Malei

Opening her eyes, she looked up into crystal blue skies. She put her hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun. The clouds were a light purple and flying creatures bounced off of them flitting from one cloud to another. Near her a soft giggle was heard. She sat up. All around her was green grass and yellow wild flowers. Slowly she stood up and looked around her. The soft giggle sounded again. Slowly, calculating, she walked toward the giggle. Wrestling was heard nearby. She turned and looked. A bush of flowers was next to her. When it got there didn’t even cross her mind. She walked toward it. Looking behind it she found a giggling girl and a boy with wide brown eyes.

“You found us!” shrieked the little girl and she bound up giggling and throwing her hands in the air.

The boy stood up slowly. He nodded but did not speak nor smile. She looked quizzically at him.

The wind began blowing sending the smell of smoke at them. She turned around to look where it was coming from. Thick black clouds were coming from where she was laying looking up at the sky. She turned back to the two children but they were gone. She was alone in a garden.

Twirling a panic welled up inside of her. Where was she? She turned and looked behind her. The sky was quickly darkening. Was that smoke, or was night falling? She heard footfalls and turned to find them.

Running toward her were several people dressed in white and blue uniforms. Confusion hit, she turned and ran away from them. Scenery blurred all around her. She ran until she saw the end of the road. There was a light coming through. Running toward the light she found herself in the field again. She slowed to a walk. No one was behind her anymore. She walked forward afraid to look back and find them after her again.

A hill loomed before her. She stopped at the bottom. There were people talking on top. She walked slowly up the hill. At the top she was greeted with a family sitting around eating, talking, and laughing. She walked closer. The woman turned to her and smiled. She felt at ease and smiled back. The beckoned her to join them. She walked forward. Sitting near the middle were the boy and girl she was playing with earlier. The girl smiled at her and offered her a piece of candy. The boy didn’t smile but offered her a drink. The man at the edge of the blanket nodded at her and went back to talking with the woman.

The dark clouds were getting closer again. The man picked up the two kids and began running down the hill towards the smoke. The woman grabbed her hand and ran after him. There were people running with them now. Yelling, commotion, and sobbing was all around her now.

She ran with the family looking around her, stumbling after the woman. They reached a large castle guarded with thousands of men. She looked at them, they were faceless beings. She could not see eyes, ears, noses, mouths. This frightened her and she held tighter to the woman’s hand.

Inside the castle she lost track of the family. There was no longer smoke, no people running or shouting. A woman was at the end of the hell calling to her. She walked farthing inside. The woman took her in to a room and dressed her in a ball gown of silver and black and took her to a hall filled with dancing couples. They were all laughing and twirling through the hall. At the front, sitting on a throne, was the man from the picnic. Nothing was making since to her but she walked forward. This castle, this room, these people were familiar to her. Smells of sweet treats she could not name nor remember smelling assaulted her. The girl and boy ran up to her again begging her to play. An older boy walked up to her and shooed them away taking her hand and presenting her to the man and woman from the picnic. They smiled at her and she gave a small curtsey. All the mannerisms seemed to be natural to her. She smiled and nodded when she needed to, it all seemed so meaningless and yet meant the world at the same time. This was her real life, her calling, her destiny.

A cold wind blew through and a dark mist entered the hall. Screams filled the room and the walls turned to blood. The man and woman disappeared. The boy and girl ran past her frightened. She went to follow them but the older boy from earlier popped out of a door and grabbed her wrist running with her another direction. The woman stepped out from another door and pulled her knocking the boy off balance.

The woman rushed yelling out orders then looked down at her. She looked up and gasped. She was being handed over to a man, a man she knew. His face was becoming clearer by the minute. He was handling her as if she was fragile. He was begging the woman not to let go. She turned to look sadly at the woman who was crying now. The man holding her looked down. She still couldn’t make out his face but he was taking her through a wall. She turned back but the woman was gone.

Looking up she went to grab the man’s face. He was wearing the guards’ uniform she had seen before. He looked down. She saw grey eyes, sandy blonde hair with grey wisps showing his age. His features became clear and she screamed.

Jolting up out of bed, Malei took a few minutes to orient herself. She was sweating and her sheets were sticking to her skin. There was a noise in the hall and three people ran in to her room armed and ready.

“Lieutenant General! Are you ok? We heard screaming!”

Malei looked up still breathing hard. Her eyes were wide but she controlled her expression and rose. “I’m fine. I’m not sure what you heard. Return to your post.”

They looked at her a moment. Two of them saluted her and walked out. One remained behind.

“Malei. I heard you scream.” She still stood at attention but there was worry in her eyes.

Malei looked up at her best friend. The woman stared back at her. Malei sighed. “Jenny, I’m fine really. It was just a dream.”

Jenny relaxed and really looked at Malei. She had dark circles under her eyes and her shoulder sagged showing a haggardness Malei rarely ever showed. “Was it the same dream?” Malei shook her head.

“No, this one was different. All the people were there, but there was more to it. Everything was so broken up, but I feel I should know these people. I feel like they mean something to me, I just can’t remember! I really can’t remember any of it.” Malei put her head in her hands. Muffling her voice she mumbled out. “Go to bed Jenny.”

Jenny knew when she was no longer needed or wanted in a room so she saluted and left.

Malei looked around her room. Her dreams were always so vivid, as if they were memories instead of figments. Ever since she was little and could remember, she had these dreams. The same people always appeared in them. The woman always smiled at her kindly and her eyes were full of love. There was a warmth in Malei’s chest and an ache she couldn’t describe whenever she thought of the woman in her dreams. The man was harder to remember. She felt he was always distant and rarely dreamt of him. Every dream was in a different location until this one. Every place, from the field to the castle grounds she was running on, was familiar to her; more than just dream scapes. She felt she had been to those places. That face at the end of her dream, she had never seen him there before. It was a face she had seen nearly every day for the last 20 years or more. The face looking at her, waking her up, was her own uncle. He would have to tell her more this time. He owed her answers.

Malei threw off her covers and walked around her room stretching her tired limbs. It was well past breakfast and she really needed to get out for morning drills and find out all the morning reports. She was just so tired. She was homesick and wanted to see her daughter. Right now she would be going to sleep or would already be asleep, her uncle tucking her in to bed, would be reading or watching TV.

A knock outside her door roused her from her reverie. “It’s open.” She called out.

The door opened and in stepped a man in a suit. Malei looked at him questioningly but waited for him to speak.

“Malei Patterson?”

Malei remained quiet but nodded.

He held out his hand with a small envelope in it. “From your uncle.” He turned and walked out the door without any more words or a salute.

Malei looked dumbfounded after him. She shook herself and opened the note.

“Malei, your daughter is a brat. Congratulations.”

Laughter filled the room as Malei pictured her stern uncle, the man who raised her, the man who taught her how to lead, how to defend, and everything about tactical maneuvers she could ever know, was raising her stubborn daughter while she was away the past two and a half years.

Her lingering memories of her dreams were forgotten as she dressed with a smile and a pep in her step.

Malei walked out of her room and followed the hallway out of the building. The skies were clear and nothing was out of the ordinary. It was going to be another day of monotony. She looked around. Everywhere you looked there was sand. The landscape was a sea of beige. Every now and then the bland coloring was broken by bits of green here and there.

Soldiers made their rounds, coming and going inside the encampment. It was a quiet day; too quiet. Malei was a very cautious person. Growing up in the army, she was raised to always be careful and look around. It was just her and her uncle, so when he was deployed it was just her. She thought back to her uncle. They called him “The Ghost” because he came and went as he pleased. It appeared no one could touch him, not even the President himself. He reported to no one, and everyone reported to him. As far as anyone outside of the armed forces were concerned, he didn’t even exist. Her uncle hated talking about the past; making it impossible for Malei growing up. She could never ask anything because he would shake his head and say it was best left in the past before changing the subject to the present. Always in the present, he wouldn’t even talk about the future. His rise in the ranks was always a mystery. He never talked about it and no one seemed to know. It was like there was no history of him. He just appeared one day, knowing everything there was to know about military history and strategy. Malei’s life was meticulously arranged. Nothing happened without her uncle’s knowing, that is until she disappeared into college life. He was deployed overseas; unable to communicate Malei was lonely. A man came along and she fell in love; or at least that’s what she thought. One day the man was gone and she found herself pregnant and alone. Her uncle came back and for the first time in her life she saw genuine fear in his eyes. She always figured it was because she was pregnant and alone, but he never seemed to actually mind that. Her daughter brought light into their lives.

You would think that Malei’s life was non existent. Some would say she had no childhood with her uncle gone all the time and her left in this base or that one. That wasn’t so at all though. If you asked Malei, she would tell you she was a princess and her uncle was her advisor, mentor, and stoic guard. He loved her very much and showed her in his own way. She was never wanting for anything. Memories surfaced unbidden. Malei remembered playing on base with all the children and attending school. She loved it. Flashes of memory she didn’t quite recall happened. Castle walls loomed in her vision, vast gardens filled with fragrant flowers she’d never seen in her life. Malei shook her head. She was going crazy. All this beige was driving her mad. She walked out, shielding her eyes from the sun, and looked around.

Everyone was relaxed. People were milling about eating, napping, playing cards, taking smoke breaks, talking, and laughing about whatever joke was happening that day. The closer she observed, the more jittery she became. Something was nagging at her. Something in the back of her mind; out of place. She had been in Afghanistan for nearly two and a half years now. Her uncle was at home with her daughter Emily. She was achey to get home. It was just so quiet.

She caught sight of Jenny and walked over to her. “It’s so quiet.”

Jenny looked around. “Yep. Kinda nice isn’t it?”

Malei looked up at Jenny. “It’s just too quiet.”

Jenny turned to fully face Malei. “You worry too much. Relax, you are too uptight. Let go once in a while and just enjoy the quiet.”

Malei tensed up further. “I don’t know. I just have this feeling.”

Jenny knew to take Malei’s feeling as face value. So far every gut feeling Malei has had was completely true. Her gut feelings is what has kept them alive so far.

“Look, check in, and then come back and see me. We’ll see about this feeling. I’m sure this time around it’s just that, a feeling. You’re going home soon! I’m sure this feeling will go away after you have your meeting this morning.” Jenny patted Malei on the back sending her to the main building.

The meeting was uneventful today. They droned on and on about what to do next, who was going where, when some were going home and how they would be sent back. She sighed mentally. Nothing would get done today. “Sirs? Let everyone go in to town today. Nothing is going on. No one has been sighted nearby. It’s quiet. I’m sure they could use some entertainment. Put a curfew out if you must.” They all agreed and Malei left to find Jenny.

It was clear they were all going in to town and they insisted Malei come along. The last thing she wanted to go was go. She was hoping that by allowing them all out, she could get some piece and quiet to figure out this feeling she was having and maybe get some answers to the dreams she was having. Her friends were having none of that, they wanted her out with them. Well, she had nothing else to do, so Malei agreed.

They all walked toward town. Malei remained quiet and answered only when spoken to directly. She hardly added to the conversation at all. Finally the group stopped including her in their conversations. They could tell she was acting weirdly, even for Malei. As they hit the town center, they stopped. No one was out. Not even one person or animal. The soldiers became very quiet and looked around. Everything in Malei’s body was screaming at her to run, but her loyalty to those around her kept her rooted to the spot. These men and women were her family. Most of them she’s known all her life.

Jenny spoke first, “Let’s turn back. This place is abandoned. Or at least appears to be.” She turned to Malei. “This is your call. What do we do next?”

Malei looked around. “Alright. Let’s go back. No one stop. No one look back. Something is off about this place and I don’t like it. No returning here without clearance from me.”

They didn’t even think twice before turning and heading back. Everyone looking out of the corner of their eyes for danger. Without further incident, they reached camp again and waited for Malei’s next orders. Jenny walked up to her. “What do you think?”

Malei didn’t look at her. “There is something odd about that place.” Malei kept feeling an odd tug telling her to go back and take a look. It didn’t seem safe and nothing in her gut was agreeing with this pull. With a far off look she murmured, “There is just something.”

Jenny shook her friend a little to get her to refocus. “Malei, you’ve been a little odd today. You wanna talk? I mean I’m here for you if you need anything.”

Malei shook her head. “No I’m fine. Really.” She added a smile to throw off her best friend. “Maybe a little tired and really missing Emily, but I’m fine.”

Jenny looked at her with non believing eyes. “Maybe you should lie down then.” Malei nodded.

“Yeah I just need rest I guess. Look, I’ll talk to you later.” Malei turned and walked away. She would need to talk to the General.

Walking up to the main building a tug pulled at her so hard she nearly stumbled. The back of her neck began to burn where her birth mark was. She reached up and ran a hand over it. Ever since she could remember she had a birth mark of a unfolding flower on the back of her neck right at her hair line. She’s always loved that about herself. The mark was completely unique and she never took any caution to hide it. But now, the mark seemed to be pulsing. Inside the building, she took a side detour and walked in to the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, she turned her head to see if she could see the mark. Her neck was red and angry looking, as if she got a sun burn that day. Well that was nothing really to hide, it wasn’t glowing or changing color. She didn’t feel sick or feverish. For now she would just ignore it. As soon as that thought ran through her head the mark pulsed again sending pain up to her head causing her to see black floating spots for a moment. Malei paused in the bathroom for a moment, the spots cleared and she could see clearly now. The burning sensation went away, her neck looked completely normal now. Malei shook herself. She really was going crazy.

Laughing to herself, she walked out the door to find and talk to the General. Malei turned a corner and the tugging feeling caught her again. It felt like something was physically pulling on her mid section. Like something was trying to drag her forward and move her in a direction. Maybe talking to the General could wait. They really didn’t find anything. She could just alert everyone to just not go out alone. Really they shouldn’t be walking outside of a group anyway. You never knew what was lurking. Malei turned and decided to walk toward the mess hall.

Inside the mess hall she met up with Jenny and a few other people. Jenny immediately flagged her down to eat with them. “I’m glad we found you! I figured you’d be starving so I already got food for you. Come on a sit down.”

Malei smiled at Jenny and took a seat. Today they were joined by three soldiers she didn’t know. She guessed either new recruits or just people she didn’t usually sit with. This was actually perfect for her. Something was telling her this tugging was calling her back to the village. She’d be able to walk with this group of people back toward that village. She sat and started munching on something chewy. She wasn’t even sure what she was eating as she wasn’t paying much attention. Jenny watched her with a completely calculated eye.

“So I was thinking,” started Malei looking up and setting down her food, “I want to return to the village after we eat. You guys up to coming with me?” Jenny looked at her with wide open eyes. Food hung from her open mouth nearly spilling. She seemed to remember her very un-lady-like behavior and pushed the rest of it in her mouth before swallowing and responding.

“I thought it gave you the creeps. I though we weren’t going back. I mean it’s completely abandoned for Christ’s sake!” Malei gave her a look that usually meant shut the hell up.

“Yeah I know. But something bothers me about it and I want to check it out. No harm. No fowl. We’re going in broad daylight. They would have raised an alarm if they saw any action. It’s walking distance! No one is going to do anything during the day while we can see. The guard towers can be on high alert if you really want. But I’d rather keep this between us until we know something is really wrong.” Malei finished her food looking around her.

There was a murmured assent as they all agreed to go with her. Jenny was the only one who though this was a horrible idea. Nothing good would come from it. A soldier never goes against their gut instinct except maybe to follow a direct order, which Malei did not issue. Jenny sighed. “Fine. We’ll go.”

Malei left the mess hall with Jenny, Sam, Darren, and Greg. Sam, Darren, and Greg were recently deployed to Afghanistan. Malei almost felt bad bringing them along, almost. They walked up to the gate where a few people stood.

Malei stepped forward. “We’re heading out to the village. Anyone want or need anything?” The guards shook their head before going back to their conversations. Malei knew that no one knew of the village being abandoned as of yet. She led them out the gate and toward the village.

Once there, they began exploring the buildings. There were no traps, no food missing, no supplies, or goods missing. Everything was as if they just stepped out for a minute with the intention of coming back.

“Malei, this makes no sense.” Jenny walked up to Malei who was studying a wall. “Can you find anything out of place?”

Malei turned around in the building. Every building they went though was the same. The houses were laid out similar. Business lined the main drag. Nothing was out of place. It really looked like either a movie set or that everyone decided to go out for coffee, at the same exact time, to never return. “No I don’t…” Malei cut off her speech as a particularly large pull grabbed at her. She stumbled forward causing the three men and Jenny to call out.

“Malei!”

“Lieutenant General!”

“SHIT!” Malei caught her balance and looked around. “I’m fine. Seriously step back I’m fine.”

Jenny, Sam, Darren, and Greg all fell back to allow Malei to regain her balance.

“I’m fine” Malei said again straightening to her full height. That’s when they heard it. There was a buzzing sound, a pop, and a pulse.

Malei turned around and walked toward the wall as if in a trance. Jenny called out to her but the three men were holding their ears as if in pain. “Malei! We have to go! Malei! Listen!” Jenny became desperate. She heard the buzzing again and figured there would be a pop and a pulse again. She moved toward Malei but was repelled back. Sam, Darren, and Greg tried to help Jenny up. Whatever they were hearing it appeared Malei and Jenny did not hear.

“What is going on?!” shouted Jenny.

“You can’t hear that?” shouted Sam still holding his ears and wildly looking around.

“It’s so loud. I think my ears are bleeding!” shouted Darren.

Greg was focused on Malei which caused Jenny to turn around. She kept walking toward the wall. Jenny couldn’t get to her and suddenly she won’t there at all.

“What the hell is happening here?!” shouted Greg and he pulled himself and his comrades out of the building.

Jenny couldn’t answer. Darren and Sam looked bewildered. The sound was gone.

“What! The! Fuck! Is going on here?!” shouted Greg again. He was about to panic and Jenny could see that.

She grabbed him by his collar. “Nothing. Not a damn thing.”

She turned and headed back to camp. The General was going to have a hissy fit and she wasn’t even sure what to say. She literally just watched her best friend, sister, comrade, superior walk through a wall. How was she supposed to explain that?

Sam, Darren, and Greg were silent as they followed Jenny out of the village back toward base. Jenny stopped near a tree and paced in a circle. They watched her for a while.

Jenny stopped pacing and looked over at the three. “Ok.” She paced again while talking, “we all just saw Lieutenant General Malei Patterson walk to a wall and disappear.” She stopped pacing, looked up, and waited for them to nod. Nodding to herself she continued to pace while looking at the ground. “Right. Right. Ok. So she disappeared in to the wall. There is nothing in the village. And we are the only people to see this. Oh my God they are going to send us home thinking we are crazy.”

Sam stopped her pacing by saying, “Shouldn’t we look for Lieutenant General Patterson? Maybe it was a passage?”

Greg chimed in, “We have to at least report her disappearance.”

Jenny threw up her hands, “By saying what?! What exactly do you all propose we say? We went in to the village. No one was there and instead of coming back we decided to look around? Then suddenly our commanding officer disappeared? From sight? In the middle of the day? With no one around?”

Darren shrugged, “Yes?” Fearing Jenny would strike him he amended, “We have to say something. Say we got separated. Say we turned to talk and then she wasn’t there. I mean would it be so out of mind to think there is a passage she could have been taken through or something? Because at this point, yes, we look fucking crazy saying someone disappeared in to a wall after we heard sounds. And what the hell… you couldn’t hear ANY of that?! It was loud as fuck!”

Jenny looked at base. “Ok. We’ll report it. They will send in a team and look. They’ll have people with thermal gear looking for her. They’ll find her.”

Sam looked at her. “And if not?”

Jenny didn’t respond as she led them back to camp. None of the four really knew what happened or what they were looking for. They couldn’t explain why the men heard the sound while the women didn’t seem affected by it. They couldn’t explain why it appeared there was a wall the sucked Malei in to it, assuming that’s what happened. They couldn’t even explain why they would be there in the first place. Jenny only knew that this investigation was doomed. She knew that their comrades from earlier would say it was abandoned and there was no real reason for them to return there to investigate outside of the fact it was just odd. She had no answers for her superiors behavior the past couple days. She just knew that right now her best friend was missing and she was going to have to tell her uncle and daughter. Jenny caught a chill up her spine as she thought of what The Ghost’s reaction would be. Malei’s uncle had quite the reputation in the armed forces. He was known by everyone, and yet no one knew him at all save Malei.

Jenny, Sam, Darren, and Greg walked back in to camp. The gate officers immediately sounded the alarm as one of their comrades were missing. Jenny gave her account to the general and then left to lay down. She would wait till she was called. When she hit her room the tears came hard and fast. Malei was missing and she was the one that agreed to go. Would Malei have sat off to the side and not gone or would she have tried to go alone?