DEEP READER part 5

Copyright (c) 2020 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.

DEEP READER

Part  5

“Down the Darkened Stairs.”

By R. Peterson

The expedition down these dark stairs is the most dangerous and exciting thing you will ever do at this moment in time.  Prepare yourself! If we are successful, and not all will be, we will return much happier than when we left and with an astonishing fortune. Together we will seek a vast and oftentimes forbidden knowledge of things secreted … sometimes before we were born. Words are eternal and time makes them grow in power. If I am long past from this world my powers are greater because these words speak to you from beyond the grave. Even if I’m still living I promise to stand by your side and to lead you to this treasure and back home again in safety.

 This journey will gift you pleasures beyond imagination, wash away all your fears, fill you with a great and marvelous ambition and drown your worries in the depths of euphoria. I will be your friend and guide. Your strict obedience is everything … you must trust me.

            I will ask you to do some very simple things; only you will know if you do them. It is important that I be able to control your actions. Once I have full control of your physical responses then I can open locked doorways into the deep, vast and darkened corners of your mind. The only things you will need for this journey are a glass (crystal is even better) of clear, cold water and a table or a piece of wood.  Get them now and place them within easy reach.

I will give you simple instructions such as Close your eyes and tap your finger on the smooth surface of the glass three times (DO IT NOW.)

That wasn’t so bad was it? Ready? Let’s go!

            Imagine a path in the woods. Sunlight filters through leaves and turns the small pebbles you walk on into jewels. We stop and you stare at your feet. Some of the pebbles are very tiny crystals enchanted with magic.

Smile and wiggle your toes. (DO IT NOW.)

Something very good and pleasant is coming our way … you feel it and so do I.

We begin to walk and with every step we take we become younger. The sun crosses the sky from West to East and birds are flying backwards. By the time we leave the woods and emerge in a meadow we are in the best times of our lives and we both feel young and restful. Birds are flying in the right direction landing in the trees and building nests. White clouds dance together across the sky. Fragrant wildflowers grow alongside the path and as we breathe in the fresh and clean air we feel great pleasure.

Close your eyes, relax and take three long deep breathes. (DO IT NOW.)

There is the faintest tingling sensation in the toes you wiggled before … a whispered promise of the many rich and unexpected pleasures to come.

We move alongside a babbling brook and it sounds as if the water is speaking to you. You kneel beside the stream and a fat green frog with bulging eyes and a red spot on his back jumps from a rock and swims frantically toward the opposite bank. Is that a crown the frog is wearing? You want to smile but you don’t … well maybe the corners of your mouth turn up just a little. If you laughed then even better … and perhaps you should be leading this adventure. You see your reflection in the water and you are fascinated by your own image. You have never looked better. No one on Earth is more daring and breathtakingly beautiful than you are!

Close your eyes, and listen carefully until you hear the moving water whisper the first name of a close friend, a lover or a family member. (DO IT NOW.)

The frog vanishes into a clump of thick brush covered with red berries on the far bank. The foliage shakes. From one to three ripe berries fall from the green leaves and glisten as they rush downstream. Count them.

Close your eyes, and take a small drink from your glass of water. Hear the whispered name in your mind. Do this so you will remember what you heard the water speak and the number of berries you saw floating down the stream. (DO IT NOW.)

We both feel amazingly refreshed. Water is the most magical substance in the universe and we have enough to do anything Colors seem much brighter as we once again cross the meadow. The buzzing of bees fills us with energy. We want to run but decide to stroll along and enjoy every moment. We begin to laugh … and to dance.

At the far end of the meadow the stream turns away, the wildflowers vanish and withered grass covers a small mound. A tiny cottage made of black stone stands atop the hill. The clouds that were dancing before have turned dark and ugly. A vicious and ruthless tavern brawl begins with the clouds as the evening darkens. An angry wind bends the trees on both sides of the foreboding structure with its fury. It begins to rain … and the sky stops its fight … and then weeps.

            A splintered doorway, much too large for the house, forbids our entry. We are afraid but we must seek shelter; the storm worsens.

Knock on the table or the piece of wood three times. (DO IT NOW!)

The door slowly opens and our fear vanishes. We are together and we can overcome anything. The room we enter smells dank and musty. An oil lamp burns on a small table next to a chair covered with a yellow and green quilt. We sense movement in another room. A dark figure moves about as a shadow. We heard the rattle of dishes and pouring water … then the voice of a very old woman.

“I’m very busy … but you know the way. Call to me … if you fall into danger.”

“Who are you?” We both want to know but the question comes from your lips.

“I am Hope to some … and to others Despair,” the crackling voice says. “Only you can decide.”

We move across the room and into another. We find ourselves in a cold and lonely porch with gaping gaps in the slat-board walls. Torn overalls hand from pegs on the walls. A rat jumps from a box of rotting apples and runs toward the kitchen. We hear the old woman laugh with joy. The summer-rain outside has turned into winter. Flurries of snow blow through the cracks and form drifts around our feet. A very old passageway without a doorknob leans drunkenly against an earth-smelling wall. It was not made to be entered by the living. This door can only be opened with your mind.

Close your eyes and remember the name whispered by the stream. (DO IT NOW!)

Somewhere in the house the old woman begins to sing … a lullaby with all the wrong words.

Close your eyes and take three long slow breaths. (DO IT NOW!)

A train rattles over a bridge in the distance. An air horn blows. Something large bangs against the outside of the house. The old woman walks on the outside past a broken window with snow in her grey hair and the rat wrapped in an infant’s blanket.

Close your eyes and take a large drink from the glass of water. (DO IT NOW!)

When you open your eyes the passage door without a knob slowly begins to open. We stare down a dark passage of stairs. Something squat and dangerous moves in the shadows just beyond our field of vision. An image from a long ago nightmare best forgotten … and we look at each other before we descend.

I have brought you to the dark stairs … next week our adventure will go on.

TO BE CONTINUED …