Endgame

      After all of the months I have stayed in the Foxberry, I never had a better night of sleep then last night. Today, I packed my things and  I'm ready the town to start a new chapter in my life. I feel very incomplete because of my failure to solve Mr. Evan's murder but it was time to bury that memory and start something fresh. As I packed as much I could carry, I closed the door of Apartment number 207 and never looked back. Sometimes I feel if you are constantly unhappy on a day to day basis that you need some sort of change in your life to feel happy again. But, change is the hardest thing to overcome. When I first created my blog my I inserted a quote that was very important to me. It says "Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as being stuck in a place you don't belong." This quote reminded me everyday that at some point, I will leave the Foxberry and this town because it had never truly been the place that I had belonged in but it did allow me to grow. If I leave and do not live out alive from this plague that towers over this town, I feel still have the satisfaction of saying that I at least tried to change my life. This is also my last blog post and I hope my fellow readers are willing to take the first step of make the necessary changes to make their life better even if there is risk involved. I now look outside of the window and into the streets of the town. As I open this door, my new journey begins. This is Billy Bob O'Callahan signing off. 

Blog Post #8 - New Beginnings

The last 3 weeks have been mentally exhausting because of my lack of sleep over the dreams about Mr. Evans. For so long I was obsessed on trying to figure out the case of Mr. Evans and was never able to figure out how he died. The other day I was walking around the town and by the fountain there was a man and a woman passing out these pamphlets. I’m not usually one to take pamphlets from random strangers but they seemed official because the man was well groomed and was wearing a suit I could never afford and a pretty lady next to him. They both approached me and said that these dynamics of scientology would help me get rid of the thing that has been bothering me the most. I took the pamphlet back to my apartment and started reading it over to see if I could find some useful information. The first bullet point focused on self-improvement which is something that I have wanting to do because I am constantly unhappy and in a bad mood because of lack of sleep. The bullet point showed some things about self meditation techniques to use to calm yourself. I’m not the person to usually do any type meditation so this was very new to me. After a couple days of doing these meditations, I have already seen improvement in my sleep and my less dreams about Mr. Evans. I can now wake up without thinking of a murder case and actually focus on things that are relevant in my life. The next time I see the lady and man at the fountain, I’m going to thank them because I’ve never felt better.

Dreams

     My first dream was with Mr. Evans and the frogs. I came to realize that this was only the beginning that my dreams somewhat came to reality. These dreams are repetitive and it feels like it is a build up for a big moment. My most recent dream has consisted of a large number of wild animals all looking at me and saying "He's not here! He's taking the evidence! Catch him!". It made me wonder why it was animals telling me this information. At first, the frogs only seemed like a coincidence when Mr. Evans pointed a the factory in my previous dream. So I really doubt that I'm going to see these animals if this event actually happens.
     One day I was staying home and watching TV and turned on the news. The kept talking about the most spectacular show coming to town tonight with a bunch of different breeds of animals. It took me a minute as I sat there watching but they kept talking about the animals in my dreams. I realized that the killer of Mr. Evans was going to steal the evidence of his case. Once I realized, I grabbed my jean jacket and ran out the house and started to go to the police station. When I was approximately 100 yards away, I see someone with a hoodie walk out the door with boxes loaded up in a black car. I started running after the car but I obviously wasn't quick enough. I lost the killer. I walk into the police station and see it completely trashed with nobody inside of it. This is when I knew the my dreams are no longer a coincidence. I might be able to solve and find the killer of Mr. Evans if I start paying attention to my dreams.

Coincidence?

   After several weeks of replaying the museum experience in my head, I felt that there were people suspiciously watching my apartment. I didn't know if I was just paranoid or if there is something or someone immensely focusing their attention on The Foxberry. I believe I wasn't suppose to see those 3 people in the museum with the knives.
   The past fews weeks I have had this same dream of Mr. Evans standing right in front of me with a dull look on his face and pointing at the power plant. He didn't seem angry or happy. Just standing motionless and pointing at the power plant and says two words, "The frogs". It never made any logical sense of why he would say something like that while pointing at the power plant. The other night I woke up and couldn't go to back to sleep because I was just wide awake thinking about why I'm having these weird dreams about Mr. Evans. So I grabbed my coat and went to grab a smoke outside on the sidewalk outside my apartment. When I walked outside, there were frogs everywhere in the street. As I was looking around at the frogs, I turned my head and saw Mr. Evans standing across the street staring at me the same way that he looked at me in my dreams. I rubbed my eyes not believing what I saw, then when I put my hands down and looked back across the street he was gone.
   The next morning, I hear the talk of the town now being a bunch of frogs breaking out of the power plant and roaming the streets. I was in shock because I heard Mr. Evans talk about the frogs and the power plant in my dreams before it even happened. Is that coincidental? Or is Mr. Evans trying to telling me something?  I thought maybe I was just thinking crazy because of my lack of sleep... until I started having the next dream.

The Big Question

 Thanksgiving has passed and the big question that lingers within The Foxberry is who is responsible for Mr. Evans murder. I feel like everyone in the apartment building has gone completely silent. I have no information on the death of Mr. Evans and nobody seems that they want to talk about it. It makes me wonder if his death was caused by someone in this building. The police have profusely investigated the residents to get leads on anyone who seems to be a threat. I personally want to get out of this investigation because I want no part of it. I would leave The Foxberry but I feel it would be suspicious if to the police if I left during this sensitive time.

    The other day I decided to take a walk and get out of my apartment for a couple hours. Right across the street from the Foxberry was the museum that I haven’t been to yet. I walk in and there was barely anyone in the museum except for a few people. But there was something I saw that was quite abnormal. I walked in the managers office to ask for a tour and three people were holding up knives and staring at each other. As they realized I was there, they all looked at me at once. It was very intimidating so I ran out of the museum and went back to my apartment. I’m never going back to the museum again.

Halloween

Getting up the other morning was not something I wanted to do. Since I’m technically
running my father’s business, I decided to take the day off because nobody can tell
me that I have to work. All I had to make sure is that the managers are maintaining
order and everything is going status quo. I wouldn't care about O'Callaghan's if it
weren’t for the rest of my family depending on the business because that's our main
source of income.

As I rolled out of my small bed, I definitely needed to get some coffee. I never really
liked the coffee in The Foxberry lobby so I decided to hop in my truck and drive around
town for a coffee shop. I still haven’t been very familiar with the town. I came across the
first coffee shop I saw which was called Love a Latte Coffee Shop. I walked in and the
whole coffee shop was decorated with Halloween items. It made me totally forget that it
was Halloween that day. Halloween has always reminded me of when I went to Columbia
High School and my friends would all go to parties and I would have to stay home to take
care of my drunk father. Now since I have a little more freedom, I thought about dressing
up but I realized I’m a little too old for that now. So I decided just to go back to my apartment
to clean up and unpack.

I’d only been staying in the Foxberry for only a couple weeks as my lease ends in March.
I still have unpacked boxes laying right next to my front door. After I finished unpacking
everything, the police knocked on my door. They were asking questions about the murder of
Mr. Evans and that people were dressing up as him on Halloween. I thought that was
disrespectful because my family knew him very well because he’s supported O’Callahans
for many years. I can’t believe that someone would dress up as him for a Halloween costume.

Home "not so" Sweet Home

It’s been almost 6 years since I’ve stepped foot in the building of Foxberry and I haven’t missed it one bit. I’ve always wanted to escape this town. The Diner, The Pizzeria’s, The coffee shop, and of course my families business, O’Callahans all look the same. Nothing has changed from this town and that’s what scares me the most.

Today, I just recently rented an apartment in The Foxberry for six months to resolve an unfortunate family issue. My family has been selling the best beer in town for almost 75 years. My father, Jim O’Callahan never missed one day of work when he took over the business from my grandfather. That wasn’t until 6 months ago that he found out that he had Pancreatic Cancer. The doctors said that he only had  6 to 12 months to live. My father’s health has been getting worse the last couple weeks and we are afraid that he is going to pass. My father, my family, and the whole town expect me to take on the family business.

Coming back to the town and living in The Foxberry was a scenario that I thought would never pan out. My father being an alcoholic in my childhood led him to physically abuse me. I never believed that I could possibly forgive him. My father and I didn’t speak for years until I was notified that he was diagnosed. Over the last 6 months of him trying to remend our relationship, it was hard for me to remiss the things  he had did to me. He was the reason I became an alcoholic myself and it is something that I would like to stop. Owning O’Callahans will make me associated with more alcohol and may tempt me to drink again. Should I take on the family business?