by P. Z. Walker
"Sure. You go walking around there with a naked guy and nothing happened." Wendy giggled at the thought.
"Really! Nothing happened!" Sheila snapped, scaring herself with her ferocity. "And here's my question to you guys. Who would like to come along and see if we can do something near those trees? Mike and I are sort of convinced that's where the answer is to Josy going missing." In fact she wasn't entirely sure about Mike, but making it two instead of one always carried more weight.
Lots of whoops and comments flew through the room, ranging from "no way I'm ever going to such a place" to "can we go and do I have to take of my clothes already?". It didn't surprises Sheila. Not everyone was ready for something like that - she knew she wasn't - but the first visit hadn't been so bad. She promised to call Mike and ask if it was possible for a few people, including herself, to come to the Mighty Oaks resort the next Saturday and see if they could discover something, using the bit of magical energy they could muster.
As everyone started to leave, Wendy took Sheila by the arm before she could get into her car. "You're serious, aren't you? I mean about all this, with the colour-aura stuff?" That was the last thing Sheila had expected.
"Yes. I am."
Wendy nodded. "Are you in a hurry to get home? I may have a book that might interest you. Or even help you."
"I have to work tomorrow, but which book?"
"It's called the Celestine Prophecy. It's about a guy who also starts seeing things, and I thought maybe it has some clues for you to use that ability better." Wendy looked very serious.
Sheila was stumped. The biggest sceptic of the group, the one who had laughed the loudest, was offering to help her with the colour-things. "I'd love to read that."
"Cool. Follow me home, it's almost on the way to your place anyway, and I'll lend it to you."
The detour was only a short one, and once home Sheila immediately headed for bed, with the book that Wendy let her have for now. She devoured the first three chapters, after which she became drowsy from the warmth of the covers. She put the book aside and raised her hand, as was described in the book. Sheila looked at her fingers through the slits of her eyes, trying not to focus on her fingers but on something between them that wasn't there. Nothing happened. With a sigh she dropped her hand on the blanket and blinked a few times. And then the colours were there again. Surprised and shocked she looked at her hand again and saw a lot of yellow and orange, mixed with green. "Wow. Just wow." She wasn't certain if the exercise had done it, but as she had tried to call up the ability she was prepared for the effect. She left her bed and went into the living room. Even with the lights off she could see faint colours around most things there.
"Right. I'll try that switch-on again tomorrow, but how do I switch it off?" she wondered. The book hadn't mentioned that. Following a sudden thought she went back to her bed and closed her eyes. She raised her hand and saw the yellow and green shimmer through her eyelids, which was freaky as well as amazing. With her eyes closed she then simply 'focussed' on her fingers instead of the space between. The yellow colour seemed to fade a bit. Then Sheila blinked a few times, and after opening her eyes the colours were gone. "Damn, I'm good," she grinned, knowing she should sleep. Instead she repeated what she'd done to activate the colours, and again it worked. As long as she blinked. Making them disappear also worked the same way. It was tempting to play with it some more, but the dental practice needed a rested assistant, so reluctantly she switched off the light.
*
The next day was a busy one. During the break Josy's chair at the lunch table was painfully empty again. Sheila asked if anyone had heard from the police.
"Not me. Why don't you call them?" Gary suggested.
"She's your employee, like I am," Sheila argued a little.
"She's your friend, like I'm not," Gary countered. "We're going to have a replacement hygienist in tomorrow. We can't do without one for longer. Please Sheila, you call them. You did so the first time." Gary sounded sympathetic towards her. He was a cool man to work for, contrary to Theo who was always complaining that others left too early, but that was his own fault; he always worked too long, lacking a proper life.
"Okay. I'll do that now," Sheila said, knowing that there would be more appointments that afternoon. She went to the front desk and made the call. Officer Morrisey wasn't in but she got to talk to a lady who could only repeat what she already knew: the police was still looking out for her friend. It was obvious that she and her friends who were willing to go to the naturist park would have to do something. Her mind was running around the options they might have there. She wondered if there was time to call Mike, but lunchtime was over in a few minutes, so that had to wait until after work.
As she came home she planned to call the odd hippie, but before she had kicked off her shoes the phone rang. It was Wendy, asking if she'd already looked at the book. "Wendy! I read a bunch of it, and it's scary but I think I can control it already!" Sheila then remembered she hadn't tried it yet. "Wait, let me check." As her sceptical friend waited, Sheila stared at the space between her fingers, blinked, and there were the colours. "It works. It's so weird, you should see it. Can you come over?"
"Still at work, just sneaking this call in, Sheila. But great to hear that the book helped you. And there's something else I need to tell you. If you go to that nude camp, count me in. I was a bit rash last night saying no. I think it would be quite a lot of fun."
"Oh, cool. Thanks, Wen. I owe you one for that. I'm going to call Mike right now, and see how he thinks about that."
Wendy grinned and asked if Mike was the owner of the camp or if Sheila had a crush on him.
"Oh my god, no. You should see him, he's a regular caveman with his long hair and his beard."
Wendy laughed. "I thought cavemen wore tiger skins. You said he wore nothing, you perverted woman!"
"Oh, shut up you, before I send you back to work," Sheila grinned.
"That's fine, I have to get going again, but thanks for telling me. Good luck, and keep me current, Sheila."
Sheila promised she would and after that call she dialled Mike's number.
"Good afternoon, Mighty Oaks resort, this is Jenny, how may I help you?"
Sheila wondered who that was. "Hello, is Mike there?"
"Mike? Oh, yes, he's around somewhere but I don't know where. I'm sorry. Can I take a message for him?"
"My name is Sheila Williams. I was there a few days ago to see about Josy. My friend. She disappeared there."
"Oh, yes, I remember you. You were the one in the wet clothes when Mike brought you back." As Jenny said that, Sheila understood that she was talking to Jennifer, the bare-chested woman in the low building. That would make sense. Someone with no pockets, like Mike, would hardly have a cell phone on him.
"I'm not sure. I would like to come over with some friends and see if we can find a trace of Josy. Do you think that's possible?"
"One moment, please hold." There was a long silence before Jenny came back. "I've talked to the supervisor, who thinks it's okay. I assume that not many of you want to undress, do you?"
Sheila was prepared for that awkward question. "Some said they would take their clothes off. Some won't. Is that a problem?"
"Given the special circumstances we won't make a big deal of it, Miss Williams. The resort is rather quite in this period, and you'll probably be near the Five Oaks anyway. Not many people head up there. As long as you don't wander off, it will be fine."
Sheila imagined the unspoken part in the sentence. Don't wander off and annoy the nude ones. They wouldn't, no way. "Thank you, Jenny. I really appreciate that. Can I let you know when we want to come? It's probably a Saturday or a Sunday, would that be a problem?"
"Hmm, those days usually are a bit more busy, but I don't see a problem."
Sheila thanked the kind woman once more and rang off. During the call she had looked around, seeing the colours, and now she walked to the window to look at the colours surrounding the p
eople in the street below her. As she lived quite far up, there was a mass of colour moving below. A lot of it was blue and red, something she had already associated with pressure or stress, heavy emotion at least. She was glad there was not much blue in her aura, mainly yellow and green again, and a few small swirls of other colours. Standing in front of the window she went through the action that should switch off the colours again, and after two tries she had it right. It was getting easier. During the evening she kept practising as she read the book Wendy had given her, and she sent out another e-mail to everyone that they could go to the naturist park when they felt ready.
A silly grin was on her face as once again she heard Mike's voice in her head: "Naturist, nudist, undressed. All labels, and labels go into the clothes we don't like to wear." At that moment the phone rang; it showed the number of Mighty Oaks.
"Hey, little sister," a familiar voice said, "I heard you called. You have problems?"
Sheila's cheeks burnt immediately, knowing she was talking to a naked man. "No problems. Hello Mike. I just asked if I could come with some friends, and Jenny said that would be fine."
"Yeah, Jenny's a good lady," Mike confirmed. "Let me know when you're coming in. I'll stick around with you and get you to the Five. Did you know the cops were here again to look around? They had dogs with them too, but found nothing. Stupid, I say."
"Why stupid?" Sheila wondered.
"They should have brought the barkers in right the first time. Scents and traces don't stay fresh forever, little sister." Mike made a snorting sound that told her he didn't have the police in high regard.
"Oh. Of course. And yes, I'll let you know when we're coming. There will be four, maybe five."
"That's okay, just tell my secretary and I'll be waiting." It took her a moment to understand he meant Jenny.
"You don't have work to do?" Sheila wondered.
"Of course, lots of it. That's why I only call now. I live here and I work here."
"Oh."
"Do you still see colours?" he then asked.
That was safer ground. She told him about the book and the things she'd discovered, and he sounded genuinely impressed. "You got the gift, little sister. My guru always said that anyone can learn it, but I think he's wrong. It takes a special one to get that gift, so you're now my special little sister." He talked in a kind and calm way, but Sheila blushed while she didn't understand why she did so. They talked a little longer about Josy, reminiscing about odd things they'd done with her, and then Mike wished her a good night. "Don't play with colours too long, Sheils," he warned her before they ended the call.
With a grin Sheila put her phone on the table and went into the bathroom for a quick shower. As she had taken all her clothes off, she stood in front of the mirror and critically examined herself. Nothing had changed, she thought. Her behind was still too big and the rest wasn't exactly in the super-model range either. "Would you go there and take off everything, where everyone could see you like you are now?" she asked, looking herself in the eyes. A hot flush crawled over her cheeks at the mere thought, so she shook her head and quickly stepped away from the mirror. No, she did not have the body for something like that.
Chapter 6.
The rest of the week went by in sprints and crawls. Sheila was relieved that Saturday arrived. She had tried to arrange a meeting of witches at the Mighty Oaks that weekend but too many people needed more time to find space in their schedules. For now the idea was to go there the weekend after, but Sheila wanted to go back to those trees sooner, to see if that strange, blue fire was still there with her special vision turned on. She'd practised switching it on and off a lot, and was now able to make the colours come and go in almost the blink of an eye. The evening before that trip she'd visited her parents, as usual on Friday evening, and something had held her back from talking about it. Her parents were old-fashioned, but great people. The talks with them didn't avoid her being a witch with a native American background, but there always were other things to talk about.
On Saturday morning, before doing her regular things, she called the Mighty Oaks number.
"Good morning, Mighty Oaks resort, this is Ted. How may I help you?"
Somewhat taken by surprise, Sheila asked for Jenny. Ted told her that Jenny was off that day. "I'd like to talk to Mike who works with you," she then said.
"Ah, you're in luck then. Hey, Mike! Phone call for you! One moment, he's on his way, miss."
After a long moment Mike answered. He sounded pleased to hear Sheila and asked what he could do for her.
"I'd like to come over again this afternoon. To see those trees again where we were. You know, now I have that colour thing under control some more. Maybe it helps."
"That's cool, little sister. I'll do the things I planned for today and I'll wait for you. You'll like to hear some of the things I found out about this place, too. Any clue about what time you're here? Then I can be at the gate for you."
They agreed on 1:30 that afternoon, that would give both plenty of time to do their stuff. As Sheila shopped and cleaned, she kept wondering if she should try to take her clothes off in the resort. Everyone else did it and no one seemed to care. She'd seen lots of naked people there and most of them weren't the slim and fit and glamour types. She still hadn't decided by the time she pulled up at the gate. Mike was already there, in his shorts, sitting against a tree and cutting away at a stick. As her car stopped, his smile was obvious as he got up, and soon her car was parked beneath the same trees as the first time.
By the time they left the car she had decided to keep her clothes on. It just was too big a step for her to strip completely naked. Mike grinned as she said she was wearing a bikini under her shorts and shirt, and if that would be better. "I suggest you keep your clothes on then," he said. "That at least is a clear sign you're not a naturist. But do whatever makes you feel best." They then repaired to the low building, which was the office for the resort as well as a kind of meeting area. He got them glasses of chilled lemonade. By the time they had finished those, he was all nude again, but Sheila had decided not to be bothered by that any more. It was normal here, even when it was beyond her kind of normal.
Mike then picked up a bottle of water and ushered her outside. She held her shoulder bag close. Perhaps it was childish but it gave her a feeling of safety. As they walked up the path to the trail into the forest, several nude people came walking up to them, asking if Sheila was well again. It surprised her; it made her blush, being the centre of so much naked attention. After assuring them that she was fine, they continued their walk.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked Mike, looking at his face.
"Anything. Doesn't mean I'll answer everything," he grinned.
"Those people back there didn't seem to mind that I'm dressed." She knew it wasn't exactly a question, but Mike understood.
"Why would they mind, little sister? They are like they want to be, you are like you want to be. Everybody happy, no sweat. Well, except for you." He was right, even when he said it with a wink.
"Yeah, okay, I had that coming," she nodded. Then she quickly peeked over the large lawn again. "Is it okay for all those children to be naked here? There are so many adults," she then said.
"Of course it is. They don't know any different. They were born naked, and here they can be naked again. It's natural for them," Mike explained.
"Oh. I just wondered..."
"You are afraid there are nasty people with hidden cameras taking pictures of naked, little children, aren't you? Trust me, there aren't any here. If someone like that is caught, he'll find his ass in jail faster than you can take your clothes off." His comment made her laugh.
It was another warm day, sweat was already running down her neck and shoulders, colouring the yellow top dark in tiny streaks. For a moment she considered taking it off, but after some steps they were beneath the trees and out of the burning sun. That helped.
"So what was it you wanted to tell me?" she asked, rec
alling his remark about something he'd found out.
"Oh, yeah, this is some trippy stuff, Sheils. This used to be heavy duty native American country. Many spots here on the Oaks were sacred to them. I looked up some of their stuff but the exact locations aren't known. Heh, maybe you can find them out with your special eyes, little sister."
Sheila grinned at the idea. "Yes, that would be something." They reached the part where they had to climb up the path, so she kicked off her sandals. Last time that had helped a lot as well. "Maybe I should switch my eyes on," she told Mike.
"Yeah, do that. Let me see how you do it, Sheila." The fact that he said her proper name told her how serious he was, how interested.
She spread her fingers, looked beyond them and blinked. The colours where there, clear and bright in the relative darkness of the shadowy forest. "There. That's all." She held out her hand to him and pointed out where she saw the colours.
"Whoa. Trippy," Mike said as he ran a finger over the back of her hand.
"Oh, that's pretty! You have a lot of orange and green, Mike," she said excitedly, "and where your hand touches mine, the colours mix a little and seem to dance around each other without really attaching to each other."
He didn't fully understand what she meant. "Don't worry though. It's not something common, little sister, there probably are no words for it yet."
They walked on until Sheila had to catch her breath. It was definitely warmer than last time. As they waited, Sheila outlined around Mike where she saw his aura and told him the colours. Somehow it wasn't strange that she was now moving her hands around this man who wore no clothes. She didn't even really notice his nakedness, as if she was getting used to it.
"Is that how it works?" she asked after telling him what she'd just noticed, "that you don't really see that someone's in the nude any more?" As she spoke, she became very aware of his nakedness though, and averted her eyes. Slowly she started to climb the path again.
"I think it's part of it," Mike said as he joined her. "We see naked people everywhere, so it's no big deal. It's no longer important. At first you're curious and perhaps shy, but when you've seen one, you've seen 'm all. Two, actually."