From Worlds Between (They Honored the Deer Trilogy)

By Gerard J. Nijhuis

When Jonathan and his friends spend a stormy, fall evening fantasizing about a possible apocalypse, they concoct a plan of action, never expecting to have to act upon it.
That same night, Jonathan is unwittingly introduced to lucid dreaming and meets with a benevolent being who introduces herself as his spirit guide, AnnaSauen. Through her he learns the plan was a precursor for them to meet.
As the weather increasingly destabilizes and governments fall, Jonathan and his friends, forced to face down anarchy, decide to put the plan into action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerard J. Nijhuis
• Release date: Nov 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9780984891207

Gerard J. Nijhuis

Gerard J. Nijhuis was born in the Netherlands and immigrated to the United States in the summer of 1999. He has been an avid traveler between worlds.

Book preview

From Worlds Between

Being the first part of

They Honored the Deer

Gerard J. Nijhuis

They Honored the Deer, From Worlds Between copyright 2011 by Gerard J. Nijhuis. All rights reserved. Smashwords edition. No part of this spiritual/fantasy novel/e-book/trilogy may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

The first edition of this book was e-published in November 2011.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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CHAPTER 1

Jonathan let out a long, rather troubled sigh. He scratched his beard, which for a moment diverted his attention from the journey ahead. A tall guy in his late thirties, Jonathan was keen on hygiene, and not being able to shave was one of the things that bothered him most. His mind wandered to the corporate job he had held, where even though he worked in the IT department and did not meet with clients, slacks and a dress shirt were required. He looked down at what he was wearing. Doc Martens ranger boots that had seen better days, an old ripped and stained pair of jeans and ripped four layers of t-shirts and sweaters under a black leather jacket. And here he was standing under the eave of his front stoop, in an otherwise deserted street — or so he hoped — ready to leave behind all that in which he had once believed.

Although later than expected, it was not a coincidence that he left right before dawn. He determined it to be late enough in the night that most of the gangs at this point would have cleared the streets, yet early enough for his neighbors not to witness him leaving the house. He slid the key into the lock of the front door for the last time. Locking it required a certain ritual: pull hard on the doorknob, quickly twist the key left followed by an immediate right turn. With a final click, the deadbolt slid into place. Why do I even bother? he thought to himself. Placing the key in his jeans, he took a few steps back. Assisted by a small blue beam of his shaker flashlight, he glanced over the façade of the two-story split-level house. Like most of his neighbors, he lacked the means to keep up the house. The increasingly extreme weather of the last year left definite marks on the woodwork and the roof. For a moment his eyes rested on the broken window of the second floor before his eyes darted across to where the roof line met with the remainders of the wooden fence. In the pale light the purple graffiti spread over the black, suggesting his house sat on the border of two rivaling gangs.

Jonathan picked up his brown heavy-duty hitchhiking backpack and swung it onto his back. The two metal pans hanging underneath it clanged against each other, making way too much noise this time of night.

Great, I’m going to get killed before I even reach the corner of the street, he muttered. He carefully looked around, paying attention to any movements in the shadows of the neighboring houses, but he concluded there were none.

In his neighbor’s garage he heard their two goats as they stumbled about restlessly. Only a few years ago, those goats would have been worthy of a letter of immediate removal from the Home Owners’ Association. Now, livestock like that was considered wealth. Goats, Jonathan knew, were a high commodity as a source for fresh meat and of course milk.

Most of the houses were completely boarded up — his neighbor’s house was no different. In this world gone askew it did not necessarily mean these dwellings were abandoned. Many were afraid of late-night visitors with ill intentions, and had become very protective of their few last possessions. Besides, the nailed-on boards provided better protection against the ever-changing weather.

Gotta go, he whispered to himself. With great difficulty he heaved the backpack slightly higher onto his back and with a dry clicking sound it securely buckled in the front. He tried hard to stand up straight and take a few steps, but the backpack was way too heavy. He unbuckled it and as quietly as he could sank all of his belongings back to the ground. Right there at the doorstep he sat down and opened the main compartment of his backpack.

Ah, what do I need a toaster for in the mountains? he said to himself, shaking his head. He had long since abandoned his plan to trade it along the way for something more useful. He placed the toaster behind an empty planter next to the front door. Then he dug a little deeper and pulled out some books. He looked at one about quantum physics.

No wonder, that’s some heavy reading right there.

He grinned at his own joke as the book landed behind the planter and various other items soon followed.

At the end of the short, battered concrete driveway he headed south down the street at a determined pace. The streetlights had not worked in several months now. It made the start of his trip quite a challenge. The streets were littered with junk of all shapes and sizes, and one could wonder how, for instance, a Whirlpool dishwasher had ended up in the middle of an intersection. Jonathan, not new to this way of living, did not even notice the penetrating stench of rotting garbage anymore. His full attention was on the road ahead and making sure he was not spotted by anyone with harmful intentions.

It took him about half an hour to reach the main road that crossed through his neighborhood. He looked at what he expected to be a cloudless eastern sky — after all, it had not rained in the last month or so — thinking that by now he would see the sun rise. Instead, he stared at a thick black smoke cloud which covered most of the otherwise clear sky. Giving it no more thought, Jonathan walked up the westbound onramp, in the opposite direction of the smoke. One thing he knew from jogging years ago was that a small path ran alongside the six-lane highway, but what he did not know was how far west it would take him. Hopefully far enough to remain well out of sight until he was beyond the city’s borders.

He moved much slower than he anticipated when he initially planned this trip. Not only seemed the backpack to become heavier and heavier as he progressed, but his overall physical condition, or rather the lack thereof, demanded he move at a much slower pace. Regardless of the discomfort, he cheered up the farther he went along the path. When they had met she foretold he would feel better when he was underway. It had been months since her prediction, and he smiled as he recalled their conversation. Everything she had told him had more or less come to pass, and Jonathan would not be Jonathan if he had not questioned every word of it.

###

Ah, there you are. She beamed at him. I can tell this is becoming second nature to you; very good, very good indeed!

He could only agree. This was the third time in a week he had managed to become aware that he was dreaming. Now if only I could control the dreamscape better, and somehow extend the dream phase, we’d be in even better shape. Transforming the dreamscape by imagining the two of them to be in a sunlit room with huge windows had only partially worked. The train station was instantly replaced by a sun room complete with light colored walls and lush looking plants in a variety of greens right outside the window, but a train track remained running from wall to wall. The train station dream was a repeating dream he had had long before exploring lucid dreaming, and now he had conditioned his mind in such a way that such a dream triggered awareness. Right before his realization, he felt that familiar feeling of needing to be somewhere, but as often was the case his train had already left the station.

All in good time, Jonathan. AnnaSauen interrupted his contemplations. You are aware there is still time, yes? Everything happens exactly as it is meant to be. Please join me and have a seat.

Being in the energy of his spirit guide always gave him an indescribable sensation in the pit of his stomach that had redefined the meaning of love. It was a kind of ecstasy and bliss not of this world.

AnnaSauen was her name. This time she wore what could best be described as a blue formal pantsuit with a white blouse underneath. Her curly hair was dark brown and reached just beyond her shoulders. She adjusted what Jonathan called her Lisa Loeb glasses and sat down on the train tracks. Jonathan followed her example and sat down opposite her. When his hand touched the cold steel he was amazed how real it all felt, considering it was not his physical hand and these were not physical tracks.

Perhaps next time, imagine a couple of comfortable chairs; one for each of us. She smiled at him.

Well, I don’t want to be too comfortable or I’ll lose my waking state again.

She nodded, and he felt she understood him better than he understood himself, which, even in the dream state, made him feel uncomfortable at times.

The serious look on her face signaled it was time to pay attention. The old energy, which has surrounded and encompassed your physical world for so long, is losing ground at a faster pace than it has ever done before. You have seen there are those who will remain stubborn. They will cling to the old ways of living at any cost, and this may cause some unrest.

"Not just some," he said.

Do not judge them, dear one, for they too are being nudged to change their ways, and some will, simply because it must be so. Others, however, may have a different blueprint and different accomplishments while they are incarnated. There is no blame, just choice. You, however, as part of your divine plan coming into this life, are among those who choose to awaken earlier and assist in the changes more consciously. You have realized there is more to life than working, eating and sleeping. And even though you still have your day job and it has served you well, it will come to an end. Please keep in mind that your idea of ‘soon’ is different from mine, as I do not adhere to a timeline. All that ‘is,’ ‘is’ now. The world around you will continue to change at an ever-increasing pace due to the influx of new and expanding energies. You will feel frustrated at times. But don’t worry; this is the right path for you, and you are supported by many. Soon enough much will be asked of you. And though it may sound daunting now, I can assure you that once you are on your way, you will start to feel better almost immediately…

###

The path fell below the highway and twisted underneath to continue on parallel to the highway on the opposite side. The sun, now high in the sky, peeked over the clouds of black smoke. Jonathan rounded some shrubs and while still pondering his dream meeting with AnnaSauen so long ago and yet still vivid in his mind, he stumbled upon a small encampment. About twenty to thirty small tents appeared randomly in the brush on both sides of the path. A few of the campers were up and about, ignoring his presence. Some sat in front of their tents, enjoying the cooler temperatures of the early morning. A few others crossed the path toward some small muddy puddles of water; quickly evaporating remainders of the stream. Soon the only thing left would be the cracked dirt of the streambed until the next violent change in weather would cause the stream to burst at its seams once more.

When the Western countries watched their economies take the final plunge, people regardless of class and status lost their jobs and their homes and were often forced into less admirable ways to get food on their plates. The monetary system struggled