Helena Walker: The Path

Helena Walker

My death was hazy. It was quick. My heart was crushed as if  struck by a sudden strike of lightning. I tried to calm the storm yet it raged within me. My life was over. Like rain, my life poured out.

As if only seconds had passed, the cold snuggled against my skin once more. The heat that encompassed my body after I dropped dead was dispersed. Where am I? What happened? I died didn't I?

My mind raced. My eyes won't open, my other senses are groggy. What the bloody hell. I can't feel a thing. I can't do anything. My flesh felt foreign, yet known. As my senses returned, my body could feel rushes of water. Water?

My eyes snapped open and the burning sensation of the ocean attacked my vision, I spun and turned to find where land was, I kicked my legs furiously, my arms flailing in desperation. As my head emerged from the tide and my arms reached the soft surface of sand, my sight cleared.

Behind me existed a massive body of water, seemingly never ending as far as my eyes can reach, on the other side, I wouldn't know how to describe it. Directly in front of me was a beach, palm trees placed so delicately in the sand. Beyond that was a lush forest, the wind rustling the leaves to reveal glimpses of what existed beyond those branches. In the distance far left I could see a mountain, snowy peaks with a giant tower above it, dark grey with blue accents. The tower, its... floating? To my right I could see another tower, this one the same dark grey yet with red, and farrrrr in the distance, a green one. What the hell is this?

What I did know was that I was almost completely naked, my body was only being covered with two extremely thin pieces of clothing that could barely be described as undergarments, one over my breasts and another not even covering the entirety of my arse. I felt my short wet hair sticking to my bronze skin on my face, my fingers positioned the loose strands of hair so as to not cover my vision. As I did so, I noticed something inside my left wrist, it was a diamond shaped metallic object, I scratched at it. It had a similar design to the large floating towers in the distance, while puzzled, I chose to ignore it for now.

As I walked across the beach in a sort of makeshift bikini I spotted something. Something that lit my eyes with a spark of intrigue and awe.It waddled over as if it's too intrigued by me, a bird once thought extinct, a bird that was wiped out by the overwhelming urge of superiority of the humans. Yet here it was, in front of me, tilting its head as if confused as I stared at it, observing it. The fearless bird that was hunted till none remained. Raphus cucullatus. The dodo.

Thoughts cloud my mind. What is going on? How is it alive? It went extinct in 1681? The land confused me more and more, an amalgamation of future and past. Before I had died I was a biologist, with Australia as my birthplace I saw all the creatures which could kill you, and a few that couldn't. Yet I was fascinated with them, lethal or not, my life revolved around them since I was a child. My career followed that childhood interest, learning of the creatures of the past. I found someone who loved that interest just as much, and I loved her. I lived for her, and died when she did.

Victoria. Are you here too?

The bird took its steps around my legs, my mind almost couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. Maybe it's just the water fucking with me. The bird then pecked at me, a light drop of blood dripped down my leg, I winced in a slight pain but more so annoyance. Okay the waters not fucking with me. I picked up the dodo and observed it, the bird was pretty accurate to what descriptions we had, back in 2008, that's when I died. I decided to give the dodo some berries I found on a nearby bush, maybe it could be a friend.

With the dodo in my arms I walked around the beach, observing every little thing I saw, a bad habit as a scientist. The hot sand burned against the soles of my feet as the water evaporated. I ran on the balls of my feet to the shade, I looked around more while standing under the palm tree. The tree was covered in scratches, and I just know it wasn't the dodo. You've seen crocs, dingoes and every tarantula known, you'll be fine. My inner assurance did little to calm the nerves that were rising. Nothing made sense here and now I had to worry about vicious predators which could rip my body in half. Isn't that great.