Awakened

by K. G. Duncan

  “Oh, most assuredly! I guess that means that I come from another world, too. Oh, who’s your daddy?” Abby suddenly barked a laugh and slapped her head.

  Who is your daddy?

  The dragon voice inside of her rumbled, and Abby was almost certain it was laughing.

  “Oh now, that’s not fair!” Abby exclaimed, her mind racing with a thousand sudden thoughts.

  “What’s not fair?” Doctor Kinsey asked, genuinely confused.

  “I’m sorry, doctor,” Abby suddenly turned to face the doctor and sobered up immediately. “But can we continue this another day, maybe tomorrow? You can’t possibly imagine how enlightening this session has been, but I really need to process a few things by myself.”

  “Of…of course,” the doctor stuttered, slightly startled and bemused.

  “Oh, Doctor Kinsey, Joanna!” Abby was suddenly beside herself and literally hopping up and down with excitement. “Don’t look so crestfallen. I will tell you everything. All of it! I can’t wait to tell you everything, in fact. It’s like you said, though. We should start from the very beginning…a very good place to start.” Abby was giggling again.

  “What?” Doctor Kinsey was now smiling, caught up in Abby’s sudden exuberance. “What are you going to tell me?”

  “Ah, well…” Abby suddenly stopped hopping up and down, sat down, and raised her eyebrow at Dr. Kinsey, who laughed in response. “I couldn’t possibly tell you today.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re not ready for it. You wouldn’t believe me.”

  “Try me!” Dr. Kinsey smiled and crossed her arms. Abby knew immediately that Dr. Kinsey was skeptical and just doing her best to play along. She was really quite good at playing along because the largest part of her, the part that glowed and radiated like the biggest and brightest blue moon of an aura—the part that Abby could see right away the very first day they met—well, that part was genuine and real. And it was benign to its core. The very essence of an angel. But there was this little sliver of skepticism, like a shadow that hid itself under the cloak of rationality, which was currently overriding her better nature. That part of her didn’t believe a word Abby was saying.

  Humility is a good lesson.

  Yes. Abby thought to herself. Especially for a Buddhist psychiatrist in need of a little reminder. You need to be here now, good doctor. The truth will set you free.

  “Okay,” Abby breathed out heavily, releasing all doubt and tension, then smiled. “You asked for it. I’ll try to put it as clearly and as succinctly as I can. Are you ready?”

  Dr. Kinsey nodded, still smiling, skeptical but genuinely intrigued.

  Abby let it all out, barely pausing for breath between her sentences: “I’m in a hyper-accelerated state of conscious expansion—it’s difficult to describe to you in only a few words, but I shall try my best to summarize for you the main points here today. We will then proceed to have several more sessions over several more days—but time isn’t really relevant, actually, when I carefully and precisely spell out for you all of the details which shall slowly convince you of the meritorious claims contained within our conversations. It will be like sitting in with the Buddha. Or the master in his dialogues—I’m sure you appreciate the reference! But today, you get the bullet list! Just the highlights, so to speak. So here goes: I’m a dragon who has travelled through multiple dimensions of time and space. I have a gift to activate the higher consciousness of others and help all whom I meet. I am psychic and have the ability to see all that has gone before, all that is now, and all that may have been or in fact may be. I exist in a place beyond this dimension in multiple planes that defy what you understand through scientific or traditional religious means. I have been here before; I shall be here again. In fact, I have always been here—everywhere and nowhere, all at once, but for reasons that shall take some time to explain, and more importantly, time to convince you that you, Dr. Kinsey, shall play an integral part in the ultimate purpose of my being here now—oh yes!”

  Abby paused as her eyes fell on the wooden Buddha figure on Dr. Kinsey’s desk. Abby reached over and picked it up. She held it up and smiled at the doctor.

  “Are you familiar with psychometry?” Abby abruptly switched topics. “All it took was one touch, and I knew immediately all about you.”

  Abby set the figure down and reached over the desk to grasp Dr. Kinsey’s hand. Dr. Kinsey had placed both her hands upon the desktop and froze in place like a giant mannequin, one eyebrow arched, her face otherwise an inscrutable mask.

  “And it’s okay,” Abby continued, her voice suddenly much softer. “It wasn’t your fault, you know? About your little boy? You have to stop blaming yourself and move on. And your ex-husband? He don’t really blame you for what happened either. There is forgiveness there, if you are open to it and ready to receive it.”

  Abby paused as Dr. Kinsey audibly gasped and stiffened. Abby let go her hand and smiled, holding eye contact as she could see Dr. Kinsey’s skepticism replaced by incredulity and then the slow acceptance of a truth the doctor couldn’t quite understand.

  “That’s right,” Abby nodded and smiled wider. “Your favorite color is orange, but never to wear, only look at. You prefer wearing combinations of purple and green. I would give you a bottle of patchouli if I had one, for I know it is your favorite fragrance. You love Cary Grant movies and ancient folklore and mythology of any type. I know all of this about you and more. I know you will always be there for me. Every time. In all times. No matter what—you’ll be there for me, and I for you. Always. Now, you may be skeptical right now, but you know it’s true, but just not yet! Trust me, you will! You do! You have already! (Giggling.) And it’s really quite clear to me now, and it’s almost like the first time, but I’m sure this has all happened before and will happen again and, oh my goodness, is probably happening right now an infinite number of times all over…Most assuredly!”

  Abby paused to catch her breath and to try not to giggle, because that would be inappropriate at this exact moment despite the comical look of consternation thinly covered by a professionally trained mask of objective indifference that was now plastered across Dr. Kinsey’s very attractive face.

  So, having paused for dramatic effect, Abby now announced in her best Discovery Channel voice: “In short, and with your help, I have manifested in this time and place in order to save humanity. From itself.” (Less certain.) “I think.” (Totally lacking confidence.) “Yes, just that. With your help, of course.”

  There was a silence that followed her pronouncement. Dr. Kinsey, was perhaps, rendered completely speechless. Oh well, Abby tried and the good doctor had asked for it. But it was very clear to Abby now, and forever, that everything was exactly as it should be, as it always was, and as it always will be.

  Yeah. Right.

  Abby spoke first, “I know. It seems a little bit manic. Crazy, right? But you’ll come around.” She stopped and slid the plate of remaining chocolates over toward herself. “Can I take these back to my room? The antioxidants will really help me sort through all of this, don’t you think?”

  From the Audio transcripts of Dr. Joanna Kinsey

  Chief Psychiatrist, CHNOLA Northshore Center,

  New Orleans, LA

  Excerpt of Audio File Transcript #AR10089-52

  July 14, 2022

  Subject: A. B. Rubideaux. Female. Age: 12

  Transcript of recording begins: 7:32 AM EST.

  Kinsey: Dr. Joanna Kinsey dictating written notes from my personal records regarding subject number AR10089: Miss Aurora Borealis Rubideaux. Audio file number 52, July 14, 2022. Subject not present.

  (Long pause.)

  Subject not present for our regularly scheduled session because she has gone missing after having been put under heavy sedation by order of FBI Special Agent Novak.

  (Long Pause.)

  A.B.
She knew! She knew this would happen. Why didn’t she do everything to avert this? Now she is helpless, on the run…lord knows where! All of this plays into Novak’s hands. Transfer request to Groom Lake, Nevada facility has been submitted over my strident objections. A.B.’s actions—alleged actions—did not, in my opinion, warrant such an intervention. It has long been my view that A.B. is harmless; in fact, she is incapable of harming another living thing. Agent Novak feels otherwise. Agent Novak is a reckless, oblivious fool with little or no regard for the medical assessment of the subject… of A.B.. Nor does he have any regard for the subject’s well-being. Agent Novak is a self-aggrandizing tool—what was it? Oh yes, a giant sphincter with severe self-esteem issues manifesting in his all-too-common, blatant abuse of authority, which inadequately strives to compensate for his slow and humbling realization that he is outwitted, outplayed, overmatched, and no longer in control… of anything. Oh A.B., I hope you know what you are doing!

  (Long Pause.)

  Strike preceding comments from the record. (Audible sigh.) None of us are in control. Of anything.

  17 Days Earlier: June 27, 2022

  A month went by, and Abby had met with Dr. Kinsey every other day or so, even on the weekends. The meetings were her favorite part of each day. Except when Agent Novak from the FBI showed up… but more on that in a moment.

  Abby had settled into a routine at the CHNOLA facility. She was awakened every morning by a nurse or an orderly and escorted to the breakfast room for a very decent breakfast. Sometimes it was Michael who came to get her, and those were the best days. Abby found out that Michael played the guitar and sang David Bowie and Beatles songs, and sometimes he would entertain the children during their afternoon sessions, which usually provided free time for music or arts and crafts. It only made Abby love him even more, and she was almost certain that Michael was completely aware of her crush on him, and the fact that he didn’t treat her any differently only made the crush deepen to the point where Abby flushed and palpitated any time she thought about him, like she had a hundred tiny electric fingers running up and down her spine and well, a few other places, too.

  Her day continued with meetings in the late morning, usually, with Dr. Kinsey. On those days they didn’t meet, Abby was free to roam the grounds, visit with other patients, sit in the garden, or read in the library. Then there was lunch followed by afternoon classes and art and music sessions—it wasn’t quite like school, but it was pretty cool because all of the kids’ schedules were tailored to their particular needs. Abby was dubbed a “low-flight risk” and a “rover” and could pretty much go wherever she wanted. She usually spent time with Melody in the art room, or read books in the library, or best of all, she would go with Michael on his rounds acting as his assistant.

  On those occasions, she made it a point to “accidentally” brush up against him or grab his hand whenever an opportunity presented itself, you know, without seeming like some creepy stalker or a hopeless puppy dog begging for attention. She did this because Michael’s mind and his pathways through the Fold were some of the most interesting and beautiful that she had ever seen. Michael was the closest thing to a highly evolved being that she had run into—for someone who wasn’t a possessor of the gift like Stump or latently psychic like Dr. Kinsey, that is. There was not a single notion of violence or anger in his being. He was walking in a perpetual state of nearly unconditional love, which was amazing in and of itself. He was full of grace, to put it simply, and Abby was drawn to him like a bear cub to honey.

  Abby was very careful not to “spy” on the particulars of his pathways through the Fold—she had decided to respect others and their privacy. But she could still get a general “read” on an individual and know their proclivities in a very general sense. She could also know their particular joys (Dr. Kinsey’s penchant for ancient folklore and dark chocolate, for example) and whether they were dealing with certain traumas (The autistic boy, Winston, and the nanny who would burn him with cigarettes), and sometimes, she would receive unbidden a “download” of such a powerful and specific nature that it would literally floor her—like that time it happened with Fina Lee in the school hallway or with Lizzie and her granddaddy’s fiddle—and at those times, she would need to sit down or take deep breaths. She was still learning how to control her powers.

  It was during the long nights, after dinner and the television time—always Jeopardy followed by Wheel of Fortune—and Abby would eventually be banned from speaking up during Jeopardy because she always called out the right response even before the host was finished with his question, which the other inhabitants of the room found very annoying! Abby couldn’t help it if her downloads made her an unbeatable trivia queen! At any rate, it was during the night, after all of the socializing and television, when Abby was alone in her room just lying in bed—that was the time she looked forward to the most.

  Because that was the time when she could truly be everywhere and nowhere all at once.

  What that meant, precisely, was that Abby was now open—wide open—to all the possibilities of the Fold. It was easier at night, when she was alone in the dark without distraction and the pressing invasive presence of other people, to let her mind just find nothingness, and then she would be off and out of her mind and actually find somethingness. She had become a wanderer. She was learning new things every day.

  Like the fact that time wasn’t a singular, localized phenomenon. In short, what that meant is that when she let herself immerse completely in the Fold, Abby could go anywhere in time. She could replay things that had already happened, for instance, or look into the probabilities of the future, because in the Fold, the current moment contained all moments in time, past, present, and future. This explained what she had already been experiencing with others when the visions came to her head containing their memories and their possibilities. Only they weren’t just pictures in her mind. They were real places in time. Abby also had an inkling that she was able to travel to those places—physically—like Stump’s grandma, Granny Jane. She had managed to travel only a few times, so the exact how of doing that remained yet to be discovered. Something to do with her breath and not actively thinking.

  But in her mind, maybe Abby was also just a little bit afraid of what would happen to her if she traveled often. What would happen if she couldn’t come back?

  She also discovered that her birth mother was out there. Not really waiting, but present and radiant and beautiful. She existed simultaneous with Abby, who lay in her bed in CHNOLA on the North Shore of New Orleans on the planet earth in the year 2022. She knew that there were untold millions more just like her—beings who had evolved, who were existing within the Fold of spirit and potential physicality on this plane, in this time. Right now.

  She knew that the Voice in her head wasn’t her father—who by the way existed beyond time and space, like her mother, only it wasn’t like he was a father in the biological sense. Her father was a divine being whose conscious manifestation went beyond any words to describe. The voice in her head however, belonged to her herself—or rather most of the time it was an extension of herself. But it also belonged to her brother, an entity whom she would simply refer to as “Enoch.” Well, he was kind of like her brother. There was more than one entity that “talked” to her through her dragon voice, and each of those entities was a part of her being, too. They were inseparable. And everyone and everything was connected to the Fold, and within the Fold there most assuredly existed her brother, Enoch, whose dragon face had manifested in that oak tree on that day in the bayou not so long ago.

  Enoch. He was her partner in crime and mischief and higher awareness throughout the countless millennia of their existence. Genetically speaking, he was the “double” in the double helix of her DNA. He was always there with her, if not completely present, then lurking, just beneath the surface. It was he who had invited her out into that storm when she was six years old. It was he who was the s
ource of most of the “downloads” that she was receiving. It was he who had brought her back to this awakened state. And it was he whom she would most definitely have to talk to soon… if she was ever going to sort out the purpose for everything happening right now or that was about to happen a billion times over everywhere and nowhere all at once—whether she wanted it to or not.

  But back to Abby’s current predicament. She also knew that she could leave any time she wanted to. The facility could not hold her. No physical barrier could stop her. No government agency could compel her. No physical death would put an end to her. There was only transition. And becoming. But those things could wait. She was here for the people. It was humanity’s time to make a transition. Humanity’s time to evolve. And the people she knew and loved were the most important things right now.

  She was here to be in the company and the presence of others. That was pretty much all there was to it. The purpose for any conscious life form that existed here or anywhere in the multiverse was made very clear and simple: We are here to be with others. All of them. Every single imperfect, discombobulated, stinking one. And she loved them all. Here and in all other possibilities of existence.

  Quantum reality. Field theory. The oneness of spirit and the multiverse. Oh my. These humans were getting closer to understanding it. The mystical had merged with the latest scientific discoveries. It was time.

  And it was the humans who needed her now. The planet was at a turning point. Olivia, Momma Bea, Doctor Kinsey, Lizzie, Fina Lee—even old Balt Luster and Princess Julia—she was here right now for all of them. Something needed to happen… something. She just wasn’t quite sure what, exactly.

  She needed to talk to her brother. For real. Not just the voice inside of her head.

  You’re too soft, little sister. There are other ways to solve this crisis of humanity.

  “Not yet, big brother. Wait. We will talk soon.” Abby giggled when she realized that she was talking out loud, in a room, in the dark.