Page 53 of Jacob Michaels is Not Crazy

Ernst jumped up in bed when I sat up with a jolt. We glanced at each other in the dark, his shiny black eyes looking like onyx in the darkness of night. I reached over and glanced at my cell phone. It was just after two o’clock in the morning. I had been dreaming about the eerie green light yet again and then something had jolted me awake. It had been a sound, I was pretty sure, but I couldn’t remember what it was for the life of me.

Something in the night had been loud enough to disturb me from my sleep and had also rattled Ernst. I knew he was rattled because of his stance but also due to the fact that he hadn’t scuttled off into the darkness to wherever it was that he scuttled off to when I had woken up in the past. Of course, now that I knew of his existence, we had talked to each other, it was unlikely that he would avoid me much anymore.

“Did you hear something, Ernst?” I asked, peering over to look at him, alert at the end of the bed.

“Aye.” He nodded.

“What was it?”

“Dunno, sir.” He whispered. “Someone hollerin’ out, I think.”

“Oma…?”

He shrugged his tiny shoulders in the dark. Together, we stayed there in bed together, listening for the sound of whatever it had been that had shaken us from our slumber. I cautiously slid my legs over the side of the bed as Ernst listened and watched me, as though concerned for me.

“Careful, sir.” He whispered.

“I’m sure it’s fine.” I tried to smile. “I don’t hear anything now.”

Ernst gave the smallest of nods as I stood from the bed. I stood there at the bedside, listening for any noise, watching for any movement. Of course, in the dark, how would I know if anything was moving? Ernst was quiet as a church mouse and stood still as a statue as his pointy ears stayed at alert, listening for any sound throughout the house.

Oma wasn’t screaming out for me and the house seemed as quiet and still as it did on any other deep night at two in the morning. My grandmother was probably still tucked tightly into bed, sleeping soundly. Maybe Lena or another one of the Kobolds asleep at her feet or side. Why had I been dreaming about the green light again? I had promised Oma I would stay away from the cellar, that I wouldn’t search out whatever it was drawing me there.

That was another thing I had thought about while we were doing dishes after dinner. How had she known about my dreams about the cellar? Or had I been dreaming when I had gone down to the cellar? Had I been sleepwalking and she had caught me doing it? I shivered there in the bedroom in the dark as I stood, listening for sounds. Ernst tiptoed over to the side of the bed and tapped me on the elbow with one of his small, bony fingers.

I nearly jumped out of my skin, then laughed nervously. Ernst gave me an apologetic smile.

“Did you hear something?” I looked down into those black eyes in the dark.

“No, sir.” He shook his head. “I dunno what woke us, sir.”

I nodded down at him.

“Maybe I said something in my sleep?” I suggested.

He shrugged, appearing to be less worried than before.

“Are you okay?”

He beamed up at me. Obviously, he was fine. And me asking about his well-being made him happy.

“Yes, sir.”

I smiled down at him.

But then I heard it again. Well, I would have said I heard whatever it was again because what I heard was familiar. I hadn’t known what noise had shaken us from our sleep, but the sound that came to me didn’t sound foreign but like something I had just heard recently. Or, maybe that wasn’t right. It just seemed like I should know the sound. Ernst’s ears pricked up and his hand went to mine. His tiny hand managed to wrap around two of my fingers frantically as his head turned towards the window.

“What was that?” I asked.

Ernst nodded towards the window. I looked down at him. His hand stayed wrapped around my fingers. The child-like gesture would have made me smile if it weren’t for the fact that I was concerned. Something was going on that wasn’t right, even if I didn’t know what it was. I slowly slid my fingers out of Ernst’s grasp as I stepped towards the window. Ernst made concerned noises as I moved away from the bed towards the drapes. Turning my head slightly, I gave him a reassuring smile.

When I approached the window, I reached out cautiously and grabbed ahold of the drape, pulling it to the side so that I could peer out. Ernst was making concerned noises from behind me as I leaned forward and looked out into the backyard. My eyes grew wide as I looked down and saw a tall, hooded figure in the middle of Oma’s still unplanted garden, hands raised aloft, his or her back turned to me. Several, shorter figures in hoods stood around the figure in a circle, their arms raised towards the sky as well.

“What the fuck?” I whispered.

“What is it, sir?” Ernst whisper-hissed behind me.

“There are people down there,” I said lowly. “They’re…I don’t know what they’re doing.”