Off the Carousel

X Marks the Spot

Amazed, young Derek unrolled the map, running his fingers over the surface. It was leather, tanned and rough on the outside, but smooth and pliant inside. How old was it? It seemed like it could be very old. Did it lead to treasure?

"Will it get us out of here?" a sharp voice asked above him.

Derek regarded his new friend, Meredith, who seemed impatient. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. Her husband died, and he truly felt the intensity of her pain, especially when he thought of his own loss. But sometimes, when he looked at her, it seemed that she was far away, and sometimes he caught her gaze on him and felt so, so close.

With a sigh he led her a few steps down to a log so they could look at the map together. He placed it face up on the moss covered wood, spreading his fingers to hold it open. "Hmm," The map was roughly drawn, but detailed enough that he could make out the landmarks of the forest. The oak tree was marked clearly on it, as was the bridge and creek he'd fished at earlier. The embankment along the creek was marked with a stiff line which divided the map nearly in half.

Two things stuck out. One, a dashed line from the top right corner that traversed the map, and two, a faded red X near the bottom left in what looked like a cave. Treasure? "Gran's house is this way," his finger followed the line from the tree to the nearest edge of the map.

"Good," Meredith said with relief.

"But..." he stroked downard and tapped on the X, "there could be treasure this way!"

"Oh," the drop in her tone was unmistakeable disappointment.

"You don't want to find treasure?"

"No," she sighed. "I don't know. I..." she bit her lip.

Derek rolled up the map. "C'mon, you look tired. I'll take you to Gran's. But we have to go to the bridge first, my stuff's still there."

xxx

In the gray void, nothingness swirled into form. Cassie braced was entering the world Between. There was life, there was death... and there was Between. On rare occasions, and very briefly, one could cross into Between from either side. But she had to be careful not to stay too long or she could get trapped and pulled into Death herself.

"Mother!" she called again.

She saw the cliff, the wreckage, death. She forced herself not to dwell on the pain of loss. That was in the past, Cassie was here for a whole other reason. "Mother?" she called, searching the gray beach, her footfalls leaving soft imprints in the wet sand.

"Child?" her voice was far away, but Cassie would never forget it. "Cassandra!"

She ran to the upside down wreck that once haunted her in her dreams She spun and saw her mother, Liz Merriwick, just as she remembered. Young, beautiful... though shaded gray from this dark inbetween-ness.

"You shouldn't be here," her mother reached Cassie, brow furrowed in concern.

"I'm all right," Cassie said, "but something's wrong..."

They strode arm in arm along the beach, and Cassie shared her struggle in the last few days. The compass, time travel, the earthquake... and her inability to 'read' Meredith. "I don't understand mother, what's going on? Surely you must know."

"Grief is powerful," her mother replied. "For both the living and the dead. It changes our very being..." she turned to Cassie and stroked her cheek. "You lost me... and I lost you too. It was..." she shook her head, "I can't even begin to describe the pain I felt when I was pulled from you."