Chapter 5: History Always Repeats Itself

A rooster's cry awoke Jack. He rose from his bed…

…and nearly fell off the side of his house. "WHOA!" He cried as he backed up and fell back onto his rear on the roof.

He breathed heavily and held his chest as his heart raced. That's when it hit him. "It's not possible… it was all a dream! It had to be a dream!" He said quietly, recalling the events of the past night.

But he couldn't deny it. It wasn't a dream. If it were, he would be safe and sound in his bed.

"If it wasn't a dream… Sara!" He looked to his side and found that Sara was not on the roof. His eyes widened and his face paled.

Immediately, he leaned over the side of the house and looked down to the ground below. Sara was nowhere to be found.

He rose again. "Sara?" He called, quietly at first. "Sara?" He called, a little louder this time. When he got no answer, he became desperate. "Sara?!"

"What?" He jumped visibly and looked back down towards the lawn. Sara was standing in the dewy grass, looking up at him. "What?" She repeated.

Jack sighed heavily. "For a second, I thought…" He shook it off and smiled. "Never mind."

Sara smirked and held back a laugh. "Why, I'm flattered, Jack! It's nice to know you care! Now… come down from there! Breakfast is cooking and Aunt Patrice would like to have a word with you…"

Jack groaned. "I didn't like the sound of that." Sara grinned. "Yeah, you shouldn't. Her speech to me about sneaking out in the middle of the night and sleeping on a roof was bad enough. Her speech to you is going to be so much worse!"

Jack shook his head and quickly hopped off the roof and landed on the grass below with a roll. When he rose, a shaken Sara greeted him. "Are you crazy?!" She cried. He just smirked. "Possibly."

"What were you thinking?" Jack winced at Patrice's shrill voice. Her face was red and her fists were clenched tight.

"Do you realize what could have happened?" She cried. Jack sighed. "Patrice, it was fine! A night walk never hurt anybody! At least, not around here! This town has a crime rate of an average of less then one crime every three years!"

Patrice crossed her arms across her chest. "I don't care! What if you or her got lost from each other? She'd be wandering for hours!" Jack shook his head. "There is a clear path back to the crossroads, and from there it's easy to find my farm… Just turn left!"

The older lady narrowed her eyes. "What if… what if…"

"If somebody saw her?" Jack finished for her. Patrice's eyes widened, but then narrowed further.

"What did you mean by that?!" She roared. Jack immediately regretted his words. But it was too late. They had been said and he wasn't about to back down.

"Do you think we're stupid?" He started. "Your overprotection. Your unfailing caution. It doesn't protect her! It only gives us more leverage to show her the truth!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" She retorted. Jack only smirked. "It's no use, Patrice. You can't hide it anymore. Everyday, she's closer and closer to seeing the truth. Soon, she will know who she is and once that happens…"

He trailed off and walked out of his bedroom before she could reply.

Sara was awaiting him in the living room. "How'd it go?" She asked softly. Jack merely moaned and sat down on the couch, his head in his hands.

She sat next to him. "That bad, huh?" Jack didn't reply for a few minutes. When he did, he said. "I gotta take a walk. I… I'm sorry about this."

He rose to his feet and left the house, ignoring Sara's cry of, "You're sorry for what?"

Patrice moaned quietly and sat down on Jack's bed. "Everything is falling apart. He's right. I can't keep this up much longer… And if we must spend two weeks in this place with… him, she'll find out for sure!" She held her head in her hands.

"How could I… how could I keep her from finding out?" Patrice asked no one. No answer came to her mind and a determined look washed across her features.

"If I can't keep her from finding out about who she is, then I will be the one to tell her!" She said with a steely voice. "At least, this way, she'll still have some trust in me."

She sat on the bed a little while longer, pondering what she was going to say. If she had been paying more attention, she may have noticed that the bedroom door was slightly ajar…

After a few minutes, Patrice rose from her bed. "I have to tell her now." She walked over to the door and was struck with terror when she saw that it was never closed after Jack had left the room.

She walked out of the room and called Sara's name. There was no answer. There was nobody in the house but her…

"Hey, Jack!" Jack heard as he walked up the familiar path that led up the mountain. He froze. He didn't really want to talk to her now.

Erica walked up the path behind Jack until she reached where he now stood. "What are you doing?" She asked.

Jack looked at her. "I'm taking a walk. Clearing my mind." He said coolly, hoping she would get the hint.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Erica obviously didn't.

Jack sighed, deciding against being rude. "If you want to…" Erica was slightly taken back by his tone, but she ignored it and they began walking together up the mountain.

They walked in silence passing the hot springs and the church, until they reached the peak.

Erica sat down on the rock and stared out at the forest that was at the base of the mountain. "It's so beautiful…"

Jack looked down near the base and saw a very distant shack sitting in the middle of nowhere.

When Cliff was kidnapped, he was taken there… He thought to himself.

"Jack?" His thoughts were interrupted by a glare from Erica. "Did you even hear me?" She asked, her glare growing. Jack just smiled sheepishly.

Erica sighed. "I told you to sit down!" Jack hesitated and then sat down, making sure to keep at least a foot of distance between him and Erica.

She ignored it however and slid closer to him until they were far closer then Jack wanted.

"Jack?" She said quietly. Jack peered at her through the corner of his eye. She was slowly inching closer.

"Yeah?" He finally replied, refusing to look her in the eye. She sighed lightly, but he didn't hear it.

"I… I wanted to talk to you about… Kar—err… Sara." Erica finally said. Now Jack looked at her and nearly jumped back at how close she was. "What is it?" He finally replied.

"How do you know that she's really Karen?" Jack stiffened, he had saw that coming.

"There have been a lot of things supporting it." She opened her mouth to reply, but Jack raised his hand to stop her. "It will all be out in the open soon. By the time they are ready to leave, she will know. That a vow that I have no plan to break."

Patrice left the house in a huff. "This can't be happening!" She muttered as she walked toward the exit of the farm. "I've worked too hard! I've pulled too many strings! Cashed in too many favors!"

She reached the crossroads and figured out that she probably should have taken that offer that Jack made to give them a tour! She had no idea where they could be!

She made a quick decision to stay away from the town at that moment and turned left.

Patrice quickly walked down the road, keeping an eye out for either Sara or anybody who might recognize her. Like… sister. She added in her mind.

Upon reaching the end of the path, she was greeted with the sight of another farm.

Patrice growled softly at her mistake but that's when she heard the familiar sound of water crashing up onto a sandy beach and she looked to her left.

There was yet another path that led to a short staircase. At the end of that staircase was obviously the beach.

She decided to check there also, mainly because Sara always liked the beach. She saw no reason for it to be any different here!

So, she quickly walked onto the beach and what she saw shocked her. A single boat, a single ferry, sat waiting at the dock…

Jack and Erica talked to each other for a long while, getting to know each other more. It was something that Jack had been afraid to do ever since he had heard of her feeling toward him.

Now… now Jack was still very worried about giving off the wrong idea, but it wasn't as bad as before. And after talking to her, he couldn't help but to admit that she was very beautiful.

She had a personality that would make even the coldest man melt in her arms. Erica knew it too. And now, after being able to talk to him, she knew that she was closer to her goal. She could see it in his eyes. He didn't really have feelings for her yet, but a major hurdle had been jumped.

Pastor Brown wasn't happy. Nope, not happy at all. He grumbled quietly as his still all too fresh wound pressed up against his pant leg and stars flashed before his eyes as pain shot through his nerves. He had gotten the wound sewn up by the nearby doctor and had gotten some pain-killing drink from the Potion Shop, but it really didn't help much.

"Oh, my queen… Why did you have to take your anger out on me?" He wondered aloud as he climbed up Moon Mountain. "Why not just attack one of the traitors? Or better yet, that farmer? I've done nothing but follow you…"

Brown winced once more as he climbed the last hill and began walking on the wooden bridge. But he gritted his teeth and walked on, determined to do what he had set out to do. After all, once he finished this job, he was sure that he'd get a bonus from the Goddess! At least a healing, but if she was really pleased with him… He chuckled at the memory of when he had poisoned that old man's drink. Yes, she was very pleased that day.

Finally, he reached his destination. The Christian church that had tormented him for so long. He frowned in disgust at the building. "Such an ugly place. You'd figure that if their God was so great, they'd at least give Him a worthy temple!"

He decided to shrug off that feeling and walked into the church. In a matter of hours, the Wednesday night service would begin and Brown knew he must hurry.

He quickly walked into the back room where Pastor Carter currently lived and smiled when he saw that the fellow minister was nowhere to be found. He knew, however, that Carter never strayed to far from his beloved church. The threat of overzealous Goddess followers was always imminent and he needed to be there in case they ever tried to do something again as they had in the past.

He spied a mug of steaming liquid sitting on a table and he smiled. Upon further inspection, he found that it was a still very hot cup of coffee. That told him that Carter was probably still in the church, probably just in a different area. He decided that it would be best to step up his performance and get out of the building as fast as possible.

Quickly, he pulled out a small glass bottle that contained a clear and tasteless liquid and he poured it into the coffee.

Suddenly there was a flush originating from the nearby bathroom and Pastor Carter stepped out. But before he could do so, Brown was already out the door and walking briskly back down the mountain…

"I'm sorry." Jack blinked at Erica's words. They had come out from virtually nowhere and he was very confused by them. "Sorry about what?"

She looked at him and sighed. Silently, she rehearsed the speech she had prepared for this moment.

"For everything. For all those times I got angry at you for still hanging onto your love for Karen. At the time, it seemed so stupid, but now…" She paused as tears began coming to her eyes and she looked towards the ground.

"No, no, no… Don't feel sorry." Jack put a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face to level with his own. "I understood then and I understand now. To you, Karen seemed more like a myth than anything else, but to me… she was my life. My love. It was so hard to go on. The fact that her body was never found was the only thing that kept me going… well, that and God, of course!

"But I'm sorry. I was blinded by my sorrows. Whether I was right in them or not, I completely ignored you." Jack said softly. Erica could hardly hold back her smile. She had predicted exactly what Jack would do. Now, if everything went as planned, she'd be married to him in a month!

"I'm sorry that I never gave you light of day. I'm sorry that ignored someone that was right in front of me… someone I see now that is a very awesome person and someone I would gladly call my friend.

"And I'm also sorry… about the fact that I never took a chance with you. I was always so scared, but I had forgotten one very important thing. That thing being the fact that Karen would have killed me if she found out I was moping around my farm for three years, never even dating again.

"I was wrong in shrugging you off like I did. And I'm sorry I never gave you a chance… and I'm also sorry that I may never have the chance to give you a chance."

Erica froze. No, she said in her mind. No! Now's the part where you ask me out on a date or something!

Jack continued. "With Sara here, and my hopes set on helping her remember, soon Karen will be back and we'll continue where we left off most likely. I… I still love her and if I have a chance of getting her back, I have to take it."

Erica couldn't speak. Her plan, one she had worked so hard in setting up and plotting what she would do had just been driven into the ground. Her chances were ruined.

Jack sighed at her silence; he could see in her eyes that he had hurt her. He was about to speak again, but he was interrupted by his wristwatch going off, telling him that it was nearing the time for him to church.

He sighed once more and rose to his feet. "Listen, I… I have to go. I'm sorry about all of this." He turned and began walking away. Behind him he heard Erica rise to her feet and the sound of running footsteps.

"Jack!" She cried and he stopped, turning around to face her. When Erica reached him, she didn't stop. Instead she jumped into his arms and kissed him passionately.

At first, Jack's natural instincts told him to give into the kiss and maybe even take it farther. That's when one name hit him. Karen. He immediately pulled away and pushed Erica back as well.

"What are you—" A rustling in a bush behind him silenced him. He knew it was probably just a raccoon or something, but knowing his luck, it was something far worse.

FLASH! Jack and a pink-haired girl were kneeling, facing each other, on the cold brick of the main street of Flowerbud. Sara watched in horror as the girl leaned forward and kissed Jack. Pain shot through her heart and immediately tears stung her eyes. "No." She softly whispered.

At that moment, Jack pulled away and looked at the girl in bewilderment and possibly even betrayal. Sara didn't see that though. No, all she saw was the fact that Jack kissed her!

The girl got up and left before Jack finally stood. He turned around and his eyes found Sara's. A look of horror found its way onto his features and he opened his mouth to speak.

Sara didn't give him the chance. Instead, she whipped around and began running away, tears flowing down her cheeks.

FLASH! Sara couldn't think straight. What did I just see?! She wondered to herself. One thing's for sure… I know how she feels!

When Sara had saw Jack and Erica kiss, she felt something in her heart. A feeling of recognition. That's what had set off the vision, but she also felt something else. Hurt. She was hurting terribly and she didn't know why. All she knew is that seeing the two kissing ignited something inside of her.

Jack turned around and he caught the sight of a shoe sticking from underneath the bush. He paled and then he began shaking. This can't be…

"Sara?" He called quietly, desperately praying that it wasn't her, but someone else.

No such luck. Sara rose slowly from the bush, a look of pain and anger on her features. "Jack." She spat.

The young farmer moved towards her, but in that moment, she tore back down the mountain path.

"Why is it that I always get stuck in these messes?" Jack wonder aloud before running after Sara, leaving a dismayed Erica behind.

Sara ran down the mountain as fast as her legs would take her. Tears were already beginning to build up at her eyes and her eyesight was being hindered by it. Once again, she couldn't believe how familiar all of this felt.

FLASH! She was running through Green Ranch. She tried to run down the path that led to the beach, but she didn't see the rock in front of her and she ended up tripped and falling flat on her face.

FLASH! Sara, confused by the vision, made the very same mistake and her foot hit a single rock, sending her sprawling onto the dirt path.

She got back on her feet and was off again before Jack, who was maybe twenty feet behind her, could catch up.

She finally reached the bottom of the mountain and she quickly left the meadow in search of a place Jack wouldn't be able to find her.

Gotz and Sasha walked down the slight incline that led out of the vineyard and into the five-way intersection. They turned towards the mountain, only to see a blur of somebody running towards them. Whoever it was brushed roughly by Sasha and ran into the village.

"Well, he's rude!" Gotz proclaimed loudly. Sasha didn't speak for a long time. Instead, she paled very much so and she began shivering. "Sasha?" Her husband asked worriedly.

Sasha looked at him, her eyes wide. "It was…" she began. "a she…"

Before she could continue any further, Jack ran roughly into Gotz, falling backwards in surprise. Gotz hardly moved.

Jack quickly rose to his feet and quickly apologized. Gotz just grinned. "No harm done! At least, not to me!" He roared with laughter and Jack couldn't help to chuckle a bit with him.

Soon, however, he got a look of seriousness on his face. "Did you see a girl run by here? She um… well… she's about my age, a little bit shorter and—"

"She looks exactly like Karen?" Sasha finished, color returning back to her face. Jack froze, not sure how to reply to that. Finally he just said a quick, "Yeah."

Sasha sighed in relief, glad that she wasn't seeing things. "She just ran into the village. If you don't mind my asking, why are you chasing her?"

Jack smiled slightly and said, "Why do I always chase girls? I screwed up!" He ran past the couple before they could reply and hinder his search any longer.

Gotz laughed loudly. "He sure is in a hurry!" He looked at Sasha. "So what was this about a Karen-look-alike?"

Sara paused only momentarily when she entered the town. "Where can I go…?" She wondered out loud. Her question was answered when her eyes locked on a building that looked very familiar.

It was all white and had a short steeple shooting up from the top. It had a small porch in front of it and a front door that was wide open. She quickly ran inside.

Once she got inside the building, she noticed that it looked quite a bit like the church from her dream! There were differences here and there, but there was no doubt in Sara's mind that this was that church!

She walked along the aisle, taking in her surroundings. Then her eyes saw the statue near the front of the church. It was a simple statue. One of a woman with a flowing dress. It was the statue of the Goddess.

FLASH! A little girl sat with her grandmother while Pastor Brown droned on and on about how wonderful the Goddess was.

FLASH! The girl was a little bit older now and mature enough to understand what the pastor spoke about. She listened intently. "Beware of the false prophets!" He said. "They will come to you and tell you lies! They'll tell you that the Goddess is a fake! Do not listen to them!"

FLASH! The girl was now in her teens. She stood up, off of the pew, and walked to the front where Pastor Brown anointed her with a special type of oil. "Do not ever forget." He whispered in her ear. "Don't forget who you are. Don't forget who made you…"

FLASH! Jack and her sat in the pew, talking softly. "It's the statue of the goddess." She said quietly. Jack jumped up and then looked at her, a strong emotion in his eyes… The emotion was fear!

When Jack calmed down, Sara continued. "My family used to come here… Every Sunday we'd be here. We were highly respected in the village at that time. That is, before my Grandmother died. I guess… she was the one that made us go all along. When she left us… we just stopped. We stopped just like the vineyard stopped giving good wine."

FLASH! Sara stumbled back from the visions. "What's going—" She paused as more visions flashed before her eyes. Finally, she just fell to her knees, moaning softly as more and more events flashed by her. Finally, she blacked out altogether and fell to the floor in a heap.

Pastor Carter of Flowerbud Christian Church didn't feel well. No, that's an understatement. He felt utterly terrible. He felt like there was something in his stomach that was slowly eating away at him from inside out!

He doubled over and once again threw up whatever was left in his body into the toilet. After that, he nearly blacked out, but he was able to handle it.

Outside the door to his bathroom, he heard the murmuring of his congregation and steeled himself.

"Just going to tell them all to go home tonight… I can't do this tonight… Maybe I'll set up another church service tomorrow…" He said to himself.

Quickly, he looked in the mirror and sighed. He was a mess. His skin was extremely hot to touch and there were dark bags under his eyes. His skin had a greenish tint to it and his hair was in every direction but the direction it was supposed to be in!

He quickly splashed water on his face and wiped off any excess… stuff off of his mouth. After that, he drank some water from the nearby water fountain and tried to wash the terrible taste out of his mouth. He didn't have much luck at that but at least his throat didn't burn as much.

He stepped out of the bathroom and stepped up on the platform to face the congregation, all of which looked quite surprised to see him looking so terrible.

"Um…" He started hoarsely. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm terribly sorry about all of this…" He forced himself to resist the urge to throw up. "But I seem to have contracted a virus of some sort. I don't think I'll be able to preach tonight…" His head began to get woozy and the pains in his stomach got worse.

"I'll try to… set up another service… soon and I'll tell you all… when…" He placed a hand on his head and stumbled back, inciting many of the congregation to start murmuring and a few to stand and run to help him.

"When… when I'm well enough to preach…" He began walking back towards his room, but suddenly he collapsed, causing nearly the entire congregation to stand in worry.

Cliff reached the fallen pastor first. He knelt down and tried to help the pastor up. That's when he felt his skin. It was already cold to the touch and he noticed that all color was beginning to drain away from Carter's features.

In fear, he felt for the man's pulse and was terrified to find that Pastor Carter had none.

"Help! Somebody! CPR! Somebody who knows CPR, get over here!" He cried…

Sara jolted awake and looked around at her surroundings. She was laying in a bed. One she recognized as Jack's.

"Hello?" She called. At first, she got no reply, but then a shuffling sound was heard in the kitchen and Patrice came out, carrying a cup of hot chicken soup.

"Sara! Are you feeling all right?" She asked worriedly as she sat by Sara's feet.

Sara groaned slightly and her eyes widened, remembering what had just happened to her. She looked at Patrice with a short look of contempt but then her eyes softened.

"Yes… I'm doing fine…" Patrice couldn't help but to noticed that Sara's tone sounded almost false. As if she was lying or if she was restraining some kind of strong emotion.

She looked at her niece with worry but then shrugged it off as a side effect of her fainting spell.

"Listen, Sara, once you are well enough, I want you to start packing up your things. We're leaving the island tomorrow." Sara looked at her aunt in bewilderment. "What? But the ferry doesn't come until…"

"Jack lied to us. The ferry came yesterday. He would have gotten away with it too, but the ferryman had forgotten to pick something up for his wife and he had to come back." Patrice said, anger in her voice.

Sara's eyes widened and she had to stop herself from smirking. Jack, that's not like you…

Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening was heard and Sara immediately rose from her bed, ignoring Patrice's comments about her needing her rest.

Instead, she walked right out of his room and walked right up to Jack, who had just got in. He had a look of sorrow in his eyes but at the same time, there was a look of relief on his features.

The relief lasted only a short while though. "You lied to us!" Sara cried angrily. Before Jack could speak, she drove her fist into his jaw, ignoring the pain in her knuckles.

Jack stumbled back, out of the house, down his steps, and into the wet grass, disorientated by the hit. Before he could say anything though, his front door slammed loudly and the image of Sara left him…