It takes me a few minutes to get my thoughts together. I watch the place where the man vanished until my breathing returns to normal. I pause and it occurs to me that the people who reside here are aware of my presence. I can’t help but wonder if the window of time for me to return to the other realm has closed. I have learned how to survive in pretty much any circumstance but this is too much for even me. This place will soon drive me over the edge if I don’t leave.
Then, I remember that I am here for a purpose. I almost cry out with relief and change the subject in my mind. I will not second guess why I am here. Not now. If I do then I will lose my mind in this horrible place. I need my mind intact if I am to finish what I came here to do and get back to the other side. I feel an immediate, intense need to leave this clearing. My gut is twisting with pain from dehydration and I walk in the opposite direction of the man to find water.
After a couple of hours I stumble upon a lethallooking pool of water. I am so thirsty that my tongue is like sandpaper. My taste buds have swelled up in protest and are screaming out in pain. I stop and contemplate the water even though it is clear that it is probably not safe. What I wouldn’t give right now for a glass of blackberry wine. I can almost taste the sweet liquid in my mouth and imagine the calmness it would bring to my nerves. My mind is running away with me, and I quickly bring it back, for fear that I will open the door for something scary to enter.
As though on cue, I hear the faint sound of a man s laughing. It’s a deep, throaty laugh that has the feel of an inside joke. You know. The type of joke your friends play on you when you are at a party? The only problem isthe joke isn’t funny. My mind seems to be held in a brain fog and I am having difficulty concentrating. I see images out of the corner of my eye. The muscles in my body are contracting and I am starting to feel numb all over. My body is going to shut down soon and I know that I need to find somewhere to hide. The world is spinning around me and I feel as though I am being sucked into a whirlpool. I can barely make out anything around me and the green of the trees is whirling around me so fast that they look like finger paint swirled together.
There is a buzzing sound in my head and swirls of white emerge from the green colors. I’m not sure if I am actually having a hallucination or if there is something out there. A kaleidoscope of color flashes before my eyes. The outline of a human shape is coming towards me.
There are strong arms about my body. They lift me easily off the ground, and as I struggle, they tighten and hold me still. I can feel large, calloused hands, squeezing my thigh and shoulder. A familiar scent teases my nostrils and I am transported for a moment to another time. The scent of spice and rain has awakened a distant memory in my heart that was a happy time in my life. The memory has been long forgotten and locked away in the inner core of my mind. My eyes are closed but I can see him in my mind’s eye.
He is tall with high cheekbones and has thick eye lashes that any girl would kill to have. He has a winsome smile and his full lips curve upward- the look he gives me makes my heart skip a few beats. There is an element about him that had an undercurrent of danger, recklessness even, that always aroused my senses. He is striking from any angle and his eyes smolder- almost seductively.
The feel of his skin against mine, his hands holding me tight and the sweet smell of his body are all familiar. How long has it been since I have been with him? I search my mind as far as I can remember. He lifts my head and brushes his lips against mine. We begin to kiss so sensually that jolts of heat shoot down my spine. I press my hands against his back, pressing him closer.
My pulse quickens, and as his face comes into focus, I can see his smile. “Stay with me Jaden,” I say as my fingers intertwine with his. In a different time or placethese words could make sense. It’s all coming back to me now, and I know that I will lose you all over again.
The last thing I remember is his smile. So many stories are hidden beneath that smile. What I see in his eyes breaks my heart and I am afraid that I will never see him again. A hazy mist now swirls around him and he backs away from me. He has his hands in his pockets and his pants are fluttering in a breeze. He smiles at me one last time, turns around and walks into the mist. Scenes of my life are whirling around me and then everything goes dark.
“Jaden”. My name on her lips sounds magical. I have waited so long to hear her voice once again. My eyes never leave her face. She radiates warmth and looks as she had long ago, before the world had left its cruel marks on her. It’s a sliver of time I will never get back. It’s been a lifetime and I can’t forget her face, she is the one who completes me. It’s a fragment of time that I have hidden away in the inner recess of my mind. Nothing more than a promise of the reality of what could have been. We had chosen different paths and were never to see each other again. Our destinies were chosen in secret and no one knew what anyone else had decided until the last day. When she left the other side, the day we chose our paths, she lost all memories. Knowing what she was would only serve to burden her and make the task at hand that much more difficult.
Being chosen does not ensure fame, fortune or glory but rather to act as a conduit. When someone follows the light they are given powerful gifts but they are not meant for personal gratification.
Ivy does not know it, but she holds a piece of my soul. She was in grave danger as the veil of the other world was breached. The light within her was just a dim flicker and she was no match for the creatures coming from the other side. I suffered thinking about the pain she would endure and despair welled up inside me.
That night, when she first entered the tunnels under the old house, I willed my horse to bind to her soul. The white horses belong to the immortals- the path that I have chosen. Immortal horses carry the light and have an aura of protection about them.
I often dream the impossible dream. Can this sliver of time, this chance meeting, ever lead to an eternity with her? I follow her through deserted lands, ruins and the shadows of the dark world. She is chosen and many would see her dead and out of the way. Hungry creatures will attempt to tear her flesh from her bones and devour all that she stands for in this forsaken place.
When the journey is completed, then the chosen will be given the desires of their heart. I often wonder what she will choose for herself. Will her memories of the time we spent together, before her human birth, come back to her?
Chapter 4
I can’t pretend to remember the last 24 hours with clarity. I have come to believe that this world is here to drive people insane. To play with our minds until our spirits cease to exist. There is nothing that makes any sense hereand I’m reasonably sure the dead are sensitive to my presence. They know my fears, failings and even my most secret dreams. Over the years of my life I have sculpted dreams of people and places that gave me refuge from my true reality. Now those images serve to blanket my mind as a protection.
The forces that exist here have taken my dreams and made them into a pseudo reality. There is nothing private here. Even the most secret intimate thoughts are exposed and then used against you as a means to drive you over the edge.
The day has a grey overcast to it and the sound of wind softly whistling fills my ears. I can hear the distance sound of the sea and walk in that direction. The road I am walking on was once a cobblestone that has long since fallen into disrepair. The dense forest has given way to stretches of land that sports clumps of dry grass that quiver in the breeze. There are familiar stalks of Tansy here and there and some scrub brush. It feels remarkably cool outside today which is so different from the first day I arrived here.
The sound of the crashing of waves becomes closer as I walk. Large rocks, covered with brown moss, make up a hillside and I decide to climb up to see what’s on the other side. On the other side there is a narrow lane and a high wrought-iron fence that runs for miles along the road. There appears to be some green on the other side of the fence and it seems odd to me that anything could grow in this place.
I climb over the wroug
ht iron fence and the old iron creaks as I pull myself to the top. Throwing my backpack down first, I grab hold of a piece of decorative metal on the top, and lower myself as far as I can down the other side. I land lightly on my feet and fall forward in a patch of dry grass.
My hand is bleeding from a sharp stone that is embedded in my palm. I take a knife and ease the stone from my flesh. I then find a scarf in my backpack and tie it around the cut to stop the bleeding.
There is a trail that winds its way up from the old fence. I follow it as it winds around old trees and dozens of acres of grass. The grass is not green as I had thought on the other side, but dead, with a hint of green to the dry stalks. I continue to walk and the crunching of the grass under my feet is unwelcome as I want to be undetected if at all possible.
Behind me, I can hear the clanking of metal and instinctively drop to the ground. It sounds as though someone is coming over the fence just as I had done. The whistling wind is unnerving and in the immense stretch of grass there is no place to hide. I know more than I care to about the properties of this place and fear what is out there.
Long shadows are being cast far to the left and I make my way forward in the grass toward a line of trees in the distance. Every crunch of grass from my feet make me wary and I push forward as fast as I am able. Far up in the sky is a black cloud moving at an alarming rate. I am bent over so I am about level with the grass and began to run. The long grass lashes at my face and I am afraid the sound of the grass breaking beneath my feet will draw attention to me. My breathing is ragged from running and I am resolved to make it to the shelter of the trees. The spirits here don’t frighten me as I have always seen them but the other entities are not benign. They are from the eternal darkness and their intent is corruption.
By the time I reach the trees the sky is darkened by fantastic cloud shapes. As the clouds move across the sky I notice that they are not clouds at all. They are actually thousands of creatures with wings flapping in unison. I have never seen anything like this and as they draw closer they appear as shadow people with wings.
I don’t believe these are spirits that I am seeing. They shimmer as they approach and the entire colony is flying over the bank of trees where I am hiding. The stench of sulfur is in the air as they pass and I am reminded of the demon that I saw in the caves on my way to this world. It is as though I have been plunged into a fabulous dream. Not exactly what I would have chosen to dream about but it keeps the
adrenaline pumping.
When the creatures fly past I exit my hiding place and began to make my way south. Within an hour, silhouetted on the horizon; high above a stretch of trees, sits a house. It is not very inviting with its twisted turrets as I have an aversion to old buildings but there is a light about it. The light illuminates the darkness and gives the house an ethereal presence.
As I approach the trees that are below the house I notice something darting behind a tree. The forest is vast and it feels as though the sound of my rubber soled shoes squelching on the wet leaves is echoing. I can see a faint light from the direction where the house is sitting and make my way toward it. Things start to go downhill as soon as I enter the forest. There is a slight movement about a dozen trees to the left and I catch sight of a short figure disappearing into the blackness out of the corner of my eye.
As I stand there looking around a chill runs through me. My first inclination is to run but I shake the feeling. This reaction makes no sense to me given the nature of this world. I continue forward but have the conscious feeling that I am being followed. Fear is nothing new to me and I must to get control of my nerves. A quick pep talk has me moving forward again.
I keep glancing over my shoulder as I press forward. I don’t see anything this time but the hair on my arms continues to stand on end. Just as I to grow more confident that I am safe a girl appears from nowhere.
Despite my shock I do n’t have the impression that I am facing my worst fear. In fact, it seems that the girl is here to welcome me because she is smiling and motions for me to follow her. Despite the odd glow she emits, her appearance brings a sort of peace out of the chaos and the world seems to take on a semblance of order.
We continue to walk through the woods without saying a word to one another. It seems we have been moving for hours and long shadows have begun to fall beyond the periphery of the girl’s glowing body. There is nothing to do but stay close behind her and trust that she knows where she is going.
The delicious smell of food is coming from the blackness and I figure we must be close to the house. We finally pass some smaller, scraggly pine trees and walk into the edge of a clearing. The girl pauses before she walks into the clearing.
She then starts in the direction of bank of 20 or so pine trees. To my dismay, when we arrive at our destination, all I can see is a grey mist. We are standing at the edge of a formidable looking mountain with nothing but fog around us. There is certainly nothing that I can see. No view, no house, nothing but the dismal grey fog. I am so disappointed that I am speechless. Not daring to look at the girl for fear she will see my growing anger I turn and look back down at the forest from where we had just come.
Then the girl, to my surprise, says “ follow me” and she takes my hand. We step through the rock and right into the side of the mountain. As we reach the other side the girl closes a door that I had not seen before now. She points to a dark, cold passageway and the smell of food wafts toward us.
I hear the echo of feet on the stone floors of the tunnel and a man appears holding a lantern. He is dressed in a long tunic with dark pants. He has stringy brown hair and a black beard and is accompanied by the mutt that I first met outside the caves. I can’t help but think of Scroogefrom “A Chistmas Carol” and the thought makes me smile. What in the world am I doing here in this place?
The grizzled man is the first to speak, “Welcome Ivy . My name is Tom”. The dog looks at me with his human looking eyes as though shocked to see me standing in front of him. I shoot him an accusatory look and we lock gazes. He tears his gaze away and looks down at the stone floor.
“I see you have met Jeff”, Said Tom as he pats the dog’s head. The stranger shifts his gaze to the girl who brought me to the house. “Why don’t you show Ivy to her room Emma”?
There is something unnerving about the man but what choice do I have but to follow the girl- Emma? The place is eerily silent except for the echoes of our feet on the floor and the clicking of the dog’s nails on the stone floors.
Are these people dead? I don’t imagine that the dead would make sounds as they walk and besides that I had held the girl’s hand. She had felt real enough when she led me through the mountain.
The place appears to be empty. We pass an empty dining room, a sitting room and a large library and continue down the long corridor. Fear comes in waves, down my neck and back, like stabbing pain. Memories of the old house Jen had lived in come to mind. The faces of the ghosts and demons I encountered in there are clearly in my mind’s eye. I glance periodically over my shoulder to see if there is anything behind me but of course there is nothing.
Perspiration dampens my neck despite the cold chill in the place. The shadowy walls are constructed of stone like the floor and give the impression of a dungeon of sorts. The narrow corridor is closing in on me and my heart is racing.
I try to concentrate on the sound of my rubber soles squelching on the floor to help calm myself. We reach a large spiral staircase and began to walk up the stairs. At the top is a comfortable looking sitting area complete with sofas and arm chairs. A fire crackles in the fireplace and the light radiates cheerful warmth. We plod past the sitting room and about halfway down another long passageway Emma stops in front of a door. She pulls the door open, and walks inside, gesturing for me to follow.
Candles burn in the room and there is a cozy fire in the fireplace. A large four poster bed sits in the far corner and there is a window not far from the bed. The window is large and dark red curtains hang down
either side to the floor. Next to the window is a desk and comfortable looking oversize chair. There is a tray of food on the desk and a steaming mug of hot cocoa.
I walk over to the window and look outside. It is not yet dusk outside and I can see the iron fence I had climbed over in the distance and far beyond that is the sea. Then the door closes and I assumed Emma has left.
“Are you hungry Ivy? Why don’t you try the sandwiches”? Turning around I see a pleasant looking woman standing by the bed. Her face is round and her eyes dance with light. Spiral curls of red hair frame her face and a shock of red curls wind down her back.
She sits on the edge of the bed and gestures for me to move to the leather chair next to the desk. She wears blue jeans and a t-shirt which seems very out of place in this house. I had expected something more traditional and the modern way she looks throws me for a loop. Any trepidation I may have about the place has vanished. I have always been a good judge of character and something in her eyes makes me feel at ease. The woman, who I learn is called Lizzie, talks for a short while and then takes leave so I can eat and get some sleep.
It’s all I can do to not inhale the cocoa and sandwiches that have been left for me. The bread melts in my mouth and the cheese and meat are among the finest I have ever tasted. There is even a small piece of pie for desert but I can only take a few bites.
By the time I consume the meal and rich cocoa I am feeling much better. My body aches from all the miles I have walked and my mind is quickly fading. My eyes are hardly able to stay open as I change into the long shirt that has been left on the bed for me. As soon as my head hits the pillow I am asleep.
In a green ocean of pine trees and twisted branches it seems impossible that light can penetrate the darkness. I find myself outside the strange house in the coolness of a pine forest with my backpack slung over my shoulder. The pine scent lingers in the air and I can hear the faint sound of music from far away.
Underworld (Dark Passage) Page 4