Four Weeks - The Beginning

The Prophecy

Alan woke up the next morning. He felt wrenched on the inside. The more he wanted out, the harder it got. The more he tried to let go, the harder the memories clung on. They had become a part of him. No matter how hard he tried, they stayed ever closer to his heart. He began to think that he needed to get away from all of this to be able to forget, to be able to move on. The anguish now formed a heavy burden. Despite the fact that he had a bond with Relwer, a friend, he could not close his mind to everything that had gone wrong.

He rose to his feet and came out to meet Relwer. He saw that Relwer was crouched over a spot on the floor.

'What are you doing?' he asked.

'It seems someone was here last night,' said Relwer.

'What?' Alan took a step forward.

'Somebody walked here,' said Relwer.

Alan recalled the dream he thought he had had last night. Elaine had come. She had called out to him. But, he ignored her for he knew it would deepen the hurt, had he pursued her. But, he felt so sure at the time that it was another one of his dreams. He saw Relwer holding a piece of hair in his hand as well.

'What's that in your hand?' he asked.

'This is hair,' said Relwer. 'The hair I found in the forest when I went in to find you on the day you punched me. I was just tinkering with my toys and analyzing this strand of hair. I was able to determine its age. The hair belongs to someone who is about forty years old, at the moment and what's more is that this belongs to a Neilodron.'

Alan felt torn on the inside; it was as though the universe was playing a cruel game with him. He remembered the time with the woman whom he'd saved, who had told him that she knew Elaine by the name of Celia, who also told him she had to be around forty years of age. He began to see that the dream from last night may not have been a dream and that right from when he was in that forest, Elaine was after him, and had been trying to find him. He looked out the window to ponder on these thoughts.

'A Neilodron?' he said.

'Yes.'

'Is that what she wanted to talk to me about?' Alan wondered.

'Please tell me the complete story if you want an informed answer to that question,' Relwer responded.

'No, but no one back on Earth knows about Raeon. How the hell could she have known?'

'I will have to agree with whatever you say without all the requisite information. Please proceed with full details if you wish to have a productive discussion on this,' Relwer said again.

'Shut up, will you? I'm talking to myself,' snapped Alan.

'Very well.'

'I know!'

Relwer raised his chin, keeping his eyes on Alan, his eyebrows raised, but careful not to utter a word until Alan specifically told him he wanted a response.

Alan too was circumspect about it. He did not make that mistake.

'She must have found out that Judith was not her birth mother. She must've known she was adopted and she wanted to confess.'

'Ah,' Relwer let out, going quiet abruptly upon recalling that Alan had told him to shut up.

'Maybe she wanted my help to find out where she had come from.'

'But, where could she have disappeared like that?' Alan paced in the room.

'The Corino Enterprise! They must have something to do with it. Darn it! If only I had known then,' Alan concluded his soliloquy.