Chapter 49

Laying my head on a bundle of moss, I slipped quickly into unconsciousness.

The dream swept over me like a soft, warm wind. Draping itself over my mind, it seemed to throw a blanket over my sorrows.

No longer was I scouring the desert for a long lost cave or for a mother that time had long since forgotten, I was safe.

The Majestic 12 and Meyers were gone, no longer my concern.

Just peace.

Wandering like a ghost, I found myself lying upon my back on a pedestal made of stone. Clad in a long white gown, my long hair flowed around my shoulders like a black satin cape. My eyes were closed as if in sleep and I was ever so still. Holding a bouquet of lilies close to my chest, my body lay poised like a statue.

Death.

Death had kissed my pale lips and left its permanent mark upon me.

Floating closer to my body, and then hovering over it, I wasn’t sad, in fact, I felt relief. The pain and suffering I’d endured was over, I was…satisfied with my life and that I’d done what I came here to do.

I struggled to remember what my purpose was and how I’d completed it but the foggy amnesia that clouds the mind within dreams would not clear.

Examining my former body and admiring the soft features of my face while embraced in a deathly slumber, I smiled as I recalled the adventures and the hardships of being trapped within that body. Though the suffering meant little to me now, I knew it was all for a higher purpose.

I noticed movement in the corner of the cave…my grandmother.

Frowning, I wondered why she was here. Unaware of my phantom presence, the sadness painted upon her face was heartbreaking. She moved toward my body, slowly and reluctantly.

Confused, I noticed something shiny glint within her hand.

A knife.

I wasn’t concerned about her hurting me, I was already dead.

Tears ran down her sad face and I somehow knew that she’d held a secret within her for many years and it had nearly eaten her alive.

I watched as she approached my body. Raising her arm, she held the tip of the knife to my chest. Cutting open the bodice of my dress, she began to carve a mark into my flesh. As she pierced my skin, a white light poured out from the opening.

Pulling her hand back, the white star that had been branded between my breasts was no longer.

Instead of a white star was a new mark, the bane of my dreams for so long—the number.

II.