REVELATION: Book One of THE RECARN CHRONICLES (4 page)

“You’re trying to tell me
that as a ten year old boy you murdered your own
mother?”

“Yes, but it’s not that
simple. I killed my mother and then killed myself by walking
straight in front of a truck.”

“So you’re telling me that
you killed your own mother?”

“Please stop repeating
yourself Aaron. I, Jake Griffiths, didn’t kill my own mother. Not
technically anyway – and certainly not according to the law. I
wasn’t even born then. I’m 25 years old. I’ve even brought my birth
certificate to show you. Look.”

Aaron studied the
certificate closely. It certainly looked genuine, and showed the
stranger’s name as Jake Griffiths. Of course that didn’t
necessarily mean that the person named on the certificate and the
person facing him were the same person. He handed it back to Jake,
who tossed it into the open safe.

“
Simon died on
24
^th
December 1965. I was born on
25
^th
September 1966 although I took up
occupation of this body a few months previously… in the womb.
There’s often a bit of a scramble to enter your new body.
The
foetus
has to develop to a certain level before
its new soul can take over, and it can cause a bit of a backlog
sometimes. The fact is that the majority of people don’t remember
their past lives. Only 5% actually. We call them Recarns. I’m a
Recarn. Some of the subjects that you interview are possibly
Recarns too, and do remember past lives, but many are simply making
it up, enjoying the attention.”

“Go on.”

´To be honest with you, it
can do your head in, remembering what’s gone before. It really can.
I was pretty messed up before I met up with Nathan.”

“Who’s Nathan?” Aaron
interrupted.

“Nathan is the guy who
organized all this.”

‘OK.’

“Anyway, some people take
reincarnation all in their stride – like Nathan does – but I was on
a kind of historically motivated vengeance trail. Don’t get me
wrong - I didn’t go around killing people willy-nilly – but a
couple of people who deserved to die. If you look at it from
another angle I was just giving Hannah a nudge into her next life.
She wouldn’t remember what happened anyway. She wasn’t a Recarn.
Still, Nathan pointed out that it wasn’t really her fault and he
calmed me down and showed me how to separate each life’s
experiences and not blame people for things they did in a previous
incarnation. At least, not if they have no memory of it. Hannah had
no idea what she had done in her previous life and it was wrong of
me to judge her for past actions of which she had no
knowledge”

“How do I know that you’re
not making all this up?”

“Because I’m going to
provide you with proof. Not today, but later. What’s the date
today?”

“
26
^th
June, 1990.”

“Time?”

“Five past three in the
afternoon. “

“Make a mental note of that
Aaron. It’ll be important.”

“OK. Done.”

“Now, if you can just sign
this other document for me. Don’t worry, it’s not a contract or
even a blank cheque. It just says that this is your
signature.”

Aaron confirmed that that
indeed was all that was written on the paper and signed
it.

Jake collected all the
documentation together, put them into a plastic document wallet,
and tossed it into the safe.

“This next thing might seem
a bit crazy.”

“As if all this doesn’t seem
crazy.”

Jake took six dice from his
pocket. One red. One green, one blue, one black, one white, and one
yellow

“I’m going to throw these
dice a couple of times, just to show you that they’re not
loaded.”

He threw the dice and then
repeated the exercise.

“Would you agree that the
same colour die didn’t give the same number each time?”

“Agreed.”

“Right. I’m going to throw
them again. How’s your memory?

“Good.”

“Well, it needs to be
perfect otherwise we’re both wasting our time here.”

“OK. I’ll do my
best.”

“Your best isn’t good
enough, Aaron. You need to remember perfectly which die falls with
which number.”

“Understood. Throw the
dice.”

Jake threw the dice, one by
one.

“Red, five. Blue, three.
Yellow, six. Green, five. Black, one. White, four. Study them and
remember, Aaron. This is possibly the most important part. Take as
long as you need.”

Once Aaron had memorized the
colour and number combinations of the dice, Jake picked them up and
tossed them into the safe.

“One last thing. This is
going to be a bit awkward but I think I’ve mastered it.” Jake took
a Polaroid Swinger camera out of his bag.

“Stand next to me while I
take a Polaroid of us.”

If Aaron had felt in any
danger this would have been an excellent opportunity to try and
disarm his captor but the overriding feeling that Aaron was
experiencing was one of curiosity. He had to know how this day
would turn out. Also his ankles were still tied
together.

Jake waited the four minutes or
so for the photo to develop, during which he untied Aaron’s ankles
and expanded upon the events of December 24
^th
, 1965. It was a horrible story but riveting at
the same time.

He then checked that the
booby-trap was armed and when satisfied he closed the door and spun
all the forty-eight wheels of the combination clock so that they
were completely shuffled.

“Let’s go then,
Aaron.”

“Is that it?”

“Not quite, but we need to
leave now. Please put your blindfold back on.”

Aaron did as he was told and
they walked back in the direction of the main path again, Jake
changing direction frequently in order to confuse the
scientist.

After about five minutes
they stopped, and Aaron was allowed to remove the blindfold. He
opened his eyes to see Jake pointing the pistol at him.

“So…am I going to
die?”

“Yes, of course you are.
We’re all going to die. But not today, my friend. You have to keep
living for at least 25 years more – hopefully many more than
that.”

Aaron breathed an audible
sigh of relief.

“This is the beginning of
the proof that reincarnation is a scientific fact. That’s what
you’ve been seeking isn’t it?”

Aaron nodded.

“Now, I don’t want you to
react badly to what I’m about to tell you. You are in no danger
whatsoever. The only danger that you could possibly be in regarding
today’s episode is if you try to open that safe. Then they’ll be
scraping you off the trees. You were blindfolded and the route
varied to prevent you from finding the safe again. I don’t
recommend you try to do so because it’ll compromise the proof that
I’m going to provide you with. I’m relying on your scientific
curiosity to do the right thing. If you don’t, you lose your
proof.”

There was no real point in
trying to open the safe anyway. Aaron already knew what was
inside.

“This is the really
important bit, Aaron. When I tell you to face away from me, you
must do so without question.”

Aaron’s nervousness
returned. It sounded like he was going to be shot, execution style
in the back of the head.

“Are you sure you’re not
going to kill me?”

“Yes, of course I’m sure.
I’m going to kill myself.”

“What? Did I hear you right?
You’re going to kill yourself?”

“Yes. It’s not such a big
deal. The reason I want you to turn around when I tell you to, is
that I don’t think you really want to see me put a bullet through
my head. But it’s important that you check my body afterwards to
confirm to you that I am indeed dead. Can you do that? It’s
critical for the proof of reincarnation.”

Aaron didn’t like the idea
of even looking at a dead body, let alone checking that it was
indeed a corpse.

“Aaron?”

“Um yes. OK. I’ll check the
body.”

Jake passed him a pair of
surgical gloves.

“Put these latex gloves on
then. I don’t want your fingerprints to show up on the body. That’d
cause no end of problems.”

Aaron slid his hands into
the gloves.

“I’ll take them with me when
I leave.”

“I’m going to be your proof
of reincarnation, Aaron. Remember, I’m a Recarn.”

“You really remember your
past lives?”

“
Yes. Each and every one.
Now, what will happen next is that in twenty five years,
specifically on 15
^th
May 2015, I’m going
to pay you a visit. You won’t recognise me. I have no idea what
I’ll look like. White, black, man, woman, fat, thin, tall, short,
bald, hairy. Hopefully not bald. I’ll only be in my mid-twenties
after all. I have no idea. But because I’m a Recarn. I’ll remember
the location of the safe and – more importantly – the combination
of the safe. What was the combination of colours and numbers that
the dice showed? I know. I just want to check that you
remember.”

“Red, five. Blue, three.
Yellow, six. Green, five. Black, one. White, four.”

“Good.”

“I have a question, Jake.
How will I know it’s you?”

“What’s my name?”

“Jake Griffiths.”

“That’s how you’ll know it’s
me. I’ll identify myself by that name. Plus… think of a code word.”
“Rembrandt.”

“Why Rembrandt?”

“Why not?”

“Okay. Rembrandt it is. Now
pay particular attention to this part. You must not tell anyone,
anyone at all, not even your wife – if and when you get one - about
what happened here today. We are trusting that your scientific
integrity and curiosity will keep you on the straight and narrow.
I’d like to think that that would be enough to convince you to wait
the twenty-five years but a consensus was agreed upon that if you
disclose these plans to anyone else drastic measures will need to
be taken; we will take you and your closest family members –
perhaps children that you haven’t even had yet – to the locations
of the safes. There we will enter the incorrect combination and
blow you and your families into smithereens. Of course we’ll die
too but that won’t bother us… we’re Recarns. I’ve actually been
blown up several times before, so it doesn’t worry me.”

“I won’t tell a soul. I
promise.”

“You’ll understand the irony
of that one day.”

“Can I ask a question
Jake?”

“Of course.”

“Will the police want to
talk to me when they find your body and how do I get back to my
car?”

“As you like to count so
much, can I just point out that that’s two questions. No, there
isn’t anything that could connect you to my death. The only
fingerprints on the gun will be mine. There will be no fingerprints
on the car because I was wearing gloves all the time I was in it.
Don’t forget to make sure that you wear the latex gloves when you
check my body for signs of life. There will be absolutely no reason
for them to even think that you have some kind of connection to my
death. I even ran up serious gambling debts so that they’ll have a
motive for my suicide.”

“And the route back to my
car?”

“Look above the tree line
over there. What do you see?”

“Looks like a helium filled
red balloon to me.”

“That’s exactly what it is.
Just head towards that balloon and you’ll arrive at the car park.
Old technology but efficient.”

“One final question,
please.”

“Go on.”

“What about the
gunshot?”

“Already thought that one
out. There are farms near here. People will just think that it’s a
farmer shooting at a fox. Finally, what were the numbers and
colours of the dice?”

“Red, five. Blue, three.
Yellow, six. Green, five. Black, one. White, four.”

“Good. Now turn towards the
balloon.”

Aaron did as he was
bid.

“Goodbye Jake …and thanks, I
think.”

“Goodbye Aaron. See you in
twenty-five years. Oh, and don’t forget to release the balloon when
you’re back at your car.”

The gunshot made Aaron
flinch. Although he had no desire to see a freshly shot corpse, he
duly checked the body for a pulse but there was no sign of life.
Jake was definitely dead. Aaron set off in the direction of the
tethered balloon, hardly believing that the afternoon’s events had
really happened.

Aaron couldn’t help but be
excited. He checked the calendar on his smartphone one more time,
just as he had been checking it for the last three weeks. He was
like a child waiting for Christmas, he was so anxious for the
return of Jake. It would be a true second coming, but not the
second coming that various religions had predicted.