by D. J. Holmes
Daniel’s caution to Jon threw a new fear into his heart as he thought, “How can I protect Julia if she doesn’t even remember who I am?” In a complete state of frustration and confusion he doesn’t wait to pack his bags.
“Daniel, do you have a car that I can use?”
“Yes, we have several cars, Jon. Go to the North side of the Beach House. Treysen will have a car ready for you.” Jon turns around and begins running as fast as he can.
“Remember what I told you, Jon,” Daniel yells. Jon raises his hand in acknowledgment to Daniel.
Rounding the corner to the North side of the Beach House, he sees Treysen standing with the car door of a black suburban open for him.
“Thank you, Treysen.”
Leaving as fast as he can, Jon completely forgets about the possibility that Flying Eagle could still be around. His only concern is for the safety of the woman that he has loved for so long.
The sound of a car driving down the highway so quickly catches Flying Eagle’s attention. His strategic point, high on the cliff, made it possible for him to see anyone coming through the portal.
This portal was a passage-way. A visual distortion twisted and folded along the edges, much like a mirage, or an optical illusion, where refractions appear between dimensions of time.
It was through this portal, that only those who had permission could pass back and forth from the Beach House, which was in one dimension, to the world, which was in another dimension.
Throughout his life, Flying Eagle has had enough experience recognizing the disturbance of a portals optical illusion. The speed the car is going sends out a feeling of great determination, conveying a type of alert signal to Flying Eagle. “This must be Julia or Evan.” He decides to follow it.
While Jon is still in route to her apartment, Julia and Henry have finished eating their dinner.
“The meal that you fixed was delicious, Julia,” Henry remarked.
“Thank you, Henry. I really enjoyed hearing you play my piano while I was cooking. Do you think that maybe someday you could teach me those piano pieces?”
“As your old piano teacher, I would love to continue teaching you piano, Julia. Do you remember the day….”
Julia interrupts, “You taught me piano?”
Realizing his mistake, Henry quickly rephrases what he has just said. “What I meant to say, is that I would love to teach you someday. Just let me know when you have time, ok?” Henry smiles, silently hoping that she would remember the good times they had when she was at her grandmothers, when as her piano teacher Henry Mannox, he would play his piano pieces and she would dance to them. Her blank stare told him that she remembered nothing. After all that was then and this was now.
“I’ll let you know, Henry.” Unexpectedly Julia yawns and then looks up at Henry, “I’m sorry, but for some reason, I’m really tired. Would you mind if we call it a night?”
“Not at all, it’s time for me to go, anyway.”
“Henry, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for bringing me home.”
“It was nice seeing you again. Good bye for now.”
“…Again?” Julia says to herself. But she is so tired that she decides not to explore what Henry has just said, and sees him to the door.
Jon has almost arrived at Julia’s apartment. He continues to think only of Julia, never noticing that a car has been following him.
Henry pulls out of the underground garage, parking across the street from Julia’s apartment, waiting for Jon to arrive.
Minutes later, Jon parks his car on the road across from Henry and walks over to the other suburban. Holding out his hand, Jon says “Hello. My name is Jon. Are you the one that brought, Julia, to her apartment?”
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you, sir. My name is Henry. Julia is taking a nap right now.”
“Henry…Henry, you seem familiar. Do I know you?”
“No, Jon, we never saw each other, but you have probably heard of me. I use to give Julia piano lessons when she was young. I’ll explain it all to you someday. Right now I have to get back to the Beach House. Take care of her, all right?”
“You can be sure of that, Henry. Will we both see you again?” Jon asks.
“Yes, we will all meet again. Good-bye for now.”
Jon decides to get back into his suburban so that he can watch the outside of Julia’s apartment. Within two minutes he sees a car drive by with an American Indian in the driver’s seat.
“I wonder if that is Flying Eagle.” Jon says to himself.
Flying Eagle continues to drive by a couple of times looking up toward Julia’s apartment, not noticing that Jon is sitting in a black suburban across the street.
Finally, he stops and parks his car. As he is getting out he looks across the street and sees Jon looking at him. Quickly sitting back down into his car, he promptly drives off.
“Flying Eagle,” Jon says to himself.
While Flying Eagle is gone, Jon decides to move the suburban he is sitting in to the underground garage. He wants to find a place where he can hide and still watch Julia’s apartment. A few hours go by and nothing happens.
With Henry gone, Daniels words come back to Jon. “She won’t remember you Jon, as soon as Henry leaves since she didn’t come to the Beach House through the Hall of Corridors.”
“He couldn’t risk scaring Julia, by going to her apartment. He is however, worried about her safety. Finally, he sees a pizza delivery car.
“That’s it!” he says to himself.
Going up to the cleverly decorated car he asks, “Do you have any extra pizzas?”
“Today is your lucky day, sir. A customer just decided that he didn’t want a pizza. It’s pepperoni. Would you like it?” the delivery boy asks.
“Yes. How much is it?”
“…Five Dollars.”
“Ok, here’s a ten dollar bill if you will deliver it, and then come back and tell me how the person that you deliver it to is doing?”
“What’s the matter, girl problems?” the delivery boy questions.
“Yes, girl problems. Will you deliver it?”
“Yes sir. For that price, I’ll give you two pizzas.”
“One is fine. Just tell me how she’s doing.”
Jon gives the delivery boy Julia’s apartment number, and tells him to say that Evan paid for it. The delivery boy walks up the stairs and rings the door bell.
“Pizza delivery,” he yells.
“I didn’t order any pizza,” she replies through the door.
“Evan paid for it and asked me to deliver it.”
Julia opens the door. “That, Evan, he’s always doing something for me.”
“He wants me to ask you how you are doing.”
“Tell him, I’m fine and ask him to please call me.”
The pizza delivery boy goes back to Jon. “She’s fine and asked me to have you call her.”
“Thank you, very much. I’ll order pizza from you from now on,” he says with a smile.
Throughout the rest of the night everything is very quiet. Concerned about Julia’s welfare, Jon continues to watch the outside of her apartment, just in case Flying Eagle decides to return.
Inside her apartment, after eating the pizza, and sleeping through the night, Julia wakes up and begins to think about the dream that she has had.
She begins to ask herself, “What was that dream all about, anyway? Did it have a meaning? What am I supposed to learn from it? I know that I was there. I felt it. Was it an out of body experience? Well, whatever it was, I have to get ready for work now, or I’m going to be late.”
At her department desk, she can’t get her mind off of her dream. Her co-worker looks at her strangely, and then cautiously asks her, “Are you ok?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I just had a weird dream last night.”
“What was it about?” her co-worker asked her.
“I’ll tell you because we’re friends. But please don’t tell anyone else, because it sounds a little strange.”
“When have I told anyone what you have told me?”
“It’s just between me and you, right?” Julia continues to question.
“It’s just between me and you,” her friend reassures her.
“While I was asleep last night, I had a dream that was so real it seemed that I was there, that I could see through my own eyes, the ax that would shortly separate my head from my body.”
Her friend’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything, and Julia continues. “I was kneeling with my head on a wood block. My arms were down by my side and behind me. I looked up to my left, and I saw a man with his arms stretched high above his head, holding an ax. I instinctively felt… no, I actually knew within my heart, that he was going to use all of his strength to sever my neck from my body, with one slice.”
Her friend couldn’t hold it back any longer. “You what?” she explained shocked, with her jaw completely dropped. Finally closing her mouth, she continued, “Ok, let me get this straight! You actually saw this?”
“Yes, through my own eyes, the eyes of the woman who was going to be beheaded. I was looking through her eyes. I felt like I was her. I was there! And at that same moment, my whole being had the understanding that my husband had ordered this. It was a kind of out-of-body experience. Have you ever had any of those experiences?” Julia questioned.
“No, I can’t say that I have,” her friend said in disbelief.
“I guess it’s something that you have to experience to understand it,” Julia quietly states. Then she asks, “Do you think that I’m crazy?”
“No.” Her friend answers taking a breath while looking at Julia, “But maybe you should take a few days off.”
“Maybe so,” Julia replied, looking down to the floor.
After asking for the afternoon off, Julia begins walking home, when she notices someone following her. Going into a Bakery, the stranger follows her in, pretending to look at the donuts.
“Maybe he’s hungry,” she thinks.
Walking slowly down the sidewalk she decides to look at some lingerie. While she is looking, she notices the same gentleman that was in the Bakery, was now in the Lingerie shop.
“Maybe he has a girlfriend or wife. Maybe that’s why he’s here.”
The next shop that she decides to stop in is a health food store. After purchasing some products, Julia looks around the store. “Ah, the same man is not in here, thank goodness. Maybe I’m overreacting.” Yet, as she leaves the store she notices the same man leaning against a lamp post, reading a newspaper.
Julia begins to panic. “I’ve got to learn to believe my instincts. I’m not overreacting. It’s the same man.”
When Julia finally arrives at her apartment, she double locks her door and looks out of all her windows to see if she can see the person that has been following her.
Meanwhile, back at the Beach House, Daniel has gone to check on Evan.
“How are you doing, Evan?”
“I feel well enough to go, Daniel. I need to help Jon and Julia. Please, you’ve got to let me go.”
“Henry has just returned and he told me about a great meal that Julia had cooked for him.”
“She knows how to cook?” Evan asks surprised.
“…Apparently.”
“I’ll have to have her cook me a meal when I get back there.”
“If you feel like you are strong enough, you can leave first thing in the morning. Just make sure that you don’t overdo it.”
“Thank you, Daniel. I’m anxious to make sure that Julia is protected from, Flying Eagle.”
