Tabula Rasa

It drummed incessantly on the windows, drowning out the news anchor I was trying to listen to. I fumbled with the remote but the volume was already at it's maximum. I strained forward to listen. "...even more rain set to be coming in from the... worst storms in years.... to you Gerald. Thanks Samantha.... top stories... flooding on highway 1 causing tailbacks... trapped in their building... landslide on Patterson Hill... stay safe and." I switched it off. A grumble of thunder echoed wearily across the sky. I got up and looked out from my third story window, I could feel the cold radiating as the warmth of my face condensed against the cool glass. Patterson Hill. I could see it in the blurry distance, the raw earth facing me, exposed by the torrential rain. I hope no-one was hurt. I cleared up from breakfast and braced myself to head out again into the storm. I was running low on food so had to see what was left in the barren supermarkets. Everyone panics when it rains for more than a few days here, since the floods in '76. I headed out from my apartment and the rain clattered against my hood as soon as I left the cover of the building, my feet sliding uncomfortably in the oversized rubber boots. They used to be my dads. Water ran in streams down the slick pavements. The supermarket was busy and pickings were thin. People stared uselessly at lists in empty aisles, wondering what to do. I just picked up what I could, as long as it would fill me up it would do for now. As I wandered the aisles, my boots squeaking against the tiled floor, I kept thinking of Patterson Hill. My mind drawn back repeatedly to that exposed hillside. I shivered, the damp chill getting into my bones. That night I had a dream. I was in a dark tunnel, heading down at an angle. In the distance a faint light appeared, no more than a speck. I headed towards it. As I headed down the air got warm, hot, sticky. In the dream I know I needed to keep going. I needed to reach the light. I was wearing my thick raincoat, but it was suffocating so I tore it off, my skin rejoicing at the coolness that cascaded upon me. As I got closer to the light it began to fill my vision, but it did not illuminate the tunnel around me. All I could see was the light. I knew I must get to the light. I awoke standing in my bedclothes in the middle of the street, shivering violently in the bitter rain. --- The next night I had the same dream; again waking in the street. After that I double bolted the door, hiding the key under my kitchen sink. Again, the same dream, but this time I awoke standing by my front door, my nails bent and bloody from scratching at the lock. I wanted someone to guard over me while I slept, but I didn't know anyone in town. I had recently moved and my parents lived many miles away and access to the town was cut off with the flooding. I contemplated calling the police but what do I say? I need you to stop me sleep walking into the street? I saw on the news that workers were reinforcing the hillside to stop it slipping further and they discovered something of archeological significance. Then the military arrived, to help sandbag houses around town and evacuate those who were vulnerable. The sound of the helicopters whirring blades adding to natures thundering cacophony. I stared listlessly out of the window, towards Patterson Hill. White tents studded a small area halfway up, with people milling around in yellow, like ants - it must be the ruins they found. --- I finished my coffee and looked at the time on the kitchen clock - 1am. Despite the caffeine, sleep tugged at my eyelids. I didn't know what would happen if I let myself sleep again. I got up and paced around my small apartment. I paused by the window and stared at the ravaged hill for the umpteenth time. Why did this hill occupy my every thought? I noticed something. I turned off the lights in the apartment and returned to the window, opening it to get a better look. There was definitely a faint light coming from the archeological site. The faint yearning of the last few days morphed into irrepressible hunger. I had to go to the hill. My body moved against the weak protest of my mind. I knew it was insane going out in the early hours of the morning to look at a hill, but these rational thoughts had no bearing on my actions. I found myself standing on the slick mud of the landslide, police tape baring my path. I ducked under it and navigated the slippery slope to the white tents I could see up the hill, silhouetted by the faint light I could see from my apartment. The tents were surrounded by hastily erected barricades, to prevent prying eyes. I slipped through a gap between them and entered the compound. Rain rattled noisily off the roofs of the tents. I peered inside the closest one. Scientific equipment was stacked up and strewn about. A large table dominated the centre of the room, with a map of the area laid out across it. A circle was drawn, radiating from the hill. Exclusion Zone. I skirted around the tent towards the source of the light. At the centre of the makeshift camp was the ruin of a small building. Through the collapsed walls you could see an opening in the floor with steps leading down to the entrance of a tunnel. A faint light radiated from within, bright without illumination. I walked down the steps and entered the tunnel.