The Library

Second Story

The smoke was so thick Gwen couldn't gather herself enough to understand where she was at first. She could feel the gentle touch of her guide's hands on her shoulders, but she was still deep inside an inner world she couldn't bear to leave.

The contours of the house, so familiar to her by now, began to dissolve, putting her into a deep panic, no doubt enhanced by the effects of her 'traveling' tea.

"Gwen," a voice as if from very far away enticed her, "you have to come back now, return to your life, to those who need you."

'Who is this and what on earth is he talking about?' Gwen tried to gather herself. 'This is my life,' she watched, with increasing anxiety, how the thick walls of the house kept melting and morphing and changing colors.

'I'm high,' she thought, calm. 'I must have ingested some of that toxic looking green brew somehow,' she continued her musing, aggravated her psychedelic experience was so humdrum.

"Listen to my voice, Gwen," the discarnate voice insisted. "Find the door. Look for the door."

"What door?" Gwen frowned.

"Do you see anything that looks like a door, a passageway?"

"The house door," she looked around, still dazed by the reality pulsating in waves all around her.

"No. The door to the outside."

"The outside of what?" She blurted, confused.

"Your quest. Find your way back to here."

"I am here."

"I know you feel like that, but you are not. You are not where you think you are. Sometimes you go so deep inside yourself, you have difficulty finding your way out. Finish your quest. Find the door."

She didn't recognize this voice, she noted. It didn't belong to any of the numbers, for sure, and yet sounded very familiar, like that of a person she'd known for many lifetimes.

"Do I know you?"

"Yes," he replied, and the timber of his voice revealed his bemusement. "Very well. Do you see it?"

"No."

"Maybe you should try going outside, look for it there."

"In the desert?"

"In the desert."

"Can I get some bread for the journey?"

"Gwen, listen to me carefully: there is no bread; there is no house. You are inside your vision quest. You've been in it too long and it's very important for you to get out. Find the door."

Gwen opened the cupboard and stared at the bread loaf, which was too tempting to resist. She tore a piece before she made for the door. A sigh of disapproval accompanied her dissent.

"How could you possibly know?" She protested.

"It doesn't matter. I'm your guide, I just know. Can you please stop wasting time?"

"But I don't want to leave! I like it here!"

"Yes, I'm afraid that's exactly what the problem is. Quests can beguile you to such a degree you won't want to leave, but that place is a landscape in your mind, Gwen. It isn't real. You can go back to it whenever you wish, and your friends, do you hear me? The numbers? They are actual people, they are right here with me, all you have to do is find the door out, so you can meet them."

"Did I know them before?"

"No, you never did. Don't you want to, though? Can you hear them, Gwen? Can you hear me?"