“I recognize the church, even if I don’t recognize anything else.”
“What?”
Dave indicated the space around them and nodded grimly. “Mark, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
“I’m starting to get that, but where the hell are we then?”
Dave shook his head. “Wrong question.”
He growled in frustration. “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the right question?”
“When the hell are we?”
“What are you talking about?” Mark asked.
“Look around. No electricity.”
Mark took another quick glance around the house. He didn’t want to believe it, but it was true. There were hurricane lamps, but no electric lights of any kinds. In fact, there was nothing modern looking anywhere in the house.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. There was something very, very wrong here.
“What’s going on?” Mark asked.
“I think we’re in St. Augustine.”
“St. Augustine? This doesn’t look anything like St. Augustine.”
“Not the St. Augustine you know.”
The fisherman and his daughter were still deep in discussion and had moved a little farther away. That was a good thing, because he was about to lose it and he didn’t need them watching him throttle his sick friend.
“I need you to be absolutely clear,” he said, “before I completely lose it. Tell me what it is you think you know.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“Dave, I’m warning you. I need you to tell me what the hell’s going on here.”
“I think we’ve somehow traveled through time. I think we’re in St. Augustine, but about a couple hundred years ago.”
Mark felt as if the bottom was dropping out. His knees grew weak and he staggered to a chair and fell in it. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably.
“It can’t be true,” he whispered. “Sally.”
“I’ve been to the St. Augustine cathedral. I’m positive that’s what we saw on the shore coming in here. The stars aren’t right in the sky. For weeks, no one came by the island. The pirates, the lack of cell phone signal even here in a populated town--all of it. It adds up to one thing. All those frightening things that happened to us on the ocean? I think we somehow got thrown back in time.”
“This can’t be happening,” Mark breathed, pressing his fingers to his temples.
Dave called out to their hosts, and in slow, careful Spanish, asked where they were and what year it was. The young woman looked at him as if he’d lost his mind and then said in halting English, “This is St. Augustine. Eighteen-hundred-and-seventy-nine. It is December, sir, six days before La Misa Del Gallo.”
“Christmas Eve Mass,” Dave said slowly.
Mark dropped his head into his hands and began to sob.
~
Two days later, Sally was a bundle of nerves when she pulled up outside an indie coffee shop. John was just getting out of his car and he waved to her.
“You think your friend will really be able to help?” she asked as she joined him in front of the shop.
“I don’t know, but she is an expert in this area. If she can’t help, I’m not sure anyone can.”
They walked inside, through the shop and then out the back door onto a deck which overlooked the water. It was surprisingly quiet, and only one of the eight tables was occupied. A woman sat with her gaze glued to her laptop, a cup of coffee in her left hand.
She glanced up as they approached, shocking Sally as their eyes met. It was the woman who had been doing the book-signing at Sally’s favorite store the day before Mark had disappeared.
“Janis, thanks for meeting us here,” John said as they approached.
“Happy to help if I can. Please, have a seat. In truth, you can find me here most days. Writer, coffee shop. I know it’s totally cliché, but…there you go.” Janis shrugged.
“This has a beautiful view of the ocean,” Sally murmured as she took a seat. For some reason, her statement stirred up a wave of anger and betrayal with it. In a way, it was the ocean which had taken away her beloved husband.
“That’s why I sit on this side of the table,” she said, as if reading Sally’s mind. “I never like to turn my back on it. It’s better for me always to see what it’s up to,” Janis said, looking her over.
“Did you lose someone to the ocean?” Sally asked.
“In a fashion. So, John tells me your husband and his friend went missing a few weeks ago?”
Sally nodded.
“Forgive my rudeness, but how do you know he didn’t just run off?”
She was not the first person to ask that question, but it still made Sally angry.
“My husband would never have done something like that to me.”
“Many husbands do lots of things their wives swear they wouldn’t,” Janis pointed out.
“Not mine. They were having trouble with their cell phones. The connection was weird and we kept missing each other’s calls.”
“And I know they got in contact with the Coast Guard because they lost their navigation. Also, one of them, the captain, was injured and needed medical care as quickly as he could get it,” John chimed in, his voice tempered but serious. “Two days ago, we found their boat on a remote island. However, it wasn’t what we expected at all. This is a picture of it,” he said, handing his phone to Janis.
She glanced at it and started to hand it back to him. “Sorry. This must be the wrong picture.”
“No, it’s not,” he said firmly and then cleared his throat.
Her eyebrows shot up in surprise and she pulled the phone back to her, studying the picture in detail.
She paused for a long moment. “Okay, so let’s review what you’ve told me. The two men disappeared mere weeks ago while out fishing. Now you’ve positively identified their ship. You’re telling me that the tree is really growing through the boat?”
“Yes,” John said jerking his square chin in a firm nod.
“And you’re absolutely certain this is the same boat that went missing three weeks ago?”
“One-hundred-percent positive identification,” John said.
“I was there. It’s my husband’s boat,” Sally said. “No doubt about it. Only it looks well over a hundred years old and there’s no way that can be—which is why we’ve come to you.”
Janis turned to look at her and there was pity in her eyes. “I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”
“It’s okay. At least you’re apologizing for it.”
Unlike most of my friends, she thought.
“I must say, this is beyond extraordinary.”
“We were hoping you could help us find out what happened with the boat and more importantly, figure out where Mark and Dave might be,” John said.
“If you want to find those men, you need to stop looking for them in the here and now,” Janis said.
“What do you mean?” Sally asked quickly.
“You need to look for them in the late eighteen-hundreds.”
17
“It’s impossible,” Sally said, “what you’re suggesting.”
Janis waved the phone at her. “You’ve seen this for yourself and yet you can sit there and say that?”
“Give her some space. It’s hard to wrap one’s head around,” John said, clearly trying to be supportive. “Especially because this is her husband we’re talking about.”
“So, you’re telling us the Bermuda Triangle is like a time machine or portal?” Sally asked.
Janis leaned back in her chair, her demeanor changing as though she were going into some kind of professor lecturing mode. “No one knows with certainty what it is or why it is. However, because of the oddities, it’s been studied for many, many years. All we can say for sure is that a disturbing number of ships and planes have gone missing within it.”
“If that’s true, then h
ow come the government or the Coast Guard doesn’t put out warnings about how dangerous the area is?” Sally asked. “Shouldn’t people be avoiding it?”
“Yes. They should.” Janis sighed. “But despite the evidence, those in the scientific community refuse to acknowledge there is anything unusual going on there. Everyone can point anywhere on the globe to find sudden storms at sea or rogue waves which come up. Dozens of ships sink or get damaged each year because of such violent weather patterns. Some areas are obviously more prone to those than others. People look for the simple explanation--the one that does not challenge their view of the world. They are more concerned with being comfortable with the answer than about being right. So, they ignore things like what happened to your husband and his friend.”
“You don’t think this was an ordinary storm, then,” Sally said.
Janis shook her head. “There are those, of course, but this…this is something different. Many pilots within the triangle have noticed magnetic anomalies, storms which don’t behave like natural storms. They’ve lost control of their instruments or had them destroyed.”
John spoke up. “When your husband and his friend made contact with us, they let us know they had lost their navigation completely.”
“Yes, and that has happened to others,” Janis said. “Many were lost, but a few were lucky enough to make it back alive. Some have reported strange time anomalies, as if time was standing still.”
“Mark and I were texting the night before he disappeared. It was weird because there was a long delay between each text,” she said. “And when we tried to talk on the phone, there was just too much distortion and static. It was impossible to hear each other.”
“Yes, this has happened to others, as well,” Janis said, her voice rising in excitement.
“But what, exactly, are we talking about? What has happened to Mark?”
“There have been many theories about where people end up who disappear in the triangle. It’s been postulated that there’s a rip in the fabric of this universe and people are slipping through to alternate realities. Others have posited that some sort of alien visitors are taking ships and planes for study or research. However, I have always believed, and I think your husband’s case may ultimately help us prove, that it’s not a portal to another dimension, but a portal to another time.”
“Time travel,” Sally murmured.
It seemed fantastical and truly beyond belief. That was what they had all been talking about, dancing around the topic without really saying the words.
“Yes. Time travel. Based on the picture you showed me, I think that the ship, your husband and his friend, were taken back in time.”
“Then how do we get them back?” Sally demanded.
“I don’t know. This is our first real shot at even proving this is what’s happening. I don’t have the first clue how to bring them back, but at least we might be able to prove they were there.”
“Do you think it’s even remotely possible we could bring them back?” Sally asked.
“Yes,” John spoke up.
Sally turned to look at him, hope filling her heart for the first time in days.
“Ellen Austin,” he murmured with a nod.
“Who’s she?” Sally asked.
“Ellen Austin isn’t a person. She was a ship that found a boat that disappeared in the triangle in 1881,” Janis said, nodding.
“And it came back through time?”
“Yes, before it disappeared again,” John said.
Sally felt as if she were on an emotional roller coaster. She was ready to scream and tear her hair out.
“Just tell me what happened to the ship!” she said, realizing she’d raised her voice and was shouting at them in frustration.
“The Ellen Austin was making its run from London to New York,” John said. “She came across an abandoned ship in the triangle which was moving at a good clip, but they soon ascertained there was no one on board. The captain of the Ellen Austin sent some of his crew over to the other ship to sail her to New York with them. They boarded her and confirmed there was no sign of the original crew. Then they began sailing together, but shortly thereafter were separated by a freak storm. Two days later they once again found the ship, but the crew the captain had sent over had vanished. He sent over yet another crew, but the ship literally vanished with all hands and this time it didn’t reappear.”
“So, you think that the ship was slipping back and forth between the two time periods and losing the crew each time in the process?” Janis asked.
“Makes sense to me. I’ve read some of the reports, and it sounds as if the ship literally disappeared and reappeared before disappearing again. Maybe we should be searching historical records predating 1881 to see if anyone found a ship of that type, or maybe the crew,” John said, getting excited.
“I don’t think anyone has thought to search in the past for these missing ships and planes before,” Janis said, clearly getting equally enthusiastic .
Sally held a hand up. “Even if you find references to these other ships in historic material, how does that help us get Mark and Dave back?”
“I don’t know,” John said.
“I want Mark here with me,” Sally groaned. “Not somewhere in the past.”
Janis reached across the table and grabbed her hand. “I know how frightening and scary this has to be for you, but at this point, any information we can find is leaps and bounds closer to finding an answer and trying to reverse the process. This is new ground and we’re going to have to be patient.”
Sally yanked her hand away. “I’m not some academic researcher! This isn’t the basis of my next book project. We’re talking about my husband! I want him back now!”
“I know how you feel,” Janis said.
Sally stood up and slammed her palms against the table. “How could you?” she hissed. “It’s not your husband who’s lost!”
“No, it’s not. I wasn’t that lucky. The triangle killed my husband outright,” Janis said, raising her voice slightly. “You have a chance at getting yours back, however remote that may be. I would give anything for that chance.”
Sally stared at her, mouth agape. For the first time since they’d met, she noticed a sadness in Janis’ eyes and recognized what it was. It was heartbreak. She knew it because it was what she saw every time she looked in the mirror, how she felt every time she despaired of seeing Mark again. Slowly, she sat down and folded her hands in her lap.
“You lost your husband?” Sally asked quietly.
Janis nodded. “Fourteen years ago. He was a navy pilot. He was sent out on a search and rescue mission when two fighters went missing in the triangle. He found them. Along with their planes. His plane lost instrumentation and all of a sudden they were enveloped in a fog that they described as unnatural. The two fighter pilots were lifers who had been flying forever. In the end, he saved them. He figured out they were all headed in the wrong direction and got them turned around. They were running out of fuel and were barely going to make it to land, but because of my husband, they did.”
“What happened to your husband?” Sally whispered, her voice ragged.
“Three minutes before they exited the fog, a bolt of lightning struck his plane and he crashed into the ocean. Both surviving pilots talked to me briefly at the funeral before they were transferred with orders never to speak of what they had seen out there to anyone. The military denied it, of course. They said my husband’s death was due to pilot error. They couldn’t—or wouldn’t--admit the truth. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, you know, is to understand what it was that screwed up the instruments. Was is that fog and why did it take my husband?”
Tears glistened in her eyes and Sally’s heart went out to her. “I’m so sorry.”
Janis nodded. “It’s okay. I’ve been living with this for a lot longer than you. I want to get closure, understanding for me. But even more than that now, I desperately want to get a h
appy ending for you.”
“Do you think that’s even remotely possible?”
Janis nodded. “Yea, I have to believe it is.”
Sally reached forward and the two women embraced. When they finally released each other, Sally sat back and wiped her eyes. She glanced at John, who just shook his head.
“I’m not quite as obsessed as Janis with this mystery. I hate losing people to the triangle, but I haven’t lost anyone personally.”
“That’s okay. I’m just grateful you’re willing to help,” Sally said.
“How can I not?” he asked.
“So, what do we do next?” Sally asked.
Janis leaned forward. “First, I’d like to get a team out to the site of the boat and take some samples, do some scientific dating on it so we can pinpoint exactly when it arrived on that island. Then we’ll go from there.”
“Okay.”
John nodded. “I’ll talk to the owner of the island. I’m sure he’ll cooperate fully.”
“Thank you,” Janis said.
“Is it possible Mark and Dave could show up somehow--somewhere in historical records?” Sally asked.
“I don’t know. I think a lot will depend on how long they’re trapped there. I mean, we have to believe that they’re also doing everything they can wherever and whenever they are to figure out how they can get back here to our time.”
~
It had been a week since they had arrived in St. Augustine, and Mark still felt as if he was walking through a dreamscape. At least Dave was on the mend and well on his way to recovery, mostly thanks to the constant care and attention of Rosalyn, the fisherman’s daughter, who’d turned out to be something of a genius when it came to herbal medicine.
“I feel like we’re in the Twilight Zone,” Dave said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Mark grimaced, “Yeah, this is way too weird. No cars, planes, or even Pop Tarts.” Mark was on the verge of tears. It was a dumb thing to get upset about, but somehow it had come to represent the whole horror of what they were living through to him.
“Dude, lets invent the Pop Tarts and get rich,” Dave joked.
The Triangle Page 12