Fragments of a Dream

Ty sat near the dock, waiting for the morning ferry to arrive. Besides one guard, sitting in a booth waiting to check off which passengers arrived that week, Ty was the only one around.

He knew once the ferry arrived and unloaded the group of employees on the island, he’d be just as alone on the ride back. Very few people, if any, would be leaving the secluded New Zealand location, and returning to the mainland; at least not until Friday.

That was just fine with Ty. That was the way he wanted it; to be alone. He hadn’t even bothered to wake his mother and let her know he was returning to school in the states a week early. He didn’t want to see or talk to her; or anyone else for that matter.

His father, Tyler Payne Sr. was currently away for a conference, which made it unnecessary for Ty to worry about what he would do or say, once he found out his son was gone.

Under normal circumstances, he suspected it might not have mattered much to the father who was never present anyway. But knowing what he knew now, things were different. He had no idea what to expect would happen next, and he didn’t plan to stick around to find out.

The ferry arrives

When the ferry arrived, it didn’t bother sounding the alarm. That was reserved for late Friday afternoons, when everyone was leaving the island.

Ty watched and waited for everyone to disembark, before he grabbed his large army duffle bag and a small suitcase, then found a seat on the ferry.

Passengers scurried about, as they collected their things, and waited to be officially signed in by the guard, before heading to the research facility or their designated bungalows.

Some staff were scheduled to start work right away, while others went to their temporary homes on the island, until their shifts were due to begin.

As he observed the flurry of people, Ty was happy for the diversion. He didn’t want to think about what he had discovered the following evening. Yet there was no denying that the same fragments of a dream that he’d been having for years, had somehow become more clear.

All night long, scenes from the videotape he stumbled onto, had continued flashing in his mind while he slept.

The morning light had brought even more clarity. After eight years of severe headaches, memory loss, and dreams of partial images, Ty was finally able to understand what had been happening to him. Now he was certain he wasn’t crazy.

Knowing the truth, he couldn’t decide which revelation made him sicker. Discovering what had been done to him for half his lifetime; or learning who was actually behind it.

Both realizations were too horrific to believe possible.

He had a whole half hour to wait before the ferry would leave the dock. Reluctantly, Ty finally gave in to the need to try and mentally unpack everything he had discovered. That meant starting with the questions he always had about the island, ever since he was a child.

His parents Tyler and Marisol Payne were scientists who did important work, sometimes even working on private government projects. They were both marine biologists. His mother was interested in ecological preservation, while his father cared more about groundbreaking research.

But even with Ty’s understanding about the need for certain levels of security; to him, the degree of secrecy surrounding life on the island always seemed so extreme. Now he knew why. The island’s research institute had more secrets to hide, than even the government and private investors were aware of.

His father wasn’t just a coldhearted, difficult man with a paranoid personality for nothing. Now Ty knew there was a reason for that. Just like he now understood the reason for the gate that once surrounded a certain area in the jungle, and was later replaced by an electric fence.

This area was the same location where two unexplained incidents had occurred in the past eight years. Both times involved Ty, and both times he had been found alone and unconscious.

Ty grew up accepting the area as being restricted, especially after what had happened to him. But that restriction never explained why the area was off limits in the first place. Curiosity often made him wonder why his father seemed to be so fixated with the area. Now he knew.

He had seen and heard the proof with his own eyes and ears.

When he looked around the dock and noticed the small crowd finally thinning, he felt a little less ill at ease. The ferry would be leaving soon, and they’d be underway. He wanted to get as far away from the island as possible.

Once upon a time, he could remember it being just the opposite. Before the first incident when he was nine, he had always looked forward to every moment he spent wandering through the jungle, especially with Zak and Jake; the twin brothers that sometimes visited their father on the island.

But most of the time, Ty was alone, because none of the other staff had children live or come visit with them. Tyler Payne wasn’t a big fan of children, not even his own.

Ty had gotten used to it. On his vacations from boarding school, his parents were always too busy to spend any quality time with him, so he settled for the jungle as his consolation prize.

Even at the age of nine, he’d been determined to get to know every nook and cranny of “his island”. That was exactly how he came across the small, isolated beach, the day of the first incident.

He stood up and began pacing back and forth impatiently, trying to will the engines to start and the ferry to leave the dock. The sudden boost of adrenaline was due to the flashes that began bombarding his mind. They were no longer just bits and pieces of a dream because he was fully awake.

What he was seeing were memories of what had happened to him in the jungle on the first occasion. This time, they weren’t just fragmented images; it was the full picture of what had actually happened to him that day.

The first incident

With the first incident, they could only assume that Ty had been playing too close to the water and had apparently fallen in. Since he was a good swimmer, they speculated that he must have caught a cramp and been sucked under, but managed to make it to shore before losing consciousness.

Following the incident, the series of bad dreams began, which at one point led to his father bringing in a therapist. The therapist didn’t really seem to help, because in addition to the dreams, Ty began experiencing headaches as well.

Tyler actually began spending more time with Ty, but only to have him participate in various lab studies. During the time he spent alone with his son, he did everything he could think of, to try to unlock the memories buried in his mind. He tried everything, even hypnosis.

Initially, under hypnosis, Ty’s recollections about what happened in the water merely sounded like childish ramblings. Tyler wanted desperately to get inside Ty’s head and recover the events, but all he had were flashes, which amounted to bits and pieces.

Regardless, those bits and pieces were enough to intrigue him to the point of obsession. He taped session after session, and at some point, Tyler was convinced of what his son must have seen that day.

From the very beginning, his wife wasn’t particularly thrilled with her husband shutting her out regarding Ty’s condition and course of treatment. She tried to protest, but eventually gave in to whatever help Tyler decided was best.

Unfortunately, Marisol had no idea what exactly Tyler was doing, nor what methods were being used on her son. She was clueless to the fact that Ty had become little more than another one of her husband’s research projects.

Over the years, Tyler spent time rummaging through Ty’s subconscious; searching for clues about that day and continually recording the sessions. Then, something happened on Ty’s 17th birthday; something which would eventually lead to the secrets Ty recently discovered.

The second incident

The year the second incident occurred, a lot was going on that day. It was around the time Tyler’s secret underground lab was finally nearing completion.

Also, he and Marisol were engrossed in a special project. They were following the reports of whale beachings in the area. Both Tyler and Marisol were observing and analyzing test data related to an unidentified “bloop” sound that was heard in the ocean.

Marisol’s plans to spend more time with Ty were disrupted. She promised they would have time the following week.

“We’ll have lots of time next week, that is, if you don’t dump your dear old mom and spend all your time hanging out with the twins. You know how the four of you get when you boys all get together.”

Ty was used to it, so he responded the way he normally did.

“Don’t worry about it mom. I’m a big boy now. I know how important this work is to you. Besides, you’re right. We’ll have plenty of time. We still have all of next week.”

“Sure love. And I’ll definitely meet you for dinner tonight, and we can talk more.”

In spite of the smile he feigned, Ty was disappointed and somewhat irritated. He loved his parents, but he hated them for always abandoning him. He really didn’t expect much from his father, but he couldn’t stand constantly being let down by his mother.

Ty was in a somber mood that day. When he left to go exploring later that afternoon, he decidedly went off on a mission of rebellion. He roamed around the jungle until he came upon the electric fence. Thanks to one of the jeeps bringing in supplies for the lab, Ty was able to sneak in without being noticed or electrocuted.

He scouted around the area and had a strange feeling of deja vu. Soon, he heard the roar of the waterfall and instinctively followed the noise to the secluded beach, but after that, everything was a blank.

Just like the first time, no one knew what happened, only that when Ty never showed up to meet his mother for dinner, security was sent to look for him, and found him unconscious again.

This was the break that Tyler Payne had been waiting and even hoping for. He suspected it might provide more answers, so he was elated when he learned Ty had another incident, in the same manner.

Once again, Tyler insisted on being solely responsible for Ty’s recovery and follow up therapy, with no input from his wife. He purposely kept her at bay.

“Just let me handle things Marisol. I’m getting our son the best professional help there is; so what Tyler Jr. really needs right now is for you to let the expert I hired do his job. That means doing whatever he says. He’s the best doctor and therapist that money can buy, but it won’t do any good if you go against what he tells us. Just let the boy rest after his treatments so he can recuperate. You don’t need to be there, slowing down his recovery.”

Marisol was in the dark about Ty’s condition. She was excluded from knowing anything about the therapy sessions, and had no knowledge about the medication he received during these treatments; treatments that only Tyler Payne was privy to.

Not even Tyler Jr. had any recollection of what was being done to him during the private therapy sessions. He had no way of knowing that the headaches were really a side effect of the highly experimental medication he was being given. He only knew what Tyler had wanted him to know all those years.

When Tyler learned about the second incident, at first he didn’t’ even mention anything to Marisol right away. He wanted her to continue working on the important observations they were conducting. If she knew Ty were ill, she’d want to drop everything. He wanted her focused on the mysterious “bloop” noise that the entire scientific world was monitoring at the time.

Tyler suspected the sounds were somehow connected to the nearby whale beachings, so the studies they were conducting were crucial to his own work on the island. The only other thing that would have pulled him off that project personally, was the situation with Ty.

He became anxious when he got the news. Ty had been found lying on the bank of the same small pool of water as before, just outside the area where Tyler’s secret underground lab was cleverly concealed.

As Tyler Payne considered everything that was happening on and around the island, he firmly believed that the events were somehow related. He wasn’t a man who believed in coincidences.

Later, when he went to resume working on the research with his wife, instead of telling Marisol about the details of the second incident, he lied about their son’s condition. He led her to believe Ty was simply having one of his usual episodes.

“Everything is fine Marisol. Tyler Jr. is just having a bad one of his episodes and needs to rest. Don’t worry so much. You know how he gets when these things come on. Leave him alone and stop trying to go baby the damn boy! Besides, you know we have a lot of work to get done. Some of the readings I’ve been getting on this strange sound is awful damn close to the island.”

Tyler quickly switched the subject to the underwater recordings that they’d been monitoring, and without realizing it, Marisol forgot all about her son.

Marisol went back to what she had been doing before he had casually told her that Ty was ill again. By the time Ty regained consciousness, as usual, he’d been medicated enough to be thoroughly confused about what was real and what wasn’t.

The specifics of the second incident had to be conveyed to Ty, just like the first time. He had no knowledge of what had happened, and all he could do was take the word of those around him.

Although he remained in the dark about the second occurrence, all the recent thoughts and video footage had helped him fully recall the details of the first one.

Now he knew the truth, exactly as the incident had truly occurred.

The whole truth

The very first time he ventured into the restricted area, he’d been drawn to the well-hidden beach, by the rushing sound of the waterfall. He found it by chance, while looking for some new places to play jungle games with the twins, who were due to arrive the following week.

When he laid eyes on the area, the first thing Ty thought was how he couldn’t wait to tell the guys about it. Then, he spotted the waterfall pouring into a beautiful green pool. The water was crystal clear and teeming with fish.

Excitedly, he ran down the embankment towards the beach, but as he was running, he saw a sudden movement behind the white massive spray of water near the fall.

It looked like a naked woman taking a shower under the waterfall. Ty stopped and quickly made his way back to the bushes, then crouched down.

The woman hadn’t seen him. Instead of turning to leave, he did what any red-blooded nine-year-old boy would have done under the circumstances. He stayed hidden and watched the naked lady continue to bathe.

As he continued watching, he realized she wasn’t actually bathing. She looked more like she was drinking the water or simply enjoying the feel of it.

Her head was tilted upward towards the pouring water, as it pelted her face. She ran her hands from the top of her head, down the length of her long red hair that was plastered to her skin.

The raging hormones of the adolescent boy kicked in, and Ty felt himself getting excited by the woman. He made the mistake of trying to move in for a closer look.

Instantly, she became aware of his presence. Ty didn’t see how she could have possibly heard him moving in the bushes, over the deafening sound of the waterfall. But apparently something else had caused her to suddenly start scanning the area. Although he knew his body was concealed in the bushes, he was absolutely sure that the woman was looking directly at him.

Before Ty knew what had happened, the woman ducked down in the water and was suddenly gone. He stayed still, and kept waiting for her to come up, but she never resurfaced.

She had disappeared right before his eyes. Naturally, his curiosity wouldn’t allow him to leave without going to check the situation out. For all he knew, the woman could be some kind of intruder on his father’s property. His father was always working on important private research.

He could only see so much from his position in the bushes, but as far as he could tell, he had never seen the woman before. The staff wasn’t that big, so by now, Ty was familiar with pretty much everyone.

Who she was didn’t matter as much to Ty, as where on earth she had disappeared to.

Determined to find out for himself, he approached the water, cautiously at first. Then, he ventured in all the way, and before he knew it, he was swimming over towards the waterfall.

Ty realized his mother would have a fit if she knew he was off somewhere swimming alone. She was constantly warning him about the need for the “buddy system” whenever he wanted to go swimming, even though she never actually had time to be his buddy.

Swimming alone towards the waterfall, he became a little anxious. When he swam exactly to where he had seen the woman, he wondered how she’d been able to stand the pressure of the pouring water.

He wasn’t even directly under it, but he was having trouble trying to swim near the downpour. Given his parent’s line of work, and his mother’s special love of the water, Ty was a very good swimmer.

But he wasn’t prepared for how forceful the waterfall was and how difficult it was to swim so close to it. Before he could gain control, the water was pounding his little body and forcing him under. Just that quickly, he was in danger of drowning.

As he felt himself descending into his watery grave, he thought about all the warnings his mother had given him about swimming alone. Now, he wished he had listened to her.

He began to lose consciousness, and that was when he saw the woman again. The long red hair was no longer plastered to her head, but instead, was fanning out around her in the water. It looked like each individual strand was floating by itself.

Ty didn’t know where she appeared from, but she had apparently returned to help him. She clutched his shirt collar and began pulling him through the water. Even before he noticed her large, unexposed breast, he remembered thinking how beautiful she was.

That was the last thing he remembered before passing out. He never got a chance to tell the twins about the beach he had found. When he finally did wake up and fully recover from the incident, he couldn’t recall anything about what had happened, at least not while he was conscious.

In reality, Tyler Payne had been trying to probe Ty’s mind all this time, so he could learn more about the mermaid. Ty’s first incident had inadvertently led Tyler to become obsessed with the idea, especially in view of the unidentified sound they’d been tracking.

The second incident was what led Tyler to actually discover the creature, after it eventually ended up stranded on the beach. Tyler determined that the sonar testing involving the bloop noise had probably been a factor as to why the mermaid washed up on the beach and bleeding from the eardrums.

Feeling that it was imperative to keep Ty quiet about the creature, Tyler walked the slippery slope between learning all he could from his son, and at the same time, suppressing the truth from him.

It was much easier to do when Ty was just a child, but once he encountered the creature again while in his teens, Tyler realized he needed to handle things differently.

He employed the therapist Ty had seen in the video and ever since the second occurrence, Tyler had actually been trying to block the memories from Ty’s mind, in spite of the emotional and mental pain it was causing. This was what Ty had discovered while spying in his father’s lab.

The boat lurched, and Ty realized they were finally under way. He’d been totally caught up in his thoughts about everything that transpired from the moment he first stepped foot on the island.

He hadn’t even noticed that the commotion on the dock had died completely down and the ferry had pulled away from the island. They were on their way back to the main land.

He turned to give the island one last look. After everything that had happened, the one thing Ty knew for sure was that he never planned to see the island or his parents ever again.

The End