Naked Crow

by P. Z. Walker

  "Cool. Really, I meant it, Sheila. That's really awesomely cool."

  The two spent the rest of the day dozing and making plans for when they were home again They assumed they'd be out of a job by now, but that was the least of their worries. Towards the evening (darkness came early with the rain-clouds overhead) Sheila sat and tried to reach Acaraho again, but she needed to go into her trance to speak with him. He told her that the time wasn't right yet.

  "Go to the waterfall when you can. Make sure you know how to get there fastest. We may not have much time once the energy is present."

  That wasn't exactly what Sheila wanted to hear. She still wasn't feeling great, there was no telling when the rain would stop, and there was the chance of running into the odd animal that would like a naked woman or two for a snack.

  "Okay, we'll give that a try as soon as we can. Thank you, my friend."

  "Good luck, Shíile Isshiiá. We will talk again soon."

  Sheila let the trance and the connection fade. Josy was looking at her with a kind of anxiousness on her face. "Not yet, but he said we should see how quickly we can get to the waterfall, in case time is tight."

  "Uhhuh. In the rain, over slippery rocks, and you with your busted ribs. Can't he send a flying carpet?"

  Sheila laughed and regretted that instantly. "Ouch, ouch... I'll ask him next time."

  *

  The next morning was free of rain. The two women came out of the cave to find themselves in thick layers of fog.

  "Oh damn. This is even more fun," Josy groaned. "Getting to food will be a challenge. And then we're climbing up to the falls, right? We're really gonna need that flying carpet."

  As they had no other options, they carefully walked over the hard grass and reached a few trees that were near something edible. Hard, icky tasting, but edible. They sat on the ground, not bothering to go back to the cave.

  "You're getting too skinny," Josy pointed at Sheila's ribs.

  "Look who's talking," Sheila pointed back. Josy looked in even worse shape, although she'd been thin from the start.

  "I know, but I'm not talking about me," Josy responded.

  After chewing away their rough breakfast they ventured back to the cave, stopping often and listening if there were predators around. Everything was silent though. Eerily silent. They reached the rocky wall.

  "Okay, now let's get to the waterfalls," Josy said. "Got your stopwatch ready?"

  "I'll count steps, will that do?"

  "As long as you don't attract Dino with it, I'm fine. Let's go."

  By the time they arrived at the waterfall where Sheila had appeared, both women had scraped and bloody hands and knees. The rocks were wet, they slipped often and they had made lousy time.

  "We're really going to need a flying carpet," Josy panted. "And a SatNav."

  "Want me to ask for a driver too?" Sheila grinned.

  "Oh, yes, a pretty one!" Josy laughed.

  They sat on the cold, wet rock for a while before they dared to venture back down. They did that trip very carefully so they wouldn't sustain more bodily damage. It was bad enough for them, especially for Sheila who'd been dizzy with pain at one moment during their climb up.

  "This was quite a pathetic rehearsal, wasn't it?" Josy asked as they were safe in their cave again.

  "Very. At least we found it and made it there without falling. The fog is really bad." Sheila sighed. "I hope Acaraho isn't going to chase up there that soon. Well, in fact I do. Damn, this is such a crap situation!" Sheila felt tears sting in her eyes and couldn't hold them back. She was in pain, her hands and knees hurt from the scratches they'd sustained on the climb, and a sudden feeling of despair hit her.

  "Hey, Sheila, come on, don't give up on us now, okay?" Josy wrapped her arms around her friend and rocked her gently. "A few more days perhaps, and then your Indian guy will have us out of here. You said so, he said so. We're going to make it, hear me?"

  Sheila nodded and tried to smile. "Yeah, we're going to make it."

  "Good girl. Now talk to your spirit to find out if we have to leave already."

  Josy's attitude worked wonders for Sheila. Despite her hurting she managed to focus enough to find her mental silence. "Acaraho?"

  "Shíile Isshiiá. I was waiting for you," said the gentle voice.

  "Why?"

  "The time is soon, Yellow Hair." He was silent for a moment. "You are worse than last time."

  "I am. You can feel that?" Sheila told him about their struggle with the fog and the painful excursion to the waterfall. "It was hell going up there, and took very long."

  "You must be quick next time," Acaraho simply said.

  "Sure, we'll just run and jump, even when my body throws up a big problem," Sheila replied to that, "but we'll make it. As long as the dinosaurs don't show." She shivered as she said it. Dinosaurs. The concept was too wild to even think about, but for Josy and her they could be a serious threat. "So can you give me an idea about 'soon'?"

  "I cannot be certain, Shíile Isshiiá, but I think it will be within one of your days. There might be a change in weather that supplies the energy shift, so talk to me when you notice that."

  "At least that's something. Thank you, Acaraho. We hope we can go home soon. We're so tired of this place."

  Acaraho sent over a sense of understanding and encouragement. "Be strong, Sheila." He didn't often call her by her own name, so this was something special.

  She slipped out of the light trance and looked at Josy. "Hopefully within a day."

  "God, I hope so..."

  *

  During the day the fog thinned, and towards the evening the area was clear again. A few times they had heard blood-chilling screams from the forest. Despite those, which made it clear that there were creatures nearby, they had to venture out for something edible. Josy stood guard with her stick as Sheila picked up herbs and a few plants she recognised to be safe, and with a bare minimum of rations they retreated to the cave. As they sat there, dusk started to darken the area and again rain began to fall.

  "Jesus, aren't we the lucky ones," Josy muttered. "More rain. At least it's not as heavy as before. Would this count as a change in energy?" Before she was done talking, a bright light lit up the inside of their cave for a moment, and an ominous thunderclap shook the mountain. Josy and Sheila screamed at the sudden noise.

  "This would!" Sheila called out over the next thunderbolt.

  "We have to go out in a thunderstorm? Are you nuts?" Josy didn't look convinced.

  "Want to die inside a dinosaur?" Sheila asked as she crawled to the opening of the cave. "Or go mad here? I'm going to for it. Who knows when we get another chance. Coming?"

  "Let me go first, you'd get miserably lost!" Josy screamed as lightning and thunder increased in intensity. "Give me your hand!"

  The two women left the cave. Rain splashed over their naked skin, lightning brightening their path just enough to find their way more easily, as darkness had come fast with the black thunderclouds. Slipping over rocks and wet plants they found their way to the natural staircase.

  "It's going to be black here, be careful!" Josy screamed. Sheila nodded. They entered the cavity and carefully reached around, finding their way up. From behind them light jumped at them for a while, but after a few bends in the tunnel they fought their way up foot by foot, while the echoes of the thunderstorm sounded even worse than in their cave. Sheila wondered if they would ever be able to hear anything again, her ears were ringing like crazy by the time they reached the top of their awkward staircase.

  The lightning cast harsh, eerie shadows through the wall of water that separated Josy and her from the ferociously acting elements. How the hell was she going to find the silence of mind to contact Acaraho in this madness?

  Josy shook Sheila's arm. "Still here?" she yelled. "Come!" She pulled Sheila along to the spot where she had found her. "Here it is! Now do it!"

  Lightning hit the mountain, sending a shock through the stone that made both women f
all. Sheila groaned as pain shot through her. She had to focus, she had to reach her spirit guide. That was what counted now, otherwise they'd be finished. She sat on her knees and held her hands over her ears in an attempt to banish the raging storm around them. She willed the image of Acaraho standing next to Josy. "ACARAHO!" she screamed, not certain if it was just in her head or with her voice.

  "Shíile Isshiiá." His voice appeared, calm. "It is time. You are almost in the right place. Step a little further, then pass through the water."

  "I'll try!" Sheila scrambled to her feet and reached out for Josy. As she had her eyes closed she had to search, but grabbing a hand full of hair made that Josy took her wrist and got up. Sheila, holding Josy's hand, and with eyes closed, staggered forward over the uneven ledge. The lightning blinded her through her closed eyes, her head was aching from the noise that came from the storm and the waterfalls.

  "ACARAHO! HELP!" she screamed. "I don't know where I am!"

  "Step through the water, Shíile Isshiiá. Step through the water now."

  In a near desperate move Sheila grabbed Josy's arm with both hands and yanked as she threw herself through the flood that came crashing down. Pain from the pounding water mixed with the pain in her body and her head. She noticed hitting the rocky ground and then everything went black around her.

  Pain was the first thing that told Sheila she wasn't dead. After trying to move she wondered if being dead would be a decent alternative to how she felt. The only thing that didn't hurt was opening her eyes, so she stopped her efforts after that. It was dark. And cold, she noticed then.

  "Josy?" she tried. Her voice sounded odd in her head, as if there was cotton in her ears. "Josy, are you there?"

  She heard nothing, but a sudden cold hand that grabbed her ankle made her yelp. With effort she held back the kick that instinctively came up. Sheila bit through the pain and sat up, reaching for the cold hand. Then she heard a groan. "Josy!"

  Groping hands and then the feeling of a naked body against hers told her that her friend was with her. They cried, almost unable to hear anything.

  After a while, after being certain they both were all right, they curled up together. It was too dark to see where they were, so they didn't dare to move. There was no thunder though, and no rain, so that was encouraging. Sheila didn't dare to think beyond sleeping and waking up the next morning.

  *

  It was Josy who woke up first. She carefully shook Sheila's shoulder.

  "Huh..." was her first response. Her ears felt normal again and she heard a waterfall. Afraid to find that their journey home had failed she slowly opened her eyes.

  "Sheila?" Josy looked worried, even more pointers it hadn't worked. "Are you okay?"

  "I feel like shit," she confessed, "and you?"

  "I think we're home," Josy said, not answering the question but saying something far more important. She helped Sheila to sit up. "Look, the small waterfall."

  Sheila stared at the little stream that piddled down the rock. A lump got stuck in her throat. "Josy..."

  The two fought themselves to their feet and staggered around the platform. It really looked like the place in the resort that Sheila had visited with Mike, Wendy and Lizzy. They found the steps down, and as they descended Josy remarked that this could be a remainder of the tunnel they had used to climb up to the big waterfalls.

  Sheila had to stop a few times on the way down as nausea overcame her. The pain, the exhaustion from what looked like a successful journey home and the fear and hunger were getting to her. When they finally made it to the foot of the mountain, Sheila sank to the ground. It was cold and hard, but she couldn't take another step.

  "If you can walk, go to the office, Josy. I'm dead, I can't go further."

  "Are you sure, Sheila?" Josy kneeled down with her.

  Sheila noticed how thin she was, how dirty and bruised. Josy's hair hung down in soiled strands. She probably looked much the same. "I'm sure. Go find help. I'll be here, don't worry. No dinos or big lizards here, right?" She managed a feeble smile and passed out.

  Chapter 24.

  "Shíile Isshiiá... You made it home." Acaraho stood in front of her. He looked big and strong, wearing the clothes one would expect of a proud Crow warrior.

  "Really, Acaraho? I feel so bad."

  "Yes, Shíile Isshiiá. You were strong and you showed trust. You stepped into the water without doubt and you saved yourself and your friend."

  "Yeah. Josy's safe, isn't she?" Sheila smiled. "Isn't she a wonderful person, Acaraho?"

  "She is. And you are too. You can be proud, little Yellow Hair. You are Crow. Now you must sleep, you are very tired."

  "Tell me about it. Thank you, Acaraho, for getting us out of there."

  "You did it yourself, Shíile Isshiiá. Now sleep."

  *

  When Sheila woke up again she was in a bed. Everything about her still hurt, but she felt much better after sleeping. And she was warm. Blessed warmth, how wonderful! Slowly she tried to sit up, but that wasn't happening yet. Her movement alerted a nurse though.

  "Hey, welcome back," the woman smiled. "How are you feeling?"

  "Where's Josy?"

  "Your friend is in the bed next to you, she's still asleep."

  "Can I see her?"

  The nurse shook her head. "You're in no shape to do anything but rest and eat. Where have you two been? You looked skin over bone when you were brought in, and we had to wash each of you twice to get you cleaned up. We had to cut some of your hair off, that was impossible to clean."

  "We were, uhm, lost," Sheila said.

  The nurse nodded and told Sheila she'd get some food. "You must be starving, and real food is better than the tube." Only then Sheila noticed the tubes that were stuck in her arm.

  "Can you take that out?" she asked.

  "Later," the nurse said and left, to return with a tray with assorted food on it. She helped Sheila to sit up. "Eat slowly, your stomach may need some time to get used to food again."

  Sheila laughed, and winced at her ribs protesting. "We ate, don't worry, just not this."

  At that point a doctor entered. "Ah. Miss Williams, good to see you're awake." For a while he prevented her from eating as he checked her pulse and blood pressure, but the food was still warm when she finally got to it. By then Josy, who was hidden behind a curtain, emitted signs of life so the doctor and the nurse left Sheila alone for a while.

  Sheila slowly ate. She enjoyed having real food again, instead of the herbs and plants and flowers. Satisfied she sank back into the pillow and closed her eyes.

  "Acaraho?" she asked as she imagined the Crow warrior standing next to her bed.

  "Shíile Isshiiá. How do you feel?"

  "Much better. Thank you for bringing us back." Faintly she remembered having a similar conversation, but her memory was too blurry to trust that.

  "You did that. I only pointed the way. You are strong, Yellow Hair." He smiled as a proud father would do. Then he faded away, and a moment later Sheila heard the door to the room open.

  She slowly opened her eyes and saw her parents come in, and also Josy's parents. "Mom, Dad," she smiled.

  The parents were overjoyed to see their daughters back. The doctor asked them to keep the visit short so the ladies could rest up. Sheila and Josy were crying for happiness to see their family and hated to see them go again when the nurse ordered the patients needed rest.

  "Hey, Josems?" Sheila asked as they were alone in their room.

  "Yes?"

  "We're back."

  "Yeah. Thank god."

  Sheila looked at the tubes and wires that were attached to her. No way she could sit on Josy's bed with all that stuff attached to her. "Will you be okay? You were there for so long, and so alone."

  "I'll be fine, but I'm forever grateful that you showed up. I'd have gone crazy. Maybe even killed myself."

  "I understand." Sheila knew she would have harboured the same thoughts. "I'm glad you didn't though."

/>   " Me too. Are you hooked up to a ton of machines too?"

  "Hah, far more than I'd like to see," Sheila grinned. When she heard some shifting and moving she looked over to Josy's bed, which she could barely see. "What are you doing?"

  "I need to get out of this silly hospital thing. I've been naked too long to stay in clothes so long now." After while Josy said: "Jesus..."

  "What?"

  "I didn't know I look that bad," Josy said. "Prehistoric life isn't good for you, Sheila. Let's stay here from now on."

  Sheila laughed as she sat up and decided to fight herself free of the hospital gown as well. It wasn't easy but she managed it. "Much better indeed."

  When the nurse came to check on them, she was surprised and wanted to call for assistance to get the two dressed again, but Josy and Sheila both protested, so the nurse gave in. "The doctor won't be pleased," she warned them.

  The doctors weren't and also the nurses had lots of objections, but despite that, they remained the way they were, also during visiting hours. It was time for the world to know that they were naturists. Even in a hospital.

  Mike, Wendy, Lizzy and Jeremy visited them several times as well, happy to see them and curious to hear about their adventures. Jeremy was all over and around Sheila and confessed he'd cried a lot after she'd gone missing.

  *

  Once the two were considered healthy enough, they were dismissed from hospital. They'd had several visits from the police during their stay there. The two had agreed to simply tell the truth and see what would happen. At first no one believed them. Later no one believed them either and they were submitted to long talks with a psychiatrist who in the end decided that the two had gone through such a trauma that their minds had made up this fantastic story, and that the truth would probably never be found as it had been replaced by this strange story.

  On the day they could go home, Mike, Wendy, Lizzy and Jeremy were at the hospital to pick them up. They were driven to their homes. Josy held on to Sheila's hand as they entered her apartment. Tears rolled from the two women's cheeks, and Wendy sat them down as she ventured into the kitchen to make coffee. Their friends had of course heard the official story from the police, but when Josy and Sheila told them about their adventures in that strange place in the distant past, and that those were real, they nodded. When Sheila showed them the ugly scar on her thigh where big lizard had gotten to her, they seemed to believe them even more.