Angel Arctic

“A milky white light with a pink hue swirled around me in a vortex motion while I breathed in and out to the rhythm of the beating heart. My eyes were closed but I saw. I saw clearly.

The energy vibrating around the room. The frequencies dancing around me. The heart beat louder with each in-breath and slower with each out-breath. The heart-shaped locket in my palms was no longer solid. It vibrated now as a luminous white light, expanding outward beyond the perimeter of the room. The room itself was no longer solid. I was no longer solid. The frequency of the heartbeat thudding – lub-lub dub, lub dub-dub – now accompanied by a deep Native American chant, was vibrating with my energy. I was the center of it all.

A white-blue portal began shaping itself in front of me. I breathed profoundly. It expanded outward, creating a fluid doorway. It moved as if it was, itself, breathing deeply. It glowed with life-force power.

I received an impulse in the center of my chest. Move forward. I listened. I moved. The closer I got, the stronger it encompassed me. I was moving through worlds. I saw colours unexplainable by words, frequencies unexplainable by images, codes unexplainable by mathematics. I was in the midst of the portal, vibrating with the frequency of Love.

The heart beating began to fade into a loud memory. The light that was my whole world gradually faded into a pinhole. I was moving toward a darkness. I was compelled to open my eyes.

And then… nothing. No thing. As I became conscious, I found myself lying on the floor. Yours was the first face I saw.”

He gestured to the young girl with electric blue hair and enormous blue eyes. The other children listened intently to his recollection, their bright eyes of intense colours fixated on his words.

“Arctic over here touched my hand. Her gentle power lifted me upwards. And that’s when she brought me to Light Cove to meet Dara and the other elders.”

The children’s intrigued faces gazed at him in awe, as if he was, indeed, alien. They were seated in a semi-circle in front of him, legs folded. He marveled at their eye size – about two times larger than that of a human, each infused with a unique colour, with swirls and patterns. Green, purple, amber, auburn, rose. Their skin reflected a shade of light blue. Their hair matched their eyes. He could tell little difference between female and male.

“How did you know the locket would reveal the portal?”

A young boy with eyes of indigo asked curiously. His purple hair fell onto his shoulders.

“I didn’t.”

There was silence for a moment.

“I was hiding in a school. That’s a place where young children, like yourself, were taught,” he explained.

“Taught what?” A confused golden-eyed girl with electrifying yellow hair interrupted.

Arctic put one hand on her shoulder and lifted her index finger to her lips.

“Listen”, she said to her gently.

“I had been away from home for a few months. Travelling.”

He glanced at Arctic. Her eyes grew bigger and bluer.

“I went into the mountains to be with myself. I needed time. I needed space to understand Who I Am. So, I left. I packed my bags and I left.”

“Did you have a family?” The youngest child of them all asked quietly. Her eyes were shockingly green. They pierced through his heart.

He was quiet for a while and then nodded slowly.

“I was away for so long...” He continued. “...I had forgotten the world I grew up in. I understood the trees and the earth. I sat with animals and they told me stories. One night, as I star-gazed, an owl landed on a rock near my fire. She told me it was time to go home. So… I did. I left the natural world and made my way back into the belly of society.”

The children sat still, listening intensely

“But what I arrived to what was not the world I left behind. The streets were filled with army men, parading with weapons. I had walked into a World War. Humanity against humanity. Civilians were grabbed. Children were snatched. Families separated in tears. Drones filled the skies, enough that the blue eternity above us was covered with a sea of metal robots, creating a claustrophobic ceiling. I watched, flabbergasted, observing my sisters and brothers chained up, horded into vans. I walked through the screams. The terror.”

“They couldn’t see you…?” Arctic asked in confirmation.

“Perhaps it was the beard.” He smiled as he softly stroked his grey-tinted beard.

She smiled back.

“I went unnoticed. Until I saw a young Indian boy. He was hiding behind an abandoned car, sneaking his head around and ducking back. An army man patrolled near him. I felt impulsed to go to him. To warn him that danger lurked. To cradle him. He was oblivious. The man walked closer. He was about to turn, to see and capture the little boy. Something took over me.

I shouted. “Run!”

The little Indian boy looked at me. His eyes showed a fear I had never witnessed before. But so too did the army man. The boy sprinted, around the street corner, vanishing out of sight. The man, with a full-face covering had only his eyes showing. He, himself, felt robotic. He pointed his long rifle in my direction. I turned and ran. I ran as far as I could, as fast as I could, never once looking back. I moved through the chaos like The Flash.”

The children didn’t react to the superhero reference.

“Eventually I arrived at a blue building. I caught sight of the name of the school out the corner of my eye. The chains that locked the gates were broken. Papers, books, bits of leftover food lay all over the grounds. I jiggled the chain off and ran through the entrance.”

“Was he still behind you?” A boy with spikey white hair asked nervously. He shifted in his seat.

“I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. I ran as if he was. My life depended on it. I climbed the stairs three steps at a time. I climbed to the top floor. The building was empty. Quiet. The corridors, once filled with vibrant youth, felt cold and empty. The sign on the wall read Block D – Science. I went to the end of the hall. The door of the last classroom on the right was left slightly open. I ran inside and locked the door. I hid behind a cupboard. Crouching low. I controlled every breath, sure to make no sounds. I was still. Silent. I heard footsteps.

The children moved closer to each other. Their knees touched in comfort.

“Each step caused my heart to beat louder in my ears. I moved my back closer up against the cupboard. The steps grew louder. Tap. Tap. Tap. They stopped right outside the door. The gun cocked. I held my breath. Time suspended. A loud siren rang from the streets. It echoed through the classroom, through the building. The steps tapped again, this time further and further away. I waited until I was sure he was gone. Only then did I breathe. The relief that graced me caused my body to collapse onto the floor.”

“Would he have killed you?” Arctic asked. Her voice was soft.

He looked at her. Her bright blue eyes seeped wise curiosity.

“Yes.” He affirmed honestly. It wasn’t even an option for him to lie to her.

He sighed. “And so, the school became my home. I slept on the bed in the nurse’s quarters. I ate leftover canned food from the canteen. There wasn’t much so I rationed. There was no running water so I cleansed myself in the school swimming pool. But only after sunset because the drones circled the skies, scanning and beeping, polluting the air with radiation and noise. I spent my time reading books in the library. Exploring classroom to classroom. I learnt a lot.”

Arctic smiled.

“How long were you there for?” A child with curly auburn hair asked. He suspected she was the eldest of the children.

“I can’t be sure. A few weeks. A couple of months. Time is very peculiar when you have only yourself as company. However, a wave of unease did sweep over me. The streets grew quieter and the drones dropped in numbers. The daily sirens stopped over time. My food was running out. I knew I was to move soon.

I sat under the stars that evening. I placed myself close to the grandstands, making sure I was able to hide from the odd drone that passed by. And that’s when I heard it. It was faint at first, so faint that I thought it was my own heartbeat. But no. There it was. A heartbeat. Lub-lub dub, lub dub-dub.

I felt a weight around my neck. It wasn’t there before. I touched my chest. And there it was. A heart-shaped locket hung loosely around my neck. I took the necklace off. The locket shone with a shimmer in the moonlight. It had no inscription. No instruction. I tried to open it. It didn’t budge.

The golden-eyed girl sat up onto her knees. “But… but… how did it get there?”

Arctic placed another hand on her shoulder.

“It was only two nights later, after finishing my last can of beans that I understood its purpose. The locket was beating stridently on my chest. My own heart matched its rhythm. I moved through the corridors. Left… louder. Right… softer. Straight ahead… louder. I reached the library. It beat loud enough that it echoed throughout the whole building. I walked through, to the center. I looked down. A radiant glow came off the locket. I took it off my chest. Open it. I did. A milky white light with a pink hue swirled around me in a vortex motion…”

***

The night was still. He tossed and turned on his mattress. His dream was constructed by memory, but something was different. He tossed again. He saw the car. The eyes of the little Indian boy. Sirens rang in the background. This time, he followed the boy around the corner. He ran until they reached an abandoned barn. He watched as the boy made a bed out of a mountain of hay. The boy lay in the fetal position, cradling his body with his arms. He cried.

He shot awake and ran from the lodge toward Light Cove. Dara was awake.

“I need to go back”.

Her pink-rose coloured eyes looked into his.

“There is nothing there for you”. She responded sincerely.

“The boy. He’s alive. I need to bring him here.”

She touched his shoulder.

“There is no guarantee the locket will open for you again.”

“I know.”

She nodded.

They walked together into the children’s sleeping lodge. Arctic lay peacefully. Her electric blue hair glowed in the dark. She opened her eyes before they reached her. She sat up.

Dara spoke quietly, “May we have the locket Arctic?”

She looked at him. Her eyes felt sad but she understood. She reached behind her pillow and pulled the locket out. She put it in his palm and closed it gently. She hugged him tightly. He hugged her back.

***

A milky white light with a pink hue swirled around him in a vortex motion while he breathed in and out to the rhythm of the beating heart…