Tuesday, December 23, 2003
The envoy©
by J Santamaria
...It was a few days after my twentieth birthday that Laura vanished for ever from my life. That was at the end of January and as a result I was left totally depressed and confused. I loved her with all of my heart. Laura was by then only seventeen and had been at college for the last year before going to university so she was still economically dependent on her parents. We had been together for two years and for the last ten months had been a very stable couple. In fact I used to adore her, I worshipped that woman as if she were an angel. My only desire was to possess and love that angel in the way one needs and loves a woman. My love for her was so deep that sometimes I thought I could read her heart.
...One afternoon when I was coming home from university, I saw her standing by the door of my apartment, apparently waiting for me. She was staring at me very sadly which made me wonder why. I began to feel vaguely worried. When I reached out for her and without even giving me time to say hello, she abruptly cried out loud that she was going. I could not comprehend what she was saying and asked her what it was all about. She nodded her head, telling me that her dad's company wanted him to manage a hotel in a different town. At that very moment I had forgotten that her father was the manager of the "Palace Hotel" in Barcelona so I could not understand a single word. Laura, noticing my desperation came closer to me and explained in a soothing tone that they always knew that sooner or later her dad had to move.
...'That it is something that always happens in hostelry' she remarked. When I asked her when they were going, she replied that it would be that same week.
...'And is it going to be for a long time?' I asked in a very low voice.
...'Yes, I think so'.
...Although I had been feeling very hungry on my way home, I noticed that my hunger had completely disappeared. I was motionless. The street noises all of a sudden acquired a sinister meaning. I stared at Laura as if she were in a diffuse cloud. I felt an impossible lump in my throat. When I asked her where they were going she said she did not even know. I was unable to keep myself standing still and sat down on the ground. Laura was in agony whilst I could not swallow saliva because of the lump. All of a sudden I foresaw an unpredictable destiny. I knew that everything was going to be different from then on. I had to make an effort not to start crying. Laura came a bit closer and started stroking my hair gently as she only knew how to do it. After a while, as we were both in silence, I let my eyes contemplate her face perhaps for the last time. Laura stretched out her hand to me, and in it she held something, saying that it was meant for me.
I looked at it. It was a blonde and curly tuft of hair tied with a purple ribbon. I thought it was an old-fashioned gesture but anyhow I put it in my shirt pocket. I was still thinking about her peculiar gift when she embraced me and kissed me with fury, longingly.
...The impetuous departure of Laura started up an active cycle of events, as if a period of unusual things had arrived into my life. Firstly I abandoned my studies at the university. Secondly I started working and saving as much money as I could and as quickly as possible with no apparent reason. Thirdly I was playing seriously with the idea of leaving the country although I was a bit scared, not really knowing where to go. Urged anyway by Laura's memory I wanted a quick and utter change in my life but I did not dare to take the first step. All I needed was a little push from somewhere or somebody. It was then that the incident happened:
....One night I was feeling restless and could not sleep. Early in the day I was a long way from home when a heavy rain caught me unaware. I was walking aimlessly for hours, tormented by the remorse of letting Laura go forever without even trying to stop her. It was nearly dawn when I woke suddenly as if somebody had prodded my elbow, though I could not say I was fully awake because I felt as if I was floating in between two worlds. I wanted to be aware of what was happening but for some strange reason I was not able to gain full consciousness. A queer and iridescent light was entering my window. It was shining in such a peculiar way that it made me shiver involuntary, as I was unable to figure out the source of such a chaotic situation. Nevertheless, shortly afterwards I began to believe that the origin of such a disturbing phenomenon was in fact inside my room. When I lifted my head up and tried to pay more attention I noticed that everything around me had suffered a surprising transformation. I found myself in a kind of crypt. The walls were decorated with strange and what seemed archaic drawings. At that point, a kind of shroud that covered the entrance was removed as if by an invisible hand. When I sat up in bed, there in front of me was a smiling figure staring directly at me. He had an odd shape. He seemed like a dwarf; but more than that, he was like a small creature with a back bent with the passing of time. His hair, very long, was completely white; but the skin on his face was absolutely smooth and radiant. He was wearing a tunic but the most remarkable thing of all was that he was floating in the air with a halo shining around his head. His whole body was glittering in a silvery light. Incapable of any speech, I was only able to watch the spectre with my eyes wide open. Then I heard him whisper inside my head in a pleasant and sweet voice but at the same time, as if from an enormous distance, he uttered the words:
'I am your Guardian Angel'
... Listening to such a lovely voice and at the same time smelling an exquisite fragrance that emanated from his body, I felt a sudden calmness. Next I heard celestial music flowing all around me. When I heard that wonderful melody my peace of mind was complete.
'My Guardian Angel?' I dared to mutter.
'I have been watching over you since you were born' he replied. I could not believe that an angel looked like that. I thought they had baby faces and lovely wings.
You an angel? I was going to say, but it seemed he was reading my mind because at that point he said:
...'I am just as you see me'. Then he went to say that he did not always necessarily have the same physical appearance and that in fact in a person's life he usually appeared no more than twice. When I asked him why he was there, he said he wanted me to know that I had his support.
...'Whatever you are doing, you do not have to worry. I will look after you'.
..By then I felt confident and sure about my future. I knew what I was doing next but I did not yet know when I was going to act. My angel once again seemed to read my mind because at that point he said that soon I was going to make my mind up. At the same time as he was speaking he was moving his right hand just in front of me; as if he was blessing me. He carried on saying that I had to trust him but had to bear in mind that he could only give me a hand and not to expect any miracles.
...'Miracles only happen very occasionally' I heard him saying in my mind.
...'It is, if you want a little push' he said with a smile.
I nodded my head in agreement feeling at that point quite exhausted. I shut my eyes in bewilderment, wanting to relax for a while. Seconds later I felt a warm hand touching my heart so I opened my eyes. The angel was looking at me with benevolence. The sweet contact of his skin, although ephemeral, left my whole body in an incredible state of well being. By then the fragrance had increased, filling my senses with an inner peace. Next I remember I felt a heavy weight upon my eyelids and I was obliged to shut them once again. At the same time a smooth drowsiness was taking my senses back into a state of rest. Before I fell deep into unconsciousness I noticed my room was back to normal and I could clearly hear the last words of the envoy saying "Remember you have to have faith...faith...faith", till the voice faded away.
...When I awoke in the morning I felt renewed. I went into the shower singing and came out singing an hour later.
... Three days after that magic night I was on board a plane that took me miles and miles away from my troubles.
..That was twenty years ago. I have never seen Laura again, although I have been back home many times. Sometimes I wonder what could have happened to my life if she had not gone that day from my sight. What about my children, my wife, and the lovely people I have met throughout these years? I would not have been able to meet them at all. So, what is it? Predetermination, destiny or fate? I really could not say.
The End
A risky jetty?©
By J Santamaria
The other night I was feeling a bit nostalgic. Remembering the adventurous life I used to lead, I went to my desk drawer where I keep some of the photographs I have taken on all my travels around the world. My attention was instantly drawn to a snap taken near the port of Manaus, in the Matto Grosso forest in Brazil. In it one can see what seems to be some sort of precarious old bridge; but in fact, it was a landing stage on the banks of the river Madeira near the town of Manaus. My intention is to put down on paper the incredible adventure I experienced a long time ago - as a means of psychological therapy. Of course I was a lot younger then, and more courageous than I am nowadays. However, as it is such a long time since these events occurred, it is important to point out that memory, unlike reason, is not a faculty that one can fully trust. We all know that very often it deceives us, either because it refuses to be forthcoming with a required recollection; or because it presents us with false and distorted images of the past. That is why, knowing that my memory can fail me, it is very important to come back as often as possible to my recollections and analyse them to discern veracity from deception. Well; it was meant to be the most exciting adventure of my life - crossing South America from north to south throughout the Matto Grosso forest in one of the remotest parts of America. But as you will see, the trip became a nightmare. It was a fresh, sunny morning when I arrived by plane at the town known as Leticia in the Colombian forest of the Amazon. Leticia extends across the border of three countries: Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Earlier that day I had taken a Colombian Air force plane from Bogota, the capital city. The spring sun was reflecting on the leaves, which were glistening in the morning drizzle. High above the treetops, the sky looked transparent, wrapped in a beautiful turquoise colour. It was one of those days when one has the need to be a good person and one looks forward to helping somebody or to doing someone a good turn. However, without knowing why, but perhaps because of the isolation and calmness of that part of the world, a profound feeling of solitude took possession of my soul.
. Nevertheless, without further delay I took a small canoe to cross the Ituí river and set off to the small town of Benjamin Constant. Once there, and with my boat ticket in my hand, I was advised by the boatsman to buy myself a hammock, which would serve as a bed for the next fortnight. I fixed the hammock in place and found myself in the midday calm, embarking on what seemed to be a 15th century galley through the river Amazon to the port of Manaus.
From that day on, I used to spend the whole day in the middle of the boat, lying on the hammock. Every now and then, as the tediously torrid hours of the afternoon began, I would fall asleep. The food consisted mainly of salty dried fish and boiled rice, and most of the time we drank hachaza - Brazilian rum with coke. Some nights were endless. And during the daytime I could neither read nor contemplate the landscape because it was so gloomy that I could scarcely see anything.
Since embarking on the boat in the town of Benjamin Constant, I had been unable to feel comfortable in any way and my poor body was battered and perforated by the thousands of mosquito bites I had suffered in the savage jungle. My poor flesh completely perforated, I couldn't help but look at the river banks in the hope of finding the shack that would probably shelter my worn out body, perhaps forever.
...That was how I felt. Nevertheless I was attracted and intimidated by the dark banks of the river and by the exuberant jungle, full of febrile movement.
...One night I was leaning over the edge of the boat, melancholic and deep in thought about the extension and sadness of the enormous, green horizon of the forest. The river Amazon with its dark and turbulent waters filled me with a sacred respect. High above my head the Milky Way was perfectly perceptible to the naked eye. With this overwhelming vision before my eyes, a feeling of worship engulfed me - a feeling I had never before experienced. That unfathomable and infinite space made all my trivial preoccupations disappear.
...One afternoon, not far from Manaus, the boat was sailing gently along the middle of the river, when all of a sudden a strong and howling wind arose from nowhere. The scenery changed in a split second. Day turned into night - utterly dark and terrifying. A moment later, daylight returned with a flash of thunder. And without warning huge raindrops fired down relentlessly. The boatsman switched the engine off and left the galley to set sail toward the river bank. The turbulent waters swept the ship prow with fury. At that moment the whole river was a torrent of waves and nothing could be seen in the distance. Shortly afterwards and not without an anguished struggle, the almost sunken motorboat touched the bank.
...Without a moment's hesitation I leaped out and started clambering up the muddy shore. The torrential rain was still falling savagely. I arrived safe and sound, or so I thought, on a kind of covered jetty, where I ripped off my shirt and wrung it with fury. I was absolutely petrified. Heavy drops were pelting down like sheets of steel against my body. The darkness was so complete that I could see nothing - but I could feel. Then I felt the most terrific pain in my ankle and thought:
"Oh my God, something has bitten me!" I bent down to look at what it was and nearly fainted with horror: A spider the size of a rabbit had just scuttled away at incredible speed into the river. Then, something really weird happened. I usually have complete control over my emotions, but the unexpected vision of a spider so huge and so repugnant that I never could have imagined its existence, left me completely paralysed with panic. I felt I was living through a never-ending nightmare of terror. I was exhausted and felt empty in a grey world. I sat down on the jetty floor asking myself if life really deserved the minimum effort. Then I fainted.
...When I regained consciousness, I found myself on a bus very far away from where the incident had happened, with no memory of how I had arrived there. It seems probable that the spider's poison caused me what is known as traumatic amnesia. For several days I was in such a terrible state that although my body was functioning normally, I was on autopilot as it were. I carried on living my life but perhaps in an attempt to escape reality, I seemed to be living in another dimension, unaware of what was going on around me or what I was doing. So I wasn't fully aware of what had transpired until I woke up on the Brazilian motorway. The effects of the spider's poison had completely disappeared and I had returned to normal consciousness. The bus was jostling through a huge and endless forest road, jolting up and down on top of the countless potholes. Thick clouds of dust clouds rose as the vehicle struggled along, making the air umbreathable. The dust filled everything around me.
..Dawn was already approaching when we reached the capital city of the Matto Grosso. I felt my head was about to explode as I made my way towards the bus exit. "What makes life an attractive adventure is to live it without direction or goal" I said to myself.
I was told that the boatsman had applied the antidote in time to save my life. Otherwise, I would not be relating this story now. I was advised by a local doctor to rest for at least a month before flying back home - so I often used to wander through a quiet street of Manaus to a lonely river bank. As soon as I got there, alone, I would meditate on life's mysteries. I preferred the hour just before dusk; that moment of the day when nature, after its daily activities, seems to set about resting for the night. There I would contemplate the starry heavens and the profound forest in its impressive silence. I felt that superior powers were inviting me to relax and pray before the time arrived for me to come back home and return to my normal existence.
THE END
Monday, December 22, 2003
Science Fiction Short Story
... 'The supreme principle is reason', I said to myself wanting to regain confidence before getting into bed, but I suddenly realised that it had not helped me at all. I had just finished reading a short story in a book acquired not long ago in a Tottenham Court road bookshop. It was written by the lugubrious Japanese writer Hiro Yeshiva, who relates how an infamous child, driven by morbid feelings of jealousy, feverishly desires to deprive his stepfather of all he possesses and then do away with him in an impious manner. However, he is exhorted not to commit such an atrocious crime by the spirit of his deceased mother. I was shivering whilst reading the magnificent narrative style of the writer and the superb way he sets out the events of the story. Stories of ghosts and dead people make me panic when travelling or when I am in a foreign country for a short time, even if I am visiting sacred towns such as Fatima, Lourdes or Santiago of Compostela. Worst of all, they scare me even more if I am reading during the night, lying in a strange bed in a strange room.
... 'What frightful things might have happened in this place where you are now resting' I kept repeating to myself trembling involuntarily. Consequently, I could not help getting out of bed and going to the wardrobe where my suitcase was lying in a corner. I intended to take out a holy book which I always take with me wherever I go: The Solomon Clavicles, which according to some wise persons are meant to attract the help of benevolent spirits. Unluckily, after glancing without hope through its pages, I found myself in the same state of dejection and upheaval as before. Furthermore, the moonlight was entering my window and was shining in such a peculiar way that I could see shadows moving whimsically on the walls of the room with no plausible or reasonable explanation that could prove to me their real existence. Moreover, I was also restless because of the unusual electric rainstorm I had experienced the night before. It had caught me unaware. A long way from my apartment, I was walking aimlessly for hours under the rain, tormented by strange feelings I was unable to control. Finally, due more to a desire of peace of mind than to weariness, a pleasant drowsiness began to possess me and I fell into a deep sleep.
...Frightening nightmares made me a victim of the worst horrors and catastrophes. Suddenly a bright ray of light brought me to a rude awakening. It was moving backwards and forwards behind the curtains. That insignificant and apparently senseless act provoked an extraordinary state of panic within me. At first I believed the stream of light to be coming from a torch held by an intruder; but the quiet movement of the light and the frequency of the flashes changed my mind.
...I slowly stood up, intending to look around, but just before doing so, I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was two o'clock in the morning. Shaking, I went towards the window to view the night but could see nothing except the flickering streetlights. All at once, I was struck by an acute pain in my head and for a while was unable to free myself from my daze. Afraid of falling down and losing my senses, I wanted to go back to bed though not without looking just once more outside; but I could see nothing, and the pain in my head was becoming unbearable; the most excruciating I had ever known. Dragging myself to my feet I went back to bed and I looked at my watch once again to find that it was already three. I was astonished to discover that a whole hour had already passed. Wanting to swallow some saliva in desperation, I noticed that I could not open my mouth because it was deadly dry. I tried to get up and get myself a glass of water but I was scarcely able to any motion. All thoughts abandoned me, my mind was flooded with utter amazement, and when I looked at my watch for a third time, I found it was four o'clock. Where the hell had I been for the last two hours? I wanted to swear loudly but found that I had lost the power of speech and could barely keep my eyes open. How I managed to cover myself with a blanket to protect myself from the cold that suddenly invaded my room I do not know because at that very moment, suffering atrociously and sweating copiously, I fainted.
...Later that morning I had a shower and felt an ache in my navel. When I went to observe it closely, I saw there was a strange mark surrounding what looked like a bite. I could clearly see two small blood red spots one beside the other with what seemed to be coagulated blood around them.
...The following day at about three o'clock in the morning I stood up half asleep. I wanted to urinate and as the house had no indoor toilet I had to go right through a narrow corridor in order to reach the outdoor lavatory at the other end. Once there and relieving myself, I heard a very strange and unusual noise that was apparently coming from behind the toilet wall. The peculiar sound made me think of someone tapping the floor with a metallic stick. Wanting to find out where the odd noise was coming from, I finished off quickly and stood on top of the cistern to try and satisfy my curiosity by looking through a tiny window situated close to the ceiling. Holding my breath I stealthily rose to the tip of my toes in order to avoid slipping and falling down onto the floor. Lifting up the small windowpane, I managed to see what had caused the noise: there was a feeble blue light emanating from the centre of something lying on the patio. Besides it there was a small creature, human like, no more than one metre in height dressed in a very tight-fitting silver suit. Observing it in detail I could not resist the temptation of thinking about the peculiar shape that confronted my eyes. Could this entity claim the right to be called a person because it had a head shaped like a human's ? Here I had a very hard question to answer. In any case I was inclined to consider it like a special kind of anthropoid. The creature's head was covered with a glass helmet. Two tubes protruding out of the top of the helmet on each side led to a horribly perceptible hunchback. He was sweeping a sort of mine detector along the ground that made me think that he was looking for something. But the oddest thing of all was that he did not walk but was floating in the air. Completely motionless, I was dumbfounded as I watched the alien moving silently around. All of a sudden I heard a sound similar to that produced by a plane when its engine is switched on except that it was very much attenuated. At the same time a strong yellowish beam of light was coming from the sky completely covering the entity and his apparatus. Taken aback by the unexpected flare-up I found myself unable to react. However, wanting to know more about the bizarre noise and light and where they were coming from, I made an effort to overcome my stupor. I stood still on the tip of my toes, attempting to glimpse outside the bathroom from a corner of my peeping place. But the inevitable happened. I slipped on to the smooth toilet lid and fell down to the floor, hitting my head hard against the wall.
I must have passed out for a few seconds because of the impact on my head. When I came to and was about to stand up, I saw a creature coming into the room through the wall. In spite of being dreadfully frightened I seized the opportunity to look at the thing closer, noticing at first sight that it was not entirely anthropomorphous. In the meantime my ears were buzzing and I started feeling sick. One moment I saw the entity near me; the next it just vanished from my sight. Then I began to feel an awful chill sweep over my bruised skin while thinking that the alien was going to abduct me. Before fainting once again I recall I started praying to God frantically for salvation.
...When I regained consciousness, all the odds things that had previously happened came back to me so I stood up, albeit with difficulty, and slowly returned to my hideaway, but all that I could see was emptiness through the windowpane. I listened carefully, trying to catch a sound but the alien or whoever it was had completely vanished, leaving no trace of its visit but a deathly silence all around. After a couple of minutes, not knowing what to do and feeling confused I decided to return to my bedroom. Although I recall being doubtful and not certain whether I had had that awful experience or if it had been no more than an odd dream, the bump on my head convinced me of the authenticity of the scene I had witnessed.
What happened next remains unclear in my mind, but several hours later I came to. I was lying down on my bed fully dressed. My clothes and shoes were completely drenched. I was in a state of shock: my mind was blank and I was speechless.
...It all began once again with the piercingly long wail of a dog in the street. It was about two o'clock in the morning when I awoke suddenly alarmed by the brutishly demented barks. My mind was in such a chaotic state, that I had to let time pass before I was fully aware of what was going on. I wanted to stand on my feet but the muscles of my legs were stiff. My head was aching, I had difficulty breathing and everything blurred before my eyes. A week had already passed since the extraordinary events I had experienced with the alien, but I was still suffering from the traumatic aftermath caused by the fall and the emotional impact I had gone through. Eventually I managed to stand up but even before I was able to take a single step I could still hear the hair-raising, mournful shriek of the terrified animal. Walking sluggishly I went to the window and looked out. That night the moon lit up the trees so oddly that they seemed to be endowed with life, their skinny branches swaying in the wind as if they were the arms of human souls, damned and seeking redemption from hell. The deafening lamentations had not yet faded away when I heard a murmur behind me. It happened so unexpectedly and illogically that I became paralysed with fright and my mouth dropped wide open, the scene reaching a climax when, turning myself about, I saw three fantastic creatures standing before me. They were vaguely human-looking with huge, yellowish sparkling eyes on both sides of their heads where their ears should have been. They all had enormous horizontal slits across their faces which I took to be their mouths and two big ears hung behind their skulls. They were all of short stature and dressed in a glittery silver suit which was tight-fitting and they wore boots of the same material. Politely, they beckoned me to follow them. As I had no will of my own, I simply followed them and went through the wall into an egg-shaped object that was about five metres high by ten metres long. It was floating in the air and swerving slowly. As soon as we entered a brightly lit room I was invited to lie on an operating-table where they proceeded to carry out a sort of medical examination. I felt a probe being introduced into my mouth and another into my navel. I was scrutinised for a period of time I cannot specify but when it seemed that they had finished with me they left the lighted room and I was on my own lying on a sort of stretcher. I recall a muffled sound in the distance that came filtering through the burnished walls of the room. It was perhaps produced by a powerful engine slowly approaching the place where I was lying semiconscious. Suddenly I was perfectly aware that we were rising swiftly into the air possibly on a journey into outer space. Each moment of that voyage through space seemed infinite but probably lasted only a few minutes in reality. Those moments have been engraved with fire in my memory because of the significance they have had in the subsequent events of my life.
I stood up cautiously, leaving the stretcher behind me and made my way towards one of the many skylights in the spacecraft's glittering room. I observed the exterior: I found myself in a totally deserted world where life must have disappeared millions of years ago. The impression it had on me was of a cyclopean metropolis built in an architectonic style far beyond human knowledge or imagination. It was a perturbed labyrinth of ramparts and towers; pillars and minarets; truncated and circular cones. Immense cylindrical columns towered above. There were strange buildings similar to dolmens and menhirs but immeasurably bigger. All this shone through a disturbingly frozen mist which lay below my frightened eyes. I was in a near shock state when I fully realised the overwhelming magnitude of the granite labyrinths. They were of bewildering dimensions, forming a very complex thicket of twisted paths and alleys like intricate tunnels. It just seemed a fantastic and incredible dream. Then, when the spacecraft unexpectedly twisted away into the shadows, the effect it produced on my soul was still more threatening than all that I had experienced till then, but in such a way that I will probably never be able to define clearly. The monstrosity of everything that was encircling me was so oppressive that I found it to be profoundly inhuman and far beyond the confines of any man-made construction.
Despite all the horrors that were surrounding me I was still able to retain a trace of curiosity and spirit of adventure to observe and analyse conscientiously such an unknown kingdom. The last stage of the journey was so striking that it flamed my imagination. Massive naked peaks full of mystery were looming up now and then from everywhere. When the rocket was approaching what I had considered the ultimate dark and gloomy heights that were situated high beyond the horrendous glaciers, the doubts and the horrors that surrounded me made me feel only a despairing desire to run away. The sooner I could escape from that tenebrous, desolated, insane world, the better. Even in the innermost part of the spacecraft a peculiar conscious malice seemed to pervade the atmosphere, and I even heard for a second what sounded like a strange whining wail. It was a chilling echo that filled me with revulsion. To get a close idea of my thoughts and feelings while I was penetrating the silent residue of that inhuman structure one has to imagine a hopeless chaos, a mixture of many states of mind, past memories and transient impressions. The overwhelming antiquity and ill-fated desolation of this place was quite enough to annihilate even the most vigorous character.
And how frightening it was when the rocket started going further and further down into that whitish and sinister immensity of unfathomable mystery. Incapable of any further observation of such an apocalyptic vision, I went back to the stretcher where I fell into a state of hopelessness and desolation.
Shortly afterwards I could perceive the sound of approaching feet dragging themselves on the bare boards of the lighted room. I jerked upright on the stretcher and jumped up staring around in a sweat of fear before the nausea hit me. Completely incapable of further movement I was only able to bend my head under my arm and let a short and humiliating gasping sob escape from within.
The next thing I remember is a soft finger pressing on my neck, just behind my ears and then I fell into a faint.
When I came to, I was back in my bedroom lying on my bed. The light had gone out and I was in complete darkness. Through the windowpane I could still see a flickering of yellow light. When I went to the window and opened it to look out, I felt the coldness and stillness of the night. Suddenly in the silence I heard the unmistakable buzzing and saw the yellowish light growing brighter. My mind raced. Startled, but thinking there was still a sign of them at that point, I gazed intensively up into the sky. I could see nothing. I waited tensely for a while but still there was not a single sign of anyone. Closing the window, I returned to bed where I sat down waiting to recover from the shock I had just come out of. Then I caught the low mumbling mellifluous childlike voice uttering half-words inside of my mind:
...'You are another one of the few and a new member of the brotherhood; but be attentive for soon we will reveal ourselves to you. Then you will be able to witness the cradle of civilisation and the true origin of the gods. Be prepared'
...Since then something has been working on my brain, giving me the ability to move objects with my mind power. It has also elevated me mentally, enabling me to receive knowledge and understand many important issues and developments which previously I had been unable to grasp. I think they implanted some powerful device in my brain for I can feel a strange and new type of psychic energy within myself. At times I can read my acquaintances' minds and might exert some influence on their acts and resolutions.
The Brotherhood©
By J Santamaria
... 'The supreme principle is reason', I said to myself wanting to regain confidence before getting into bed, but I suddenly realised that it had not helped me at all. I had just finished reading a short story in a book acquired not long ago in a Tottenham Court road bookshop. It was written by the lugubrious Japanese writer Hiro Yeshiva, who relates how an infamous child, driven by morbid feelings of jealousy, feverishly desires to deprive his stepfather of all he possesses and then do away with him in an impious manner. However, he is exhorted not to commit such an atrocious crime by the spirit of his deceased mother. I was shivering whilst reading the magnificent narrative style of the writer and the superb way he sets out the events of the story. Stories of ghosts and dead people make me panic when travelling or when I am in a foreign country for a short time, even if I am visiting sacred towns such as Fatima, Lourdes or Santiago of Compostela. Worst of all, they scare me even more if I am reading during the night, lying in a strange bed in a strange room.
... 'What frightful things might have happened in this place where you are now resting' I kept repeating to myself trembling involuntarily. Consequently, I could not help getting out of bed and going to the wardrobe where my suitcase was lying in a corner. I intended to take out a holy book which I always take with me wherever I go: The Solomon Clavicles, which according to some wise persons are meant to attract the help of benevolent spirits. Unluckily, after glancing without hope through its pages, I found myself in the same state of dejection and upheaval as before. Furthermore, the moonlight was entering my window and was shining in such a peculiar way that I could see shadows moving whimsically on the walls of the room with no plausible or reasonable explanation that could prove to me their real existence. Moreover, I was also restless because of the unusual electric rainstorm I had experienced the night before. It had caught me unaware. A long way from my apartment, I was walking aimlessly for hours under the rain, tormented by strange feelings I was unable to control. Finally, due more to a desire of peace of mind than to weariness, a pleasant drowsiness began to possess me and I fell into a deep sleep.
...Frightening nightmares made me a victim of the worst horrors and catastrophes. Suddenly a bright ray of light brought me to a rude awakening. It was moving backwards and forwards behind the curtains. That insignificant and apparently senseless act provoked an extraordinary state of panic within me. At first I believed the stream of light to be coming from a torch held by an intruder; but the quiet movement of the light and the frequency of the flashes changed my mind.
...I slowly stood up, intending to look around, but just before doing so, I glanced at my watch and noticed that it was two o'clock in the morning. Shaking, I went towards the window to view the night but could see nothing except the flickering streetlights. All at once, I was struck by an acute pain in my head and for a while was unable to free myself from my daze. Afraid of falling down and losing my senses, I wanted to go back to bed though not without looking just once more outside; but I could see nothing, and the pain in my head was becoming unbearable; the most excruciating I had ever known. Dragging myself to my feet I went back to bed and I looked at my watch once again to find that it was already three. I was astonished to discover that a whole hour had already passed. Wanting to swallow some saliva in desperation, I noticed that I could not open my mouth because it was deadly dry. I tried to get up and get myself a glass of water but I was scarcely able to any motion. All thoughts abandoned me, my mind was flooded with utter amazement, and when I looked at my watch for a third time, I found it was four o'clock. Where the hell had I been for the last two hours? I wanted to swear loudly but found that I had lost the power of speech and could barely keep my eyes open. How I managed to cover myself with a blanket to protect myself from the cold that suddenly invaded my room I do not know because at that very moment, suffering atrociously and sweating copiously, I fainted.
...Later that morning I had a shower and felt an ache in my navel. When I went to observe it closely, I saw there was a strange mark surrounding what looked like a bite. I could clearly see two small blood red spots one beside the other with what seemed to be coagulated blood around them.
...The following day at about three o'clock in the morning I stood up half asleep. I wanted to urinate and as the house had no indoor toilet I had to go right through a narrow corridor in order to reach the outdoor lavatory at the other end. Once there and relieving myself, I heard a very strange and unusual noise that was apparently coming from behind the toilet wall. The peculiar sound made me think of someone tapping the floor with a metallic stick. Wanting to find out where the odd noise was coming from, I finished off quickly and stood on top of the cistern to try and satisfy my curiosity by looking through a tiny window situated close to the ceiling. Holding my breath I stealthily rose to the tip of my toes in order to avoid slipping and falling down onto the floor. Lifting up the small windowpane, I managed to see what had caused the noise: there was a feeble blue light emanating from the centre of something lying on the patio. Besides it there was a small creature, human like, no more than one metre in height dressed in a very tight-fitting silver suit. Observing it in detail I could not resist the temptation of thinking about the peculiar shape that confronted my eyes. Could this entity claim the right to be called a person because it had a head shaped like a human's ? Here I had a very hard question to answer. In any case I was inclined to consider it like a special kind of anthropoid. The creature's head was covered with a glass helmet. Two tubes protruding out of the top of the helmet on each side led to a horribly perceptible hunchback. He was sweeping a sort of mine detector along the ground that made me think that he was looking for something. But the oddest thing of all was that he did not walk but was floating in the air. Completely motionless, I was dumbfounded as I watched the alien moving silently around. All of a sudden I heard a sound similar to that produced by a plane when its engine is switched on except that it was very much attenuated. At the same time a strong yellowish beam of light was coming from the sky completely covering the entity and his apparatus. Taken aback by the unexpected flare-up I found myself unable to react. However, wanting to know more about the bizarre noise and light and where they were coming from, I made an effort to overcome my stupor. I stood still on the tip of my toes, attempting to glimpse outside the bathroom from a corner of my peeping place. But the inevitable happened. I slipped on to the smooth toilet lid and fell down to the floor, hitting my head hard against the wall.
I must have passed out for a few seconds because of the impact on my head. When I came to and was about to stand up, I saw a creature coming into the room through the wall. In spite of being dreadfully frightened I seized the opportunity to look at the thing closer, noticing at first sight that it was not entirely anthropomorphous. In the meantime my ears were buzzing and I started feeling sick. One moment I saw the entity near me; the next it just vanished from my sight. Then I began to feel an awful chill sweep over my bruised skin while thinking that the alien was going to abduct me. Before fainting once again I recall I started praying to God frantically for salvation.
...When I regained consciousness, all the odds things that had previously happened came back to me so I stood up, albeit with difficulty, and slowly returned to my hideaway, but all that I could see was emptiness through the windowpane. I listened carefully, trying to catch a sound but the alien or whoever it was had completely vanished, leaving no trace of its visit but a deathly silence all around. After a couple of minutes, not knowing what to do and feeling confused I decided to return to my bedroom. Although I recall being doubtful and not certain whether I had had that awful experience or if it had been no more than an odd dream, the bump on my head convinced me of the authenticity of the scene I had witnessed.
What happened next remains unclear in my mind, but several hours later I came to. I was lying down on my bed fully dressed. My clothes and shoes were completely drenched. I was in a state of shock: my mind was blank and I was speechless.
...It all began once again with the piercingly long wail of a dog in the street. It was about two o'clock in the morning when I awoke suddenly alarmed by the brutishly demented barks. My mind was in such a chaotic state, that I had to let time pass before I was fully aware of what was going on. I wanted to stand on my feet but the muscles of my legs were stiff. My head was aching, I had difficulty breathing and everything blurred before my eyes. A week had already passed since the extraordinary events I had experienced with the alien, but I was still suffering from the traumatic aftermath caused by the fall and the emotional impact I had gone through. Eventually I managed to stand up but even before I was able to take a single step I could still hear the hair-raising, mournful shriek of the terrified animal. Walking sluggishly I went to the window and looked out. That night the moon lit up the trees so oddly that they seemed to be endowed with life, their skinny branches swaying in the wind as if they were the arms of human souls, damned and seeking redemption from hell. The deafening lamentations had not yet faded away when I heard a murmur behind me. It happened so unexpectedly and illogically that I became paralysed with fright and my mouth dropped wide open, the scene reaching a climax when, turning myself about, I saw three fantastic creatures standing before me. They were vaguely human-looking with huge, yellowish sparkling eyes on both sides of their heads where their ears should have been. They all had enormous horizontal slits across their faces which I took to be their mouths and two big ears hung behind their skulls. They were all of short stature and dressed in a glittery silver suit which was tight-fitting and they wore boots of the same material. Politely, they beckoned me to follow them. As I had no will of my own, I simply followed them and went through the wall into an egg-shaped object that was about five metres high by ten metres long. It was floating in the air and swerving slowly. As soon as we entered a brightly lit room I was invited to lie on an operating-table where they proceeded to carry out a sort of medical examination. I felt a probe being introduced into my mouth and another into my navel. I was scrutinised for a period of time I cannot specify but when it seemed that they had finished with me they left the lighted room and I was on my own lying on a sort of stretcher. I recall a muffled sound in the distance that came filtering through the burnished walls of the room. It was perhaps produced by a powerful engine slowly approaching the place where I was lying semiconscious. Suddenly I was perfectly aware that we were rising swiftly into the air possibly on a journey into outer space. Each moment of that voyage through space seemed infinite but probably lasted only a few minutes in reality. Those moments have been engraved with fire in my memory because of the significance they have had in the subsequent events of my life.
I stood up cautiously, leaving the stretcher behind me and made my way towards one of the many skylights in the spacecraft's glittering room. I observed the exterior: I found myself in a totally deserted world where life must have disappeared millions of years ago. The impression it had on me was of a cyclopean metropolis built in an architectonic style far beyond human knowledge or imagination. It was a perturbed labyrinth of ramparts and towers; pillars and minarets; truncated and circular cones. Immense cylindrical columns towered above. There were strange buildings similar to dolmens and menhirs but immeasurably bigger. All this shone through a disturbingly frozen mist which lay below my frightened eyes. I was in a near shock state when I fully realised the overwhelming magnitude of the granite labyrinths. They were of bewildering dimensions, forming a very complex thicket of twisted paths and alleys like intricate tunnels. It just seemed a fantastic and incredible dream. Then, when the spacecraft unexpectedly twisted away into the shadows, the effect it produced on my soul was still more threatening than all that I had experienced till then, but in such a way that I will probably never be able to define clearly. The monstrosity of everything that was encircling me was so oppressive that I found it to be profoundly inhuman and far beyond the confines of any man-made construction.
Despite all the horrors that were surrounding me I was still able to retain a trace of curiosity and spirit of adventure to observe and analyse conscientiously such an unknown kingdom. The last stage of the journey was so striking that it flamed my imagination. Massive naked peaks full of mystery were looming up now and then from everywhere. When the rocket was approaching what I had considered the ultimate dark and gloomy heights that were situated high beyond the horrendous glaciers, the doubts and the horrors that surrounded me made me feel only a despairing desire to run away. The sooner I could escape from that tenebrous, desolated, insane world, the better. Even in the innermost part of the spacecraft a peculiar conscious malice seemed to pervade the atmosphere, and I even heard for a second what sounded like a strange whining wail. It was a chilling echo that filled me with revulsion. To get a close idea of my thoughts and feelings while I was penetrating the silent residue of that inhuman structure one has to imagine a hopeless chaos, a mixture of many states of mind, past memories and transient impressions. The overwhelming antiquity and ill-fated desolation of this place was quite enough to annihilate even the most vigorous character.
And how frightening it was when the rocket started going further and further down into that whitish and sinister immensity of unfathomable mystery. Incapable of any further observation of such an apocalyptic vision, I went back to the stretcher where I fell into a state of hopelessness and desolation.
Shortly afterwards I could perceive the sound of approaching feet dragging themselves on the bare boards of the lighted room. I jerked upright on the stretcher and jumped up staring around in a sweat of fear before the nausea hit me. Completely incapable of further movement I was only able to bend my head under my arm and let a short and humiliating gasping sob escape from within.
The next thing I remember is a soft finger pressing on my neck, just behind my ears and then I fell into a faint.
When I came to, I was back in my bedroom lying on my bed. The light had gone out and I was in complete darkness. Through the windowpane I could still see a flickering of yellow light. When I went to the window and opened it to look out, I felt the coldness and stillness of the night. Suddenly in the silence I heard the unmistakable buzzing and saw the yellowish light growing brighter. My mind raced. Startled, but thinking there was still a sign of them at that point, I gazed intensively up into the sky. I could see nothing. I waited tensely for a while but still there was not a single sign of anyone. Closing the window, I returned to bed where I sat down waiting to recover from the shock I had just come out of. Then I caught the low mumbling mellifluous childlike voice uttering half-words inside of my mind:
...'You are another one of the few and a new member of the brotherhood; but be attentive for soon we will reveal ourselves to you. Then you will be able to witness the cradle of civilisation and the true origin of the gods. Be prepared'
...Since then something has been working on my brain, giving me the ability to move objects with my mind power. It has also elevated me mentally, enabling me to receive knowledge and understand many important issues and developments which previously I had been unable to grasp. I think they implanted some powerful device in my brain for I can feel a strange and new type of psychic energy within myself. At times I can read my acquaintances' minds and might exert some influence on their acts and resolutions.
The end
