The Smell of Right, and Wrong. (Chapter 2)
Some doors are not physical objects made of wood or steel. We were trained, and conditioned from childhood, to believe some things just aren't real. We were being lied to.
The Purple lady explained many unbelievable things to Paul, and Etta over the next few hours. Things that they never could have imagined. Not because they were so foreign, or strange, but because some of them were so simple for them to grasp. These were timeless sciences based around sound, and natural fields of energy, according to the Purple lady. She told them that many of the Native American tribes, The Sami, Druids, and several other cultures were once able to open doors there with sound. She said they were sciences that mankind was forbidden to practice by many modern religious standards. So over time, less and less people began visiting, once the Spaniards discovered South America, and Meso America it was almost none. It was a very sad thing for Lila Dame, she once guided hundreds of people a day between the realms.
Unfortunately now she was only able to show them these places. She could open windows, and use them to peek into each of the 9 connected realms. Paul and Etta were amazed to see some of them. One window Lila Dame opened showed them a world populated and built by large, lumbering, human like beings. Some of them were so pale, that they looked strange with their contrasting blood red hair and snow white skin. Then there were others beings there in that world with blue skin, they had different eyes than the pale giants. Theirs had a split pupil, and a golden color like some house cats. They were frightening for Paul and Etta to see, even just looking at them through a window from a different place.
She showed them several windows into Earth, but they were into rainforest areas, or arctic tundras. The Park in Cumberland Gap Tennessee wasn't a place that she knew, at least not by that name. She eventually told them of the one and only realm that she herself could still open doors into. She assured them however, that they could not even exist there, physically speaking. She said they were made of the wrong combination of waves and matter in their current forms. Apparently if they were to go there, their physical bodies would instantly atomize. That happens as the bonds holding their molecules together just give free. The electromagnetic forces that control our laws of physics, simply do not apply there. That's not the end though, after that, our very consciousness, and spirit, would also be ripped apart. When they heard her explain all of this, they promptly decided not to go there.
Even more surprising than the body popping world, was finding out that the little ego bashing, mechanically hybridized, elf things, the ones that they met when they first got here, they also come from a different place. She said that place was vastly different and not like any one of the 9 realms, and in further explaining it she told them that it was more like the space between them. A dark, cold, and terrible place, according to Lila Dame a place she never wished to return to.
Paul’s missing mom was clearly still the first priority, at least for him it was. Etta just wanted to go home herself, and she was trying to think of the right questions to ask Lila Dame. But, Paul kept anxiously interrupting, and derailing her train of thought. She knew deep down that she also had to help Paul. She has not mentioned it yet, but she has seen his face in a hundred dreams. It had been going on for the past year or so. When her frisbee turned, and she ran for it, she really ran into Paul because when she saw his face, her knees gave out. Those elves left just in time, she was scared they were going to blurt out more things that she wished to keep in her head, at least for now. He kept asking Lila Dame questions, like if she could see his Mom, or even the “area of the realm” that she was in. Lila Dame tried to explained to them that she would need to know his mom's frequency in order to find her, apparently everything had one. She told him that explaining this, would be something that he needed patience for. At the moment it was clear that Paul's was running thin. She tried to explain that she could find certain objects, and even people, anywhere in the 9 realms. But only after she had “named” them. Paul could not grasp the concept that Lila Dame was trying to explain to him this Naming thing, but Etta partially did so she tried. Her voice seemed to calm Paul, and she noticed that when the Lady spoke, he seemed guarded and aggravated.
Etta gently placed her hand on Paul's shoulder and looked him in the eyes as she spoke, he instantly relaxed a bit. “A simple way to understand it”, Etta told Paul, would be like finding a radio station, it has to be tuned to the just right frequency. The purple lady agreed with her, and she said that it was a very similar concept. She told them that it was how some people managed to find their way into her realm. The drugs that they took altered their frequency temporarily, and they begin to “vibrate” at the frequency of her realm.
“Now” she said, we must figure out exactly how you two managed to change yours, and somehow keep them that way. So please try to explain to me exactly what type of ritual you were performing, or what instruments were being played. I need all of the details that you can both remember. Paul looked at her puzzled, “It wasn't like that, we were just hanging at the park.. separately.” He was standing there with his arms flailing again as he spoke, and he was already back to pacing around them at this point. That's when Etta noticed him also beginning to choke up in his words, his body language made it obvious to Etta, that Paul really didn't like this lady. She couldn't understand how she could read him so easily, but that was an issue for later.
Etta went first with her telling, she told the lady that she was playing Frisbee golf by herself, when her Frisbee suddenly got a mind of it's own and crashed into Paul. Then she collided with him also, as she was trying to stop it. The lady seemed especially interested when she mentioned the frisbee turning 180° by itself. When Etta finished however, the lady looked at her curiously, almost like she knew there was something missing, or intentionally left out. But Etta was clearly done telling. Then Paul gave it to her from his point of view. His was far more detailed, and focused more on his drawing of the door, and his missing mother. He also explained the “strange” feeling he was having that something was wrong. Lila asked them if either of them had a piece of a tree branch, or leaf, or possibly any other type of objects on them from that park. Paul after some thought, figured that it was possible they had some dirt, or grass from there still stuck in their shoes treads. They both checked, the park was certainly grassy after all, but it turned out their shoes weren't, and they were also dirt free.
That's when Paul had a new idea, and he ran over and opened up the picnic basket. He began to search through it quickly, tossing some of the items out to the ground around him. “There has to be something !” He proclaimed it, but it was clearly in the hope that it would become true. When he looked up to tell them that the basket had no pieces of the park, he noticed something. Etta had a tiny piece of grass sticking out of her back pocket. It must have gotten wedged there in the collision. Suddenly he began to blush, he raised his hand toward Etta's butt like he was going to point at it and yanked it back. He wanted to say something but his mind and mouth weren't making the needed connection. Etta recognized his uncomfortable show of blushing and awkwardness, but couldn't make any sense of the mumbling. “Just spit it out man !” Etta knew it probably had something to do with her, the bashfulness was so obvious. After remembering the the hourglass incident, Etta naturally checked her cleavage. At this point he was so nervous that he looked like he was going to throw up. Paul didn't know what else to do, so he just grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around so that her back was facing toward him. Then Etta felt him pinch her butt, she turned to say something, but froze when she saw it there in his fingers. An beautiful little green blade of grass.
Paul gently placed the broken partial blade of grass in the palm of his other cupped hand, and then handed it to Lila Dame. She made the same cupped shape her her hand, and Paul turned his hand over, and gingerly dropped it into hers. She had it there cupped in her hand and raised it to her face, and it appeared for a second that she was closely examining it. Then suddenly she jammed her chipped hand to her mouth, and ate it. Paul, and Etta were shocked, did this woman just eat their ticket home. Paul was just about to say something rude, but she looked up at them and smiled, and they could see bits of it stuck in her teeth. “This will do perfectly” she said. “I can also locate the two dogs that peed on it.” After the green smile, and hearing that Paul and Etta just burst out laughing, when they did the ladies face screwed up into a puzzled look. That made their fit of laughter grow even more. The lady just froze, she stood there expressionless, while they laughed and waited for them to finish.
The Lady continued explaining. The blade of grass itself she said, has the same exact frequency, as the piece of it that still remains in your realm. I know it's name, and can now find it. They followed her as she walked back over to the massive base of the tree. She got within an arms length of it, and then the lady began to hum. They were just stepping up behind her as the sound her humming got louder, and they saw a window into their world forming on the trunk of the tree.
Something New, and Something Borrowed by Someone Blue.
They could only see the silhouette of the horizon at first, but even just the shape of the mountains was familiar to both Paul and Etta. As it came further into focus, they could see the outline of the bathrooms, the downward slope of the hill, and the bathrooms at the bottom. Paul's anxious nature took over, and he blurted out, “Our world hasn't fallen into a rotting abyss.” The lady explained to him that what they saw before coming through the door, was only a broken branch of the timeline. “Then where are all the people?” Etta’s question pulled Paul's attention to the obvious fact, the one that he had somehow missed in his excited state. All three of them went silent for a second, staring into the window. Paull suddenly looked over at Lila Dame, “Change the location” he said, but in a way that was almost commanding. I want to see the building down there, he pointed at the bathrooms as he said it.
The window started moving slowly down the hill. As it did, it passed right by one of the frisbee golf nets, and in a way it made Paul feel like he was watching someone play a first person point of view video game. The window got down to the bottom of the hill, and turned so that it panned over toward the building. They could see the doors to both bathrooms, there were people laying all around the entrance of the men's side. The ladies side didn't even have a door any longer, it had been torn off. This building was designed like an above ground storm shelter, it had big concrete walls, steel doors and the earth was built up on the sides of it. Ripping a 180 pound steel door off of its frame took a massive amount of strength. Paul and Etta were both shocked at what they were seeing. The people scattered around the men's side, looked like they had all died, trying to defend the doorway. Upon closer inspection, Etta pointed out, that she could see one of them was still breathing. Paul recognized him, at least what was left of him. It was the gym teacher from his school. His right arm had been torn off at the elbow, and part of his face was torn off. The flesh on his arm was not cut, it was clearly torn off. The Jagged strips of skin and muscle tissue made that quite obvious. They could see bits of his bone sticking out past it where the flesh stopped. They didn't know how to process what they were seeing. It was becoming clear that something much bigger had happened, than just the two of them accidentally falling off of earth.
They saw the bathroom door start to move, and as it did the barely breathing coach must have heard it. He must have gotten another burst of adrenaline or something, because it appeared to them that he was trying to crawl into a scrubby patch of shrubs and trees next to the bathrooms. He was on his hand and knees, and slowly making his way. He had not given up on trying to survive yet. A few yards behind him the heavy bathroom door bumped part way open again and the damper pulled it back shut. They couldn't hear what was going on in the park, but the man clearly could. As he was crawling, he was also focused in on watching the bathroom door. It bumped open again, but a bit further this time. The could see that there was some type of struggle going on just in the other side of it. But the damper pulled it shut again, and they did not have enough time to see who, or what it was.
The coach was almost to the first little patch of bushes, when in his haste he seemed to forget he was missing an arm. He cought himself with the nub, just as his face hit the ground, and he fell into his side somewhat facing the bathrooms. Between Lila Dame, Paul, and Etta all cheering the man on, and them waiting to see what was in the bathroom the levels of anticipation, and excitement were climbing. Then the door flew all the way open. It slammed against the hard concrete wall behind it and they could see two things. The first, was one of the huge blue human shaped beings, the ones that have the freaky cat like eyes, and it was carrying a person on it’s shoulder. The second thing, was that the person was still struggling, and clearly not being killed like the rest.
The huge blue beast of a being, cleared the doorway, and turned in the direction of the patch of trees carrying his prize. The Coach was frozen in place on the ground still, they couldn't tell if he had died when he fell down, or just passed out again. Either way, the beast was headed right for him. Suddenly Etta said, “Oh my Gods, his arm.” That's when Paul, and Lila Dame also noticed that the massive thing that had the person over one shoulder, was also carrying the coaches other arm like a club. Etta threw up. Paul was still in shock, his mouth was hanging open, and he was just staring at the unbelievable scene that was unfolding right in front of them. That’s when it happened, the beast spotted the coach. They couldn't tell if he made a sound, or some minor movement that they had missed, but whatever it was.. the beast didn't miss it.
The thing made it to the coach in four huge strides that took only a second and a half, they were amazed at it's speed. The thing never put down the person on its shoulder. It kicked the coach so hard in the ribs that he literally split him in half. Then the thing turned to step into the patch of trees, and Paul saw her. “Mooooommmmm” he screamed as he nearly fainted. His mother was being carried off by the huge thing.
Then they saw something else that was out of this world unbelievable, there was another doorway that opened in front of the hulking thing. As it stepped through the doorway carrying Paul’s Mom, they saw two of the little mechanical elves just inside of it. One of them looked directly at the window like it could see them all, and it flipped them off, just as the other one looked at them and waved right as the other doorway was closing. Paul and Etta were both stunned to the point of being speechless. Then Paul felt his stomach go sideways, he felt it coming he was going to lose his lunch. He didn't know exactly how, but he tried not to barf directly in front of Etta. Instead he turned and made it one step then dry heaved, it happened one more time, and he threw up all over Lila Dame. Her face turned from purple to gray, and she made the most horrid gagging noise they had ever heard. It sounded like a person dry heaving, while a thousand crystal glasses get smashed to bits. It was ear piercingly loud. She did it again and this time she actually puked up some type of liquid that was pure black. Paul and Etta saw the first bit of it, then both blacked out from the sound.
Tune in next week for the final chapter.
Find out what happens to Etta, and poor Paul. After watching his mom get dragged away by some giant, and the wicked little elves helping him do it, will they reach her at all and if the do will it be on time. ?????
Probably not, but find out either way next week.
I'm betting she winds up like the coach. 🤔 But I as the writer can't let the main characters mother get ripped in ha…..