The figure cut left and right with such grace that Riley thought he might be floating over the streets, not even touching the ground. Riley was closing and his fitness was his ally as he ran at full speed for what seemed like a dozen blocks.
“STOP, POLICE, RIGHT NOW!” Riley shouted again.
The figure appeared to have no intention on stopping anytime soon. Riley threatened a shot and still the figure raced ahead.
Riley had had to use his revolver only one time in self-defense. He was well trained in the use of the weapon and vowed to never use it to kill. His only other opportunity to use his weapon was many years ago when a thug was robbing a convenience store in the same neighborhood where Riley happened to be investigating a different crime scene just a few stores away. Riley had finished his inspection and was leaving the store when he was knocked to the ground by a man who was running from the other store. He had pulled his pistol, yelled for the man to stop and when he didn’t, he fired into the man’s knee. The perpetrator was down in an instant. In that situation, Riley had aimed and fired at his intended target within a fraction of a second. No one else was in the line of fire. Riley had this gift of quick thinking since he was a kid, which is one of the reasons he opted out of college and onto the police force.
The dark shadowy figure he was now pursuing was not slowing and Riley had to make a snap decision. A well-placed shot meant a man down, but for what reason? No shot and he might get away. So what? He had so far done nothing illegal. This was nothing like the incident from his past. This was an altogether different scenario. All this occurred to Riley in less than a second. Then he watched the individual seemingly float over an eight-foot fence. Not paying attention to where he was running, Riley smashed head first into the chain link fence, which instantly propelled him backward. He hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of his lungs; losing his grip on his weapon, it went spinning away from him.
He caught his breath and then Sarina entered his consciousness. He caught his breath and was up in a flash, grabbed his gun, scampered over the chain link fence, and headed toward her apartment. Still slightly winded and dazed, Riley ran as fast as he was able cutting down this alley then that driveway over short front yard fences until he rounded the corner and onto 3rd Street near Sarina’s apartment.
The shadowy figure stood motionless on the street corner opposite the alley where Sarina’s apartment was, apparently not aware that Riley was only a few yards away. Riley bolted towards the figure at a full run and grabbed for his torso hoping to knock him to the ground and gain the upper hand. Riley almost had his hands around the figure’s waist and was preparing for the impact, ready to move in whatever direction the fall would take them. But when Riley closed his arms around the figure instead of the expected impact, which would have propelled the two forward and down to the ground, Riley grabbed nothing but air. As Riley sailed through the figure, he was shocked by an intense explosive electrical pulse much like the blow of a Taser he’d felt in his police training. Along with the shock, he was temporarily blinded by a bright flash of blue light. There was no impact and no entanglement of two humans exploding out and down. Only air, the putrid smell, and Riley flying head long into the hard sidewalk. The shock was so intense that it flipped him over. Fortunately, Riley’s leather jacket saved him from a severe case of road rash as he slid on his across the cold concrete.
When Riley passed through the being not only did the shock throw him to the ground, it propelled the being upward, freezing it just above him. Riley’s eyes adjusted to his environment after the bright flash and he saw the figure floating over him. The shadowy being remained motionless for an instant and the putrid smell almost knocked Riley unconscious. Fighting to stay alert, he noticed it begin to shudder above him.
The being was a darkness so complete that Riley saw nothing and felt immense fear emanating from it. It then began to shake uncontrollably and finally let out a piercing, high-pitched screech as it exploded into endless particles of light.
Riley laid motionless for a moment breathing heavy and then remembered Sarina. He jumped up, bounded down Sarina’s alley, up the stairs to her apartment and pounded on her door.
“SARINA!” he shouted.
She answered from behind the door “WHAT?! WHO’S THERE?!”
Out of breath Riley sputtered, “It’s Riley, can I come in?!”
“ALRIGHT, HOLD ON!” Sarina fumbled at the door lock and unbolted the door and looked out in the hall behind Riley and said, “HURRY UP, COME IN!”
Riley was catching his breath when Sarina asked, “WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!”
Riley looked up, still breathing hard, with his hands on his knees and his chest heaving from the run. “You… smell it…, too?”
“Yeah. It’s all over you. What were you doing?”
“I was chasing something… for about a dozen blocks.”
“I was looking out the window when I saw you sliding on your back across the sidewalk. You were running so fast. Did you trip?” Sarina was helping Riley to the sofa in the corner of her living room.
Riley looked up at Sarina, exasperated. “I slid across the sidewalk because I tried to tackle whatever it was I was chasing.
“What do mean, ‘whatever it was’?”
“Didn’t you see it, standing there on the corner… ” Riley had caught his breath and was now confused, “and when he ran past your alley?”
“No! I was so focused on you sliding all over the sidewalk, all I saw was you!” Sarina was surprised that her heart was beginning to race. Shaking off this unexpected feeling she said “…And then I heard your thundering footsteps as you ran up my stairs. Are you hurt?”
The adrenalin had stopped flowing through Riley and reality was beginning to sink in. He slumped onto the sofa. He had not broken any bones but his body indeed ached. “I’ll be okay, just some bumps and bruises.” Sarina gathered some herbs from her larder and put the kettle on the stove. Riley moved to a chair in her kitchen.
He looked out the window from where they were both seated as Sarina inspected him for any other injuries. “I felt something nudge me when I was walking home,” Riley explained. “I tried to continue but the nudge became more of a barrier. I turned around and then the nudge grew into a kick that sent me running in your direction. That’s why I’m here.”
Sarina acknowledged his courage and chivalry with a gentle hand on his arm as if to say that is what a man ought to do. Riley felt the electrical pulse and unlike the shock he had just experienced in the chase, it felt good. The pain left his body and as Sarina turned to grab a cup of tea and asked, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just got the wind knocked out of me. I’ll be fine. Did you feel …”
“You mean the electricity when I touched you?”
Riley nodded.
“I did,” she said also with a nod and a slight smile with a slight feeling of embarrassment as her heart started racing again. She felt a rush of emotion and she turned away; her faced now flushed.
“It felt different than before, don’t you think?”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean?” Sarina set the cup of tea in front of Riley trying to show a mild look of surprise on her face.
“It felt like … I don’t know … different. When you touched me, the pain I was feeling from the fall just floated out of me. I can’t really explain it.”
Sarina looked at Riley in amazement not completely sure of what just happened. Some kind of healing power, she surmised.
After a cup of tea and Riley assuring her that he was fine, he offered to stay the night. “I am concerned for your safety. What if that, whatever it was, comes back after I’m gone?”
“I don’t know? It seems it was you who was in danger and not me.” Sarina was fine and felt no danger.
“You think it was me!? But it was heading toward your apartment!”
“But it didn’t come up here, did it?”
“Well … that’s true because I stopped it.” Riley
recounted what happened.
Sarina was amazed by the story and believed Riley had experienced something. “Did I tell you that I experienced a blue flash in my dream the night my sister was murdered?”
“I can’t remember. Do you think the flash I saw and the one you saw are connected somehow?”
“I don’t know and I wonder why I couldn’t see the shadowy being you were chasing?”
Grappling with her growing feelings for Riley, Sarina thanked him and kissed him on the cheek and sent him on his way. She felt another gentle pulse of electricity and looked deep into his eyes. He thought he noticed a skeptical look from her, as if she did not believe that he was right about the shadowy figure.
Riley knew what he saw must have been real, but his logical mind did not have a place for it. A shadowy figure that one moment seemed so real and the next moment gone made no logical sense to him. He had not followed any solid spiritual path with any foundation that might have included an introduction to non-earthly or mystical beings. All he could really sense was that Sarina had been in some sort of danger and he wanted to protect her. From what he was not sure, but her safety was paramount. All he was sure of was that he felt the electricity when he hugged Sarina as he had before, but was not completely sure what had just happened when the pain in his body floated away, as he put it. Riley finally let go of attempting to rationalize the event, figuring there was time to revisit the experience later.
Riley walked down the street, his senses heightened, on alert. Then he felt a sense of peace sweep through him and he knew Sarina was indeed in no danger. He paused and waited for his police mind to jump in and think of all the perilous scenarios that might happen to Sarina, and he was surprised to notice the worry machine in his head dematerialized. Yet, somewhere in the back of his mind was doubt about whether the shadowy figure was real. He began to wonder if the stress of the investigation was getting to him. Dreams and misty creatures made little or no sense to his trained mind. But then he had felt the electricity when he and Sarina touched. He knew that was real because he felt it much like he had felt having the wind knocked out of him. He gripped his still slightly aching side as he walked home.
Riley certainly had many questions that he needed to sort out, but even the feeling of doubt was fading and he felt so at ease. Riley unlocked his apartment door, slipped in, and went to bed resolved to engage his mind in the morning. Sleep came surprisingly easily for Riley that night.
When Riley woke the next morning, he felt rested but mostly he discovered his mind was clear. More clear than ever. It was as though he had worked everything out during the night, while he was dreaming.
Sarina had told him about the dream cycles. During the first stages of dreams, the mind works out puzzles or challenges from the previous day and finds solutions. When one enters the rapid eye movement or REM state, the dream mind has enough information from the conscious day that a type of prediction happens. Sometimes it can be literal but often times it can be shrouded in symbolism.
Riley must have worked the events out in his sleep and quickly found a notebook in which to enter his thoughts. He added yesterday’s events to his case book and wrote a summary with more detail and clarity.
Riley wrote about Sarina’s story of contacting his old partner and discovering her mother’s disappearance. He recounted the process at the morgue and all the other events with remarkable detail. He felt as if his brain had been rejuvenated.
Riley dressed and called Sarina to see if she was going to the morgue to claim her sister’s remains today and if she needed him to come along?
Sarina answered and said she was fine to finish that part of the process alone. She asked him to meet her for a 1:30 lunch at Pluto’s restaurant to check in with any new details.
Riley agreed and hung up. He dressed and left for his office to sort through some other cases with this fresh and new clarity.
Chapter - Eight
Riley was surprised when he moved through his case load with ease. Some of his cases had been stalled for quite some time. He just had been unable to make any headway, but now he was able to uncover previously unseen clues in a few of them and move others out of the “pending” slot and into the “indictment” slot on his desk. He cleared up over half of his paperwork in a few short hours. To Riley, it was as though he had a super power. Whatever had happened in his dream space was great, but he was still skeptical that the difference may have been no more than a good night’s sleep. Nevertheless, he wanted to know how to call upon that sleep-induced ability, or whatever, again, even during the day, if somehow possible.
While Riley was happily taking care of his business, Sarina was not-so-happily taking care of hers. She was almost at the morgue to retrieve Ann’s ashes. Fortunately, the morgue had been able to schedule the cremation of Ann’s body with the crematorium on such short notice. Generally this process can take more than 48 hours, but everything worked out quickly and neatly. As next-of-kin, Sarina had to sign a form authorizing the actual cremation. This process is usually very straightforward and is done at the same time information for the death certificate is obtained. The process for Ann was a bit more delayed for two reasons.
First, Sarina needed to search for Mona, who would be legally considered closer kin to Ann than Sarina. But because Sarina was the only family member who could be easily located to authorize the cremation, the paper work was completed in due course. Second, if the cause of death is under the investigative jurisdiction of the coroner, the coroner must complete her investigation before the body can be released to the funeral director and a Coroner’s Release must be obtained before cremation. An autopsy, either authorized by the family or the coroner, can delay the release of the body by several hours. The coroner’s office authorized an autopsy, which was performed on the day of Ann’s death, and all evidence was gathered and reported to Detective Holden. Although the case was listed as unsolved, from the point of the view of the coroner, it had been officially closed and the crematorium was available the next day to perform the task.
As she came within a couple of blocks of the morgue, Sarina fought hard to remain in control of her emotions. After all, she really had not been in contact with Ann for many years. So much time had passed and Sarina’s life had gone in a very different direction than Ann’s. For Sarina, family meant everything and she had proven to herself just how important it was to her in her own family with her four boys. Then her commitment family came crashing into the disconnect with her mother, father, and Ann and reduced her to tears a block from the morgue.
Sarina now wished that she had taken Riley up on his offer to escort her here. She sat on a park bench and wept for a time, remembering how kind and gentle Ann had been to her and how she had cried when Ann left home, not truly understanding why. She remembered Ann assuring her that “everything would be fine.” Clearly not!
Sarina was left with so many questions unanswered and so many holes in her personal world. Her father, her mother, and Ann all gone. The only solace Sarina had found in the midst of this collapse of her world was in her relationship with her boys, who offered her comfort during this hard time in her life, even in light of the fact that they were not able to physically be with her. She had told them all about their aunt’s murder and assure them that she had help and support by Detective Holden and that she was working through this process with his help and her publisher friend, Mary. They seemed satisfied that their mom was being held well during this time, especially by the detective.
Riley seemed to truly care about her, which also comforted her as he was so willing to offer his support. All she could do now was lean into Riley’s support and go forward with figuring out just what had happened to her family, Ann in particular. The first step of which was retrieving and caring for Ann’s remains. So, hard as it was, she was on task yet very alone. She rose from the bench she had collapsed on to, and with renewed conviction that bringing this process to closure felt right, she walked over to the morgue.
“I am just amazed about the process,” the attendant bumbled on. “It was as if the body was resisting, I have never seen this happen before.”
Sarina finally looked up at the attendant with a blank stare not caring about her reddened eyes. "What do you mean, resisting?”
“Well, it was as if the body was coated with some type of fire retardant. I have never seen this before. I know this is not the most pleasant thing to talk about, but it was quite unusual in my line of work. I did mention it to Detective Holden but he wasn’t really familiar with this process. I simply found it a bit out of the ordinary.” The attendant noticed how distraught Sarina was and looked down at the paper work and slid it off the table and into a file to be processed and gently moved the box of Ann’s remains toward Sarina.
Sarina nodded in slight gratitude, looked away, and took her sister's ashes and left the building. Resisting, she thought, but resisting what? She knew very little about these things and the attendant was not offering more information and Sarina was not going to ask, as curious as she was. The rest of that morning was put aside to find just the right container for Ann’s ashes. Sarina wandered through the various market places but nothing called to her. She was hoping for a nice ceramic urn, but every time she found one she liked, her inner voices said, “not that one.” She moved on to more shops and wandered into an ironworks gallery. She paused and looked around.
The gallery quickly brought to mind iron sculptors in North Carolina that Sarina remembered. In fact, one of these sculptors was a friend whom she had not spoken with in years. She was the first female blacksmith in North Carolina and Sarina remembered her with fondness.
The Song_A mysterious tale of the Mayan spirit world and the Mayan calendar Page 15