Soulmates (7 page)

As Presley quickly undressed, she noticed there were red velvet flower petals floating on top of the water. They were like rose petals in appearance, soft and silky. She sank into the tub and held the petals in her hands. She smiled, knowing that Jesse had placed them in the water for her. She washed her hair and body with a bar of unpleasant smelling soap. As she sat in the water she tried to wrap her mind around everything that had happened to her. The questions in her head bounced around shifting from one thought to the next. She shut her eyes, took a deep breath through her nose, reminding her mind to slow down.

“Who is Manna?” she whispered. “How am I going to get out of here and what are these strange forces that are outside of this town?” She watched as a spider climbed the log wall. She noticed how murky and dirty her bath water had become. Disgusted, she quickly got out of the tub and dressed. She blew out the candles and walked back to Paulette’s house.

≈≈≈≈≈

Soon, Jesse walked in with the stew and bread and noticed Presley in her nightgown.

He began to stutter nervously, “W-w-w-where do you want this?"

Paulette giggled at him as she grabbed the two bowls and handed one to Presley. She took the bread from under his arm and walked into the kitchen to cut it up.

“Are you okay?” Presley asked him, as she braided her long brown hair.

“Yeah. Sorry. It’s just that you are so beautiful,” he said. He knelt down beside her and took her hand. He gently turned over her arm and brushed his finger over the small, dark birthmark. The birthmark she had always tried to hide.

Embarrassed, she pulled her arm back.

“I know that you don’t know me, but let me just ask you… are you feeling what I’m feeling?”

Presley’s eyes grew big and she was taken aback by the question. She was at a loss for words. She tilted her head as she tried to determine if he was crazy. She knew Jesse was coming on to her and thought that he was a bit overbearing. He wasn’t like anyone she had ever known. Definitely not cocky and arrogant like Tyler. He was more confident than cocky. Before Presley could answer, Paulette walked back in with the bread and handed a piece to her.

“Thanks,” Presley said, watching as Jesse quickly stood up and anxiously ran his fingers through his thick hair. Some of his hair fell loosely around his face.

“How old were you when you came here?” Presley asked him, trying to change the subject.

“Came here?” he laughed. “You make it sound like I had a choice in the matter. I was eighteen,” he said with an endearing gleam in his eyes.

“And so you
stay
eighteen?” Presley questioned.

“Yes, we all have stayed the same age we were when we came here. Nobody ages. Nobody gets sick either,” he said.

“Then nobody dies?” she asked mystified.

“No, we can still die, many have died. We just don’t have sickness and disease. Some have died from accidents. Others died trying to find a way back home, and some have been captured by the Manes.” He looked at Paulette in a disappointing way. “That’s why I was so angry with Paulette for sneaking out of here the way that she did. As long as we stay within the walls of this town we are safe. We have a unique protection here that guards us from outside forces, the forces that inevitably want us all dead."

“What are these forces?” Presley asked, unsure if she truly wanted to know.

“The Manes. The evil spirits,” whispered Jesse.

“The Manes?” Presley repeated.

“Yeah,” he began to explain. “They are a group of evil spirits that dwell here. They can manifest themselves into different forms, often evolving into our greatest fears, like the tornadoes. We aren’t sure exactly what they want from us. All we know is that within the walls of this small town we are safe. There are a lot of mysteries about this place, this planet, its past.”

“This is all a little farfetched for me, spirits, and planets. I don’t know,” Presley shook her head.

“Why? Spirits are accepted on Earth. So, no other planets can have spirits, only on Earth?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t know. Just thinking about another planet is strange,” she said, flustered. Jesse looked at Presley and gave her a gentle smile.

“But there are other planets. Do you know how many galaxies there are?” he charmingly asked.

“No,” replied Presley.

“Okay, let me try to put this into perspective for you. In the galaxy that we come from, the Milky Way, there are well over 100
billion
stars. Again, just in our galaxy alone! And in the universe there are over 50
billion
galaxies. Our sun provides life. Without it nobody would be alive. The planet that we are on is much like Earth, obviously it has a sun, but the difference, for some reason, is that this planet has a much stronger magnetic force. Thoughts are retrieved by the universe faster on this planet than on Earth. And this world is more matured-more evolved. It’s so much more beautiful, from the trees and flowers to the animals."

“I’m not trying to be difficult, but what does all this mean?” Presley said as she was trying to keep up with the conversation.

“It means that there are forces that are here and beyond. We may not understand them all, but they are present whether you believe in them or not. They are bigger than our minds could ever comprehend. I mean, trying to figure all of this out would be the equivalent of an ant trying to figure out what we are, or what we look like, or how we work together to build a house,” he laughed. “Impossible. They cannot begin to fathom who we are or how we do anything. They do not have the brain capacity, nor do we-I mean to understand spirits or the cosmos. So, just accept the notion that there are mysteries that we will never comprehend, because we lack the brain power to do so,” he said.

“So then you are saying that I
am
on a different planet?” Presley questioned.

“Different planet and different galaxy, but the same universe,” added Paulette.

“Isn’t there only
one
universe?” asked Presley.

“No,” he smiled. “There are many universes.”

“Okay. Never heard that before. So, how did we get to be here to this—uh, different planet?” Presley asked still confused.

“Our theory is that you, I, and everyone here from Earth have ventured through a worm hole of some sort— one that is much faster than the speed of light, and you ended up here, like we all did,” Jesse explained.

“How do you know all of this?” Presley asked.

“We have a book that was left for us here in this town. Though much of the book is scripted in code, which makes most of it impossible to translate, there are some entries that we feel were intended for us to understand. Through the illustrations we are able to view our world and our universe much differently. The book must have been written by several authors, but the one who presents himself many times throughout the book is Manna. If you two have any hopes of getting home then we must find him. That is, if he’s even still alive,” he explained.

“If you’ve never seen him then how do you know where he is?” asked Presley.

“The Book of Codes has several maps. Some, I believe, were intended to help lead us to him. If we decide to track him down, it will take us a while to get prepared,” Jesse stood up to leave. “Girls, get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning,” Jesse picked up Presley’s hand from her lap and kissed it, and then left the cabin.

Presley turned toward Paulette, “I can’t take in anymore tonight. I feel like my head is going to explode.
Way
too much information for one day. If it’s okay with you I think I might just go on to bed.”

“I know, we have had a long day,” Paulette showed Presley to her room, which was located next to the small living room.

“Oh, I thought this was your bedroom,” said Presley.

“No, I sleep upstairs in the loft. Holler if you need anything,” Paulette yawned as she climbed up the ladder to her room. Presley looked around, and then she curled up on the stiff bed. For a few moments she thought about Tyler. She wondered if he was searching for her. She hoped that he was worried and desperately trying to find her.

Finally, she drifted off into a deep sleep.

≈≈≈≈≈

Her dream began like all of the dreams that came before. Presley was chasing after Paulette again unable to catch her. The rain poured down on Presley’s head, lightning struck so close that her heart pounded in fear. Then, Presley was taken out of the storm, suddenly reliving this day and all of the previous days that she had
ever
had. Even the early years that she had with her father, all the way back to being an infant. With this dream came great peace and calmness. For the first time in her life, even as she slept, she felt a subtle knowing that something greater than herself was present. And had always been present.

Chapter Five

Morning came quickly with the sun peering brightly through the windows. Presley awoke to the sound of a crow, and for a brief moment, she forgot where she was. She instantly recalled her dream from the night before. As she tried to piece together the different parts of the dream, she heard a rumbling coming from the loft. She watched as Paulette’s bare feet climbed down the ladder.

“How did you sleep?” Paulette asked with a yawn.

“I don’t think I moved all night,” replied Presley.

“We’d better get dressed. Jesse will be here any minute. I’m sure he will want to show you around the town today.”

“Show me around? Why?”

“Don’t you see it? The way he looks at you?” Paulette went over to an old trunk and pulled out two dresses. One was a plain black dress and the other was a light tan color with tiny white flowers.

“Which one do you want?” asked Paulette. Presley looked at both dresses and shrugged her shoulders.

“Are those my only choices?” she giggled. “Where are my clothes?”

“Your clothes are being washed,” Paulette held the dresses up again. “Here, you take the brown dress.” Presley reluctantly took it and slipped it on.

“How do I look?” Presley frowned.

“Actually, you look pretty good,” Paulette encouraged as she threw Presley her boots.

“Yeah, I guess. It’s not that bad,” she said as she pulled up her boots. It was a simple dress made out of cotton material with thin fragile straps. “I must say, the boots make the dress!”

The girls walked outside to find Jesse waiting on them. He grabbed Presley’s hand. She felt butterflies in her stomach.

“There’s so much that I want you to see. What do you say? Do you want to see our little town?” he asked her excitedly.

“I thought we were going to find Manna today! You know, you said that you were gonna help us get home,” she reminded him.

His smile disappeared. “I know, and I will, but I need you to spend the day with me. And you need to have a better understanding, I think, of where you are and who we are. We’ve worked so hard trying to make this place as comfortable as possible to live.” He stopped abruptly and turned around to Presley.

“Please,” he begged, “I just want to show you around, just for a while. What do you have to get back home to in such a hurry anyway?” he smiled.

Presley thought for a moment. Tyler instantly came to her mind.

She thought,
Maybe if I’m gone longer he’ll worry more. And the more he
worries, the more he will want to be with me
.

“Okay,” said Presley. “I would love to see your town,” she smiled back.

Unbeknownst to Presley, Sarah was watching their whole conversation from afar.

Sarah and Jesse had dated many years before and he had broken off their relationship. Sarah had never gotten over Jesse. She always had thought they would get back together and she tried everything she could to make sure that it would happen. Sarah was tall, with long blond hair and a fair complexion. She was beautiful—on the outside, anyway. Seeing him with Presley made Sarah green with envy and quite jealous of the new girl in town.

Sarah walked over to Presley and Jesse, smiled as big as she could and batted her baby blue eyes as she sweetly asked, “Well, well, Jesse, who is this?”