by Peter Repton
It was a beautiful dream he thought he heard a faint, sweet, childlike voice at the back of his head say.
‘See what happens next,’ then the ground started moving backwards and forwards. Then up and down all at the same time. All the young women got thrown to the ground, and a nearby cafe with an outside beach bar collapsed to the ground.
Seconds later a huge, cracking explosion occurred. It shattered the serenity of the moments before the earthquake. The terrified young women turned around as one. They all pointed, looking fearful, into the distance. David, in his dream, followed the direction that they were looking. He saw the cause of their consternation. A much smaller nearby mountain peak exploded. In seconds it created a massive mushrooming black cloud in the sky. It soared over two thousand feet into the air. Then a second massive explosion started billowing ash and rocks out of the side of the mountain. This mountain was nearer to the Ocean, closer to the women on the beach.
Huge boulders as large as armchairs started blasting into the air and splashed down into the sea. The screaming girls panicked and ran off in different directions. Just moments later the trees on the slope of the mountain vanished in a black superheated ash cloud. It moved at hundreds of miles an hour and towards the sea in the foreground. David’s vision then changed, he seemed to fly high up into the air.
He watched the unfolding events from a birds-eye point of view. Way above the exploding volcano. He could see a chain of islands stretching away into the distant North-West. David saw a few ships, their white wakes trailing behind, in the ocean around them.
Then swooping down low across the largest island smitten by this catastrophe, David began skimming over the rooftops of a pretty painted, picturesque little village. The terror cloud chased him now, smashing the forests to a pulp and in its progress devastating the small village in seconds.
In the strange nature of dreams, David immediately found himself stood on the foredeck of one of the cargo ships behind two seamen. They were pointing into the distance. Once again following their gaze he saw the same scene, but from a fresh perspective, but from about three miles away. David noted the elder of the two seafarers sported a bald, shiny head and dark deep-water tan. This one looked to the younger man and said.
‘My God Kilauea is erupting again. Goddess Pele of the Hawaiian volcanoes is pissed off with us all about something. I hope we get moored up in Hilo quick. These big eruptions often precede a Tsunami, believe me, Tex you would want to be on the high ground if we get one of those.’
The younger man with an Asian appearance referred to as Tex said,
‘Tsunami, that means tidal wave right?’ The older man grunted and raced to the control room.
15
The day after his vivid dream David returned home as usual to his lovely wife, Sarah. They enjoyed a delicious spaghetti meal she prepared. Watching the news on television together, a report showed a massive volcanic eruption on Hawaii. It was accompanied by an earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter scale.
The anchorman in the studio said that one hundred and twenty people died. The youngest of the main island of Hawaii’s three volcanoes had erupted again without warning. When the studio cut to live pictures at the scene David gasped out loud. Sarah looked at him and saw him turn a deathly white pallor.
‘David what’s the matter?’ she asked.
‘I don’t believe it,’ he said,
‘Sarah I’ve seen this happen already.’
‘But you can’t have darling this is a live broadcast it’s happening right now.’
‘I’ve seen it! I tell you I’ve seen it. It’s called Kila. Oh my god, what is it called…it’s Kilauea that’s what the sailor said!’ The television reporter came back on the screen.
‘Here in Hawaii the volcano Kilauea has erupted with violence. Over twenty people are dead, killed by the ash cloud that swept down the mountainside. We are asking how this could have happened.
There is a modern, permanent volcano observatory on Mount Kilauea. Only one person was killed here before by eruptions. They are usually mild, not explosive volcanic eruptions here in Hawaii, because the lava is fluid, low in Silica. The largest of the three volcanoes on the island Mauna Loa has not erupted since 1984.’
They were showing an image of Mauna Loa with a myriad of astronomical telescopes set upon the summit.
‘There what did I tell you, Sarah? How could I know that? I didn’t even know there were any volcanoes in Hawaii let alone the name of one.’
Sarah shook her head, replying in awe.
‘This is spooky David I don’t know what to make of it, but the way you are behaving is frightening me.’
‘I saw it all in my dreams last night does this mean I’m psychic, or clairvoyant or do I have a tumour? Is that what is causing all the headaches and nosebleeds I have been having lately?’
‘I don’t know, but I don’t like it,’ Sarah repeated.
Another reporter was interviewing an observatory technician who was wearing odd-looking bi-focal spectacles.
‘Can you tell me why it is you didn't provide any warning this was about to happen. Given all the money spent on the specialist equipment you have here?’
‘Well, we did notice a swarm of minor earthquakes yesterday. We always expected some activity from Kilauea. But this massive eruption we did not foresee. Given the violence of this explosion, my best guess is that the first minor quakes created a fissure. The fissure released trapped underground water into the magma chamber of Kilauea. Then it just vaporised and exploded. We only expect a few after aftershocks, nothing more,’ the expert replied.
The reporter pressed him further, pushing the microphone right into the technician's face.
‘Is it still safe for the people and shipping in the area? There is a real fear of a Tsunami given the size of the quake? We all remember what happened on Boxing Day in Indonesia in 2004. That Tsunami killed 230,000 people. Then the Japanese Tsunami in 2011 knocked out some nuclear reactors, killing thousands of people.’
‘Oh yeah, there is always the risk of a small Tsunami. But, this quake was only a 6.5 magnitude. The Indian Ocean Tsunami was the third largest recorded in history on a seismograph at a massive 9.1. That quake was also the longest we have known as it lasted for a full ten minutes.
We do have to be observant for a small Tsunami, and we have a good warning system in place here. I feel the main show is definitely over now and nothing worse is going to happen. I am sorry for the families of the people killed, though.’
Throughout the rest of the evening, David and Sarah talked about nothing else. They went to bed at about 1 am. Immediately upon falling into a deep sleep, David’s dream of the night before continued. Once again he was back on board the cargo ship and could see its brass nameplate fixed on the front of the bridge. “Dependable” was her name. The young oriental he knew as Tex was painting some of the ships railings with white lead-based paint. Tex shouted up to the bald older man performing his chores on the inflatable life-raft deck above.
‘Hey, Harry? This shore leave has left me pining for Okinawa. I only ever feel homesick when I am not at sea. How soon till I next get some leave?’
‘I am taking on two new hands when we get to Los Angeles; maybe you will get a break then Tex,’ Harry replied. Then once again David heard a soft sweet boyish voice say.
‘See what happens next.’ David noticed many seabirds were circling the docked ship shrieking out loud. They appeared to be calling out a warning to him and the two men near to him. The noise of the birds rose to a crescendo. Reaching such intensity that David thought his eardrums must burst. Without warning they just stopped then a deathly silence enveloped the ship. They felt the vibration first in the soles of their feet, transmitted through the water trapped in the docks, increasing in intensity by the second. Then it stopped, all was eerily quiet.
In the distance, there was a faint rushing sound, like wind rustling leaves on a breezy day. The rustling intensified. The birds turned
and wheeled in the sky flying off into the south-east. The three men followed the direction of their flight path. Tex raised one hand to his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun, looking into the distance.
Far out at sea to the South, beyond the land in front of them a huge blast cloud of smoke, gas and steam appeared near the horizon. The ship shook with the shock lurching to one side. Moments passed, the ship started to fall, dropping fast onto the bed of the dock with a jolt. Seawater sucked out of the dock raced away towards the Ocean, which shrank back into the distance. Tex could see the bottom of the sea for about a mile out into the distance. Fish got stranded, flapping and dying on the shingle. The sailboats with keels toppled over.
‘My God Harry, what the fuck is that?’ Tex yelled, pointing towards the horizon, not in the direction of the huge rising pall of smoke. But much closer to the ship, his pointing finger shaking.
Harry stared in the direction Tex indicated, seconds later his jaw dropped open. He then just fell to his knees his staring eyes wide open in abject terror. David and the two sailors saw the great blue wall of water racing towards them. Along the coast of the island, extending out towards the horizon it was over a sixty feet high. On top of this monster wave formed a large curling crest of foam as it neared the ship. Moving over shallower water nearer the land it rose up to one hundred feet high. It bore down upon the stricken vessel with incredible speed, surging higher and higher. A few seconds before the wave crashed into the ship broadside on, forty feet below the quayside now as all the sea had disappeared from underneath her. Harry’s heart burst wide open with terror. He died on the spot just as the huge Tsunami wave descended. The wave towered over them both, the late Harry and the screaming soon to be dead Tex. It blocked out the sky, crashing down and crushing the steel ship under a billion tonnes of water. Before sweeping it up and throwing it inland across the now submerged city of Hilo, to wreak more terror and destruction. David soared above the ship just at the last moment and watched in awe. The wave raced across the Pacific creating distant havoc, destroying hundreds of thousands of lives in its path.
David woke with a start from the dream soaked in sweat and leapt from his bed. Sarah called out to him from the darkness.
‘David, what’s the matter? What’s going on?’
‘They are wrong; they are all wrong! There is going to be a massive follow-up eruption under the ocean and a monster tidal wave. I’ve just seen it happen. Oh my God Sarah what can I do? How can I warn them?’ David rushed naked down the stairs with Sarah crying behind him.
‘Where are you going, have you gone mad? For heaven’s sake at least put your bloody underpants on! What will the neighbours think?’ David spent six hours searching on Google using keywords, volcano, earthquake and Tsunami. He sent emails to news agencies and over a hundred individuals working for government agencies. Including one called Professor Joseph Robert Staples of the United States Geological Survey.
David found several articles written for universities on the web by this Professor. He struck gold by finding an email address for him. David was hoping someone out there would believe him. He could think of nothing else to do to warn of the impending disaster.
16
To distract his mind from his lonely predicament aware that time was not on his side. David left the guesthouse in the middle of the afternoon, soon after the attractive young redhead served him a good lunch. He headed into town, stopping at a bank on the way.
Using a debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM, David planned to take the most permissible each day from the card. He was aware that the police would soon be monitoring his use of credit or debit cards to track his movements. If he took out the most for a few days in a row before moving on from Cleethorpes, he figured he would be safe. It would take at least that long for the local police to get organised.
Passing a 4K television display in an electrical shop on a busy main shopping street, David jumped when he saw an image of him displayed on more than ten different television sets. The picture was taken with his wife Sarah on a romantic Mediterranean cruise last summer.
His concern eased, realising it was impossible to associate the smart man in the dinner jacket with him. The scruffy looking shaven-headed man in black-rimmed glasses in this busy shopping precinct looked like a vagrant.
Composing himself, he walked a little further along the bustling pavement, into one of the many cell phone shops that are commonplace in all town centres.
Purchasing a new pay as you go smartphone on his Visa card, David left the store and moved down the street to a modern style shopping mall. He saw the unusual name of Freshney Place. He bought a new pair of black Levi 501’s. Two Polo shirts, one red and black checked and one plain white, and a smart pair of Reeboks. David left the mall after buying a backpack carryall on the way out of the retail park.
He entered a large electrical retail store across the road looking at some new laptops on display. Then one of the stores keen assistants approached him asking if he needed any help. She was quite an attractive looking woman in her mid-thirties. David noticed her green eyes; she reminded him of Sarah, so his mind started to wander again. When the assistant asked him for the second time what wanted, David came out of his temporary trance replying.
‘I am so sorry what did you say?’
Repeating her question a third time the attractive woman waited for David’s response.
‘Oh, I know which one I want,’ without pause adding.
‘This Hewlett Packard is good. It’s got Windows 10 software, equipped with a webcam and with a one terrbyte drive its very good value.’
The shop assistant was stunned by this precise description. She decided this guy must be mentally disabled or just plain stupid because of the way he behaved. Now she revised her first impression of the man, decided him to be a typical tech nerd.
‘Yes I should have known,’ she said to herself.
‘Just look at his cheap and nasty specs nobody, but a total geek would ever wear those.’
On the way back to the guesthouse David stopped at a Chinese takeaway, because his stomach was making ever increasing angry rumblings. Reminding him he had not eaten since sharing breakfast with the friendly truck driver. A newspaper seller in the street stood next to a busy intersection. He was yelling out the headlines tempting people to buy the local evening paper.
“Pregnant girl brutally murdered. Police are seeking local man. Read all about it!’” David bought a copy noting the police had placed a clearer photograph of him covering most of the front page. He pulled his baseball cap down low over his eyes, not looking at the news-vendor at all. Making his way back to his lodgings he felt alone and afraid; David knew what he was planning to do would keep him awake all night.
17
Later Tuesday morning DCI Jack Ford answered the phone on the second ring. At the other end of the line was Sir Charles Marlborough a renowned Home Office pathologist who received his knighthood for fine service to his profession five years earlier.
Sir Charles conducted the post-mortem, now he was submitting his report. He often provided evidence in many of the country's highest-profile murder cases.
‘Good morning my old friend Charlie, what news do you have for me?’ Ford asked.
‘Not a great deal that may be of use to your enquiry I am afraid,’ Sir Charles in a dry husky voice.
‘I estimate the time of death to be between four am to six am on Friday morning. The female was dead for approximately sixty-two hours when you found her remains,’ he coughed.
‘I would usually retrieve some Vitreous Humour, a jelly-like fluid behind the lens of the eye to confirm it. But as her head is still missing it was not possible. Rigor Mortis had left the body completely. I saw green and purple stains on the flanks of her abdomen, the first stages of putrefaction. I do not believe the body was there for long,’ he now sneezed loudly and continued.
‘Because I discovered a lot of Calliphora Erythrocephalus eggs laid inside the neck
cavity. The common bluebottle, as it is better known, usually lays its eggs on fresh flesh. They hatch within fourteen hours in May and the ones I found were on the verge of doing so. I think she was left there the evening before you found her Jack.’
‘Have you established the precise cause of death Charlie?’ Ford prompted the forensic expert. Marlboro was the grandmaster of a nearby Masonic Lodge; Ford liked him.
‘Hmm... Yes, the cause of death was exsanguination or in simple terms because of catastrophic loss of blood. Her body drained out, so it means I cannot detect any lividity, a settlement of blood in the tissue. I am unable to determine if someone moved the body after death. Her decapitation and mutilation occurred later after death,’ Sir Charles replied.
‘It’s an awful business,’ he continued,
‘As regards clues to the assailant, I have nothing yet to guide you. What surprised me is no sign of a sexual attack. I combed her pubic hair as a matter of routine to detect any stray pubic hairs off the attacker’s body. They would have been easy to spot because of her red pubic hair, but again no luck there either, I’m afraid,’ he coughed again.
‘I also took scrapings from under her fingernails. Just in case she scratched her attacker but drew a blank there also. She also suffered injuries to the palms of her hands. Both pierced right the way through plus what I think are rope burns on her ankles. I also found an odd small semi-circular puncture wound on her neck near where her head got cut off,’ he suffered another lung wrenching cough.
‘Damn this chest infection! The incisions on the abdomen pierced the uterus, but here it gets sicker. The attacker removed the infant child inside. Poor girl went through a lot it appears. But the worst of it happened after she died. I will send you the full report as soon as a couple of outstanding test results come back. But I thought I would phone you first with what I have so far. Jack, if I possessed the head, it might reveal something more. We identified her by of a small symbolic tattoo on her shoulder that her friend mentioned. I can’t help you anymore at the moment.’