It was just after 1:00 AM when Valeria and Ortencia agreed to get some sleep. Later that afternoon Valeria would be leaving the Peninsula on a plane for Santa Fe, where her parents would be waiting for her. There would be much to tell Travis after this night, and it was certain now she would be back on the California coast, during the academic break of summer, to spend more time investigating this case.
As Ortencia left her there in the living room, Valeria lay down on the sofa and tried to get comfortable enough to drift off to sleep. She knew everyone in the house would be up early to get Natalia off the school. The small place, save for the refrigerator in the kitchen, was quiet. Now and again a car could be heard passing by out on the street, and somewhere in the room there was the steady ticking of a clock she had not noticed before.
Valeria's mind kept going over the details of her own mother's side of the family, which she had not thought about since hearing of them as a girl. That history was traceable and fully documented involving Santa Fe, New Mexico and its illustrious past. It was, in fact, the second oldest Spanish Colony in North America, and where her progeny had emigrated to from Spain. But what kind of unattached consciousness could draw upon those facts, she wondered? And from where?
Just like the details of Alida Ghirardelli's short life and death in Carmel, which were expressed by Natalia with uncanny particulars—the story of little Maria Naranga, Valeria's own ancestor and captive of the Pueblo natives, was expressed both symbolically, and directly by the adolescent with frightening accuracy. The connection to Valeria herself in these recent dreams seemed to be for some dual purpose—either to enlighten her, or to frighten her away. And to Valeria this night in the semi-darkness, it was certainly both.
After some indeterminable time, there in the early morning hours, Valeria did manage to get back to sleep. She began to dream again, and this time saw in a reverie the countryside familiar to her—the high desert of New Mexico, around Santa Fe, with its red rock mesas and patches of mesquite trees spreading to the towering Sangre de Christo mountains to the east. In this dream the images were particularly vivid:
She found herself on a bluff looking down at a dry creek bed below. There she could distinctly see a small girl the age of Natalia. She carried a large basket and was walking painfully through narrow trails of sharp rocks. She was dressed in animal skins and was carefully collecting the prickly red fruit of cactus apples, which grew in clumps at the dead creek's edge. The little girl was unaware of being watched by her and she seemed so vulnerable out on the plains all alone.
Suddenly Valeria saw another figure standing at a distance to the girl. It was that of an older woman dressed in all black. The figure seemed to be hiding in the protection of the trees and moved only sparingly to keep her focus on the young girl. Valeria in her dream felt uncomfortable with the situation, though she too was watching the girl, from a greater distance. The girl was unaware of both of them while moving slowly along the riverbank, gingerly collecting the prickly red fruit.
It gave her much anxiety to see the figure of the dark-robed woman move ever closer to the girl. And it was not long after that the figure boldly revealed herself to the youth, stepping from behind a tree. Valeria could see the girl was shocked from her body language, yet she did not run. Nor could Valeria hear any of the words between them. She watched with intense interest as the older woman reached into her robes and produce something small and handed to the child. The girl nodded several times and put it into her basket. The two of them then more casually walked together, eventually sitting on a large flat stone where they continued their unheard conversation.
Valeria's curiosity could not be contained, and she moved quickly from the bluff in the direction of the creek where the two sat in the sunlight. Passing through the Mesquite trees and nearing the dry riverbed, she could see she was only twenty or thirty meters away from the two, still just out of earshot of their words. She passed more quietly and cautiously forward . . . until she heard an ominous hiss in her path. Looking down, she was horrified to see a coiled rattlesnake, common to the area and deadly. It positioned itself to strike if she moved any closer between the large stones where it lay.
The large snake, striated with diamond shapes of brown and rust along it back, began its final warning—the shaking or its rattles at the end of its tail. It was a sound universally understood by all creatures in that environment to immediately retreat. Valeria simply stopped abruptly and waited for the snake to retreat instead. Holding its position between the boulders through which she wanted to pass, the rattlesnake was resolute in promising to strike with deadly venom, were she to move forward. The frightening shaking of its rattles continued ever louder. Valeria stepped back and as she began to retreat, to her shock, the snake pursued her, moving surprisingly quickly along the hot stones. She began to run but could see the huge snake behind her had not given up its determination to stock her with a vengeance. Finding herself trapped before a particularly steep section of the bluff, she looked back to find the snake had kept up its dogged attack. In horror now, she realized she could not effectively climb away from the beast's path. And just when she found herself pinned against the red stones of the cliff and looked down to see the snake coiled and preparing its deadly lunge with poisonous fangs . . . she woke-up with a jolt on the sofa!
Valeria could feel her heart beating wildly, and the uncomfortable cling of her athletic suit against her body was from perspiration. A look at her phone told her it was 5:20 AM. She knew there would be little sleep left while in the Leon's house and resigned herself to get out her computer and take notes on the night's events. They were all so fresh in her mind.
Valeria diligently recorded in writing what she had seen and heard of Natalia's sleep talking. It focused on the breakthrough dialogue she had initiated with the girl only several hours before. She also spent considerable time trying to analyze in writing her own frightening dreams. Those which occurred while within the proximity of Natalia, in her home, and just down the hall.
It was obvious to her, through both dreams—seeing the gruesome body of Alida on the beach, and the immanent lethal strike of the rattlesnake---that they were intended to frighteningly repel her from her investigation. Was there some outside force there to craft such images for her? Or for Natalia, for that matter? Natalia had clearly spoken of someone else present in her bedroom during the dialogue.
The dream with the snake—preventing her from getting closer to the characters at the edge of the creek, was particularly perplexing to her. Symbolically, it was easy to interpret: The young girl could have been both Maria Naranga, or Natalia herself—both of whom shared their adolescent years. But which was the intended girl in the dream?
To Valeria, it was a logical assumption that the woman in dark clothing was undoubtedly "Ruby," whom Natalia reluctantly named in the dialogue. For it was she, the girl reported, who was presenting her with those disturbing and unsolicited images. That the snake in her own dream would not allow Valeria to come close to the girl, only intensified her believe that that very presence was trying to keep Valaria away.
As she closed her computer and wearily awaited the sunrise, she lay back on the sofa and contemplated the fate of things to come. It was, after all, that unknown and unexpected element that plagued all her inquiries of the supernatural. For just when all seemed to be moving toward with any rational explanation of a mysterious phenomenon---there would arise in those marginal and inexplicable cases, some invisible and sometimes tangible force which would halt all progress of understanding. As with this case, true, it was the nature of Valeria's chosen field, but that did not make it any easier to accept.
Somehow the young researcher knew, as she stretched out on the sofa, that her vacation with parents—beginning that very evening, and in the comfort of her ancestral home, would still be rife with such perplexing questions surrounding the case. What was comforting to know, was there would also be the anticipation of seeing a certain new colleague again, living out his life here on this beautiful edge of the continent.
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Paranormal Case 9
Mystery / ThrillerWhat Valeria Alvarez, a young paranormal activities researcher was to find in the little seaside town of Pacific Grove, was more than shocking. It gave many the notion that what science purports to know of supernatural phenomenon, is still in its in...
