Between Two Worlds

I lost him that day. The tree that fell on him, killed him instantly the doctor said. But he wasn’t the only thing I lost that day, I also lost the baby and all hope for a normal future. It seems the extreme stress of seeing Espen like that caused a miscarriage, and all of the pulling and tugging of the tree branches didn’t help. After losing both of them, I left that town (it was too painful) and haven’t been back. I eventually caught up with Wolfe but decided against telling him what happened. But as I stand here looking at that body lying on the ground, my mind flashes back and I can’t help but to see the moment my whole life crumbled. “Espen!” I cry out, running toward the body. But before I can make it, I feel strong hands wrap around my stomach, from behind, and lift me into the air.

“It’s not him.” A male voice whispers into my ear.

I struggle against the hands that are holding me back. Logically, I know it’s not him, but I have to see for myself. My mind won’t accept the truth without my eyes showing me proof. “Let go! I have to see for myself. I have to know, I have to try.”

“Rayanna, stop! If you go near that body, you will die!” he says.

That causes me to momentarily stop fighting. “What do you mean?” I ask, unable to take my eyes off of the body.

“If you look slightly to the right of the tree, you will see part of the electric fence has been snapped loose. You are soaked from this rain, if you get over there near that live wire, you will be fried.”

I feel the fight leaving my body. “Oh. I don’t know what I was thinking. Thanks for the save.” I turn around to see whom this man is that saved my life.

“You are very lucky that I happened to be out here taking care of business. You looked like you were in a daze, I even called out to you, and you didn’t answer. What was going on? What were you thinking about?” Altair asks.

“I had my mind on the past, but I’m good. I’m heading home, now.” I say, turning to leave.

“Come with me.” He says.

“I’m sorry?”

“Come with me, down to the community shelter. The winds are dangerously high. There is no telling when a tornado will form. The conditions are perfect for one.”

“I…I can’t. I don’t do community shelters. I don’t do the whole underground thing at all. Too many bad memories associated with it.” I say.

“It will be okay. You just need to make some positive memories. Trust me.” He says, holding out his hand. “Besides, if you stay up here, you risk something falling on you and killing you. That would be a shame.”

At first, I balk at the idea of holding his hand, after all, he did just threaten my brother and my niece. Trust him? I don’t know him. Sure, I have seen him in both reality and the dream world but does that really warrant trust? The threatening of my family, I don’t know if I can trust him. Of course, he did save my life, so maybe I should. Maybe I should see what happens. Maybe I misunderstood him. And maybe I am an idiot, but he did just save my life. And he seems to care. It seems like he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to me. So, what can it hurt? I just hope I don’t regret my decision. I take a hold of Altair’s hand and let him lead me through the winding buildings, to the community center. Our footsteps echo through the empty building as we head for the stairs. Altair holds the door for the stairs, open, and I walk in, and take the first step, down. My chest tightens and my breathing becomes labored. “I… can’t…. I”

“Hold my hand, it will be okay,” Altair says.

I grab a hold of his hand. “I’m not sure.” I can feel the panic grabbing a hold of me, refusing to let go. But I can feel the steadiness of Altair, so I squeeze his hand and step down to the next step. I can do this. I take a few deep breaths, and slowly make my way down the stairs, holding tight to Altair’s hand as I go. The deeper I go, the harder it gets to breathe, but I am determined at this point to make it down. Step by step we go down, until at last, we reach the bottom, I push down my panic and look around. What I expected was a small community shelter, just big enough to hold everyone. I expected wall-to-wall people, with no room to move and the stuffiness associated with too many people breathing the same hot air. Instead, this community shelter looks almost as big as the town itself. “Wow.”

“It’s big enough that we could all live down here for a while if the situation warranted it,” Altair says from beside me.

“This is amazing. There is light, lots of it. How did you manage that? How did you end up with electricity down here?”

“There are separate solar panels and battery chargers for the underground. Plus, a pump that pumps fresh air down here. We have found that fresh air, and a good amount of light help to keep people from panicking. Now, go find your family. You and I will talk more later, I have some business to attend to.”