Underworld (Dark Passage) (5 page)

“Help! Help!”
The screams are coming from a short distance away.
I can hear intense crying and a woman is begging her
captor to let her go.

There is a faint scream and the crying fades away.
The smell of blood permeates the air, and I push my
face into the moldy leaves to keep from throwing up
in my mouth. I squeeze my eyes shut and try to think
about something else. I can hear the sound of feet
shuffling. The sound is within 100 feet of my hiding
place and I estimate that a half dozen people are out
there. It is impossible to think straight with the
sickening odors and I feel as though the world is
closing in on me. I am lying as flat as possible and
restrict my breathing so that I will not be detected.

I must have dozed off in the musty, humid place I am
hiding. I can’t recall if I have been in the Underworld
one or two days. It all seems to blend together and it
is difficult to measure time here. I wonder if the
people I heard were real or spirits. Gramma June said
once that spirits go through the same actions over and
over again and don’t realize they are dead. It has
been said that spirits that end up in the Underworld
experience torture for eternity and that there is no
escape.

How is it that Jeff is here then? He looked so
innocent and happy go lucky- just as I remembered
him. I wonder why he is here in the Underworld?
Maybe that’s not him at all but an illusion. I shake
my head no because there was life in his eyes when
he smiled at me. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that it is Jeff and he is trying to lead me somewhere.

The humidity inside the hiding place has made me
thirsty and I remove the water from my backpack. I
gulp it down and drain the bottle in no time. I
immediatelyregret that I didn’t ration the water
instead of draining it all at once. I am out of water
and there is not much food left either. The camping
trips with Jen’s family hadn’t really prepared me for
roughing it to this degree. Back then, not having a
flat iron for my hair was a major setback when on a
camping trip. Not that the bears cared what my hair
looked like or anything.

It’s only been a
couple days but I have covered a lot
of ground. My long walks after a bad date have really
helped prepare me for this. Never thought I would be
thankful for the jerks that caused me so much grief.
It’s kind of amazing, how the really bad things that
happen to a person, can turn out to be something
worthwhile down the road.

I am surrounded by a thick mist. I try and push back
the feeling of fear that is creeping into my bones. My
sanity is eluding me at the moment as I survey the
miles of forest below me. It looks like it belongs in
some freakish fairytale and not really my current
reality.

The landscape looks like I am at the top of a precipice
in the Olympic Mountains. Many summer camping
trips were spent there with Jen’s family. The only
difference is that this forest has a sinister feel about it.
The pine trees are so thick you can hardly see
between them. The thick mist hovering above the
trees makes me think this is just another setting for
one of my nightmares. The fresh smell of pine trees
is the only thing that makes me certain this is not a
dream.

Inside me I know that something is wrong. I should
be moving with urgency but my mind seems to be in
slow motion. My backpack seems to be filled with
bricks and my legs ache from walking. I am
exhausted and so weak my cat could knock me over.
My legs are shaking and my heart is skipping beats.
The water has been out for over a day now and there
have been no streams or watering holes. How strange
for a forest to not have water for miles. But then I
guess this place is meant to be for the dead not the
living. What easy prey I am!

My heart jumps in my throat as I see a man walking
to the left of me. He stopped and stares at me with
hollow eyes. His skin is sickly white and his head is
bald. He is wearing what has to be an expensive suit.
His shoes are shiny and his hair is cut in the manner
of the very elite. The energy about him is dark and
foreboding and yet he looks like he belongs in a grand
setting with marble floors and platinum fixtures. The
stranger suddenly smiles at me and I notice blood
dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes seem
to burn with fire, and it is as though the empty shell
he had been just moments before, is now alive.

The fear and alarm coursing through my veins
quickens my pulse. My back straightens and the
energy that had eluded me before has returned.
A
breeze stirs through the clearing, lifting the limbs of
the tree next to me. The man’s face contorts and
blackens as his gaze locks with mine. He gives me
one final, long stare and then turns on his heel and
disappears into the dense trees.

It takes me a few minutes to get my thoughts
together. I watch the place where the man vanished
until my breathing returns to normal. I pause and it
occurs to me that the people who reside here are
aware of my presence. I can’t help but wonder if the
window of time for me to return to the other realm
has closed. I have learned how to survive in pretty
much any circumstance but this is too much for even
me. This place will soon drive me over the edge if I
don’t leave.

Then, I remember that I am here for a purpose. I
almost cry out with relief and change the subject in
my mind. I will not second guess why I am here.
Not now. If I do then I will lose my mind in this
horrible place. I need my mind intact if I am to finish
what I came here to do and get back to the other side.
I feel an immediate, intense need to leave this
clearing. My gut is twisting with pain from
dehydration and I walk in the opposite direction of
the man to find water.

After a couple of hours I stumble upon a lethallooking pool of water. I am so thirsty that my tongue
is like sandpaper. My taste buds have swelled up in
protest and are screaming out in pain. I stop and
contemplate the water even though it is clear that it is
probably not safe. What I wouldn’t give right now
for a glass of blackberry wine. I can almost taste the
sweet liquid in my mouth and imagine the calmness it
would bring to my nerves. My mind is running away
with me, and I quickly bring it back, for fear that I
will open the door for something scary to enter.

As though on cue, I hear the faint sound of a man s
laughing. It’s a deep, throaty laugh that has the feel
of an inside joke. You know. The type of joke your
friends play on you when you are at a party? The
only problem isthe joke isn’t funny. My mind seems
to be held in a brain fog and I am having difficulty
concentrating. I see images out of the corner of my
eye. The muscles in my body are contracting and I
am starting to feel numb all over. My body is going
to shut down soon and I know that I need to find
somewhere to hide. The world is spinning around me
and I feel as though I am being sucked into a
whirlpool. I can barely make out anything around me
and the green of the trees is whirling around me so
fast that they look like finger paint swirled together.

There is a buzzing sound in my head and swirls of
white emerge from the green colors. I’m not sure if I
am actually having a hallucination or if there is
something out there. A kaleidoscope of color flashes
before my eyes. The outline of a human shape is
coming towards me.

There are strong arms about my body. They lift me
easily off the ground, and as I struggle, they tighten
and hold me still. I can feel large, calloused hands,
squeezing my thigh and shoulder. A familiar scent
teases my nostrils and I am transported for a moment
to another time. The scent of spice and rain has
awakened a distant memory in my heart that was a
happy time in my life. The memory has been long
forgotten and locked away in the inner core of my
mind. My eyes are closed but I can see him in my
mind’s eye.

He is tall with high cheekbones and has thick eye
lashes that any girl would kill to have. He has a
winsome smile and his full lips curve upward- the
look he gives me makes my heart skip a few beats.
There is an element about him that had an
undercurrent of danger, recklessness even, that
always aroused my senses. He is striking from any
angle and his eyes smolder- almost seductively.

The feel of his skin against mine, his hands holding
me tight and the sweet smell of his body are all
familiar. How long has it been since I have been with
him? I search my mind as far as I can remember. He
lifts my head and brushes his lips against mine. We
begin to kiss so sensually that jolts of heat shoot
down my spine. I press my hands against his back,
pressing him closer.

My pulse quickens, and as his face comes into focus,
I can see his smile. “Stay with me Jaden,” I say as
my fingers intertwine with his. In a different time or
placethese words could make sense. It’s all coming
back to me now, and I know that I will lose you all
over again.

The last thing I remember is his smile. So many
stories are hidden beneath that smile. What I see in
his eyes breaks my heart and I am afraid that I will
never see him again. A hazy mist now swirls around
him and he backs away from me. He has his hands in
his pockets and his pants are fluttering in a breeze.
He smiles at me one last time, turns around and walks
into the mist. Scenes of my life are whirling around
me and then everything goes dark.

“Jaden”. My name on her lips sounds magical. I have
waited so long to hear her voice once again. My eyes
never leave her face. She radiates warmth and looks
as she had long ago, before the world had left its cruel
marks on her. It’s a sliver of time I will never get
back. It’s been a lifetime and I can’t forget her face,
she is the one who completes me. It’s a fragment of
time that I have hidden away in the inner recess of my
mind. Nothing more than a promise of the reality of
what could have been. We had chosen different paths
and were never to see each other again. Our destinies
were chosen in secret and no one knew what anyone
else had decided until the last day. When she left the
other side, the day we chose our paths, she lost all
memories. Knowing what she was would only serve
to burden her and make the task at hand that much
more difficult.

Being chosen does not ensure fame, fortune or glory
but rather to act as a conduit. When someone follows
the light they are given powerful gifts but they are not
meant for personal gratification.

Ivy does not know it, but she holds a piece of my
soul. She was in grave danger as the veil of the other
world was breached. The light within her was just a
dim flicker and she was no match for the creatures
coming from the other side. I suffered thinking about
the pain she would endure and despair welled up
inside me.

That night, when she first entered the tunnels under
the old house, I willed my horse to bind to her soul.
The white horses belong to the immortals- the path
that I have chosen. Immortal horses carry the light
and have an aura of protection about them.

I often dream the impossible dream. Can this sliver of
time, this chance meeting, ever lead to an eternity
with her? I follow her through deserted lands, ruins
and the shadows of the dark world. She is chosen and
many would see her dead and out of the way. Hungry
creatures will attempt to tear her flesh from her bones
and devour all that she stands for in this forsaken
place.

When the journey is completed, then the chosen will
be given the desires of their heart. I often wonder
what she will choose for herself. Will her memories
of the time we spent together, before her human birth,
come back to her?

I can’t pretend to remember the last 24 hours with
clarity. I have come to believe that this world is here
to drive people insane. To play with our minds until
our spirits cease to exist. There is nothing that makes
any sense hereand I’m reasonably sure the dead are
sensitive to my presence. They know my fears,
failings and even my most secret dreams. Over the
years of my life I have sculpted dreams of people and
places that gave me refuge from my true reality. Now
those images serve to blanket my mind as a
protection.

The forces that exist here have taken my dreams and
made them into a pseudo reality. There is nothing
private here. Even the most secret intimate thoughts
are exposed and then used against you as a means to
drive you over the edge.

The day has a grey overcast to it and the sound of
wind softly whistling fills my ears. I can hear the
distance sound of the sea and walk in that direction.
The road I am walking on was once a cobblestone
that has long since fallen into disrepair. The dense
forest has given way to stretches of land that sports
clumps of dry grass that quiver in the breeze. There
are familiar stalks of Tansy here and there and some
scrub brush. It feels remarkably cool outside today
which is so different from the first day I arrived here.

The sound of the crashing of waves becomes closer as
I walk. Large rocks, covered with brown moss, make
up a hillside and I decide to climb up to see what’s on
the other side. On the other side there is a narrow
lane and a high wrought-iron fence that runs for miles
along the road. There appears to be some green on
the other side of the fence and it seems odd to me that
anything could grow in this place.

I climb over the wrought iron fence and the old iron
creaks as I pull myself to the top. Throwing my
backpack down first, I grab hold of a piece of
decorative metal on the top, and lower myself as far
as I can down the other side. I land lightly on my feet
and fall forward in a patch of dry grass.