The Light Within Shadows

i will always find you...

I never wanted the 'Gift'.

My mother, a single mom and free spirit, always referred to it as so. When I was six years old, she changed her name to Moon Beam and walked around with a golden dream catcher chain that still adorns her neck today. It was the first time that my mother mentioned the ability to see into the future.

"We are blessed to see what others cannot. Embrace what God has given you".

Those words offered me little comfort as a child.

It didn't serve a purpose when Cody Lieberman and Kendrick George stuffed me in my gym locker in middle school. I never saw that coming. It didn't serve a purpose when the neighborhood kids egged our home one year because they thought my mother was a witch. I never saw that coming. Moon Beam, however, knew the eggs were about to be hurled mercilessly at our humble abode. She gathered baskets and sat them out in front of the house before going to bed. In the morning, she collected the shells and put them in her organic garden.

Moon Beam may have been eccentric and strange but she was loving. We often spent hours in our backyard practicing ways to engage my craft and making it stronger. Those were the times I treasured the most with my mother.

She would tell me to sit on the soft grass, close my eyes, and focus. She would hide in different areas of the yard and tell me to point to where she was hiding with my eyes shut. I found her each time and each time she rewarded me with her hugs and endless kisses.

I never shared my gift with anyone, not even my closest friends. When I met Hailey in college, my fiancee', I was smitten. I shared all of my hopes and dreams with her but I never shared my special talent. I wanted to convey to her my strange affliction a thousand times but the fear of rejection forbade me, so I bottled up the fire my mother worked so hard to ignite.

I learned to ignore the visions. I would brush them off as a generational curse until the moment my beloved Hailey was snatched from me at gunpoint.

It was her idea to get away from the hustle and bustle of our demanding jobs. Venezuela was never my cup of tea. It was too hot, too muggy, and too humid.
" Where is your sense of adventure?" She asked persuading the idea with beautiful brochures of lush green valleys and blue skies. I glanced into her steel gray eyes and watched the sunlight reflecting off of her flaxen blonde hair shimmering like spun gold in the afternoon sun. Stunned by her beauty, I said yes. I would have gone to the end of the world with her had she asked. I packed my bags and without a hitch, boarded a plane with Hailey to Venezuela.

The next morning we hiked with a group and detoured off to a less traveled path and found a waterfall etched gracefully into a steep cliff. We climbed near the top of it. Hailey was behind me. Quickly trying to capture its beauty, Hailey began to rifle in her hiking bag for her camera. As she searched, I stood in silence watching the majesty before me. I turned around and said, "Quick, there's a howler monkey in the-- I never finished my sentence. A man stood behind me pointing a double barrel shotgun. Another man stood behind Hailey. He covered her mouth with one hand while the other furnished a knife pressed tightly against her throat.

Hailey's eyes reflected the same terror that I instantly felt. I raised my hands and helplessly watched the men back away slowly and disappear, carrying her into the dense jungle with them.

I fell to my knees in sorrow.

It was in that moment of despair that I remembered the one thing that I had tried so hard in my adult life to suppress.

"Breathe deeply and clear your thoughts. Listen to the sounds around you so that you may see clearly".

My mother's voice echoed like a distant drum beating soft and steadily in my head. A calmness overshadowed me. Everything around me went silent and I was able to see the world through closed eyes.

I watched them take Hailey to a white van near the edge of the forest. The vehicle was crowded on the inside with other frightened women and girls. It drove six miles from the hiking area and stopped at a small vendors' market deep in the city. I jumped and ran quickly seeing my way through a forest I had only traveled once. I grabbed my cell but was unable to place a call. The forest was too dense for service. As I ran, I saw a few fishermen along a dirt road with a truck. I alerted to them with what basic Spanish I knew. They understood.

Did they make it to the market already? Did I still have time to save her? My thoughts ran rampant as I jostled around the small truck. My vision began to play as a movie scene displaying streets, vendors, the city, and finally the white van. And then I saw Hailey.

Hailey was sitting next to a young girl no older than what must have been twelve years old. The man with the knife sat in a seat across from them holding his jagged blade like a trophy. He eyed both women with lust. Hailey noticed the girl was afraid of him. She grabbed the young girl by her hand and squeezed it, giving her a slight smile. Even in danger, my Hailey was still caring and protective. I watched angrily and prayed as the truck rumbled through the tough dirt road. Would we get there fast enough? Were we too late? I worried.

The men that accompanied me alerted the police. They drove through the rugged terrain quickly throwing my body to and fro within the compacted truck. When we arrived in the area, I spotted what I thought was the van. I was wrong and rendered speechless. There were at least several other white vans resembling the one that carried Hailey. I had begun to panic. I closed my eyes again and searched. Finally, I saw the vehicle sitting idle in traffic and honed in on its license plates. BGF-190. As we continued to drive through the busy street, I spotted the plates. "Over there! Esta alli! I yelled.

The fisherman sped up and gave the address and plate I.D. to the police. The truck I sat in was now three vehicles behind the van. I grabbed the door handle and tried to open it but it wouldn't open.
The two men in the truck began to yell, "No mister, they may have guns!
They were right.

I sighed heavily and watched the van intensely as it sat. I wondered how Hailey and the other women felt. The women had no idea that they were about to be saved. They were unaware that their fear was temporary. I couldn't imagine the horror running through their minds. Help was a heartbeat away and there was no way to alert them, no way to relieve them of their fear or fright.

Traffic in the small city was heavy and slow. We seemed to move only two inches every five minutes. My heart raced and I began to sweat profusely in the air-conditioned truck. Miraculously, the traffic eased and we began to speed up. We continued to stay three cars behind them until a loud thump surrounded the vehicle and my head was thrown into the dashboard. The car in front of us suddenly braked causing the fisherman to hit it from behind. I rubbed my head and looked up. The van carrying Hailey had gained traction and was too far ahead of us.

Without thinking, I managed to open the door and jump out of the truck ignoring the chaos around me. With luck, the van entered into a stop light. I thought that if I could run fast enough, I could jump up and hang onto the large door handles in the rear. The foolish idea never seemed foolish at the time. My safety did not concern me. My love for Hailey obliterated sanity. There was nothing that I wouldn't do to protect her even if that meant dying in the process.

I managed to run within 30 feet of the vehicle when suddenly police appeared from every corner of the street. They blocked the van, ran out of their cars, and drew their guns. My heart pounded against my chest. Will they give up willingly? Or will they fight, possibly endangering every woman inside? I held my breath and calmly exhaled as I watched the captors slowly open their doors and raise their hands above their heads.

The police brutally pulled the men out of the van and threw them to the ground. Quickly, they opened the doors and the women were guided out one by one. Finally, I saw Hailey and she saw me.

She ran over to me and clung tightly to my neck. We stood embracing each other and crying uncontrollably.

"I thought I was going to be taken away. I thought I was going to be lost forever and never see you again", she cried.

" You will never be lost, Hailey. I love you more than life itself and I will always find you" I whispered.