Excerpt from Enchanted Island

Excerpt from my upcoming novel Enchanted Island

When Gabby got home Rosa and Manuel were sitting in the living room watching a movie. She wanted to give the couple their space so she headed to her room for a while. On New Year’s Eve the four friends took a picture just after midnight. Gilberto printed a copy for everyone to remember the occasion. Gabby thought the best spot for the photo was right above her bed. She couldn’t wait until she found the perfect frame so she decided to secure it with thumb tacks for the time being.Gabby gathered four tacks for each corner of the photo. She positioned it exactly where she wanted it and reached for the first tack. The photo slipped from between her finger and the wall, falling behind the headboard of her bed. Gabby let out a sigh of frustration knowing that it would be a tedious task retrieving the photo.

The solid wood bed was much too heavy to try to maneuver on her own. The best course of action would be to move the end table instead. Gabby slid the table a few inches so she could get in closer and grab the photo. As Gabby reached for the photo something strange caught her eye.

On the backside of the headboard was a strange engraving. She ran her fingers across the new discovery, and instantly received a massive electrical charge through her hand and up her arm. The sensation caught her off guard sending her tumbling back and hitting her head on the end table. She sat momentarily in a fog before the visions started.

She woke up to find that she was no longer in her bedroom. Gabby was being pushed into a dark cave by the Indian man. Again he spoke a language so beautiful, but was neither Spanish nor English yet she understood it perfectly. He urged her to stay vigilant while remaining in the cave away from the danger looming outside. Before running off the Indian man handed Gabby a mid sized medicine bag containing a heavy object.

Gabby was bewildered and frightened after the hasty exit of the Indian. She sorely lacked knowledge of what she was hiding from, or why she was now in possession of the medicine bag and its contents. Taking advantage of the light she removed the item from the bag. She held in her hand a tablet of some sort.

Gabby didn’t quite comprehend the carvings etched in the stone; they all just seemed like a random group of pictures. The images began to fade as it appeared that the cave was spinning slowly until it took on a new form. Gabby was now in a caney, a rectangular hut in the center of a village. Taking a closer look, Gabby saw that she was sitting among the small group of hunching people. She closed her eyes and instantaneously took on the experience.

One woman nearly a hundred years old sat off by herself with eyes closed. She mumbled the same words over and over. Gabby hesitated to get in closer but the woman spoke her name. The name she spoke was not Gabby or even Gabriella, but somehow she knew the woman was addressing her. Gabby hesitantly walked over to the old woman stopping just inches of where she was seated. In the blink of an eye the woman reached out and grabbed Gabby by the forearm with cat like reflexes. For an old woman her grip was firm and unwavering Gabby thought. The old woman spoke once more.
“Bring it back,” she urged. “You must return.”