by Janet Rebhan
It was going to hit her hard, and there was no escaping it. She would face it head on, when the time came. She was strong like that. But some niggling truths wanted to reveal themselves to her first. And the only way she could see them was if she stepped away and observed them from a distance. Like an abstract painting that could not be viewed properly from a close angle, the complete picture of her predicament surfaced only from a relaxed distance.
She turned, picked her wineglass up by the stem, and headed straight for the back patio swing, wobbling somewhat as she stepped over the threshold of the sliding glass door.
She deserved this time to herself. She knew her husband well. He had his bag of tricks, and she had hers. They both knew he would be back the next morning in time for a strong cup of freshly ground, espresso-enriched Columbian coffee. She would fill the coffeemaker before she went to bed, set the timer, and leave his favorite mug out on the counter with a note that read “sin is in.”
It was an inside joke that started when Jake had asked Caroline if she would add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the grounds the next time she set up the coffee the night before. She did from then on, but one day, she forgot. This caused Jake to come downstairs the next morning and open the top of the coffeemaker to check to see if the cinnamon had been added. Not wanting him to even have to think about it the next time, Caroline posted a sticky note on the coffeemaker that read “cin is in.” When that note got worn, Jake made a new one, but this time he changed it to “sin is in” and left it for Caroline to find the next time he prepared the coffee. The following morning, they had a good laugh about it and after coffee went back to bed. Funny how a just a word or a phrase can spark lust. But now the joke was getting old, and Caroline didn’t have the heart to throw the note away.
Rocking, swaying, sipping, she tilted her head back and studied the stars flickering above her in the dubious evening sky. “Why?” she spoke softly. “Why are you torturing me?”
Seventh Heaven beamed its piercing white light in all directions, a veritable lighthouse of gargantuan proportions. A tall, lean lady dressed in a flowing sapphire gown stood looking out the massive window at the night sky filled with twinkling stars. She focused her attention on one particular planet in one familiar solar system, and it suddenly appeared in high magnification and definition before her. The round blue planet sported an unusual gray halo that beseeched her immediate awareness, and she dismissed it with a wave of her arms before narrowing her focus on the West Coast of the United States, then California, then Los Angeles, and then closer still until she could see Caroline’s tortured face looking straight up at her from the backyard swing. With a look of enormous compassion on her perfectly serene face, she spoke softly and tenderly in a language only Caroline could understand and watched closely as Caroline’s face softened and tears began to stream down her delicate pink cheeks. The lady in sapphire closed her eyes, bowed her head, and stretched her graceful arms up over her head, the palms of her elegant hands facing the window. She remained that way for a few minutes before calmly bringing both hands to her face and then to her heart—one crossed over the other. Caroline responded by wrapping her arms around herself and sobbing softly.
The lady in sapphire turned as she heard the elevator door close behind her across the spacious, vacant room. She waved her arms, and the image of Caroline faded to black as Thor stepped slowly into the room preceded by a halo of green light.
“May I help you?” she said with a kindness Thor could hardly bear.
“Uh,” Thor hesitated. “I was told it was okay to visit anytime.”
“Yes, of course,” she said. “You’re from the Park level below?
“Yes,” Thor answered. “I guess my aura colors precede me.”
“Indeed, they do.” She smiled. Her face was luminous and her demeanor calm. Thor sensed an instantaneous attraction so strong it made him dizzy.
“We don’t get many visitors here,” she said, still standing by the window. “It’s a little harder to project your energies at this level.”
“Yes,” Thor said. “I think I can feel that already.” He tried to take a step toward her but faltered. She extended her right hand, and immediately, a large cushioned chair appeared behind him before he flopped into it, his legs gone to jelly. She covered her mouth with long, narrow fingers and giggled softly, her shoulders rising and falling almost imperceptibly.
“Thanks,” Thor said. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“Oh, you’re welcome,” she said. “I kind of knew that was about to happen. You’re not the first to venture up here.” She walked across the room and, with another wave of her hand, produced another chair next to Thor and seated herself like a queen taking her throne.
“Oh, do please join me,” Thor said, laughing. “I’m Thor.” He tried to extend his hand but couldn’t move it.
“You can call me Sapphire,” she said, giggling softly again. “It’s probably best if you try not to expend too much of your energy while you’re up here. I can lend you some of mine, but I have more work to do today and will be needing most of it, so I can only give you a little.” With that, she reached forward and touched Thor lightly on his knee.
“Oh, wow.” Thor sat upright, shaking his arms and legs, suddenly free of his paralysis. “Thanks, Sapphire, that’s very kind of you.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said. “So what brings you up here, Thor?” Sapphire leaned back in her chair and tilted her head slightly, a broad smile beaming across her angelic face.
Thor became suddenly animated. “Uh, well, I’ve been working on this case, you see—”
“Careful not to go too fast,” Sapphire said. “You’ll need to conserve your energy here.”
“Yeah, okay.” Thor slumped his shoulders a little, but he found it almost impossible to relax in her presence. Her energy and magnetism was formidable. “So I’ve been working on this case. It’s a very interesting one. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Uh-huh, go on,” Sapphire said, her eyes widening with interest.
Thor could literally feel her intensity, as if she were shining a spotlight on him, one that filled him with the kind of joy that accompanies the pride of accomplishment. He felt like a little boy again. She was interested, and her interest was almost palpable. But there was something else. She seemed to exude motherly love.
“My colleague, Aurora, told me this level is where all the highest selves of everyone incarnated on the Earth plane reside.”
“Uh-huh, go on,” she said again, still intently curious yet utterly calm at the same time.
“She said there were no restrictions to visitation here.”
“That’s true,” she said.
“So I thought perhaps if I went to the highest self of the person I am trying to help on the Earth plane, it would expedite things. I mean, if I went straight to the source, you know.”
“Hmm.”
“But Aurora said that would be like cheating.”
“How so?” Sapphire asked, bringing the long, slender pointer finger of her right hand up to her perfectly shaped lips, still looking intently at Thor.
Thor shifted slightly in his chair and scratched the back of his ear. “Well, I’m not sure exactly,” he said, a puzzled look on his face. He could feel his face heating up from the intensity of Sapphire’s gaze. “But I think it has something to do with the higher selves learning as much from this whole process as their counterparts on Earth. It’s like there’s this challenging communication that has to take place between the two of them, and it has to happen organically without outside interference. Or at least with as little outside interference as possible. Otherwise, there is no real challenge. Otherwise, there is no real learning.”
“Hmm.” Sapphire tilted her head to the other side, still looking at Thor, still smiling. Then she leaned forward. “Sounds good to me,” she said. And looking above and beyond Thor’s head, she promptly stood up. “I’m sorry, but I’m being called away to the Situati
on Room.” She reached out her hand again to Thor. “No need to get up; I can keep you in this setup for a bit longer so you don’t have to hurry. Very nice meeting you, Thor.”
Thor shook Sapphire’s hand and watched as she exited behind him through a door that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Above it he noticed a silent, flashing yellow light, which he presumed was her signal to go. As soon as she walked through the door, both the door and the light disappeared. Thor stood and looked around the spacious room. Like a ballroom with marble floors and cathedral ceilings, it had floor-to-ceiling windows on all but one side and a large crystal chandelier in the center. He looked around and noticed Sapphire’s chair had disappeared, but his chair and the elevator on the one blank wall remained. In the sparse yet opulent room, Sapphire’s motherly energy was still as thick as perfume. He didn’t want to leave, but he instinctively knew if he outstayed his welcome, he could become paralyzed again, drained of his energy, so he took one last look around and walked back to the elevator. As he got in and pressed the button for the Park level, the floor suddenly gave way beneath him, and he was free-falling through the air. Before he could even panic, he found himself sitting on the floor in his own main living room with Aurora.
“Well, what have we here?” Aurora said.
Thor stood and brushed himself off. He opened his mouth to speak, but he didn’t know where to begin. Worse, he only had enough energy left to smile weakly.
Aurora patted the empty space beside her on the sofa. “Welcome home, my curious little friend. Looks like you’ve visited the level above us.”
Caroline felt an overwhelming peace come over her, and with it, the sudden realization she was sabotaging herself. The awareness was certain. Cobwebs had cleared. She felt grateful for the clarity, although she couldn’t say why or how it had occurred. Only that she had a chance at redemption and she would take it. Lifting herself out of bed, she opened the window and breathed deeply. She should have had a hangover, but she didn’t. Wonder of wonders.
Downstairs, the fragrance of coffee permeated, and Jake stood in front of the television, mug in hand, staring intently at a sapphire light in the shape of an arrow crossing the otherwise dark screen from left to right, leaving behind a sperm-like tail in its wake. The pretty blonde news anchor reported an unidentified flying object having been spotted the night before over the skies of Los Angeles. Witnessed and caught on video by numerous people, it had quickly made the rounds on Twitter and Instagram under the hashtags “UFO” and “Aliens” before officials finally confirmed the local naval base in Long Beach had been testing a new long-range missile.
“Oh sure,” said the pretty blonde, raising her eyebrows and giving a suspicious glance in the direction of her male cohost. “That’s what they always say.”
“Yes,” replied the male cohost. “Conspiracy theories abound, although I must say, now would be the perfect time to send a message to the likes of Vladimir Putin that the United States is still in possession of the latest and greatest military technology. And it did look like a missile after all. I mean, alien ships are supposed to hover, right?”
The pretty blonde raised her shoulders to her ears and presented her hands in front of her, palms up, before folding them across her chest and winking at the camera. “We’ll be right back,” she said as the director cut to commercial: William Devane touting silver as a hedge against inflation in uncertain times.
“Did I miss something?” Caroline said, filling her thin china cup with Peet’s Colombia Luminosa.
“Apparently, we both did,” Jake said. “Beautiful sapphire-colored UFO over LA last night around six thirty. Right around the time I checked into the hotel. Had I still been driving, I might have seen it.”
“Right around the time I fell asleep on the swing,” Caroline said, sitting on the sofa and curling her legs underneath her as she blew into her coffee.
“I want to talk to you about that,” Jake said as he turned off the television set and sat down at the other end of the sofa.
Caroline held up a hand, palm toward her husband. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m done with flogging myself. I’ve regrouped.”
“What does that mean exactly?”
“No more drinking. At least, not to excess,” Caroline said. “I’ve had an awakening.”
“Oh yeah?” Jake said. “And to what do we owe this minor miracle?”
“I’m not sure, really. I just sense I’ve been granted a clean slate, and I’m certainly not going to question my good fortune now.”
CHAPTER 16
Thor sat next to Aurora on the sofa. He couldn’t remember ever having felt so drained before. The high he felt in Sapphire’s presence had dissipated, but her essence was now indelibly stamped on his memory. She had been remarkably poised yet with such high energy. He’d never before witnessed any entity with such control and balance. He reasoned she had to be a very old soul, or else an unusually progressive one. He’d seen what she did with Caroline before he walked off the elevator. To be able to focus her energy like that was an incredible feat. He wanted to know more about her. Who was she? Why was she helping Caroline? Could she have been Caroline’s highest self? Were there other entities inhabiting Seventh Heaven besides the highest selves of people currently alive on, or just recently departed from, the Earth plane?
Something in Aurora’s countenance told him he may never get the answers to his questions. As soon as he’d sat down, Aurora had stood up and walked over to the window. She seemed to know Thor needed time to sort through his thoughts. Now she had a very curious expression on her face, and she turned to speak.
“Well, you obviously met with someone,” Aurora said. “Who was it, and how did it go?”
Thor knit his eyebrows together. “What makes you think I met someone? How do you know I didn’t just wander around in a vacant room for fifteen minutes?”
“Because you don’t get into Seventh Heaven without an invitation,” Aurora said.
“What do you mean? I didn’t receive an invitation from anyone.”
“Yes you did. Let me guess, did you find yourself thinking about what Seventh Heaven looked like or what it would feel like to have a conversation with someone’s highest self when suddenly an elevator appeared before you?”
“That’s precisely how it happened. So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that elevator was your invitation from whoever it was you met with. All you have to do is think of Seventh Heaven, and they can sense it. They’re highly evolved energy experts there. If you think about them, they will always know it. If they feel like granting you some time, they’ll send an elevator or a stairway, or they’ll sometimes come to you, but that’s rare. They can’t stand being in the lower levels for long. It depletes their energy, and they get very tired. It’s much easier to bring you to them. Of course, they have to manifest a room and a chair for you—oh, and the elevator or stairway as well. But that’s not too much trouble for them if it’s only for a short period of time.”
“Are you saying Seventh Heaven doesn’t exist until someone imagines it for you?”
“I’m saying they don’t need props like we do. They’re comfortable existing as pure consciousness. If they manifest anything, whether it’s a body for themselves, a room, a window with a view of the solar system—anything at all—it’s only for their pleasure, or to illustrate for someone else who still needs props to help them learn.”
“So Sapphire sensed me thinking about Seventh Heaven and sent me the elevator?”
“Is that her name? Sapphire?”
“She told me that’s what I could call her, but I don’t think it was her name.”
“Probably not; they can be very evasive, those higher selves. But I can assure you that everything you saw and everything you heard and everything you felt or sensed while you were with her was on purpose. At that level, there are no accidents. They are master teachers, and they won’t give you any answers. They will usually ask questions to help you figure
things out for yourself.”
Thor thought for a moment. “Why? I mean, why can’t they just tell us the facts? Why does everything have to be such a bloody mystery anyway?”
Aurora threw her head back and practically bellowed with laughter. Then she stood up and said, “I think I’ll have a drink. Care to join me?”
“I would love one, thanks. You read my mind.”
“I did, as a matter of fact.” Aurora laughed again as she waved her arms to manifest a cozy bar with various accoutrements and proceeded to mix two pink concoctions, which she then poured into two very long-stemmed glasses. She sat back down on the sofa next to Thor.
“A toast to you, my dear, sweet Thor,” Aurora said. “You have the perfect curious mind, and you are doing so very well. I’m incredibly proud of you.”
“Well, I’m not exactly sure what I did to make you so proud, but okay.” Thor reached forward, glass in hand, to touch the tip of Aurora’s glass ever so slightly before gulping his drink down in one fell swoop and then giving himself a refill almost immediately.
“Go slow,” Aurora warned. “Excess does not equate to success. There’s a reason why we still manifest objects to some degree on this level. They act as good pacers as well as good learning tools for dealing with our subjects. Temperance, my dear boy. Temperance.”
“As if,” Thor made a face at Aurora and stuck his pinky finger out as he sipped his drink like a debutante at high tea. “So, what has your experience been with Seventh Heaven, Aurora? Have you met anyone interesting?”
“Oh yes, quite a few, actually. And they always wear very bold, bright colors—no beiges, grays, or creams for their kind.”
