Homecoming had been a traumatic experience. James’s parents and relatives were ecstatic with his return. They had even discussed the possibility of having his funeral but without any closure from the authorities no one was willing to have a ceremony for something they all hoped had not happened.
The Thurso police had requested an interview with James as soon as Dr. Benjamin had phoned the constabulary to notify them of his discovery of James. The first question they asked over the phone was to inquire as to the condition of the body. When the professor explained that James was alive and well there was a note of disbelief in the reaction of the officer. James and Dr. Benjamin speculated that the officer was making the assumption that an imposter had been located. Neither James’s father nor his mother seemed to believe Dr. Benjamin’s news either, but when James actually spoke to them they were convinced. James’s mother made immediate arrangements to plan to meet James at the police station.
Quite a commotion resulted from the entry of the pair into the quiet streets of Thurso. Most were unsure who the bearded young man in the green robes was, but word was spreading quickly that James had been found. Some were putting two and two together as the pair arrived at the police station and were greeted by the officer on duty.
James was able to produce his identification, and answered some rudimentary questions put forward by the constable, but it was really only when his teary eyed mother confirmed James’s identity that the officer seemed convinced as to the veracity of his claim.
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Days passed in a whirlwind of activity, especially as James was forced to take the actions necessary to move to Cambridge and begin his semester studying the Sciences. First year university students are always stretched to their limits, even if they have not become minor media sensations. “Missing boy found!” read the headlines.
The thing that intrigued James the most was the urgency that everyone had to reach a satisfactory explanation as to where James had been for the past two months. His relatives and friends all asked questions and so did the authorities and local media, but nobody would accept any explanation which included a trip to an “Alternate Earth”. James learned very early on not to mention anything about that experience, since the only result was a referral to a mental health professional.
The news stories that covered James’s reappearance took clips of his speech and edited them in ways that suited the narrative they wished to impart to the story. Even James could see the appeal of this approach. “Young man from the Orkneys fell from the train and survived two months in the Scottish countryside,” was probably the headline that summed up the officially accepted explanation for his disappearance. Journalists usually made veiled references to a head injury acquired as a result of the fall, presumably to explain any contradictory details of the experience that James himself might provide.
James quickly learned to go along with this explanation of events. It certainly made life simpler, and there were times when he almost believed the head injury story to be true. Could he really have imagined everything that took place in the “Alternate Earth”. Was Celeste real? Did Elana exist? Could Oakleaf Gilderwood really be more than 300 years old? Moving into his dorm room on the Cambridge University campus, it was harder and harder for James to believe that his experiences had been real.
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University life was extremely challenging. In his first week of classes James was assigned more homework than in any single week of his sixth form education. Week two almost doubled the homework load. All that work after classes was in addition to the extensive lectures and laboratory work. Thank goodness that James was on a full scholarship since he certainly would not have had the energy, nor the time to work a part time job. The only really pleasurable moments during the week were the excellent math lectures given by Dr. Benjamin in his first year calculus course. Dr. Benjamin always taught one first year course per semester in order to get to know the students new to Cambridge. He was a brilliant lecturer and often made reference to the historical mathematical innovations made by math pioneers such as Pythagoras and Sir Isaac Newton.
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Each night after supper in the cafeteria, James returned to his dorm room to catch up on homework. Often his roommate was there too. Paul Simpson was an eighteen year old from Liverpool who was also on scholarship. Paul also studied first year sciences and hoped one day to become a marine biologist. Neither Paul nor James had brought many belongings other than the basics required to live as a student in a dorm room.
However, James did manage to have slipped in Elana’s lotus leaf green robes into his student luggage. In a moment of loneliness he had mounted the robes on the wall beside his dorm bed, and every morning scrutinized the details of the garment. ‘There was no doubt as to the reality of those robes,’ thought James. Additionally, amongst the reading and writing material that James had on hand in his dorm room James had hidden the ‘Alternate Earth’ rulebook.
On the Friday evening of their second week of classes James decided to pull out the rulebook and read some of the sections he had yet to get into. The effect was remarkable as reading something for pleasure had not been possible since his ill fated train trip from London. The book brought back memories of his adventures in the Alternate Earth, and James found it difficult to wrap his mind around the coincidental details contained within the story lines of the game system. His mind locked onto the concept that he had been reading about the fictional “Alternate Earth,” and then somehow hallucinated a two month stretch of experiences in the game universe. ‘Could that be what happened?’ James asked himself.
“Alternate Earth!” exclaimed Paul, as he entered the dorm room. “That’s my favourite game!. Do you play?” asked his roomate.
“Sort of,” answered James. “I have the boxed set, and a dozen boxes of models but haven’t had the time to paint them yet. How about you?”
“Ya. My friends in Liverpool play every weekend. I miss it but there didn’t seem to be any way to haul all that stuff here. I figured that I would just have to suffer without the game until the end of the school year.” replied Paul. “I just found out there is a game shop that stocks Alternate Earth in downtown Cambridge! They might even run some games on Saturdays at the shop. We could head down there tomorrow morning on the tram line, if you’re interested?”
“Why not?” replied James, and the two made plans for the following day.
The day went well, and it wasn’t all that bad to catch up on the backlog of homework with determined efforts on Sunday. James and Paul were even able to cooperate in a Physics lab to speed up the process.
Soon, the weekly trips to Frodo’s Game Emporium became a regular occurrence.
The only problem was that spending time with the gamers at Frodo’s brought back all of his memories of his time in the land of the Empire. The contrast with his new life as a university student was stark. His friends in science classes spent almost all of their time indoors, eating prepared foods. All of the studies focused on theoretical models and formulas. Even the laboratory experiments felt contrived and repetitive. James remembered what it was like to hike in the mountains, ride a horse in the countryside and eat fresh produce from the Gardens of Taubra. He let out a sigh, as he sat at the games table in the back room of the Emporium.
Paul noticed and commented, “Distracted, are you James.”
James was about to answer when he noticed someone enter the crowded room, from the sales floor, with her back to James. She had dark straight hair, tied back, and a simple green tunic. There was a role playing game going on in the front area of the shop. Perhaps she was one of the players, but James was overcome with a sense of recognition seeing the young woman. “Elana? No it couldn’t be.” Several young men were between James and the newcomer so a clear view was impossible as she turned and left the room, but as she rounded the corner the young woman cast her glance towards James for just a split second. She really did look like Elana.
James excused himself from the table and stepped through the crowd following the route of the young woman, all the while debating within himself as to what he should do. Down the hallway and out onto the sales floor James surveyed the customers and role playing game participants but none matched the description of the young person he had seen a moment before. The entry door chimes tinkled, and the door gently closed itself behind someone who had just exited the building but when James stepped up to the plate glass window at the front of the shop to view the street, there was no green clad young woman to be seen.
“I must be imagining things,’ thought James.
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James ran over the details in his mind over and over as he drifted off to sleep that night. In the morning he awoke from a dream where Elana and the Saint Bernard Wizard were walking together through the streets of Badendorf. It all seemed quite real until he awoke, and then realised how much Physics and Math homework he had to complete by Monday morning.