Little Eden

by KT King

  Suddenly, Sophie appeared in the doorway looking dishevelled. Her hair was a mess and her pyjamas were skew-whiff. She had just awoken from a vision dream.

  Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw her sister standing in the shadows.

  Sophie, half asleep, yawned and said earnestly, “You have to go and see if Robert is okay!”

  They both just looked at her.

  “Immediately! Now!” Sophie urged. “I had a dream. Stella isn’t at the hospital to protect him. Melanie is going to try and kill him. Tonight!”

  “It was just a nightmare,” Jack told her, as he draped his duvet over her to keep her warm. “It’s understandable, with everything up in the air like this. Your fear just got into your dreams, that’s all.”

  Sophie shook her head. “It was too vivid for a dream. It was one of those dreams that isn’t a dream, if you know what I mean? It was a vision-dream.”

  Jack shook his head, but Lucy nodded.

  “I dreamt that Alice was in danger and then she was!” Lucy said. “If Sophie dreamt that Robert is in danger, then he is! And besides, I felt we should go too. We must go and see if Robert is alright! Come on Jack, please?”

  Jack shrugged, he could see that the two girls would not give it up until he had agreed, and he had learnt over the years that they never gave up. “Okay! Okay!” he said, gesturing with his hands in the air. “I’ll go and climb through a window or something! But you two stay here!”

  “I’m coming!” Lucy said, adamantly. “And don’t try to stop me, old boy!”

  Chapter 27

  ~ * ~

  Sophie and Lucy were not wrong about Robert being in danger!

  So far, Melanie’s spirit had found herself barred from his hospital room by the combination of the power of Stella’s love for Robert and the prayer circle, which was still holding vigil 24/7 in the church. But, that evening, due to the residents gathering in park, Robert had been left unguarded for the first time since his accident.

  Now that the usual white light was no longer surrounding him, Melanie was able to walk into Robert’s room. She sat, invisible and in ghostly form, on the side of Robert’s bed, looking down at him with an evil smile.

  She was about to force Robert’s spirit out of his body when a nurse padded into the room. Melanie was afraid she might be noticed. With the amount of electrical charge running through her from Robert’s heart monitor, she was very powerful. But it also made her extra visible to anyone with heightened psychic awareness. Luckily for Melanie, the nurse was oblivious to her presence, and she simply looked at the chart at the end of the bed, checked Robert’s vitals, and returned to the door. She paused there for a moment then turned around. She thought she had felt a cold breeze around her, but then decided she was mistaken and left.

  Melanie was again preparing to kill Robert when, unexpectedly, the spirit of Marcus Finch appeared out of nowhere, manifesting itself through a cloud of grey smoke.

  “You!” Melanie exclaimed. “You bloody idiot!”

  Marcus looked sheepish and didn’t reply. Melanie screamed at him like a harpie and pointed at Robert. “He is the one who is supposed to be dead. Not you! Look at you! You got yourself killed! Fool! Now I have to find a way to finish him off myself!” She stamped her foot, but it made little difference seeing as she was ephemeral. Melanie sighed, and added a little more calmly, “Do you know how difficult it is to kill a human from the spirit world? Why do you think we use other humans to do it?”

  She looked at Marcus and then began to smile. In spirit form, he didn’t half look a mess! He had a gash on his head and had several reeds stuck in his hair. His usual handsome face was puffy and gruesome looking. He looked as he had done when he had been Henry Slight: bedraggled and soggy.

  “That’s the second time you’ve crossed over looking like a drowned rat!” Melanie laughed viciously. “You’re no use to anyone here - unless you want to haunt your pretty little daughter and that soppy ex-wife of yours?”

  Marcus didn’t like being bullied, in spirit or in human form, and especially not by a woman! He was about to tell Melanie exactly what he thought of her, when he caught sight of a sparkle of silver light appearing over a bouquet of roses, in the corner of the room, which began to gleam. Out of its aura Alice’s face appeared, like the Cheshire Cat!*

  Alice was astral-travelling with Lilly, Alienor and St Hilda, for protection. All of them materialised through the beautiful roses. Only Marcus could see them. They had deliberately cloaked themselves from Melanie and anyone else who might be around.

  Alice pointed at Marcus and his heart froze. He thought she was going to curse him. He was so afraid that he cowered behind the heart monitor.

  Because Melanie couldn’t see them, she looked at Marcus in disgust. “What the hell are you doing? Who is here?” she asked, looking around the empty room.

  “There!” Marcus pointed at the glowing women, but Melanie saw nothing.

  To his surprise, Alice smiled at him and made a sign of a heart with her hands. She blew him a kiss and from her palms, showering him with iridescent angel dust, leaving him covered in tiny sparkles. His heart swelled with love and for a few moments he gazed at his daughter in awe. A glimmering rose appeared in Alice’s hand and she offered it to him. He found himself involuntarily stepping out from behind the monitor and being no longer afraid, he took the flower from her. Even though it was an astral rose, he could smell its exquisite fragrance, and its heady scent made him feel completely at peace. It was an emotion he had never experienced his whole life!

  Melanie watched impatiently as she saw Marcus put out his hand and take something that, to her, was invisible. She was even more astonished when she saw him sniff his empty hand and smile. “Fool!” Melanie growled under her breath.

  Marcus frowned and finally spoke. “You know what?” he said to Melanie.

  “What?” Melanie scoffed.

  “I’m sick of all this killing and going round and round in circles. Just going from one life to the next and the next and the next with you! And yes, sick of getting drowned again! This is the last time I’m ever incarnating with you, bitch!”

  At that, a shaft of glittering white light appeared above his head and he began to float gently upwards. He called down to Melanie as he ascended, “I forgive you! I forgive myself! By the grace of God, we are all forgiven!” He had rather expected to see his beloved Jesus as he passed over into the Heavenly realms, but instead, all he saw was a radiant rainbow, into which he seemed to melt, and he disappeared into the brilliancy of pure compassion.

  Melanie could do nothing but watch him evaporate.

  “Stupid fool!” Melanie mumbled. But she had to admit that she did feel rather sad left there alone, and she had, for just a moment, wondered what it would be like to cross over into the Heavenly realms herself. Her pondering did not last long however and within seconds she was focused back on Robert. If she couldn’t have Marcus with her, to be ordered around and to do her bidding, then she would have Robert instead!

  Melanie began to suck the life-force out of Robert’s body. Robert’s heart rate was rapidly decreasing and his physical body was starting to lose its electromagnetic charge.

  Suddenly, Melanie became aware of the sound of angels praying, and she finally saw the glowing apparitions of Alice, St Hilda and Lilly in the room. They were trying to create a force field of protection around Robert.

  Melanie seethed and before they could stop her, she ripped Robert’s silver life-cord out of him.

  Robert’s ghostly form materialised above the bed. His spirit looked horrified at the sight of his physical body, lying beneath him, fading fast towards death.

  He forced his spirit energy downwards, so that he was standing in front of Melanie, and looked her square in the eye. “What do you want from me?” he asked her, in a disembodied voice which echoed strangely around the r
oom.

  “I want you to suffer! As I suffered,” she replied.

  Robert felt his physical body fading even more and he wasn’t sure if he had any say in whether he died or not. Does she have all the power? he thought to himself. He glanced again at his corpse and he realised that he really was about to die.

  Thankfully, the window flew open! Beating rain crashed into the room, followed by Jack and then by Lucy.

  “Robert!” Lucy cried, as she rushed to his bedside.

  “Jack! Get a nurse! He’s dying!” Lucy shouted. “Quick!”

  The policeman outside the door rushed into the room to see what was happening. Jack ran down the corridor and grabbed the first nurse he could find.

  Lucy began praying to St Therese of Lisieux to save Robert.

  The poor policeman didn’t really know what to do for the best, so he danced around a bit on the spot, looking useless and in a state of panic.

  Jack came flying back into the room, followed by a nurse. “Is he..?” Jack asked, in terror.

  Lucy just looked at Jack with horror written across her face.

  The nurse twiddled some knobs and raced back out of the room to fetch more help, as quickly as she could.

  Lucy knelt down next to Robert’s body and took his hand. She could not see Alice, St Hilda, Lilly or Melanie. But she could sense that her aunt was next to her. She could smell her perfume. Lucy felt a shiver of fear run through her as she noticed a tangible grey haze around Robert’s body. “There’s darkness here!” she said to Jack, with urgency. “But there is also light! Aunt Lil is here. We must do something quickly! Sophie would know what to do! Call Sophie!”

  But, as Jack reached for his phone - it was too late!

  The heart monitor flat-lined.

  Robert was dead.

  Jack, Lucy and the policeman just looked at the screen in total silence for a few seconds.

  For a fleeting moment Lucy could see the spirits of Alice, St Hilda and Aunt Lilly, almost as clearly as she could see Jack.

  “Do something!” Lucy cried, breaking the silence.

  In a state of confusion, Jack looked around the room. Usually, playing the hero came easily to him, but there was nothing, literally nothing, he could do to help. He looked around again, as if there might be something he could change, something he could hit, or mend, or fight with. In despair, Jack did something he had never done before - he fell to his knees and he started praying!

  In the middle of the room, he prayed as if his own life depended on it! Holy words flooded through him from somewhere high in his consciousness and they consumed his mind. He had not said the Lord’s Prayer since he was a boy, and yet in that moment, he knew every word as if it were only yesterday.

  Jack’s physical energy was so strong, and he combined it so completely with the divine light, that an invisible rainbow shot out of his chest. The blazing rays blasted Robert with a multicoloured bolt of energy.

  The hit was so powerful that Robert’s spirit expanded instantly, and for a few seconds he was almost too big for the room.

  “Fight back!” Lucy begged Robert, not sure if he could even hear her. “Come back, Robert! Don’t let them take you! You have a choice! This is not your time to die! Robert! Listen to me! It is not your time! Come back! Now!”

  Robert’s spirit could hear Lucy, and he could see Jack (who was still kneeling on the ground with the lumionous beam of light emanating from his chest). He could see the spirits of Alice, St Hilda and Lilly and in that moment Robert knew that he was stronger than Melanie. He felt as if he was the very first Robert Bartholemew. He felt the power of the blood line within his soul and he called out to Alienor.

  Alienor’s spirit parted from Lilly’s and appeared at his side. She handed him her sword. It was humming, and dripping with a pink opalescent liquid light, and he took it, this time, without fear. As soon as he had a firm grasp of it he knew exactly what to do!

  With triumphant force he ran the gleaming sword through Melanie’s ghostly chest. He held it there for a few seconds and she became filled with lustrous rose-gold liquid. She looked horrified by being run through.

  “I forgive you,” Robert said - and he meant it!

  As soon as he forgave her, Melanie’s spirit began writhing and wriggling. She was trying her hardest to remove the sword from her chest, but she could not get away. Robert wasn’t sure what would happen next, but he had a strong feeling that he must hold the glistening blade firmly inside her heart and keep repeating, “I forgive you.”

  His words changed involuntarily to, ‘By the grace of God, you are forgiven’. This had a wondrous and immediate effect. The sword let out a blinding flash and blasted Melanie’s spirit with so much divine light that she began to shrink and shrink in size. She shrank so much that Robert had to kneel down on the floor to keep the sword inside her. As the sword hit the tiles, Melanie was transformed into a baby lamb.

  Robert felt shocked and amazed. He swiftly withdrew the blade from the innocent little creature. Well, he thought. I didn’t expect that! The little lamb ran off into the corner of the room and was scooped up by Alice, who held it in her arms, and it just sat there, benign and tame; unable to hurt anyone, any more.

  So that’s what they mean by the Lamb of God! Robert mused.

  Robert’s spirit became aware of his cadaver on the bed and he realised he only had a few seconds left if he was to come back to life.

  He bowed to Alienor and then, with his sword still in his hand, and without hesitation, he threw his life force back into his physical body, with such vigour, that he almost gave himself a heart attack!

  The heart monitor started beeping like mad and the other machines went crazy, with lights flashing and alarms going off, left, right and centre.

  The light bulb above the bed blew out with a crack as loud as a gunshot!

  Jack jump out of his skin!

  Lucy screamed!

  “Bloody hell, Jack!” Lucy cried out, holding her hand over her chest trying to catch her breath! “What prayer did you say?”

  Jack just shook his head in disbelief and they both burst out laughing.

  “What the hell just happened?” the policeman asked, bewildered. He had felt something go through his body that he could not describe in words. He could have sworn he had seen an angel, with his very own eyes. He sat down in the chair, near the door, and within a few seconds, his mind had rationalised his vision and he decided that he had seen nothing out of the ordinary, after all.

  At last, the nurse returned with a doctor, and the two of them raced into the room, followed by several more nurses.

  Lucy and Jack were ushered out of the room and were left waiting anxiously in the corridor. They kept trying to peep through the small window in the door, desperate to see if Robert was going to be alright.

  Within a few minutes, Robert was breathing on his own and his heart rate was returning to normal. A few minutes later, he began to regain consciousness. Slowly but surely, Robert became more lucid and finally he opened his eyes.

  Lucy and Jack were allowed back in. As Robert’s slightly blurry vision focused in on Lucy and Jack’s smiling faces, he whispered, “Thank you.”

  “What for, old chap?” Jack grinned. He shrugged off what he had just done, but he had a strange feeling that Robert knew that he had been on his knees praying only a few minutes before. He was so relieved that Robert was back with him that he almost felt like crying.

  I think he was crying, dear readers, but he hid it well.

  In the astral realms, St Hilda had delivered Melanie (in the form of the little white lamb) into the arms of St Therese. As a lamb, Melanie did not struggle at all. She was docile and calm. She happily allowed St Therese to put her down amongst the green pastures, where other fluffy young lambs were gambolling together, chasing butterflies and generally skipping about without a care in
the world.

  Just before St Hilda closed the Heavenly portal she passed a tiny silver key to Alienor, then she vanished into the aurora of a rainbow which faded away into nothing.

  Alienor smiled. She had been expecting the key. She linked it onto her leather belt, on which she already had many keys of different sizes.

  Alienor, Lilly and Alice, now sure that Robert was alive and safe, shape-shifted into pure white doves and flew back to Little Eden. Alice found her way back to her body, which was sleeping on Tambo’s bottom bunk, whilst Lilly and Alienor found their way back to their tombs, flying through the walls of the church and dissolving through the flagstone floor, deep into the crypt below.

  Alienor showed Lilly the little silver key. “We must keep this safe until Sophie asks for it,” Alienor said.

  “Robert has passed the first test, but there will be many more to come,” Lilly sighed. “Who knows if Robert will make it through to the end? But, I will be with him, every step of the way - if he lets me.”

  Alienor looked grave and nodded in agreement. “The road is long yet, and there is no surety that the divine light will prevail. Dark days are ahead of us. The dragon portal is vulnerable whilst the Earth and mankind ascend. These are dangerous times. The dark forces will feed people’s egos and they will not give up their old ways without a fight. Even those who say they believe in compassion will try to stop us when they are faced with decisions they do not like.”

  Lilly nodded sadly and made the sign of the cross in front of herself. Then she transformed into a dazzling stream of violet light, and like a tiny whirlwind, she spun herself into her ashes inside the Fabergé egg.

  Alienor lay down upon her effigy and sank down inside her tomb, evanescing into her ancient bones.

  Chapter 28

  ~ * ~

  On the day of the Memorial Concert, Collins looked anxiously out of the window at the Gatwick runway. “Why aren’t we taking off already?” he complained, in exasperation. “It’s four minutes past.” He downed his whisky and called to the flight attendant for another. The large luxurious cream leather seats should have felt relaxing but today he could not get comfortable.