Chapter Five
A Journey of a Thousand Miles
I woke to a large ball of fur licking my face. Eyes popping open, I sat up and frantically shoved at the animal before I realized it was just an overly friendly dog.
“Hi there…” I crooned to the animal, reaching out to pet its thick mop of brown fur. It barked and jumped around excitedly, showing off. I laughed at its antics and looked around. The last thing I remembered was a bright light and a sensation of falling…then nothing.
I was in a forest, from the looks of it, but even a cursory glance told me this was no ordinary forest—certainly not one I had ever been in before. Even from my kneeling position on the damp mossy ground, I could see how large the trees were. The thick stumps were as big as cars and heavily rooted into the ground, and I marveled at the sheer number of them. They blocked out most of the light, so it was impossible to discern what time of day it might have been.
I stood up and brushed off the seat of my pants, stretching before walking in a slow circle. My clothing was still dirty and my muscles still sore, but at least most of the blood had dried. There was no way to know how long I’d slept there on the forest floor, but the case of nerves seemed to have gone. That combined with my semi dry state suggested I’d been out for quite some time. Had I crossed over? I wondered while I took everything in and ran a finger down a fat, velvety leaf that hung from the nearest tree.
“Impossible…” Was that…gold? But it couldn’t be…could it? I pulled the leaf from the tree and took it to a spot several feet away, where a swath of bright sunlight had managed to find its way through the thick canopy of foliage overhead. Holding the leaf in the light, I inspected it closely.
“By damn, I think that is gold!” It roped its way delicately through the entire leaf. Where a normal leaf would have only dark green snaking veins, this one had thin rough gold weaving a linear network. This was it then—I was here. I was in the ‘other’ place, the place where Mike had presumably vanished.
I crouched down and grabbed my bag, then impulsively threw my arms around the dog’s neck. “I made it! I can’t believe this! What else am I going to find?” I asked my new-found companion. But he just continued to lean his head to one side and stare at me as if I had gone over the deep end.
“That’s okay, I’ll figure it all out. Come on, boy, let’s go exploring!” I leaped to my feet and turned in circles once again, throwing my arms out and letting the gentle breeze catch them.
“Okay,” I addressed the dog again. “Which way do we go?”
When he turned around and barked loudly, I stopped and stared down at him in earnest. Finally, I shook my head. No way, I laughed.
“Okay, I’ll humor you buddy. That way it is.” He led and I followed for the next hour or so, until we stopped by a large tree to rest a minute. I noticed that my watch did not work here.
“Hey, how do you feel about the name Wilson?”
The dog continued to stare at me as though I had lost my mind. A second glance at the gold-etched leaves above us told me it was entirely possible for my sanity to be in question. I smiled at my new pal anyway.
“Okay,” I announced, leaving back in a quick stretch. “Now where are we going?”
It felt like hours passed before we finally reached the edge of the forest. A clearing swept far and wide on a sloping hill, and nestled at the base of the hill was a small house. Actually, it looked more like a cottage. Small flower beds framed the front, and smoke streamed steadily from a large brick chimney. I watched it billow softly into the night sky. Sometime in the last hours of our trek, the sun had set. The only light now came from the bright half-moon that hung high above the cottage. The tiny windows bathed the flowerbeds in soft golden light. Long flower boxes framed the bottoms of both front windowsills. Overall, it made for a very quaint and appealing picture.
“Is this where you live, buddy?” I crouched and whispered to the dog. His answering bark and reassuring lick on my cheek seemed to infer that this was indeed his home.
A woman opened the wide front door then and stood on the tiny porch, wiping her hands on what appeared to be a dishcloth. In this light and at this distance, it was impossible to see much detail about her, but the fact that it was a female was discernible from the long skirt. I had some serious reservations about imposing myself on this stranger in the dark. But Wilson (it seemed as good a name as any) was already bounding excitedly across the clearing toward the woman and the house.
I stopped several feet from Wilson and the woman who was obviously his owner. She was young…probably close to my age, if not a few years younger. Of course, it was still difficult to see in the dim lighting. She smiled easily until she noticed my clothing. Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure it was the dried blood smeared across my jeans that did it. Her eyes widened and she started to back away from me, which came as no surprise to me—I knew what I must have looked like to her.
“Bill…” she called out through the open door behind her. Her voice sounded shaky with fear and confusion, and I cringed.
“I know how this must look to you. But I’m not here to cause any trouble, I assure you.”
Her eyes swept down and back up to my face. She did not look reassured.
I must not have looked reassured either when the large man stepped onto the porch. He nudged the woman aside and spoke quietly to her without ever taking his wary eyes off me.
“It’s okay. Go back inside, Faith.”
She peeked at me over his broad shoulder one last time before quickly disappearing into the cottage.
“Hello,” I said lamely.
He didn’t approach me or move away from the door, at least not until Wilson ran out of the house and jumped playfully between the two of us.
“Is this a friend of yours?” he asked the dog absently. “Are you all right lady?” he asked, finally taking a step away from the door.
“Ah…yes. I know this looks bad, but Wilson—ah, your dog—found me in the woods back there. He led me here. We’ve been walking for a long time—”
“In the woods, you say?” he asked as he came closer still. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Yes, I’m just lost. Well, and hungry. Maybe a little tired, too…” I trailed off, looking away. I may have been lost and dirty and one step away from dehydration, but I still had my pride, damn it, and asking these people for help was proving almost more difficult and embarrassing than it was worth. It did not help that the woman was terrified and the man looked at me as though I were a parasite.
“You have blood on your clothing and your hair,” he pointed out bluntly, as if I were unaware of the crusty mess that covered me.
“Yes. Yes, I do,” I confirmed. He seemed to be waiting for an explanation, one that I was reluctant to give. Somehow, I did not think that blurting out ‘I killed someone’ was the best way to wrangle a dinner invitation out of these people. When he continued his silent appraisal, I grudgingly gave him a watered down version of what had happened.
“I was attacked, and I had to defend myself. The man who was following me…will not track me here—he’s dead.”
He finally nodded his approval and stuck out his hand.
“I’m Bill and my wife is Faith. Come inside and she’ll help you clean up. We have plenty of food as well. You will be safe here for the night.”
It was all the invitation I needed. The delicious scent wafting through the open door by then told me that Faith was one hell of a cook.
The front door opened into the dining room, I could see as I walked into the house. It was a good-sized room, despite the cottage’s cozy appearance from the outside. Faith was busy pouring ice water into glasses, but she looked up and gave me a tentative smile when I took a seat at the table. I picked up my spoon and sniffed lightly at the over-full bowl in front of me. Beef stew. My mouth watered, and I realized how many days had gone by since my last decent meal.
Manners temporarily flew
out the window and I finished my bowl in less than ten minutes. I took my time with the huge slab of garlic bread and sipped at the ice water. I wanted to gulp the cold drink, but I did not want to be the first person to finish the meal, especially not with half an hour to spare. Pigging out is all well and good when you are among family, but I was a guest here, I reminded myself. I cleared my throat.
“Thank you. This is very good.” I smiled at Faith.
“You are very welcome. Bill and I are always happy to help a neighbor in need.” She pushed her chair back and began to clear the table.
“Here, let me help with those.”
“If you feel up to it,” she murmured, eyeing my clothing once more.
“Perfectly.”
“Well, then…after we clean the dishes, I’m sure you will want to freshen up. I’ll loan you something to sleep in for the night, too. You’ll feel much better in the morning, I’m sure…” she finished somewhat dubiously.
We washed dishes in silence. I was surprised to find the kitchen was very modern. It was small and almost perfectly square from what I could tell. Although there was no dishwasher in the room, there was a small microwave, a double sink, and ample cabinet space. I tried to be discreet as I examined the appliances out of the corner of my eye. No tags or emblems were on them that I could see, and I wondered if they were Kenmore. Of course, that was impossible, I admitted. And I was pretty sure that the Whirlpool man did not deliver this far. Apparently someone did, though. The appliances looked brand new, and not unlike the ones in my own kitchen.
“You have a lovely home, Faith.”
“Thank you. We—Bill and I—built this place with our own two hands, mostly. We used to live in Lerna.”
“Lerna?”
“Sure. It’s the next town over.” She gave me a strange look before continuing. “We both grew up there. Bill was my high school sweetheart.”
So high school existed here, I noted, and mentally filed away the information.
“We were married the same day we completed school.” Faith smiled warmly and gazed out the wide window over the kitchen sink as she dried her hands. “We could have waited, I suppose, but we wanted to have double to celebrate. Bill was the most handsome boy in school,” she confided.
I smiled back and dried my hands on the thick dishtowel Faith handed me. “So when did you move here?”
“That was three years ago. We had been married a year, and we finally decided we had enough money saved.” She laughed. “We both worked two jobs that year. We had a little saved from our personal accounts that we had before we got married, too. We lived with my parents for that first year, though. Saved every penny we made, and now here we are. It was always Bill’s dream, living out here like this, away from everyone.”
“What was your dream?”
“My dream was Bill.” She grinned. “But I love it too, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s what I meant. Do you get to see your family often?”
Again, she gave me a strange look. “Sure we do. Why wouldn’t we?”
I glanced out the window. “Well, being so far out here—”
“Far? Lerna is just over that ridge.”
“It is?”
“You’re not from here, are you?”
Boy, wasn’t that an understatement. “Not exactly.” I said nothing else. I knew I was being rude, but what choice was there? Faith would never believe me if I told her. Worse, she might think I was crazy and kick me out in the middle of the night. No, I kept silent and let her make what she would of my short answer.
She cleared her throat and simply nodded, apparently deciding not to push the issue.
“Lerna is just over that ridge right there.” She pulled me back over to the kitchen window and pointed. I peered out into the dark, following her line of sight.
“How far is it?”
“Not very; you can see the whole town from the top of the ridge.”
“Wow.”
“It’s not very far, like I said. Come on, I’ll show you.” She grabbed my hand and eagerly propelled me through the cabin.
“We’re going for a little walk, Bill, just up to the ridge. I want to show Claire the town.”
Bill glanced up from a small worktable in the living room and nodded. “Be careful out there. It’s dark tonight.”
“Of course, Bill,” she called out just before the door shut behind us.
We walked the ridge in a matter of minutes, with Faith chattering happily about the town as we made our way. Her life sounded so…normal. Maybe we were not so different from one another after all.
We stood at the top of the ridge and looked down the steep incline to the sleepy little town below. It was like a photograph from a post card. Lights dotted the landscape here and there, and a church steeple stretched high and majestic in the town center.
“Oh, it’s beautiful.”
“Thank you. It is, isn’t it? It was a wonderful place to grow up. It really was.”
“What did you do for entertainment? Is there a movie theater? What about a museum, or a shopping mall?” I leaned forward and surveyed the area.
Faith shook her head. “Lerna is a bit small for that. Some of the bigger towns have them, though—theaters and shopping centers. The coastal settlements have even more attractions. There’s a lot to do there. I’ve been to one,” she told me with obvious pride.
“Like Florida?”
“Florida?”
“Oh, right.” I bit my lip thoughtfully. “I keep forgetting I am not in Kansas anymore,” I murmured.
“Kansas?”
“Forget it; where did you visit?”
“Coztal. Original, I know. But it’s a great place to see.”
“Where is it?”
“About six hours south of here.”
“What about hospitals? And what do the town’s people do for work?”
“Uh…yes. Lerna has a hospital. They have doctors and nurses too. Most people drive to work. Claire—are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Great,” I nodded, all the while reminding myself to shut up. I had come to this place vowing to get in, get my brother, and get out without drawing attention to myself. “I guess we should get back to the cottage. I really need to clean up.”
“Sure, okay.” Faith gave me one last searching look before she turned away and started down the ridge toward the cabin. I was about to follow her when a faint shimmer down below caught my eye.
“Faith, wait.”
“Yes?”
“What’s that?” I inquired, peering hard into the town below for a better look.
“What?”
“That shimmer…it’s almost glowing. Look—it wraps around the town, and goes out to the west there.”
Faith turned to me with a look of total confusion and apprehension.
“You mean you don’t know what that is?”
“No.” I glanced from the illumination below and back to Faith’s astonished face, wondering what I had gotten myself into now.
Faith was silent for nearly a full minute before she slapped me lightly on the shoulder and laughed. “Oh, you almost had me going, Claire.” She pressed a hand to her flat stomach and tried to catch her breath. “Everyone knows what those are.”
Yeah, everyone but me, I thought. But I immediately decided that the best course of action for the moment was to play along. I laughed with her, although the sound was a bit awkward, even to my own ears.
“That’s right. I was just playing with you. Of course I know what those are. Well…” I thrust my hands deep into my pockets. “We had better be getting back now. I’m ready to go if you are.” I congratulated myself on my quick thinking…except Faith was no longer laughing.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“No,” I admitted.
“But how is that possible?”
I sighed. “You would never believe it.” I threw my hands up in a helpless gesture. “Hell, I’m liv
ing it and I’m not even sure if I believe it sometimes.”
Faith shook her head, and I could tell she was trying to work through the possible explanations in her mind.
“It’s a long story.”
“I would like to hear it…I think.”
I nodded. “That’s fair enough.”
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up. I’ll make a pot of coffee while you bathe and get changed, and then we can talk.”
“You have coffee?”
“Yes?”
I grinned. “Maybe this place isn’t so bad after all.”
“What?” Faith smiled hesitantly.
“Like I said—it’s a long story.”
“Right…”