From Night On: Sacred Grounds

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 3:

Warmth

Terry reached out to grab the rock as he always did. There was one path he used to climb to the top every time, but, as his fingers met the rough, porous surface, they sunk into the stone as if it was nothing more than an illusion. He didn't break the rock, but passed through it as if he were a specter, again. Expecting to have the full resistance of a ocean worn stone, he nearly fell into it as he gripped at the nothingness and managed to stop himself just as his nose grazed the sandy exterior.

Pulling himself away, he wasn't sure what to think or how to respond. Worry crept over him as he remembered his time between death and life and he reached down to feel the sand. It was there and he was there as the grains passed through his fingers. He stared at the rock for several minutes as he weighed his options. "I could just walkaway," he thought. "I don't have to do anything." Terry approached the rock and attempted to grab hold of it, but he met the same outcome. He could remember the times he had climbed it throughout his life. What happened at the cemetery must have had something to do with this.

His curiosity was too great. If he walked away, he wouldn't know any more than he already did. If this rock had anything to do with his supernatural state, he had to investigate. He closed his eyes and slowly submerged his face into the rock. Just as slowly, he opened his eyes, not to see what was there, but to feel in a matrix of physical placement where each other type of substance held within the large stone's body. His breath was caught as he felt the stone reach nearly a mile into the earth, like one long sliver stuck in the skin of the world, and, not too far from where he stood, was something he did not expect to find.

As the last Ice Age came to an end, the continental shelf along the western United States was above sea level, where many of the first pioneers enjoyed the fruits of the land. Estuaries, mountain streams,fish in abundance, and various shelled animals were bountiful along the coast. For nearly eight thousand years, the Pacific coast was of the most naturally giving lands in the world. The kelp was high in nutrition and, coupled with the local fish, created a strong diet.These facts led the publication of The Kelp Highway Hypothesis, which supported the theory that human migration from Asia came earlier and more quickly than previously surmised. Instead of man only walking along Beringia, there were others who migrated along the coast, using early boating technology, bypassing the dangers of traveling across glaciers, and increasing their travel speeds by using oceanic currents. Within the rock, Terry found one of these early explorers buried in an honorable fashion.

Thousands of years ago, where this person had been buried, it would have been many hundreds of feet above sea level, possibly overlooking the coast or within a secluded area of dense forest. Terry approached the fossilized remains and noticed that they were laid out as if the person was purposefully buried there. He searched, finding many other fossils, but this was the only human nearby. Throughout time with oceanic erosion and the regular occurrence of earth quakes, the body had been moved and tilted, but remained straight and none of the bones had been shifted.

As Terry approached the remains, he felt a warmth as though the person was still alive, but the bones had been completely replaced by the earthly minerals. Terry reached out to touch the being through the stone and felt a resistance as if he had touched skin. Cradling the remains, he brought them out to the fresh air and laid them down on the sand. Disbelief was brief as everything he had witnessed over the past few days made anything possible. Looking down at the body, he saw the man who met him in the cemetery, lying there lifelessly as winds pushed the sands across his face.

Terry tried what he could to bring the man back to life, but nothing worked. Not knowing what else to do, he tried to place the body back in the stone, but it wasn't as yielding. The surface crumbled under his strength and didn't receive him as it did before. Looking back at the man, wearing worn, leather clothing, but still held the same white beard trimmed to a mustache and small tuft under the bottom lip, Terry's mind wandered his options. This man's bones were stone,but he looked as if he had been buried that day. There was no sign of decomposition and no green mist covered him like the undead.