The Bridge (4 page)

It had been sixteen years since
Axil and Heidi Wakefield’s accident. Shannon woke early as usual. He was sixteen and didn’t require as much sleep as his grandfather who was almost eighty. His grandmother had died from grief shortly after the accident, leaving him with his grandfather. They had been to the county fair the day before and the old man was sleeping in a little later than usual. Shannon was glad. He knew he needed the rest after a long day in town. He dressed and walked out onto the deck and looked down on the river below. The view reminded him of pictures he had seen of Switzerland and the Alps, places he wanted to go when he grew up, but this was only Colorado and the mountains were just the Rockies.
They’ll just have to do for now
.

The river was the beautiful Colorado. A trail wound its way down from the back of their house, through a crack in the rocks to the little valley on the bank of the river. There was a waterfall about half a mile up river and, above that, the water was calm and mirror-like, but down below the falls, near his house, the water moved swiftly over the rocks, making rapids with a roaring sound that Shannon had grown accustomed to. At night, he would lay in bed listening to the rush of the water and be lulled to sleep by the sound, and dream. His dreams were always the same. A man named Axil and a
beautiful woman called Butterfly were always the subjects of his dreams. He kept his dreams to himself never sharing them with his grandfather. Shannon could hardly wait to go to sleep so he could see Butterfly. He loved her so much. He thought his dreams must be memories of his parents. His grandfather had told him his parents died in a car accident when he was only six months old so he really had no memory of them, but his dreams seemed so real to him. He knew his father was called Hank, not Axil, and his mother was Bonnie. Maybe they were just nicknames, Axil and Butterfly. Whoever they were, he dreamed of them most every night and sometimes in the daytime when he was out in the woods. He kept a mental diary of all of his dreams and would pull them up when he was alone and dream them all over again. Sometimes a butterfly would light on his shoulder or a sweet smell would drift by and remind him of Butterfly. In his dreams, Butterfly always smelled so sweet.

He wasn’t sure if they were his parents, but he wished they were. He loved them both very much and wished Axil was his dad.
That would be perfect. We have so much in common.

Shannon picked up a book and a wicker basket from the kitchen table. He had found a basket of food and water the last few times he had gone into the forest and the last time, there was also a book in the basket. He decided to keep the book and read it at least one more time because it was so unusual. He had already read it at least three times and now he was finally starting to understand what the author was saying. He opened the book and read the first few lines:
“You alone are the truth. Anything added to you is a lie. Since you are everywhere, the entire universe has been added to you by your own agreement. Once very powerful, you have reduced yourself down to what you now are.”
The book was filled with things he didn’t understand, but the more he read, the more he understood.

He laid the book back on the table, but kept the basket which he always returned.
I wonder if there’ll be another basket today.
He walked outside and breathed in the cool morning air.

He
ran across the valley and up the slope to the top of the waterfall and then along the bank of the river until the water became calm and smooth. It was October and the snows had already started, but today it was warm and the snow had melted. In the summer, he would sit on the bank and put his feet in the cool water, but now the water was too cold. There was a mist that hung over the still water making it impossible to see the other side.

“Long ago,” his grandfather told him, “I tried to paddle my canoe through the mist and go to the other side, but the current was so strong I was barely able to make it back to safety.
There’s always been a story told of a magical valley and people who were called The Hidden People. They were supposed to live around here somewhere. I always wondered if they lived in the mist. That’s really why I wanted to cross to the other side.That water looks calm from the bank, but when you’re out in it, there’s a real strong undercurrent. Don’t ever try it. Crossing the river. The mist never lifts and no one would ever find you.”

Shannon had thought of swimming to the other side just to see what was there, but, like his grandfather, he was afraid the current from the falls would catch him and carry him away. Today he walked until he reached his favorite spot. A level place where the fir trees grew. He could be alone and think, build his dreams.

“This was your father’s favorite place,” his grandfather told him the first time he took Shannon there. “He always came up here when they came to visit. I can understand why. It was always so peaceful here.”

There was always a sweet smell there. Not from the clover or other wild flowers, but like that of a woman’s perfume. The kind Butterfly wore when Shannon dreamed of her. He put the basket back where he had found it, then sat on the ground and leaned back against his favorite fir tree and watched a mule deer nibble away at the grass. He closed his eyes and started to daydream. Thinking of Butterfly. He was unaware that
, through the mist, someone was watching him. A young woman about his age stood at the end of a covered bridge. She retrieved the empty basket, then pushed another basket out through the mist; it was filled with sweet potatoes, fruits and other vegetables she had grown in her garden along with a bottle of pure spring water that came from the glacier at the top of the mountain. The basket was topped off with one of her mother’s books. This was not the first time she had done this. Her name was Nia and she was one of The Hidden People.

“I’m here, my love,” she said. “Can’t you see me?” She was temped to walk through the mist, take him by the hand and lead him across, but she remembered what her father had said:
“Those who cross over the bridge might never come back. The people who live on the outside are in a coma. We can only hope that some day they will wake up.”

Chapter 10

Hannah stopped writing for a moment, leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She thought back to when she had found Nia. Something bad had happened. Something was wrong outside, she sensed, across the bridge. With her mind’s eye, she scanned the other side of the bridge. In an instant, she saw the mud slide up on the highway and the newborn baby laying between its mother’s legs. She grabbed a towel and a kitchen knife and ran as fast as she could across the bridge and into the trees for cover. The outsiders were in the forest hunting. They had set animal traps all through the forest and dug pits with stakes to catch bears and other animals if they fell into them, but, most of all, the pits were for catching The Hidden People. They covered them with tree branches and brush to disguise them.

As she ran, bullets from the hunters’ guns hit the rocks and trees around her and, for an instant, she lost her focus and caught her foot on the edge of a pit. She glanced down inside and saw the skeleton of one of the Huldufolk who had left the safety of the village only months before. Quickly, she was up and running again, swinging from tree to tree using her tractor beams until she made it to the highway. She never stopped to think of herself and what might happen to her being outside Alfheim. She ran to the van and started digging through the mud and throwing rocks until she found the door. It took all of her strength to pull the door open enough to get inside, but when the door was open, she saw the baby still alive. Her mother had been crushed by the mud and rocks and all she could see of the father was his hand coming out of the rocks, still holding on to the mother’s hand. A cold chill ran down her spine as she looked at the father’s hand. She knew it was her son.

She touched his hand for only a moment, then she cut the baby’s umbilical cord and wrapped her in the towel and ran. It was the only time in her life she had crossed the bridge and gone into the outsiders’ world. Now she had to get back before the outsiders caught her. Her body was covered with mud as she ran through the forest which helped disguise her from the outsiders and the snappers. She heard the hum of a drone as she ran through the trees and stopped to see if it had spotted her. The sound came closer and Hannah stood against a tree with her back to the sound. She stood there holding the baby trying not to move, hoping the baby wouldn’t cry out. The drone hovered behind her, moving closer, then finally flew away. She stood there for a while making sure the drone was gone, then she ran to the river and crossed the bridge.

She washed the baby and wrapped it in a blanket. It was a little girl. She wondered what her husband would say as she heated goat
’s milk.

Surely, he won’t be angry with me. I had to save this child. Connor always wanted a little girl. I’ll have to tell him I went outside. He may not want a baby that’s an outsider, but, after all, she is our granddaughter.
As far back as Hannah could remember, Nia was the only outsider’s child ever brought into Alfheim.

That night when Connor came in from the farm, she told him what had happened.

“It was Arnar in the car. This is his baby.”

“I know, I was watching you. I was about to come after you, but the hunters had left and the smell of the baby kept the bats away.
That drone almost had you. Being covered with mud confused its memory banks.”

“I won’t take her back. She would die out there all alone with nobody to look after her.”

Connor smiled. “I’ve always wanted a little girl and this one is only half-outsider. She’s perfect, just born today and will clean easily. Look how bright her eyes are. We’ll call her Nia. It means bright.”

****

While Hannah slept, Nia came in and started to read the manuscript:
“
Throughout the whole universe, there are tiny invisible cells floating around. Some were made by the universe, some were not. Those that were not, we call the dark shadows. Inside each black cell, there are billions of other cells and billions more inside each of them. The outsiders breath them in with every breath and eat them with their food. They transfer them to each other every time they touch. Once the dark shadows are inside, they explode, releasing their billions of other cells and, in an instant, take over the entire body.”

“What does this mean?” Nia said, waking her mother. “What are these dark shadows?”

“When you see the bees swarm or a huge flock of birds flying, they swirl all around in formation, never touching each other. It’s beautiful to watch. They’re all guided by the same mind. They’re all alike. The outsiders are like that. They’re all connected.”

“Do we breath them in
, too?”

“Yes, we do, but because we know about them, they have no affect on us. We’ve changed our bodies over the years so that we’
re protected from the dark shadows. We call it being cleaned.We do it constantly, every second of every day. Now that you know, you can help. Do your share.”

“What do they do?”

“They turn a person’s body into a puppet. They control it. The person never knows the difference until he starts to age and feel pain. By then, it’s usually too late. He lives out a short, but normal life for an outsider and dies. Then starts all over again, only he’s always under the control of the dark shadows. You were once an outsider, but I found you and brought you here on the day you were born. You’re now as clean as any of us.”

“Where
do they come from?”

“We made them, all of us, a long time ago. They’
re not real, only imaginary, but they can control people just the same as if they were real. They’re like thoughts: They exist, but in a different way than our bodies. In another universe, in a way. You can’t see a thought with your eyes, but it can still make you do things if you agree with it. The dark shadows are like thoughts, but once you know they’re there, they can’t control you. You can make them disappear just by knowing this. That’s what I meant by doing your share. We have all been keeping Alfheim clean of these dark shadows for hundreds of years. Now, it’s time for you to help. They’re invisible so you won’t be able to see them with your eyes. It’s more a matter of just knowing they’re there. You have to be aware of what’s going on in your body and around it. Especially in your mind.”

“I was one of them?” said Nia.

“You were an outsider, but not any more. Not since you were one day old.”

Hannah sat Nia in her lap and hugged her tight. “I love you so much.
You’ve learned to look outside your body. You can see things across the bridge without taking your body over there.”

Nia nodded.

“Well, that’s how I found you. You were in a van that was crushed by a landslide and I ran through the woods and rescued you. You had just been born. Can you see the images? You can go back there now in your mind and look at it.”

Nia smiled. “I’ve already done it,
Momma, many times. I thought you knew.”

“I had an idea.
I’ve watched you sitting in your chair with your eyes closed like you were sleeping, wondering if you were asleep or off looking at some world in another universe. I know we’ve talked about the outsiders many times.”

“
I know all about the outsiders and the chances you took to save my life. You could have been killed by them or the snappers. I’ve read all your books and talked with my friends. That’s how I learned to travel through time. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have you as my mom.”

“What do you remember?”

“I remember my name was Heidi Wakefield and I was going to have a baby. My husband’s name was Axil. I know that he was one of your sons. When the rocks came down and crushed me, I somehow became my baby. Then you found me.”

“You gave birth to yourself?”

Nia smiled.

Hannah stopped and looked at Nia with wonderment in her eyes. “I thought about that when I found you. I’ve often wondered if it was possible.”

“It’s possible alright. Here I am. Axil disappeared from me for the longest time and then, one day I found him. I was looking for someone who looked like Axil and then I realized he could look like anybody. He might even be a girl. Once I realized that and stopped looking for a body, I found him. His mother and father were killed in a car wreck right across the road by the old cemetery and now he lives on the other side of the river with his grandfather. His father was your other son, Olav, and his wife was my sister, Bonnie. It’s kind of confusing sometimes, but when you think about how long we’ve all been around, it’s not so confusing. We both picked bodies close to the cemetery, only on different sides of the river.”

“The boy called Shannon
?”

“Yes.
In the split second as I was switching bodies, there was an instant in-between where I suddenly knew everything. I knew we had been together before. Not just once or twice, but thousands of times. Just before he died, before the van was crushed, he promised he would find me no matter what, but with me being one of The Hidden People and him an outsider, it’s not going to be so easy. And there’s one other thing. Olav and Bonnie drove by the landslide right after it happened and Olav took the body of Bonnie’s baby. Shannon and I are cousins or something. It’s all so confusing. I don’t know how we’ll ever get together.”

“Maybe there’s a way,” said Hannah.
“It’s time you started on the Aeosta.”

The Aeosta was the final step to
spiritual freedom for the Huldufolk.