Chapter Four
Demetria cut Morgan’s cast off with a pair of tin snips. He looked at her suspiciously and asked, “Are you sure it’s healed? This is way ahead of time.”
“Absolutely.” She said. She ran her fingers over his arm. “Your arm is weak, though, you need to do a lot more physical labor for a few weeks. You should help build a temple. Get boys and girls from the school and build a magnificent temple!”
He gasped. “I had a dream about an altar and a bowl made out of a human skull with rose petals in it.”
“Hmmm…. She said and wrapped her lithe arms around his neck. What do you think this means?” She gazed into his eyes. “The people will look to you to interpret their dreams. Dreams, poetry, and songs, these are the roots of the Great Tree.”
He said, “I really don’t know, but it seemed extremely vivid and significant.”
She smiled. “Isn’t it amazing that even within the intimate space of your own mind, these images and feelings are a mystery to you?”
He nodded and furrowed his brow and scowled, “Yes, it really is…”
She approved of his doubt and his befuddlement. She gripped his hair so hard it hurt and her eyes were shining. “So many times men and women claim to understand these things, but know nothing. I knew you would not do that. One day you will even lead me.” She muscled him to the bed. “Take us to see Stephanie.”
He entered her and began his work. She was already in such a passion that she quickly bridged to the other side. He felt her flow through him and his skin tingled. Demetria’s voice changed and her mannerisms shifted from stately, royal, and demanding to desperate, “Oh gods, fuck my pussy! It feels so good.” She brushed her hand over his chest.
He whispered, “Stephanie?” He gripped Demetria’s thighs. He felt her spasming and writhing around him like a warm rippling grip.
“We’re both here. She’s showing me how to do cross back over, and she’s inside me, too. I feel like I’m floating. Don’t stop! It’s the best thing of all time!” Stephanie said.
He redoubled his efforts while she writhed and ground against him. Finally, it was too much for him to bear and he came inside her. “Whew!” He was happily exhausted. She bit his shoulder hard. By now he was used to her oddness and the intrusions on his body, so he just said, “Hey! Ouch. That’s going to leave a mark.”
“You’re just too tasty.” She kissed the side of his face.
He studied her eyes. “Stephanie is still in the house, right?”
She nodded and touched his face and smiled. She said, “Apparently this gets easier with practice. It’s actually hard to concentrate and I used to live here full time! I’m so happy, Morgan.” She blinked rapidly and Morgan could tell Demetria was back.
She could tell he was unnerved by the experience so she snuggled up next to him and said, “If you think about the other world as the equivalent to this one, it will all become clearer. Eventually you will see both sides also. It helps you to see her through me and for her to see you.”
“It is hard to adjust to this point-of-view, but I’m actually getting there bit by bit.” He patted her hip. “Hey, about this temple thing, aren’t you worried about expanding the number of people who know about you? Eventually the Brotherhood will find us.”
She sighed, “Well, we can’t live in fear forever, either. Maybe I should wear a disguise for the time being. The black hair is starting to revert back to blonde. Maybe a veil!” She was excited and hopped out of bed and ran across the hall naked. Morgan heard the girls laughing next door and he took the opportunity to stretch his legs. He walked over to the Hiram Post Office. The sky was gloomy and gray, but the severe bite of winter cold hadn’t set in and the trees were bare and the grass was tired and dull and in its winter slumber. The Post Office was a small brick building, and had a post office box for every household in the town, so any students that were still around were sure to see it.
He used a Sharpie to make a sign on a piece of copier paper: “STUDENTS: HELP ORGANIC FARMERS BUILD A TEMPLE TO A GODDESS” he drew a classical looking building and wrote his number. “TEXT OR CALL” He made a few copies and hung them on cork boards around campus. The campus was pretty dead. Most students left for home for the winter break, although a few souls stuck it out and stayed on campus.
He wandered down through the woods on paths that eventually led back to the Elysium Farm. He got a text from Alfonse. “FILMING STARTS TOMORROW!!!!!!” Alfonse sent head shots of the cast. Morgan laughed at the faces of the characters that were to play him and Demetria. The actor that would portray ‘Randal’, which was Morgan’s alias in the show, resembled him, though, the actor was a little better looking and had a more regularly proportioned face than his. Demetria was going to be portrayed by a dark haired Italian woman, though Demetria was actually much prettier. Alfonse wrote, “Will send dailies to Robbie--ciao.”
Morgan was extremely happy he trotted back toward the farm through the woods. He suddenly had an overwhelming sense of deja vu. He looked around. There was a ring of trees and an indistinct bowl of earth and a pile of stones at one end. He spoke out loud, “Yes, this is the place.”
He examined the pile of stones. They had been placed there deliberately at some point, but now were an indistinct jumble. The earth around the site had been piled up. At one time it was probably shoulder height, but was now only thigh high. He scuffed around in the leaves near the pile of rocks to clear away to the dirt floor of the woods. He saw a white edge of something sticking out of the ground. He pulled it out--it was the dome of a human skull.
He washed the dirt from the skull in a nearby stream. “What the fuck?” He whispered. He sat on the ground and examined it. He didn’t know a thing about anthropology or archaeology, but he could tell the bone was very old. It was polished and had been tooled into a cup-like form. He sat back against the rock pile. He said, “I wonder what weird stuff I’ll find next. Old gold coin, check. ancient skull, check.” He took out his phone and copied the GPS coordinates of the place, then walked along the stream, which also cut through the farm. There was already a little deer trail to the edge of the field.
He jogged toward the building complex to find Amy. She was working with Vera on repairs to a fence for their goats. “Hey ladies! And lady.” He scratched the head of one of the friendly milk goats. Amy asked, “Hey, can you bring some of those planks over here?” she waved an elbow at a pile of boards.
“Sure.” He carried them over and stacked them against the fence.
“Actually, if you can hold them in place, this will go much faster.” Amy suggested.
He held the boards while the girls nailed them into posts. He said, “We need an air nailer!”
Amy smirked, “We could use a lot of things. Get on that!”
He nodded, “I will do that. Hey, by the way, I found the most interesting thing over on the edge of the field.”
They finished nailing the board. Vera flipped her dreadlocks out of her face and tied them back with a bandanna. “What was it?”
He said, “There’s a deer trail that goes over to a spot in the woods, maybe it was an old shrine. There’s a bowl made from a human skull there.”
“Freaky deaky. I want to see that.” Vera said.
The three of them walked over to the spot. Vera examined the skull. She said, “I thought this would freak me out, but it’s actually sort of pretty.” She handed it to Amy.
She looked at it and nodded in agreement. She looked around and said, “I don’t think this is on our property. We should go take a look at the plat maps, but I’m pretty sure the tree line is basically the boundary. I’m really not sure who owns this. The property boundaries around here are almost random. There were old rail lines and roads that are gone and little farms and houses that got cut off.”
“What should we do with the skull?” Vera said.
Morgan said, “It belongs here, apparently, I mean, it was buried before, but maybe we should set the rocks up ag
ain. Actually, I want to build a little altar here.”
Vera’s eyes brightened. “Very cool, dude. I like this idea.”
Amy shrugged, “Go for it! On the other side of the farm there is a huge pile of glacial erratics that were left in the fields. Go check it out. You really can’t miss it. They’re in the trees over there.” She pointed.
Morgan and Vera trooped across the field. Vera said, “This stuff is fascinating to me. My parents are hard core Christians, I mean hard core. The preacher gives his literal spin on the stories and they lap it up.”
He thought about it and asked, “Was that hard, growing up in that type of environment?”
“Nah. I mean, not until I got older, it was shoved in my face 24/7. Once you fall out of that type of thinking it’s hard to take, but when you’re a kid, it’s all you know.” She said.
“Did you move away from home?” He asked.
“First the college. Really not for long, then here.” She said flatly. “This is home, now.”
“Do they know where you are?” He asked. “My family actually doesn’t know exactly, but they know what I’m doing.”
She shrugged, “They don’t really know. I guess we’re estranged. The really dumb thing is it was my hair that made them freak out. How lame is that? I guess they couldn’t deal with losing control over me.”
He clambered up on the pile of rocks and surveyed the field. He exclaimed, “Holy shit, this is a lot of rocks.” He found a set of rectangular limestone slabs. “Oh! Here we go. This is it.” he picked one up. “This is heavy. I can just barely move it!” He grunted and chucked it onto the ground.
She said, “Dude, be careful don’t get a hernia, I’ll run and get the tractor.”
When she returned they used the tractor to drag the rest of the stones to the ground. They loaded them into the bucket of the tractor and she drove across the field. They rolled them along the deer trail one at a time using shovels as levers. His arm was throbbing from the work. He felt every pump of his heart as an ache in his arm. They arranged the stones into an altar that resembled what he dreamt about. He put the skull on the rocks.
Vera laughed and said, “Morgan, this is a little creepy. This is more like a horror movie set than a shrine.”
He nodded and smiled, “You’re right! What makes a nice temple? Version 1.0 here is a total fail.”
She looked around and said, “This is a sort of dreary place. Think about the birch grove, now that’s a nice spot. Good flow.”
He sat down on the rocks. “I do feel something here. There’s a certain power to this place. I think the dirt piles make it seem a little foreboding, though.”
She sat next to him. “I think it’s the woods, too. It makes me feel something or someone could be hiding here, ready to get me. Maybe if this was out in the open, it would be nice.”
Amy found them sitting on the altar. She had a large printout of the property map. The neighboring properties were labeled with the owner’s names and boundary lines. She shooed them off the altar and put the map on it. “Here we are. This is a weird little parcel. Probably an old right of way along the creek. I’m actually really curious who owns this. I’ll need to get on the auditor’s web site to find out.”
Demetria caught up with them. She was wearing a veil. Her bright eyes were shining from over a dark blue swath of silk. She stopped in her tracks and looked around at the spot. “Wow! How did you find this?”
Morgan said, “It was completely accidental. I just wandered here on the way back from the PO.”
Vera handed the skull to Demetria and she inspected it. She asked, “This is what you dreamed about, Morgan, right? Not much interpretation required! It was quite literal!”
He nodded and said, “It’s really not exactly the same. It’s a little off somehow, but I’m not sure how.”
Demetria said, “This place and the spring on the Wells Farm are very similar, though this place is significantly more powerful. It’s no mistake that we all ended up here. Amy, you were drawn to this place just like the Wells family was drawn to their home.”
Amy laughed. She put an arm around Demetria’s waist. Amy said, “I moved here to be independent! To make my own little world, yet something still nudged me here. How is that possible?”
Morgan tried to recall his dream he took a step and focused his mind on the memory. As he did, he wasn’t with Amy, Demetria, and Vera anymore, he was somewhere else. There, the altar was different, more perfect, and the skull gleamed. His arm bumped into Vera and he snapped out of his revery. He apologize, “Oh sorry Vera!”
“No problem, you were zoned out!” Vera said.
Morgan looked around with recognition. He said, “My dream isn’t about this place, it’s actually about the other side.”
Demetria pulled Amy and Vera close to her. Amy hadn’t grown completely accustomed to Demetria’s regular invasions of her personal space, but in the cool air, and calm, quiet of the woods it was easier to sink into her embrace and return it. Demetria’s scent was intoxicating and in a few moments, desire was starting to flow like a tide. Amy opened her eyes to look at Demetria’s veiled face but they were all somewhere else, and they were all slightly different. Amy was blonde and her hair was gentle flowing curls and Vera’s hair was straight and long and reddish blonde. Demetria was dark haired, even more buxom and a little plumper than her earthly vessel. Morgan appeared, and he held the skull cup. The breeze was fragrant and wind whispered in leaf laden tree tops. Morgan picked a green leaf from one of the tree branches and put it in the skull.
Demetria said, “This place exists on both sides, so does that skull! This little corner of the Earth is full of amazing things and people.” She closed her eyes and Stephanie stepped out of the trees.
Amy said, “Oh that’s you!”
Stephanie kissed Demetria and leaned against her. “I’m Stephanie.”
Amy asked, “Is this place heaven?”
Stephanie shook her head, no. “This is like the twin world of ours, but it's made of ideas instead of atoms. I’m learning to live here, but it’s actually a little difficult to adapt. It’s wonderful when you’re here, and it’s most wonderful to be in both places at once.”
Demetria stroked her hair and said, “You’re brilliant, daughter.”
Vera looked around in amazement. “This place is really incredibly pleasant and inviting.” She ran her hand through Amy’s hair, then kissed the side of her face. Vera said, “I just want to touch everything!”
Amy cooed, “Oh that feels really good. It’s like a little explosion of warmth and electricity.”
Vera said, “It feels really interesting.” She flicked Amy’s earlobe with her tongue, then probed her ear with its tip.
Amy moaned. “That felt like the top of my head was going to pop off. Is this why you guys are so horny all the time?” She asked Demetria.
Demetria smiled and ran her hand down Amy’s spine. Amy felt like she was being flooded with warm honey from her head to her toes. She purred and pressed her body against Demetria.
Demetria eyed her and said, “Our connection to this place is total.”
Amy managed to form a coherent thought, “So why are priests and monks always supposedly celibate?”
Demetria sighed gently, “It starts like this, there’s a genuine experience of real people on a real farm, then that is stolen and put in dead stone and run by dead men.”
Demetria and Stephanie turned their attention to Vera. Amy saw Stephanie concentrate and Vera swooned. Demetria supported her and Stephanie was gone. Vera’s eyes glowed briefly, then Stephanie was on Amy’s other side.
Vera seemed slightly intoxicated. She said, “Wow. I almost passed out from that, but now I feel so energized I can’t stand it.”
The women were all starting to eye Morgan. He was just gazing at the skull. He put it back down on the altar. He touched the stone. It felt warm and alive. The leaf was deep green in the white bowl.
They all returned to
normal consciousness. He was amazed to see a green leaf in the bowl. He felt Demetria’s hand on his back. The four women were in a semicircle around him.
Demetria said, “We have need of your plow.”
The Chardon Chronicles: Season Two --- The Winter Page 56