Part 55: Mia's Story

“Well, “Mia smiled, “I was born on an Indian Reservation. I know I am supposed to say Native American but it just doesn’t sound right. Anyhow, I have one brother, two sisters and we were all raised by my father. I only knew my mother for a few years; she left us when I was 7.”

“Any idea why?” asked John.

“Not really. Dad doesn’t like to talk about it.” The young girl continued, “So, I continued to grow up, mostly in the care of my grandmother. She taught me the ways of the Lakota tribe, and how we were back before all the Cowboy junk.”

“What did she teach you?”

“Mostly everything. She taught me about our Native American mysticism. She even taught me how to make Dream Catchers.” Mia said, proudly, “But I suppose the greatest thing she ever taught me was to be loyal to the family, no matter how bad things got.”

“That’s sweet, Mia.” John smiled.

“I loved my grandmother. I miss her still. She died when I was 13. My dad raised me from then on until . . .until he died too.”

“Geez, Mia, really?” the archer was feeling sorry for her.

“He died when . . .he was carjacked. Those . .bastards, they had a shot gun and they shot him in the face. We . . couldn’t even give him a decent burial, it had to be a close casket. My brother Erik took it real hard.”

“When did this happen?”

“Last year.” She said, wiping her tears.

“Mia, I am so sorry this all happened to you.”

“It’s okay, John. But you want to know why I came to Australia? Because of all this happening, I had lost my faith. I was so angry, so sad. I was thinking, how could God do this to me? So, since I was getting nothing on the religion I was raised on, I started to explore any other type of mysticism I could find. Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Wicca Beliefs, I tried them all. Then I read a story about what the Aborigines did.”

“What did they do?” John said, getting interested in her story.

“They have in their culture what is known as Dreamtime. It’s where it is a sort of sleeping state where you can how the cosmos came to be, how the humans were created and what God intended Man to do on Earth. This Dreamtime can be found in certain places, called Guruwari, or the Seed Power, where the activity was deposited into the Earth.”

“Fascinating,” John said, “Go on.”

“The Aborigines called this potency of a place, the "Dreaming", and this Dreaming constitutes the sacredness of the earth. Only in extraordinary states of consciousness can one be aware of, or attuned to, the inner dreaming of the Earth. Since my Lakota people consider the Earth sacred as well, I thought I could feel some sort of connection back to the Mother Earth again through this Dreaming state, but. . .”

“But what?” asked the archer.

“I never got there on time. I was lost in the city and by the time I got to the place where they take you to the walkabout tours, they were already gone. The guy at the building said I was twenty minutes too late so there was no way to catch up to them.”

“Bummer. Then what did you do?”

“I was out of money at that time. I had to use the rest to come back. I bought a plane ticket home and . . . “

Mia then froze, slapping her mouth. She looked around and John could hear her mutter OH MY GOD under her breath. “Mia, what is it?” he asked.

“THAT’S WHERE I SAW HIM!” she screamed, “The man in my dreams, that is where I saw him.”

“What man?” asked John.

“The bald man! He was at the Walkabout Station. He was outside in a wheelchair, looking very pissed. He was waiting on a taxi cab. I didn’t speak with him but that’s where I remember him from!”

“This bald man is in your dreams?” John said, royally confused.

“Yeah, he’s appeared twice in my dreams.” Mia sighed, “Since he appeared twice, I was beginning to wonder if these weren’t dreams but visions. Visions were common in my people’s past.”

“Maybe you better tell me about these visions.”

Mia began the story of the dreams she had. Every little detail about the bald man, his scar, the thin grass, the hatch and the three men with bandanas over their mouths. She remembered other details, like her father’s overcoat and the smell it gave. She also mentioned about the feeling of being trapped, and inside darkness. She thought it was the hatch but now she wasn’t so sure. John leaned back, taking all this end. “What’s in the hatch?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I think the bald man might know. I remember the hatch is in a rocky outlining, near the thin grass.”

“What do you think the helicopter represents?” asked John.

“I am not sure of that either,”

“So we’re out here . . .chasing your dream?”

Mia said, playing with her hair slightly. “Does sound kinda corny, doesn’t it?”

“You tell me. Do think if we find this hatch and the grass, that this will help you regain your faith?”

“It’ll mean that my visions are real, yes, my faith will be restored. But I have to find out, John.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” He smiled.

“It means a lot that you came out here with me, John.” Mia said gladly.

“Hey, what are friends for?” he shrugged with a grin.

Then there was a sound in the distance like a loud pop, followed by an echo of a possible explosion. Mia was concerned. What could that sound have been? “Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Yeah, dang it,” John said, leaning up, “Thunder. We might want to move into the woods for protection from the rain.”

“But there is hardly any clouds up there,” Mia pointed, “If that is thunder, shouldn’t we be at least-“

Mia paused when they heard it a second time. The same thunderous pop, followed by a deep echo. John looked into the distance, for the clouds. He only saw a few but they didn’t look like they could cause rain. The archer tried to train his eyes to see if he could see anything. He heard the thunderous pop one more time, then something happened out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a fading black haze across the horizon. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked again. There was nothing. “John?” Mia pondered, “Did you see something?”

“I don’t think so,” John sighed, “Just the horizon playing tricks on my eyes.”

“What did it look like?”

“A small explosion. Almost like a firework but it’s got to be thunder. I mean, who would be launching fireworks on this island?”

The two got a laugh at the little hallucination John saw. They both then began to pack up their belongings and find a place in the woods before the storm hit. Mia looked around, waiting to hear to more thunder but she heard nothing.

What other mysteries were on this island?