The Return

Previously on Story Jumpers
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 Just as I was about to consider another option, something I thought had disappeared from this world forever appeared right before my eyes. It seemed impossible but there it was, clear as day…

Chapter 4

Sam was unaware that he had been spotted by the cat. That it is his presence that had supposedly disappeared from this world. Sam considered himself rather ordinary. But what was seen with human eyes, was not what was seen by the feline.

Sam had an aura of sorts, vines of energy that emerged from within him and snaked out to those near him. As he moved through the world those vines touched others and connected them, human to human, soul to soul, breath to breath. Sam was one of the last network hubs of humanity, apparently wiped out when the rectangles and black screens, their noises and their fake worlds, broke humanity’s ties with the supernatural. The cat was mesmerised. Sam was unaware of this as he took in the scene. The horrific dog attack which appeared to happen in slow motion, the humans paralysed with fear and a cat initially sauntering through the whole scene.

In a split second, Sam pounced. It was as if he acted and thought as one. Sam had the almost and the actual in mind/body at absolutely the same time. He yelled at the dog and kicked it away. His supernatural connections making contact with the others bringing them to awareness and action. The woman screamed while the man in the leisurewear took out his phone and called emergency services. Sam dropped to his knees, completely unconcerned by the dog which was now cowering off to the side. The cat was considering the whole scene wondering how he had so completely lost control but the answer was crouched over the body right in front of him. Sam. A connector. A human with the full experience of humanity at his disposal.

Crouching over the man, Sam was relieved to find that the wounds, although bloody, were relatively superficial. “Give me your scarf,” Sam demanded of the woman who quickly handed it over. Sam used it to apply pressure to the man’s neck. “Just relax, help is on the way, you’re gonna be fine,” Sam reassured the man.

The cat remained transfixed as he observed Sam’s supernatural tendrils wrap gently around the other two and draw them in. “What’s your name?” he asked the woman as she approached.
“Portia.”
“And him?”
“That’s Felix.”
“Why don’t you come hold his hand?” Sam suggested with a smile as the tendrils embracing Portia drew her closer. She sat beside Felix and took his hand.

“I’m sorry Felix. You can’t talk right now, but when this is all over, can we get some help and find ourselves again? I love you, I don’t know what happened, I want to find what we lost, I’m so sorry.” Felix squeezed her hand as tears rolled down both of their cheeks and the cat observed tentative tendrils begin to emanate from each of them in a reach to make a connection. It appeared the longs were indeed still capable of being in both the natural and the supernatural when a powerful guide was present.

Sam felt he must still be in a dream sequence. He was aware of his knees slightly sinking into the soft turf of the field as he held the scarf to Felix’s neck. He was aware of the others present, human and non-human. He was aware of the life flowing past in the waters of the canal. He was aware of a vast and more complex network of connections between him and everything else. He was not an individual but part of a cosmos of creation. It was as if he could zoom out to a macro level and at the same time zoom in to the micro level of the current interaction. It was not difficult, it was joyous.

Sam felt the arrival of the emergency services before he saw them. Across the field they came to calmly attend to Felix. Gently, they lifted him onto the stretcher and with Portia still holding his hand they took him for treatment. The cat, the dogs, the man and Sam were left in the field by the canal. All were still wondering what had just happened and what they would do next…