Alone on Earth – Entry #42

December 27, 2016

06:55AM
Dear Diary

A very restless night of sleep. Not having that CPAP for my sleep apnea is starting to get to me. I wake up with a splitting headache as a result of not having that CPAP. Plus, hearing furniture moving around at different times of the night does not help. Regardless, I am going to invade all the homes around me today. I will need a sleeping bag, canned goods, candles and anything else I can think about. I noticed a hardware store as I was leaving WalMart yesterday. I don't know how it has survived this close to WalMart. But, that is not what concerns me now. Batteries...if only I could find one damn battery that will work. The temperature is rising outside. I took another reading on my mercury thermometer and it is 42 degrees F. That is a major improvement for me. But, it continues to get very cold at night. If I get stuck on the road somewhere, I will definitely need a pup tent...I will need matches to start a fire. I guess I will spend the night in this home again. Tomorrow, bad knee or cold weather, I am leaving Slidell. It is time for me to move on.

10:12AM
Dear Diary

I'm in a home next to the hardware store. I have found several items I will need, such as matches, cigarette lighters, canned goods and so forth. But, I have also found something disturbing. As you walk into this home, there is a bar leading to the kitchen. As I walked up to the bar, I saw some writing on the refrigerator. It is not in english. But, I did take a semester of Latin when I was in college. This is Latin. “Nex specto vos David.” Well, I got the last word right. I recognized my name. And I also recognized the word “nex” as well. Nex means death or violent death in Latin. I have a pretty good idea who put this here. The Blackness seems to know my every move. Why the Blackness felt the need to put this in Latin is beyond my ability to comprehend. I know the intimidation tactics by this bastard from hell by now. This is but one more.

11:11AM
Dear Diary

I'm finding many things in this hardware store I need. The sleeping bag and pup tent are greatly needed. My fear is that once I reach Texas, I will be forced to sleep just off Hwy 90 at some point. I have always been a stickler about being prepared for the unexpected. I never know when the snow is going to come back. So, I am going to carry all I can on this makeshift sled I have devised with a tarp. The temperature has really risen now. It is up to 53 degrees F. Almost all the snow has melted away. I am going to leave Slidell in the morning at first light. It is time to move on to Houma, about a 90 minute drive, if I remember correctly. But, with cars on Hwy 90, it will be twice that long. I'm hungry, and it is time to get back to my home for the night.

2:02PM
Dear Diary

I have eaten and took a short nap. I took a couple of aspirin that I found in one of the homes I broke into today. That seemed to help my headache. I woke up thinking I heard birds, diary. I immediately ran outside this home, only to be disappointed once again. This is the second time that I believe I have heard birds. More precisely, they sounded like crows. There is something that waits for me at the end of this trail on Hwy 90. I feel it stronger each day. It is like an obsession with me now to get to the end of Hwy 90. That is but one reason I have to leave in the morning. My knee is still aching. But, I am leaving in the morning. I don't care if it is a blizzard. I am leaving on this old Honda Gold Wing. I sometimes.......once again, the sound of crows giving their familiar “caw, caw, caw” that I have heard so many times before The Event. But, I have not seen not one. This means something. But, I have not figured it out as yet.

6:50PM
Dear Diary

I found a canned ham at one home during my foray today. It was good, along with canned peas, corn and green beans that I had the luxury of warming up over an open fire outside. It's strange.....I keep thinking I hear singing somewhere in this house. Just when I think I hear it.....it stops. It's a haunting, familiar tune that I think I would have recognized in my youth. But, now.....now, I can't place it. Oh, I know the Blackness is trying to play tricks on my mind to make me think I am going crazy. The Blackness wants me to kill myself. It tried to kill me itself in the other home. But, God, fate, whatever.....intervened to prevent that from happening.

9:37PM
Dear Diary

The singing started up again.....I went into the hallway and saw something astonishing......on the wall is a video, MTV type on the wall. I recognized the man singing......it is Sonny James singing “Young Love” in a hauntingly black and white video on the wall of this home. I never really cared for much of his singing since he was considered a country-western singer. I never got into that type of music. Ok, the Blackness is now trying to drive me crazy, I suppose. I stood there....and watched the video......it seemed Sonny James was trying to come out of the video on the wall. I know this sounds crazy. It sounds crazy even to me. Yet.....it was there. I'm not sure what message, if any, the Blackness is attempting to send to me. “Young Love?” I don't have a damn clue. It was a haunting echo throughout this dark, spooky old house. If the Blackness is attempting to scare me, it won't work. I'm leaving in the morning. Nothing is going to stop me from reaching the end of Hwy 90. If I can crawl, I will get there. If it is my imagination, I will turn around and go back home to Axis, AL. I will live out the rest of my life, however long that may be, in Axis at the Anderson home. But, first, I must complete this mission that has been delegated to me. Did I suddenly have an epiphany to do this? No, I can't say I did. It's just something that keeps gnawing at me all the time.

One more thing before I close for the night, diary. I have this terrible sense of......foreboding. I feel that there is something at the end of this venture that will be shocking above my ability to comprehend. It's something I feel, once again. I can't explain it. But, I know I have to continue onward. Tomorrow, I continue my journey west. God be with me.