Artayas - The Awakening

By L. G. Menallo

Delaney, a likeable young man in his late teens, is admitted to a remote ‘Healing Retreat’. A reluctant participant, Delaney quickly discovers that the retreat, named after its charismatic founder Artayas, is not a typical facility for troubled youth.

With the help of the wise Artayas and his fellow facilitators, Delaney and th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Louise Mendolia
• Release date: Apr 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9780648832904

L. G. Menallo

Louise is a certified Reiki Master who enjoys intuitive writing and making her own natural remedies using Flower Essences. She previously worked for Corrections Victoria and a top tier law firm as a Personal Assistant. Louise began writing purely as a healing and creative outlet. Her writing then evolved into stories infused with messages of hope, healing and inspiration which she felt compelled to share. Louise currently resides in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and their two daughters.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to my family and friends for your constant support and encouragement, and most of all, for believing in me.

A special thank you to:  my sister, Rose, for being my proof-reader and editor, to my husband, Frank,  for helping me to bring this book to fruition, and to my  'teacher,' Gabriel, for healing with me and reminding me how powerful I am.

To my girls, my catalysts, my love for you both propels me to be the best I can be and to never give up.

CHAPTER ONE

Delaney stared out of the passenger side window as his mum drove their family car along a winding road that was surrounded by forest.  It was quiet.  They had barely spoken to each other since they had left their home over two and a half hours ago. 

The road started to become more dirt than sealed gravel as they drove deeper into the forest.  The tall Canadian pine trees on either side of the road arched inwards overhead, almost forming a tunnel over the road. 

Delaney squinted his light brown eyes as he looked out of his window at the sun starting to set over the large grassy hills. A few minutes later, Delaney’s mum, Lucy, made a right turn onto another dirt road. With their destination not too far in the distance, Lucy decided to finally break the silence.

‘It’s going to be okay.’

‘Huh?’ Delaney turned to face his mum. 

‘It’s going to be okay,’ she repeated, trying to sound more convincing.

‘Okay,’ Delaney replied indifferently, turning back to face the passenger window. 

Lucy continued.  ‘Just see this as an opportunity to get away from everything.’ 

Delaney remained silent. 

‘It will be good for you to be amongst nature and not have to worry about anything and...’

‘Where’s dad?’ Delany interrupted, changing the subject.

Lucy sighed. ‘He wanted to come but he…’

‘…had to work,’ Delaney finished for her.

Lucy looked over at her son sympathetically and patted his leg.  She then lifted her hand and placed it back on the steering wheel.  ‘I think we’re here.’ 

Lucy noticed an extra-large Canadian pine tree with an unusually thick trunk on the corner of where she was turning.  It had a wooden sign nailed to the trunk with ARTAYAS written on it and an arrow pointing towards a lightly gravelled laneway amongst more trees and bushes. 

As they drove towards the entrance, Delaney looked ahead at the retreat, which looked like a large and rustic cabin.  Lucy parked the car in front of the retreat’s entrance, amongst a few other cars.  She opened her car door, got out and looked around at her surroundings.

‘Del, just smell this fresh, unpolluted air,’ she said with a big smile on her face. 

Delaney, uninterested in his mum’s fondness of the ‘fresh air,’ opened the passenger side door of the car and put his cane out to help steady himself.  Lucy rushed over to Delaney’s side of the car to help him out. 

‘Maybe you should have brought your crutches,’ Lucy observed as she went to grab her son’s arm.

‘I’m fine.  I don’t need the crutches!  I’m just using the cane for support.’  Delaney nudged her away. 

Lucy sighed and went to the back of the car to retrieve Delaney’s bag. As she brought it around, Delaney asked, as casually as he could, ‘Did you bring my painkillers… just in case I need them?’

‘The retreat will take care of it,’ Lucy replied matter of factly.

Delaney looked away and tried to hide his discontent. He then looked around at his surroundings with contempt. He didn’t care about the clean forest air that filled his lungs and rustled his thick brown hair. He did, however, care that there weren’t any other dwellings along the last dirt road heading towards the retreat, and there weren’t any other houses or cabins in sight now. He only saw a forest with grassed hills, large tall trees, bushes and random pockets of water. Delaney sighed, he couldn’t help but to feel a little vulnerable at the thought of being left in such an isolated place.

Just as he was gazing through the forest, he noticed bushes moving and rustling as if something was moving amongst the trees.  He focused, trying to get a better look, but he was interrupted by his mum who came and stood beside him with his bag swung over her shoulder.

‘I don’t want to get your hopes up, Del, but I have a really good feeling about this place...’

The first thing Delaney and his mum noticed as they walked through the front door of the retreat was ARTAYAS written across the back wall of the foyer in gold lettering.  It was big, bold and demanded attention.  Nearby, was a room on the right that had its french doors open. 

It was quiet as Delaney and Lucy entered the room.  There were a few other young adults present who appeared to be around Delaney’s age - in their late teens - with one or two adults seated beside them.  On the back wall of this room was a painting of a male with a glow around him.  He was blowing what looked like a horn or trumpet and written underneath the painting were the words: ‘Follow your passions and embrace the freedom it brings.’ 

Delaney turned to his left where there was a small table with two stickers on top of it, one with his name on it and the other with Colin written on it. 

Looking around at the others who were already seated, Delaney went to place his nametag on his top and as he turned around, another boy who had come up close behind him tripped over his cane. The boy fell to the floor and a foil hat with a white stone at the top of it fell off his head and onto the ground also.

‘Sorry, man,’ Delaney said, as he helped the boy up and went to pick up the foil hat that had fallen.

‘Don’t touch it!’ the boy exclaimed.  Everyone in the room looked over at them. 

Embarrassed by the outburst, Delaney immediately stepped back.  The boy quickly picked up the hat, grabbed the last remaining sticker on the table, and was ushered away by a small, freckly lady with long strawberry blonde hair. 

‘Come on, Colin,’ Delaney heard her say while she mouthed, ‘Sorry!’ to Delaney.  She grabbed her son’s arm and sat him down.

‘You okay?’ Delaney’s mum asked in a hushed voice coming up beside him after everyone looked back to the front of the room.

‘Yeah, but I think your ‘good feeling’ about this place may have been a bit off.’ 

Just then, a solidly built man in his late forties with greying black hair breezed into the room.

‘Good Afternoon, everyone,’ he boomed with a big smile on his face.

‘Please take a seat,’ the man directed as he reached the front of the room.

Lucy gave her son a reassuring hug while she guided Delaney to the remaining seats.

‘Welcome! I am Artayas Nuntius, the founder of Artayas’ Healing Retreat.’

He had a strong, but friendly voice with a thick South-European accent.  He continued to talk to the small group in front of him. 

‘If you have found your way to our retreat it must mean our unique yet effective form of healing will be of great value to you.’

As Artayas continued to speak, Delaney started to tune out.  He still begrudged the fact that his mum had made him come to the retreat so he wasn’t overly interested in what this guy had to say about it.  He looked over at the people seated and his gaze fell upon a pretty girl with shoulder-length light brown hair and hazel eyes who was seated next to an older man who Delaney assumed was her dad. 

Not bad, he thought, but then remembered where he was.  If she is here, that means she will probably be too much work, he mused, unaware of the irony of his thoughts.

Artayas started to wrap up his welcome.

‘Our retreat is linked to the Youth Crisis Centres in your local areas.  Crisis Centres are usually a very last resort, a place you go to when there is nowhere else to turn.  However, the extreme measures the Crisis Centres have to offer are not always the right form of action for many cases.  But what else is there?’

Delaney stopped staring at the pretty girl and looked up