Harmony
4

It was a woman, and she didn’t appear to have noticed Pixie. She was probably in her early twenties, with longish, straight dark hair. Even from a distance, her hair shone in the sunlight and radiated health. She was clearly from some part of Asia, though Pixie could only guess which part. The woman was wearing a knee-length dark blue skirt, a light blue floral-patterned blouse, royal blue socks and similar brown boots to Pixie’s. She was a ways down the hill and her attention was fixated on a rocky section of the path, rather than looking up towards where Pixie was.

Pixie quickly dashed across the remainder of the path to the far-right house, getting behind the far wall so as not to be seen. For the first time, she might have to deal with an employee of the resort and explain why she’d used the facilities without paying. She needed to come up with a plan. She hoped the woman would understand and be able to help.

Her relief at replaceing someone else, even though it had only been a day or so, was significant. It was quite ironic that only minutes ago she had felt answers were not far away. Here was a potential solution to her situation, walking up the valley towards her. She was hopeful, if not expectant, that this woman could help her replace out who she was. However, as soon as this thought entered her mind, it left again.

This stranger appeared to be as lost and confused as Pixie was the day before.

She was at times looking at the community centre and the rest of the village, around at the mountains, back down at the path, and then repeating the cycle. It was the actions of someone who was seeing everything for the first time. Her probing glances also indicated a search for answers, just as Pixie had done when she first approached these buildings.

The woman was walking carefully up the path next to the stream, and every now and again glancing up at the village. Pixie dared not move from her hiding place. However, as the woman got closer, she reassessed her decision to stay hidden. She didn’t want the woman to be startled or be fearful. It was likely they would need to figure out this mystery together. Thus, she needed to make a good impression. They would need to get along as well as possible, with no suspicion. Pixie must therefore behave openly.

Pixie took a few steps backwards so as to be entirely out of sight, then commenced as walking as she normally would, preparing to feign surprise as she walked out into the open. It seemed to work. She emerged from behind the house and the woman saw her immediately. She waved, and Pixie waved back. The woman’s face lit up in the most beautiful expression of delight and relief that Pixie could not help but smile back warmly and broadly. The woman was now about fifty metres away.

“Hello!” she said. “I’m so glad there is someone here. I really need some help.”

Her English was perfect, as if she’d spoken it all her life, despite her Asian appearance. She also sounded hopeful, but Pixie had no idea how she was going to break the news to her that she was in the same situation and could offer no help at all. She searched for some nice words to open with but came up with nothing even remotely to her liking. She simply said the first thing that came to mind after a few moments of mental stumbling around: “Yes, there’s someone here.”

“I’ve been watching the village for a while and I saw you on the patio resting, and then I saw you hide and watch me from behind that house. Please, I mean no harm. I’m lost and can’t remember a lot of things.”

Pixie should have felt embarrassed, but instead she was only disappointed. She didn’t even try to conceal her facial expression. She could not come up with any words and was feeling guilty as well for trying to hide from her. She must say something. Fortunately, the woman continued speaking.

“You… You don’t live here either… Do you?” The woman’s voice had become small and tentative and had lost much of its hopefulness.

Pixie could only shake her head in response.

“Oh my god.” There was a grave silence, then the woman spoke with a resigned tone in her voice. “I had such high hopes when I first saw you.”

Pixie wanted to respond but still could only stare mutely. The inadequacy of her continued silence was bothersome, although the waves of peace soon returned to help her. She was so appreciative towards whoever was miraculously sending them. They definitely felt as if they came from somewhere else outside of her.

The woman spoke again. “I do know my name though. It’s Suria.” Her face brightened.

“I’m Pixie. Nice to meet you. Sorry I had to hide. I didn’t know what to do. I’m lost myself and have no idea what to do next.” Words, finally. Pixie attempted some sort of a smile and held out her hand in greeting. They shook.

“It’s okay, Pixie. I understand. Nice to meet you.” Suria’s hand was gentle and soft in hers and despite the circumstances her touch conveyed such a warmth and gentleness that it instantly improved Pixie’s mood, and she was able to speak again.

“I’ve lost my memory too,” was all she could say, though. She watched Suria, saddened to see the disappointment that crossed her face as she said these words.

“You have? But how?” Suria frowned. “How can we both be here with no-one else around – there is no-one else right?”

Pixie shook her head.

“… with no-one else around, and both have no memory of who we are?”

Pixie shrugged, her wavy blonde hair blowing gently across her face in the light breeze that had suddenly sprung up from the valley below. She brushed it aside. “I don’t know. I thought it was just me. I thought if I found someone that they could help. They could tell me where I was, and where some sort of registry might be that had photographs or fingerprints or something and then I could replace out what happened to me. I don’t know who my family is, where my hometown is, or anything. I at least know that I’m Dutch, as you might be able to tell from my accent.” Her response was mostly inadequate and useless. If only she could replace a way to help.

Suria nodded. “I could tell you’re from somewhere in Europe, but I wasn’t sure. I’m the same as you. I can’t remember anything before today. “

“Nothing at all?”

Suria shook her head. “I woke up down there in the valley – ,” she turned briefly and pointed vaguely behind her, “– in this place I’ve never seen before, in these strange clothes.“

“Sounds just like my awakening. It was yesterday, though, not this morning.”

Pixie paused in thought for a moment: she’d been here for almost a day. She at least had more knowledge and could – or even should – help her. She knew where the food was: that was useful. Her self-assessed inadequacy faded a little.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, galvanised into a more positive mindset.

“Yes, very! As much as anything I couldn’t wait to get here to ask for something to eat!” Suria‘s dark eyes conveyed anticipation and hope.

Pixie had finally found a way to be helpful. “You have to come with me and get some food! I found some. It’s made in some weird advanced machine. I’ll show you.” At these words, she began moving briskly towards the community centre, beckoning to Suria with a wave of her right hand. She followed, rushing to keep up. Her up-tempo walking pace caused Suria to regard her with a bemused look. Instead of responding to that, Pixie began to relate her own situation.

“I woke up yesterday morning, up the valley.” She pointed out towards the back of the community centre with her left hand. “Opposite direction to you. I had no food either, but I could see the village from up there on the mountain. Actually, I’m not sure it’s a village. It’s probably a resort. I can’t tell because there isn’t any signage anywhere and nothing to indicate that people live here either. It’s all a bit confusing, but at least it provided me shelter last night. There’s so much technology here too. Lots of amazing things to show you!”

Pixie was way more excited than she thought she’d be, now that she had someone to talk to. She regarded her new companion as she spoke. Suria was listening avidly, easily tolerating her rushed excitement and not even looking like she wanted to interrupt. Pixie liked her immensely already. She kept talking, the words coming in a rush. “I have so much to tell about this place, and so many questions I want to replace answers to. Sorry if I’m talking too much!”

“No, it’s okay Pixie, we have time. If neither of us remember anything, we don’t have to be anywhere urgently, so we can talk all of this out and figure out what’s going on.”

“We do indeed have time. Let’s get you some food, though,” she said, as they arrived in the kitchen in the community centre. Pixie had briskly walked past everything else that might have been interesting to Suria, in her eagerness to show her the food machines. She had noted Suria’s bewildered looks at the décor inside the centre. She would fix that and show her around after they had eaten.

“You’re not having any food?” Suria managed to ask, almost gasping at the rush.

“Oh yes, I will, but I not long ago had lunch, so I’ll have a snack.”

Suria stared at Pixie, confused by her excitement. Pixie giggled, which only increased Suria’s confusion. “You’re wondering where the food is, yes?”

“I… I can see these white boxy things that look like refrigerators.” Suria walked over and opened one. It was turned on, but it was empty. She opened the others and got the same result. “No food in any of these. How did you make lunch?”

“These incredible machines right here – these black boxes. I would explain them, but I have no idea how they do what they do. It’s easier to just show you. This may sound crazy but bear with me. What the best possible thing would be you could want to eat right now?”

Suria looked at her quizzically for a moment. Her expression then subtly changed to one of disbelief, as if Pixie was going to use this machine to somehow make whatever she requested. That’s precisely what she was going to do, but Suria wasn’t to know that. Pixie might have been slightly overconfident in the machine’s menu and capabilities, but not by much. She had faith.

“Well,” said Suria. “Let me think. I’m not sure where you’re going with this, I would like some Wonton soup. But I don’t know how…” her voice trailed off.

“Come over here.” Pixie walked over to one of the boxes, Suria following. She pointed at the meal button on the Asian food machine and asked Suria to press it. Suria’s expression changed from curiosity to disbelief as the screen below the button lit up.

“Is that it there?” Pixie asked. The opening meal screen had Suria’s soup on it.

“Yes…. But how does it… I don’t….” Suria was struggling for words.

“Just press that image on the screen there.” Pixie waited with some measure of glee, knowing what was about to happen.

Suria pressed the Wonton soup button. Pixie watched her face as a mixture of expressions crossed it. There was such a gentleness and simple joy that Suria displayed towards almost everything, even in the short space of time she had known her. It didn’t seem likely that she was capable of any negative thought whatsoever. As before, the machine made some whirring noises, a few clicks and some gentle hissing for about ten seconds, and then the door gently opened.

“You can open the door and get your food now.” Pixie said the words gently, waiting for the amazed reaction she knew was coming.

Suria opened the door. “I don’t believe it! How is this possible?”

“Yes, that was pretty much my reaction too. It creates the food, but it’s so fantastic as to make you believe you’re hallucinating. Be careful, the bowl is probably hot. I’ll get you a spoon.”

Suria hadn’t moved. She was rooted to the spot, staring at the steaming bowl of wonton soup. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m sure of it. I mean, when I somehow recover my memories, I’m sure they won’t have this machine – or whatever you call it – in them anywhere.”

“I’m just calling it a food machine. I agree with you. I’m sure I’ve never seen it before either. I think I want some dessert. I haven’t had any of those yet. Come on, grab your soup!” Pixie handed her the spoon she had retrieved from one of the drawers.

Pixie watched Suria break out of her stunned disposition and carefully remove the bowl of soup from the machine. She turned her own attention to the European machine and pressed the apple pie button on the dessert menu. When it was finished it was a pristine wedge of pie with a perfect spiral of cream on top. She couldn’t wait to try it. Then she made herself a Dutch coffee with cream and ice swirled through it. The combination was gorgeous and Pixie once again found that the food machine could still well and truly delight her. Suria had removed the soup from the machine but was watching Pixie create her own food with fascination and hadn’t even picked up her spoon.

“Go ahead. Have some!” Pixie urged.

Suria took a spoonful and almost ingested some soup. She stopped and put her spoon back down in the bowl. “It’s too hot – I’ll need to wait a bit. I… I can’t believe what I just saw.”

“I still don’t either. Yet here it is. Do you want a drink too?”

Suria’s eyes shone in response. “Oh yes please. Your coffee looks great, but I would like some tea. Can this… thing… make Hong Kong milk tea?”

Pixie frowned a bit. “That sounds quite specialised, but no more so than the drink I just made. I’m almost certain it can. Let’s replace out!” They both pressed some buttons on the Asian machine, getting in each other’s way and giggling at their mutual rush.

“You’re more excited than I am! I’m still too amazed. Wow, I think that’s it!” Suria pressed the image and the machine commenced the creation process. In a few seconds, the tea was now ready as well.

There was a number of fairly plain looking but functional tables and chairs in this room along with the kitchen facilities. They picked one and sat down with their food and drinks.

“Oh my god this tea is perfect!” Suria glanced back at the machine. “How does it do this?”

“I don’t know. No idea whatsoever. I’m enjoying it though.”

“I am too. This soup is very good.”

“I’m glad. Hong Kong milk tea, wonton soup – is that where you are from?”

“Yes. I believe so. I can picture the harbour and the islands, the ferries, all of that. I’m pretty sure it’s my home because I know China quite well, but I know English perhaps even better than I know Cantonese.”

“Oh, that’s right. Hong Kong is under English command.”

“Yes. Until 1997. Wait… do you know what date it is?”

“No. I don’t even know the year.” Pixie hadn’t considered this before. Hadn’t needed to. “I think it’s the mid-1970s though. 1975 maybe?” She paused in thought for a moment. “It’s hard to understand how I know this, but it feels right.”

“Feels right to me too. Let’s go with it.”

Pixie motioned back towards the machines, which gave the impression they were proud of themselves. She pushed that thought aside. “They have one of these over in the house I stayed in last night too.”

“Oh… really? That’s good. You slept in one of the houses?”

“Yes.”

“The residents don’t… I mean, you said this was a resort?”

“Yes, I think so. There’s no-one here, though. When I first got here, I called and called. No-one came out to meet me. I haven’t been to any of the other houses besides the two middle ones, but I doubt anyone is staying here or living here. There is no office or reception, and there are no roads, so I don’t know how people get here. You didn’t see any roads down in your part of the valley, did you?”

Suria shook her head. “Only the stream that I followed up here by walking on the path next to it from the spot I woke up at.”

Pixie thought for a moment. “What was farther down the valley, opposite to the way you came?”

“Nothing that I could see. I walked down that way for a while and the path just kept going, until it disappeared into a forest.” At Suria’s words, Pixie remembered her end of the path, and how it originated in the forest close to the village.

Suria continued. “I don’t know why, but I got the feeling that I didn’t need or want to go into the forest. That there was nothing there worth seeing. The thought popped into my head that I should turn around and go up the mountain. It made no sense initially, but when I did turn around, I saw this village – resort I mean.” Suria waited for Pixie to confirm her correction.

Pixie shrugged. It didn’t matter.

“So that made my decision of what to do next easy. Now that I’m here, there is clearly food and shelter. How did you go, sleeping in the house? Which one, if I may ask?”

“One of the middle two behind us. How did I go? I felt like an intruder, so I slept on the couch.”

“Intruder? Really?” Suria raised her eyebrows slightly at this, as if replaceing it unlikely. Pixie liked her reaction: it was confidence rather than fear or worry. This left the impression that Suria could deal with any kind of adversity through nothing more than total belief that good things would eventually happen. Pixie greatly admired this quality and was fortunate to have found someone who had it. Suria was going to make this period of lost memories, however long it lasted, easier to bear.

“Yeah. I mean, I’m pretty sure I don’t live here. But you know the funny thing was: there wasn’t anything in that house that implied that anyone else does either. You know, like photographs, or personal decorations, or paperwork or whatever.”

“Ok, so not somebody’s house.”

Pixie shook her head. “No, which is why I suspect it’s a resort. I really don’t know, though. I wish there was a bit more evidence to help me figure this all out. I suppose we won’t know for sure until we search the other houses.”

“You said you searched the two middle houses?”

“Well, I went into the first one only for a few seconds. When I went into the second one it was exactly the same. I figured the other four could be inspected later for that reason. I suppose we should check and confirm this, though.”

Suria nodded.

“Then there is this place; this community centre. I had a good look through here this morning.”

“Did you replace anything?” Suria asked.

“No, nothing. No telephones either, which I found strange. This village, or resort or whatever, is a total mystery to me.” Pixie was still completely at a loss to what this place was, and why it offered no help to her memory loss problem. She thought for a moment longer before speaking again.

“What is this place? Have we been sent here and had our memory taken away somehow because we’ve been punished for something?” Pixie frowned and thought for a moment. It was possible, but she didn’t like the idea. It might mean she would never get her memory back. The thought of this distressed her; then the calmness returned once more. She happened to be watching Suria, and saw in her body language a tensing, then relaxing at the same time as her peaceful feelings had arrived.

“Did you feel that?”

Suria simply nodded again, partially because she had a mouthful of soup.

“You did? Have you felt it before? Can you describe what it’s like for you?”

Suria reflected for a moment. “Yes, I have. I would say it’s like a loving mother or father comforting you, when you’re unhappy or sad or are thinking anything negative. That ‘it will be alright’ feeling that parents can give you when you’re upset about something that they know is inconsequential. I don’t know how or when I learned this, as I don’t remember my parents.”

“Me neither,” said Pixie. “Well at least for now we’re in this together, and we seem to be having the same experience. Getting back to what I said before about being punished: logically it doesn’t make sense that we did anything wrong. There’s no way I’m interested in committing a crime, and I know we just met but I’m sure you aren’t either. Sorry if I’m rambling. I’m trying to think of anything that might explain why we’re here.”

“I know you are. Thanks for trying to help.” Suria shot her a look of gratitude and warmth.

Pixie liked that. “Now that good feeling came from you. I’m so glad you’re here. We’ll figure it out together.”

Suria’s warm expression remained, her eyes shining as she smiled at Pixie. “I’m so glad you’re here too.”

Pixie looked down at the floor shyly and changed the subject. “Getting back to that peace and calmness you described: how often have you had it and when does it happen?”

Suria paused for a moment. “Only a few times. Usually when I start thinking about negative things or sad things, or things that make me anxious. I get waves of good, comforting, peaceful thoughts that wash all the bad stuff away. Then I refocus on where I was before the bad thoughts.”

“That’s exactly my experience too. Do you think you’re doing it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe subconsciously I am, somehow?”

“I’m not sure I am.” Pixie recalled the response after she woke up that morning, straight after the dream. She considered telling Suria about her dream but decided against it. It was not worth worrying about as it was probably a one-off. Maybe. She’d replace out tonight.

“Really?”

“Well, this morning I woke up, and for a moment didn’t know where I was. Then I remembered I was alone, and still had no memory, and there was no-one here to help. I was having bad thoughts, spiralling down into loneliness and sadness, and then they came. Waves of good thoughts. An ‘it’ll be alright, don’t worry anymore’ feeling. Those waves came with such absolute certainty and interrupted my bad thoughts. I didn’t make a conscious effort to stop myself from thinking negatively. They gave the impression of being externally sent, too, like a cool breeze blowing through me. The bad thoughts were gone immediately, and then I wanted breakfast. So, in that case, I was ready to indulge myself in bad thoughts, but the waves of peace wouldn’t let me.”

Suria giggled. “I like these little names you keep giving things. Food machine. Waves of peace. Cute. It’s a perfect description though.”

Pixie simply nodded. They had finished their food and drinks.

“Would you like a tour?” Pixie asked.

“Of course!”

“Let’s go then! I mean, I’ve only been here for a day but at the moment that seems like an eternity. Let’s walk, shall we?” They both got up. For the next hour or so they walked through the community centre, separately. Pixie was specifically looking for things she might have missed on her initial search that morning, but came up empty, as did Suria.

When they entered the clothing room, and they chose fresh clothes for the morning. Suria had a question for Pixie at this point. “Let me ask you something, before we take any of these clothes?”

“Yes?”

“Neither of us have any identification or money or anything. Would it be a good idea if we kept a record of everything we’ve used or borrow, so we can pay it back eventually when we replace out who we are?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Pixie. “That’s a great idea. I’ll get some paper and a pen. In fact, there’s paper and pens in the house. I’ll start the list when we get back there.” They walked out of the back door of the community centre and prepared to conduct a systematic search of all of the houses.

The sun was quite low on the horizon. Pixie knew they needed to search as thoroughly as they could. It would be more efficient with two of them. The search took a few hours but turned up nothing at all in the way of identification paperwork, or names, or telephones, or maps. It was somewhat frustrating for them both, but not wholly unexpected. Each house was the same as the one before. Not that they were surprised. By the time they had finished, the outside lights were on in the resort, illuminating each house above the door. This enabled them to see something Pixie hadn’t noticed before. Suria pointed it out as they were standing in front of the second house from the left, facing up the mountain.

“These houses are not all identical. Look up there.” She pointed to some strange symbols above the door, side by side. A quick glance back to the first house revealed two entirely different symbols. The first symbol on this house was a three-quarter circle, open at the top, with two hook-like lines curving around at the top in the opposite direction to the main circle. The right hand one was slightly higher than the left hand one. The second symbol was an arrow pointing upwards and to the right, with a small perpendicular line crossing the arrow stem about two-thirds of the way down.

Pixie cast an inquiring glance at Suria and was met with a shrug. Pixie had no idea what the symbols meant. They examined the doors of the other two houses on the right while returning back to the bridge across the stream in the centre of the village. There were different symbols on each, of varying design, none of which they could understand.

Above the door on the house Pixie had slept in the night before were two more symbols. The first was a horizontal line with two semi-circles intersecting the line near each end. Next to it was two parallel wavy lines, one above the other. It was some sort of code or arcane language. They were puzzled but would attempt to figure it out later. Maybe some of the books in the community centre could provide some answers. For now, Pixie was hungry, and she suggested that she and Suria go inside house number three – “her” house – and get some dinner before bed.

As they got there and went inside, Suria glanced sideways at Pixie, as if she was asking for a favour without having any grounds to do so.

“Yes?” Pixie was ready to grant anything Suria asked for.

“Do you mind if I stay here with you?”

Pixie could not answer quickly enough. “I wasn’t going to accept any other scenario. Of course.”

Suria giggled. “Okay, that’s settled. I’m going to try one of the bedrooms. I think it will be okay if we use the bedrooms tonight.”

“You’re probably right. We’ll write everything down and we can pay later once we replace the owners of this place.”

They ate their meals thoughtfully and silently, contemplating their situation. Pixie was beginning to form an idea in her mind.

“Suria… I was thinking.”

“Yes?”

“There’s a lot of special things in this place. It may well be a village and not a resort. It’s missing the signage and an office that I’d expect from a resort. Then there is all sorts of special things here that I can’t explain.”

Suria grinned. “Like the waves of peace.”

“Yes, those too. I get the feeling this is a place most humans can’t easily get to and yet somehow, we are here. There must be a reason for that. Maybe we were meant to be here. But I can’t imagine why.”

“Go on.” Suria’s expression changed to intrigued interest.

“My knowledge bank is reminding me of strange places on the Earth, where unusual things occur, and people disappear or have unusual experiences that they can’t explain.”

“Like the Bermuda Triangle?”

“Yes! Exactly. So, I wonder if our memory loss is part of being in a place that has weird energy or something? I’m not sure if I’m making sense.”

“I understand you. And your theory is pretty good. Maybe there is more information in the books over at the community centre?”

“Could be. I had a look the first time I went and got distracted by the art books. But when I took you, I studied the book collection more closely and didn’t see any encyclopedias or books like that. There were a lot of books, though, so I could have missed something.”

“We could search them thoroughly tomorrow.” Suria yawned.

“Sure. We have to try and puzzle this one out, somehow.”

“I like puzzles! I’ll be happy to do that. Right now, I’m tired.” It was dark, and the lights in the house were on.

“How do we turn these lights off?” Suria asked.

“I’m not sure. Last night I fell asleep on the couch with the lights on and when I woke, they were off. There must be some sort of automatic timer involved.”

“Probably. That’s pretty neat, but the food machines win for now.”

Suria nodded emphatically. “Definitely.”

“You said you slept on the couch last night? Any special reason?”

“I wasn’t sure at that stage if this was someone’s house or not. I didn’t want to be rude. When I sat down for a moment, it was really comfy and these blankets here were nice and soft. So, I laid down and then I woke up in the morning.”

Suria yawned again. “Bedrooms will be okay tonight, surely. Left bedroom, or right?” The room at the back on the left-hand side of the house was the laundry room, and the back-right room was a study, as Pixie had discovered that morning.

“How about left for me, front right for you? I’m not fussed really, but I used the shower there this morning. You choose if you want.” Pixie was happy with whatever Suria wanted.

“No, no, you keep that one then. Makes sense.”

Pixie was so tired that she didn’t spend much time thinking about what dreams she might have this night. The last thing that crossed her mind before falling asleep was hoping that she wouldn’t return to the prison again.