1927: Redemption

Did she find it?

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest claims men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.”

—Robert Louis Stevenson

21 DECEMBER 2021- MIAMI, FLORIDA

What the hell? Where did he just go?

The man had vanished like he was never there in the first place like the whole thing had been a visual joke. Adeline ran her hands through her hair before going up to the bench in the scary night of another dimension. There was no mark at all, not of that paper he held in his hands, the man or any other thing. The place was as lonely as hell, it elevated the fear in her mind, just as she wanted.

What had been there moments ago was already fading from her memory, as if it wasn't just erased from the scene, but from history altogether. It had been words she was sure of, but now that he was gone she felt herself begin to panic. Casting her eyes around her at the trees, listening to the crickets, she quite forgot the scary man for a moment. Then when recalled she was here to do something, she looked down to find the only grey ground beneath her, which instinctively started releasing into the breeze.

Now that the time was slipping from her hands like sand, she had nothing but to search for something, anything that could lead her to the place where the photograph was hidden.

In the midst of this, Adeline started to doubt herself- can she do it? If she is unable to accomplish this task, how would she be able to do other ones?

But then, Adeline suddenly remembered her grandpa’s words of wisdom, in which he said:

“To trust yourself when you have doubts. To lead from a danger only you can see clearly. To explain, enable the blind to see. To give people the power to hear the extraordinary in the ordinary, the everyday and normal encryption of the spoken word. To show them the messages and conversations that happen all around us to different levels of the brain. That's quite the challenge. That's quite the challenge when until you can prove it they will think you mad and threaten you with the consequences that come to the insane. To speak and risk the twisting of the knaves of sophistry. That is what they ask. The last time I complied I almost died. I almost lost everything for nothing. So, tell me again why, tell me why this is the time, because even if it is now or never I won't unless I can win. I know more than most what these adventures into the world of the saviour's costs... and the cost is never to myself alone. You know what? I do trust myself. I do. It's every other bastard out there I don't trust. This is a world of monsters. So many monsters.”

Indeed the world had been filled with several monsters for quite a while, but in all of this drama, there could only be one thing that could keep your senses in the right direction and keep them intact.

Well, what was that special thing?

Nothing, but trust. The trust in yourself, on the timing of god, and the trust that- everything that had been happening around you was for the reason. A reason that would be discovered in the end, and trust yourself that it would be for the betterment of yourself and the society.

With the newfound trust and confidence in her being, Adeline halted the horses of her brain and took a moment to think and decipher the meaning of everything that was happening around her.

The fog began to billow across the road in a great grey mass like the effluent of a thousand smokestacks. The building was only a shadowy form, almost entirely lost to view. A harsh winter wind blew out of the midnight sky. It roared out of the frigid north and thrashed the brooking forest. The force of it bent trees, whipping their bare branches like angry lashes. She heard shrieking across the river.

But in reality, all of that was happening in the real dimension where William and Ace were waiting for her. It was a sign for Adeline to speed up her work and finish it as soon as possible.

For instance, her task reminded her of a game all the kids like- Beachcombing which was every kid’s favourite thing. It was a wild and random treasure hunt without any map or compass, only the rhythm of the waves to show the passage of time. Nobody expected to find nothing... and so every little thing brought more joy than the well wrapped birthday gift... and they would take them home, cherish them, and tell the stories of how they came to the beach, the taller the tale the better.

How childish! But at times she used to be part of this game too.

Adeline was examining the bench on which the man sat, or she thought that she saw a man sitting on the bench who vanished in thin air.

And suddenly the loud sound of thunder graced the sky and came as if God's announcer had picked up a megaphone.

It felt frightening to be alone in an abandoned place in another dimension that she did not have any knowledge about.

And then, when the opening ceremony had already been done, how come the first dance could be halted. Because, there it was, the soft droplets in the presence of gravity coming down all the way from heaven to rest on Adeline’s cheek when she looked upward at the right time.

The realisation dawned on her, as when she realised the rain had already announced their presence.

The rain had lost the ambient temperature of early fall, freezing and paling my skin on contact. The path through the forest was muddy water in motion, filling deep puddles that hide the ruts of dryer weather. To feel it was not an enjoyment, not fun like the gentle sunshine of springtime, yet it was a part of life and she wanted to feel it just the same. She wanted to experience each drop, together and apart, same and different. She wanted to see the droplets soaking her eyelashes before they joined their brethren on the ground like saltless tears. She needed to be in this, chaotic and wild, just like her mind and soul - like nature looked right into her and pulled the weather out.

Well, along with that, find the damn photograph, Adeline. Time is running out like water from clouds.

Each drop sat on her skin like a puddle that would never leave, perfectly formed, perfectly cold. She felt the water stealing her body heat just a tiny bit at a time. Perhaps once she would have sought shelter or warmth - but no longer. She had become accustomed to the elements, to the wind and chill. There was a cosiness in her suffering as if life had and will always be this way. There was comfort in predictability.

Adeline wondered though, what if the sun broke through? What if each drop sparkled with light? What then? Would the warmth seep through and bring a new reality? Would she shake off this rain as easily as a cat after a storm? Because... She thought she would like that. She would like that a lot.

Pulling out the hoodie of the jacket over her head, Adeline knelt down on the ground to look at the bench from downwards, and like she said nature had pulled out this weather for her, it sounded surreal, but it became real the moment she saw blackish mud running down one of the legs of the bench and she found an arrow, directing downwards towards the ground.

Was it the final arrow?

Did she find it?

Let’s find out!