Once and Again

Then


James felt his heart racing strands of dark hair plastered his forehead as he ran through the dense forest. The thick sweat of summer lay heavy and damp in the evening air. Overhead, the velvety blackness only held illumination from the handful of stars. Shadows huddled in clusters and animals scurried at the sound of his hurry. He didn’t look back as he trudged in fast, furious stomps in front of Annie.


He knew he’d see the same fear and determination in her sweet face. The forest’s perfumed scents rushed against his face, mixing with the high hint of fear and uncertainty. But despite all the best-laid plans, James knew there was really only one certainty: his love for her.


They were only steps from the river, steps from safety. His stomach became a knot of raw emotions crawling and rumbling in his stomach. Still, he couldn’t falter now, not in the face of her survival. He had to make sure she was safe. No way his heart would allow anything less.


When they reached the outcropping of small birch trees that lined the river’s edge, he stopped and ran his fingers through her short hair. It was drenched in sweat and soft like cotton. The copper of her skin like thick molasses shone in the full moon’s light. He knew she was going to beg him to go with her, but he couldn’t. They’d find her for sure if he left too soon.



“I promise you, chère. We’ll be together some day. I will find you, Annie.”
James pulled the trembling wisp of a girl into his arms and kissed her forehead deeply.


He gave praise and thanks to the Lord above and shoved her into the arms of his cousin and most trusted friend in the world, Beau.


“Keep her safe,” he ordered with a nod at Beau.


He heard the wail rip from her chest as Beau restrained her and dragged her to the boat that offered her safety and life. Turning on his heel, so as not to watch his own heart break, James stood stoic and still. He knew he wouldn’t be joining her in the North. He knew that even now his mother and father were being slain, but should he die in this forest tonight, he knew his soul would find her somewhere. Time, distance, and space would not keep him from his love.





Chapter One

Now


James woke from the dream with a start, the same familiar rush of air in his lungs choking him as he bolted from his bed and tangled sheets. Raking a hand over his bald head and down his face, he felt the last of the shudders slip away. His hand came away wet, drenched in sweat. Sighing, he put his hand over his heart to slow down its gallop. He’d often dreamed he was someone else, from some place else in time.


All the dreams that he’d had since he became a teenager, none had been this intense, this vivid. This mournful. Not until the first time he’d seen this house while on a business trip. This last one had seemed more intense, more alive, like it had taken a living, breathing life of its own and had but one solitary purpose. He’d moved to Mississippi and bought the place but the dreams only increased in number and intensity. The last six weeks had been filled with restless, choppy nights.


Just as he drifted off to sleep, he’d awake again to the heart-wrenching wail of loss and suffering the woman in the dream screamed. Every. Single. Time. Always the same woman. Always the same deep-seated ache to save her, to wrap his arms around her and protect her, but when he got to that point, of turning back, of going after the boat, he woke up with his very skin on fire with warning.


The feeling that something had brought him here, to this place, clung to him like dew on the morning grass. He rubbed his face on more time and stretched before taking in the blank, wallpapered walls and fading painted roses littering the edges of the windowsill. He made his way to the bathroom.


Standing at the sink, James splashed cold water on his face. Studying his visage in the mirror, he leaned in close to examine the smooth mocha skin and light whiskey eyes. His nose was a bit pointed, and his lips big and framed by a thin goatee. Something flashed in the mirror, an image of a man James knew to be himself. But not himself.


This man was white, with softly curling dark hair. But the same eyes. The eyes always remained the same even in the reverie that came when James slept, the eyes didn’t change. He stroked his nose, wide, broad, clearly a reminder of his African ancestors. It didn’t fit, though. It should be thinner, with a slight bump where he broke it sparring with his cousin, Beau. The time Beau had said Annie loved him more.


The mirror’s clear reflection rippled and in those waves James saw Annie, soft black Afro, lean athletic body draped in a soft ivory dress. Barefoot and laughing, she seemed to attract the sun, the flowers, and the wind as she stood at the edge of the river’s bank. She turned to him, smiling.


“Beau stop ya lyin’.” She giggled. “Ah’m love James for ever.”


Funny, he could hear her sweet giggle, a lyrical bell clear as he could the dump truck down the street. It shocked him and James leaped back from the mirror. Stunned, he splashed more water on his face. When he glanced back up to the mirror, it had changed back to its usual solid reflection. If it had happened at all.?


Troubled, James shook his head. These memories haunted him. But why? He didn’t have a cousin named Beau and he’d never known one single person named Annie in his entire thirty-two years. Not a relative, a classmate, or even a neighbors’ kid or co-worker.



“I’m going crazy. That’s what it is.” He mumbled to himself as he padded from the bathroom and back to his bedroom.


Swiftly he pulled on his sweats, socks, and a T-shirt. Not giving the dream or the freakish walking vision that occurred in the bathroom any more attention, he headed down the stairs of the rickety, old plantation house.