by Gabe Sluis
Chapter 8- Welcome
Each boy awoke alone. Chris was on a beach near a lake, Donny was on the bank of a creek and Jake was in tall grass. Each sat up from their laying position with confused looks on their faces and looked around. They had all had similar dreams, one segment each feeling more real than the others. But now something was different. The air was real. The sense of being shadowed by the others had been replaced with solitude. Their surrounding felt solid and so did their perceptions. This was no dream.
Individually, they gathered themselves up and looked around their environment. Why am I here? I was just somewhere… Jake grasped at scattering thoughts. Donny looked at the water flowing into little pools in the creek beside him and strained his thoughts as well. It looked familiar in some way, as if it was important. Chris felt an overall sense of hurry, as if he had a task to do in a room, but if he was to arrive, he could not remember what it was. He moved away from the lake, there were rocks ahead, and they felt like that room he had something to do in.
Donny felt lost, so he let out a shout. The other guys had to be somewhere. He felt them close before he woke up. He decided to walk up-stream; it was as good a direction as any. The creek seemed to follow the draw created by the rocky hill to his right. The tree cover was thick as he tromped uphill and toward the source of the water. He kept letting out shouts, hoping the others would find him.
Chris approached the rocks when he heard the first shout. It sounded like it came from a ways off and slightly to his left. He thought about hollering back, but there was no telling who it was. A second shout made up his mind. He would make his way around the massive rock formation in that direction to see who was calling. He had to find Jake and Donny; they would know what was going on.
As Chris approached the rocks, he noticed that in the grey granite, a gap lead deeper into the hill. Large boulders in crumbling patterns made maze like paths moving throughout the hill. He cautiously walked into the opening, climbing the natural steps and path through the stone hallways. Things got instantly quiet when he entered the stone maze. Little sound made it into the paths except from above where the tops of the rock ended at the sky. Chris could hear more calling, and it got closer. Was this person in the rocks now too?
Donny was in the rocks, finding a similar gap as Chris had and abandoned his original plan of following the creek. He ran his fingers along the moss and lichen covered stone as he walked the path, ducking and climbing up small ledges to find the next corridor through the network of stone. It reminded him of a castle in a childish way, a place he would have loved as a kid. And it was a large place, he had been moving steadily uphill for a while. He let out another yell.
“CHRIIIISSSS! JAAAAAKE!! ANYBODY!!!”
“Donny!” Chris cried from higher up on a boulder that was bridging a gap between two others. “Thank God its you! Is Jake with you?”
“No, I was hoping he was with you. I’m so glad I found someone! What the hell is happening? I had the craziest dreams before I woke up here. How do I get up to you?”
“Come under here, maybe we can find you a way up,” Chris said looking around.
“Oh hey, there is a little crack here,” Donny pointed. “I’ll start to climb and you pull me up!”
Donny wedged his foot in the four inch gap, trying to pull himself up to where Chris was, which was over twice his height. He scampered and scuttled his way up the crack, slipping and grunting until he was high enough to grab Chris’s outstretched hand. Chris pulled and hoisted Donny up to his level. Out of breath, both boys sat on the rock dusting themselves off.
“So where do you think Jake is?” Donny asked.
“He has got to be here too, if we are both here… What is going on?” Chris asked. “We are here now, but what were those dreams? Did you see that house on the water?”
“I remember the colors, all the bright colors. We were all there, weren’t we?”
“I think so. And it was you when we fell in the dark. Those eyes…”
Donny shuttered. “That was crazy, dude. I don’t even want to think about it.”
Lost in their own recollections of the fading memories of the dreams, Donny looked uphill. Beyond what appeared to be the summit of the stone formation was a column of smoke. He stood and pointed it out to Chris.
“That’s gotta be Jake,” Chris said. “That is totally something he would do. Come on!”
The two took off in the direction of the smoke. They wound around natural passageways and up ledges, helping each other whenever necessary. Dark clouds began to roll in and the wind began to pickup. Leaves from oak trees, left dwarfed and twisted by lack of soil pockets in the stone hill, were pulled from branches by gentle gusts of wind. The small column of white smoke from the distant fire became larger as the pair got within a quarter mile. The air became crisp as snow began to fall in tiny fast moving flakes.
A boulder the size of a small house became the last obstacle between the two and their destination. Unable to climb over, they began to take a path that lead around when Jake suddenly appeared. He tossed a small rock, hitting Donny in the backside, making them both turn. Before Donny could express his surprise, Jake brought a finger up to his lips silencing the two. He crouched down in the path and motioned them over.
“You’re okay, dude! What’s going on?”
“I went for the high ground when I woke up and saw the smoke. I figured either you guys would be there or come to it,” Jake whispered. “But I just checked it out, some dude is over there standing by the fire.”
“What should we do?” Chris asked
“Let’s just go over and say hello,” Donny said. “It’s starting to get really cold. Maybe he can tell us where we are.”
Jake yielded. “I guess, but we got few other options. You guys notice the cold too? I can tell this is not a dream like the others. It feels real. Real enough…”
“Alright, Donny, you go first,” Chris said.
“Yeah, your better with strangers than us.”
The three, now reunited, walked like ducks in a row around the final boulder and into the clearing. A fire, roared away inside a typical ring of stones. On the far side of the fire stood the man Jake had seen. He was average height with pale skin. As the boys came into his view, they noticed two striking things about the stranger. The first was his hair. It was a dark crimson, swept back from his forehead, and from his temples down was shaved to the skin in a Mohawk fashion. The second was his olive green jacket. It appeared to be made from jean material, with a Chinese collar, vertical breast seams and looked to fit perfectly.
When the boys walked into view he motioned them over, pointing to the area between the fire and boulder. Donny put up his hand and began to speak when the stranger stunned them all.
“Chris, Donny, Jake, have a seat. Warm yourselves by the fire.”
The feelings of being compelled along a path seemed to grip the boys again as they obeyed and took up seats on small rocks around the fire. The stranger continued to stand.
“How do you know our names? Were you waiting for us here?” Chris asked. “You were, that’s why you had the fire going. You knew we’d come to it! Who are you?”
“Christopher McCourtney. You always have to be the detective. You can’t leave any stone unturned between you and the truth.”
Chris was taken back. This strange man had spoken the truth, but as if it was not his place to want answers. This made Jake jump in.
“Whoa, dude. Who the fuck are you to treat Chris like he is some asshole for wanting to get to the bottom of what’s going on?”
“Jacob Gates. The foul mouth that jumps before he thinks.”
Jake started to stand up when Donny put out his arm to have him sit down.
“This wont get us anywhere guys!” Donny said. “We are sorry, thank you for letting us get warm.”
“Donald Bryte, too sweet for his own good. Places trust in complete strangers and assumes that he will be treated the same way.”
This time
Donny was even taken back. The stranger smiled and Chris finally knew what to say.
“So it seems you know us, even our worst faults, but we don’t know you. What is your name?”
“I am Renault, and I will be your guide.”
“Our guide? Where are we going?” Jake said.
“You came here to fix something, did you not?”
The boys looked puzzled and so Renault continued.
“You have not forgotten, it is buried in your thoughts, the subconscious desire to fix the unfixable, to undo what can’t be undone, to correct this injustice. It has drawn you all here, that, and your bond. You must journey together, as each of you has strengths and weaknesses. You work like a triangle, all three parts must be present for you to be sharp.”
“And you? What is your role? Are you going to help us? Where are we going?” Jake questioned.
“I am here to guide you along, like a compass or a star. I will help as much as I can, that is my task, but you have your own.”
“And the task?”
The fire raged. The boys sat on one side and flickering light danced over the face of the red-haired man across from them. The heat from the flames bounced off the rocks behind them and created an envelope around the three. Night had fully arrived and the snow seemed to be falling outside the sphere of the warmth of fire and light. Renault appeared to be twice the age of his guests, but the smooth skin from his face suggested something different. Distance.
“You will go north. There is a man hiding in the redwoods who has been attacking and killing people. There is a manhunt underway, but so far, he has not been able to be captured by the lawmen of this country. If this man is not stopped, he will continue to roam free, killing any who cross his path. This is your task, he must be stopped.”
“The cops can’t stop this guy and you expect us to be able to?” Donny asked in disbelief.
Renault stood passively, as if the question was rhetorical.
“Why don’t they just call for re-enforcements or something? Get some people with some specialization to deal with it?” Chris asked.
“Where the hell are we anyway?!” Jake cut in. “Is this even the real world? We are not in California, are we?”
“Not quite. This is another land, similar to where you are from, but not the reality you know. Your father, Chris, is the subconscious creator of this place. But like so many lands, if it can be imagined, it can be real. One of the countless realities.”
“What happens then if we get shot or hurt?” Donny asked. “It felt real enough climbing through those rocks. This fire feels warm…”
“This isn’t going to be like one of those movies, where if you die in the game, you die in real life, is it?” Chris said.
“The laws of nature are in play here, for the most part. You will see where they are not. But to die, I don’t think would be binding. Think of it as the end of life in this land. A death would send you back to where you came.”
The boys sat in contemplation at the things they were just told. Donny’s mind was stuck on the notion of death, as Jake and Chris thought about the shooter. After a moment, Jake lifted his head and asked a final question.
“Who are you? Where are you from?”
“It is truly not important. I am from another land, on my own quest. I know the players and the rules, but not how the dice will fall. We will talk more later. But until then, you boys should begin your trek. The north calls.”
With that, Renault turned and walked away, into the short pines that began where the rocks ended. The snow continued to fall and the fire to burn. The boys sat for a while longer before leaving the clearing in the direction the stranger had taken.