CAPE HOOLERTHUND; THE HANDS OF TIME

I am captain

Mia moved close to the wall. "Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Mr. Bear," the man said; a medium sized man in his late fifties with a bushy greying beard.

"What am I doing here? What's going on?"

"Calm down, you're alright."

"Where am I?" Mia asked.

"You're in my home you're safe."

She looked around. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"You just appeared here," Mr. Bear answered; not at all fazed by the ridiculous words that just came out of his mouth.

"Did I wash up onto the shore?"

"No. You appeared here."

"What do you mean I just appeared here? People don't just appear out of thin air, how did I get here?" she asked.

"You-appeared-here." He spoke slowly, maybe she wasn't hearing him well. "I heard a sound upstairs and when I came up to check what it was there you were sleeping in my bed."

"I'm not going to ask you again, how did I get here?" Mia asked.

"You appeared here."

"Oh my gosh you've kidnapped me haven't you? And now you're going to kill me."

"No captain please, I would never hurt you. You're my friend," Mr. Bear said as she moved herself even closer to the wall. She was near the window and when she looked through it and saw what was going on outside her jaw dropped.

"What the . . ?" Mia said and moved closer to the window to get a better look. There were houses of the same make as the one she was in right opposite with a road running in between; a road on which horse drawn carriages were driving down and people were walking down the side, people dressed like she had just walked onto the set of a Victorian movie. "What is this?" She opened the window and the picture was much clearer. She gasped, what was she looking at? She was expecting to see the ocean but no, what she saw instead was something else. "Where am I?" She turned back to Mr. Bear with her eyes completely filled with wonder. "What place is this?"

"Cape Mackerel."

"What is that?"

"It's an island off the coast of the Kingdom of England," Mr. Bear answered.

"England? What are you talking about England? Costa Rica?"

"Costa Rica, what is that?"

"It's where we are," she answered.

"No captain this is Cape Mackerel."

"What is Cape Mackerel?"

"It's an island off the coast of the Kingdom of England," he said; with an obvious look coming over his face. He literally just answered her question.

"Take me back. Take me back now."

"Captain calm down."

"Take me back to where you found me right now," Mia said, beginning to cry.

"I didn't find you anywhere captain, you just appeared in the very bed you're in."

"No, I want to go home. I want to go back to Peter. Take me back to Peter."

"Who is Peter?" Mr. Bear asked.

"He's my fiancé."

"Oh how lovely, I'm sure he's a wonderful man."

"Yes he is, now take me back to him," she said. "Right now!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"And why is that? Oh my gosh you are going to kill me. Help! Help!"

"No captain please," Mr. Bear said. " I am not going to hurt you, I'm a friend."

Mia quieted down but began to hyperventilate. She got off the bed and made a run for downstairs.

"Captain wait! Stop!" he said and followed behind her.

Mia reached the front door and swung it open and what she saw from upstairs was even clearer. She walked out and it was nothing she had ever seen before. Where was she? Her heart began to pound, so hard she could hear it in her ears. The ocean was nowhere in sight and neither was the hotel they were staying at, it was a place her mind could not comprehend was real.

"I'm dreaming, I have to be dreaming because this can't be real," she said as she walked back into the house and turned to Mr. Bear. The house was simple and didn't have much. The table sat in the middle of the room; to the left was the kitchen where there was a small fire burning in the hearth and to the right was the living room whose only furniture was a crooked wooden table and a couch sitting under the window that looked like it had seen a many better days. "What is going on? What is this?"

Just then the loud ticking of a clock in her ears went again and she threw her hands over them cowering; looking around and trying to find out where it was coming from.

"Ah! What is that?" she asked.

"What is what?"

"Do you not hear that? It's so loud."

"What do you hear?" Mr. Bear asked.

"That ticking, how can you not hear it? It's so loud."

"Ticking?" he repeated and immediately a certain look came over his face. Like before it ticked five times and then stopped and when peace was once more hers Mia stood up straight and gave out a huge sigh, glad that it was over.

"How could you not have heard that? It was so loud."

His face lit up. "It's really happening."

"What's happening?"

"It's time," Mr. Bear said.

"Time for what?"

"A ticking that only one particular person can hear . . . That's the call of the time keeper."

"Call of the who now?"

"The time keeper, captain . . . You have been summoned," he said. "Of course, it is the only thing that makes sense." Mia just stood there looking at him, wondering what on earth he was going on about. "You are not the Dalhamavaughn of this time and so for you to be here, it is definitely the work of the time keeper. He is the one who has brought you here and so now we must go to him and find out why."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Mia said.

"You must if you want to return to your time and see your fiancé again."

"Oh my gosh you have kidnapped me and now you're blackmailing me."

"Captain relax," he said.

"No stay away from me, and stop calling me captain. Listen here sir, I don't know you o.k. I don't know you and you don't know me, clearly you have the wrong person so if you would just take me back to where you found me so that I can go to my fiancé I will really appreciate it. For goodness sake I'm getting married tomorrow, take me back right now."

"What is your name?"

"Goodness sir, just take me back to where you found me o.k.," she said.

"What-is-your-name?"

Mia took a moment. In him asking that question it was like flood gates of memories came pouring into her brain. Brief images of a life that wasn't hers but felt so familiar. Brief images that were like watching a movie she never even knew had been made but felt like she had seen before. Brief images that were both clear and blurry at the same time; that made her feel like she had no idea what was happening and at the same time made her feel like she did. Her mind was clouded but small light shone through and it brought to her little but enough understanding to what was going on. Mia froze as her eyes began to glisten; standing there like a curtain had just been pulled open in front of her and she could see so much, so much she couldn't make out but knew meant something. She could feel it in her bones.

It was like something came over her and in mere seconds Mia found her racing heart calming down. She was shaken because she had no idea what was going on but having that odd yet familiar feeling come to her she wasn't anymore. She wanted to be because it made no sense what was happening and it was normal for anyone who found themselves in such a situation to freak out but she wasn't; the uneasiness that began to consume her immediately left her and she felt powerful. Like a strength from wherever had just descended upon her and awakened a part of her spirit she didn't even know she had. And from being just Mia Dalhamavaughn it was like she became something more, something bold and something rugged.

Tears ran down her face as she just stood there, like a deer in the headlights. "My name is Mia Dalhamavaughn," she answered.

"And who are you?"

A look of enlightenment came over her. "I am captain."

"That's right. You are captain. And you have been brought back for a reason. The Dalhamavaughn blood is powerful and it is fierce and it runs through you so whatever it is you have been called to do, I believe in you. I've got your back."

Mia wiped her tears away and gave out a heavy breath to settle herself into the new version of herself she had become; a version that began to burn a fire inside of her that made her feel like she could conquer the whole world. "Find me a ship Mr. Bear . . . We're going to see the time keeper."

Mr. Bear grinned from ear to ear, finally seeing in her what he always knew was there from the first moment he laid his eyes on her.

"Aye captain."