Sarette's Reve De Mort: And Other Stories Of Not Quite Magical Realism

"Otis, what did I tell you about," The boss looked at the clock. "waiting around twiddling your thumbs?"

"Sorry sir, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Make sure of that."

"Yes sir."

"Oh! look at the time. You can leave now."

It was nine o'clock, and Otis exited the door. He moved a couple of years ago to the port town. He walked along the sidewalk, and rhe cars are passed him by. He dropped by the nearest convenience store.

Otis picked out a beer from the freezer.

Otis is in the kitchen, with the dinner he prepared for his girlfriend. It became slightly impatient because she was not yet home. He decided to call his girlfriend on his cell phone.

"Hun, what the hell is taking you so long?" Otis said.

"Are you lying?" Naomi Said.

"Scratch it, how about I make dinner tonight?" Otis was watching television. It was the news channel. A liberal news network. "We could have wine too."

"Sounds awesome."

"Later baby."

Otis hung up his cell phone, and placed it in his pants pocket. He walked to his computer He thought Something doesn't seem right about this girl, this is the second time she's late. His girlfriend would always came home with a box of Kahlua chocolate truffles.

The second hour went by. He thought What the hell is taking so long?

Otis had a picture of Brian in his head, and he winced, because he remembered when Brian hit on him. He sat at the table, eating his dinner, and he drank a sip of his wine.

"Nah, I got to be kidding myself," Otis switched the channel to another network. "why can't I be more trusting?" Otis took a long deep look into the screen, as he sat on the couch. "She didn't seem like a slut. I can't put my mind around it."

Otis hopped off the couch, and took out his cell phone, and then opened his cell phone to call his girlfriend.

"What's taking so long?" Otis asked.

"I'm on my way home, I just had to make a stop." Naomi said.

"I'm starting to regret offering to cook dinner." Otis clenched his fist. "It's getting late, and I'm hungry."

"Just make dinner for yourself tonight."

Otis traveled along the icy road to see his girlfriend, and he narrowly avoided a collision with a car.

He arrived to the apartment.

He walked to the door, and knocked on it. Otis put his ear up to the door, and could hear the whistle of air conditioning on the inside. He opens the door knob, and noticed it was unlocked.

The door creaked. And then he heard a murmurs, a man and a woman.

"What was that?"

"Oh don't worry about it Hun, just go nice and slow."

Otis walked slowly to his girlfriends bedroom door, and then he bursted the door open. It was her giving the man a blow job. Otis spoke.

"What the hell is this?"

"Its not what you think Otis!"

"Who is this?" The other man said.

"I'm know one you'll ever see again."

Otis locked the door of his apartment, when he got back home. He went to go lye down on the couch.

Otis thought Why would she do this to me!? Did I ever hit her, or otherwise abuse her!? No, it wasn't like that at all.

He drowned in all his sorrows with a glass of merlot, and then sat on the couch to watch the news.

Tonight's topic was about an arsonist that died in a fire. The other story was about a WWIII couple that proposed after the war.

Otis turned the LCD monitor off, and clapped the lights out. He went to his room to sleep. He could not sleep for a minute.

He briefly thought about his life up to now.

Otis had a dream.

The sky was a late evening blue, waves crashed along the shoreline. A viking long house was along the shore. It was the year 1056

There was a single room cabin. Benches were used as both beds and seats. Along the walls you could see the dried meat hanging from the walls.

Arnbjorn woke up to get his fishing gear.

He saw Halldora, who appeared behind him.

"What are you doing up this early Hally?"

"Dad, I'm tired of having to weave and crochet all the time." Halldora played with his long blond hair. "Could I go fishing with you sometime?

"You should get your priorities straight." He grimaced sternly. "Your job is to help your mother maintain the household. Maybe when you're a little older I might change my mind. You will just be swept away by the waves anyway."

She pictured herself reeling in the fish, and cooking a wonderful meal for the whole family.

"I just wanted to be like you daddy, is that to much to ask."

"Just go back to sleep."

"If you could even work for two whole days, someday I might consider taking you with me. I will think about it.

Arnbjorn left the cabin.

At the fish shop, Halldora's father was tending to a customer.

"It only costs 50 Krona to buy this fish!?" He said.

"Only fifty, that's more than I earn in a week!" The customer said.

"If you don't like it, go elsewhere. But I bet your wont fish anywhere near this good."

To the contrary, he would often time sell rotten fish preserved with salt on the open market, and advertise it as if it were fresh.

It was a dishonest profession, but times were hard. But at least he always saved the freshest of seafood for his family.

Arnbjorn is sea fishing with his best friend.

"Hook, line, and sinker." Arnbjorn said.

"You really should let your daughter bond with you more."

"But what better way to bond than to talk about viking voyages second hand?" Arnbjorn was being facetious. "About how wonderful gathering the wood is."

Arnbjorn came around and let her go sea fishing with him.

As he had predicted, she was swept up by the waves.

"You're a disgrace to our family." He said.

He left her out to drown in the cold, windy ocean.

"Daddy!! Come back."

She tried swimming to locate his boat, and mustered all the strength she could summon. But no boat.

"Dad!? How could you?"

The morning dawn shined dimly, Otis woke up from the dream. He is breathing in and out with major heaving after being deprived of oxygen briefly.

Otis had something to eat, but decided to get breakfast out.

He walked to work.

In real time in the real past, Halldora at first sank into the water, and swam to shore. She arrived at home wet.

She woke up on her bench she happened to use for a bed that night. The mother asked her daughter a question.

"What happened to your face hun?"

"Me and dad were in a bad fight, just ignore it."

"Is this going to be how it is?"

Back in the present time.

Otis got a job as a lab technician after quitting his first job. He had built up enough university credits to work as a scientists assistant.

The person supervising him was Machida Kayo, and part time professor, and part time drill sergeant

Machida relaxed with a nice cold beer, while spouting off commands at Otis.

"So I assume you got the dark matter?" Machida said.

"Roger."

Otis handed Machida the dark matter, and then asked the monitor, "What time is it computer?"

"It is now 13:05 hours." The computer said.

"Are you ready to change history."

"Roger."

Machida fired the engine, and the machines sparked, and caused the whole lab to warp. He tried to get Otis out.

Otis blacked out.

He warped his spaceship into Viking time.

Otis crashed his ship.

Otis was awoken, and flew out of the ship. He slapped into a tree. And then he got up injured. He had a loose tooth.

"This doesn't look like the Andromeda galaxy."

It looked like he was in some forest.

"Well Machi Macho did mention worm-holes were unpredictable were they might end up."

Otis tried reporting his current situation.

While tending to her sheep on the farm, a girl saw a huge explosion in the distance.

She directed her sheep back to the farm.

A charred black otis is leaning into the mic, and he tried to call back Machida. But no answer, so he crawled to the village.

He collapsed when he reached the town square. The villagers looked at him like he were a demon.

Otis woke up, and found himself lying on a bench. The house was pretty much one long room.

"Talk about living it up." Otis picked his nose. "What year did I warp into?"

An older man, and a younger girl in what looked like Norse outfits opened the door. They hurried to close the door before the cool settled in.

"Now hold on a sec poppa, who's that guy."

"I found this girly man." Arnbjorn said. He took off his non horned helmet. "I figured something must have been up, so I took him in."

"I say we kill him."

"Nah, I got a better idea. If he's going to stay for a while, ..."

"He might as well be useful!"

"So were did you come from?"

"The orient." They missed the joke, because they focused on his bizarre clothing. It was a streamlined spaceman suit.

"Me and Halldora are going sea fishing." Arnbjorn said.

"Now make yourself useful and gather some firewood." Halldora said.

They exit the house.

Otis snuck out of the house early in the morning.

He could here villagers cursing at his ship as if it were the product of the fire god himself. So he had to go see what was going on.

The villagers were attacking his ship, and had no choice but to self destruct the ship.

This killed the farmers instantly.

He found a small cottage not unlike the house he stayed in the previous night. He knocked on the door.

What what looked like a lady in her late 20's, greeted him.

"How may I help you?" Otis said.

"This is urgent, and I need someone to hear me out."

"What do you need?"

"I have no idea what happened." Otis coughed, residue from the engine explosion was still lingering on his face. "But there was some kind of bug in the dark matter engine. I somehow landed here. I was suppose to land in the Andromeda galaxy. Do you know of any hardware stores around here?"

Otis did not watch the science fiction movies, or he would have known better.

Or maybe he still did not think he was in normal time, and just landed in some primitive place in Europe.

"Wait what?" The Nordic lady said.

"What year is it?" Otis asked.

"This is the year 1040."

She let him come in and get some rest.

Halldora came by that house, and knocked on her neighbors door.

"Excuse me, have you seen a young trell around this part."

"Why yes, he said something about.."

One of Halldora's slaves tried to drag Otis out of the cabin, and he tried to hold them off. Then Halldora blew a sleeping dart at his neck.

He blacked out once more. He woke up to find he was tied to one of their benches.

"You think you got it bad, yar trell. I normally give ye 700." Arnbjorn said. He whipped up a storm on Otis's back.

He once again had to gather wood for Halldora's father.

When he got up, he slowly and carefully made as little noise as possible. He saw Arnbjorn outside, and snuck up behind him.

He strangled him, till he passed out. Otis was not aware the next morning the man would be dead.

He then jogged over to the snitching ladies house.

Otis knocked on the door.

"What brings you here. You have some kind of letter. Indicating your master sent you?" Otis said.

He took out the note he forged, and she let him intending to once again wait till Halldora or her father came to take him back.

"So who are you really?"

"I am,...a jackass, a bastard child, and an illegitimate prick." The lady wasn't aware that he was joking.

Otis was able to charm her enough to lure her to bed, and he slipped in some sleeping pills in her drink that he packed for long trips.

She slept like a rock,

Otis talked to Machida on his repaired cell phone while hiding in the Viking village. The hardware hacking handbook finally came in handy.

"Hey Machida, you won't believe where I ended up."

"Otis, I didn't mean for you to literally change history."

"Very funny. Now how am I going to get home?"

"Look behind you."

Otis thought he heard a chuckle he recognized, and turned around.

"How did you get here Henry."

"Machida had a few issues regarding the system."

"Henry is going to give you a ride, and then I'll give you the new briefing." Machida laughed madly at his stupid pun, and then hung up his cell phone.

"So he sent me to come rescue your ass. Thank me later." Henry said.

"I was watching you the previous days," Henry took out his hand gun for self defence. "To see if you could handle yourself."

"You prick! Thanks for rescuing me!"

"Oh about that, my ship broke down."

"What!"

A few months later.

Otis picked out a beer from the freezer when he was in the kitchen, with the dinner he prepared for the evening on a plate on the table. He could smell the stir fry of slaw makings, kielbasa, and thinly sliced chicken wafting into his priggish nose. He then shook about with the jitters, and tossed the phone onto the floor, because Leila was not yet home. So he decided to call his girlfriend -- at least at the present -- on his cell phone. He opened the lid slowly, and then the lights from the buttons flickered.

"Hun, the hell is taken so long?" he said.

"Are you lying? I'm working late tonight." Naomi Said.

"Scratch it, how about I make dinner later tonight?" Otis was watching television as he was speaking to Leila the bubble gum popper. It was the news channel. "We could have wine too."

"Sounds awesome." Leila said.

"Later baby."

Otis hung up his cell phone slowly, and then placed down upon the table still slightly shaken up, as he was not sure whether she would be home tonight. Then walked to his computer. He at that moment thought something doesn't seem right about the woman, the second time she's been late that week. I hope it really is she is working late, he thought. Leila would always came home with a box of chocolate truffles, so for the two. ... "Just for the two off right?"

But after the hours went by, he ate his stir fry alone.

He thought What the hell is taking so long?

Otis had no reason to suspect Brian, although part of him suspected he was involved because of how he his employer always commented on how she was a good lady to him. Suspected how he only kept the job, because of a close connection to his bubble gum popping late girlfriend. He sat at the table, and drank the last of his wine. It was a minor comfort for him, a taste of sweetness amongst the bitterness. "Nah, I got to be kidding myself," Otis got up to switch the channel to another network. "why can't I be more trusting?"

Otis took a long deep look into the screen, as sat on the couch. "Didn't seem like a slut when I first met her. I don't know man." And then he reclined back. Otis hopped off the couch, and took out his cell phone to call his girlfriend. "What's taking so long?"

"I'm on my way home, I just had to make a stop." Naomi said.

What stop might that be, Otis thought. "I'm starting to regret offering to cook dinner." Otis clenched his fist. "It's getting late, and I'm hungry."

"Just make dinner for yourself tonight." Leila said.

It the was second Wednesday that Otis arrived to the apartment on an invitation, and arrived at the door to knock on it. "You can go ahead and come in." He heard Leila said. He opens the door knob, and noticed it was unlocked. The door creaked. And then he heard a murmur, a man and a woman. "What was that?" He heard Brian's voice say.

"Oh don't worry about it Hun, just go nice and slow."

Otis then walked slowly to his girlfriends bedroom door, and did not really want to wait here long, as he wanted to take a long vacation away from the city. Away from the old working life. She said he come in.

Leila was giving Brian a blow job.

"Bey! Otis, hows it going man!?" Brain said.

"I'm good you?" Otis said, and walked out of the door abruptly. Slammed the door shut at his apartment, locked the door of his apartment wanting to cover the entrance with the type of wood that you would make a swing set out of. Then went to go lye down on the couch. Could not resist the killer thought of Brain the slouch. Ouch, what a fucking slouch Brian, Otis thought. Why would Leila do this to me!? And drowned in all his sorrows, with another glass of wine while sitting down on the couch to watch the news. For at this point even the news of the generic variety was good company for the post grad.

He thought its never going to be the same. Never going to be the same all.

Tonight the topic was about an arsonist that died in a fire. The other story was about a WWIII couple that proposed after the war. Either story was one that he would ordinarily abhor, but anything was good at this point.

After turning the LCD monitor off, he clapped the lights out on the lamp. Went to his room to sleep. Through himself down on the cover, like a champ. And for moment, he felt like he was being fried by jumper cables.

He briefly thought about his life up to now.

And plugged himself into the pod-net. He loaded up an old video game he downloaded when they first met, how they used to game together. She would always lead the pack, he was the one instructed to tack together the puzzle pieces of electronic life. He saw the sky was a late evening blue, with the waves crashing along the shoreline. A Norman long house was along the shore. He felt he must have hallucinated that it was the year 1456. But it did not matter, he would go medieval on what ever creatures existed in the meshwork.

As he played his game, he tried to fend off a tall Nordic man who was chasing after him with his sword. And after he was struck, everything faded to darkness. Game over for this particular bloke. It slowly came back, there was a single room cabin. Benches were used as both beds and seats, and along the walls you could see the dried meat hanging from the walls. Arnbjorn woke up to get his fishing gear.

Otis saw Halldora, who appeared behind him.

"What are you doing up this early Hally?" He heard the tall man say to his little girl, but he did not care. Wondered why the non horned helmet man did not just decide to scalp his dream-space avatar, and get it over with. "Dad, I'm tired of having to weave and crochet all the time." Halldora played with her long blond hair.

"Could I go fishing with you sometime?" Halldora said.

"You should get your priorities straight." He grimaced sternly. "Your job is to help your mother maintain the household. Ouch man, and Leila thought I was little shit. That guy is a really tall shit eater, Otis thought trying to pretend like he was still asleep so as not to attract notice. "Maybe when you're a little older I might change my mind. You will just be swept away by the waves anyway."

At the fish shop, Halldora's father was tending to a customer along with the new slave that had recently logged into the meshwork. Just you wait old electronic think, I will beat the level out of you like you won't believe, Otis thought. "It only costs 50 Krona to buy this fish!?" Arnbjorn said to the customer.

"Only fifty! ... More than I earn in a week!" The customer said, who walked over to the other fisherman's shop.

"Yea that's right if you don't like it, go elsewhere. But I bet your wont fish anywhere near this good." He would often time sell rotten fish preserved with salt on the open market, and advertise it as if it were fresh. A dishonest profession, but times were hard. But at least he always saved the freshest of seafood for his family. They would be none the wiser.

Arnbjorn is sea fishing with his Otis the avatar.

"Hook, line, and sinker." Arnbjorn said.

"You really should let your daughter bond with you more." Otis said.

"But what better way to bond than to talk about voyages second hand?" Arnbjorn was being of course not being serious. "About how wonderful gathering the wood is."

Arnbjorn came around and let her go sea fishing with him.

As he had predicted, she was swept up by the waves.

"You're a disgrace to our family." He said.

"Your a disgrace for a father." Otis said, and pushed him into the ocean, and carefully made sure so a to only retrieve Halldora in order to keep her from drowning in the waves that tasted of salt.

"Daddy!! Come back." Halldora the AI said.

"That dad was going to let you drown." Otis said.

"Dad!? How could you?" ---

--- Otis woke up from the dream. He breathed in and out with major heaving after being deprived of oxygen briefly. He walked to the kitchen to have something to eat, but decided to get breakfast out.

But eventually the plug in system back at home, begin to behave peculiarly. Halldora at first sank into the water. But the water from the console evaporated, and she was lying down upon the carpet.

"Where am I?" Halldora said. Looked up, her perception of Heaven. But instead he was merely, an introduction to the twenty first century. "Is this going to be how it is? Will I not be able to get home?"

Machida Kayo, and part time professor of fixing the console devices, and a part time drill sergeant. He always loved yelling at his clientel, who would rather pay someone else. But could not afford anybody cheaper. He relaxed with a nice cold beer, while spouting off questions about the living girl avatar in his room. "So I assume you have the adoption papers?" Machida said.

Otis stared at the little AI. "Maybe."

"It is now 13:05 hours." A computer generated voice said, that was coming from the desktop hologram projector. Machida fixed the console, and the machine sparked back to life. It was alive again, would be Otis's wife.

Otis and Halldora plugged in.

Played another game of pop goes the Viking. But Otis instead forgot about the fact that each world generated a new world. And dear Halldora, alone in the world with him. Would never see her family again. Otis is awoken, and flew out of the ship that crashed. Halldora held on to the seat of the space ship, and it slammed into a tree. Otis got up injured, and began to limp just a little bit.

"This doesn't look like the Andromeda galaxy, that for sure." It looked like he was in some forest. "Well Machi Macho did mention worm-holes were unpredictable were they might end up." Otis tried reporting his current situation to his mechanic. But the young pink hair mechanic man, would not answer his cell phone as a charred black otis is leaned into the mic, and tried to call back Machida.

He called for Halldora, hoping she was still alive.

Halldora popped out from the pop. "Here I am."

I wonder if the new network erased her memories, Otis thought. And then he collapsed when he reached the town square. The villagers looked at him like he were a demon.

An older man that looked like Arnbjorn from the world before, and two versions of Halldora in their white night gowns. They hurried to close the door before the cool settled in.

"Now hold on a sec poppa, who's that guy."

"Halldora two, that's our now buckaroo."

"I say we kill him."

Otis logged out of freight. ---

And he could hear voices.

"Nah, I got a better idea. If he's going to stay for a while, ..."

"He might as well be useful!"

"So were did he come from?"

"The orient." Otis said, crying himself to sleep. Knowing that his little girl he tried to save from the old save file would not here him.