Luke ran from his house, the screen door slamming behind him as he covered the distance between his house and his parents’ as fast as his legs would carry him. He vaulted over the verandah railing and pulled open the door, his breathing coming fast and heavy as he called out frantically. ‘Gran?’ He heard her voice coming from further inside the house and hurried towards it, finding her seated in her favourite chair in the front room, turning cards over on the small coffee table in front of her.
‘There you are. My, you were fast,’ she said, looking up at him with a happy smile.
Luke stared at her, catching his breath. ‘Gran, what’s wrong? On the phone just then you said you needed me here. That it was urgent.’
‘I did. And it is. Here, come and take a seat near me. You’re really out of shape, aren’t you? A short walk from your house to here shouldn’t have knocked you up that much,’ she frowned, eyeing him carefully.
‘That’s because I ran here, Gran. I thought something was wrong.’
‘Why would anything be wrong?’ she asked, eyeing him oddly.
Oh no, was she really losing her marbles, after all? ‘Gran, you rang me,’ he said hesitantly.
‘I know I rang you, good grief, I’m not going senile,’ she snapped.
Luke stared at his grandmother. What the hell? ‘Then what was so urgent?’
‘I need you here to pick some cards. I’m doing a reading for you.’
Oh, for frig’s sake.
‘You know the drill, pick me out three cards, there’s a good boy,’ Gran said, smiling sweetly.
‘I’m not exactly in the mood, Gran.’ Had he seriously just lost ten years off his life over some stupid card reading? She lifted an eyebrow and waited expectantly, and with a long, drawn-out sigh, Luke reached across and plucked out three cards.
‘Just as I thought,’ she murmured.
‘Gran, I really have to go. Are you sure everything’s all right?’
‘No, everything’s not all right,’ she said, staring down at the cards and looking troubled.
‘You’ve started remembering, haven’t you?’ she said, looking up and holding his startled gaze with a firm one of her own.
‘What?’
‘Hayley was here the other day. She remembers too.’
‘Gran, what are you talking about?’ He didn’t want to know, not really, but he knew she was going to tell him anyway.
‘Hayley remembers Jane.’
‘Okay, that’s it. I have work to do.’ He stood up but felt a surprisingly strong grip on his arm.
‘You’re remembering Edward. I knew you would one day.’
And just like that, his world fell apart.
The place Hayley pulled up in front of was nothing like she’d been imagining. She scoffed slightly. Sure, it was highly unlikely that the woman would be living in a tiny cottage in the middle of an enchanted forest, and yet somehow it felt as though she should be if she were authentic. The fibro house with a faded red tile roof and overgrown garden didn’t give her much in the way of confidence.
Megan Johnson was listed on her web page as a past life regression therapist, and Hayley had been surprised to find so many listings for people who did similar things. Who knew it was such a big industry? She’d never heard of anyone going to their past life regression therapist appointment. It wasn’t like, ‘I’ve got a dentist appointment today,’ or ‘I’m off to my hairdresser’s appointment.’ ‘Sorry I can’t make it today, I’m about to go to an appointment with my past life regression therapist…’
She knocked on the front door and waited, listening as a rather surprising springy step approached on the other side of the door. Inwardly she rolled her eyes as she pushed away the image of a hunchbacked old woman shuffling towards the door.
Instead, a woman in her early forties appeared, her blonde curly hair pulled back into a messy bun and wearing a long flowing skirt and T-shirt.
‘Hello, I’m—’
‘Hayley,’ the woman supplied, smiling. ‘Please don’t be nervous,’ she said, lightly touching Hayley’s arm. ‘I’m Megan, but call me Meg. Pearl’s told me a lot about you.’
‘She has?’
She nodded. ‘I’ve been hoping you’d call and make an appointment.’
‘Did she mention what happened?’
‘Not everything. Come on through to my office so we can have a chat,’ she said, standing to one side and gesturing for Hayley to enter.
They walked into a room at the end of the hall and Hayley looked around the room curiously. There was no sign of a crystal ball set up under a draped tulle tent as she’d somehow imagined, and Hayley made a mental note to readdress some of the stereotypes she seemed to be carrying around with her. The walls were painted a gorgeous lime colour that felt fresh and clean. Two comfy-looking chairs with pastel upholstery were positioned facing each other in front of a desk. There were candles burning that gave off the most delicious scent, and Hayley started to feel a lot more at ease as she settled into her seat.
Meg took a chair opposite her and reached for the notepad from her desk. ‘Pearl called a few weeks ago to tell me she’d given you my number, but all she said was that you might be looking for some kind of guidance in order to get answers to some dreams you were having.’
Hayley bit the inside of her lip thoughtfully as she decided how best to approach the whole subject, but thankfully Meg seemed to pick up on her hesitancy and jumped in to save her.
‘How about we start with the dream you had. Would you like to tell me about it?’
‘I’m not exactly sure that’s what it was. It happened during the day, while I was awake.’
‘So, more like a vision?’
Hayley nodded and drew in her bottom lip nervously. ‘I saw a young couple murdered,’ she started haltingly. ‘It happened a long time ago, and I believe I know who they were. I did some research on them, only what history says about their deaths is very different to what I saw.’
‘So you’re here to find some answers about this event? About the deaths of these people?’
‘I guess I am,’ Hayley said haltingly. ‘But I also want to know why I had the vision in the first place. Why I feel a connection to them.’
Meg nodded slowly, studying her in much the same way that Pearl had.
‘Look, Pearl thinks it’s something to do with a past life or something…I have to be honest, I’m not sure I buy that.’
Meg smiled gently. ‘I understand, however in my opinion doing a regression is probably the only way we’ll find out for sure.’
‘What’s a regression?’ Hayley asked, half horrified, half curious.
‘It’s a form of guided meditation in which we explore the things that may be buried deep in your subconscious. I promise it’s not scary—you are in complete control at all times. It’s not like the hypnosis you see at those shows where they make people dance like a chicken. You can open your eyes or stop at any point and you’ll be completely safe at all times. Would you like to give it a go?’
Would she? If someone had suggested she was about to go under hypnosis to reveal a past life, she’d never have believed them. She was open-minded to a point, but she just wasn’t sure she could open her mind wide enough for this. And yet a part of her already knew that she believed it all. There was just no rationalisation she’d been able to come up with that explained it.
‘Okay,’ Hayley said softly. ‘Let’s do it.’
‘Good, let’s see if we can’t find you some answers,’ Meg smiled. ‘If you’d like to take a seat over on the recliner, we can get started.’
Hayley gently rolled her neck in an attempt to loosen some of the tension she was feeling before leaning her head back against the neck rest and closing her eyes.
‘Just breathe nice and slow, deep breaths, that’s the way,’ Meg instructed gently. ‘Relax your body. Feel your hands relax, and your feet, your legs and your arms. Everything feels heavy. You’re safe and you’re in complete control. You can open your eyes at any time. Breathe in and breathe out. Long, slow breaths. Picture a bright light in the distance, it’s warm and familiar. Walk towards it. Feel its gentle warmth wrapping around you as you walk deeper and deeper into the light. I’d like you to go back to the last vision you had, bring it back to mind. Tell me what you see?’
Hayley was instantly back at the old tree again. ‘I see him standing by the tree. He looks worried,’ Hayley said quietly.
‘What’s he doing now?’
‘He’s looking up, he’s smiling again.’
‘Where are you in this?’ Meg’s voice floated to her, ‘Are you on the outside looking in?’
‘No,’ Hayley found herself saying, surprised. ‘I’m on the inside. He’s looking at…me,’ she said, hearing her voice shake a little.
‘That’s good,’ Meg said encouragingly. ‘What’s happening now?’
‘He’s running towards me. He’s scooping me up and we’re twirling around.’
She saw Edward’s handsome face and for the briefest of moments everything was right. ‘You came,’ she breathed after he kissed her deeply.
‘Of course I did. I love you, Jane. Always and forever.’
Meg’s voice came to her, gently prodding, ‘What’s happening now?’
‘I’m scared. I’m so scared. I want him to run. We need to leave,’ Hayley whispered fearfully.
‘What’s Edward saying?’ Meg asked.
‘He’s saying we can’t run. We have to stay and prove it.’
‘Prove what?’
‘That I didn’t murder Mr Mears in cold blood,’ Hayley said. ‘I’m trying to tell him they won’t believe me. They’ll send me away.’
‘What’s he saying now?’
‘He’s saying he can’t leave, he’s petitioned the governor about the murders and he needs to see that the guilty are punished.’
Hayley gasped.
‘What’s happening now?’ Meg asked.
‘They’ve found us.’
‘Who?’
‘The landholders.’
‘What do the landholders want?’
‘They want me. But they want him too. They’re saying to give the girl up and prepare to die for his betrayal to his own family.’
‘What betrayal are they talking about?’ Meg’s voice asked, but it sounded far away.
Her heart was beating frantically as she faced the men on horseback, their menacing guns pointed at her, the leering smiles sending her blood running cold.
‘“My father will not condone this,” Edward is saying. He’s stepped in front of me and I want to hide behind him, but I’m shaking so bad I can’t move. The biggest man is saying, “Your father sent us. You think a man like Wilfred Mason is going to allow his son to put him and all of his neighbours on trial for killing blacks?”’
Hayley stopped relaying the events as everything began happening too fast to keep up.
‘You killed them in cold blood,’ Edward yelled, fury making his words echo around them.
‘We did what we had to do.’
‘You did not have to murder innocent women and children. There is no excuse. I will see you all hanged for your part in it. Each and every one of you,’ Edward declared.
‘Edward, no, please, we need to run,’ she whispered fearfully.
‘We won’t be the ones on trial, boy,’ the large one said in a deceptively cordial tone as he lifted his long, evil-looking weapon.
‘Jane, run,’ Edward shouted, turning away to push her further behind him. ‘I’ll find you, run.’
‘Edward,’ she screamed seconds before the burning sensation filled her chest and sent her flying backwards into a dark, empty abyss.