Abby and Wendy - Episode 42
THE REFUGE OF LOST SOULS
Illustration By Carlos Uribe
Instantly she stood in total darkness. Terror overwhelmed her. The light of the mapstick wasn’t shining. But very slowly she saw the blue tip of the staff glow, and shine brighter and brighter, until a wide passageway was illuminated all around her. The voices seemed to come from just ahead. In only a few steps the passageway began to open, and gradually became a vast cavern, so wide and long that she could see no end to it.
In a few more steps the immediate details were shockingly clear. There was a river of dark water, moving slowly and sluggishly, just crawling along. And the voices rose from across the river, where an endless multitude of vague human shapes pressed right down to the edge of the water. Hundreds of shapes crowded back as far as the eye could see, farther than even the mapstick could reach. And Abby could see their eyes. They were all looking at her.
An old man with a long beard was moving a small boat across the river. He wore a robe, and stood up near the bow, pushing the boat along with a pole like a long staff. Abby saw his eyes looking back at her. He had a calm, benevolent expression, showing none of the noisy confusion of the throng behind him.
Abby waited. He landed the boat on the damp clay soil, and walked toward her. She did not move.
“Well,” he said, “what can I do for you?” His voice was calm and gentle.
“What... what kind of place is this?” Abby tried to be calm, but felt that her voice was shrill, both frightened and hostile.
“You could say it’s my job. I maintain the last stop on the flight from life. There has to be a refuge for lost souls.”
“What are these people doing here?”
“They are... escaping the pain. You also are fleeing the meaningless agony.”
“So, these aren’t dead people?”
“I have nothing to do with dead people. I’m interested in the failure of the living. You see, the human project is a failure. A part of the person loses all hope. Something becomes too heavy a burden to bear, and that soul sinks all the way down to my humble refuge. You know, of course, this is all an illusion. Even I mean nothing, and I run this place. I’ll tell you a secret: I also am a member of the club of lost souls. And you’ll appreciate this, an even bigger secret: You... are also a member. Yes, you’re a visitor, but you’re here already. Why do you think you can hear us? Because you’re one of us! And you think you’re so pure and above it all.”
Abby was stung by the malice and contempt vibrating in that gentle voice. “Well, well,” she said. “You almost had me fooled. But you see, I don’t think I’m pure and above it all. I admit, I hardly know what I’m doing. I am a lost soul, but that’s not all there is to me. And I can tell, that’s not all there is to you, or any of these people.”
“These aren’t people. They are meaningless shades of nothing.”
“Then why do you care to convince me? Why keep this discussion going? You actually care! And I do too. I’m here to do something, and you’re trying to prevent me, trick me...”
“So go ahead!!” The old man’s voice rose in anger. His face seemed to be transforming. “Take all these people! They’re only here because they can’t take this evil world, so they sink to the bottom where they can be no one. Do you want responsibility for them? That will include responsibility for yourself! But have it your way.”
Meanwhile a small form, walking with a slow limp, with a face hanging down, approached along the waterside. He spoke softly in the old man’s ear. “Listen. I tell you, she’s opening the door... you know what that means...”
“Shut up. She can hear you,” whispered the old man. Abby saw he was transforming. He didn’t look like an old man any more. To her astonishment, he looked younger, very handsome and intimidating. He was elegant, dressed in smart clothes. He grew taller, and towered over Abby. What is going on?
“You’re in way over your head,” he told her. “You think you can get out of here with that stick you’re carrying? Watch!”
Other figures were arriving from both sides, barely clothed, muttering and jabbering to each other. Abby felt they needed to communicate, but couldn’t get their meaning across. They struggled to be heard. More and more appeared, until a thick mob were crowded around Abby on the riverbank. And more kept coming, pressing in upon her until she began to panic. She couldn’t find a way to speak, did not know what to say, and could not understand. She felt like she was drowning.
“A little more than you bargained for, isn’t it!” The voice of the tall form of a man spoke suavely and maliciously. “Go ahead, try it, lead them to safety, if you can find such a place in this world of pain...”
The thin wisp of a man was shifting his feet, stretching his neck, looking in all directions. Others were crowded around him, speaking anxiously. The thin man looked up at the towering figure and yelled over the clamor, “I tell you! The door is wide open! Watch out! The Human One, the Human One is coming!”
Suddenly there was silence. People looked at each other, anxiously but full of expectation. And then everyone spoke at once. “The Human One! Is it possible? Can it be?”
The tall man looked around calmly. “You think this girl could open the door? She’s a nothing, a nobody.”
Suddenly he froze, a look of shock on his face. In the wink of an eye, a powerful, glorious light, like no other, shone through the landscape and all the people. The figures around Abby were looking toward the entrance, but Abby watched tall man duck, and then shrink to invisibility. She felt the entire multitude, including herself, transported to a different place, a different world.
In an instant Abby came back to herself, still sitting on the crate in front of the Dreamstone Mirror. She had no desire to look back into it, and shielded her eyes with her hand. After replacing the burlap, she took stock of the situation. She felt free, liberated from the agonies that had been gnawing at her, terrifying her for so long. Her energy had returned. It was morning in a new world. The beautiful light of the mapstick shone across the cavern, across a ceiling as high and full of light as the sky itself. This light was certainly nothing compared to the light she had just seen. That was of a different order altogether, way beyond description. But the light of the mapstick was her own, her friend, her beautiful companion. An eagerness to be back home rose up inside her.
The map inside her head was understandable and reassuring. She felt no trace of weariness, and knew where she was going. The voice of the mapstick didn’t need to speak. The way home was like a stroll in the park. The underworld held no fear.
Abby slithered out of the tunnel to the surface of the earth, and carefully replaced the stone. She left no traces behind. It was still dark, but the moonlight cast faint shadows. The leaves were dripping and the air was cool. Her backpack was wet, and she anxiously remembered that Alex had left her a present. She silently returned to her cottage and opened the backpack. A cardboard tube covered in tape had been thrust inside. She opened one end and shook out a large roll of Alex’s printing paper.
Illustration By Carlos Uribe