Beneath the Elder Tree

by Hazel Black

  Emily smiled at me as she grasped the orb. ‘We spirits are quite useful in times of darkness.’

  ‘What is that thing?’

  ‘Nothing and everything.’

  Emily released her grip on the orb and it gravitated towards my mother and passed directly into her chest. It had an immediate effect and her tears subsided. She was visibly stronger and seemed to pass that strength to my father when she unexpectedly reached out and hugged him.

  ‘How did you do that?’

  ‘I gave her some of my aura. The more positive aura you have, the stronger you become.’

  ‘Explain it to me.’

  ‘We, like living beings, thrive on positive aura. Unlike living beings though, we can pass our aura to others. That’s what I’ve just done. It will help your mother through these difficult hours.’

  ‘I don’t rightly understand what you’re saying, Emily, but thank you.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  ‘Hold on… why is it positive aura? Why not just aura?’

  ‘I commend your powers of observation.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘It is described as positive aura because there is also negative aura.’

  ‘We don’t have the negative kind, do we?’

  ‘No. It is the fuel for another type of being. I know you’re full of questions, Lucy, but now is not the time for a thousand answers that will spawn a thousand more questions. Now is the time for you to say farewell to your family. You will never be able to return to them again.’

  - CHAPTER THREE -

  Night World

  We remained at the house for over an hour. I listened in as my family talked about me. It was strange to be talked about in the past tense. My uncles recalled some funny memories of me when I was a child. There was little genuine laughter - they just wanted to make my folks feel better. I watched them hugging and inclining their heads to hide their true sorrow from one another. Nothing could be hidden from me. I experienced all the emotions in the room and it left me practically paralysed. This would be a moment that I would never be able to banish from memory.

  After a while my uncles broke out the booze and everyone gladly took a drink. It seemed to relax them and the tears subsided. They talked about the past and of other family members who had passed on. Most of the stories were about my grandmother and her crazy stories. She’d gone a bit funny in her final years and I think she started to believe in the fairytales she used to tell us. At least everyone could laugh about it now.

  ‘We should go,’ Emily suggested. She stood next to me by the door and placed her hand over mine. ‘This is draining us both. We must leave before we grow too weak to get out.’

  ‘I’d rather stay.’

  ‘You must trust me this one time.’ She stood in front of me and looked up at me with glimmering blue eyes. ‘Please, trust me this one time?’

  ‘All right, Emily.’

  I took one last look at my parents before she led me from the room. As we left the house I saw more familiar faces entering the garden and sombrely making their way up the path. It was my band-mates: Dan, Mike and Susan. They were all wearing black - this had nothing to do with the occasion though, they always wore black because they were too serious to be thinking about colour. They were a dour looking trio at the best of times but they were vivid people behind their gloomy appearances. They had been my best friends for many years.

  ‘Who’s going to do the talking?’ Dan asked, without looking at the others.

  ‘I’m no good at talking,’ Mike answered. ‘Lucy always did the talking for us. Jesus, I’ll faint if I have to talk.’

  ‘Me too,’ Dan replied, still not looking at the others. ‘Maybe you should do the talking, Sue. You’re a girl.’

  ‘She is?’ Mike snorted.

  ‘Shut up, Mike,’ Susan hissed. ‘This isn’t the time for wisecracks. And I’m not doing the talking. You two know Lucy’s family better than me.’

  How would they survive without me? I’d always had to do everything for them. I would miss them greatly, as much as they would miss me.

  ‘They’ll survive,’ Emily assured me. ‘They’ll grow up and live long and fulfilling lives.’

  ‘They’ll live fulfilling lives but they’ll never make in the music world without me.’

  We stood by the street for a while as our strength gradually returned. I tried to come to terms with what I’d just experienced, but it was an impossible situation to deal with. I hated that I was in the mirror world, as Emily called it. To me the place seemed lifeless and was no true reflection of the real world.

  ‘They mourn your death even though you’re not really dead,’ Emily preached. ‘You feel sorrow because they have lost something that has not really been lost.’

  ‘You’re trying to distract me from what’s just happened.’

  ‘I am not. I’m simply trying to show you that what you’re feeling is fruitless.’

  ‘You have no idea of what I’m feeling.’

  ‘I do. I died nineteen years ago and went through the exact same experience with my spirit guide. He showed me my family going hysterical at the hospital then explained that I had to move on. And I have. And I know that some day I’ll see my family again and there will be joy between us once more. Why should there be sorrow when we will meet again in a better place?’

  ‘I’ll see my family again?’

  ‘Undoubtedly.’

  ‘It could be an entire lifetime before that happens.’

  ‘You’re going to live forever, Lucy. Is waiting a lifetime such a big deal? Is it really so bad that you’ll be stuck in this world for a few years?’

  ‘All right, you made your point.’

  ‘Good. Let’s get going.’

  ‘Where to this time?’

  ‘You’ll see when we get there.’

  ‘I hope this will be more pleasant than what you’ve just shown me.’

  We walked for almost thirty minutes along a road that was very familiar to me. I’d come this way the day before, returning from band practice at Susan’s house. We’d been working really hard of late and were only a month away from playing our first proper gig.

  The journey was uneventful until I suddenly felt drained of all my strength and had to stop. I leaned on a garden wall and my spirit body grew heavy, as if it was made of lead. Emily also seemed to weaken visibly and her eyes went very dull.

  ‘Don’t rest here,’ she insisted. ‘This place is not good for us.’

  ‘What’s so special about this spot?’

  I caught her glancing over the wall at a house behind me. Her eyes pulsed red for an instant before fading to white.

  ‘There’s something in that house, isn’t there?’ I turned to examine the façade of the three storey building. The house looked derelict and the garden was overgrown, with litter strewn about it. The tall windows were black and impenetrable. I could see nothing inside but I felt a presence within those walls. An unkind presence.

  ‘This is an evil place.’ Emily whispered. ‘Don’t ever come here again.’

  ‘What’s evil about it?’ I asked as I stared at the grimy windows of the house. ‘Why is this house any different to all the other houses on this street?’

  ‘The house is just bricks and mortar,’ Emily said quietly. ‘It’s what’s inside.’

  ‘Tell me what it is?’

  ‘Not now.’ She tugged at me and her face betrayed the fear that she was feeling. ‘Please, let’s go.’

  Emily claimed she was an adult but I suspected that because she died young, she would never truly be a grown-up. A part of her would always be the little girl that lost her life when she was eight years old. I felt protective of her because of her youthful appearance
, and didn’t want her to be afraid. I pushed myself from the wall, took her hand and staggered away from the mysterious house.

  ‘You all right?’ I asked her.

  ‘Of course I am,’ Emily spat. She was obviously embarrassed that she’d shown some vulnerability in front of me. It was written all over her face. ‘I’m a veteran of this place. I’m always all right.’

  ‘What was that back there? What was in the house?’

  ‘I’ll explain it to you later.’

  She paced ahead of me and took to a road that was leading us away from Hampton. I doubted I would ever return to my home town. There was nothing but sorrow for me there, anyway. Every street and every face would remind me of my former life and the fact that it had been cut short so cruelly. I lamented all that was gone and that was to be. I mourned my own passing.

  ‘Stop dwelling on the negative,’ Emily said over her shoulder as she shuffled along the pavement.

  ‘I can’t help it. There were so many things I wanted to do. I never played a gig with my friends. I never travelled to other countries. I never found true love...’

  ‘I know you didn’t.’ Emily waited for me to catch up. ‘I know exactly how you feel. I never got to do any of those things either. I too have contemplated all the wonderful things that I missed out on. It serves only to make me sad. I’ve come to the conclusion that it was my destiny to die young, so that I could properly guide another young person. It was just my time.’

  ‘Perhaps it was just my time, too.’

  ‘There was a higher calling for you, Lucy. I’m sure of it.’

  ‘I didn’t say goodbye to my parents when I left their house the other day...’

  ‘I know.’ She threw her skinny arms around my waist and gave me a hug. ‘I know.’

  ‘I should have.’

  ‘It’s impossible to get through life without having some regrets, Lucy.’ She took a step away and looked up into my eyes. ‘Everyone leaves the living world with regrets of some sort.’

  ‘I wish I could speak to them one more time.’

  ‘Rule one: Never make contact with the people from your past life.’

  ‘That doesn’t seem fair.’

  ‘Believe me, it’s very fair. The living are much better off not knowing what exists beyond their lives.’

  ‘Why? Surely it’d be easier if they knew there was more to come.’

  ‘No. If they knew what was to come they would simply waste what little time they have on earth. Their world would cease to function and they would lose all ambition and perseverance. The living world would then become a limbo of sorts.’

  ‘Are we in limbo, Emily?’

  ‘Limbo is a term invented by the living so they could comprehend what is beyond them. There are five types of reality. Five parallel universes. We - you and I - exist in two: The mirror world and the night world. But we can also see into the living world. The fourth world is where we go when our time in spirit world is at an end.’

  ‘You said there are five worlds, yet you only named four.’

  ‘You don’t need to know about the fifth world right now.’

  ‘I’m getting fed up with your secrets, Emily.’

  ‘You won’t have to put up with my secrecy for too long.’

  ‘Your time here is almost at end, isn’t it?’

  ‘Almost,’ she nodded. ‘My duty was to guide and protect you while you were living.’

  ‘Why are you still here?’

  ‘I have to show you the ropes. My guess is that I’ll have three days at most. I’ll probably start to fade out tomorrow.’

  ‘Fade out?’

  ‘It takes time to pass from this world into the world beyond. It took almost three days for my spirit guide to pass over and I’m thinking it’ll be the same for me.’

  ‘It’s going to be pretty lonely here without you.’

  ‘It won’t be. You’ll be too busy to feel loneliness.’

  ‘How will I know who I’m supposed to guide?’

  ‘We’ll talk about that later. First, I want to bring you somewhere really beautiful. And,’ she grabbed my hand started leading me along the pavement again, ‘we need to get there before we enter night world.’

  ‘We’re about to enter into another world?’

  ‘Mirror world and night world are the same. Think of them like two sides to a coin. One side - night world - is clean and shiny and magnificent to behold. The other side - mirror world - is dull and scratched and is rather unpleasant on the eye.’

  ‘And we pass through both worlds each day?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said giddily. ‘But you’re going to wish you could live in night world forever. You’re about to have your big blue eyes opened!’

  * * *

  We hardly spoke as she led me towards the old abattoir that stood derelict on the outskirts of Hampton. The sun was slowly dying behind us and I was seeing colours for the first time that day. The fuzziness that blighted the mirror world was sharpening, like a lens being twisted into focus. I also noticed that the anxiety and sorrow that had pestered me all day was receding and I was feeling somewhat refreshed and upbeat. The entire world around me was evolving right before my eyes, and I was evolving with it.

  ‘Is this night world?’ I called out to Emily. ‘Everything seems different all of a sudden.’

  ‘No, the sun hasn’t gone down yet. We’re still in mirror world, but it’s fading which is lifting the curse of the sun from us. Think of it like being shackled in a prison cell. The shackles have just been removed but you haven’t left the cell yet. Night world is when you step outside the cell into a much broader and more vibrant environment.’

  ‘I fail to see how night could be more vibrant than day. Are we like vampires or something?’

  ‘Let’s not talk about vampires.’

  ‘What? Are you telling me they actually exist.’

  ‘There are a lot strange beings in the various worlds. You’ll learn all about them in time - when you’re experienced enough to understand why they exist.’

  ‘More secrets.’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about the evils of the world right now.’

  ‘Suit yourself.’

  I knew the abattoir very well. It’d been closed for over a decade and was a pretty grim place at the best of times. The residents of Hampton had been petitioning the local authorities for years to have it dismantled. I couldn’t understand why Emily thought it would be beautiful at night. It was dismal enough in daylight and nobody went there after dark, except for secretive lovers or the occasional troublemakers from the city. The iron structure came into full view as we passed the last of the houses. It loomed over its overgrown grounds like a rusted metal monster waiting for unsuspecting victims to cross its path.

  ‘I’m still not seeing the beauty,’ I said with a snort. ‘It’s as ugly as ever.’

  Emily ignored me and continued on across the road and onto the wasteland surrounding the building. As we entered the stretch of patchy grassland I froze up and stared at the ground at my feet.

  The world was indeed changing. As the sunlight faded, the world became bright and full of life. A faint luminous mist began to rise from the grass, the flowers and the trees that surrounded us. The insects that buzzed past us sparked brightly and little lights fluttered in their wake. Pulses of light rippled out from the birds in the trees. The nocturnal creatures that scurried in the undergrowth were radiating brightness, like dancing flames in black grass. It didn’t make any sense. The world was brighter now than it had been during daylight.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’

  ‘It’s the aura,’ Emily said calmly, as if this was ordinary to her. ‘Every living creature has an aura. In n
ight world you get to see that aura in every colour imaginable. This is merely the beginning, Lucy. The sun is about to disappear, and when it does night world will take over.’ She hurried on towards the building. ‘Follow me. I want you to see the bigger picture.’

  Emily was quicker and more agile now than she’d been earlier that day. She leaped off the ground and landed on the metal wall of the factory and stood horizontally before pacing up the wall towards the roof. Everything about this level of existence was strange and unexpected. Every second there was something new to experience.

  ‘Come on,’ she shouted from above. ‘Try it for yourself.’

  Passing through doors had been a little odd. This, on the other hand, was completely surreal. Still, I wanted to be able to do the things she did. I wanted to master this strange new world. I darted forward and I jumped at the corrugated wall. To my dismay, I bounced right off it and landed in the grass.

  ‘Why did you fall?’ Emily shouted from the roof.

  ‘Because I’m trying to walk up a wall!’ I screamed back. ‘I’ve never done this before.’

  ‘What dragged you back to earth?’

  ‘Gravity.’

  ‘Do you think gravity can affect a spirit?’

  ‘It shouldn’t.’

  ‘It doesn’t. Just walk up the wall. It’s the same as walking on a pavement.’

  It was a mental barrier, just like passing through doors and walls. I had to conquer the illusion that I was still alive. Emily was right, how could I be dragged down by gravity if I weighed nothing at all? I wasn’t even in the same universe as gravity.