As they entered a major growth of pine and spruce, the orientation runner regularly looked at his compass. Behind them, they could hear screams of the captured children.
”Let’s stay near that runner. He feels at home.”
”Where do the trapped souls go from here when they get caught?”
”That's a complicated question. First they are transported to a camp not far away, where they are imprisoned. It’s a place recreated by the minds of souls who’ve died in prison camps in different parts of the world.”
”It's certainly not a place where you want to go voluntarily.”
”No, and therefore other souls keep far away from there. Some souls will deny it exists at all, if you asked them. You try to forget things you don’t like, but you’re not always successful.”
Now, there were only a dozen souls left, who fled on. The rest were captured by hunters.
”I wonder if we’ll go free? Maybe they’ve captured enough now?”
”You don’t know how they think, ….if they think about anything at all. Those monsters don’t look very bright.”
They reached a clearing with a high tower of four tree trunks and a platform at the top. Dorrit was panting, heavily.
”I can’t run anymore. I’ll climb up there and hide. Maybe they won’t notice me. Will you come with me, Anders?”
”Ehh... no, not really.”
”Well, I know you fell from a very high place.”
”Yes, exactly. I’d rather avoid heights.”
”You can’t die twice, Anders. That doesn’t happen here.”
”No, but,….. anyway...”
”I know what you mean. You've got a phobia. You can’t just put that behind you. Well, see you later.”
”Yes, Dorrit. Bye.”
”Bye, Anders! Go ahead. You can easily outrun these dumb hunters being a new soul here. Stick by the orientation runner. He knows how to use the woods.”
Anders wanted to go on, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave. Instead, he stayed in the forest around the clearing, where there were some bushes. He hit behind them.
Before long, three of ghost hunters reached the clearing, and they paused and grunted together. The nets were empty and those captured were kept someplace else.
”Krumlyk gwagol smubadir.”
”Plastak nyrakam gory nin maskovar.”
”Maskovar nadi.”
”Maskovar xlut.”
”Xlut, xlut pajokyl.”
Then one of the hunters pointed up towards the tower.
”Klut ragykor muldo.”
”Puti, puti.”
One of the monsters climbed the many steps to the top. He reached up and yelled at Dorrit. Anders saw how she climbed over the railing and threw herself out. Anders was horrified. Could she be hurt? In her state?
However, Dorrit was now seized by one of the hunters standing below. She protested loudly and kicked wildly, but from where he stood, Anders couldn’t hear what she said. The monster’s laughing was loud and jarring.
”Hydr, hydr, hydr.”
”Valmaror skamtyl vraklar.”
”Vraklar dito.”
One of the hunters pointed ahead, but the others shook their heads. Anders hoped it meant what he believed it meant, …..and so it was. The three hunters turned and hurried off with heavy steps back through the woods in the direction from which they had come.
In the semi-darkness of the conifers, Anders could follow them. But he stayed clear of the ghost hunters, so they didn’t notice him.
As the three hunters returned, it seemed that the other hunters had also completed their part of the action. They stood and smoked a pipe with a strange stance, in which the hunters let go from claw to claw while shifting to inhale. In their deep growling voices filled with grunts and sneers, with greenish smoke blown out the hunters mouths, they seemed to laugh at something, which they told each other.
The many child ghosts were tied up and an armed guard with a spear kept watch, so that they didn’t run away. After smoking, one of the hunters signalled to the others, and more spears shooed the prisoners in a specific direction.
Anders followed at a distance. Soon, he saw that they walked along a path near a forest which had a straight open stretch, with some railway tracks which were difficult to spot. The place was almost overgrown with grass having spread from the sides. No doubt his part of the landscape was something that came from the remembrances of one of the lost souls.
After walking a little longer, the team came to a wooden shed beside the track. There was an old signal post, which could signal by raising an arm at the top, usually hanging downwards. Now the signal arm was in the raised position.
Anders suddenly remembered something that he thought came from the time when Dorrit was still with them. Not remembering much from that time, he still believed that his big sister had taught him to hoot like an owl and imitate the call of the cuckoo, so he did that now.
”Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Coo-coo, Coo-coo, Coo-coo...”
Dorrit seemed to recognize the sounds, and shortly after, he could hear the sounds repeated.
”Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Coo-coo, Coo-coo, Coo-coo...”
At a distance, Anders again heard the hunters standing there talking loudly, their blustering interrupted by farts and burps. They laughed and amused themselves by recounting juicy stories of their successful captures to each other.
Shortly after, one could hear a steam whistle, as a small black locomotive drove up to the footboard and stopped. It hauled some wagons with small ventilation hatches up under the arched roof, where air could enter during cattle transports.
There were no cattle in these wagons, but. rather, other trapped souls who were transported further on. A few of the cars had double doors opened in their middles, with inclined ramps with cross-posts put up to the wagons’ bottoms, so child ghosts could be herded into the cart. They were already crowded enough, but evidently, more were to be added to the transport.
Anders called out once again.
”Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Coo-coo, Coo-coo, Coo-coo...”
Again, an answer came from the rear wagon.
”Uhuuu... Uhuuu.. Uhuuu... Uhuuu... Coo-coo, Coo-coo, Coo-coo...”
Then the doors closed again, and sliding locks on the outside ensured that no one could escape. The hunters jumped into a passenger wagon at the front end, and the last creature waved his arm as a signal to the engineer that he could continue.
The loud sound of the train's steam whistle sounded again, and the engine started to move. The captured souls rode away to an uncertain fate.
Anders stood back and watched the train disappear behind a bend, ahead. He felt very alone, and didn’t know what to do...
Chapter 11
CENTRAL STATION
Anders was wandering in Limbo not knowing what to do. There was no organized system in the immense network of sites composed of fragmentary recollected contributions from humans that over time had passed through this indefinable level of existence between the Earth and the hereafter.
The older elements in the maze seemed more faded and worn than the parts from later time, but it was obvious that they were all pale reflections of the environment that existed on Earth at one time or another.
Anders had come into an area ravaged by fires and accidents. It had to be a place with souls from burn victims or some other poor wrecks perished during terrible circumstances. No wonder that some souls involved in these tragic events didn’t manage to free themselves from their terrible earthly destiny and get over to the afterlife the normal way.
Anders went over to a ravaged woman figure who stood searching the ruins of a burnt house.
”Hello.”
The woman looked up at him with blank eyes. He thought he had to show her a little kindness before he asked.
”Can I help?”
”It’s kind of you, but I don’t think so. Who are you?”
�
��My name is Anders. Who are you?”
”My name is Dagmar.”
They shook hands.
“What are you looking for?”
”My little daughter is missing.”
”Should she be here?”
”She might be. It was in a place just like this I saw her last.”
Anders knew it was no use to ask when this loss had taken place, for time meant nothing in this lackluster parallel world.
”What happened?”
”The house was on fire, and I didn’t get Emma with me when I tried to find a way out.”
”How old was she?
”Almost three years.”
”You will probably not find her here. If she is dead, she has safely passed to a soul state in the hereafter. It is most common with young children, I’ve been told.”
”Then I might find her there?”
”That’s my best guess, but of course I can’t say with any certainty. If I had realized that myself, I wouldn’t be here either.”
”You seem kind and polite. Why are you here?”
”I was also with a little girl. My own sister. I fell down a roof and died, leaving her alive. But I know she needs me.”
”Yes, yes. I’ve heard of a case like yours once. A brother separated from a sister to whom he felt very close. Yes, very close.”
”What happened to him?”
”He returned to Earth and went to see her and she could very well sense that he was nearby, but otherwise nothing happened. Not all people are open to signals from the spirit world.”
”So he gave up trying to get in touch with her?”
”No, he didn’t exactly. He became more and more frantic from the separation, so eventually he built up so much tension that he could move things in the physical world.”
”Then his sister probably realized there was a ghost present?”
”Yes, but not that it was his brother. At one point, his actions made his sister have a serious accident, so she also lost her life. Reunited on this level I encounter them from time to time. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Now Anders could bring up his question.
”I was going over to the afterlife, but I don’t feel so detached from my earthly problems that I can get there along the natural path, which requires that you can let go and be transported there automatically.”
”Why are you going to the hereafter? That’s only supposed to work when you are at peace with yourself.”
”There’s something serious I have to point out. The soul of my older sister has been caught by ghost hunters, and that makes me worry even more.”
”Ghost hunters? Yes, I’ve heard of them.”
”So they don’t come by here?”
”No, they seem to prefer the souls of children and young people who may be more attractive for some reason.”
”She told me that there was a dimensional portal somewhere up at the station.”
”The station?”
”There should be a place where the Heavenly Express passes by.”
“It must be the whistle that can be heard here once in a while.”
”Then I suppose it’s not so far away?”
”No, it has to be somewhere over there.”
The woman pointed in a certain direction.
”You don’t want to go with me?”
”You think I should?”
”Yes, I do. Your daughter is safe in the afterlife now. To feel bad because you think that you’ll never be able to save her, leads nowhere. It does no good to feel guilty about something that wasn’t your fault.”
”Maybe you're right.”
”It's just a suggestion.”
”Then I’ll go with you.”
The two souls walked together for a while. Then Dagmar stopped.
”Let's pass around this place.”
”What is it?”
”We’ve come to a place where there are a number of scammers and criminals. It's best to avoid getting entangled with them.”
”They probably only have limited power in their present state, right?”
”Maybe, but they can entice or threaten someone to help them with something unpleasant or demeaning. It delays the process of making up with the past. Some of these souls have been here for centuries.”
Dagmar and Anders slipped away and hid behind bushes and hills in the countryside. Farther along, they could make out a work crew of prisoners in the distance, about to chop and dig while some armed guards kept an eye on them.
Later, they noticed a cluster of houses that resembled a small town.
”I think those houses over there belong to a settlement around the station.”
Dagmar seemed to be right, for shortly after, they could hear a train whistle and it didn’t sound so far away.
The two hikers went directly towards the sound of the whistle. Before long, they reached a slope which overlooked an excavation which had a long straight railroad track leading away from its bottom.
”We can follow the trail in the direction of the town. Then we’ll reach the station.”
They came to a marshalling yard with various old, discarded wagons. Some of them, painted with graffiti, had stayed there for a long time. The tracks were almost overgrown with grass and the rails were rusty.
After a moment, they met a track worker who was investigating a switch. He might well have been onto something.
”Was it the Heavenly Express we heard just now?”
He looked up.
”Yes, it was on its way to Earth. It just had a wagon attached with coal destined for the underworld, which is the terminus. Should you have been on it?”
”No, we don’t have reservations.”
”You can get reservations and tickets up at the station building. It's over there.”
The track worker pointed as he puffed on his shag pipe.
”There should also be a dimensional portal to the afterlife, right?”
”It's true. It’s just to the right on the platform, but reserved for staff use. And I take it you aren’t staff.”
”No, but we must report some management irregularities.”
”Irregularities? That doesn’t sound nice. Can that be true?”
Anders tried to explain himself.
”Ghost patrols strike and capture innocent souls by sudden assaults at selected locations. Are you familiar with those activities?”
”Oh no. Then we’d have to submit reports in several copies to the appropriate authorities.”
”So that’s not a normal behavior?”
”By no means. That kind of activity certainly doesn’t belong here. If such extreme actions were decided upon from top management, necessary orders would then be circulated well in advance so that officers and staff know what rules to follow. It hasn’t occurred, and there haven’t been any postings anywhere mentioning it in our newsletter.”
”I thought so. Then these are unregulated activities. We have decided to report them.”
”We must send a complaint to their management.”
”That’s not fast enough. Something substantial must be done, to stop that as soon as possible.”
”You're probably right. I’ll go up there with you.”
The track worker quickly finished his inspection. Then the trio went over to the station building, which emerged into view when they passed some sheds and tie stacks.
”I don’t actually know if the dimensional elevator works anymore. We usually organize things to fit with regular departures of the Heavenly Express, and we have free pass to transport. The trip takes a lot longer, though, but we don’t usually care much about time. What we did not get done yesterday, will be done tomorrow.”
Anders was concerned.
”Of course we know nothing about the seriousness of this, but surely it must be disturbing when there is something one does not know, especially when a large number of innocent souls and even children are involved.”
”No dou
bt you’re right, but maybe there’s a higher meaning to it we don’t know about. Here in Limbo, things aren’t so closely watched, with most souls allowed to proceed at the pace they now find natural. That often results in their coming to a realization which encourages them to take further steps through the system. A more systematic handling of souls at this level has been considered, though, because I’m told that there’s a shortage of skilled soul material in the Seventh Sky.”
”All the more reason to draw attention to this irregularity.”
”Absolutely. I think we should go in and inform the station master.”
The three of them arrived at the station and went up onto the platform.
”You can come this way.”
The track worker led them through the waiting room into the stationmaster's office. The stationmaster was reviewing some work lists.
”So it's you, Larry. What can I do for you?”
”My two companions here are the ones who need help. Dagmar and Anders.”
”Hello. Just call me Elmer.”
They returned the greeting.
”Can I help you?”
Elmer put the note sheets down on the old dark desk with carvings and panels.
”We need to go to the afterlife fast! There seems to be an urgent matter that needs immediate action taken.”
”Oh, what a predicament. What about using the telegraph?”
”Telegraph? No, it’s best we report it in person. There are a lot of details to explain.”
Larry added.
”They've heard about the Dimensional Elevator.”
Elmer’s eyes cleared up, but then his gaze darkened.
”It's true. But I wonder though, if it still works.”
”Why shouldn’t it work?”
Anders started getting impatient. The station master explained.
”It has to do with a hubbub the top brass is involved in, regarding reconstruction. It's a hassle. We sure hope that kind of rationalization doesn’t spread. Here things are running the way they always have. And there is, after all, a kind of certainty to that. Would you like a malt candy?”
Paragon- Ghost Hunters Page 9
