2:3
1971 AD
Linda sped up the winding dirt road in the tan Pinto. Its wheels spun against the loose gravel kicking up a cloud of dirt that wafted through the surrounding trees.
Her young passenger stared into the passing blur of forest, wondering what to expect from the approaching evening. Her sweating hands were clenched together in her lap. She tapped her right foot nervously on the floorboard.
They came into a clearing where a large, old farmhouse sat. They were about a mile off of county road 185 now. The drive time since they left town had been at least forty-five minutes.
We are definitely in the country. A perfect place for a pagan ritual.
Elizabeth had never been to one before. She thought it might be interesting. Linda had told her that they would light some candles, maybe do a little meditating, nothing major. Of course, she was lying. She would have told her anything to get her out there. They needed her.
Linda smiled calmly as she pulled the car up next to the house and stopped. They both opened their doors and got out. The place was very rundown. The boards were coming loose and the paint had all but worn away. The front porch sloped down to one side due to a crumbling foundation. Weeds filled what used to be a front yard. A strong smell of something rotting caught Elizabeth’s attention. She wondered if there was a slaughterhouse nearby. She looked around as far as she could see. The house was completely surrounded by tall trees. There was no livestock in sight.
A man appeared at the doorway. It was dark inside and what they could see of him wasn't much more than a silhouette. He was tall and thin. As they climbed the steps he came into view. He wore a wrinkled brown suit and lots of rings on his hands that were made of thick gold with multicolored stones. The wide bands seemed out of place on those long, sickly looking fingers.
His face was worn from age. Deep grooves of skin separated his cheeks from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were sunken and dark. He did not blink once as they neared the doorway, nor did he say a word.
He stared at Elizabeth, holding out his entire arm's length toward her. He cupped his hands together as if trying to catch water from a faucet. She stopped at the top step wondering whether or not to continue. The way he just stood there, completely silent with arms extended was odd, to say the least.
What the hell? This guy's creepy.
Just as she was about to turn around and leave, walk back to town if she had to, he lowered his arms and spoke.
“Welcome my dear. Please don't be afraid. I was just feeling your energy.”
Emotion entered him at the lips and his smile was big and toothy.
“Actually, I was thinking of changing my mind. I'm not sure if this is really my thing.”
She was going to need some convincing, “Well, why don't you just stick around tonight and see what we're all about. Then, if you're not interested, no harm done, right?”
She looked past him, into the house. She saw a couch and a television on a small stand. Beyond that was the kitchen. Four yellow vinyl chairs sat around a wooden table. Everything looked normal enough. It looked almost too normal for a ritual. She had expected colored beads hanging from the ceiling and maybe a crystal ball. She didn't see anything that would indicate a spiritual atmosphere at all.
“Well, alright. I'll give it a go.”
Her fear subsided and she walked past the tall man and went inside. They followed her in and the man shut the door behind him. Elizabeth watched as the afternoon sun was pushed out.
That was the last time she ever saw daylight. From that moment on her world would be illuminated by a sixty-watt bulb and dim candle light. By midnight her throat would be raw from the screaming. She would be naked, surrounded by the harsh chill of concrete.
In that last moment of clarity, of sanity, she gave the odd man with the dark eyes a smile. He did not reciprocate. With the deadbolt locked, the emotion drained away from his face, leaving no sign of ever having been there. He whispered to her from across the room.
The words hissed off his tongue sharply, “Now the circle is complete.”
She gave him a puzzled look, crossing her arms in front of her. The confusion ended when the sharp thrust of the syringe entered the back of her neck. She tried to scream, but the drug took effect too quickly. The terror faded away, along with her vision, in one swirling moment.
2:4
Jack ascended up into the starry sky. He realized that movement in the spiritual world was simply a matter of will. After a few minutes he saw that it was no more difficult than controlling his physical body.
He looked down at his glowing arm. The energy was spiraling silvery blue, transparent. It glowed with ever drifting colors. It retained the same shape as his mundane body. He could see the veins in the top of his hands, the thick fingers. When he flexed he watched the skin push out as if there were still muscle underneath. The spirit had been inside the flesh so long it knew the body’s every movement. It imitated the shape of Jack’s physical arm perfectly.
It doesn’t have to look like me, does it?
He focused on the transparent mass, concentrating. The surface of his hand began to ripple like a pool of water. The fingers stretched out like snakes, thinning as they went. His entire forearm bent and twisted in front of him. It spun slowly around and around, forming an astral corkscrew.
Unbelievable.
He stretched it far out in front of him. It pulled away like an extended rubber band. He realized that the mass remained the same, he had only changed the shape.
Jack’s focus shifted up to a bright dancing flicker in the in the distance. His arm snapped back into the original look of his physical form. He had not willed that to happen, it just did. It was the soul’s self image that had pulled it back, the energy’s default position. He would soon learn that he could transform himself into any shape he wanted easily, but he had to be constantly willing it to happen. If attention were lost he would revert back to his true form.
The distant blue light raced across the blackness like a firefly.
What is that?
He slowly gained speed toward it, watching the earth behind him get smaller in the distance. As he approached he saw that it was at least five times the size of his own astral mass. It did not have a human form. It was more like a churning ball of light. Its bright blue glow faded slightly darker as he got close.
Jack was amazed at the powerful, tingling energy he could feel emanating from it. He was close now, right in front of it. It had stopped to look him over. They both hovered for a moment, staring at each other. Jack reached out his hand to touch it. The charge made his astral fingers vibrate and pop. It backed away quickly, speaking to him in a language he’d never heard before. He understood every word.
You do not belong here. Go back. The world you know is waiting.
Jack didn’t move.
Are you an angel?
It sat silent. Jack tried again.
Can you understand me? Do you know who I am?
A harsh grinding sound surrounded him with a yellow film, pushing him back. He strained against the liquid wall of light, testing its strength. It held steady in front of him.
The spirit spoke again, Go and reclaim the flesh.
He pleaded with the entity that was pushing him away, Please, I have so many questions.
The spirit said nothing more. It flew away from him quickly, its speed creating a bright white jet trail. Jack followed its path as fast as he could. The shining blue light’s velocity was too much for him. He watched it shrink into the distance.
Why won’t it talk to me? Why is it running away?
The ball of energy was soon gone completely. There were no other astral beings in sight.
He looked back toward Earth. The whole planet glowed in a multicolored ethereal haze. The swimming oily glow was a giant beacon in the middle of the starry universe. He took one more look around, scanning the sky for other living things. He saw only stars. It was hard to tell how long he’d been gone. His sense of time was lost. Getting back home seemed like a good idea.
His spiritual instinct led him down through the atmosphere, below the clouds and into the yellow streetlights of Penrose. He buzzed over the neighborhoods exploring his home in a way he had never done before. He flew low, just over the roofs of the houses.
Through the windows he saw the glow of souls inside each one. The yards were covered with sheets of soft white and green fog. The trees’ surrounding haze was yellowy white. He saw the glow of numerous small animals in the yards and fields, in the trees and under brush. Rabbits and cats, dogs and mice and even a coyote who had wandered over to fifth street from across the highway. Each one’s energy had a different color, brightness and movement. Some vibrated almost violently and fizzled with excitement, anger or fear, while others looked calm and serene.
A group of sleeping horses in a nearby field stood huddled together. Their spirits melted in and out of each other, creating a brighter illumination.
Jack soaked it all in with the wonder and amazement of a child. It was like opening his eyes for the very first time. He dived down lower, skimming the ground. The astral mist of the grass parted as he soared through it. His spirit created a slight wake of displaced light and then it slowly re-gathered itself over the yards. It felt so much like swimming that he took to kicking his legs behind him like a frog.
He zipped past a large brown house at the intersection of Eighth and K Streets. He leaned to his right and made a sharp turn around the corner of the house.
A huge dog stood raging just in front of its physical body. Its presence had taken him by complete surprise and he had no time to stop. He plowed right into the animal’s energy. It jumped, spun around and bit at him. The dog’s mundane teeth clacked together against themselves with nothing to grab hold of. Its astral teeth on the other hand did find something between them, Jack. His glowing arm flashed dark yellow when the sharp, electric pain entered. Jack pulled away screaming.
Tiny little dots of light expelled out of the spiritual wound. He pushed himself back, up into the air, end over end. The animal barked excitedly as its ethereal self screeched in blinding anger. Small streaks of lightning popped over and across its translucent skin.
Jack held a hand over the gritty, stabbing pain. It was glowing with florescent intensity. He backed away, higher into the air. The dog and its astral self stayed at ground level, frantically barking and growling. Jack drifted above the trees, terrified. The bite felt like his arm was asleep with pinpricks running all through it, except this pain was much more intense.
Looking down at the crackling bite mark, he saw that it didn’t take long for the dots of light to stop pouring from the wound. It still glowed dark yellow, but the pain quickly subsided as he watched the haze grow dimmer.
It hadn’t occurred to Jack that he could be harmed in any way in his current form. It had never entered his mind. He had always thought that souls were immortal, forever. He guessed that’s why he thought that they were indestructible. It was then that he realized that he was not Superman, buzzing around a world that couldn’t hurt him. Danger was as real here at it was in the physical world. Perhaps even more so, due to the fact that he was a pilgrim in uncharted territory.
Sure, this time had only been a dog, but what was waiting around the next corner? Jack started to feel like a river fish that had just washed out to sea. An uneasy fear came over him and deep orange illumination took over his previously blue glow.
He looked out over the rows of houses and cars lining the streets. The angry dog’s barking below him seemed distant now as he found home’s direction. He’d seen enough for tonight. It was time to go back.
