Stories

The Lizard

I saw it as I walked passed the abandoned house. My pace was fast and my mind was somewhere far away, dreaming up scenarios for my future that would probably never turn into reality.

Nevertheless my eye caught the movement in the darkness. It took a while for my mind to register and by the time I realized I had seen movement I had already walked a few passes past the house. I stopped in my track, something about the movement woke me from my day dream. I walked back and peered through the gaping hole in the wall. There, between the remnants of an old wooden staircase and a rusty kitchen chair was a gigantic lizard.

It must have been at least a meter and a half head to tail, maybe more. It was lounging in the dust, its tongue slipping in and out its mouth. I was amazed, creatures like that normally are not wondering around in abandoned houses where I live. The only place where you might find them around here is in the zoo. I stared at the beast for a while.

Then it came to mind I should probably do something. Call the fire department maybe? What do people usually do when they come across huge reptiles in the middle of Europe? I took my eyes away from the creature and started rummaging in my bag in search of my phone. No luck, now I was actively looking for it I remembered I left it on the kitchen table after using it as a timer for my soft boiled eggs.

I was about a 10 minute walk away from home so with a last look at the beast I set off. As I walked away it seemed to wink at me. I didn't really think much about it and went on my marry way. I had totally forgotten what I was thinking about before I saw the creature and now my mind was filled with questions.

Did it escape? Who would keep a thing like that as a pet? What would you name it? Hugo? Is climate change getting so bad big reptiles can survive in the wild here now? What species was it and where did it originate from?

Before long I reached my front door, with the key ready in my hand. My phone was loyally waiting for me on the kitchen table.

"What number do you call for the fire department if it is not an emergency?" I wondered.

A short internet search ensued and within a few minutes I was listening to the beeping sound of the phone ringing on the other side. A high pitch voice answered.

I explained what I had seen, the woman didn't sound very surprised, like she gets phone calls about giant lizards every day. She said that she would send someone to check it out.

That is the last I heard of the lizard in the abandoned house. I hoped to read about it in the local news paper, maybe hear about it on the radio but nothing like that came across my way. Out of pure curiosity I walked passed the abandoned house again two days later. It was just that, an abandoned house, no reptiles, only broken glass and rubble. It was like the enormous creature had never been there.

The entire encounter slipped my mind in the following days and it was like it never happened.

Until a few weeks ago, I was driving to work when, stopped at a traffic light, I saw a gigantic lizard. It was lying in the bushes on the side of the road and appeared to be looking straight at me. I was dumbfounded, what are the chances to see that lizard again?

They must not have been able to catch it last time.

As the light turned green I grabbed my phone and called the fire department again. The same high pitched voice picked up.

"Good morning, how may I help you?"

"Hello, I called a while ago to report a giant lizard in an abandoned house."

"Yes..."

"I was wondering if you caught the creature last time."

"Is this very important? I am not sure but I could ask around and call you back." The voice said hesitantly.

I thought for a moment "No, that will not be necessary. I just wanted to let you know I saw it again so I guess they did not catch it the last time."

The woman on the other end seemed slightly surprised this time. I told here where I saw it this time, exact location.

"Can you stay at the place and wait for our officer to come by, just for formalities?" the woman asked.

I had to decline, not only was I already quite far away from the place, I had an important meeting with a client I could not miss. I did ask the woman if they could let me know if they caught it.

I arrived at the client with my thoughts still with the giant lizard. What are the chances of seeing it twice? What if it was a different one?
I had a hard time staying concentrated during the meeting but by the time the sun was setting that day, all reptiles had gone from my mind.

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Since that day I have seen many lizards, all of them enormous, between one meter and two meters in length. At first I thought it was the same lizard I kept seeing but there where very noticeable differences like colour and size. One of them had a big white scar across it's face.

The third time I saw the lizards, I called the fire department. The woman on the other end warned me that if this was a joke, they could get me arrested for wasting their time. They had obviously not found the second lizard I had called in. So I stopped calling the fire department. I would be wasting their time because the last week I have been seeing a lizard every day.

I have only seen them if I was alone, with my thoughts on something else. The pictures I have taken of them are vague, I showed them to a friend but she couldn't really make out the creature in the photo. Most of the time I saw them when I was driving and unable to stop. They would always sit in different spots. One time, I saw one clearly sitting on a rock in a park, it would have been the perfect picture but my phone had run out of battery. I kept looking at it for several minutes, hoping someone would pass by and see it as well but no one came. When I turned to look around for someone it sliddered of and by the time I looked back I just saw its tail disappear in the bushes. An other time I tried to get close to it, tried to touch it but when I was about a meter from it it ran away with a speed I thought was impossible for a creature of its size. One moment it was there, the next it had gone from sight.

I have asked google all the lizard related questions I could think of but apparently seeing many enormous lizard is not a problem many people struggle with. Just a lot of things about LSD and lizard people came up.

Weirdly it didn't really bother me that much, it seemed to be part of my life, but it was not something that really affects my daily activities or productivity. I was just the person that saw big lizards every day. As long as I kept it to myself, there was no real problem.

Until this morning... I woke up late, it's Sunday so don't judge me. I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was this big green monster on the other side of the bed. It was by far the biggest one I had ever seen. It was so close... so close. I seized up and was unable to move for what seemed an eternity. The beast just laid there, slowly blinking its eyes, his tongue slipping in and out of its mouth.

This can not be real.

After I convinced myself of this fact, I regained control over my muscles and tried to reach for it. As soon as I moved it crawled of the bed. In the blink of an eye it had disappeared.

I sat up, felt confused, like those mornings you wake up after a heavy night of drinking and partying. When you need time to realize you are actually a human, not just a speck of dust floating is vast nothingness. This all while distant memories of the previous night slowly come to the surface.

Like that, all the lizard faces I had seen in the last couple of weeks came floating in front of my minds eye. I grabbed the side of the bed and slowly lowered my head to look underneath it.

Nothing but some lost socks and dust webs under there.

I must have still been half asleep.

Somewhere in my mind I had already made up that this Lizards were not real. It must have been a dream... I had been seeing a lot of the lizards lately so it would not be inconceivable that I would dream about them.... Right?

I have been sitting on the couch for hours now, clutching a pilow, staring at a point that I can not see. I can't get the image of the lizard out of my mind...
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Do you know what to do?
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Please help...