NaNo Project 2010 "Trinity Falls" Part 2

NaNoWriMo 2010 project UNEDITED



"Trinity Falls" Part 2



The cab driver took me to the hotel and the first thing I wanted to do once inside the room was get a hot shower. After a quick one, I filled the tub with hot as I could stand it water and soaked my aching body for nearly an hour. I was stepping out of the tub when I heard a knock at the door. Quickly I put on the new robe that had been waiting for me in the room along with some other personal items I needed. I suspected Nancy had been responsible. I was wrong. I answered the door to find Ray, the motel owner.



“I forgot to mention someone dropped off some items for you. I left them on the bed.”



“Thank you, and if you see Nancy tell her I said thanks for the stuff.”



“Oh, it wasn’t Nancy,” he said. “It was Elias Walkerton. He left them here the other day.”



“OK,” I said. “Thank you.”



I shut the door and immediately went to the telephone beside the bed. I punched in the number on the piece of paper Nancy gave me and it rang several times before I gave in and hung up the phone. I tried again several times in the next few hours and was unsuccessful. I crawled into the large bed, switched off the lamp beside me and went to sleep.



The next morning I had another call to make. The local garage that was responsible for fixing my injured car. I’d had the vehicle less than two days before nearly destroying it. Perhaps it was why I’d never owned a car before this. Perhaps fate knew better.



As luck would have it, they managed to fix the roof where the firemen had been forced to cut through to get me out of the wreck. It hadn’t been painted yet but it was in working condition and I needed a car to get me to the Eve house or at least, where it once stood. The mechanic gave me directions from town and I set out, my heart filled with dread at what I would find once I arrived at the scene. I arrived just as the sun was ready to set and I knew at once I’d reached my destination when I saw the tree lined driveway. I drove steadily up the graveled drive until I reached the top and was faced with the reality of what had happened.



Where the house no doubt once stood was a hole; a hollowed out cellar was all that remained and the blackened earth that surrounded it. A fence had been build around the site to no doubt keep out any locals more curious than safety conscious. To the right I saw what I’d seen in my dreams; a large wooden door built into a stone wall and a small cemetery fenced in by stones piled waist high. There was no pond as I’d been told in the note that arrived with the keys and no field of grapes that I could see. Only the large door and the cemetery. I walked toward slowly and when I reached it I counted only two graves; both were marked only with a small wooden cross and none bore a name to identify whose remains lay beneath the ground.



A sound to the left startled me and I looked up to see the wooden door open. A man stepped through and when he turned and looked at me, I took a step back. He appeared equally surprised to see me and froze where he stood. I turned and began to retreat back to the car. As curious as I was to speak to Elias Walkerton, when I saw the same tow-truck driver from Washington staring at me, I was suddenly scared.



“Wait, let me explain,” I heard him shouting as I opened the car door and attempted to get in. I fell onto the seat and hit my head on the roof. He was at the car in a heartbeat and holding the door, preventing me from closing it and speeding away. “Please, Trinity, let me explain!”



I tried to close the door but he wouldn’t let go. I started the engine anyway and was trying to put the car into reverse when Elias reached inside the car, turned the keys and pulled them out of the ignition in one swift motion. He backed away from the car and then tossed the keys over the chain link fence into the hole where the house used to be.



“You asshole! What the hell do you think you are doing?”



“I’m sorry!” He yelled out. “Just listen to me!”



“I’ve been trying to call you. Why don’t you answer your phone?”



“I haven’t been home. I just got back now.”



“Back from where? Who the hell are you and how do you know me?”



“Can you come with me so I can tell you? I promise to tell you everything.”



“I don’t have much choice do I? You threw my damn keys into a hole!”



“I’m sorry, I panicked. I need you to come with me before it’s too late.”



“Too late for what?” I asked, getting more upset.



“Just come.”



“Where is your car?” I asked looking around the property.



“We don’t need it. My house is across from the driveway.” He started walking down the lane. “Come on,” he said, turning around. I exited the car and followed him, keeping a safe distance behind. We were half way down the driveway when he turned and gave me an angry stare. “I was hoping you wouldn’t be so damn stubborn after all this time.”



“Could you please explain to me how we are supposed to know each other? I’ve been searching my memory and the ONLY memory I have of you is the day you dropped off my car. Mind you, this was after I was warned by a woman with NO connection to you that if I met a man with your name I should run. If you can explain any of that I will do anything you tell me to.”



“If you are talking about Mary, we are connected in more ways than your realize, but if you don’t come with me now I may never get the chance to explain it.” Suddenly he looked behind me and his eyes went wide. “Oh, shit! I knew it!” He leapt toward me and grabbed my hand. “Run! Now!”



I didn’t have any other choice but to run. He was pulling me down the driveway toward the road. I tried to look behind us as we ran but could see nothing. Then I knew why he looked so scared. The house, once a hole in the ground was standing as though it had always been there. I had no words. I couldn’t even utter a curse. My mind was a flurry of thoughts and none of them were sane. No excuse on earth could explain how this could be possible.



We were near the end of the driveway and still running when I felt the wind pick up. I chanced another glance behind us and couldn’t see my car. Suddenly there was a crash in front of us and Elias halted, forcing me to crash into him. There in front of us in a pile of twisted metal was my car. Elias grabbed my arm and pulled me around the mangled wreck. We’d reached the road and he pulled me in front of him, pushing me into the ditch across the road. I landed with a thud in freezing water and breathed in more than my share. Coughing and gasping for air, I scrambled up the embankment on the other side and allowed Elias to drag me along through dense woods. My face was struck with twigs and branches of leafless trees and through the brush I saw a small shack with a stove pipe on the roof releasing smoke into the cold late afternoon air. We reached the door and Elias leaned his back against it and breathed out a sigh.



“What the hell was that?” I managed to get out between chattering teeth.



“Let’s get inside,” Elias said. I didn’t argue.



Once inside, he handed me a blanket and told me to strip. I was about to object when he handed me a pair of sweats and a long sleeved t-shirt then turned me around so I could change. When I was finished, he poured a cup of hot liquid from a pot on a tiny stove in the middle of the small room and told me to sit.



“Please talk to me.” I was ready to beg at this point.



“We’re safe here until morning,” he said.



“What happens in the morning?”



“We can go back up there.”



“And why would we want to do that?” I laughed.



“This is the part I knew was going to be the most difficult,” he said shaking his head. His eyes gave away his emotions and he appeared to have been on a sleepless-night streak. “I want this to be over as much as you do, but this is far from over.”



“Are you going to start making sense anytime soon?” I asked.



“What you just saw up there; what’s been happening to you...it’s no accident you are here. Frankly I’m surprised you made it at all.”



“I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t go straight back to Washington the second I got out of the hospital.”



“That would be a very big mistake. If you were to go back there, you’d be dead for sure.”



“OK, you need to stop the psycho talk because I’m searching for all the exits at this point.”



“I know it sounds crazy. I need to back up and start over. I don’t even know where to start is the craziest thing.”



“Why don’t you start by telling me who wrote me the note and sent the keys and the car.”



“I can’t tell you that; at least not right away.”



“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. Start at the beginning then.”



“OK, but promise me you’ll listen to me and not try to run.”



“Yes, great, just talk!”



“You were born in that house. My father was the caretaker before me. He told me before he died about your birth. Nobody even knew your mother was pregnant because your grandfather kept her locked in the cellar, which makes everyone still wonder to this day who your father is.



Anyway, my grandfather was the original caretaker and it’s been sort of passed on this sort of guardianship status; to protect the heir of the three gates, only no one has been able to access the third gate because it could only be opened by the third generation and for that to take place we had to find the child that didn’t exist.” He was talking a mile a minute and not making a lot of sense.



“I don’t think I need to tell you how that sounds.”



“No, Trinity, you don’t.”



“So, that is my birth name. Tell me how my foster mother back in Washington knew my birth name when social services told me I had no official record of existence.”



“I don’t know and frankly, that worries me. You were living under the nose of a spirit nymph and managed to survive. She was responsible with keeping you in Washington and yet has risked her own safety by not doing everything in her power to keep you there.”



“That’s what worries me. She told me to stay away from YOU.”



“Yes, I’d imagine she’s been instructed to convince you I am the enemy, when in fact her employer of sorts is the one you need to fear. I don’t understand why she helped you.”



“Helped me? How has she helped me?”



“She gave you the package did she not? She knew who it was from and what would happen if you received it. The second you broke the seal, it put into effect a series of events to bring you here. It was written a certain way depending on if you opened the package or decided to toss it; if she gave it to you or if she burned it.”



“Why does this all sound like a bad dream?” I asked.



“I realize how difficult this must be to accept, and unfortunately tomorrow it’s going to get a whole lot harder.”



“OK, so now you are scaring me a little bit.”



“You should be scared, Trinity. You should be, and yet, at the same time know that your return to this place has brought hope to a people who had stricken the very word from their vocabularies.”



“Why do I keep seeing you? I’ve dreamed of you. You were in Washington. You are here. I was living a solitary life. How did I end up in the middle of all this?”



“Just as Mary was empowered to keep you from coming here, it has been my job to find you and when the time was right, bring you here.”



“So, Mary and her family being as accommodating as they were when I was growing up was no accident.”



“You seem to be accepting this quite well, Trinity.”



“I don’t have much choice do I? I mean the past month has been like an acid trip gone wrong, but now that I’m actually awake, or at least hope I am, I just want to get this over with and go back home.”



“You are home, Trinity. Or at least, close to home.”



“Can I ask you a question, Elias?”



“Of course, ask me whatever you need to know.”



“Have you ever heard of a hudorla?” Elias smiled then and I saw a twinkle in his eye I hadn’t seen before. He was a nice looking man but in the past I’d never given much attention to men. When he smiled it was like something in me opened and I realized, what I’d hidden behind a brick wall most of my life, I was now actually considering setting free. I felt that smile chip away at the wall I’d built and perhaps it was due to the circumstances at hand, the accident, being so far from my comfort zone, or just being human, but in that instant I wanted to reach out to him and let him comfort me. I wanted to cry and allow him to make all the hurt go away. “Trinity? Are you OK?”



“Yes,” I said, pushing back the emotion. “I’m fine.”



“How do you know about hudorlas?”



“Before I woke from the coma, I had woken within a dream. There were doctors and nurses; all different from the ones I encountered the second time. When I was in the dream, there were these hairy little creatures called hudorlas and I had a conversation with one of them. His name was Frilot and he worked in the hospital. We joked about the nurse; about her being a horse eater.” I looked at Elias and he was half smiling. “I realize that must sound crazy.”



Elias laughed out loud and I was afraid he thought I had lost my marbles. “That’s wonderful! You have no idea how amazing this is.”



“Um, why?”



“Because I’m going to have a much easier time explaining things now that you’ve had a taste of what it is like beyond the gate.”



“Beyond the gate?”



“The great wall behind the house. When you go through the wooden door you will see a grape field. In the old days, your grandfather was a wine maker but it was mostly a cover to disguise the gate that is hidden within the grape field. The gate leads to a large pond and a second gate and then beyond that it’s a half day’s journey to Duollion. That is where the third gate is. It hasn’t been opened in centuries and has cut off access to Trillion, the golden city.”



“Golden city?”



“Multiple generations have been denied the golden city’s glory. Many have waited for you to return home, Trinity. You were named for the very gate that will free us all.”



“And, where is home for me?”



“Trillion is your home, your kingdom, or rather, your queendom.”



“So I’m royalty in this fantasy world.” I couldn’t hide the scepticism from my voice.



“Ah yes, there it is.”



“I’m sorry, Elias. I live a secluded and simple life. I was hoping for adventure but this is ridiculous. All I wanted was to find out something about my heritage.”



“And you will. Ask me anything you like. You may even meet a cousin or two on our travels.”



“What happened to my mother?”



“That is a question with no answer. I don’t think there is a person alive who can solve that mystery. Although there is one who might be able to provide a hint or two, but without a translator, seeing him could be a challenge.”



“Who is it?”



“He is sort of like a king among the hudorlas, but as I said, without a translator we wouldn’t even be able to find him. The people of Duollion have never been able to decipher the complex language.”



“I spoke to a hudorla in my dream. Maybe I can talk to the others and find him.”



“I’m afraid it was just a dream, Trinity. The only person who was able to speak the language was only a character in fairy tales. She doesn’t exist.”



“You could be wrong.”



“I’m rarely wrong,” he said. “You seem to be taking this quite well.”



“Well, I figure either you are crazy or I am. We may as well be crazy together.” In truth, though it all sounded like a chapter of a Tolkien book, it all sounded oddly familiar to me at the same time. Like an ancient knowledge locked away in my memory and Elias was the key to unlocking the mysteries of my past. I had nowhere else to go at the moment and what I’d seen as we ran down the tree lined driveway of my birthright was proof enough in my mind to believe everything being told to me at that moment.



“Maybe we should get some sleep. I can show you the gate tomorrow.”



“We’re going back up there? Are you crazy? Yes, you are! Did you not see what happened up there?” I stood and threw off the blanket.



“It’s OK, Trinity. The darkness brings out the messengers but they lie dormant in the day. And since I burned the house, their strength has diminished, even in the night.”



“You burned the house?”



“I had to. It sensed your presence and if I hadn’t burned it, it’s power would have been ten-fold. What you saw last night is just a taste of what it is capable of. It tries to renew itself in the dark as you were witness to and I’m afraid of what would happen if it were whole and you were to be anywhere near it.”



“What is so special about me that you need to protect me from a house?”



“Your grandfather kept your birth secret for a reason. He also sent you away to protect you from the evil that lies in that house. He was a prisoner to it but he knew you didn’t have to be. He had three minutes from your birth to get you out. My grandmother faced a horrendous night getting you away from this place, and she faced the consequences when she returned without you.”



“What happened to her?” I was afraid to know the answer.



“Back then, the power was so much stronger. Gran didn’t have a chance.”



“I’m sorry,” I said. “It seems so silly to have gone through all that for nothing.”



“Not for nothing. For you and for the freedom of an ancient people. I remember Gran saying goodbye to me before she left. She told me for some there comes a time in one’s life when you have to make the choice to choose another life over your own.”



“How old were you?”



“I was six, and when I was told how my gran died, I hated you. I remember telling my grandfather that I wished you had died instead of her. When I was sixteen and told I would be responsible for your life, I wanted no part of it. But then my grandfather took me in Duollion to talk to the people and I understood how important your life was.”



“I wish I’d met her. I can’t imagine someone so unselfish.”



“We should get some sleep,” Elias said. “You can take the bed, I have a cot I can sleep on.”



“I’m not taking your bed,” I said.



“You need to be well rested and you are still recuperating from a concussion. Take the bed.”



“Fine. Thank you.”



“No need to thank me. Just promise me one thing.”



“What is that?”



“You won’t run screaming for the border tomorrow when I take you through the gate.”



“I promise,” I said with a laugh. “Good night.”



“Night.”





I slept lightly all night. The wind outside the small shack made eerie noises and I woke several times to find myself wishing I’d taken the cot. I could see Elias asleep on the small mattress between the door and the stove. The cold was nearly unbearable and at one point I thought about attempting to pull the bed nearer the stove. By morning my body was aching in places I didn’t know existed. When I first woke, I smelled breakfast cooking and opened my eyes to find Elias standing at the stove bare chested and stirring something in a frying pan.



“I hope you like scrambled eggs,” he said. “It’s the only thing I know how to cook besides bacon and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”



“I’ll have to teach you how to cook,” I said.



“Yes, that would be great,” he laughed. “I guess when you live alone as long as I have there is no need to learn.”



“I’ve been on my own for eighteen years,” I said. “Boredom forced me to find a hobby or two.”



“No boyfriend?” Elias asked.



“No. None. Ever.”



“Ever? Why not?”



“I’ve had trust issues since birth. Go figure.”



“Sorry to hear that.”



“Well, there was a boy when I was twelve, but then I went to a new foster home and had to move away from the town. I never saw him again.”



“What was his name?” Elias had a strange look on his face.



“Eli,” I said. “He was a new kid and I found myself drawn to him almost instantly. I think I figured if he didn’t know anything about me that he’d be an easy friend to make. Unfortunately he was a lot older than me and I only knew him a few months before I was gone.”



“You are going to laugh but when I was a kid I lived in Washington for a short time. Dickson Falls. My family actually calls me Eli.”



“You’re pulling my leg,” I said.



“No, only the girl I knew when I was eighteen was a bony little twelve year old who blushed every time I talked to her. Her name was Jane and she lived with her aunt Margaret. I do recall she was quite mature for her age though. Didn’t see her smile very often as I recall.”



“She wasn’t my aunt,” I said. “I told people she was because I was embarrassed that I didn’t have a real family.”



Elias was staring at me. He had stopped stirring the eggs and when they began to burn he returned his attention to them and cursed. “I guess we’re eating bacon for breakfast. That was the last of the eggs.”



“Eli?”



He didn’t answer. Instead he walked to the small counter across the room and placed the frying pan into a basin of water. I stood up from the bed and walked over to him. He walked away from and grabbed his shirt from the back of the chair by the stove. He put it on and walked over to the cot he’d slept in. Attempting to fold it, it slipped from his hands and it fell over with a clang on the floor. He cursed again and tried once more, this time with success. He shoved it in the corner by the door.



“Talk to me,” I said.



“All this bloody time,” he said. “I searched for you for years. You were right under my damn nose!” He was yelling. “None of this had to happen.”



“Maybe fate didn’t want us to meet just yet.”



“But we did meet! We spoke a hundred times. I remember teaching you how to throw a basketball properly. How did I not realize it was you?”



“I don’t know,” I said quietly.



Elias walked to the door and opened it. A gust of cold wind blew in and I shivered. He took a step out and slammed the door shut behind him. I heard him curse and then a loud thump against the shack by the door. I went to the door and peeked out the small window. I watched as he grabbed an axe and began hacking at a tree a few feet from the shack. I opened the door and walked out into the cold. Elias turned toward me.



“It isn’t your fault,” I said.



“Do you not realize how much anguish we could have prevented? And now, instead of living normal lives, we have a monstrous fight ahead of us. All of this could have been behind us.”



“I don’t believe that,” I said. “What could a twelve year old do? If you’d have told me you needed to take me to hairy little creatures living behind a big door I would have called the police.” I laughed then realizing how silly it sounded.



“You’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry for freaking out like that.”



“It’s OK. Maybe we should go fry up that bacon.”



“Yeah, good idea. We need to get going soon anyway.”



We went back into the shack and ate the meager breakfast before bundling up and heading back out. We walked through the woods to the road and then up to the top of the driveway. The hole was there once again and so was my car, sitting there with the door open as we’d left it despite the fact that it had nearly crushed us to death after being hurled at us by unseen hands. I looked at Elias but he seemed uninterested. We walked past the fenced in hole and over to the stone wall that housed the large wooden door. Elias reached into his pocket and retrieved a large metal key and inserted it into the lock on the door. He pulled the handle and the door began to open with a creak. He reached toward me and I allowed him to take my hand. Side by side we walked through the door and there on the other side was the grape field.



“You have no idea who sent me the note?” I asked as we walked down the center row of lifeless trees still hanging with dried wasted fruit.



“Someone from beyond the gates. I suspect we’ll find out before too long.”



We walked to the end of the rows of grapes and stopped. A huge field with rolling hills stretched out before us.



“Where to next?” I asked.



“Straight ahead,” Elias said.



“How far is it?”



“Just a few feet.” He smiled at me then and said, “You’ll see.” Elias walked ahead of me and suddenly disappeared before my eyes. I stopped and held my breath. He appeared again and said, “Are you coming?” He reached his hand out to me and pulled me into the unknown.



What I saw next made me want to go back at once but Elias held firm to my hand. There was a giant gate in front of us. Standing at least twenty feet high and made of solid iron, an intricate design bore what appeared to be animal remains of some kind. Bones and skulls and flesh all stitched together into a gruesome pattern.



“Just an illusion,” he promised me. “It’s to keep anyone out who may wander through accidentally. If they were to turn back and bring authorities, the gate would seal into a solid stone wall.”



We walked toward the gate and Elias retrieved yet another key from his pocket. As he slid this one into an eye socket of one of the animal skulls, the great gate changed from the macabre to the divine. A bronze door replaced the black iron and a thousand symbols were intricately engraved. Elias turned the key and gently pushed on the doors. Slowly they began to open and a heavenly warm scented breeze came through. I closed my eyes as it ruffled my hair and caressed my cheeks.



When I opened my eyes once more I gazed in awe at the sight before me. A village surrounded by the greenest trees I’ve ever seen. Golden fruit hung bountifully on the branches and was being plucked by villagers with large woven baskets. The villagers themselves were of every color and race with rosy cheeks and clear complexions. Each man wore a straw hat, each woman a bonnet. Children ran around the trees singing songs I’d never heard and the houses were placed in a circle inside the tree line and were all uniformly round, with thatched roofs. In the center of the small village was a roaring fire. Over the fire cooked a large beast. The smell was making my mouth water although I couldn’t tell of what origin it was. Suddenly a loud clanging sound alerted the villagers and at once all attention was focused on where we stood. They began to gather in front of us and when they were all together went down on one knee and bowed their heads. In unison, they prayed.



Dear Messiah, bless these visitors as they join us in the great feast of first moons.



At once they stood and an elderly lady walked toward us. She smiled and I saw perfect white teeth bared at me. I smiled back and looked around the crowd. They were all smiling at me.



“So it is true,” the woman said. “You have come.”



“She has come,” Elias said.



“We thank you, Eli for bringing our mistress home.”



“Mistress?” I whispered to Elias.



“It’s a term of endearment here. It means you are special.”



“Mmm hmm.”