Johnny Dreamcatcher Prologue

                                                          Prologue

The fog rolled in thick and heavy as Johnny tried to focus his eyes and see through the thickening white wall. His legs and hands ached as he shifted his weight from one leg to the other searching the white haze for any sign of the coast he knew must be drawing nearer. Patches of fog rolled across his view, the watchmen yelled loudly from the crows nest.

“Rocks ahead!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran to the guard rail each man long since trained in what to look for was straining to see through the thick fog, moments passed as everyone collectively held their breath, the fog thinned just enough to get a brief glimpse of the large black rocks that now loomed in front of the ship less than 20 yards away, Johnny yelled and began turning the wheel just as the ship lurched dangerously to the starboard side, he slipped, but held tight to the wheel and regained his footing as he spun the wheel as fast as he could, but there was no response. His mind reeled through the various possible escapes from the present danger, each step being eliminated as they quickly scrolled across his now racing mind. The ship continued on in its slow methodical rocking and reeling approach towards the large menacing rocks, a sudden yet futile thought entered his mind as he yelled for the crew to drop the anchor, nobody moved, everyone stood still as if frozen in their place and simply stared at the rock as it moved closer and closer. The ship moved on its own course, his mind screamed for action, he spun the wheel to the starboard side again, nothing. Leaving his post, he sprinted to the back of the ship and leaned out as far as possible and looked down at the rudder, it was nowhere in sight. Nothing, nothing but broken splinters of wood remained.

“Must have hit something.” He mumbled to no one in particular.

He sprinted back to the wheel and grabbed a tight hold just as the ship crunched noisily into the rocks knocking several deck hands overboard into the cold frigid water just off the coast of Iceland, he held tightly to the handles on the large wheel that should have steered the ship away from danger. Knowing full well that he and he alone was responsible for the untimely deaths of every single crew mate on board his ship. His stomach sickened at the thought. The ship begin to list to the starboard side, but he held tightly to the wheel hoping for a miracle knowing that in the rough winter seas in cover of darkness it would be impossible for his crew to swim to safety. Time began to race as the ship began to take on water and the beautiful carved woman of the sea who clung to the timber raised high in the dark sky above him.

Within moments his feet where dangling just above the water, he instinctively lifted them up to keep them out of the cold ocean that was creeping upward. The cold of the salty water bit into his legs; he wondered why he, the captain of a seafaring ship had never learned to swim. By instinct he yanked his legs up higher still and felt the handle in his left hand pull free from the wheel. Cold icy water engulfed him as men scrambled up the deck trying to stay away from the bitter cold water, his mouth filled with salt water as he struggled to return to the surface. But it was impossible to tell which way was up or down as the blackness engulfed him and it seemed to him to be an endless sea of darkness. His heart sank as he realized that he was going to die.

“So this is what it’s like?” he thought as his limbs quickly became numb from the cold water.

“Death in bitter cold water, no family around me…only loneliness and sorrow.”

He held tightly to the knob from the wheel as he sank slowly into his shallow cold watery grave.

Johnny awoke with a start, the sweat was dripping from his forehead and running down into his eyes and nose, his mouth tasted of salt. His thoughts turned to the air conditioning unit he and his father had repaired just the day before.

Must have blown the fuse again…I wonder why it keeps blowing the fuse?

He climbed out of bed and walked down the short hallway to the bathroom he shared with his brother and younger sisters. He raised his hands to turn the water on and began to fill them with clean water to rinse off his face and rinse out his mouth, he stopped his heart racing and stared at his left hand, he shook his head to clear any possible cobwebs that lingered and realized this was no figment of his imagination, this was real. In his left hand was a curious piece of wood, he brought his hand closer and raised it closer to the vanity light and carefully examined the object. He gasped audibly and dropped the curious looking piece of wood. It bounced on the counter and down onto the floor just behind the toilet.

“What is that thing?” He said out loud.

He bent down and reached behind the toilet to retrieve the item, wondering why he had been so thoughtless to forget to clean behind the toilet on Saturday like his mother had asked, he resolved to not neglect his duties again. He closed his eyes wondering just how disgusting the object would be. He finally grasped it and brought his arm up. He grabbed a handful of toilet paper and wiped the object clean of any possible debris as he turned it round and round trying to figure out what it could possibly be. He gasped audibly.

“It couldn’t be…”

His brow furrowed and his eyes widened as he realized it was the knob from the wheel of the ship in his dream. He held it up close enough to see that it was still wet and the end that had been in the wheel looked like it was still a brand new piece of wood, but the handle itself appeared to be very old. Carefully he set the knob to the side of the sink and rinsed his mouth over and over again wondering about the now realistic dream that had caused his death. The visions of his dream remained clear and real. He looked at himself in the mirror, turning his head from side to side wondering what it all meant. Thoughts raced through his brain at an amazing speed, “Am I going to be a sea captain someday? Or is this just a warning about my teenage years yet to come?”