Dragonfly Dreams: Part Ten

Frank’s eyes opened as he sat up with a stifled yelp. Sweat was pouring off of his face, but he felt like he was freezing. For a second, he could still hear the screaming of that woman: Oprah Winfrey. She had been sitting…reading…when he had entered her room. But how had he gotten there? And how had he gotten back? Had the whole thing been a dream? In the darkness of the hut where he had been sleeping, Frank could swear that he heard the soft shushing sound of a dragonfly’s wings. He hopped up and ran to the little window which was letting in the strong jungle moonlight, but he couldn’t see anything. And now…it was silent once again except for the sound of his own ragged breathing.

“You okay Hoss?” It was Chuck…the guy with the magic tattoos. He had stuck his head through the door of the little hut. “I thought that I heard you yell.”

“Fine,” Frank said, “I’m fine. It’s just…”

He hesitated.

“Yeah Hoss?” Chuck’s Australian accent seemed to be thicker than ever, even though he was trying to pull in some old Western dialect.

“I….I…can’t really explain it,” Frank shuffled over to his mat and sat down. The mat was thin and wasn’t very comfortable. But his legs felt wobbly….weak….and he was afraid that he might fall if he didn’t just go on ahead and sit.

He thought that Chuck might take that as a sign and leave…but he didn’t. He just kept staring at Frank: waiting.

“Have there ever been any reports of large insects around here?” Frank finally asked…faltering.

Chuck broke out in a fit of coarse laughter…his face scrunching up in a wild map of lines and contours.

“This is the blooming jungle!” he cracked, “There are large insects everywhere you look. You’ll have to be more specific than that mate.”

“Dragonflies,” Frank cut in quickly before he lost his nerve, “Any reports of large dragonflies.”

And with that, Chuck’s laughter stopped just as quickly as it had started. He was starting at Frank in the dimly lit darkness. Frank could see the large whites of his eyes…they looked huge.

“How in the he..” he started, “Did somebody tell you about that?”

“About what?” Frank said, standing up and walking toward Chuck, “What is it?”

“Dragonflies,” Chuck smirked and looked down at the ground, “They said that you were good…had a gift…but that was bloody FAST mate! How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Frank insisted on knowing what Chuck was talking about, “All that I know is that I just had a freaking weird dream about a large dragonfly taking me for a little journey over the jungle to a waterfall…and to top it off…to visit with one very frightened woman: Oprah Winfrey.”

It all sounded so ridiculous when said out loud. For a second, Frank thought that Chuck would just start laughing again. However, the sharp hiss of breath that he gave let Frank know that he had said something that had upset Chuck rather badly. His heart started to beat a little faster. What had he said? What did Oprah Winfrey have to do with this?

“Come with me mate,” Chuck held the door open, “I want to show you something.”

They didn’t speak as they walked through the dark village. Every now and then they would pass a startled villager: making a fire, cooking an early morning breakfast, or walking out for a morning visit to the bathroom. Nobody spoke to them…just stared with large, silent, dark eyes. Chuck was moving quickly, but Frank found that he was having a pretty easy time keeping up with him. He felt a little bit of pride in that…he must be getting in better shape. Of course, lately, he had been running for his life quite a bit.

Soon, they came to the edge of the village. Dawn was approaching. The moon had sunk below the tops of the trees, but the sun would be up soon. Already, the sky was starting to take on some of the light of the coming day. It wasn’t easy to see yet, but Frank could make out the shape of the large pond in front of them.

“The villagers don’t use this pond anymore,” Chuck whispered, suddenly quiet and reserved, “They say that it is maljita…it has ‘gone bad.’ But there’s more to it than just poisoned water. It’s something that the company has known about for quite some time.”

“What is it?” Frank shuddered. The lake lay before them. Nothing was growing near it…no flowers, no trees, no grass. It was like a great dead pile of ooze…waiting and rotting in the heat of the jungle. The pond was as smooth as glass…dark and deadly.

Just then, a small deer came walking out of the jungle. It walked toward the pond…slowly creeping toward the water.

“Hey,” Frank whispered, “I thought you said the waters were poison. Surely that deer isn’t going to drink!”

“Shhh,” Chuck shushed him, “The water isn’t poison. Lots of animals come to it and drink. Drinking it isn’t the problem. Just watch.”

The deer walked up to the edge of the pond and bent its head down, drinking deeply of the dark, still waters. Frank waited…hardly breathing…waiting for something to happen. Was some large fish or alligator going to pop up and eat the deer? Was the deer going to go into convulsions and die? He felt a sense of dread. Something was wrong…he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

Just then, Chuck let out a loud WHOOP and ran toward the deer, waving his arms. Frank’s breath caught in his throat. What was going on? He noticed that the deer was startled….and trapped. It couldn’t run back into the jungle because Chuck was blocking its way…and he was still running toward it. With a splash, the deer jumped into the pond and swam to the opposite side. It crawled out, gave a little shake, and ran off into the jungle.

Chuck was walking back toward Frank, his face grim.

“Well that didn’t accomplish anything except give me a heart attack,” Frank griped, “What in the world is supposed to happen here anyway?”

Chuck held up one finger, “Just wait a second Hoss. Wait…and watch.”

Frank waited….and waited. The seconds turned into minutes. Still nothing happened. He could feel the humidity starting to rise. It was going to be a sweltering day. He could feel it coming in. One of those days where the sweat just pours off of you like buckets of water. He dreaded it.

He had just decided to tell Chuck that he was fed up with this nonsense when something happened. The water on the pond began to stir. Small bubbles started to rise on the surface. Just a few at first…and then more appeared. The water started to churn and turn frothy. He could hear it sloshing and swirling from where he stood. He was glad that he wasn’t any closer to the water. It didn’t feel safe.
“What’s going on?” he demanded again, but Chuck wouldn’t answer.

Jus then, a head broke the surface of the pond as something came walking out of the water and onto the shore. It was a deer. No…not just a deer. It was THE deer. It was the very same deer that had been in the water just a few minutes earlier. But how? Frank felt his eyes pop.

“It looks….it looks just like…” he stammered.

“Yeah mate,” Chuck said as the deer gave a little shake and bounded off into the jungle, “It looks just like that deer that went for a little dip just a few minutes ago. In fact….it is a perfect copy of that deer….right down to the very last flea.”

“How….how did that just happen?” Frank started walking toward the water. He felt like he was in a trance.

Chuck grabbed his arm and pulled him back, “Don’t get too close mate. You don’t want to have a copy of yourself walking out of there, do you?”

Frank tried to picture that…but it was just too horrible to think about.

“It happens every time though,” Chuck was muttering to himself, “Something goes into the water….and a copy of it comes out with it. It’s actually pretty amazing. Nobody knows how it works. Heck….hardly anybody even knows that this pond exists. Even the company hasn’t figured it out….and that’s saying something.”

“But…but what does this have to do with me? My dream?” Frank stuttered, “Remember….my dream about the dragonfly? Oprah Winfrey?”

Chuck stared at him with cold eyes.

“I think that it’s time for you to meet Irza,” he said, “That will explain a lot.”

Frank shuddered. Irza: the one who had seen the face of God.

Until next week….class dismissed.

Dragonfly Dreams, Part Nine

Frank Mason took another step back away from the large tent which was now housing Janet Jones along with an elderly man and his granddaughter. Only moments before, Frank had heard Janet Jones threatening to kill the girl if the old man didn’t show her the way to some place that she had called Sapphire Falls. The woman was just pure evil. He didn’t see how he had fallen so easily for her tricks earlier on the airplane. She had almost had him arrested for drug smuggling…and then had tried to kill him while he was in the taxi with Chuck. Now…she was heading toward the tent door…and she had a gun.

“I don’t know who’s out there,” Janet Jones called out, “But you have about 10 seconds to pray to whatever God you hold dear….and then you are going to die.”

Frank didn’t have time to think. He just felt the strange vibrations on his back and knew that the large dragonfly there was on the move again. The ground beneath his feet just became a memory as he floated into the midnight sky, leaving the firelight and soft glow of the tent below him. He looked down and saw Janet Jones emerge quickly from the tent. She was looking around wildly…trying to find out the source of the sound which she had just heard. She looked up and at first he thought that she had seen him….but then she just shook her head and went back inside the tent.

The scenery below changed and Frank found himself gliding gently over the rich, dark canopy of the jungle once more. The trees grew together so thick and dangerous making Frank wonder what secrets they kept hidden from the eyes of Man. So high in the air, everything was silent except for the soft buzzing of the dragonfly’s wings. Frank found that he wasn’t afraid anymore. If the insect had meant to hurt him, it would have done so by now. Instead, it seemed intent on showing him things. He wondered if it was taking him back to the village.

The roar of water soon answered his question. The jungle below broke into three parts where the trees were not as thick. He could see water….flowing fast and strong. Soon, the water converged from three separate streams into one large stream that gained speed. He could see the white foam of caps as the water crashed against sharp rocks and made its way toward one of the largest and most beautiful waterfalls that he had ever seen. And in the light of the full moon, he could see the sparkling stones that lay on the banks of the river….sparkling a deep, dark blue….they looked just like…

“Sapphires,” Frank whispered to the cold night air.

Surely, this was the same Sapphire Falls of which Janet Jones had been speaking. Without much surprise, Frank found himself being slowly lowered toward the water. The dragonfly flew him out over the waterfall…and Frank had to gasp. It was beautiful…and terrifying. The roar of the foaming water was enough to kill an entire army of men who happened to be so foolish as to get near the edge. And yet, it was so lovely to look at that one might be tempted to end it all for the brief moment of joy of becoming one with such a force of nature.

The dragonfly was lowering them even closer to the falls. Was it planning on dropping him in the water? He didn’t think so…and then he saw that they were not headed for the water. They were headed for a little cropping of rock that jutted out from the side of the cliff. As his feet touched the rocks, he found that they were slick with the mist from the falls. In front of him, hidden from view until now, was a cave. He knew that the dragonfly wanted him to go into the cave. He just didn’t know what he would find inside.

Slowly he made his way toward the dark crevice that lay before him. It gaped like a dark mouth, waiting to devour him body and soul. And yet he continued his slow and steady trek. He didn’t want to trip and fall to his death.
Entering the darkness, he was amazed at how quickly the deafening roar of the waterfall seemed to disappear. It was as though he had entered another world. And the darkness was alive and thick around him….pressing into his flesh and attaching itself to his clothing….making him feel sluggish and slow. He felt around for the walls and found that he could not find them.

This had been a mistake….he had to get out….he had to leave. He started to turn back toward the cave opening and head back toward the light of the moon and noise of the waterfall. As deafening as it was, it was better than the silent darkness of this tomb. He felt as though the very dead themselves were standing with him….watching him with eyes grown accustomed to such vile conditions.

And then the dragonfly buzzed its wings….sending tingles along his spine.
Small golden sparks flew into the air. They seemed to be coming from the dragonfly’s wings. Like silent moths, they fluttered and floated in the air sending out small but brilliant beams of light into the darkness. It wasn’t much….but in total darkness even the smallest light is a beacon. They seemed to converge into a line in front of him…..and Frank knew. He had to follow the line. There was no turning back.

Walking carefully so that he didn’t stumble over some rock (or dead body, he thought with a shiver), Frank made his way through the cave. The dragonfly kept up its rustling. It was strange, but the vibrations seemed to calm him. He felt that peaceful feeling that he had been feeling earlier. He didn’t know why he had been so afraid of this cave. It was actually a beautiful place. What had he been thinking? He smiled as the dragonfly’s buzzing wings and golden flakes of light prompted him onward.

Soon, he was able to make out another source of light in the distance. It wasn’t much…but then neither were the golden flakes which were floating around him. As he got nearer and nearer to the source of the light however, it grew stronger and stronger. He found that he no longer needed the golden bits of light to help guide the way. As if they had heard his thoughts, they blinked out of sight. The dragonfly’s buzzing wings kept up their comforting vibrations on his back though. He was glad of that.

Soon he was standing in front of another doorway in the cave. There was a strong light coming from the other side…but he couldn’t see clearly. He couldn’t make out what was on the other side. He saw moving shapes but whenever he tried to focus on them, everything got fuzzy.

“Well….I’ve come this far,” he said to the dragonfly, “I guess that I should take just one more step.”

And with that….he stepped through the door….and into bright daylight.
He was in a large, airy room. The walls were white….plaster. The rich green carpet under his feet was thick and luxurious. In front of him was a glass table with black metal legs. On it sat a large crystal vase full of freshly cut lilies. He could smell their sweet perfume floating in the air. But most amazing of all, he saw a woman sitting and reading a book on the large, plush sofa in front of him. She was so absorbed in her reading that she didn’t notice him…at first. Then…..noting a change in the room apparently….she raised her head. Her eyes grew large and the book fell from her fingers and landed with a silent thump on the carpet.

Frank tried to raise his hands and let her know that he wasn’t going to hurt her….but it was too late. The woman started to scream. And honestly….Frank felt like he was going to scream himself. The woman was someone that he knew….someone that he saw quite a bit, in fact. The woman was….Oprah Winfrey.

On his back, Frank felt the buzzing of the dragonfly. It was purring like a kitten….and the louder that Oprah Winfrey screamed….the stronger the dragonfly purred.

Until next week….class dismissed.