“And we appreciate that,” Wendy said. “We certainly will address this issue.”
“Maybe he was reacting to the new surroundings,” said Carter. “Some kids are more resilient to change than others. We’ll just keep an eye on them.” Carter then smiled proudly, knowing that he put Dr. Phil’s advice to good use.
“I just don’t understand them,” Wendy said. “I guess they’re growing up. They were never too much to handle until the end of our time in Texas. It’s almost as if they began to do strange things once they heard that we were planning to move. There was this one time when we were sitting at the table during the planning stages, writing down everything that we needed to do to make this move happen, and Willy came up to us from behind and poured his cup of grape juice all over the pages that we had just drawn up. We had to recreate everything from scratch.”
“We are now always on guard,” said Carl. “I don’t think we have to convince you guys of that after last night.” He chuckled as he said that, and then got serious. “Billy doesn’t seem to do much of anything, so our main focus is on Willy.”
The twins then joined in the circle, as if they were aware the conversation was about them. Billy walked up to the middle of the circle, looked up and grinned. The four of them let out a melody of cute chuckles. Willy followed suit, hoping to get a similar reaction, which he did.
Carter and Brenda both peered into the smiles of both Billy and Willy, looking for that identifier, but there was no crossed bottom tooth. They could not see what Carl and Wendy saw.
“Now you said that there was a tooth to look for to determine which twin is which?” Carter said.
“Yeah, we don’t see it,” said Brenda.
Wendy walked over to Willy, bent down to his level and said, “Smile, darling.”
Willy smiled automatically. She could have told him that he was the worst child in the world and he would have smiled. She pulled his bottom lip down. “Come in closer and see the way that bottom tooth slightly overlaps the one next to it.”
Carter and Brenda bent down to about a foot away from Willy’s mouth and squinted their eyes, but to no avail. The only identifier was so insignificant that there would be no way for them to ever tell which boy was which, without yanking down the bottom lip and carrying a magnifying glass.
“Maybe you could try different haircuts,” said Carter, who received a nice karate chop to the stomach by Brenda. That was her go-to move.
“Oh no,” said Wendy. “Twins are meant to be just that. God would have made them different if he didn’t want them to look exactly alike. That’s why we dress them the same. That and the buy-one get-one sales that I can’t seem to resist. Come in for a closer look.”
Back down they went, now only about six small inches from that crossover tooth. They could barely see that a bottom tooth indeed was ever so slightly jutting out and even more slightly jutting over. If that was all they had to go on, then so be it. Maybe as time went on, they too would be able to use that identifier as easily as their parents, who made it seem like it was as easy as one twin having one eye and the other having three. Willy quickly sneezed and the showing was over.
“Got it,” said Carter, who just wanted to be done with it, believing that he would never just yank the twins bottom lip down to determine if his name began with a B or a W. He thought about just calling them both “illy.” The twins then ran off into the TV room to watch “Sponge Bob Square Pants.”
Later that afternoon, Carter and Brenda thought that it would be a good time to visit Angie. The hospital had been instructed to call them with any news, but the phone never rang. The Blankenships had gone shopping for groceries and supplies. This was the perfect time to check on Angie and get the answer they seemed to believe would never come. They had to keep trying, though, even though their hope was beginning to fade. Whenever they got the chance, they had to go to the hospital, and maybe one of these times their answer would magically appear. They would never know if they didn’t give it a good effort.
As they made their way into the hospital room in the ICU, they saw Angie’s eyes slightly opened, and they both ran to her side.
“Angie!” Brenda said, but Angie did not react.
“Angie, can you hear us?” Carter asked. There wasn’t so much as a stir.
Just then, a nurse walked in. She had heard them trying to talk to Angie. “No sense in trying,” she said. “Her eyes have been like that since this morning. She is still in a coma, but sometimes eyes can open and shut during the comatose stage. This does not change the fact that the patient is in a coma, and cannot communicate. You can try, but I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then have them crash and burn.”
Carter thought that the nurse’s bedside manner could use a dash of compassion. He looked at her, and she winked at them and turned to leave. “You can try if you’d like. I always encourage loved ones to try.” The nurse smiled happily, turned, and walked out of the room.
Brenda turned to Carter and said, “Looks like nothing changed. We can see her eyes, but I’m not sure that she can see ours.”
“Not from that perspective,” Carter replied. “She may be able to see us from above. That much I know. Maybe we can write a note to her and she can reply in any manner she can… maybe even by knocking three times on the ceiling, like we had talked about earlier.”
Brenda reached into her purse and grabbed a pen, and then found a piece of paper on the table next to her bed. She began to write a note for Angie: Knock three times on the ceiling if you can hear us. She then read the short note aloud, and she and Carter looked at Angie, then up at the ceiling, and back and forth until they decided they needed another plan. She placed the note down on the table next to the bed.
Carter stood over Angie and looked into her eyes, which looked as far away as her spirit. She was long gone. There was no spark. She didn’t seem to be registering anything. “Angie,” Carter pleaded, “we really need to talk to you. We stopped into your house the other day for a reading, and all that we wanted were answers. We left needing even more answers than when we arrived. Angie… we just need to know about our reading, and whether you saw something so terrible in our future that made you run into the street.”
Brenda stepped in. “Angie, we’re terrified. We just need answers about that. It’s very unsettling for us to live our lives knowing… that there could be something horrible heading our way. It’s hard for us to deal with… as you may well know. Give us something. What was it that you saw? We need to… ”
Three sharp bangs rang down from the ceiling. Carter and Brenda looked at each other.
“She can hear us,” said Carter.
“I think so.” Brenda inched closer to her target. “Angie… knock again on the ceiling if you can hear us.”
They waited in silence, but they heard nothing. They were hoping that the delayed knocks were really a response from Angie rather than a problem with the plumbing. Nothing more came of this, so after a solid hour of trying, they decided that they had given a valiant enough effort. They may not have gotten anywhere, but they may very well have. It was inconclusive, at best, but enough to give them hope and inspiration to keep trying. They returned home before the Blankenships, and began to discuss their options and next steps.
Later that evening, while they were kicking back on their bed, they proceeded to brainstorm ways to get through to Angie. Brenda was the first to get the ball rolling. “I’m thinking… maybe there’s a way to reach Angie in an out-of-body state. I’ve heard about studies where people can have an out-of-body experience on purpose.”
“What are you talking about… on purpose?” Carter asked. He continued to look sideways at Brenda as if she was loony.
“Reggie and I had length
y discussions about this as well. He may be my ex, but I still remember things he said. I have a great memory for that. It’s very interesting stuff, but I didn’t let it consume my life like he did.”
“How can people reach an out-of-body state on purpose?”
“There are several ways they can do this. First of all, do you know when you’re in a dreamlike state… when you’re drifting off to sleep and you think you hear things, but you could be dreaming? It’s like when you’re driving a car and you’re tired to the point where you’re in a trance. You look up and you’ve gone 20 miles… or you suddenly reached work without remembering the drive.”
“Yeah,” said Carter as he was now holding up his upper torso with his right elbow.
“Well, it’s sort of like your starting point, or jumping off point. In a nutshell, you get yourself to that point, and then you will yourself into an out-of-body state. You have to be very calm, which you obviously are in that state. You have to practice being in that state. You have to know where you want to be. You have to be a willing participant.”
“So what you’re saying is that you can get yourself to that out-of-body state and then communicate with others who are in an out-of-body state?”
“What I’m saying is that if you can get yourself to an out-of-body state, you will have a better chance at reaching someone in an out-of-body state. If it’s Angie that you seek, then when you reach that out-of-body state, you may be able to seek her out. It’s usually those who are close to you who will come in contact with you. If you are trying to contact her, then you will be drawn to her in that state. If that happens, then your answers could follow.”
Carter very nearly reached that state merely listening to Brenda explain this phenomenon. It was a little bit out there, but it appeared to be the only way for them to get answers they so badly needed, especially if Angie’s time on this earth appeared to be limited. If her condition did not improve, then Carter believed that they could be forced into such action. He was a little bit skeptical that such a plan could ever come to fruition, but as a last resort, it might be worthy of his consideration. Their lives could depend on it, and if there did not appear to be any side effects… then what would be the harm?
Carter and Brenda mulled it over some more, and Brenda released a few more of the details, but more details would be needed, especially if Carter was going to be the guinea pig. He would need the entire procedure mapped out for him, but just like the hypnosis, he was unsure at the moment if it was something he could do. Time would tell. Desperation would dictate. Something terrible was going to happen to them, and they couldn’t bear the thought of just letting it go.
Brenda inched closer to Carter and began stroking his hair. “Carter, if Angie were to pass tonight, then there is a chance we could lose our opportunity… forever. We need to practice now while she is still somewhat with us. Sure… she could pass and we could still try to connect with her, but the likelihood of that ever happening would diminish greatly, and we’d be fools to bank on it. The Blankenships are gone, so why don’t we get started while we have this opportunity.”
“Now?”
“Why not?”
Carter looked at Brenda’s eager eyes. She was so ready to send him into outer space, and Carter did not want to have her go first again. She motioned for him to lie back and rest his head on the pillow. She wanted him to be as comfortable as he had ever been before. “Lie back and think of Angie.”
“She’s a little too old for my liking,” Carter replied.
Brenda swatted his arm, and her mouth didn’t even come close to reacting to his humor.
“Carter, rule number one is that you have to take this completely serious,” she said. “This is not a time to joke. If I learned anything… there is no room for sarcasm. Sarcasm is disbelief in disguise. There is no chance of having a willful out-of-body if you aren’t completely onboard with this whole thing. Now sit your ass back and for once try to be serious. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s like they say with hypnosis… if you’re not completely on board with this then you will not be successful.”
“Okay, okay,” said Carter. “I’m onboard now. I’m all ears.”
He was all ears. He looked engrossed and at peace. There were no more comments from the peanut gallery after her tongue-lashing. Brenda told him to concentrate on his breathing and simultaneously reflect on the few images he had of Angie. He actually needed to saturate his mind with all of these images of her. She repeated these instructions over and over again. He had to be clear about this narrow road of success. He did everything she had asked, but he still went nowhere. The only thing that he got was practice, and it would take a lot more of it.
CHAPTER NINE
As the nights passed and the nightly practices ensued, Carter felt a little more confident about what he needed to do, and he believed that success would come in time. They visited Angie every night before the practice sessions, so that they would be better prepared and Carter would have not only more memories of her, but fresher images and in current time. When he spoke to her in the flesh, he encouraged her to reach out to him. He restated his purpose of why he wanted to connect with her and how he wanted to connect with her. They would leave the hospital every night, hopeful that they would connect with Angie during their nightly session, and they would conclude their nightly sessions with hopes of connecting with Angie at the hospital.
Brenda was hell bent on getting Carter into the in-between, because doctors told them on the fourth night to expect the worst. The 50-50 chance of survival was downgraded to a 25% chance of survival. The doctor had gone over the numbers, which didn’t mean too much to Carter, but they were bad. They knew that much, and the doctor was not sugar coating anything. The urgency was real, and Carter was beginning to rule out Angie ever returning to her shell. He had to break through. He began to feel desperate, and that night they returned home and discussed their routine once again.
“Okay,” said Brenda, “here’s the deal. We’re not going to bed at our usual time tonight. You need to stay up until you can barely open your eyes. You need to begin like this so that you can increase your chances of a transition into the in-between. Once you are nearly asleep and you are moving into that dream state, it will be a jumping off point into that world. The in-between world is not easily accessed. It’s very difficult to slip into. You have to want it. You have to really want it.”
Brenda put her hands on Carter’s shoulders and looked deep into his eyes to stress her point. “The spirits are walking all around us in this particular world, but it’s a different realm and few people are able to see it. You’ve seen photos with spirit blobs in the picture. It’s sort of like that. You don’t see them, but they are there… all around us. That’s the reason channelers are put on this earth. The psychics and mediums… they connect to that world and reach spirits in this world, relaying the messages of the spirits to their loved ones, and vice-versa. They see things that we don’t… like Angie.”
Brenda took a breath and looked at Carter to make sure he was focused and fully comprehending what she was feeding him. “So as you’re drifting off to sleep, you will be approaching this world. It’s a world that you must skillfully slip into. If you are drifting off and still able to think about Angie and her spirit and where the spirit is located, then you may be able to be drawn into it. The process is exact, so if you are about to successfully transition and you hear a dog bark, then that could knock you off the track. You need to be so focused on your goal that nothing in this world will bother you. Even if a bomb goes off, you need to be so focused that your transition will not be affected.”
That night, Carter did as he had been told as his eyes were fluttering in front of the television by about 1 AM. He knew it was time. Brenda had beaten him to bed, and she was
just waiting for him in the bedroom, having retired about an hour prior to Carter. His eyes were doing as they were asked, and Carter was drifting into that world that Brenda had spoken about, so it was time for him to transition to the bedroom. He lifted himself off the couch and moved into the bedroom where Brenda silently dreamed.
Carter got undressed down to his boxers and slipped under the covers. His leg brushed Brenda’s soft leg as he was turning onto his back. He looked at Brenda while she slept. She knew nothing about any legs touching, much less someone sneaking into her bed, which concerned Carter a bit. She was a quiet sleeper, always had been over the years, and Carter did not want to wake her. They could always do the transition to that other world on another night. It had been a long day for both of them, and he could see that Brenda needed her sleep, even though she did mention that he should wake her when he got to that eye-fluttering stage.
Carter again looked at his sleeping angel, and could not interrupt her rest. He began to think of everything she had told him, and all he had to do was get relaxed and think of Angie and maybe contact would be made, but probably not. He wouldn’t be in any danger. He could just wake up and it will be all over. Maybe he could return with an answer as to why Angie bolted away from them and into the street. Maybe he could even get that answer before Brenda opened her eyes?
He had plenty of practice, and the worst that could happen was status quo, but he thought Brenda would be thrilled to know that he at least attempted to put her teachings into use in a sink or swim scenario. Wax on. Wax off. Knowing Brenda, she probably drilled it into him so that Carter could handle any scenario that presented itself, like the one he was faced with now.
Carter continued to lie on his back as he looked at the white popcorn mixed in with the ceiling paint. He wondered why the crumbles, but the answer to that was not so important. Since he had already reached the blurry vision stage while watching TV, he did not have to wait too long before his eyelids got heavy. He concentrated on his breathing, and became very aware of his heavy eyes. That’s what Brenda had stressed when she recited what to do.
Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3) Page 25