The Invisible Whisper
Keira

Disappointed, I looked at the water. Did I see the past, the sea demons? No, they used to come by boat and not carry long-legged animals.

The sun disappeared behind the ridge and cooled down rapidly. Still, I can't move. The effect was burning in my retina. I relived the images over and over again until the message lost its ambiguity.

This is no ordinary meditation. Usually what I feel or see is more or less symbolic and open to interpretation. It's different, I've only experienced something similar before.

The feeling of really being there. Experiencing something as if it were happening in my own reality while knowing that it has not yet happened. The picture made me run towards my mother while tears streamed down my cheeks.

When I told him what I saw, his face turned pale, fear gripped his heart and strangled his veins. He stood motionless, unable to speak. It might take a few seconds, for me it feels like hours. Then he walked into the room behind the curtain where the three of us usually slept.

He sobs slowly. I could see his shadow standing on top of my sister, who had been ill for a few days and was lying alone there. My mother knelt beside her, wiped the sweat on her temple with a cool damp cloth, kissed her, then she got up and came back.

He walked towards the campfire and sat cross-legged, with a wave of his hand he called me to sit beside him. When I sat down she grabbed both my hands:

“Honey, your strength, your grace will make you able to help many people.you have a very pure third eye. You are in harmony with the world around you. You are open to what he can and want to tell you. This gift gives you the opportunity to do a little miracle. But, as you know, you will gain experience, foretelling things that cannot be changed.”

Mom poured tea for both of us and continued.

“Something never happens for no reason. The life of every being and the energy of every entity has a function. We can never fully understand which of our earthly bodies, but know that they are. Some souls are only here for a very short time. Sometimes not long enough to learn on your own. But their arrival and departure will greatly impact the environment around them and sometimes far beyond.”

He turned away from me and stared into the wooden bowl filled with his tea.

“The energy of your sister's life has never been this strong. Mother often felt that she had to leave us in time. You witnessed his passing, to prepare, but also to learn. Knowing that impermanence at this level does not mean impermanence at any other level. You can't say anything to him. Trying to prevent what you see will only make the breakup more difficult and painful. For both of you. What's going to happen is going to happen, intervening in something almost always worsens what's going to happen."

The world does not exist, all I hear is his voice. I looked at him and noticed that his eyes had turned to their sockets. Later I realized that the calmness and certainty he expressed was also unnatural. These are not the words of a mother who will lose her child.

I think eventually the illness has passed because in our tribe there are hardly any people who are sick. I was sick when I was a kid, but the disease seemed to disappear completely when I was growing up.

My sister's different. He was gripped by one thing after another. We don't know better than that that he was sick at least half the time. Even the most potent herbs and ancient rituals did not restore his health.

Winter comes, summer passes, and winter reappears. The days have made the images in my memory obsolete, and on other days I have completely forgotten them. Spring comes and melts the ice sheet in the distant mountains. This time the river flow is at its widest point. Soon the rice fields will be flooded along with the fertile season followed by winter.

My mother and I went home after attending the village council. He walked into the alcove to check on my sister Keira. Keira has been ill for almost two months. He often has a high fever which causes him to deliriate.

A second later the mother returned, her eyes widened, and her already pale face turned gray. I was still holding the curtain and I saw Keira wasn't there. All those images, which had been seeping into my memory gap for months, instantly reappeared.

To our surprise we ran to the settlement while calling his name. Soon everyone joined the search. However, they did not understand the fear in our eyes because nothing had ever happened here.

I did not wait and ran down the stone steps towards the river. Along the river, I met with herders.

"Did you see my sister?" tanyaku. They don't take me seriously.

“She must be walking, seeing the stars, she often does that,” I heard her for the umpteenth time. I knew he was indeed perplexing at enjoying the stars, but my hunch said this time was different.

With torches and some men from the village, we searched along the riverbank. Our eyes pierced through the darkness as we gazed across the water hoping to find it, even I hoped against my better judgment.

During the day I found my sister's wooden beaded necklace, lying among some pebbles by the river near the rock where I was meditating. I never found anything but her necklace.