by A. A. Volts
Immobilized by the pain, all I could do was move my eyes, and even that was painful. Thankfully, the pain slowly faded. After a few minutes, I could move again. I looked all around, but didn’t see anyone.
“Where are you guys at? Are you all right?” I asked.
“Ouch! That hurts like a freaking train just ran me over,” said Jonas from under a heavy bush, much to my relief.
“I suppose we should be glad that we’re still able to talk about this,” I said as I let out a painful chuckle.
“It hurts a lot. I don’t think I’ve ever hurt myself this bad before,” said Jonas, groaning.
“Stop being such a baby,” said Carla, walking toward us dripping wet.
“Easy for you to say, you probably landed in a lake. Wait a minute. Where did the snow go?” Jonas said.
“Actually, it was a river, and I don’t think we’re anywhere near Boston or North America for that matter,” replied Carla. “So what the heck happened?”
“I don’t know. We must have lost concentration or something when we entered Earth’s atmosphere, but the important thing is that we’re all alive and well,” I said.
“Alive and well?” asked Jonas indignantly.
“I know that it was painful, but in retrospect, it wasn’t as painful as it should have been if we had a physical body,” I said to calm him down.
“It wasn’t that bad. After all, we are in unknown territory so there’s bound to be a few surprises here and there,” said Carla as she helped Jonas up.
“Where are we?” I asked when was I finally able to stand up and stretch my arms and legs.
“I don’t have a clue,” replied Jonas. “One thing is for sure, I have never seen trees this tall before.”
Jonas wasn’t exaggerating like he normally did. These were in fact the tallest trees I had ever seen. Although it was still night-time, we could see them clearly, including the lush green grass and colorful flora surrounding them.
Out of nowhere came a group of about eight to ten indigenous tribesman. They were looking for something nearby.
“Do you think they can see us?” asked Jonas.
“I’m not sure, but it looks like they’re looking for something,” replied Carla.
“Yes, I think they can. Let’s get out of here while we still can,” said Jonas, worried.
“What’s this place?” I wondered out loud.
“I think we may be somewhere in the Amazon rainforest,” said Carla.
“How could you possibly know that?” asked Jonas.
“Contrary to the two of you, I pay attention in school. Besides, there are few places on Earth where indigenous tribes can still be found.”
“We should get back to the house before we get into any more trouble,” I said as we backed away from the natives while they inched closer.
“I really don’t care where we go, as long as we don’t stay here and get hit by those spears. They look very sharp and painful,” said Jonas.
A spear was thrown our way. Fortunately, it missed my right shoulder by a hair and hit the tree behind me.
“Now would be a good time to go, and I mean right now!” said Carla as the natives charged us.
I concentrated hard on getting out of there, but after what seemed like an eternity, it became clear I wasn’t going anywhere.
Carla was the first to vanish; even Jonas didn’t take much longer than a couple seconds. Propelled by his fear, Jonas left with a supersonic boom.
Yet I stayed… nothing I tried worked. When everything else failed, I did the only other thing I could think of. I thought of Carla and how much I wanted to be wherever she was. I was immediately teleported to where she was, which was a good thing because an indigenous warrior had just thrown a spear that was destined for my head.
I opened my eyes to find myself on the floor of my bedroom looking at Carla.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine, thanks. I was almost hit by a spear. But other than that, I’m fine. For some unknown reason, it was hard for me to get out of there,” I replied.
“You don’t suppose it was because he’s close by?” asked Carla, concerned.
“Who? Ah, I know, it’s Phasma, isn’t?” said Jonas.
“I don’t know. I did have a feeling of impending doom, but it could have been the fact that a huge spear was rushing toward my head,” I explained, still a bit shaken.
“Too many emotions and adventures for one night,” said Jonas.
“After what I have gone through in the past few days, this is really nothing,” I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.
“Nothing? Let’s see if I got this right… over the past few minutes we flew to the moon—and see how crazy this sounds already when I say it out loud? We fell from said moon only to crash in middle of God knows where, and if that wasn’t enough, we were chased away by a group of angry natives who tried to kill us by throwing spears at us, and you say this was nothing?” said Jonas while his skin turned red and he started to sweat profusely.
“I’m sorry, Jonas, I was just comparing our experiences with the ones I had with Phasma, which was way worse than this,” I said.
The ground started to rumble and shake. The walls shook so much that it seemed they were getting ready to crumble right on top of us. I’m not exactly sure how and why it all started, I just know that it did—perhaps the mere mention of Phasma’s name was enough to precipitate chaos. Nonetheless, I felt him; I sensed the dread approaching fast.
CHAPTER NINE
A WORLD IN TROUBLE
The closer I felt him get, the stronger the rumbling became. Soon, dust and pieces of construction materials started to fall off the roof and walls. A violent thunderclap pushed us against the wall. The lights in the room flickered and then went off.
“Oh my God, what the hell is happening?” asked Jonas.
“It’s him,” I replied, looking around. But I searched in vain for he was nowhere to be found.
The rumbling grew louder, and the shaking grew stronger. The noise was deafening. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought I was in the middle of an earthquake.
“I’m not scared of you!” yelled Carla, standing in the middle of the room defying Phasma and the falling debris.
An evil laughter echoed through the house, causing not only my house but also our spirits to shudder.
“I see…” Phasma said, pausing for effect, “you brought friends.”
“Yes, and we aren’t scared of you,” screamed Carla.
“Shh,” gestured Jonas, placing his finger in front of his lips.
“Really? We’ll see about that,” said Phasma.
“Listen, we don’t want any trouble,” I said, trying to calm the tension in the room.
“Do you really think your friends can help you here?” asked Phasma from somewhere deep in the shadows.
“We’ll defeat you, you psycho,” Carla said.
Carla seemed to amuse him because he let out another sinister laugh and said, “I don’t think that your friend has warned you, so I’ll give you two the chance to leave while you still can. Return to your meaningless and worthless lives and forget about my realm. This is your only and final warning.”
“Mark, let’s get out of here while we still can,” said Jonas, looking scared.
“No,” screamed Phasma. “That one must stay. He’s not allowed to leave.”
“What?” Jonas asked.
“You can’t do this,” said Carla.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” replied Phasma as he appeared in the darkest corner of the room, still surrounded by shadow.
“Listen here, you freak! We’re not going anywhere without our friend!” yelled Jonas. I was shocked because Jonas’s courage caught me by surprise… even Phasma seemed lost for words for a few seconds.
“Fools, I assure you that I’m dead serious, don’t venture out any further. If you’re foolish enough to ignore my warnings, then you’re foolish enough to deal wit
h the consequences,” said Phasma, stepping out of the shadow so we could see him.
Carla couldn’t help but to let out a screech of horror when she saw his grotesque face and horns. Jonas simply refused to look out from behind the sofa. Not that I blamed him. I felt like hiding myself, but I had to protect Carla.
“We won’t leave our friend alone. You can count on that,” said Carla, trembling but determined. I knew she meant it because I’d seen that look in her eyes before. It was the look that told me and everyone else who knew her that she wasn’t going to change her mind, whatever the cost.
“Then you’re fools. You’re all fools!” yelled Phasma.
“What are you doing?” I whispered to Carla. I’d hoped to change her mind, although I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“We came here to help you, and that’s exactly what we’ll do,” replied Carla, more determined than ever.
“You there, behind the couch,” said Phasma, pointing toward Jonas as the left wall of my room finally caved in and fell to pieces.
“You’re coming with me,” Phasma added, pointing at the couch. As if obeying his command, the couch moved aside.
I heard Jonas say “Oh God—” then I sprang into action and placed myself between Jonas and Phasma.
“Leave him alone!” I yelled louder than I thought possible.
“Out of my way, undead fool!” said Phasma. He made a flicking gesture with his finger, and I was thrown out of the way.
He pointed to Jonas, and with another flick of his fingers, Jonas’s body lifted off the floor as if invisible strings were holding him. Strings that Phasma seemed to be pulling.
I was about to get up and face Phasma again when he suddenly charged straight toward Jonas.
When they collided, they both vanished. The rumbling stopped, and the wall that had fallen rebuilt itself.
“No!” I screamed as tears filled my eyes and guilt crushed my heart so tight that I could barely breath.
“Oh my God! Where did they go?” asked Carla.
“I don’t know,” I replied, ashamed.
“I can’t see him,” said Carla, looking around the room and still crying.
“Jonas! Jonas!” Carla yelled over and over.
***
“Let’s check his physical body, come,” I said.
“Look! He’s still fine. He’s breathing,” I said as I moved closer to Jonas’s physical body and found him still sleeping.
“He looks like he’s having a nightmare,” said Carla, approaching her brother’s sleeping body. “Hey, little brother, I promise you I’ll do everything in my power to bring you back.”
“We’ll find him, I promise,” I said.
“How?” asked Carla, more calm but still shaken.
“What could that… that thing possibly want with Jonas?” I thought out loud.
“I don’t know. Maybe if we think about Jonas, we’ll be teleported to him,” said Carla hopefully.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I said. “The truth is that I shouldn’t have involved you guys in this mess. It’s all my fault.”
“No, it’s not your fault. As long as we stick together and don’t give up, we’ll be fine,” said Carla to comfort me.
“All right. Let’s go get Jonas back,” I said, determined to fix things.
I offered my hand to Carla. As soon as I felt her hand grabbing mine, I held it tightly and started to concentrate on Jonas. Carla did the same. I felt her squeeze my hand.
After a few seconds of intense concentration, nothing happened. I tried thinking about Jonas and even our childhood together, but still nothing happened.
“It’s not working,” said Carla.
“It will, trust me,” I replied, realizing that simply thinking about Jonas wasn’t going to work. I had to connect with either Jonas or Phasma on a much deeper level if I wanted to find Jonas.
I closed my eyes again and thought about Phasma and how angry I felt toward that despicable creature that had kidnapped my best friend. I started to feel the familiar sensation of moving faster than light itself.
The room turned suddenly into a blur and disappeared, giving way to complete darkness. My first impression was that we were once again in space, but there wasn’t anything that resembled Earth or the moon; not even the stars were visible as we traveled at an unthinkable speed through the darkness.
I still held Carla’s hand, even though I felt my astral body spinning uncontrollably as if the universe was once again conspiring to separate from me what I held dearest—much like it had done when it took my mother away from me.
For a minute, I thought I was going to either tear into pieces or get sick to my stomach—although I didn’t even know if that was possible here.
Suddenly, my senses were overwhelmed by vast snowy hills that appeared right in front of us. The air was cold, thin, and crisp. The smell of eucalyptus filled the air and the snow peaks above us reflected the moonlight as though they were made out of crystals. We were above the darkness and gloominess at the base of the mountains.
Dark clouds encircled the mountain almost halfway to the top; below that point, the fog reigned unchallenged. At its peak there was nothing but the frozen, icy, and deserted landscape.
Unsure where to go, I willed myself to land on the highest peak, and almost immediately we started to descend toward a clearing. As we moved closer to the snowy ground, I noticed how each ice flake reflected light from the bright moon above us. Something told me it wasn’t the same moon we were used to seeing back on Earth. It was slightly larger, much brighter, and lacked all of the moon’s distinguishing features.
“I don’t see him anywhere,” said Carla. The wind howled in the distance while snow flew in the air, heading toward us.
“He’s around here somewhere, I know he is,” I assured her.
“How do you know that?” asked Carla.
“I can sense him,” I replied.
“You can sense Jonas?” asked Carla, confused.
“No,” I replied, pausing for a second, then added in a very soft whisper, “I can sense… Phasma.”
“I wonder where we are,” said Carla as she approached a lone pine tree and rested against its trunk.
“I don’t know. I recall Phasma mentioning something about a place called Threshold,” I whispered. I was scared of mentioning his name out loud.
“Whatever this place is, it sure is different,” said Carla as she quickly removed her hands from the tree trunk and wiped them on her clothes. “Yikes, that trunk is soft, wet, and cold. It’s really gross.”
I was walking over to look at it when I realized that my bare feet were freezing. In fact, my whole body was cold. I started to shiver.
“It’s freaking cold here,” I said, shivering so hard that it was almost impossible to talk.
“Yes, it is,” replied Carla, rubbing her hands on her arms to keep herself warm.
“At this rate we’ll freeze to death before we have the slightest chance of finding Jonas,” I managed to say.
“Quick, think of something warm,” suggested Carla, closing her eyes.
I don’t know why but white bunny slippers came to mind, and almost immediately, I felt my feet getting warmer.
“Ha ha,” Carla laughed and pointed at my feet.
I was surprised to find the actual slippers on my feet. I was definitely not dressed appropriately for the harsh weather conditions of Threshold.
Carla, on the other hand, was wearing a plain white, long-sleeved, V-neck tunic shirt, faded low-rider skinny jeans, and a chocolate-colored hooded cardigan sweater with a faux fur trim accented by a white Norwegian design. Her sweater went down to her small waist. On her feet she had chocolate brown suede boots that matched perfectly with her sweater.
Embarrassed and still not properly dressed for the winter, I immediately thought about my regular winter outfit, which consisted of a tight knit black skullcap, a South Pole black ski jacket with matching insulated gloves, and a pair of
straight-legged denim jeans with my black army boots. As if by magic, my whole body started to get warm.
“That’s better,” I said.
From our vantage point, we could almost see the whole continent, which I had named Threshold solely based on assumptions. For miles, there seemed to be nothing but darkness below us. Layers of dark blue, gray, and black clouds covered almost half of the newfound continent.
Far off in the distance, we could barely detect hints of bright and luscious greens and more promising weather conditions.
I ran across the clearing to peek at the other side. I was very curious what mysteries Threshold held. As soon as I reached the other side, I was amazed by what I saw. In the distance, there were signs of a vast sapphire-green ocean just beyond the dark heavy clouds, fog, and darkness.
I’d always imagined light to be one of the essential building blocks of the afterlife. Although there were hints of lights in the distance, darkness seemed abundant in Threshold.
***
“This place is huge. How are we going to find Jonas?” asked Carla.
“There’s someone down there,” I said as I looked over the ledge and noticed movement below. That’s when I realized that the fog, was actually smoke that rose from the ground below.
“What is it?” Carla asked.
“I really don’t know, maybe a village. There has to be a way to get down there,” I said, looking around for a trail.
“Maybe Jonas is down there. We have to get down there,” said Carla.
“It’s possible, but we really should investigate it further before we just walk down there. After all, this is a new world and we have no idea if they are friendly or not,” I said.
“Hey! There’s a trail here. Come quick,” said Carla, so psyched that she appeared not to be listening to me at all.
Even before I got there, Carla was already on her way down. I followed her down the small and slippery snowy trail, thinking that I was going to fall the whole way.
Slowly, the eucalyptus smell was replaced by the smell of charred meat and skin. The closer we got, the darker the smoke and the stronger the smell became.
“What a horrible smell, what do you think that is?” asked Carla.