Among the Stars

by Matthew Ellis

  She went to the restroom and looked in the mirror. She saw gold stars circling her body.

  Chapter Ten

  Realization

  Sylvia got off the train in Chicago. She went to the baggage claim to get her luggage. Suddenly, she felt a pull to look behind her. She saw the universe around a boy with his mother. The universe never allows children to have a realization without their parent’s knowledge, so she would have to be included in the conversation.

  Sylvia said, “Excuse me, but can I have a conversation with you and your son about the nature of the universe?”

  She wasn’t actually thinking of the words. The universe was forcing them out of her mouth. She had no control over her speech as she confronted them.

  The mother said, “What the hell are you talking about, you crazy lady?”

  The son said, “Are you the answer to my prayer?”

  The mother said, “What prayer? We’re atheists.”

  The son said, “No. mom. You’re an atheist; I’m searching for answers.”

  The mother said, “There aren’t any answers to find. Everything just is.”

  The son said, “No, mom. Things happen for a reason, and I need to know what that reason is.”

  Sylvia said, “That’s what I want to talk to you about. Do I have your permission?”

  The mother said, “Hell no. Take your superstitious nonsense somewhere else.”

  The son started crying. He saw his chance to understand his life slipping away from his grasp.

  He cried, “I can’t wait until I’m grown up to understand my life.”

  Sylvia said, “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you anything without your mother’s consent. Even if you ask for answers, I can’t give them to you until you’re an adult if your parents don’t agree.”

  The boy cried even louder. Tears were streaming down his face.

  The mother finally gave in to her son’s request.

  She said, “Okay. We’ll listen to what she has to say, but that’s all we’ll do. She’s not an angel, just a crazy woman.”

  Sylvia grabbed her luggage and motioned them to follow her. She walked to an empty conference room. Sylvia wasn’t in control of her muscles as she walked toward the room.

  She thought, “I wish Kim would’ve mentioned this part of the realization. I didn’t know both people lost control of their bodies.”

  When they reached the conference room, Sylvia sat down and motioned for them to join her.

  The mother asked, “Do you have permission to be in here?”

  Sylvia replied, “We always have permission to explain how this works, no matter where we choose. I just chose a quieter place than the lobby.”

  The mother and her son sat in chairs next to Sylvia. As they sat down, they lost control of their bodies.

  The mother panicked and said, “What’s going on?”

  Sylvia replied, “This is part of the process. You are held here until the realization is complete. Since you’re a parent, you’ll also lose the ability to speak until the end of the realization.”

  The mother tried to speak, but she couldn’t. The universe held her in place so her son could learn the nature of his life and his place in the universe.

  Sylvia said, “You have asked the universe for guidance. You are seeking the knowledge of the truth and some explanation of things that don’t make sense.”

  The boy said, “How do you know this?”

  Sylvia said, “Because I saw the universe all around you at the baggage claim. That is how we find other travelers in search of their realization.”

  Sylvia went on to explain the realization in detail, including specific examples from the boy’s life that she couldn’t possibly know ahead of the meeting. She told him all the things Kim told her, along with some new information provided to her from the universe that was specific to children and their parents.

  She thought, “I wish I’d known some of this when I was a kid. It would’ve made my life so much easier.”

  The universe only gives answers once the questions are asked, so she had no one to blame but herself. The realization went on for an hour. The boy’s mother was terrified, but the universe did everything it could to keep her calm.

  Sylvia finally asked, “Do you have any other questions for the universe?”

  The boy said, “No, but I do have one for you.”

  The universe continued holding his mother while he asked his questions.

  Sylvia said, “Okay, what do you want to know?”

  The boy asked, “How long have you known the truth?”

  Sylvia replied, “I had my realization earlier today.”

  The boy said, “You seem to know a lot for someone who just learned this today.”

  Sylvia said, “The universe is in nearly complete control of this situation. I’m telling you some things as I learn them.”

  The boy asked, “How are you so calm?”

  Sylvia answered, “Because the universe is keeping me calm. I didn’t know what would happen when I approached you, so this is all new to me.”

  The boy said, “How do I know that you’re telling me the truth?”

  Sylvia said, “I think the universe does a pretty good job of convincing you. After that, I think it requires faith. I don’t think your mother will ever understand it.”

  The boy said, “I don’t know about that. It takes a lot of faith to boldly declare that there is no God.”

  Sylvia said, “I think you’re right.”

  The boy asked, “Are there any things I should know about this gift that might be dangerous?”

  Sylvia said, “You’re human, so you probably shouldn’t tell anyone about this. Your mother knows, but her memory of this event will fade. People don’t like others who are different.”

  The boy said, “Tell me about it. Kids don’t like that I’m not into the same things they are.”

  Sylvia said, “There’s one other thing. Avoid psychiatrists at all costs. They’ll make you think you’re crazy.”

  The boy said, “So, psychiatrists are out to make us feel badly about ourselves?”

  Sylvia said, “No, they’re the sworn enemy of travelers. Avoid them at all costs!”

  Sylvia thought, “What the hell does that mean?”

  The boy had the same thought, but the universe wouldn’t allow them to discuss that subject any farther. The realization came to a sudden stop, and neither person could speak to the other any longer.

  The realization ended, and the boy’s mother regained control of her body. She snatched her son and ran out of the conference room.

  She screamed, “Stay away from that crazy lady. She’ll drug you and put a spell on you. She kidnapped me and my son.”

  Sylvia walked out of the train station as she was screaming. No one knew whom the screaming woman was accusing.

  A security officer asked her, “Who the hell are you talking about?”

  She screamed, “The crazy woman that walked out of the conference room with us.”

  The security officer said, “You weren’t in a conference room. You ran from the baggage claim over here. Why are you screaming about some crazy lady?”

  She said, “You mean you didn’t see her?”

  The officer said, “No, I just see you screaming like an idiot.”

  The boy was watching Sylvia walk out of the station as his mother was arguing with the security officer. He knew why the officer hadn’t seen her. The universe didn’t allow the officer to see the whole truth.

  Chapter Eleven

  Guardians

  Two Gylvanian psychiatrists sat in their lounge. Gylvan is a planet in the Andromeda galaxy. They were discussing their patients. Two of them were confirmed travelers.

  Dr. Mikayla Johnson said, “They’re never going to go away.”

  Dr. Henry Henley replied, “We don’t want them to go away. We just want to control them so they don’t cause too much chaos.”

  Johnson asked, “Don’t they scare you?” />
  Henley answered, “Not really. They’ve been part of the universe since the beginning of life.”

  Johnson said, “But they can move from one universe to another at will.”

  Henley said, “That’s a common misconception. Travelers can’t change at will. They have to die to change places.”

  Johnson said, “I thought they could freely move between parallels.”

  Henley said, “No, they can’t.”

  Johnson asked, “Then why are they so dangerous? If they have to die to change places, they aren’t really affecting anything.”

  Henley said, “Except that they have knowledge of alternate universes. They could upset the balance of power if they unified.”

  Johnson said, “But they haven’t done that. I don’t even think they’ve thought of it.”

  Henley said, “That’s because we’ve kept them scared so far. We make them think they’re crazy. Let’s keep it that way.”

  Dr. Johnson scratched her head because she was confused. Her eyes were glossy and her head hurt.

  She asked, “Why are we wasting our time chasing a potential threat, when there are people who need our medical help?”

  Dr. Henley answered, “Because they’re that dangerous. We were warned about them a long time ago.”

  Dr. Johnson asked, “By whom?”

  Henley replied, “The time people.”

  Dr. Johnson asked, “The ones who travel around through space and time in ships that are bigger on the inside?”

  Henley said, “Those are the ones.”

  Johnson said, “There haven’t been any of those people in the universe for a few thousand years.”

  Henley said, “There are still a few, but they don’t come here anymore. After their home planet was destroyed in the war, they avoid this sector at all costs.”

  Johnson asked, “Why would they avoid this sector?”

  Henley replied, “Because this sector has become a fixed point in time. Not just in this reality, but all of them.”

  Johnson said, “What the hell makes us that important to be a fixed point in all universes?”

  Henley answered, “We have the answer to the meaning of life, the afterlife, the nature of the universe, and all it contains.”

  Johnson sarcastically asked, “Isn’t that 42?”

  Henley said, “No, it isn’t. That was just a human trying to be funny. The universe has taken him far too seriously.”

  Johnson laughed for a moment. Then she realized she was at work, and laughing was a sign of disrespect.

  Henley snapped, “I hope you’re not laughing at me.”

  Johnson replied, “Of course not. I just forgot where I was for a moment.”

  Henley said, “Anyway, the time people warned us about the nature of the travelers and they are our sworn secret enemies.”

  Johnson said, “The time people were overzealous sometimes. They built a whole prison outside of time to keep the criminals they deemed too dangerous to live. Most of them turned out to be harmless or mostly harmless.”

  Henley said, “Nevertheless, we took them seriously. They said the travelers are dangerous, and we treat travelers as dangerous.”

  Johnson asked, “Why are they dangerous?”

  Henley answered, “Because they have access to the greatest secret in the universe.”

  Johnson said, “Oh, really; and what might that be?”

  Henley said, “We don’t know. The time people only warned us that the travelers have access to the greatest secret.”

  Johnson asked, “What did they base their warning on?”

  Henley replied, “They used to travel between dimensions and through time. They saw the end result of travelers running amok.”

  Johnson said, “And they didn’t bother telling us what the end result would be?”

  Henley said, “They did, but they used their forgetting technology on us. We can only remember when one of them is going to create a problem.”

  Johnson said, “The time people caused a lot of problems, too. It didn’t make us treat them as criminals.”

  Henley said, “But the travelers aren’t limited to one race, one planet, one galaxy or even one universe. They can cause unique damage across the entire multiverse.”

  Johnson said, “So, what’s the plan for today?”

  Henley said, “Keep them thinking they’re crazy. Discredit them whenever you can, especially when they say they remember things that didn’t happen in this parallel. Of course, the most important thing we can do is keep training psychiatrists in the rest of the universe.”

  Johnson said, “I still don’t understand how we get our agenda into the training of every psychiatrist in the universe.”

  The universe is made of billions of galaxies, possibly more. There are billions or trillions of stars in large galaxies and millions of stars in smaller galaxies. Most stars have planets in orbit around them. A small percentage of those planets contain life, and an even smaller percentage have intelligent life. However, the number of planets with intelligent life is still huge. The planets with life are light years apart, if not parsecs. She couldn’t wrap her head around the logistics of psychiatric training.

  Henley said, “We have our ways.”

  Johnson asked, “Are they boxes that are bigger on the inside?”

  Henley said, “No, that’s not our style. Let’s just say it involves getting inside people’s heads.”

  Johnson asked, “How do we get inside their heads? All we do is listen, diagnose, and prescribe drugs.”

  Henley said, “Many drugs have ways to get to our targets.”

  Johnson asked, “How do we keep all this a secret from the rest of the universe? If all the psychiatric books in the universe have our secrets, how do we keep the rest of the universe from finding out our secrets?”

  Henley answered, “We use forgetting technologies to enforce that rule. The time people gave us a technology to allow us to make people forget what they don’t need to know until they need to know it.”

  Johnson said, “But if it’s in every textbook and classroom in the multiverse, as you call it, then how do we keep the psychiatrists who aren’t Gylvanian silent?”

  Henley said, “Because there are certain protocols that the universe or multiverse has in place. This rule isn’t ours. It’s the universe’s rule. The travelers are protected by the universe, and so are the secrets of the universe. “

  Johnson said, “You know that makes no sense, right? How can the universe protect its secrets from its inhabitants?”

  Henley said, “You’re still a youngster, but I’ll let you in on a little secret. The universe isn’t just a collection of stars, planets, gas and dust. The universe is a conscious being. It is aware of itself and its inhabitants. Imagine an all-knowing, all-powerful object that happens to have stars and planets inside it.”

  Jonson said, “So, the universe is a kind of God.”

  Henley said, “When you finish your training, you’ll have a better knowledge of the nature of the universe. Psychiatrists are very powerful people. You have to be to delve into the mind of a conscious being.”

  Johnson scratched her head again. She was still a resident, so she wasn’t privy to the grand secrets of her profession. Once her 20-year residency concluded, she would be granted both secrets of psychiatry and those of Gylvan society.

  Henley said, “Now, get to work. You have six normal patients, three suspected travelers, and two confirmed.”

  Johnson asked, “How do we know they’ve had their realization?”

  Henley said, “Mature Gylvanian psychiatrists can see their stars.”

  Johnson asked, “Their stars?”

  Henley replied, “You’ll find out all about it when you grow up.”

  Johnson made a rude gesture in her mind. She didn’t dare actually show the gesture. The penalty for disrespect in Gylvanian society is death.

  Henley snapped, “Why are you still here? Get to work!”

  Johnson obeye
d her mentor. She had to blindly follow orders until the end of her training. She wished Gylvanians didn’t live so long.

  Chapter Twelve

  Revelation

  Sylvia thought about the events of the last two days. She couldn’t stop thinking about it on the train. She went all the way across the country looking for answers. She got them, but they didn’t make sense.

  She thought, “I can’t even tell anyone. They’ll think I’m crazy.”

  The train ride back home took just as long as the one before it, but it seemed much shorter. Sylvia tried to process all the information she received in the last 48 hours, but it was a jumbled mess. She needed a thousand lifetimes to make sense of what her life meant.

  She thought, “I have to tell someone. If I try to keep this bottled up, I’ll go insane. Who can I call?”

  She thought about calling her boyfriend, but she couldn’t trust him to keep her secret. She envisioned him turning her over to the mental health hospital.

  She thought, “It really sucks that I don’t trust Brian enough to tell him my secrets. Relationships are supposed to be built on trust, but I can’t trust him with this. I need to call him when I get back, though.”

  She considered calling the pastor at the church she went to before she took her trip. Clergy were supposed to listen to people and help them with their problems without being judgmental. However, Sylvia wasn’t so sure she wanted a theological discourse to try and make sense of her problems.

  For a moment, she was tempted to call her father to gloat that she knew he was dead in other realities. She didn’t want to actually do it because it would put her in danger again.

  Sylvia thought, “Immortal or not, his beatings hurt. Besides that, calling him to gloat would serve no valuable purpose.”

  She thought about calling her mom, but Mrs. Castellanes had enough trouble without worrying about an insane daughter.

  Sylvia stared at her phone. She blocked her number from the caller identification. Then she dialed a number. The phone rang twice and Jenni answered.

  Jenni said, “Hello?”

  Sylvia asked, “Can you keep a secret?”