Deadly Passion, an Epiphany (19 page)

A man approached them from the back of the group. “Mark? Mark Engler?”

“Harry? Good God, is that really you? Where’s Megan?”

“She’s not here, Mark, but man, am I happy to see you. That gives me hope that my Megan is alive and well and someplace else on this godforsaken alien planet.”

“Alien?” Mark looked at the lake, the beach, the way everyone was dressed. “You reckon this is an alien planet? And how did you get here? How long have you been here? Who are all these other people?”

“Who is your friend, Mark?”

“Oh, sorry. This is Carol. She is a coworker from the mine. Carol, this is Harry, my fiancee’s father.”

“Hello, Carol. Let’s get you something to cover yourself. Both of you, come with me. Why don’t you take a dip in the lake and get cleaned up first. We can talk later.”

Mark took his boots off and walked into the tepid lake water. “This feels like a little piece of heaven,” he told Carol, who’d followed him.

“Mark!” she shouted.

He swiveled to face her. “What?”

“Your hands, your back, it’s all healed.”

“Huh?” He held his hands up and inspected them. Gone were the cuts, the raw bleeding flesh. “How’s that possible?”

“I’ll be damned if I know, but if this is alien territory, anything could happen.”

“You believe in that kind of stuff?”

“Why not? It sure as hell would explain how I suddenly woke up in a mine.”

Mark left the water and joined Harry, who was waiting for them. Carol wasn’t far behind.

“Here is a grass skirt for you and a top, Carol. The women have become quite handy since we’ve been here.”

“Thanks.” She quickly wound the strip of braided twine around her breasts. “I’m suddenly starving hungry. Do you guys have food?”

“Yes. Lake’s full of fish and the jungle abundant with fruit trees and nuts. The women will get you some food. Let’s go and talk. Many of us here have stories to tell, and I’m anxious to hear yours, Mark.”

They’d talked a long time in between nibbling on fish, fruit and nuts. Mark finally told Harry he was exhausted.

“Most of us just sleep on the beach. We use huge leaves as blankets, but there’s really no need. The weather here is always the same. Just pick a spot away from all the chatter and go rest.”

Mark found a quiet spot. Carol wanted to stay and talk a while longer, but tomorrow was another day
. If there is even a tomorrow
, a little nagging voice in his mind repeated over a few times.
There has to be. And now that I know that Harry is here, and Georgia is alive, Cassie, Jonas, even if they’ve disappeared, there’s hope that Megan is somewhere on this alien world.

Revealing her inner turmoil…

Megan sat quietly and listened to her fellow inmates, as she called herself and them. Though she was no longer in a hospital and was completely healed, she felt like a prisoner. She couldn’t go anywhere. There was no telephone, no way to communicate with the outside world. There were no computers, and with no Internet access, it was as if she’d gone back to the stone ages. She couldn’t understand any of it. Why she had to stay there so long when her body was healed. She missed Mark so much, and her parents, and Vera. If only she could get in touch with them.

“Megan, your turn. You’ve told us almost everything about your life, but something is still missing that you need to share,” Dr. Snow interrupted her thoughts.

“Her life sounds pretty boring,” a man called Terry said. “You sure she needs to share anything else?”

“None of you have shared the one thing that is keeping you here. Something that happened in your lives, a traumatic event, something that has eaten at you, given you bad dreams.”

“What do you mean, keeping us here?” Megan asked.

“Until you’ve opened up completely, you can’t move on,” Dr. Snow told them.

Megan thought about his words and decided to share her inner demons. She wanted to move on, if that meant being reunited with her family and Mark. “When I was thirteen, I was raped viciously by three men.”

“Megan, I’m so sorry,” Dr. Snow said. Several in the group murmured among themselves. “Have you forgiven them?”

“Forgiven? I was a girl, for Christ sake! Should I forgive them?”

“Have you forgiven yourself?”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. What’s there to forgive?”

“What about the men, Megan? How did they act afterward?”

“They disappeared mysteriously.”

“That’s very interesting. Did you tell anyone about what happened?”

“Yes, my father. No one else ever knew.”

“Why do you think these men raped you?”

“They were drunk out of their minds. I don’t think they realized what they were doing.”

“And you never told your mother, the police, anyone else?”

“No.”

“Do you think that’s right?”

“No. I should have gone straight to the police instead of going home.”

“So when you came home, you told your father, but why didn’t you ever tell your mother?”

“Mom wasn’t home and Dad made me promise never to tell her.”

“What did you do after you told your father?”

“I showered and went to bed.”

“Did your father go to the authorities?”

“No. He left the house not long after I went to bed.”

“And the men disappeared. What do you think happened to them? Do you think they ran away?”

Megan faced her biggest demon that had haunted her for years. She’d confessed to her father, and he’d left the house not long after. Then the three men disappeared. “I think my father went after them,” she said in a small voice.

“And deep down, you were afraid your father had made the men disappear, right?”

“Yes.”

“So you’ve been living with this for the last six years. If those men are really remorseful for what they did, could you forgive them?”

Megan had to think long and hard about that question. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I’d like to go back to my room now.”

Once in her room, she lay on the bed with her hands under her head. Dr. Snow had made the past resurface. Now, after telling Dr. Snow and the group what had haunted her for so long, she thought long and hard and had to admit it wasn’t the rape that troubled her. It was the fear that her father had made the three men disappear. It was a deep-rooted fear. Now that it surfaced in full, the thought that had troubled her most, the thought she’d buried so deep and never dared to face or voice, whispered in her mind. “He killed them,” she said softly. “I’m sure of it, because I heard him come back and when I looked out of my window, I saw him carrying his shotgun. And it’s my fault. If I’d gone to the cops instead of home, Dad wouldn’t have done anything. The three men would have been arrested and gone to jail. But I was so ashamed and so scared for Dad. The whole town would have known if I’d gone to the police or told Mom…” Tears soaked her cheeks. Her father was a murderer because of her. How could she ever forgive herself? She loved her father too much to tell anyone of her suspicion because it surely would have taken her father out of their lives. Neither did she dare ask her father, afraid of his answer. Would he even have told her the truth?

Sleep wouldn’t come. She tossed and turned, her mind a whirlpool of thoughts. She finally reached for the nightlight, turned it on, and sat on the side of her bed, her body damp from perspiration. “I should have gone to the authorities, even if it would have led to Dad’s arrest,” she whispered softly.

You were still a child…

Megan startled. Had she really heard that voice, or was it the voice in her head speaking? Bright light filled the room, a flash of lightning as if the electricity shorted out. Its brilliance hurt her eyes so she closed them. Strange enough, she didn’t feel scared.

She floated near the ceiling of her room. Below her, she saw her bed, the rumpled bedding, the nightstand, until she began to spin faster and faster. It was the strangest dream she’d ever had, but she didn’t want it to end because she felt wonderful, light, like a bird.

Somehow she passed through the ceiling and floated high above the buildings below. The vortex of light spun faster and faster, engulfed her, until she became super dizzy and drowsy.

Falling…

Megan felt the rush flow through her veins, her stomach, as she seemed to hurtle through the air, the vortex sending her spiraling down. Experiencing the same excitement as she’d felt on the rides at a fair, it was exhilarating, weird, sensational, and scary at the same time. She couldn’t think, had no idea what was happening until she landed on a cloud.

Well, it felt like a cloud. She opened her eyes. The bright luminous light faded and she found herself in a different room. What had happened to her old room? Which section of Midhaven was this? The room was beautiful, the bed beneath her the softest she’d ever experienced. Gazing around at the white walls and the pastel paintings, she sighed and sat on the edge. Her feet touched a floor that appeared to be made of frosted glass. Facing her was a window wall.

Walking slowly to the window, she gazed out of it at the dark sky, the sea of lights emanating from buildings, and the tall building that towered over everything. Atop there was a cone shaped glass dome that revolved slowly. Its bright light was like a beacon. Slowly it changed colors from white to pink to green and all the rainbow pastel colors blending as the dome rotated.

“Gorgeous,” she muttered, “But what is this place?”

Turning around she inspected the room. The furnishings were sparse. A bed, a night table, lights that radiated from the ceiling that also appeared to be made from glass. Turning back to the window she noticed her reflection suddenly. Gone were the jeans and top she’d been wearing. Instead, she was dressed in the softest of gowns, Light blue and Grecian style, it draped in gentle folds to her ankles. Her feet were now clad in silver sandals. The material felt similar to a chiffon. Her hair was back to normal and hung in long golden waves to her waist.

A voice, coming from nowhere, sounded through the room. It startled her and she spun around to see a panel open to a brightly lit corridor. People walked past, women dressed similar to her and men in tunics, all of various pastel colors.

“Dinner is served in the blue dining room. Please follow the blue line.”

“Interesting.” She pinched her arm. “I’m still in a coma and dreaming all this,” she muttered and walked to the corridor to join the line of men and women.

Looking at the floor she noticed lines in several colors. She followed the blue line along with some other people dressed in blue, until she came to a very large room resembling a restaurant. She couldn’t help gasping. It was out of this world, heavenly.

Someone approached her, a young girl dressed in white. “Follow me please. I’ll show you your table.”

Megan followed her. As she passed various large round tables with people already seated she stopped dead in her tracks. Surely she was hallucinating? “Mom? Mom? Is that really you?” she almost shouted it.

The woman turned toward her and Megan saw her mother’s beloved face pale. “Megan? Megan is it possible? Megan…” Tears began and she got up.

Megan rushed toward her and wrapped her arms around her mother. “Mom, oh, Mom, where have you been? Is Dad here? Vera?” she asked through happy sobs.

“Please take your seat. We’ve arranged for you to sit with your mother,” the girl said.

Reluctantly, Megan let go of her mother and sat on the suspended chair. Once seated, they clasped hands.

“Cassie and Jonas are here,” her mother told her.

“Dad? Vera? Mark? What about Mark?”

“No. I’ve got so much to tell you. Where have you been all this time, honey?”

“You won’t believe me when I tell you.”

“Try me. I believe we’re on an alien planet. Do you think I’m crazy? Cassie and Jonas think the same. The three of us were together for a while. We didn’t arrive here at the same time.”

“How long have you been here, Mom?”

“It seems like forever. I was so glad when Cassie and Jonas suddenly arrived. And now you. Your poor father is still stuck on a beach with a bunch of others.”

“A beach?”

“Yes. Long story. Let’s eat first.”

While they were talking, the waitresses and waiters had served the soup of the day. Megan was so filled with emotion she found it hard to swallow even if it tasted delicious. “Mom, you really think aliens are behind all this? The explosion? I can’t figure any of it out. I was badly hurt, burned, lost an arm, my hair was gone, I was in a hospital for ages. Then they sent me to a place called Midhaven. That’s where I was miraculously healed, and I’ve been going through counseling for what seems like decades.”

“Counseling for the trauma you’d experienced?”

“Sort of. I’ll tell you about it all later. Are we allowed to visit with each other in the rooms?”

“Yes. We can do that after the concert.”

“Concert?”

“You’ll see. Eat your food, hon. The meals are really good although I feel guilty each time I eat because your father is living on nuts, fruit and fish right now.”

“What do all the different colors mean? Has anyone told you?”

“Yes. Different levels. Apparently we’ll all move on. I don’t know when and I don’t know how or where to.”

“Are you sure Mark and Dad aren’t here?”

“I don’t know where Mark is, but Cassie told me your father arrived on the beach right after I disappeared.”

“Mom, I love Mark so much. He’s my soul mate.”

“I know, sweetie, I know. All you can do is pray, just like I pray to see your father again. Now eat your food. Dessert will come soon. Tomorrow we can all get together in the lounge and talk.”

Mark sighed. He’d been on the beach for quite a long time now. At least, it seemed like a long time. Though he was more than happy to be out of that horrific mine and living near a pristine lake on a white pearly beach, eating good food, he wanted nothing else than to escape from this place, too, and find civilization.

While dipping his shell in the stream Harry showed up and sat on a rock next to him. “How’s it going, Mark?”