Two people meeting by chance can be a common occurrence. In any time of your life, what would be the possibility of two different worlds accidentally crossing? Would they both feel alive and real? The next time you see a shadow moving, ask yourself that question? Especially after you stop look around and see nothing. Was it true or a slice in time?
During the early 1950's, many a small town struggles to survive. One of these is located on the outskirts of a vast wasteland. Two people were sitting in their general store, talking about their twenty year old son, Nigel. For some unknown reason he was becoming controlled by the forces of darkness. They noticed how much his normal functions slowed down, especially during the days when the sun was the brightest. He had this strange by product of depression, only during the daylight hours. Both his sleeping and eating habits became modified. In fact to the point of losing his appetite. But once the sunset, he became a new person.
With the advent of darkness his attitude instantly changed by becoming elated with many new energetic functions. Slowly he turned nocturnal, but the real reason why his body reacted like that never came to light. His ability to enjoy the fraction of incidental color during the darkness was almost sinister. Nigel had learned the ability to move through the night without anyone seeing his features, this almost made him obscure.
Living in total darkness became his normal lifestyle. With this, it became hard for him to look at any shiny objects, especially during the day time hours. Wearing dark heavy glasses helped him shield his ever increasing sensitive eyes. Day blindness as it was called, was extremely unique, which he accepted, but his parents could not. Gradually he disappeared from their day world by moving out into the open desert. There was little that his parents could do about his new lifestyle.
Ironically through some balance of faith, another world co-existed. It occupied the same physical living area, but only in total darkness. Existing not to far from the same settlement, a fine young looking woman, named Lara kept walking outside in the wilderness of her life. She was extremely active and full of vigor, because darkness was the energetic part of her day.
Lara’s society was invisible to any other life forms, except for their own people. Their skin reflected all the normal beams of identification. Because of this, they believed that any other “normal human existence” would be impossible. She worked hard to understand the joy and glitter of this mystery, called daylight. This became her only motivation of life. She started seeing enhanced images of what she thought were a new world. She learned to accept that the brightness of her day (darkness) in general masked her vision of life beyond.
Nigel and Lara were two different living elements, yet both lived in the same spectrum of time. Separated only by the concept that their two diverging visions would never cross. But for some chance or imperfection, they were able to visualize enough of each others respective worlds. Lara's world fell into the infrared region. When viewed by others, only a faint shadow would be seen against the distant images. Now for the leading question. How did these two humans existence continue without any interruption for both societies? Now you might ask yourself which world is normal.
The landscape opens in the great desert, where time never had a chance to recover. This appalling sun baked earth felt more like a transient inferno, and yet a mist of anis mint fragrance weaved itself throughout the area. Darkness blended within the shadows of the night. The savored desert revealed the heart of what was once considered an ancient land. Out in this wilderness an old dust covered wagon appeared across the peaceful horizon. It was cloudy and gray in early morning, before the sun reached into view.
Not far from this lonely desert location, Lara was having a hard time trying to sleep. She started getting strange images during her night as the sun reached between the clouds. These visualizations propagated through the many forms of turbulent motions. Sitting up, she knew for some reason it was harder today for her not to sleep during the brightness of her night. Having the ability to withstand the damaging exposure of this spectrum (the sun), did not give her any contentment. The disadvantage was, it would leave her almost without a physical form. Knowing that she could blend within these diverse elements of nature was easy. What made it hard, she could become lost, and that did not help her relax.
Finally Lara decided to get up. For some rationale, she wanted to go out into the night (sun) and leave the security of her dwelling. Gathering some of her items she was ready, but at the last minute a fear of the night (light) became overpowering. Then she forced herself to open the door, to her surprise it was still her daytime (dusk). She felt the increased breeze while pacing her stride. At the same time particles of sand bounced off her hardened skin. Her pace increased as she glided through the shadows of time. Knowing it was really night time even though it was not bright and that confused her, but she was content to be outside.
Lara sat down enjoying the dusk of her night. While being only a short distance from a covered wagon. Her concentration was quickly broken. When thunder and lightning crisscrossed the dark sky. It opened the galaxy with new designs of the heavens. Without any warning rain covered the area. Her body was unprotected as the heavy clouds quickly and suddenly produced a downpour of intense rain. She couldn't move quickly enough. Panic set in. Water was never allowed to touch her life and here she was soaking wet. Running for cover Lara used the nearby wagon as she hide under to avoid any more water. Unknown to her, Nigel was sleeping in the same covered wagon, which for some reason kept motionless.
In the interior of the covered wagon Nigel was experiencing an out of the ordinary vision. He saw the dancing spirits coming in from the remote desert. Trying hard to focus, he could not make out any of the facial features. As they came closer he saw each dancer was adorned with a colorful mask that covered their faces. The beating drums became louder. For some unknown reason he recognized the clear stomping of feet. He felt the vibration through the vast area as it reached inside his wagon.
Then something had changed, some unknown reason Nigel saw one single image that drew him like a force into the center of this activity. He tried hard to focus, but all he could make out was a blur. His spirit drew him in and he began dancing with a vision of a woman. Not being able to recognize or distinguish this fact at the time, but what he felt on his head was a headdress of feathers. He remained motionless waiting while the female body moved in a slow deliberate dance. He felt a broad beaming smile penetrating into his vision. Then without warning, this spirit reached through the mist of his senses. A hand came forward. His body felt a fresh emotional desire as he grabbed the hand. Then another vision was racing through he mind visualizing as he jumped out of the wagon so he could follow this enchanted spirit right into the center of all the activity.
Nigel started dancing like a hardened native performer. The rest of his garments changed into a multi colored tapestry type blanket. Hanging over his shoulders was a weave of brown white material. While dancing, for unknown reason he was transformed into a new symbolism of native chanting. Moving within this thunderous beat, he could only see the many hands beating on the tops of the drums.
Then a massive roar broke between him and the moving images. As a bright spike of light fell into the ground striking close to his feet. This briefly blinded him. He quickly covered his face, but it didn't reduce the pain. Rolling in the sand, he was hurting and his sensitive eyes burned like never before.
Next in this experience the wagon began to rock and roll. Nigel’s reaction was quick as he jolted up. Panic was pouring from his forehead and face. His hands began to drip with perspiration. Looking around, all he saw was darkness. Then a massive clap of thunder rocketed throughout the vastness of the region. Wild winds tossed the wagon back and forth. As the gale winds increased, water droplets started to bounce off his tight cover. Inside his body moved from side to side. At first he thought that the sound was coming from the mystery drum beat of his dream. Standing was impossible, because the motion kept him pinned down. For a brief instant he was able to focus through the opening of his cover. All he could see was extended darkness.
Then a succession of bright spikes brightened the skies as lightning reached down touching earth. The first set of discharges came close to hitting the wagon. Incitingly he covered his face, forcing himself to stand while trying to hold on. It was too late another flash bounced through the small opening and blinded him again. The reaction was instant, as he dropped to the floor with pain. A heavy down pour followed with lesser blinding flashes going off into the distance. Keeping his face covered did little to prevent what he sensed through his sensitive vision. Finally he had to lay down on his familiar bunk waiting for this summer phenomena to end.
One hour passed and he could finally stand and walked to the opening, stuck his head outside it was filled with dark clouds. For some reason different images began moving in and out of focus. The morning sun's rays faintly penetrated the horizon of this flat escarpment and it did not effect his vision. Then the same rays started to dance around his wagon. Sometimes they were close enough to be touched, but when he wanted to move closer everything became instantly blurred. The local turbulence began to act up reducing his ability to see. Yet he felt the pulsating heat waves coming at him from a distance. With this a brilliant colored sand script opened right before his eyes.
Panic hit him as he rapidly turned around, closed the back cover, and sat down to rest. Normally this was his time for sleeping, but this morning he kept awake. Placing his head between his hands he began to think. The morning brightness should have increased, but it stayed dark.
Almost like a giant curtain covered what would have been the beginning of a new day and with that light become visible. Instantly all surrounding motion ceased. All this was captured like a single sweep of a magical movement. A refraction of the sun's corona formed, as night continued its domination of the earth below.
Under the covered wagon Lara could not understand the volume of the downpour. It caught her by surprise, because her natural body had normal trapped particles for her survival. The water began cleansing her body to a new level. What emerged, from that processes was a new youthful appearance. This became a novel sensation that was never apparent in her life cycle. It was hard to believe that this fresh looking female was at a matured age of eighty. A new surface sensation emerged deep from within her body. She started running her hands up and down on her wet skin. These feelings that it generated had been dormant for a life time. Her plain drab brown colored clothing started attaching itself to her new youthful developed figure. Slowly this shrinking force began squeezing her forcefully.
Some of the particles of her clothing began flowing from her body. She looked down on her wet feet, with concern. Yet the coolness of the water became like a sedative in her mind and at the same time, she started feeling immaculately pure. For some reason her spirit became one and with that she tried to relax, because she felt trapped until the rain stopped. Even on the rough rocky moist ground, she fell asleep.
Nigel slept never knowing that he had a guest underneath. At the same tine those visions of dancing spirits continued. One hour later, he woke startled and listened, everything felt strangely at peace. Looking around, he had expected that light would have dominated the area, but for some unknown reason it remained dark. Getting up, he jumped out of his secure home landing on the dry powdery earth. He had a hard time believing that this very surface had been wet with rain. Circling the vastness of the open sandscape, looking for some clue of what it could have been like, years past. Then an eerie feeling came over his body. He remembered that it started with his dreams. The pain of lighting with rushing water and then nothing.
Talking quietly, how could the sand consume all that water so quickly? Looking around all he could see for miles was darkness. Realizing that ancient people once lived here, increased his search for some memory of their past lifestyle. Excitement overcame him as he aimlessly viewed this extraordinary new darkness. Nigel knew that few people really cared what happened in the past. Walking around, he had an eerie sense that he wasn't alone. With his keen night vision, he was able to see beyond the many primitive landforms. Unknown to Nigel, under the covered wagon a faint almost human form laid resting in her dream world.
Walked back toward the wagon, his vision sensors began to feel a distant shadow moving. Was this another part of his dream? The closer he came the sharper the shadow became. Stopping short of the wheel, he began to focus on the object. For some reason, he had a difficult time. Then without warning a gust of wind blew particles of sand through the area. Before he could wipe his eyes the veil of dullness cleared instantly. A sharp pain caused him to focus on what was once a faint shadow became the vision of a beautiful woman.
Her invisible radiating source reflected a strange power, that added to his already burning sensation. Enduring the pain so he could see this once in a life time vision. He felt this new radiant beauty was worth the torment, in order to maintain the vision.
Lara’s clothes had tightened as she looked around feeling all alone. Her vision remained limited. Finding this experience somewhat unique helped her cope with the events of the storm. Her skin kept reacting while her clothing continued shrinking. What was bothersome; it felt like her body was expanding. Small sections of her unique skin began breaking off, causing her an uncomfortable feeling. (This was characteristic of peeling sunburn after a few days for a normal human body.) Trying hard to shed her clothing became impossible, because what remained had fuzzed to her body. What was once a soft and comfortable covering, turned hard and painful.
While off in a distance a strange vision began moving closer to her. It had the appearance of a shadow. But what she didn't know, it was that long awaiting new life form she had been dreaming of. The inflammation didn't help her image concentration. Closing her eyes, she thought that maybe it might be an illusion, but the shadow changed into a figure and it kept moving closer.
Opening her eyes and at the same time she tried to move from under the wagon. The shadow cast an image toward her as she remained in the resting manner. A new fear began to build in her mind. She had never seen anything in her civilization that resembled this type of life form. The form stopped knelled down right in front of her shaking body. Lara had a hard time distinguishing what it could be. Then a quick gust of sand covered her body.
With the sand in her eyes, she was able to see clearly. There stood what looked like a male life form. But for some reason it was different. New fears build in her mind. She thought, what was happening to me? This is not a part of my world.
Quietly with guarded concern she spoke, “who are you?”
Nigel wondered where that strange high pitched audible sound was coming from. Straining, he faintly saw what could have been a small figure, hidden in the shadow. It had an extremely familiar shape to it and with that, he guessed it could be a very frightened young women.
Lara moved out from under the wagon and appeared into view. Being scared, she repeated her question. “Who are you?”
Nigel moved back and stood there with a soft caring voice, “My name is Nigel. Are you alright?
She heard a deep low sound coming from this figure form. Thinking to her self, it looks like a man. The sensations she felt from him were friendly. His radiant energy impression was not a part of her normal language dialect. Straining helped to distinguish some of the words, but it used up a lot of her energy. Very reluctantly she responded, “I am fine.” Pointing to the underside of the wagon, “Your shelter came in handy. Especially with the heavy down pour, I had no choice but to seek cover.”
She was now having some difficulty focusing. Her eyes started blurring as the excessive water had absorbed the sand in her eyes and it began irritating her sight.
“Glad to hear that it was useful. By the way my name is Nigel”
“Nigel is a strange title.”
“I was given that at birth and it is not considered a title. What is your name?
“Lara, the princess of the sand.”
“A real live princess. Do I bow before you?” Bending down with his head looking up.
“You are truly strange. No, you need not bow. It is only a name. All our people have titles.
“If you are a princess of the sand, why were you lost? Plus you look like you got yourself dreadfully wet.”
“I was out of my element when the storm hit and that confused my senses.”
Nigel looked at her but continued, “I had no idea you were under my wagon. Would you like to dry out?”
A wagon, now it became clear, she finally remembered why it was familiar. In her early childhood, around the 1880's, this form of transportation was used to haul mining supplies back and forth from the local camps into the mountains. With noticeable pain she stretched her body and carefully started walking. With every step, her more of her clothing began to fall apart. Not only did part peel off, but all the material started falling off her figure.
Nigel’s sight started clearing and he was able to focus on her body. Now he saw her clearly, it was indeed a woman. But there still was something different about her appearance.
She continued talking that broke Nigel’s concentration. “The wetness started to reduce my protective covering. My clothing was never designed for these condensation properties. Or in fact for any type of moisture. Foolishly I got myself caught in this silent extraordinary storm.
“I don't understand? Rain is not considered a strange storm. It is natural and necessary for our lives.” Nigel watched her walk in pain and wanting to help her. Offering her the opportunity to change into some of his clothes. She reluctantly accepted his recommendation. As her movement started she tried to hide her sever body aches. Nigel had no idea the pain she was experiencing. To him everything was normal.
“Yes, I found that out the hard way.
“Oh by the way, what brings you out in this isolated region? I never knew anyone lived out here.
“I live close, its not far from here.” Pointing towards the land of sand beyond.
“Strange, I never saw any type of buildings or activity for miles around here.” Nigel thought about that while walking over to the wagon. Opening the heavy cloth covering at the back section. She tried to take that big step up. But began having a hard time. Nigel grabbed her arm and she started to teeter and lost her balance. He supported her weight and with that pushed her in. He couldn't believe how rough her skin was. In fact it was almost scaly. Nothing like he had ever experienced before. Having touched her clothing, caused the material to fall apart more. She had struggled with all energy to go inside and with that movement her clothing fall off almost completely. A strange pigmented body started appearing. Not knowing what to make of all this, Nigel began to think. What is really going on here? Lara, are you all right? You still look soaking wet. His hands had brown and gold cloth residue all over them. He tried hard to wipe them clean on his pants, while he spoke. “Would you like to change into some of my clothes?” Feeling awkward asking that type of question, because her body was starting to become more revealing. Reaching for one of his blankets. He threw it to her.
She smiled a little for the first time, being almost relaxed. “Yes, if I could only get the remaining clothing off. Catching the blanket, she wrapped it around her body. The softness of the material worked like a giant sponge. It removed the moisture almost instantly. Her burning skin was no longer an issue. Feeling a lot better and relaxed, she began to ask some questions. “What form are you?”
Nigel started feeling that there was something odd about all her question especially with the different dialect. The more she spoke, the further he began to wonder why she seemed so different. “Lara, I am not sure what you mean, by form. What kind of forms are there?
Lara stopped and thought about his reply and asked another question. “Nigel, how come you are out here all alone, in the great desert of all time?”
“I came out here to perform scientific research.”
“What kind of research would anyone perform in the land of nothing?
“Measure the effects of darkness on all living elements. For instance, normal light has a spectrum that can cause damage to different types of living plant life. Especially those sensitive to darkness.”
“Sounds interesting and scientific, but I don't understand what you mean by light.”
Nigel was puzzled and confused by her reaction to the meaning of light sensitivity. It started to appear to him that she never knew daylight existed and that peaked his interest. “You mean to tell me you have never seen daylight?”
“That is true our society is forbidden to investigate that strange phenomenon, because we are all forced to sleep once darkness leaves the heavens.”
Thinking for a second, “I don't understand what you mean by forced? Do you mean to tell me, daylight is your night and darkness is your day?”
“Yes, our bodies have been conditioned to live for the night. With that we have a critical need to avoid any and all types of intense rays. This includes stars or whatever would produce luminosity, even to the point of reflections off shinny matter.”
Nigel looked at her moving in closer. This distracted his thinking. He did notice her body had strangely recovered from the down pour. He was amazed at her ability to get dry so quickly. “Let me get this straight. Any form of light is forbidden.”
“Not so much forbidden, more like life threatening for our survival.”
Now he was really having a problem understanding what was going on. She stood right in front of him smiling. Nigel said, “It looks like you appear dry. It even your clothes have relaxed and are no longer falling apart. In fact they almost seem to be renewed. How can that be?”
Lara dropped the blanket next to him and intentionally touched his arm. Her action was unexpected. Then she stopped momentarily because it felt dreadfully soft and smooth. “Nigel, how come your skin feels so soft? How do you maintain it? You defiantly are not a typical opposite.”
Nigel began thinking, why is she asking those outlandish questions. At the same time he became interested in finding out where she really came from. “I use soap and water. What do you use?
Lara was in shock. Soap and water, this life form is really from the other world. Becoming confused but at the same time she didn't want give herself away. “We use this abrasive mixture. Pointing to the vast wasteland of sand.
Now he knew something was not right. “There is nothing out there but sand, mountain ranges, and sand dunes. He could tell by his statement that she was not capable of responding to his questions. Then he had another thought. “Would you like something warm to drink or eat?
“You mean that you don't consume your nourishment by the pill?”
“What pills? We have many different eatables. Would you care to try some? I have dried meat and potato chips.” Opening the bag, as the aroma reached into Lara's senses. He said in a sarcastic manner, “I am sure your pills don't taste anything like this dried meat or chips.
“No, thank you.”
He popped some chips into his mouth. The crunching sound exploded in her ears. “Are you sure?”
She stooped down and asked, “How can you keep food out here? There is nothing but sand and cactus. I remember once, we had to eat some of these cacti. No, I am not interested in trying what you call food. Thank you for all the hospitality. You know I have to be going before . . .” She moved so quickly that Nigel briefly saw her jump out and disappeared in front of him before he blinked the irritating sand out of his eyes.
Nigel knew she had to be between those many sand duns and sand particles. He stopped because his eyes began to irritate him he began rubbing but it did not help. Searching for any clues but the wagon was empty. Jumping out, he looked around he could not find any trace of her. He gave up trying to catch her, because everything around him remained blurred. After what felt like hours but it was less than a minute he was able to stare at the open land of sand and found nothing. Now he could tell that the sun's rays were working hard to break out of the cloud cover. At the same time the evening darkness started setting in. It was the end of another day but for some reason it felt like a slice in time passed him. Could it be a dream, because he felt like he woke in it? Shaking his head, sand started falling off his shoulders, and clothing. Trying hard to understand what really happened to him during the last few hours. Nothing made sense.
He jumped back inside the wagon and picked up the blanket off the floor. It was soaking wet and he felt creepy. What was odd about all this he couldn't understand how that happened? Checking his water barrel, but there was no leak. Nothing unusual, everything was dry inside. Yet for some reason he could still see small impressions of wet foot prints tracking through the wagon. They disappeared at the edge of the wagon. Then there was nothing but open desert. He couldn't figure out caused these events.
Moving to the back of his wagon opening, he looked into what should have been the sunset. Night as he knew it was about to begin. But deep inside his mind he was trying hard to understand what today was all about. For some reason, the remaining few minutes created a sadness, which made him feel weak. He never experienced that type of feeling before. Wondering how long he would experience this emotion, before he would regain his strength.
Somewhere out in the desert Lara was reluctantly walking toward her home, also trying to understand the strange images she had visualized? Her eyes became normal. She knew that a pink skinned form could never have propagated through her spectrum. Normally she would have dismissed any of these experiences, but for some reason today everything felt real. She was convinced that there had to be another form of turbulent motion out there. Then like a signal, she became tired. At first she thought her strength would last long enough to make it home, but at the last minute a strange new weakness took over. Resting more than ever before, she almost became without a physical form. Her ability to blend within the diverse elements increased. She could not get out of her mind that maybe just maybe, this rare pink skinned male could have been real. Trying to forget all those visions, she held her head up high. Breathing and trying to enjoy this new freshness of her day (darkness). Then a cool chill blew through the open canyons of her mind. It became incredibly dark, and her day was in full swing. She got up and began to walk aimlessly, heading toward what she believed was her lonely room. Approaching those giant cave like doors, that opened automatically and with that she disappeared inside.
Two strangers meeting by chance is common. But what would be the possibility of two different worlds accidentally crossing? Would they both feel real? Ask yourself that very question the next time you see a shadow moving. Especially when you stop, look and see nothing. Was it real or was it your imagination?
Pieces of Eight, Part III is a collection of eight novellas to complement the eight in Pieces of Eight, Pieces of Eight, Part II and Pieces of Eight, Part IV.
Pegasus is the symbol of wisdom and inspiration. This book, although a dystopia, is meant to inspire people to search for a greater future through wisdom. We have the technology to create a Garden of Eden here on Earth, if only we are wise enough to
A Slice In Time © 2010
