Chester Fields

by Charles Kohlberg

  They had interrogated him all day, so I got Dr. Mars to agree to give him the night off. The comatose boys were medically very stable, and they could continue to run tests on them. I felt we would be much more apt to get to the bottom of things if I could start out with a fresh patient. So we agreed to meet at nine o’clock sharp the next morning, and I assured him I would be open to anything he wanted to talk about. My initial impression; was they didn’t even need me on this case. If they had just listened to him; let him talk for a while, he’d eventually tell them what happened. I almost lost sight of that fact myself at one point, but managed to get back on track. I enjoyed talking to Chester; I found him rather interesting.

  When I arrived Thursday morning, Chester was already waiting in the first floor meeting room we’d been assigned to. It was a cold room, with two large wire reinforced windows on the wall opposite the door, a large table and eight chairs, all institutional gray colored, in the middle. The floor was tiled off white, and was well worn; the masonry block walls were light green, and there was a large, dark green chalkboard on one of the walls. Chester stood up when I came in, and offered his hand. When I shook it he thanked me for coming all this way to see him. I remember thinking there was a good vibe between us. We sat down and I told him I would give him all the time he needed, and that’s when he told me he felt like he could trust me.

  Dr. Mars hadn’t given me much else to go on, but Chester was doing terrific at filling in the blanks to this point. I knew we were getting to the out of body stuff and this was what had me particularly interested in the case. I never had a patient tell me they could do astral projection before Chester.

  Chester continued his story, “maybe that didn’t quite come out the way I wanted. Understand that finding and opening that door is the whole key, Rich. Without going through the door, there’s no control. Oh, I’m not sure how to say it“, he said, inflecting a small degree of frustration, as he looked over at me, “I don’t want to say I’m so much greater than everyone else, but the fact is, very few are ever able to find that door, that going through allows them control in the field. Once I hit it, I felt like I was freefalling through eternity, and though I know it was a mental thing, it was also reality. Please bear with me”, he said smiling. “I knew I was lying there, but my essence was outside myself, at a place only a scant few have ever been, but it was all coming under my control. It was pitch black and it seemed like I was freefalling, you know; like before you release the parachute. I’ve never been skydiving, but I bet I know exactly how it would feel, adrenaline rush and all. It felt like I fell so far, that I can’t even begin to attach a time or distance to it. I told myself I needed to slow down and though I was still going like hell, I could feel I was slowing down. I didn’t know why I had control then though I eventually came to understand that I only had control of myself because I accessed that plane of existence via the door I mentioned. Once I realized I was in control; I was able to just stop.”

  He glanced up at me every so often, almost as if he expected me to stop him, or scold him. I just gave an approving nod and let him continue. Chester continued, “Right when I stopped it was like snap; and I suddenly either rebounded or flew back UP over the whole area I’d just covered but like a thousand times faster, even though I was going up! I wound up looking out over what I think of as the field, from a sort of watchtower. You could also describe it as standing before eternity. While there, I found that when I closed my eyes . . . see, I don’t mean my regular eyes, but the eyes in my mind or whatever you want to call them that allowed me to see in that place; when I closed them, they opened up somewhere else, which was five feet up above myself lying on my bed! I whipped my head around to the left and right trying to figure out where I was. At first I thought someone somehow put a mirror above my bed without my knowing it. But then I realized I was floating there; I was actually floating up above my bed, near the ceiling. I was out of my body and saw my body five feet beneath me, lying on my bed! The next thought I had was; I’m dead! In fact I was sure of it for a moment because I couldn’t see myself as I was at that time. What I mean is like I couldn’t hold what I considered to be my hand out in front of me and see it where I was at the ceiling. I was like invisible, like a living spirit. My physical self was below me and my eyes in it were closed. But then I noticed that my physical self, lying on the bed below was still breathing, and fairly hard at that. Okay; I figured maybe I was alive; my body below me was breathing faster in accordance with the mild panic I had started to feel, and I confirmed that because I could see it slowing down as I calmed myself. I knew for sure that I was somehow still connected. The next thought I had was how do I get back there? I found that I could move my out of body self in any direction, just by thinking it. And once I started to move I automatically knew, with certainty; that I could settle back into my body anytime I wanted. I also knew that I could go anywhere I wanted, and in the blink of an eye. And I mean anywhere. Ahh, Dr. Stanley?”

  I snapped myself “to”, not that I was zoning out, or that he was losing me, but I think I was just engrossed in what he was telling me. Maybe I looked a little spaced out. I’ve been doing this job for twenty-two years. I know how all kinds of people are. I know when someone is lying and I usually know when someone is delusional, and Chester didn’t strike me as either. “I’m right with you Chester,” I said, “I’m just fascinated. Please continue.”

  “Zip! I was out in our kitchen, Aunt Lisa was at the sink and Uncle Stan was sitting at the table, still in his shirt and tie from work, looking through the day’s mail. I moved around in front of them and tried to touch them, but they had no idea I was there. I wanted to go back into my body and run out to the kitchen to see if they were actually doing what I saw them doing now. But I was so afraid if I did, I may not be able to get back out of my body again. I didn’t even want to waste my time thinking about how I had done it at this point. I just wanted to use this … power, which was already… ah, quite intoxicating. Out of and above my house I flew. I noticed my field of vision was so much wider than when… it sounds so strange saying this, when I’m in my body.” He let out a sigh and continued. “I always kind of liked Mrs. Greene from a few houses down my street. Hers was the first house I thought of so I zipped over there. I went inside and she was in her kitchen. I felt a little guilty being there, but I stayed for a minute, and watched as her husband came in the door.”

  Looking a little embarrassed and with a sheepish grin, he continued, “She kissed him; and told him she’d be right back and; ah, that she had to pee. I got outta’ there at that point. I felt like it was; just wrong to be there. Bam! Right away I was outside and hovering over their house, and from there, I heard Aunt Lisa call me to supper. Just like that I zipped back into my room and just headed back into my body and opened my eyes. I sat up in the bed. When I stood up, it felt really weird, kind of tingly, like my legs were asleep, but that eased pretty quick, so I went to the kitchen. I got chills when I saw Uncle Stan in the exact same clothes I saw him in before, sitting at the kitchen table, neatening the pile of mail he had just gone through. There was no way in hell I was able to eat at that point, so I told them I felt sick, and went back to my room. As I lay there, I heard Aunt Lisa rustling around in the bathroom, so I knew she was getting the thermometer to take my temperature. Sure enough, that’s what she was doing. I told her I was fine, that it was just an upset stomach, and if she didn’t mind, I’d eat something a little later. After making sure those boys hadn’t hit me in the stomach, she left me alone. I waited a few minutes until things quieted down out there, so I knew they were eating and not likely to come into my room. So, I tried again, and at first I couldn’t do it! I was sort of panicking in fear it was a onetime thing, or maybe didn’t even happen at all; like I had dreamed it. Once I centered myself though, it wasn’t long before I made it all happen again; I just had to chill out, and not be overly concerned.

  Then I felt I was at the door again; then bang; off I go, falling; then
back up and I’m above myself like before. I suddenly had so many ideas of where I could go. Some of them, I’m not proud of, but I resisted those. I didn’t like the way it felt being in the Greene’s house. I know I wouldn’t want anyone invading my privacy like that.”

  I must say that I was really blown away by Chester at this point. I’ve never had anyone I felt was otherwise sane; tell me something so far out before. Then, looking me straight in the eye, he told me it was going to start getting weird. That’s when I got chills down my spine. Chester went on about how he stayed home from school the next day, but went there in spirit, I’ll say for lack of a better term. He told me all about his “hanging” around some of the cute girls at school, and how he discovered he could almost, but not quite, breech the boundaries between his spiritual self and the real world. When he stood amongst other kids, he noticed certain ones seemed to get a little spooked. While most were oblivious to his “presence”, the ones he thought may have sensed him all reacted in a similar way. He said he could see the hair on the back of their necks stand up with Goosebumps. They also shifted about, and looked around themselves, as if they thought someone was nearby, and turned to look for them. He remarked that most, but not all, of those who reacted to his presence, were female. He said it seemed the people with the most empathy were those more in tune with the field. That made them more able to sort of sense his presence, or sense that at least, something wasn’t quite right.

  He hung out in the teachers’ lounge for a while, and he hung out around the group of kids that had been his tormentors. One of them in particular, named Tommy, seemed vaguely aware of his presence. Not that he knew it was Chester’s spirit that was there of course, but Chester could definitely tell he was spooked. Chester said that was when he started to really enjoy himself. He shared a lot about that day with me; in fact we talked right up until noon when I suggested we take a break. We ordered some sandwiches in for lunch. I caught up on my notes and some paperwork while Chester listened to his MP3 player.

  When we were finishing our lunch I asked Chester if he was ready to continue. He said he was. I had a feeling he was having trouble getting past the point he was at in his story. He had been stuck on his floating around at school for the past half hour. I wondered if he was having trouble figuring out where to go next with a story he was making up, or if he was genuinely apprehensive about telling the next part of a fantasy he wholeheartedly believed in. At this point, I wasn’t sure which, but it was my job to figure that out. So I decided to try to nudge him forward in his narrative. I said, “Chester, a while ago you said it would start getting weird, but I get the feeling you’re tentative about moving onto what you have to tell me. Would that be a fair statement?”

  “Yes sir” he said, his head tilted slightly down, and crossing his feet as he answered.

  “Hey, Chester”, I said, “the name is Rich, remember? And I understand it’s not easy for you to talk about this, but at the same time you’ve done a great job so far, and I admire you for that. You are doing just fine. Let me remind you that what we discuss is between you and me. My reports and what I relay to anyone else is a quick summary. Not only is it the law that I don’t break your confidence, but it’s a matter of ethics that I’m bound by. And I prefer you not talk about it until you’re absolutely ready, I just wanted to say that to you so you don’t hold back out of that sort of concern, okay?” That helped loosen him back up a bit. It seemed like we were ready to go forward. A lot of people are reluctant to talk out of similar concerns. Like I said before, I have a lot of years in the business. But never in a million years could I have predicted the things Chester Fields was about to share with me.

  I took our lunch trash out of our drab little room to the reception area, threw it away and went back. When I got there I knew something was up by the look on Chester’s face.

  He said to me, “I know what I’m telling you is farfetched, but the rest is even more incredible. And I know you say you’re being open minded; but I also know you’ve got to be having trouble with what I’m telling you. So before we proceed further, I want to go out of body to prove what I’m telling you is true.”

  “Chester, I’m not entertaining doubts at this point. I’m just listening”, I said in a steady tone. But I figured I’d better be totally honest and told him I was sure I’d find some other explanation for what he had already told me and would tell me, once I had all the information I wanted. I thought if he was going to continue to insist he could do this, and that he could prove it, then we may as well get there now. He told me he would go out of body right in front of me, “float” out to the reception area, and find something very specific to tell me that was going on out there. Then we’d go out there and try to verify it. Though I agreed to do this, I was kind of hesitant. I was wondering if it wouldn’t be better to let him finish telling me everything, before we did this. I was afraid once he was “found out”, it could hurt the bond we were creating with each other. But at the same time, finding him out could also put us on a fast track to finding out what happened with the three boys.

  He put his head down on the table into his arms and I could see he was trying to relax himself. After a few minutes, he lifted his head and leaned back, letting his arms go limp at his sides, and chin nearly on his chest. Another few minutes of that and he opened his eyes, and told me he couldn’t relax enough to do it. He asked if we could go to his room, or if I would mind leaving the room. I agreed to leave the room figuring I may as well indulge him all the way at this point. I didn’t close the door quite all the way; leaving it cracked open as I left. I took a few steps down the hall I was in, and looked out to and around the reception area.

  There was a man probably in his thirties, with a woman; probably his wife, walking across the lobby. An elderly gentleman stopped walking to let them pass in front of him, before slowly heading over in the direction of B wing. A moment later I quietly stepped back toward our room; leaned forward, and peaked into the room. Chester was curled up in the fetal position on top of the table! I remember thinking, man; I sure hope he doesn’t have too hard a time accepting the fact that he can’t really do this.

  I walked back out to the reception area for half a minute or so, looking around, kicking myself for not recording this session. At the same time, I checked behind me a few times to make sure Chester wasn’t trying to pull anything. Then I thought what the hell am I doing, bothering with this while this kid tries to pull some sort of parlor trick on me. Rather than rush back though, I closed my eyes and relaxed my neck while taking in a deep breath. As I let it out I would almost swear I heard “come on back now”, either whispered in my ear, or in my mind I thought, as a chill went down my spine. I stepped quickly back to the room. When I opened the door Chester was lying on the table with his head propped up on his elbow.

  With a wry grin he asked, “Did you hear me, or feel me?”

  Again, chills down my spine. “Hey, I’d just like to know what you saw out there, okay?” I said.

  Looking me straight in the eye, he described the clothing and basic appearance of the three people from out in the lobby. I think I started to smile, as I realized he could have easily seen those three people walk across the parking lot on their way into the building, from the window in the room we were in.

  Before I could say a word, Chester spoke up, “As you know there’s an entrance on the other side of the building that we can’t see. If you were to check with those people, you’d find the couple came in from that side entrance. I know that because I only saw the old guy come in the front entrance. The point is, I know the others are there,” he said. The front entrance he referred to was the entrance we could see the approach to out the window of our conference room. “I’ve been looking out the window the whole time and I know I didn’t see the other two come in this entrance. I also know that had you turned onto C wing, you would’ve seen Nurse Waddington, and that sloppy looking orderly; whose name I can’t quite remember. And that’s not the only
place I went either,” he continued. If you call the C wing nurses’ station at 7739, you’ll find out that the nurse with the red hair there, they called her Kelly, spilt her drink just a minute ago. It was either coffee or tea, or, uh, whatever it was; it was in a blue mug,” he said a little more excitedly, “and I stopped by Dr. Mars’ office too. And I think he just told his wife, or someone he called “dear” over the phone, that he was about to go mall walking. The extension number labeled on his phone is 7730.”

  “Okay Chester; hang on a minute, and we’ll check”, I told him calmly and reassuringly. Still, the freaking hairs on the back of my neck were standing as I dialed the nurse’s station. The phone rang, and at that time things felt like they started happening in slow motion. I kept thinking I shouldn’t even be taking part in this. But I couldn’t help myself after what had just happened!

  “C wing, Nurse Bridges” the voice on the other end answered. There was a lump in my throat. “Hello-o?” she said impatiently.

  “C-can I speak to Kelly?” I asked meekly.

  “She had to step away for a minute, can you call back?” she said, sounding a little rushed.

  I was dumbfounded and just said “Uh, where - - when will she be back?”

  “Who’s calling?” said Nurse Bridges sounding more and more irritated.

  Realizing that, hey, I’m a doctor, on par with Doctor William Mars, who ran the entire facility, I spoke more assertively, “This is Doctor Stanley calling, where - is Kelly?”

  “Oh, um, I’m sorry Doctor Stanley; we just had a little accident here. Kelly’s spilled coffee on herself and it’s all over the desk, and, well, it got on some of the files-“. Click. I hung up. I took an outside line and dialed Bill Mars’ cell phone. Though I was nearly sick to my stomach with anxiety, I was reasonably sure, and I must say very, very hopeful that Dr. Mars didn’t ever go mall walking! He picked up his cell, and I asked him if he was in his office. He said he was on his way out, to an, “er, appointment”. I let out a sigh of relief, but then I thought I should ask him to be sure.