by Amelia Grace
Chapter Twenty-Three
The new day beckoned and Ben leaned against the doorway of the drawing room while I sat on the sofa in front of the rock. I looked at him for longer than I needed to. He was a Terrean human, not an Earth human. It should scare me, but it didn’t. I loved him with all of my heart, my soul, my life.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment. Would he always affect me this way? I opened my eyes and looked at him again. He placed both of his hands over his heart and gave me a crooked smile. My lavender rose heart burst into bloom and infused me with the scent of heavenly old rose.
I felt a compelling need to move forward with Gran’s final wish and placed my right hand onto the rock, closed my eyes and was immersed into Gran’s black and white memory.
Katie’s first and only child was a beautiful, baby girl. Amy was the name chosen for her by James. She was a great blessing. She filled their lives with love and happiness, as they did hers.
Before Amy had turned one, Katie and James added an extra room onto the house—a drawing room, strategically built it over the portal. They were particularly concerned about the danger it posed if Amy or any of her friends accidentally fell into the portal.
Katie and James didn’t wanted to seal up the portal entrance, so they built a hidden floor door to it. They felt it was imperative that they keep it open however they could. It was their only way to connect to both worlds. It was part of them, and always would be.
The black and white memory vision began to spin slowly, until it became a blur and stopped. It was twenty years later…
Katie was called away from the community hall where she served homeless people their meal each day. It was urgent.
James had been admitted to hospital. He was gravely ill and the doctors were baffled by his symptoms.
When Katie arrived at the hospital and saw James’ face, she knew something was terribly wrong. She sat by his side at once and held his hand.
‘Take me home,’ he whispered, ‘they cannot help me here.’
Katie nodded, tears building in her eyes. She was praying with all her heart that James would be okay. He was the love of her life. They could not be separated, ever.
Katie spoke to the doctors and told them of James’ request. As first they did not agree to it, preferring for James to be treated as an inpatient. But Katie managed to persuade them, and after a long deliberation, the doctors agreed to James’ request.
When they returned home, James looked into Katie’s eyes. ‘I am dying, Katie. And there is nothing here in this world that can help me.’
‘But what about the Magnificent Tree, James?’ Katie asked, panicking as a deep sadness started to overtake her body.
‘There is no fruit on the tree to heal me. We don’t have the Magnificent Tree Miracle Compound to make the tree bear its fruit. I must return to Une Autre Terre if I am to live. That is the only way that we will be together again. Staying here means death. But if I return to Une Autre Terre, we will be apart for but a short while, but then we can be together again. You must take me into the portal, before I die.’
Katie’s heart ached. She didn’t want to say goodbye to her one and only love, but she must. To save him, she must let him go. And she must believe him when he says they will be together once again.
This was almost too painful for her to bear. She cried out in despair. But then, found the strength to help her soul mate.
She went to the drawing room and moved the coffee table and the floor mat. There, it revealed a secret doorway in the floor. Katie found the large rusty key and unlocked the lock, and opened the door in the floor.
She went back and helped James to the portal, carrying most of his weight, struggling to get there. They entered the open window of the portal and landed at the bottom of the supposed gold mine shaft. Katie kissed James lovingly on the lips before she ran for her life to get the hunters, hoping she would not be too late.
With great haste, Katie and the hunters returned.
James was struggling to breathe and it was obvious that he had little time left. The hunters carried his frail and weak body back to the receiving tent while Katie walked by his side, never letting go of his hand.
He was placed on the bed in the receiving tent that Katie knew so well. At once his needs we tended to. The right hands of seven people given the gift of healing lay upon James’ head and other important healing points of his body. But the faces of his people were solemn.
Jenika gave four vials to Katie. ‘Take these to James. He will know what to do with them,’ she said ever so quietly.
Katie slowly turned to James, struggling to hold her emotions together. She knew he was close to death.
James whispered with all the energy he could muster. His voice was weak and breathless. ‘Katie, place a lock of your hair in one vial, and a lock of mine in the other. In the other two vials, catch your tears, and my tears. The vials are to be sealed. Take the vials that contain my hair locks and tears with you, while I will keep your vials with me, here.’
He continued in a weak voice, ‘The vials are the key to our reunion, and a vital sign for a Messenger—mind communication from my Elders has told me of this. The importance of the vials is more than I can make you understand ... I love you.’
‘And I love you,’ Katie whispered back as tears rolled down her face.
She collected the hair and the tears and was then quickly ushered out of the receiving tent. The Terreans had to work swiftly if they were to heal his body.
Death was unknown in Une Autre Terre, but they knew in certain cases it could happen, especially because James had been on the Earth.
Katie’s body twisted with the pain of saying goodbye to James. Her heart felt as though it were being ripped apart. How could she live without him by her side? It was too painful to think about and she began to go numb.
Then Jenika spoke to her, ‘Katie, you must return to your world. Your daughter will be wondering where you are. You can not abandon her. We will do our best to save James. We will send a sign, or a Messenger, to you to let you know if he is alive and waiting for you. You will recognise the sign or Messenger at once when it appears.
‘The vials—they must be returned to us—with the sign, or Messenger, but not at the same time as you when you return to James.
‘Here are some jewels to take with you, amongst some other things. They will help you with preparing the myriad of riddles to lead the way for someone to find the portal at the appointed time.’
Jenika started to shake her head. ‘The Elders are telling me that it is imperative that the Messenger returns to us. The Messenger belongs to us. Please understand how important it is…’
Katie nodded, and held in a sob.
‘Now, the way to find the portal must be complicated, and only one person must be able to open it. The person who you choose must be someone who you trust with your life, and the jewels will only respond to the person who you have selected.
‘Our portal location must never be disclosed to any human in your world, who is even in the most miniscule bit untrustworthy. You have to have absolute confidence that the person you reveal the secret of the portal to, will carry out your request with loyalty, strength of mind and determination. They must succeed. There is no margin for error, or failure, for there will be dire consequences for that person if they speak of our world to another Earth human. You will know what to do, when the time it right. Now go, before the portal closes again.’
The hunters promptly guided Katie back to the portal and pushed her up and out so she was back in her drawing room.
Katie didn’t feel the hardness of the floor as she landed heavily upon it, breaking her arm. All Katie could think of was closing the wooden floor door to the portal and covering it up with the floor rug and coffee table.
She knew that she would be damaging her broken arm even more. But she didn’t feel the pain. Her body was already numb from the trauma of saying goodbye to James, the lo
ve of her life. It didn’t matter that her arm was broken. Nothing mattered any more.
Katie fell to the floor … numb to the bone.
Pain seared through my hand like skin being ripped off. Ben had pulled my hand off the rock. I sucked in a huge breath in between sobs.
‘Cate! Cate! Talk to me! You’ve got to talk to me, Cate!’ he pleaded, raising his voice at me in a state of panic.
‘Poppy! Ben. He’s gone. Gran is left all alone. Her heart is breaking.’ I sobbed heavily again. I couldn’t open my eyes as Gran’s pain was my pain.
Ben held me close with his right hand resting on my head. There I remained, interlocked in his arms with my head upon his chest and shaking, listening to the steady beating of his heart. I couldn’t return to the rock to Gran’s memories. It was far too painful.