THE GATHERING

His tired body is about to give up. The length of time he has spent on his job is taking its toll and he may get sick anytime now if he continues whatever it is he is doing. He hasn't taken a break for a long time and now seemed to be the only time his body is already asking for it.

He took another sip of the coffee he made from the office coffee machine.

But the surge of his tired mind started to take over. Slowly, his head started to bow down into his table and his eyes involuntarily closed themselves.

His mind fell deep into a great slumber.

In a short breath of darkness, he noticed that he was now standing in the middle of a hospital.

It was empty and the lights were blinking. He looked around, unfamiliar with the reason he was there.

He took a look at himself as he noticed how he was wearing a hospital patient robe. He was barefoot and his arms were filled with scars.

Am I in a dream?

His thoughts were running wild as to what is happening. He has no idea if this is real or a figment of his imagination.

How did I get here?

He started to slowly take a walk towards the door just in front of him. A beam of light from the strip that the door produced made him curious. He wants to see what's beyond those doors.

Slowly and curiously, he opened them with a slight push coming from his palm. The door creaked open.

As soon as he opened those doors, what he witnessed next was a chaotic hustle of people inside a hospital.

The nurses were wearing green uniforms with their green nurse caps.

Quite unfamiliar to him as he knows of no place with those uniforms.

His eyes roamed around the entire ward. It was filled with patients who may have been from war.

In a corner, he witnessed a man with his foot filled with blood and has just been amputated.

Another bed was filled with nurses while trying to stop a man who has turned into a lunatic.

The casualties looked like they have just been to war. He barely noticed the torn uniform right beside the lunatic man's bed.

Which year am I in?

His curiosity grew wider as he proceeded to the next area of the hospital. As he left the emergency room, it turned into a dark room. Everyone he just saw in there suddenly disappeared.

His eyes roamed around as nothing else was lighted except for the room in front of him. A tingling sensation started creeping into his entire body. It was a different kind of sensation, something that has attacked his entire being.

He groped the rusty knob and slowly pushed the door open. A blinding light started to attack his optic nerves that he had to take cover by placing his arms on top of his head, covering his eyes but leaving some room for him to see what it was that's behind that door.

He found himself standing in front of five black bags shaped almost into a huge sausage shape. He was no longer wearing the patient's robe a while ago. He was wearing his own clothes again. As he stepped closer into the black bags, he suddenly noticed how one of them was moving.

Like a larva inside its cocoon trying to breathe for life. The form of human lips started to occur and its mouth opened as though trying to shout.

He gulped as he confirmed that it was indeed a man that was inside that black bag. Someone who was trapped inside it. As he moved slowly near the bag, he heard heavy footsteps nearing him. A tall man appeared with his hands wearing surgical gloves and in his left hand was a 1911 gun with a silencer in its muzzle.

Before he could even move or hide, the gun was now pointing towards his direction. In the silence of the night, the sound of the trigger magnified and his entire being stifled. Then a silent shot was heard.

His body suddenly contorted as his senses got back up. Involuntarily, his body stood up after waking up from such a bad dream.

Everyone around him felt nervous as he made a loud sound the moment he stood up. He looked around seeing all of his colleagues looking at him.

He continuously gasped feeling his throat getting dried up after all that he's experienced.

He washed his hands all over his face and quickly grabbed his gun, then walked out of the station.

He's all flushed up as he went inside the nearest coffee shop.

He ordered a double espresso shot and sat down on the stool just in front of the barista.

As this red-haired girl came near him to serve his coffee he smiled and tried to relax his facial muscles.

Her hands brushed a part of his hand as she handed out his coffee.

All of a sudden, he noticed how her eyes suddenly turned all white.

"Hey?"

She just stood there stiff as a tree as her eyes started moving around suddenly turning in all whites.

It felt creepy and he was unsure what to do. All of a sudden, she recovered as she holds on to the counter and took short deep breaths.

She looked at him as her eyes now turned back to it's normal.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm..."

"I saw you, in that house. With the man."

He recalled the very recent experience he just had. Was she talking about the same thing?

Before she could utter another word, a woman came in and asked for a latte.

They were the only ones inside the coffee shop right at that moment. For some unknown reason, the entire place seemed to have turned chilly and the three of them felt it.

They looked at each other as though trying to confirm if what they're is similar.

The air inside the shop suddenly turned chilly and cold.

In a matter of seconds, they were pulled into a different kind of gravity. The place shifted and turned into that house from 50 years ago.

The strips of light from the covered windows tried their best to get through.

In the darkness, they saw those five black bags laying on the floor.

The girl he remembered who just came in suddenly was having a hard time breathing.

While the red-haired barista seemed to be new to the experience.

They were in the house's living room with the silence of the night.

He saw that same man whom he remembered just pointed a gun at him now sitting on a single sofa.

He was staring blankly on the house wall.

But slowly, as though time stood still, his face turned towards where they were.

With a grin on his face, he whispered something.

Each one of them stood frozen, his voice was inaudible but they can clearly hear it as though it was now tattooed in their mind.

A surge of ice-cold air started creeping into their senses.

Then his teeth came out as he slowly laughed wickedly.

And then just like that, they were pulled back again inside the coffee shop.

The barista all of a sudden fell onto the floor. The other girl was holding her hands up into her chest trying to steady her breathing.

He hurriedly ran towards where the barista is and helped her.

Now, who are these people?