by Lucia Ashta
Elena watched, detached from her body and her usual emotions, as an angel reached out, and felt a gash on Marco’s head. The angel’s face showed the tender concern of a parent with a child. The angel’s touch was infinitely gentle and pure, and it healed Marco of an otherwise fatal head injury.
Elena looked down at her own body and watched as two angels tried to inflate her lungs; her lungs had collapsed when her chest cavity was crushed. But before the angels could completely finish their job, an insistent sound startled Elena back into her body. There was a loud noise that Elena couldn’t place until she realized that it was a car’s horn.
As the two disentangled vehicles were about to ram the car again, a bystander in her own car saw what was happening and sounded her horn. She was trying to stop the attack by drawing attention to the situation, fearless of the risk at which she was putting herself. It worked. The trucks hesitated. After quick deliberations via radio communication, the drivers retreated and hastily took off down Highway 179, heading toward the intersection with Highway 89A where they would disappear into the darkness of night.
The woman continued to honk insistently until police arrived. As soon as a police officer showed up, the woman gave abrupt orders. With urgency and not a wasted breath, she told the responding officer to request that police dispatch send an ambulance immediately and to look for two oversized four-wheel drive vehicles that had fled the scene. Then, the woman reached in the car and touched both passengers. Elena and Marco were unconscious, though the angels’ intervention drastically improved the severity of their injuries.
The emergency response team cut the car open and evacuated Elena and Marco by helicopter to a hospital in Phoenix. There, the staff of the emergency room agreed that neither Elena nor Marco should have survived the crash and that it was a miracle that they had survived with so few serious injuries. And, of course, it had been.
32 One Moment
The twins knew they were heading toward water since the land was getting greener and more fertile as they walked. Before long, they found a stream. It was a small stream, but it was deep enough for them to immerse themselves in the water. But first, their bodies begged for rest.
Ashta and Anak removed light blankets from their satchels. They cleared a space among the reeds and spread out Ashta’s blanket on the ground. They lay down under a tree with a large enough canopy to provide them with shade when the sun crept higher in the sky. They covered themselves with Anak’s blanket and slept, holding each other, for several hours until Ashta stirred. They could not afford a full night’s sleep, but these several hours of rest would be enough to allow them to continue their journey.
Ashta woke Anak with kisses full of the great tenderness she felt for him. She kissed him first on the eyelids. Then she kissed his forehead, his cheeks, and his nose. They were soft kisses meant not to awaken passion, but to convey love.
By then, Anak was awake and enjoying Ashta’s display of affection. He lay motionless with his eyes closed. She kissed his arms, one small kiss at a time, covering his bare skin. Next, she lifted his shirt to kiss his chest and stomach. She had begun to kiss his waist when he opened his eyes lazily and smiled.
“Go no further, my love, for we have not time,” he said to her, looking down at her face.
Ashta knew what he meant. If she continued to kiss his waist, she would stoke a fire that they could not take the time to attend. She understood and smiled back up at him and said, “Good morning, my sweet love.”
Ashta got up from their makeshift bed on the ground and stripped off her shirt. She let it fall to the ground. Then, she untied her pants and stepped out of them. They, too, fell right where she stood. She paused for a moment, loving the sun on her body and reveling in her total nakedness. The human form was beautiful. Being naked gave Ashta a sense of liberation, of greater acceptance of the perfection of her form as an expression of the Divine.
Anak watched her undress with the interest of a husband, but this one morning was not the time for passion. They had a mission and a journey to continue. Ashta ran the few steps to the water and dove in. The days had been warm so the water’s temperature was comfortable. Still, the sudden cool of the water knocked the air out of Ashta’s lungs.
As her head popped out of the water, she already felt refreshed. She also felt the magical hum of the water encircling her. It did not matter that she was unfamiliar with this particular body of water. Through the bond she had with the River Haakal, she was connected to all bodies of water, as all waters on the earth were innately connected to one another. They all held the same essence and communicated with each other. They all sang the same universal song.
Ashta went under the surface of the water again and stayed there for some time before emerging. It was now instinctual for her, and she could breathe in the water without even commanding her body to do so. Her body adapted to its surroundings. When in the water, her body breathed water. When on land, it breathed air.
Ashta felt the water’s beauty wash over her. She allowed herself to absorb the water’s calm essence. It was only when Ashta flowed as the water did, with perfect trust in the course of life, that she allowed Creator’s direction for her life truly to manifest.
She broke the stream’s surface in a wave of ripples, her hair slicked back. Ashta saw Anak standing at the shore, also naked. She could see that he had changed his mind, deciding there was always time for passion and love between them. He watched her swim while entertaining thoughts of their sensual connection.
Ashta saw the folly in postponing the expression of beauty between them. There should always be time for passion and love, for that most divine of expressions that was the union of man and woman. That love could move mountains. That love could open direct channels to the whisperings of heaven. Besides, there was only one moment in time promised to them. There was never truly any future or any past. These notions of time did not exist. There was only the now. Creator made no guarantees as to anyone’s continued existence.
Ashta walked out of the water slowly, provocatively even. She was fully aware of the curves and the smoothness of her form. Anak’s eyes followed every subtle movement of her body. The water dripped down her skin suggestively. Her nipples were erect from the cool water that coated her skin.
With water still trickling down her body, Ashta embraced Anak. He guided her to the ground on top of their blankets and made love to her, a love sweeter than any she remembered. But it always felt like that to her, as if it were the most beautiful sharing of love they had ever experienced. It was a potent mixture of animal nature and humanness, of body and soul. Their eyes squeezed shut at the same time, and they pushed away the outside world.
* * *
When Marco finally regained consciousness, his head was pounding, and both of his arms were hooked up to tubes. But what terrified him most was that Elena was nowhere in sight. Marco had no memory of what had happened after the impact, and he did not know if Elena had survived. No one was in the hospital room with him. Marco started yelling, “Hello? I need help!”
A nurse ran into the room. “What is it? Are you okay?” she asked while she busied herself checking Marco’s vital signs and the equipment that beeped in rhythm with his heart.
“The woman that was with me in the car, is she okay?” Marco bore down on the nurse as if the sheer force of his will could get the nurse to say yes. The nurse smiled at Marco warmly. She reached out and patted Marco’s hand. The nurse was an older woman, with white hair pulled back in a neat bun, but kindness instead of age lined her face.
“Your friend will be fine. She sustained severe injuries and has a long road of recovery ahead of her, but she will be okay,” the nurse told Marco. The hospital staff was perplexed by how well the couple was doing. Even their cuts and bruises were healing faster than usual.
“Among other injuries, she suffered a collapse of both lungs, but she is healing quickly. You won’t be going anywhere for a while, but I believe that you both will have
a complete recovery,” the nurse said. “You were very lucky. You could have died.”
“Can I see her?” Marco asked.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not possible,” the nurse said. “Both of you are still in critical condition. You cannot be moved yet.”
“I want to see the doctor then,” Marco said.
The nurse tried to put him off, but Marco just became more insistent. “I want to see the doctor right now please.” When she hesitated, he said, “I will start yelling out for a doctor until I see one.” Marco started to call out, but the nurse shushed him and scurried out of the room to find the doctor.
Marco was serious when it came to Elena; he had to see her. They had been attacked, and he didn’t know if they were still in danger at the hospital. Now that Marco realized the severity of the threat to them, they needed to be prepared to defend themselves. And Marco would not leave Elena exposed to danger by herself; he would crawl to her room if he must.
Marco was persistent with the doctor and finally persuaded him to bring Elena to his room. Marco had explained that their being together would allow for optimum recuperation, and it was this argument that had finally won over the doctor. The two patients would fare much better if they were together.
Marco waited with anticipation as the nurses prepared to wheel Elena’s bed into the room. Marco was nervous, wondering how Elena looked. He so very much wanted her to look well and healthy. He knew he looked beaten. He could feel his face swollen and tender, and he knew he must be bruised and discolored everywhere. But inside, he felt okay. He knew that, though he was very sore, he was not broken. Nothing within him was broken after the angels ministered to him.
The two hours it took the staff to move Elena dragged for Marco. He couldn’t understand how it could take so long to wheel a bed over. However, despite his impatience, eventually she arrived. Elena came in with all of her beeping equipment, an IV drip, and a respirator, the look of which frightened the breath from Marco. His beloved looked so fragile and incapacitated. But Marco saw the dormant power within her and knew she would survive this.
The nurses told Marco that Elena hadn’t woken yet; she was still unconscious from the time of the accident. Her lungs were healing well, and she was only receiving minimal assistance with her breathing. They would be taking her off the respirator soon.
Like Marco, Elena’s face was bruised and battered, but already the cuts and scrapes were healing and the bruises were turning purple. More than anything, Marco wanted to reach out and protect Elena from all harm. But he could not. Like her, he was confined to his bed and would need to wait. For now, he would have to be content with just seeing her.
When the nurses finally left them alone in the room, Marco stared at Elena for the entire thirty minutes until the nurses returned to check their vital signs. He could not get enough of her. Now that Elena had almost been taken from him, he wanted to feel her all the more. He willed her to sense his intensity of love from across the room.
* * *
Ashta and Anak refreshed themselves in the stream, grateful for the water’s cleansing power. It was a wonderful way to start that day’s journey, first connected so powerfully to each other and then to the waters of the land. They filled their depleted canteens with fresh water, gathered their blankets, and repacked their bags. They had decided to eat while they walked to get a start on the second day of their trek, and they ate little to conserve their food stores.
Bags packed with everything ready to go, the twins sat to connect with Spirit. They did not hurry this part of their day. If they ignored this time to receive guidance, they might waste an entire day on a path that was not for them. Again, Ashta and Anak received their guidance and opened their eyes at the same time. They rose from the ground, stretched, and breathed in deeply. They greeted the sun and thanked the great fireball for providing continued life for all creatures on earth. Then they picked up their bags, strapped them and their swords to their bodies, and took off walking toward the east.
The twins had only been walking for a short while when they encountered people. They were the first the twins had seen since they left the temple. Although they were still far away, Ashta and Anak could make out a mother walking with her three daughters. The mother carried a large water drum balanced on her head. It was empty, and the woman walked comfortably without the burden she would carry on the way back from the stream. The girls carried small water jugs in their hands, hugged to their chests. They were cheerful and eager on this warm and breezy day.
The girls ran ahead of their mother laughing as they played. The smallest of the girls saw Ashta and Anak but did not shy away from them. She ran to them and looked up at the twins with a broad smile. Despite her height, it was clear that she was a big person in a little body. She had bouncy, light brown, curly hair and cheeks that were rosy from running. Anak spoke to the girl in greeting, but she did not understand his language. She did not seem to care. Communication with words was unnecessary when children of Creator frolicked.
The girl’s two older sisters ran up to her. The children were all very close in age and each was a reflection of the other, with her bouncy curls, pink cheeks, and easy smile. Finally, the mother caught up with her children. She was a mature version of her daughters, with long, full curls curving around a rosy face. The woman spoke in greeting to Ashta and Anak in an unfamiliar tongue. The twins replied in their own language, and no one was concerned by the lack of verbal understanding. The woman smiled the same brilliant smile as her daughters.
There was a sense of familiarity about this woman and her children that stemmed from recognition of souls from a same source; they were all children of Creator. The woman bowed her head to the twins, and Ashta and Anak returned the gesture of respect and acknowledgement. Then, the twins continued walking while the mother led her children to the stream. The youngest girl broke free of the gaggle to run back and give Ashta and Anak leg hugs. Then she skipped back to her family. The twins walked east with an extra bounce in their step. Children were incredible medicine.
33 Unscheduled Break
Marco woke in the night startled and disoriented. He looked around under the soft, recessed lighting and saw machine lights and heard beeping. He remembered where he was. But what had startled him? On high alert after the car attack, Marco was about to cry out, but something stopped him. A sense within him told him to wait and listen. Finally, the shape of a woman defined itself from the shadows.
The woman had watched Marco and waited. Even when she saw that Marco was about to acknowledge her presence in the room, she did not flinch. When the woman saw that Marco was calm and looking at her expectantly, she spoke, talking in urgent whispers.
“You are in danger here. Already those forces that attacked you are organizing themselves to come and finish the job. You both need to leave the hospital immediately.”
Marco looked at the woman and then at Elena and all the machines that assisted her. Then he looked down at the tubes that came out of both of his arms. It wouldn’t be simple to move them, but Marco knew that the woman, whoever she was, was right. The woman saw understanding in Marco’s eyes and continued. “I have arranged all that you need to get out of here. If you are in agreement, we will leave right away.”
Marco nodded. “I am.”
The woman moved quickly. She silently pushed the door open and ushered in four men. Without any discussion, the men positioned themselves behind the beds, two men per bed, and began wheeling them out, with all essential equipment leaving with them. Everything had been planned.
They wheeled out into an empty hospital corridor that was backlit so that staff could see their way around the rooms at night. They saw no one as they made their way to the elevators and down to the garage level. There, two vans waited for them with a driver in each; the vehicles idled.
At the sight of two vans, Marco panicked. He was unwilling to let Elena out of his sight. He had trusted this unknown woman in her sense that they were in danger a
nd had welcomed her extraordinary intervention and rescue mission. But now that Marco realized she planned to separate him from Elena for transportation, his insides clenched.
The woman sensed Marco’s apprehension and leaned over him. “I promise you, she will be safe. I will take care of her as I would my own daughter.” Marco looked into the woman’s eyes and saw truth there. Reluctantly, he relinquished his sense of control and agreed that Elena could be taken in a separate van.
Marco heard the doors to the other van slam shut. Now, he must keep his thoughts positive to draw the best outcome. The door to his van closed too, and they were off. They drove out of the unattended garage, the bribed attendant on an unscheduled break, and headed toward the highway.
* * *
Ashta and Anak reached the neighboring village, but could not believe what they found there. They stopped in their tracks. It was a disconcerting sight given the joy they had felt from the woman with her daughters. Could the mother and children have come from this village? The family’s demeanor seemed incongruous given the scene that spread out before the twins. But then, it was possible to emanate light no matter what the circumstances, knowing that Creator had a greater plan.
The twins encountered devastation every place they looked. Everywhere, there were signs of bloodshed. There were bloodstains on the dirt streets that appeared to be just days old. Silence pervaded the scene. The few people that were outside of their houses wore expressions of shock, disbelief, and sadness. This was a poor village of small houses dotted with shacks. But despite its apparent poverty, the villagers seemed to know contentment on normal days. That day though, there were only echoes of past laughter ringing through the hollow streets.
Ashta and Anak walked through the town slowly, showing respect for the people’s suffering. The villagers seemed unconcerned with the twins, despite the fact that outsiders had recently attacked them. Anak even received a smile from a man whose wounds were being tended. The man was a grandfather’s age, but he still sat up straight in his chair while a woman hovered over him, applying a healing ointment before bandaging a wound. The man’s smile was modest but genuine. Even in his grief, joy reached the old man’s eyes.