Pathway Chapter 4 revised

Chapter 4
 
     The bright light washed over him as his heavy eye lids opened ever so slowly. Only this, Carl realized, wasn’t the alien brightness from before, but the sun beating down on him, scorching, relentless. He was lying on his back, and as he eased himself up from the ground, his joints ached in protest. An acute migraine pounded through his head. He looked about, his vision a nonstop merry go round.
     Where on earth was he? And how had he gotten here?
     He tried to rack his brain for information. He remembered something about Ireland. Yes, Ireland. He’d been spending time with his family at their vacation home, when someone had left the door open during a blustery storm. Laura had gone missing, and as he was searching the room for her, a raspy voice had spoken some odd words. Then a hand had smacked his neck, and he’d dropped through a tunnel of light and ended up here.
     He shook the dizziness from his head. What he’d experienced must have been in his mind. Scientists attributed the light people saw at death to be an image from their brain chemicals going bezerk. That’s what must have happened to him. Someone knocked him unconscious, and his brain’s chemicals had misfired. Although Carl had never heard of  someone enduring a near-death experience after being knocked out, he was left with no other plausible explanation.
     As Carl regained his orientation, he became flabbergasted. He stood in a meadow, the parched grass rising up to his knees. He inhaled the air, which was not moist and temperate, but was dry, suffocating.
     No, this couldn’t be Ireland. So where…?
     Carl heard a whimpering sound nearby, only a few feet away from him. He waded through the meadow, the dry ground crunching under his feet. He nearly cried out in shock when he found Laura, curled up in a fetal position on the ground and bawling. He was appalled by the state of her skin. He turned his attention to his own. Both of theirs were red and rashy. But it wasn’t just any rash spreading on them. They were already contracting a severe case of sunburn.
     “Laura, can you get up?”
     She groaned.
     Carl bent down and grabbed her arm, but she wrenched away from him. “Don’t touch me!” She cried.
     “Darn it, Laura, you need to get up! We’re burning up out here. Do you understand?”
     She sniffed and peered up at him, her eyes pleadingly searching his. Her eyes were nearly as red as her blistering skin, and a tear snaked down her cheek. “I’m scared,” she said in barely a whisper.
     “Mom, dad,” a frail, young voice called out.
     Carl looked up to see David running across the meadow, panting heavily as though he’d run a marathon. Laura got to her feet, pulled from her pitiful daze by the voice of her son. “David!” She exclaimed.
     When David came to them, Laura pulled him into a fierce hug and stroked his curly red hair. “Honey, are you all right?” She spoke into his ear.
     “I’m fine, Ma. But we need to take shelter in the woods. And fast.”
     Carl patted David’s shoulder. “Dave’s right. We need to hurry.”
     Carl took Laura and David each by the arm and led them at a fast clip toward the forest. The trees appeared normal enough, but they were nothing indigenous to Ireland. Carl and his family had been taken to someplace entirely different. How or why, he didn’t know. But in the end, he knew it would make perfect sense.
     At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
     They were almost to the forest when Laura lost her footing and stumbled. Carl clutched her arm and yanked her up, preventing her from falling face first into the prickly grass. Suddenly, he was close to stumbling as well, a heavy dizzy spell throwing his surroundings off balance. They were all on the verge of sun stroke.
     Upon entering the deep shade of the forest, the temperature fell considerably. It was like stepping from Death Valley into a hot day in Texas. David and Laura crashed to the ground and rested against a tree, their eyes instantly closing as they surrendered to their fatigue. Carl was just ready to join them when a tall, muscular figure caught his attention, wandering and swaying drunkenly through the meadow.
     It was Timothy!
     Carl turned back to the others. “Everyone stay here,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”
     “Carl, what…” Laura mumbled, hardly aware of what was happening.
     With everything that was in him, Carl hated the thought of heading back into the blazing sun. After a few deep breaths to calm his spinning head and another minute in the cooler shade, he grudgingly returned to the meadow, trudging wearily forward. Tim was near the forest edge, but his staggering gait suggested that he would pass out at any moment.
     Tim spotted his father and made a beeline for him. After his first few steps, however, he collapsed. Fighting his own faintness, Carl quickened his steps until he arrived at Tim’s prone body. Stooping down, Carl hooked his arm under Tim’s, lifted Tim off the ground, and dragged him to the woods.
     “Just hang in there, guy,” Carl muttered.
     Tim looked at him with drooping eyes and gave a faint smile. “Wow,” he slurred, “that was some trip.”
     Carl set him next to David and Laura, who were now shoving off the effects of the heat and becoming more alert to the world around them. Carl plopped down on the dirt floor and lay on his side, studying the forest as he caught his breath. The leafy foliage was dense, blocking out the sunlight. The trees were high and spindly, their amber-colored bark as smooth as marble. Carl tried to recall ever reading up on such a unique tree, which had absolutely no blemish marring its polished surface, but nothing came to mind. Most of the forest floor was covered in light ferns, fluffy like down, all dancing despite the fact that there was not even the slightest breeze. It was as if everyone were sitting on the body of a young chick, sprouting its first feathers.
     Laura glared at Carl, some feistiness returning to her blood-shot eyes. “Carl, what happened to us?” The question came out accusingly, and it took all of Carl’s reserve not to scream in her face.
     “For Pete’s sake, how should I know?” He snapped. “Somebody grabbed me from behind, and then I was out! I’m just as clueless as you are.”
     Laura crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance. “It was a perfectly reasonable question. Get a grip!”
     “Oh, good Lord,” he mumbled as he waved her off. He was too tired to argue right now.
     “Maybe we were injected with some sort of drug,” said Tim, rubbing his weary eyes. “That would explain a lot of things. Like that light we saw. Man, that was flipping awesome!”
     “So what, somebody puts us out and whisks us away to some foreign destination,” Carl said incredulously. “It makes not a thread of sense.”
     Of course, most everything in the world made no sense.
     “It put us out,” David cut in.
     “I beg your pardon?” Carl wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.
     “I saw what took us,” David stated matter-of-factly. “It wasn’t a man.”
     Tim perked up and grinned. “What was it then, bro? A little green man?”
     Laura shot him a disapproving look. “Tim, don’t discount your brother’s view so easily.”
     “So you believe what he’s saying?”
     “Well, I’m not asserting that it wasn’t a man, but…”
     “Great,” David lowered his head, “nobody believes me.”
     “Dave,” Carl said, “you’ve got to understand how this sounds to all of us. The person was most likely wearing a mask or outfit.”
     “But he was real short, dad. Only three feet tall. And his eyes were glowing.”
     “He was on me before I even knew he was there,” Tim said. “How did you get a look at him?”
     “I was standing on the porch, checking something out. Then I saw him there, hiding in the darkness.”
     “Whoever he was,” Carl said, “he methodically picked us off, one by one.”
     “Which means Mindy must be here as well,” said Tim.
     “You’re right. If she’s here, we have to find her right away!”
     “Well, we can rule out her being in the meadow.”
     “You searched the entire meadow, then?”
     “No. If that were the case, I would have stumbled upon you guys right away. As soon as I woke, I headed into the woods to escape the heat. I found some footprints in the dirt, and they looked about her size. But before I went in search of her, I wanted to make sure no one else was unconscious in the meadow, like I was. I just missed you guys, cause that’s when you spotted me.”
     “Even if she’s out of this heat, she still might be too weak to make it out there on her own, so we have to get moving!” Carl groaned as he got to his feet, his whole body weak and dehydrated. With his extreme thirst, he was beginning to think he would wring the sweat out from his clothes and drink it out of desperation. Then again, his clothes were already beginning to dry out, for his body had nearly excreted all of its toxins and electrolytes. “Tim, you stay and watch over your mother. I want someone strong with her in case whoever took us comes back. Okay? Dave, you’re with me. You and I will follow her tracks until we find her.”
     “Ah, dad…” Said David.
     “Don’t worry, Dave, she couldn’t have gone far, so we won’t be out there long.”
     “But, ah, dad…”
     “Look, I know you’re concerned, son, but I won’t let anything happen to us. Like I said, she shouldn’t be far. And even if she did wander a ways, I’ll be next to you the whole time, so…”
     “Dad!” David said with uncharacteristic forcefulness.
     “What is it, son? Out with it!”
     David pointed, and everyone followed the direction of his finger.
     Carl couldn’t begin to describe the relief he felt. A few yards from them, Mindy was walking toward them, unharmed. In fact, she seemed unusually untouched by the harsh environment. Her T-shirt was soaked through with perspiration, but other than that, she didn’t carry with her any affects of fatigue or any form of sun burn.
     It was then that he noticed someone else behind her. A lean, well-muscled man, about five-foot eight. His hair was dark and cleanly cut, his face thin and well-sculptured. His skin appeared youthful, yet his rich blue eyes belonged to someone older than his appearance suggested. In his hand was a glass jar, full of a yellowish gel.
    Carl approached the two arrivals as the rest rose up behind him. “Mindy, are you all right?” He said, though the question felt quite inane. She looked ten times better than the rest of them.
     She stopped in front of him and regarded him with her sharp and unsettling green eyes. “I look fine, don’t I?” She answered testily. “The rest of you look like crap.”
     Carl ignored the comment and asked, “Who’s your friend here?”
     “Oh, him,” the haughty seventeen year old marched past Carl, “Just some freak I found in the woods.”
     “Hello,” the stranger barged up to Carl, his hand extended, “My name is Simas.”
     “Be careful,” Laura cautioned. “He could be the one who kidnapped us.”
     Carl studied the man’s hand. Laura’s voice lacked conviction, and he could see why. Despite this Simas fellows’ masculine build, his demeanor was one of absolute gentleness.
     A look of puzzlement crossed Simas’s face. “I’m offering you my hand in greeting, yet you hesitate.”
     Sensing no threat in the man’s tone, Carl gingerly excepted his hand. Simas gave him a hearty handshake. “There, we have now shooken hands. I mean,” Simas’s face flushed with embarrassment, “we have shaken hands, and therefore entered into friendship.
     “I ask you to forgive my misuse of your grammar. Your language is new to me.”
     “See, told you he was a freak,” said Mindy.
     Carl looked to his family, then back to Simas. “Who are you, and what do you want with us?”
     Simas seemed to relish the question. “I am servant of the great Yeshmuel, protector and ruler of all you see around you. I have been sent to watch over you, that I may bring you to him safely.”
     Tim shook his head. “Man, this guy’s got to be on crack.”
     “I see,” Carl said, “so can you tell us where we are?”
     Simas’s stare became grave. In it, Carl saw such profound sincerity, that he sensed his whole world, and everything he knew, would soon be shattered.
     “You are a far, far ways away from home,” was all Simas said.
     “How far away?” Laura asked, nervous tension growing on her.
     “You are in a land where no human has ever laid eyes on before.”
     “Don’t be ridiculous!” Carl scoffed. “What are you talking about?”
     “I’m saying this place you’ve crossed over to is not of earth.”
     For a moment, they all stared at him with blank expressions. Then Carl backed away. “You know what, your totally off your rocker. Just stay away from me and my family.”
     Simas arched an eyebrow. “It appears you think I have a few bolts loose. Is that the correct term?” He looked to Mindy.
     Mindy sighed. “No, its ‘ “ have a few screws loose.’ ”
     “Okay, I have a few screws loose,” he brought a thick leather book out from under his orange tunic, which was composed of a silky material that glittered. “I should have perused the book again before I came to you. I certainly had plenty of  time.”
     Tim snickered in disbelief.
     “Look, what is it that you want?” Carl asked.
     “I want to help you. If you will allow me to bring you to my master, he can lead you back to your homeland. You must trust me.”
     “But we don’t even know you,” Laura said, “and you speak such strange things.”
     “You think it strange a place exists beyond your own universe?”
     “Prove it to us,” Carl said.
     “Go peer at the sun,” Simas pointed. “Does it look like the one you are accustomed to?”
     David stuck by Carl’s side as he walked to the forest edge, squinting up with him at the blinding orb. It was a very dark orange, the kind you would see in an evening sunset, not mid-day. Also, it appeared larger, closer. But still, it wasn’t enough to draw Carl into Simas’s line of reasoning.
     Carl and David retreated back into the woods. “Maybe our perception of the sun is different in this particular region,” said Carl. “I don’t know. I’m no expert astronomer. All I can say is, you’ll have to do better than that to convince us.”
     David was shaking his head, so Carl knew something was amiss. The boy was conversant enough in astronomy to detect a clue everyone else might be missing.
     “Why don’t you just give them the gel already?” Mindy grumbled.
     “Yes, of course,” Simas unscrewed the lid to the jar with the yellow gel.
     “What is that?” Laura said warily.
     Simas’s gaze pitied them, knowing full well their discomfort with his odd substance. “It’s a concoction from many plants. It will protect you from our sun’s UV rays, while also healing your blistering skin.”
     Carl glanced to Mindy for confirmation. “Hey, it worked for me,” she shrugged.
     Simas offered it to Carl first. Carl dipped his finger into the jar, then applied a dab of the stuff on his forehead. It was cooling, refreshing.
     “Please,” Simas urged, “cover as much of your body as you can. Each of you find a place to do it in private if you wish. The gel adheres to the skin for up to three days.”
     “What if we need to bathe?” Laura asked.
     “Then of course, we will give you more. It is quite difficult to remove, however. Bathing will only wash away most of it.”
     “Unbelievable,” Carl ran his hands over his hair. “Unbelievable.”
     After each of them chose a private spot and smothered their bodies from head to toe in the topical elixir, they gathered together and awaited further instructions from Simas, who they apparently had no choice but to trust.
     “Now then,” said Simas, “there is a shelter I have prepared for you, where you will spend the night. Tomorrow, I will introduce you to master Yeshmuel. Listen attentively to everything he says, if you are to forsake this land for your own.”
     Carl nodded, as though he understood and accepted all that Simas was saying. He wasn’t even sure why he was nodding. He didn’t believe any of the hogwash this weirdo was throwing at them. But subconsciously, he was aware that they were someplace special, someplace alien and distant.
     Maybe your writing has molded you into a naive fool, He thought to himself.
     “Mindy,” Simas continued, “lead them to the refuge I showed you upon our first meeting. After thoroughly scouting the area, I detected no danger, so the way should be safe. I must leave you briefly and gather two others who are lost as you yourselves are. Don’t worry, they are nearby, so I won’t be far.”
     “How much time did you two spend together?” Tim asked Mindy as he cast her a sideways glance.
     “Shut up,” Mindy retorted.
     “We were not together long,” Simas answered, not catching the innuendo. “Now go, and wait for me. I’ll explain everything in greater detail when I return.”
     Simas then departed into the meadow, unaffected by the sun’s lethal rays. He turned back to them one last time, smiling warmly. “Oh, and by the way, your young lady here was greatly mistaken: it was I who found her in the woods.”
     At that, he briskly disappeared across the meadow and into the other side of the forest, leaving Mindy to escort them to the shelter.
     They lumbered through the forest, everyone deep in their own thoughts. The engulfing ferns were so light and delicate, that as the Emerson family passed over them, they twirled and wagged like furry, happy tails, the effect rippling outward. A high wind seemed to be sweeping over the feathery plants. On their hike, Carl also noticed several vines creeping through bare patches hidden within the ferns. The vines bore hand-sized flowers, like gentians in appearance, only they were a hypnotizing ruby red. Indeed, it was hard not to envision this place as the landscape of some elfin fairy tale.
     “Look how smooth the trees are,” Laura marveled. She stepped forward to touch the nearest tree, and her foot came down on one of the ruby flowers. The vine slid out of the way, scooting the flower out of her foot’s path. Laura jumped back and stifled a cry of surprise. “Did you see that?” She squeaked. “It’s alive!”
     “It’s okay, Ma,” David assured her. “All plants are alive.”
     “Yeah,” Tim countered, “but this one acts unusually alive.”
     Laura was close to tears as they walked on, not because the plant scared her, Carl guessed, but probably because it brought home the absurdity of their situation. “Carl, how can this be happening?” She said, hugging herself, though it was not the least bit chilly.
     “Well, look on the bright side,” he replied irritably , “we’re all alive and in one piece. And I’m sure things aren’t as dire as our friend back there was suggesting.”
     Carl glanced over at David, who was wringing his hands, a nervous habit he commonly displayed before he spoke something he feared would be taken the wrong way.
     “Do you have something to add, David?”
     David didn’t meet the gazes of his family, but quietly said, “Did anyone notice the sun?”
     “Of course we did. But it proves nothing. Remember what I said before, it’s – ”
     “No, you didn’t notice, then,” He spoke woefully.
     “Notice what?” Mindy barked.
     They all paused, and David shifted uneasily under their expectant gazes. “Well, it’s kind of difficult to see at first, but…”
     Their probing eyes pressed deeper into him.
     “…But when you look closely enough…the sun has rings around it.
     “Like Saturn.”
    
 
 
 

---