Destined to Play, Feel, Fly Trilogy Read online

  ‘How long has she been like this?’ I ask, my panic rising.

  ‘Her okay.’

  It’s still dark so she can’t be too warm from the heat of the sun. I grab a small camping deckchair and take out my tympanic thermometer to take her temperature. As I suspected, she has a slight fever at thirty-eight degrees Celsius, though she is lying peacefully. Actually, she looks like Sleeping Beauty, in the light of the half moon shimmering through the forest canopy and I’d give anything to be the one to awaken her from the unknown of this deep sleep. Surely she should have experienced some form of coherent consciousness by now and what in god’s name could be causing her fever?

  I take out my torch to examine her body for any sign of infection; something may have bitten her on our journey here. I go check her eyes for dilation but Mapu guides my hand away and rests his hands beneath his head to illustrate she is sleeping before clasping them together like bird’s wings to indicate she is far away or flying.

  Feeling totally hamstrung, I’d give anything to wake Leo to discuss exactly how long he believes this process should last. Agitated by Mapu’s patience, I raise my water bottle to him and indicate I’d like to give some to Alexa. ‘Água?’

  He shakes his head and instead picks up his own potion and hands it to me. I take a sniff and notice its sweetness, assuming there could be some honey in it. Even though I’m uncomfortable giving her things I don’t fully understand, I respect that I’m in their world and while she is in this state, I have to trust that they are better qualified to ensure she gets out of it, though I swear if she remains unconscious for the next twenty-four hours I will be flying her out of here to get her the medical attention she needs.

  I moisten her lips with the liquid and carefully let some drops fall into her mouth. I wet my clean handkerchief with my water bottle and gently run it over her limbs before laying it on her forehead to cool her. And then I wait because really that is all I can do.

  At sunrise Leo appears and relieves Mapu. ‘Do you want some rest, Jaq? I can get Yaku if you’d like.’

  ‘No, I’ll be staying right here, thanks.’ If I could do thirty-hour shifts during my early career, I can certainly do them now.

  ‘How’s she been?’

  ‘She had a slight fever a couple of hours ago but that seems to have settled though I can’t explain why. She’s had some fluids, but otherwise she hasn’t budged.’

  Just as I say the words, Alexa shoots up into a seated position and is gasping for air.

  I’m so shocked I fall off my seat. ‘Shit!’

  We’re both taken aback though Leo is more composed than I am. I move straight to her side.

  ‘Alexa, sweetheart, are you okay? Can you hear me?’

  She looks around, startled, but then seems to recognise our faces.

  She nods that she can hear us before saying urgently, ‘I need to go back, I need to know, I can’t wait. Where is Yaku? I need more …’

  ‘Slow down, slow down. Where have you been?’ In my peripheral vision, I notice Leo slipping away.

  ‘A different time, place, I don’t know, Jeremy, but I know it will help me understand everything. I need to go back before I lose them forever.’

  I don’t have a clue who she is talking about, but she looks agitated until she sees Yaku return with Leo and a cup in his hands. Only then does her face break into a smile and her hands reach out to take the cup. I feel a little panicked.

  ‘Are you sure you want to do this, sweetheart? I’m not sure it is safe for you to have any more, you’ve had a fever.’

  ‘A fever?’ This seems to divert her attention from drinking.

  ‘Yes, it’s gone now but —’

  She interrupts me. ‘They burnt her, that’s why. They burnt Evelyn, they believed she was a witch but she wasn’t, she was a healer with special blood. She had magic but she was good, kind and had more compassion than any of them. I need to go back to check if her daughter is alright. They took her away.’ She is speaking like a madwoman, her eyes darting around the forest as though she is looking for these unknown people.

  I look anxiously toward Leo, at a loss. He kneels down beside the stretcher and cradles her face gently in his palms. Without uttering a word, he looks deeply into her eyes. It is only then that I remember I’m not meant to speak to her. She inhales before her body shudders on her exhale, as though she is releasing tension and calming down. He nods without breaking eye contact and she raises the ayahuasca to her lips and swallows its potent contents. They remain that way until she finishes and Yaku takes the cup from her hands.

  Their eyes remain locked until Alexa’s dilate like before and she slowly closes them as if her lids are too heavy for her to control. Leo carefully lowers her body back onto the stretcher and she is gone again, to whatever world this Amazonian concoction is taking her to.

  Leo turns to me. ‘Let’s take a walk, you need a break.’ He speaks to the elders in their native tongue and they nod their heads. I hesitate. ‘It’s okay, Jaq, they won’t let anything happen to her. They understand where she is better than we ever will.’

  His outstretched hand rests on my shoulder as he senses my reluctance. I take another look at AB, who has once again returned to her Sleeping Beauty state and I fleetingly consider if I’m helping or hindering what she is going through with my anxiety about her wellbeing. She certainly appeared more agitated being here than wherever she was, so with this in mind I agree to go with Leo to clear my head and stretch my legs, knowing that he will have some words of wisdom to share, as always.

  When we return, Yaku informs us it is time to go downriver. The shaman has sent a message letting them know that his moment to receive Alexa is close and she needs to spend time with the village women to prepare for this event. With no small degree of cynicism I ask how this message was received. Which animal or tree communicated this to the elders?

  Leo asks them and points in the direction of our small camp. ‘Other members of the tribe, Jaq, they travelled upriver this morning and will return to the village with us.’ A cheeky smile appears on his lips as though he can read my thoughts exactly.

  ‘Oh, right,’ I respond, a little embarrassed.

  ‘You know, my scientific friend, it’s not all voodoo and magic in the jungle.’ He laughs at me. ‘Let’s get organised.’

  We stretcher Alexa’s body to the canoes waiting by the riverside. She isn’t fully unconscious but she’s not here with us with any awareness either. My heart is in a constant state of dulled anguish seeing her like this, but my head tells me to ignore the pain and focus on the greater good.

  Leo told me on our walk together that his soul flight occurred over a five-day period and that the spiritual awareness reached climactic proportions when his physical body was at its weakest. Apparently, Alexa still has some way to go. Not the greatest news from my perspective, but at least he is trying to manage my expectations moving forward. As long as she continues to retain fluids, I’ve promised that I won’t interfere with the process. I hope I don’t regret it.

  Floating down the river on the handmade wooden canoes is a serene experience. The Wai-Wai only use their small outboard motors if they need to go upstream, or against the tide. It’s surprising how fast the tributaries feeding into the main river system actually flow.

  It is a joy to experience the vitality and noise of the Amazon basin in this way — the abundance of life here is unimaginable. We pass people bathing in the river, washing both hair and dishes side by side. Men are fishing and women are weaving baskets and waving as we float past their tiny villages. Kids are playing and splashing on the river foreshore, their laughter tickling the air. Alexa would love to see all of this activity against the backdrop of the greenest, most intense rainforest in the world.

  We leave the main river and head back toward one of the offshoot tributaries. Leo yells over the noise of the small motor from the canoe next to mine. ‘Not far to go now, maybe an hour or so.’

  I nod in acknowledgem
ent and marvel at how they find their way around this massive and intricate river system without the aid of any technology or jungle street directory. As I look toward Alexa, I notice she is again completely unconscious and wipe a few strands of hair from her face. In doing so, I notice two small dark stains on her white shirt and my heart immediately skips a beat. What now? If I didn’t know better I would say it looks like old blood.

  A little alarmed, I unbutton her shirt to find that it appears to be coming from her breasts, having seeped through her bra.

  ‘What the hell?’ I mutter more to myself than anyone else. I glance around before I discreetly pull down her bra to find both of her nipples covered with dark, coagulated blood. Just as I’m attempting to stay calm and think of some diagnosis for this, I am distracted by shouts of excitement.

  ‘Jaq, look. River dolphins, pink dolphins, just behind us, playing in our wake,’ Leo calls over from one of the other canoes.

  Under normal circumstances, this would be an amazing experience; under these circumstances I’m left staring perplexed at Alexa’s bloodied chest. Other than friction from running, or issues with breastfeeding, I can’t think of any medical condition that would cause this and even so, it would be fresh rather than this dark, coagulated blood.

  ‘Is everything okay over there?’ I hear Leo yelling again.

  ‘I’m not sure. There’s some kind of blood on Alexa’s nipples,’ I don’t mind yelling back in English, given the others’ understanding of our language is so limited.

  ‘Really?’ He sounds as shocked as I am. ‘Is she still bleeding now?’

  ‘No, not that I can tell.’

  ‘And it’s just on her nipples?’

  I quickly scan the rest of her body. Other than her nipples and her inability to communicate with us, she seems perfectly fine. ‘Yeah, just there.’

  ‘Wow, that is weird. Do you think it could be some form of sexual stigmata?’

  Only Leo would be quick enough to come up with a comment like that. I throw him a look from my canoe that seriously hopes he is joking.

  ‘Just sharing a thought …’

  I shake my head in response. What the hell could cause this? Concerned but also intrigued, I reach for my kit and take a swab for testing later and seal it in a bag. This journey gets weirder by the hour.

  As I sit, baffled but unable to do much at this point, one of the pink dolphins rears up right beside where I’m sitting, with its mouth open as if it is smiling at me. I’m so caught off-guard, I can’t help but laugh in response to what looks like the cheekiest grin I’ve ever seen. It distracts me enough from my unsettled thoughts to fleetingly consider what Alexa would say about this if she were deciphering it from a psychological perspective, interpreting a dream.

  Strangely enough, this thought lightens my emotional burdens and for the first time since she sipped the ayahuasca, I feel as though everything will somehow work out. As soon as I note this thought, the pod of endangered pink dolphins vanishes into the depths of the river and we don’t see them again.

  I swear this jungle is messing with my head.

  Part Six

  Change is the essence of life. Be willing

  to surrender what you are for what you

  could become.

  Reinhold Niebuhr

  Lake Bled

  Her Managing Director has essentially dismissed her, so the technician decides to have a quick coffee as she hasn’t had a break for hours and figures five minutes away won’t do any harm. She had been about to head off when her manager called to say Madame Jurilique was on her way down. She loves her coffee steaming hot and always likes to get the kettle as it boils. This time is no different, except when she begins pouring the water into her cup she sneezes, causing her to drop the steaming kettle. Boiling water splashes over her hands and wrists scalding her skin and leaving her screaming in agony with what looks to be third-degree burns. A member of the management team finds her writhing in pain and, bypassing first aid protocols given her assessment of the seriousness of the situation, immediately summons the new head physician, whom she had had dinner with a few nights ago.

  Dr Jade is carefully preparing to administer the sophisticated drugs to his predecessor. He is particularly keen to make an excellent first impression on Madame Jurilique, whom he has respected and admired from the employ of his previous company for many years. He can imagine the risk Dr Votrubec now presents to Xsade, given he knows their formulas and secrets, so Dr Jade justifies his boss’s decision to incapacitate him in this way and surely this will be more comfortable than being bound and gagged, as Votrubec currently is on the other side of the room.

  Not bothering to look into the harrowed eyes of the man before him, he measures the exact quantity of the injection just as his pager buzzes its emergency tone. Reluctantly, he carefully replaces the full syringe back on the tray knowing the timing and sequencing of these drugs is the key to the success of this procedure. He reads his message, quickly grabs his medical bag and exits the lab, forgetting to lock the door behind him as he runs toward the emergency.

  Josef, though unable to breathe easily through his gag, exhales an enormous sigh of relief. He needs to get out of there and fast. This may be his last opportunity.

  Madeleine continues to enjoy the ambience of her daytime respite to the sounds of Rachmaninoff. Dreams about the successful launch of Xsade’s new drug and the appreciative crowd’s standing ovation as she finishes her speech, dance around in her head and ensure her unconscious state.

  The new scientist inductees continue their tour around the facility. As they enter a laboratory where a new chemical compound is being mixed and tested, Salina slips discreetly away from the main group to check the rooms down the corridors for any sign of Josef, keeping her head lowered as she passes a security camera.

  She opens a fire escape and quickly moves down the stairs to the next level to continue her search. This place is much larger than she first suspected. There are a few silver-suited volunteers in one of the larger rooms and she apologises and backtracks. Hearing footsteps coming her way she increases her pace as fast as she can without attracting attention, thankful she’s wearing silent trainers and opens the next doorway she can access.

  As she closes the door behind her she turns around to see the bound figure of a distraught man, instantly recognising him as Dr Josef Votrubec. Relief and adrenaline flood her body as she races to his aid, swiftly undoing his bonds with a slice of her pocketknife. She cautions him to silence before flicking the light off as they hear footsteps shuffle past the door. The door handle turns and they both freeze in horror until they hear a voice declare, ‘No, this can’t be the room, it must be the next one.’ Both breathe a collective sigh of relief as the door closes again.

  ‘My name is Salina, I’m a friend of Dr Quinn and Dr Blake. I am here to get you out,’ she whispers to him.

  Josef will take all the help he can get to avoid the drugs that will render him totally immobile. ‘Thank you. They will be back any moment, we need to get going now.’

  Salina notices the cut on his cheek and the bruises on his wrists and forearms before throwing him a lab coat.

  ‘Are you hurt? Will you be okay to walk?’

  ‘Yes, I’ll be fine. But neither of us will be if they catch us in here when they return. I know an emergency passage out of here. Follow me.’

  Just as they are about to open the door to check if the passage is clear they hear a massive explosion above them, followed by silence, then the sound of screeches and screams.

  Salina is not wasting a second. ‘Go, I’ll follow you.’

  Josef grabs hold of her hand and they stumble along the corridor, before disappearing entirely from the view of the security cameras as they slip through a white door that will eventually link them to the same route on which he took Alexa. The building rocks from another explosion before evacuation alarms are sounded and they immediately increase their pace, their senses heightened by fear for their lives
as they prepare to take flight up the spiralling stairs to higher ground.

  Alexa

  It takes me a while to re-establish my connection with the past world again, but I’m more confident this time, knowing a little more what to expect from such strange sensations. As I float above the land, scanning my surroundings, relief washes over my being as I eventually sense where I need to be and allow the vision to draw me in once again.

  The soldiers take Caitlin to a large town to await her fate — whether she is to be declared a witch or not after her mother was burned at the stake. She never knew such a world existed outside her small village.

  Alone, and with a leaden heart, she is still overwhelmed with grief when she is brought before the high priest, who is draped in incredibly ornate garments that she’d never imagined could exist. He declares that now she has been separated from evil, her hair should be shaved and she should earn her penance as a slave to god. So long as she shows no sign of witchcraft, her life will be spared, otherwise her death will be necessary to ensure her salvation.

  She is taken away and locked within the walls of a monastery where she is told she will remain for the rest of her living days. Put to work as a maid for the church, she does the cleaning, washing, assists in the preparation of meals and serves the monks. She is not to speak, only to be spoken to. She is not allowed to make eye contact with anyone she serves, in case her potential for witchery curses others. Her lonely life continues without pity or love and her heart continually aches for the loss of her mother. Over time, her hair returns to its original length, although it must always be kept in a tidy braid and hidden behind linen.

  One evening, in bed and exhausted yet again from the relentless daily grind of her work, visions flood her mind as she remembers the sight of her mother in the clearing, her legs spread apart as she lay on the surface of a rock, allowing people from the village to kiss her most private parts. She recalls their reverence toward her mother and tries to reconcile this with the teachings of the church she now finds herself confined within.