Frank, Supernatural Travel Agent

The blue sky, dappled in puffy white clouds flew past the window like some fantastical alien landscape. It was absolutely beautiful and any other time it would have transfixed me with its poetic beauty; but not this late summer afternoon.

I sat staring out the window of the plane, tears running down my cheeks. I was midway through my emergency flight out to Tempe, Arizona.

I had just spoken to him 2 days ago; he had asked me for $65 for a part for his car. I had given him grief about it because I thought he was just trying to scam money out of me. I had eventually wired him a chunk of the money, but not all of it.

Dad's choices these past years had been absolutely incomprehensible to me, and I had told him so more than once.

I had been showing my paintings this morning when I got what I thought was a crank call, after the nurse put me on a video call to show me Dad laying comatose with tubes and wires running through him; I realized this was very real.

Dad had been living in his cherry red sports car with his "wife" Jillian out in Tempe. He had also spiraled down into the depths of alcoholism over the past 8 years since he and I had parted ways. We had always been close, but the way he had left things had put a barrier of icy hurt feelings between us.

Perhaps our first mistake was going into business together, but in truth it had been going wrong between for a few years before the business...maybe I had just been unwilling to see it back then.

Dad had always wanted me to nurture my artistic gifts and had done everything he could to further them himself. As a single Dad, it was tough, but he always found a way. So when commercial rental space came available near my apartment, after much discussion, we went ahead and opened Starfall Gallery.

It was tough at the start, but we grew a following. I had a following for my artwork already and we brought in some other artists who broadened our reach, and things got better........ until Dad's fear of success manifested in the form of Jillian.

Or should I say manifested in the form of him marrying Jillian after meeting her twice and then subsequently running out on the business...stealing both merchandise and money, stealing my car, taking a few small loans out with some of our better clients and disappearing on them, racking up debt in the businesses name and leaving me to deal with the consequences and attempting to lie to me about coming back to help me fix it all.

Dad actually called me one night, after I had called him nonstop to figure out what in Hades was going on, and told me that the Gallery would never make enough money for him & Jillian and that he wanted to start his new life with her.

I was so hurt, I felt like my world was coming apart at the time, honestly though him leaving was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

Dad had been my whole family root system; the Dad I knew never would have done this. At first, I thought it was all some sort of sick joke. He also did this directly after my major back injury. I hadn't fully recovered from it at that point. It was no joke, and if I hadn't had Martin at that point I think I would have given up completely.

Martin, who was my boyfriend back then, now my husband; we were on a major break at that point but had remained friends. After hearing what had happened, he and Dad had never liked each other, he ended up moving back in with me and we worked regular jobs and kept the gallery running at the same time. The gallery became more and more successful and then we had Ian and my Mom and I ended up reconciling over her grandson. Ian was currently with Grammy Dee right now so he wouldn't see me like this, Ian had not taken kindly to Momma leaving but I would be back as soon as I could. This was something that I had to do and I needed to do it alone.

As much of a grudge as I had against my Dad at the moment, I knew it would kill me to lose him.

I closed my eyes behind my sunglasses as the sun's glare came over the wing of the plane. I knew I hadn't been in good financial shape to do what I was doing, I had maxed out most of my credit cards to get the flight and the hotel, but I knew I needed to get to Dad.

I said a silent prayer of thanks to the nurse, Linda Alows, who tracked me down from a barely coherent Jillian. Dad's wifey turned out to be a drug addict and a bipolar schizophrenic....she also had an alcohol problem. Ironically enough, Jillian had back problems that had ended in her being wheelchair-bound for the last 4 years. Dad had been taking care of her as best he could.

Dad had not told me how bad it had gotten since he had moved to Arizona, The hospital filled in the massive gaps in the story of his situation.

He was living in his car with his wheelchair-bound wife; they were officially homeless and eating maybe once a day.

She was back on drugs and he was pouring through a fifth of whiskey daily.

Thankfully places gave out free water or the incident that landed Dad in a coma would have come much sooner.

He ended up with a heatstroke that was severe enough for him to fall over and pass out in the parking lot of a burger joint. The temperature that day had climbed high enough and the asphalt was so hot that it burned the flesh off of parts of Dad's body.

If he woke up they had him on the list for skin grafts......if he woke up, which was very unlikely at this point.

One of the cashiers had gone out to check on him and had called 911 or Dad wouldn't have even made it to the hospital. Jillian was still mostly incoherent. She had taken herself off of the medication that she needed in favor of what she got on the street and so was in pretty bad shape, other than that she was fine and was also refusing to visit Dad.

The nurses had informed me that Jillian was telling them how happy she would be when I got there so I could take care of my Dad and that she was hoping to get a ride back to Texas, where she and Dad had been living with some "friends", from me so as she didn't have to see my Dad in this shape.

I had never liked her, but this was just too much. I stewed on that thought momentarily before Circle Game by Pink started playing through my headphones and a fresh round of tears ran down my face.

My Dad was the single strongest, and most stubborn, person that I had ever known.... and I was most likely going to lose him in the next few days.

Martin couldn't understand how I could still care about Dad after everything that happened, and I understood that.

It was hard to put into words all of the crap that we had to deal with while I was growing up, that and Mom taking off creates a bond.....one that doesn't disappear no matter how much wrong one person does to the other.

Pink's melodic voice was just getting to the chorus when I felt a presence beside me, which was odd as the seat to my left had been empty when I boarded and we hadn't made any stops, hmmm maybe somebody had switched seats.

"Nice view" The deep resonating baritone voice had traces of an accent that I couldn't place and it was coming from the previously unoccupied seat beside me.

Any other time I would make polite small talk, but today was a heck of a day and I really wanted this guy to lose interest in any conversation so I just nodded.

"Not in the mood for chit chat, well I can't say as I blame you. I'll get straight to the point Alex; your father will die soon. I was sent to take his soul on to the afterlife and to judgment. I don't actually want to do that and so I'm here to help you. There is a way that you can possibly keep your father from death for a while longer."

Strangely I got the feeling that this man, spirit, being was dead serious. As if to highlight this, everything around us had slowed down as though we were moving through molasses. I removed my sunglasses and eyed him.

He was a tall slender man with long silver hair gathered back in a high ponytail, the end of which reached the bottom of his shoulder blades, his white shirt, black suit coat and pants were crisp and smooth, the crazy part was that there was only a dark mist where his shoes should have been. I shivered compulsively.

He smiled "I have that effect on people; apparently attempting to look human hasn't dampened it, a bit disappointing but understandable." He watched me impassively with eyes as red as high quality rubies.

I stared at him....I had read myths of supernatural creatures preying on desperate humans but I never thought I would get an offer myself. I mentally scrolled through the lists of mythological creatures that generally had a reputation for this sort of thing. The top three were demons, fey, and deities and it generally ended poorly for the mortal who made a deal in the stories. Honestly, though it didn't really matter, I wanted to know.

"I see. What is your name sir?"

He smiled again "Call me Frank. Just to put you at ease I am neither demon nor am I a Fey. I’m not really a deity either. Think of me as something like a supernatural travel agent." Frank folded his hands in his lap and waited.

"Ok Frank, supernatural travel agent, how do I save my Dad, and what will it cost me? Do I need to give him years from my life, would 5 years work?"

"Sadly you don't currently have 5 years to give." At the look on my face, Frank added "That can be changed though. You really need to take care of your heart. Your son Ian needs you."

I swallowed. It suddenly felt very cold on the plane. "Then how? What kind of deal do I need to make?"

At this, Frank broke down laughing "Pfft! No deals. You're just going to take energy from one place and put it in another place. You’re familiar with energy work, or at least the theory of it...correct?"

Actually, I was.

Ian had a lot of health problems when he was born and so I had begun to research alternative treatments and alternative health solutions. I was raised very open-minded to finding solutions beyond the ordinary every day. Once I began my research I met many professionals in the area I was researching, one of them was Yvonne. She had a long resume in energy work and a bunch of other healing modalities.

She also had a soft spot for kids and could empathize with Ian's situation because she herself had been quite ill as a child. Yvonne helped to guide me through some of Ian's alternative treatments and I was also able to ask her questions about some of the extrasensory healing abilities that started popping up in my life.

Yvonne had been pestering me for the last two years to learn reiki, I had stubbornly refused as I didn't feel a connection to it, I felt it was too hyped up and overblown. Now I was wishing that I had listened to her.

"The theory yes, but, I’ve never done any sort of practical energy work before. I don't have the experience"

“You can feel and sense energies, correct?"

"I’m not sure."

"Didn't you feel my presence when I came here?"

I thought about it, I had felt something off, an odd sensation. "Yes, I felt something odd...but that's normal when a person sits down beside you."

"I’m not a person Alex." Frank held my gaze a moment.

"I suppose not."

"It's much like that. You feel for the energy and then pull it towards you. Then you take it and place it where you want it. You are an artist Alex, Visualize moving it in your mind."

I was very good at visualizing "Ok, Where am I pulling this energy from?"

"You are familiar with ley lines, are you not?" Frank lifted a questioning silvery eyebrow

"The theoretical energetic veins & nodes that run through the earth, also called dragon lines, they were hypothesized to run from sacred site to sacred site all over the world but that theory was disproven. It's now even thought that they run from planet to planet; basically, an energetic network that is connecting everything.”

"They are not theoretical, and as long as they are treated with respect and are not soured, can be a source of healing and benefit to humans. You will pull a small amount of energy from the ley line that runs beneath the Monarch Hospital where your father is currently receiving treatment and push it through him. This will be enough to speed up his body's natural ability to recover. You will know when he is on the mend and out of danger when he begins to resist the energy that you are pushing through him." Frank explained it all as though he had all of the time in the world. It occurred to me that he would make a wonderful teacher with that attitude.

"Ok. I understand and I can visualize it. How do I tell if the line is sour? And couldn't I filter the energy from the sour line?"

"A sour ley line should never be worked with; there is no filter for that kind of energy. Especially at that kind of strength; a sour ley line needs to be healed. You can always tell when a ley line is soured or sick by the way that you feel in its presence. You will be exhausted no matter how much sleep you acquire, you will heal slower and be more prone to injury and illness, the surrounding physical area will fall to ruin slowly as there is no urge to care for it and there will be a darker and more depressive feel in that area. This also attracts lower vibration spirits which is a danger in and of itself." Frank shifted in his seat and seemed to zone out for a moment.

I was busily digesting all of the information that had just been tossed at me.

Frank blinked "You need to get to your father quickly Alex. His time is running out rapidly."

"Can you take me there now?"

Frank shook his head "Sadly no. I can only ferry the dead"

I nodded "And this energy working will save my Dad?"

Frank looked sad as he spoke "It is probable but not guaranteed. I will do all that I can until you reach your Father. I wish you luck Alex." with that he began to fade.

"Wait, you never told me why you're helping me? Thank you...but why?"

Frank smiled slowly until his grin began to slowly split his face" That is a story for another time" As he faded, Frank's human form dissolved and I caught a glimpse of what must have been his true form; a black-cloaked figure with red eyes, a far too wide grin full of sharp teeth and claws....and a large silver scythe.

In the next second, I was sitting all alone again and I heard the captain's voice announcing that we would be landing in Tempe in 30 minutes. I felt like I was wrapped in a sheet of ice.

I hoped Frank was right, and I prayed that I would make it to my Dad in time.