the science but this people know for hundred years. From grandfather to son, old stories.”

 

“I’m tired of science.”

 

Dan gave him a blank expression. “I no understand.”

 

“Never mind.”

 

“You scientist but you no like science.”

 

“I hate it. It makes me miserable.”

 

“You like what you do?”

 

“I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

 

“Strange”

 

“Yeah strange is right. I don’t know why, maybe I like punishing myself who knows.”

 

Uncle Dan gave a small chuckle, “You have many things on mind, sleeps for night and tomorrow your head clear again.” He got up and slowly made his way inside. Aiden looked out into the forest and when Dan was gone, he got up and began making his way towards it.

 

 

 

 

 

His flashlight illuminated rows of ancient, moss covered trees. He made his way slowly, attempting to keep his balance amid tree roots, jutting from the forest soil.

 

Walking towards the sound of a rushing river he swayed from side to side, intoxicated and dizzy. There were moments of conscious lapses, he recollected trying to cross a river stream by stepping on half submerged rocks, he plummeted face down into the water. After another episode of black he found himself dripping and wet, sitting at the gnarled roots of an old tree, surrounded by dark forest. His flashlight cast long shadows of the trees around him. There were patches of wild mushrooms and flowers. Night flies whizzed about in trailing ember lights. The place had an almost picturesque quality as if it was taken from the pages of some elaborate fairy tale.

 

“I bet I can describe all of this in mathematics, zaps the imagination right out….” He started laughing at himself. “Oh yeah I forgot to ask for the free wish which I wasn’t supposed to ask for.” He continued laughing. “How ridiculous is that?” 

 

 When he stopped himself he muttered. “I wanna understand the weather…..that’s my wish.” He opened his arms preparing to receive incredible knowledge but nothing came. He sat by the tree with his arms open, flashlight in the grass.

 

“That’s what I thought.” He picked up the flashlight. As soon as he got up to walk he stumbled back down just as fast. The shadows of the trees suddenly grew thinner, elongating. He caught a glimpse of a passing darkness. Reason attempted to subdue his instincts and he denied that he ever saw anything. He denied the sweaty palms, the rising fear in his chest.

 

A vague recollection filled him with horror. He remembered an obscure shadow, not quite animal and not quite human either, a grotesque form that merged with the darkness. That was enough to send Aiden running back. He was soon out of the forest and making his way back to Uncle Dan’s farm house.

 

 

 

Aiden woke up the next morning. He reminisced on last night’s ordeal while brushing his teeth and suddenly burst into laughter. “Can’t believe I did that! This will remain only between you and me.” He addressed himself in the mirror. He was embarrassed about last night, but he was glad no one saw him run and scream from an old wives tale. He was astonished that a rationally inclined man could pee his pants from a few tricks of shadow and light. He said good bye to his cousin and family. George embraced him and cried like a maniac. Geta and Dan had to pry him off so Aiden could run and catch the plane in time. He slept the entire plane ride and when he arrived home late in the night he unlocked the front door and pushed it open. He dropped the luggage on the floor and locked the door. He took a few steps forward and collapsed on the couch. Instantly he was asleep.

 

 

 

The next morning he woke up, rubbing his eyes. He felt fresh and energetic. He couldn’t put into words what he felt or even clear his thoughts but he knew exactly how to get everything out of his system. Taking a seat he began filling pages and pages of calculations, deriving equations, creating expressions, inventing new math. All of it just flowed, it wasn’t even logic anymore, it was instinct. Writing all of it down he watched everything unfold on the paper in front of him and his eyes dilated with excitement.

 

When he was done he looked at the equations. “I did this?” He asked himself.

 

“If I did all this then why is it not making any sense?” Then it hit him, he began connecting the variables and the equations before him coalesced into a mathematical masterpiece. “Oh my God! Wow!!” He yelled out loud.

 

“Oh my God!! This is amazing!!”

 

He rushed out of his house, at 10:00 am he was at the research institute, he threw the scribbled notes on the table where his colleagues were eating breakfast and what followed was stunned silence. When he got around to explaining everything the room roared in booming praises and cheering.

 

 

 

 

 

That night he went out with his colleagues and he bought them all dinner.  Aiden found himself by the bar, barely holding himself up. Jerrold was beside him and he wouldn’t stop talking.

 

“It’s freaking amazing!! There is an area in the brain that grounds the mind to the body, you feel your mind is attached to the body because a part of your brain is telling you that.”

 

Aiden managed to prop himself up on the bar.

 

“I don’t know Jerrold, you know I don’t believe in all that dualism nonsense, that one philosophy course I took in university was enough for me. I don’t wanna look back on it.”

 

“This is not philosophy, this is confirmed by science.”

 

“All science confirmed in this case Jerrold is that the mind can deceive itself into believing it’s not an extension of the body. What else is new, the mind can deceive itself into witnessing all kinds of exotic things. There was this one time I….” He stopped himself.

 

“You what?”

 

“Nothing”

 

“Ok well that doesn’t matter though, what matters is that your mind can delegate where you are located. The body in itself doesn’t give you that sense of self.”

 

“My body is the reason why I am here and why I am alive it is absolutely me.”

 

“And when your body dies of old age, I can embalm it, I can preserve it, but is it going to be you?”

 

“Of course not.”

 

“Then one could say that your body alone is not you.”

 

“Ok my body and it’s functional physiology is me”

 

“No.”

 

“How so?”

 

“It is possible to imagine a physiology without a consciousness, since physiology can be reduced to processes of chemistry and physics. Why is consciousness necessary then? Would your body have a sense of self?”

 

“I don’t know Jerrold.”

 

“It’s not necessary Aiden, your physiology can sufficiently be explained by chemistry and physics, therefore your body is not you….”

 

The bar tender interrupted them placing two pints between them.

 

“Drink up Jerrold and please pass out because I don’t wanna hear your nonsense and also I wanna ask you tomorrow where your sense of self went after you had enough pints.”

 

 

 

Aiden sat in a rumbling subway train which was mostly empty, except for the old homeless man who sat across from him. There was an awful smell, and Aiden noticed black stains all over the old man’s clothes. He peeled an orange and bit into it. The juice dribbled down soaking a grey unkempt beard.

 

Aiden looked away. The bum suddenly stood up and slowly approached him.

 

“What do you want?”

 

The old man smiled, revealing rotting teeth.

 

“A shoe shine sir?”

 

“Here is a dollar you don’t have to shine my shoes.”

 

“But good sir have you not seen my acting?”

 

“No and I honestly don’t want to.” Aiden was starting to get frustrated with the smell.

 

The bum began adjusting his voice.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“I’m trying to find my inner voice, I’m a tenor. Do you know what it’s like to be a tenor? Show me some dignity sir!” He was yelling now. “Where is my dignity?!”

 

“Ah, stop yelling!”

 

“There she goes here majesty sir!! She lays eggs of fine caviar!!”

 

When Aiden looked up again he saw tears running down the old man’s face. He pulled out a bottle of red nail polish from his pocket and he began to smear his face with it.

 

“I’ve seen enough.” Aiden got up and walked away, the man was crying and yelling gibberish behind him. He caught a final glimpse of a horrible twisted face that was smeared, dribbling with red. A grimace of rotting teeth howled incomprehensible sounds. Like a caged animal the bum went frantic, throwing the nail polish all over the seats in a wild tantrum. Aiden stepped out of the train. The doors closed and the train continued with the homeless man sealed and isolated in his insanity. Aiden continued home.

 

 

 

 

 

He woke up in the middle of the night. A sudden feeling of dread overwhelmed him. Throwing the sheets aside he quickly ran to the bathroom and fell over the toilet. Vomit poured from his mouth, unbearable sickness churned in his stomach. When he could get back to his feet again, he saw the outline of his work desk in the semi dark room, where light spilled from the open bathroom door. He apprehensively stepped inside and realized his hands were trembling. Anxiety began to surface as he approached the work desk.  He stood over it for a long time before he realized that he wouldn’t know rest until the revelation was made. He turned on the lamp and sat down working through calculations until the sun burned bright in the morning sky.

 

 

 

Aiden sat, pale and frozen, he reviewed this morning’s work several times. Everything was flawless and horrifying. It all started yesterday morning, when he picked up a coffee on the way to work. The same coffee he always loved to drink every morning under the shade of Washington Square Park. That is where his calculations started, they started at the first sip, they continued on for over 50 pages until they stopped. They could have continued but he stopped them prematurely at a point where his first sip of coffee caused a pile of bricks to collapse on a construction worker, cracking his head open and taking his life.

 

Aiden remained at his desk, he did not attempt to move. Thoughts kept shooting through his mind. Beads of sweat accumulated on his forehead. The day went by as new thoughts emerged, new knowledge, new consequences. He lost track of time, pale and fixated by his desk. Questions circulated in his head. Am I responsible? How can I be responsible? The pen was right beside him but he did not want to pick it up, the nausea surfaced again and he rushed to the bathroom.

 

He felt all of it welling up inside. He screamed rolling on the bathroom floor trying to contain it until it all erupted, a pandemonium that was neither fear, joy or arousal. It was everything and nothing all at once, a cascade of emotional entropy and confusion. He ran from the house screaming on the street. Fumbling through the night, he witnessed lights, people and blurred faces. There was no way of telling how long he was stumbling and screaming raked and tormented by information.

 

Information compressed into him, crushing his thoughts into oblivion. In the abysmal symphony there was a lapse, a momentary chasm where he retained an aspect of himself and could clearly make out voices.

 

“How much is this gonna score us?”

 

“That’s enough cash for an ounce.”

 

“Ounce of what?”

 

“Angel dust.”

 

Aiden saw the shadows of two men, standing over him and talking in a poorly lit alleyway. He suddenly convulsed and screamed as he felt the oncoming tide. In desperation he managed to scream.

 

“Kill me! Kill me goddamn it!” He was grabbing onto them and yelling. There was a moment of commotion, the two were cursing and yelling.

 

“Shut up!”

 

“SHUT THE F**K UP!”

 

Suddenly something hard and dense dropped on his head and Aiden was out.

 

 

 

He woke up in a hospital bed. A doctor with grey hair and pair of glasses was taking notes beside him. He glanced at Aiden and was suddenly startled.

 

“Oh you’re up! How are you feeling?”

 

“A little sore” Aiden answered. “What happened to me?”

 

“You took a pretty nasty hit to the head but I think you are fine now. You were found unconscious in an alleyway. Do you remember anything from last night?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“What do you mean, you either remember or you don’t?”

 

“I don’t know. I was here yesterday, but I wasn’t me…..No…..I didn’t exist yesterday.”

 

The doctor raised his eyebrows

 

“Okay well you haven’t suffered serious brain damage, so get some rest and you’ll be fine.”

 

 

 

 

 

Aiden was back at work. He stared blankly at the calculations. Smoke curled outside into the blazing sun, pigeons rested by the window. He looked back at the calculations, nothing came to him.

 

The tedious silence was suddenly interrupted, “Aiden!”

 

He looked up and there was Jerrold’s face hovering over his desk.