Not Alone in the Woods

In a transcendental haze, the fire set aglow the forest with more than an orange hue.  There was a permeable mysticism hanging in the air.  What stars that could be seen through the canopy glowed with a crystalline luminescence, creating sparkling reflections in the eyes of the wild creatures that happened to be awake at such an hour, silently watching.

        Stasia Benedict lay atop her sleeping bag, enjoying the flames' warmth, staring into the night blankly, thinking of nothing in particular.  She'd brought no tent, preferring the openness.  These sorts of solitary excursions revived her, and though she didn't think of it this way, nature fed her spirit.  At oneness with everything, she was not an infinitesimal, insignificant speck in the expansive universe, but included in the vastness of the macrocosm.  Alas, she refused to see it that way; all she recognized was the fact that it gave her peace.

        The night seemed different to her eyes.  Literally, she saw the same kind of neon dots and waves as she did the morning after Chad's shindig.  The air was full of color, besides the gleam of the fire and the muted dimness of the foliage.  She told herself, as she often did, to breathe.  In.  Hold it.  Out.  The residual effects of containing lots of air then forcing it away gave her a head buzz.  It also brought her to the same relaxed spaciness that gave her clairvoyant awareness.

        She saw her aura, not knowing what it was.  Laying there in comfort, tranquility and slight confusion, she decided not to think too hard about what she was experiencing and just let it be.  She took another deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, not holding it in this time, but steadily and gracefully continuing the gentle rotation of inhale and exhale, unintentionally slipping into meditation.  The colors swirled and swam all around her, kissing her face, carressing her arms, sliding over her body and into her mind.  With her eyes, Stasia witnessed her lifeforce at work, and in her heart she saw an esoteric yet enigmatic connection forming and solidifying.  Twas metaphysical art.

        A small smile appeared on her cupid-bow lips, and she squinted her dark eyes, now the color of the midnight blue sky.  Addicus loved the way the fire danced in those black-fringed scries.  He saw a map of the world in them.  He saw the beauty of her simplicity and the depth of her intuition.  He saw the absolute trust of death in those magical eyes.  He loved those eyes.

        Addicus sat to her side, unknown and unrecognized.  With each passing second he focused his intent on sending her light and power.  With each concentrated expelled breath he moved energy to her, and with each inhale he brought more into himself from the ever-giving universe.  This continued in a cycle for awhile.  He was filled with purity and compassion.  He directed as much as he could to Stasia's energy field.

        Everything was out of focus, now.  The forest seemed to disappear.  She began floating slowly into the air, or so she felt.  Weightless, she was higher, brighter, and more refined.  Stasia Benedict was having what is known as an out-of-body experience.  She didn't freak out at the realization that her soul had wandered outside her physical self.  She simply shrugged it off as a pretty awesome dream.  That, she could fully dig.

        Looking down upon herself, the dream-state assumedly confirmed, the journey continued uninhibited.  A rare smile spread across her face, a true excitement shining through.  She noted the way she was positioned, saw her own peaceful disposition and beamed at the oddity of the moment.  This was definitely a new experience for her, comparative to a drug-induced trip in quality, which pleased her.  She laughed, jovially.

"It's grand, isn't it?"

        She'd thought she was alone.  A bit startled, she tensed up and slowly turned to find the speaker.  She was still floating in the air.  There was mischief in her midnight eyes, and a wary wall built into the look directed at the stranger in her midst.  Curiosity and a slight eagerness contained inside a mirage of determination.  She was into this.

"Hello," Addicus said.

"Hi," Stasia replied stiffly, the corners of her mouth still upturned and the glint apparent in her eyes.

"Why don't you come down?"  He patted the ground next to him.  Stasia at once discovered she was airborne, and actually giggled, which was rare.  Without hesitation, she directed her spirit-body to his side.  She sighed a happy and contented sigh, then looked at him directly through the windows to the soul.  There were goosebumps.

        Seeing her gaze at him, finally, after years of attempts at contact, he froze.  He couldn't find words to express the gratitude he held for this splice of time.  All he could do was look into her, absorb himself in her aura and connect with her nonverbally.  Anything else would be too much.  He wanted to tell her everything, but didn't know where to begin.  He decided to trust that there would be a future with her.  This time, they wouldn't lose each other.  He silently promised her this.

        Stasia's lips quirked in the corners again, revealing a curious, quiet smile.  Her eyes spoke for her: 'Who are you?'  She tilted her head in what he found to be a most adorable way.

"I'm Addicus," he offered his right hand.  She accepted.

"I'm Stasia."  They shook.  "I like this."  She looked around her, at the colors oceanicly pooling together in a synchronistic flow.  She touched the air, and the molecules moved for her; the colors reacted to her touched, alive and vibrant.  "What's happening?" she cut right to the point.

"A lot," he whispered to himself.

"Hmm?"

"Oh, um..." he thought it might be counterproductive to tell her the truth.  She'd been known to reject the realities of her unique situation.  He didn't want her to go back into her body just yet.  "You're dreaming."  They both turned their heads to her body, lying on her sleepingbag motionless.  The slightest rise of the chest confirmed she was still breathing.

"Well, duh," she commented.

"Mmhmm," he shook his head, somehow perplexed.  She turned back to him.

"You're handsome."  Her almond-shaped eyes, amazingly navy right now, glittered.

        He was taken aback by her bluntness.  She was unselfconscious in her self expression, for she truly didn't give a s**t what other people thought of her.  She was never embarrassed to be herself.  She lived without fear of judgement, for she wouldn't think to negatively assess anyone (though she'd gotten into trouble from peoples' misinterpretation of her opinions), so why should they do so to her?  Perhaps it was naivety that kept her happy, or a complete detachment; a recognition of societal standards with an absolute disregard for them.

        Addicus wasn't flattered, but surprised, and a bit disbelieving, too.  He was a humble soul, meek and caring, deep and solemn in manner.  His thoughts fogged up and he became lost in the energy, the relativity of her presence, the way her throat chakra blinked a bright light blue, twinkling with the spark of truth.  He was filled to the brim with immense love for her.  It was inexplicable, like prophecy.  The emotion couldn't be contained, for it lived like a wild animal, without restraint.

        Stasia looked at this handsome stranger, Addicus.  He had long light brown hair, pale blue eyes, a straight nose, and strong jaw.  She was mesmerized when she saw those neon waves of color, the flood of microscopic dots, turn into a rush of deep crimson and burgundy, blood and every shade of red she could imagine.  Like a drop of rain growing into a large body of water, the hues poured out of him like an expanding orb from his center, then grew and grew until the very essence of the emotion encompassed her whole spirit body and resonated like the ringing of a gong, vibrating her very cells.  In the heart of her mind, she heard three small words whispering the message, "I love you."  It was Addicus' voice, yet he hadn't even spoke.

        Her disposition immediately changed.  She no longer carried the secret smile, and a shadow was cast over her eyes which made them momentarily black when she leaned her head down.  What the hell, she thought.  That was f*****g weird...  Stasia Benedict reoriented herself, having been somewhat disturbed by the beautiful wave that unexpectedly moved her.  Could she really have felt something other than calm detachment?  Her instincts reacted quickly, building up a protective barrier around her auric field.

        Addicus watched it happen, as he had many times before, and panic set in.  Like gray bricks in an impenetrable wall, as each second passed her fortress was reinforced, built stronger and more foreboding.  An ominous cloud of dense energy, thickening like a storm, yet still in a strange, stoic way.  She was soon surrounded by a layer of reflective, metallic light.  It glimmered when she was finished.

"Are you aware of what you have done?" Addicus inquired intensely.  It was hard to tell.

        Stasia Benedict didn't so much as flinch at his words.  She told herself to breathe, inhale... hold it... exhale.  Ever so slowly she lifted her chin, peered through the vail of glimmering gray at the night's fire-lit forest, the depth in the contrast of flame and distant trees, this vision of a man in front of her, sharing transcendental emotion in the form of color, like music for the eyes.  Stasia decided to go along with it.

"I see a gray, thick forcefield clouding my sight."

"Did you put it there," he tested.

"Suppose I did." She was nonchalant.  Though she found it obvious.

"What have you seen since you came to be here with me?"

        There was a moment when she receded into thought, trying to remember how she had just simply appeared here, by her campfire with a stranger she felt oddly comfortable being around.  How she was not questioning.  It was easy to accept that this was a dream, and not an out-of-body experience.  Addicus thought that since his assignment's shield was up, he might as well try making an improvement upon the situation.  He made a bold decision.

"Do you not know that this is real?" he implored.  He leaned in closer to her, trying to catch her eyes, to convey silent truth that she couldn't deny once she looked upon it.  His gaze was serious, and she could feel the heat of it on her face.  Slowly, she lifted her head, but she would not make eye contact.

"I see myself sleeping over there," she nodded in the direction of her unconscious body, "and I know I am in a dream.  But this dream is not so dissimilar from real life.  Of recent, anyway."

"How so?"  Eventually, she would have to figure it out.

"Well, for starters, the colors."  She gulped, searched for the right words, held her breath for lack thereof.  "I'm delusional," she mumbled.  Oddly, there was no remorse in this confessional statement.  Simply an epiphanic acceptance.  Yup, I be cray-cray, she joked in her mind.

"You see the ether and energy," Addicus smiled.

"Wha-?" Stasia crinkled her nose.

"Electromagnetic radiation and that which permeates all space."

        Stasia raised an eyebrow and squinted, grasping the concept.  She looked at her hands, the cloud surrounding her body, and she fell completely silent.  The fire crackled and the forest sang its nightly song, but she couldn't hear any of it for the buzzing in her ears.  She chewed her lower lip in consternation.  Fay, she remembered.  Ever since that night, I see things differently.  What was once blacked-out, came in a flood of memory.  Stasia Benedict was at a loss for words, not that it mattered.  Speaking and communicating did not always coincide.  Addicus was staring at her, searching for something.

Leaning in closer, he whispered, "You can control it, you know."  He put one hand on her shoulder and with the other made a sweeping gesture in the air, leaving a trail of red energy behind.  "You can create it," with an upturned palm he formed a red orb.  Directing it with his hand, he sent it to and fro.  When he made it hover over the fire, the orb radiated intensely.  Stasia found herself entranced, marveling at the beauty.  With a flick of the wrist he drew the orb in front of them.  "You can use it," and ever so gently, he directed the orb through the energetic block Stasia had built; it was absorbed in the center of her chest.  The sensation was warm and soothing.

"What is this?" Stasia quietly asked.  Never had she been more curious.

Addicus grinned at her, "A new beginning," and lifted her up to her feet, and further, away from the ground, into the night sky.  They were weightless, floating above the trees.  Addicus whisked Stasia away to the mountaintops, where they watched the skyline lighten in the distance.  She never let go of his hand.

        No sunrise had ever seemed so magnificent to Stasia Benedict, and she vowed to dedicate it to memory as there was no camera with her.  The girl's newfound vision enriched the already colorful view, turning hues of peachy pink and lavender into sparkling neon colors that shone prismatically, diamonds glistening, rainbows glinting.  There was a texture to the very air, dimensional transparency, as if a veil swayed in the breeze, barely separating this world from another.  She was lost in that moment.  It was as if she wasn't even using her eyes to see anymore, everything was coming from her mind.  Omniscient vision, as though looking inward to see the surroundings.  It encompassed her.  She was absorbing the beauty in more senses than she was accustomed to.  This was new.  Stasia Benedict felt the strongest emotion she could ever recall, yet it was no more than an introspective tug.  Something dissolved in her core. 

"That's better," Addicus was looking at her with a smile in his eyes.

        She merely glanced at him and released his hand, lost somewhere else.  She floated away warily, until he saw her as a silhouette, back turned to him.  Stasia Benedict then slipped into a soliloquy, still unaware of the reality, of the special ephemerality of this out-of-body experience.

"Never have I been concerned of life; It seems the wiser I become, the less I care.  Of course, I am constantly aware of all that intertwines with my existence, but... I am not there.  Not fully present.  Even now, in this moment, I am lost."  She took her time forming the words.  The sun steadily rose higher, and the colors of the horizon shifted.  After awhile, she whispered, "I'm lost," and forgot about Addicus, slowly descended to the mountaintop, where she sat under an out-of-place tree.  It's bark was bleached white, and it bore an unrecognizable fruit.  He followed a short distance behind, not wanting to disturb her, feeling sad at what she did not know.

        Once on the ground, she felt a firm resolve to stay there.  She had brushed deep territory, and it made her feel unsteady, like she may collapse at any moment.  She hugged her knees and tried not to cry.  F**k this, she thought, not being used to moodiness.  Addicus stood before her, his back to the rising sun, and he looked like an angel.

"Time to wake up, Stasia."  It was out of respect for her condition that he didn't say 'time to return to your body'.  He offered her his strong hand.  She only stared at it, unmoving.  "Come now, love," he whispered.  She looked up.  Addicus was glowing, and not from the sunlight.  Never had she known what beauty was.  She thought it was an opinion formed by preference, and now she knew it was a state of being.  This man was beautiful, and she felt dull by comparison.  She let him lead her back to the campsite.

        The morning sunlight was beaming in rays through the branches of the trees, catching the wisps of smoke rising from the embers of the dimming fire.  Stasia Benedict inhaled sharply at the sight of her sleeping form, still and unmoved from the same position.  Unconsciously holding her breath, she stood there numb and disassociated. 

"You'll be okay," his soft voice reassured her.  Was it out-loud or in her head?  The spirit came up behind her and placed his hand on the base of her neck, pulling his fingers through the short black hair.  It felt real.  A nice ending to the lucid dream.  "We're going to make things right again," Addicus said.  For some reason, The Girl Who Didn't Give A S**t found that the handsome stranger wasn't talking about the two of them, but he and others.  He guided her spirit body back to her third-dimensional form.  She turned around to face him, not needing to say anything, the question being written on her face.  Addicus took her hands in his, an act of solidarity.  The way he looked at her was too familiar, and far too concerned for her comfort.  "You will remember, won't you?"  The imperceptible nod of her head was a psychological gesture he had recognized in her before.  Enough said.  He lowered her to the sleeping Stasia, and when she was nearly back in her body, he kissed her forehead until she lay completely whole again on the right astral plane, solid and corporeal. 

        Addicus looked at her sleeping form and gave a mental goodbye before dissipating into another realm.  There was not but the honey glow of a sunny morning and the chirping salutations of small birds.  The fading awareness of wakefulness had Stasia feeling suddenly so tired, she couldn't even think to open her eyes.  For her, sleep was just beginning.  Soon, the usual kind of dream entrapped her.  She subconsciously anticipated witnessing another horror.