Beyond The Mind

In The Beginning: Acrophobia

¤Bola¤

Heaven?

'Welcome, Bola' an ominous voice said as I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. 'Your next session will begin in a few moments. Relax as you've been doing before and prepare your mind.'

I tried to sit up, but my body felt paralysed and weak. I couldn't move my hands and legs and my lips seems to be glued shut. In panic, I rolled my eyes to the side and on the other side of a glass, stood men and women in white coats, staring back at me. I blinked, trying my best to speak, but no sound was forthcoming and the scientists watched my struggles.

I faced the white ceiling again, watching as my chest rose and fell as I took slow, painful breaths. The last I could remember was the world spinning and the sound of tires screeching as I crashed to what I had presumed to be my death.

'The subject is properly rested.'

Two robotic arms, armed with syringes, stretched out from under the bed. My heart thumped in my chest as I struggled to move. I watched in horror as the needles pierced a vein in the clefts of my elbows, before the robots emptied the yellowish contents into my bloodstream. Only then did I feel strength return to my limbs, but I was gone before I could react.

When I opened my eyes again, I felt cold air whipping all around me. I found myself still lying but the ceiling was now a collection of skyscrapers in the night sky. I moved my arms about and when I looked down, I screamed because of my crippling fear of heights.

"Oh sh*t," I muttered as I closed his eyes again, breathing hard through his nose and wishing it would go away. My legs wobbled as I dared to look at the traffic of cars below me, a mirage of white and red lights. My crippling fear of heights kept me from climbing to such heights and participating in altitude related activities, but here I was, plastered to the side of a building, struggling to stay alive.

The dry cold wind blowing against my face gave me wet eyes and a blurry vision. I shimmied to the left on the small platform on the side of the building. Ignoring the fear pulling at my heart and turning my legs to jelly, I finally made it to the edge. But the platform did not extend to the other side of the building and I almost lost my footing.

I looked down again, considering jumping. After all, I was going to die either way.
This train of thought was still in my mind when I spotted a female silhouette in the spot I'd been before.

I called out to the woman and all she said was, "Do it."

I stood with my back pressed to the building for a few seconds before realizing she was was asking me to jump. On impulse, I fell forward towards the traffic below, the air whipping past my body as I felt gravity's pull. The loose shirt I wore thrashed around in the wind and once again, I thought I would die.

Then it was over. I felt my feet on the solid paved sidewalk, alive and with the woman a few feet away from me. Studying her face closely, I couldn't recognise her but strangely I knew her name.

"Julia!" I called, but she turned her back and walked away. In an attempt to run after her, I tripped as I felt my legs give way and found myself back on the hospital bed, immobilised.

Acrophobia: The Fear Of Heights