From the Beginning: The Old World (12 page)

The storm grew stronger.

The suction noise was now unbearable. People were plugging their ears but were forced to remove their hands from their ears in order to keep their balance. The tremor that was felt in the cave intensified as well and felt more like an earthquake than a hurricane. The small island was encased in the middle of the turbulence, surrounded by the eye of the storm that was hitting it without mercy with all its force. The two wrestlers were finding it hard to keep stable too. Eddie was pouncing again and again, trying to overpower Jack that was mainly busy with pushing Eddie away from him. It was so sad to see Eddie in all his ugliness. On the other hand, it was heartwarming to see Jack’s noble behavior.

Another shock was felt in the cave, causing the rock walls to tremble. Little pebbles dropped from the ceiling, falling on the two rivals’ heads that tripped from the powerful tremble as well.

Another big shock joined the mixture of shrieking noises. It seemed like it was coming from the direction of the holy altar. It was the sound of cracking rocks and a high pressured jet of water making its way upwards, trying to create a new flow path!

The small crack, from which the stream came through, split further and widened, making the flow of water stronger by the minute. The water flowed on the cave’s floor, passing under Jack and Eddie’s feet. They suddenly seized from their struggle when they notice the body of water around them. The water caused the cave’s floor to become slippery and dangerous, weakening the two’s stability.

The crackling sound was heard again, the crack widened further, and the stream of water grew stronger. The shakings in the cave were now more violent. People were holding on to each other, shouting in panic with each tremor that shook the cave, causing the crack to widen even more.

It was clear to us all what was about to happen: a mighty force of gushing water would erupt in minutes through the crack. How powerful? It’s anyone’s guess—but according to all the shaking signs around us, we understood that a huge blow was upon us!

Jack and Eddie caught sight of the widening weak point and started to make their way up the flowing water towards the only safe place in the cave, where we all huddled anticipating the worst.

Jack, who was stronger and more in shape, managed to move faster than Eddie whose leg muscles had not regained their full strength yet. He moved passed Eddie, carefully feeling the wet ground with his foot, trying his best not to slip and fall.

The current was already quite strong, and the flowing stream drained into the large cave opening, cascading as a powerful waterfall to the spot from which we had rescued injured Eddie in our first few days on the island. Another tremor shook the cave, sending a jet-like spurt of water, as if from a firemen’s hose, hitting straight at Eddie, knocking him into the flowing water.

In a split second, Jack saw what was happening and leaped towards him to grab one of Eddie’s hands. But the flow was too powerful, and they could not grab on. Eddie was carried away by the strong current but miraculously managed to grab onto a large rock that was right at the edge of the waterfall. Jack looked at me, silently asking me what he should do.

I knew that if he tried to save Eddie, they both might not come back. But, I couldn’t be the one to seal Eddie’s fate. I nodded to Jack, signaling him to try and save Eddie, who was already exhausted from the powerful current pulling him relentlessly.

Tears were rolling down my face. I knew I was sending Jack on a suicide mission, but he was just the right person for the task. He nodded back at me, confirming with his eyes that I answered his question correctly. His conscious would not allow him to leave anyone behind, not even Eddie.

He turned back and started to go forward with the current in Eddie’s direction, being even more careful now that the water was splashing him from behind, threatening to knock him down too.

The water flooded and flowed on Eddie’s face making it hard for him to breathe. His arms weakened and his grip on the rock loosened. His arms slid slowly from the rock, and I wasn’t sure that he would be able to hold on until Jack reached him. 

Jack progressed slowly, trying to maintain his balance. When he was really close to the rock, he shouted to Eddie to catch his attention. Eddie tried to shake his head from the water that was constantly splashing on his face, or he was trying to answer Jack, I wasn’t sure, but from where I stood, I could see that they exchanged words. It was mainly Jack who tried to explain to Eddie what he must do so that he could be rescued. Jack was shouting and Eddie was shaking his head, refusing to comply with Jack’s instructions. Jack tried again—and Eddie kept refusing. He probed his way carefully, getting closer to the rock, but the current was too strong, and the risk of finding himself in the same situation as Eddie, hanging on by a thread, was too high. He called out to him again, extending his hand, trying to narrow the distance between them as much as possible. His extended arm moving in plea, asking Eddie to extend his, but Eddie held firmly to his rage, shaking his head in defiance.

I strained my eyes, focusing on Eddie’s face, and to my astonishment, it wasn’t fear that was reflected in his eyes, but the same jealousy and hate that incinerated him in the last few days. He wasn’t fighting for his life, but asking to finish what he started! Even worse—he preferred dying over accepting Jack’s help! Jack understood, but did not give up either, and moved a few centimeters closer toward Eddie’s direction, the water almost swallowing him too. Suddenly, Eddie’s arms let go and he slid from the rock. Jack leaped at him, lying on the rock, he managed to grip one of Eddie’s hands. At the same time, a loud noise came from the crack site.  Little pebbles were flying all over, the crack split open with a horrific tremor, and the water came gushing out, flushing their way with a mighty force!!

Jack made desperate attempts to pull Eddie, but Eddie just tossed a last glance at me, knowing I was watching him in horror. The hate in his eyes told me that if I wasn’t his—I would not belong to anyone else, especially not to Jack! His free hand rose suddenly. He quickly grabbed Jack’s shoulder, and with a cruel swift move, he pulled Jack to him with all his might. Jack lost his footing, and when the powerful flow hit them, they were both swallowed by the white foam of the huge waterfall!!

The small island trembled for what seemed like very long minutes. Slowly the tremors in the cave and the entire island, together with the terrible storm noises, started to subside as well. The ground began to stabilize, and the loudest noise that was now heard throughout the cave was my hysterical screaming. The minute the water pressure started to fade, I leaped in terror in the direction of the waterfall, hurrying to the spot where the men I loved had vanished.

The fortitude of the current indeed weakened, but the small stream had completely changed its shape. What was a little trickle in the morning was now at the end of the day, a powerful river cascading in a magnificent waterfall of clear water from the large cave’s opening back into the sea.

I stood in the current for a long hour. The water surrounding my feet was no longer threatening to carry me away like it did my loved ones. I stood close to the rock Eddie had been hanging from, from which Jack was trying to save him.

The pain was more than I could bear. I wasn’t far from throwing myself into the waterfall, ending my misery at once, but Jezebel’s frightened cry, who was so scared for me, made Roan jump to my aid. He made his way to me, lifting me in his arms despite my vigorous protests and hysterical sobbing, and carried me back to the corner of the cave where everyone was huddled together.

“Grace! Calm down!” Roan tried to pull me out of the hysterical state I was in. “People need you here! Pull yourself together!” he demanded.

“And what about what I need?? Ha?! What about what I need?” I shouted at him with pain. “What about my pain? Who will hold me? Who will comfort me? What about my broken heart? Who will help me mend the pieces??!!” My piercing questions were left hanging in the air. The void that was opened in me since my child was taken from me, reopened in such a force threatening to smash me into little pieces. I was certain my heart would not be able to withstand the pain any longer, and would cease at once from beating.

“I will hug you, Mother...” I heard Jezebel’s soft voice beside me, and her small young arms surrounded me and softened my grief with her love and warmth. “I am here for you, just like you are here for me!” She placed a virtual mirror in front of me, “and the same way you are leading and heading the tribe and support everyone, so they will all support you and be there for you and especially hug you…” As she was speaking, I felt all of my friends surrounding and hugging me. Amazed, I watched them extending their arms, all around me.

“We are with you, Grace. We will not let you fall apart,” the tribe returned the love and support I needed so much. “We need you strong, and together we will all help you on your feet again,” words of encouragement were heard from all around.

I collapsed into a multitude of loving arms.  The crying shook me, and the pain crushed me, but at the same time, I felt the enormous amount of love of the tribe seeping into me, softening the intensity of the pain. I have never felt so much love around me before in my life. Even beyond the tears I knew they were right—Jezebel and the rest of the tribe members—that blindly counted on me.

When my crying subsided and my breathing was stable again, so did the storm. Night came upon the island, and darkness invaded the cave. Roan lit a flashlight, enabling us to see that the stone altar was left intact, in spite of the large crack that formed above it, and from it now came a proud flow making its way into the sea.

Tension started to fade, and people were kneeling in their spot, settling next to each other, creating the little circles Jack was talking about, getting ready to go through the night huddled for warmth and safety. The men closed the outer rim, scheduling amongst themselves the shift changes for the duration of the night.

Encouraged by the fact that the storm had passed, which meant we would not need to stay closed off tomorrow too, we sat shoulder to shoulder, leaning on each other. We would be able to assess the storm’s damage only in the morning, but at least we would not freeze to death.

The wind stopped blowing, and the only noise heard in the cave was the sound of the water powerfully gushing forth from the crack.

* * *

The raging new waterfall flowed into a great lake.

I swam towards the white rapid that had spray clouds coming up from it to the spot where the waterfall met with the clear lake waters.

Out of the water screen came Rebecca, wearing a shiny golden cape, her arms spreading towards me. I came up from the water, collapsing into her familiar, loving embrace. I sobbed silently, mumbling to her the story of my broken heart.

Rebecca lifted my chin, stroked my teary cheeks and spoke to me from her glistening eyes. Her lips did not move, but her voice echoed around me, caressing me. “Don’t you worry now,” her voice was soft and carried gently on the ripples of the lake. “The white eagle is on its way to you. He will bring you what you are wishing for the most…” Her words filled me with a warm feeling of hope, when slowly she lifted her arm, pointing at the sky.

A large bird was seen approaching, its wings spread, gliding. The closer it came, I could see its wings glowing in a deep shiny blue. I suddenly recognized the blue eagle returning from far away. Its wings had a brighter color, and now they were shining too.

My heart pounded with excitement. It was clutching something in its claws, and when it flew over the center of the lake, he unleashed its grip, and two large silver fish came plummeting into the water. The fish dove deep into the lake, releasing a trail of thousands of tiny bubbles that popped and became thousands of different kinds of fish, swimming in the trail creating a living silver swarm whirl pooling in the lake’s waters.

I turned to thank Rebecca for her gift, but as I was turning all I could see was her good smile as she faded from my sight, becoming a water cloud that broke into many little rays of sun in the spray. I reached out to catch her, but all my fingers could feel was the spray of the water.

The blue eagle flew again onto its branch, flapping its wings trying to get my attention. It spread one wing aside and the other folded under its chest, then bowed its head over the folded wing, as a sign of respect, without a voice telling me that it was there again to watch over me and protect the tribe. I bowed my head as well in gratitude. My heart overflowing with pain and love. Is he coming back to me?

The sound of splashing water caught my attention again. Two magnificent dolphins were jumping towards the center of the lake. They leaped over the water twirling in the air, doing acrobatic flips, circling the lake with their tricks and then vanished to wherever they came from. After a few seconds they appeared again, swimming parallel to each other, their heads peeking from the water, in their mouths was a thick rope, and they were pulling a wooden boat that resembled our life boats. The scene was strange and mesmerizing. They were getting nearer, gently floating the boat towards me, as if it was carrying a sensitive and precious cargo. I gazed at the blue eagle, as if asking whether I would need its help, but it stood quietly and relaxed in its spot. The boat reached my feet, and the dolphins gave me the rope, thanked me with their giggling chuckles, and cheerfully swam away hopping on their backs.

I wrapped the rope around the rock I was standing on a few times and peaked into the boat. I was amazed to see the white eagle laying in the boat, hurt and helpless, its white feathers were messed and faded.

Panic and confusion took hold of me. I understood from Rebecca’s words that the white eagle would bring good news— and now it is lying before me like something that was hit directly by the storm.

I reached out my hand to see if I could help it. My fingers touched its soft feathers, which felt silky and pleasant, like the skin on a known loved one.

Its eyes opened, and I pulled my hand in fear. The clear piercing green was very familiar— but I couldn’t remember from where. Its beak moved in pain when it told me the weirdest things I have ever heard: “I can’t remember… Remember and don’t remember… help me! Only you can… His deep voice echoed in my head, triggering a vague memory, but before the fog dissipated, a baby-like murmur was sounded from under the eagle’s wing, and a little baby peaked out its white feathers.

“Ma-ma…Ma-ma,” the baby gargled, and dimples appeared on its cheeks. “Mama, Mama,” he purred at me extending his chubby arms with a sweet smile. In awe, I extended my arms to pick him up.

“Mother! Mother!” A small hand shook my shoulder, waking me from my dream.

I opened my eyes, it was the break of dawn. Jezebel was bent over top of me, waking me with energetic whispers.

“Mother, good morning. Come outside with me! There is something you have to see!” Her eyes gleamed with joy, so much like Rebecca’s sparkling eyes.

I rose from my spot, my limbs still stiff from the disturbed slumber being scrunched into the corner of the cave. Most of the tribe members were still fast asleep, leaning against each other or held in the arms of their friends.

Roan and another friend, Billy, who acted as Roan’s assistant, were not in their place. Jezebel led me out of the cave and started climbing on top of it, to the spot where we had left Rebecca’s body a few days earlier.

At the peak of the island, on top of the world, there stood Roan and Billy, gazing into the eastern horizons where the first rays of sun started appearing. They waved at us when they heard us arriving, with the same radiant expression on their faces as Jezebel had.

“Grace! You have to see this!” Roan extended his hand to me.

I stood between them, embracing Jezebel’s shoulders, with Roan and Billy hugging us on both sides, and together we witnessed the most spectacular scene I had ever seen! Throughout the great big endless sea, many little islands appeared!

“Roan…This is unbelievable!” The excitement brought tears to my eyes blurring my vision, and for a moment, it seemed as if I was seeing the strange underwater drawings, connecting the islands with lines and arrows, creating a weave of an underwater map.

But before I was able to engross myself in this sight, Roan drew my attention to more changes that came about by the storm. He took me to the edge of the cliff and hinted at me to look down. Here too the sight was amazingly beautiful: a few feet under the spot we were standing on, there was an opening of a waterfall cascading far under us, creating a big pool at the bottom, about a hundred feet in diameter, its shape resembling the lake in my dreams.

“Instead of climbing up to the cave to bathe, we can go down to this pool and swim in it. It is really close to our living area. And if you look closely, you will see it has ‘gone up a floor’ and the cave here can continue to be used for what we intended from the beginning— for purification and sanctity.” Billy showed me the most important discovery so far— the water levels had gone down drastically, revealing a new and bigger turf of the island.

I gazed at the sights, overlooking from the heights of the island, surrounding the summit from all directions, surveying the newly discovered layout. Many trees were now exposed presenting green spots everywhere, telling of a fertile land we could now use. Flat lands were spread out all around, creating a new coast line for the island.

I ran from one end to the other, sizing up distances and terrain, yearning to go down and explore the new discoveries.

“It’s… It’s… It’s simply a miracle!!” Both men and Jezebel caught up with my excitement. We hugged again, jumping up and down dancing in a circle like little children who had just discovered Treasure Island. The hurricane had indeed sucked vast quantities of water, lowering the sea levels by at least eighty feet overnight!

“Just a minute!” I stopped the morning celebrations. The ball of sun had just appeared sending a long golden ray of light exactly to the center of the cave’s ceiling. At the place where we left Rebecca’s body, only a few rocks that surrounded her body remained, but no sign of her remains! I leaned to the spot where the ray of sun touched the rock, and it was warm under my hands.

“My daughter…” I thought I heard Rebecca’s soft loving whisper carried away by the morning dew.

“Thank you…Mother…” I whispered back with shining eyes to the caressing winds.

An hour later, after we pecked on a measly breakfast that consisted of a few dried roots, we made our way back towards our dwelling cave. Hungry and frustrated on one hand, but excited on the other towards our tour of the newly discovered layout of the island, we prayed in our hearts that we would find new hints of any kind of food. Maybe we would find fruit on the trees? Although it was obvious that after long weeks of being submerged in water everything would be rotted anyway, the mere fact that maybe they were fruit trees caused us to cheer up and hope for the best.

The tracks of the storm were visible everywhere. It was so powerful it caused rocks to fly, smash and scar the face of the little mountain. But, our biggest disappointment came from the damage the storm caused to our planted plots.

With teary eyes, people were walking in the plots trying to fix and replant every little salvageable plant. Despair was at its peak. Our food supply was now all gone!!

People looked at me with anxious eyes waiting for me to say something. Expecting me to provide answers, as expected from the leader of the tribe.

I was silent. I did not know what I should do. What would I tell them? It’s not like I had any solutions available. Was this really the end? What about the dream I had? Would it not come true either?

I looked at the despaired and worried faces of my friends, but instead of speaking to them, I spread my arms to my sides and called them to join me. People moved from their spots, coming closer, reaching for each other and creating together with me a wide human circle.

“Come, let us pray,” I said quietly. “This might not fill our stomachs, but at least it will fill our hearts— and this isn’t any less important right now!” I lowered my head and closed my eyes, connecting to the familiar spot in my body—the one that generates the vibe—and for the first time, I awakened it myself.

I started singing a prayer, asking for the grace of the heavens to shower us with food and continue bestowing upon us the fortune of luck we’d been having since we were rescued.

As I was chanting, I thought I heard another sound being carried in the wind, climbing from the bottom of the island, calling my name.

“G…R…A…C…E…” the sound called again. I wondered if this was a figment of my imagination or was it a real voice that was calling to me. When I heard the call for the third time, I had no more doubt. I raised my eyes to see where the call came from.

At the bottom of the island, on the newly formed coast line, I saw a figure waving at us from afar.

I smiled a big smile when the call was heard again, clearer, louder:

“Grace!! Fish!! There are fish in the water!!!”…

* * *