While
these two new friends
are on their way back and chance on other unexpected encounters, I
feel I need to put in some weight of my own again, if you don’t
mind. It is
Rough Bottom time !
There
may be a time where a being can and should decide from his experience
gained over the time of his life instead of information's provided by
others without having tested them for their worth or merit. I could
throw myself into a real discussion about the anthropomorphism of
species, animals, humans and the like but that would be of little
interest to the ethereal figure putting words on my feelings,
emerging spontaneously after living through the experiences of Henry
and Bhosun.
One
always wishes to already be in an age where every being consciously
lives its life, with all the tools received to aid in doing only
that, tools that either stay for a while or only for a short time and
are meant to be shared and reconstructed by someone with enough
accumulated experience to do just that.
What
if there never comes someone specifically to lead us to that time or
that each real encounter is actually that one person you don’t
want it to be? What if that time simply doesn’t
agree with what you imagine it to be? What if that time looked
precisely the way it looks at the time of reading these words or any
other moment you happen to find yourself?
What
if everything you hold to be the reason, now is not that time, is
exactly what makes it be that? Can now be so heavily covered in gold
that you simply pretend to be blind, so you have something, somewhen
to hope for?
How
about just being grateful for whatever the fuck happens now? Let’s
hope that day never comes! I am glad this story is not about me, so
quickly back to our two friends. Rough Bottom out!”
As
Bhosun steps around a corner, “Glad
to have you back again, you
had me slightly worried there. When I woke up I began preparing a new
mushroom patch and I discovered a new mineral, which I put to use
right away. When we get back we can also plant the minerals we gather
on our way back. But really, how are you feeling? Anything hurt?
Feeling wobbly in your head? Have lights begun appearing before your
eyes?”
Henry
just
shakes his head,
‘‘Since we moved out of that beautiful cavern, I am already
feeling much better, especially as I was completely unaware of being
there. Emotionally though I feel quite a lot lighter around the
heart, which I won’t complain about. Thank you for interrupting
their procedure, I wouldn’t want to end up like the Syrrah.”
‘‘No
thanks, that’s only natural. Let’s see how you feel over the
course of the next days, emotionally. It’s funny that they
earnestly meant to do good but they simply didn’t ask you in
advance, how you actually feel about being helped.”
‘‘It’s
only because they were earnest, that I can’t be angry towards them
or feel threatened. We might even have become friends, with their
beautiful melodious sounds. They also shine a light wherever they go,
too bad some of them didn’t come with us.
I
couldn’t conceive of not being able to go against the stream, to
see where that might lead me. I am not made to follow the feet of
others but to walk in my way. In response to how the Syrrah live,
they all think the same thoughts, yet how is that possible? We could
see that by exchanging with them, we made some of them change
direction a bit. Did you see how they converged on the two and
actively tried to dissipate any dissonance?”
“Yes,
that was quite funny, a bit
surprising even.”
“Is
their model of everyone having the same vision maintained by brute
force? I wonder if that can be any healthy. Do you think we should go
play with their hive mind a bit?”
“That
seems like a fun way of passing our time, yet for everything that
seems off to us, perhaps there is something right with it, that we
may not know, because we prefer mostly walking it alone. Life is very
nuanced and it’s easy to take a stance and claim it to be all bad.
We should perhaps live a bit with them.
Or we can do what we intended
and see if our fruits of labour get to them by themselves. There is a
misconception that we need to right every wrong and that there is
only a direct approach that can do this. It is precisely because we
walk different paths that we may create as a sum more richness.”
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“Perhaps
it’s a bit of both that does it? And no, if something feels off,
you simply go, you know self-worth and all.”
“Just
continue walking, we’ll see where it leads us.”
“All
Syrrah look close to exactly the same and act the same, yet where I
come from, the surface, every human looks different.
We
all act different, think different, we actually try sometimes to be
as different as possible, or that’s what we are pretending to do,
their way of living is without a doubt the same as for most people on
the surface.
It’s
apparently hard to act different, without having a reason to act
against the way, most people act. How does one act different, without
making it seem as if that were anything special but simply the most
natural thing to do, not even worth talking about?”
‘‘It’s
all about the inner attitude and acceptance of how one behaves, which
takes its time to settle in, otherwise one simply isn’t free.”
‘‘Free...
Another overused word you got there... Freedom.”,
remarks
Henry while shaking his head.
‘‘We’ve arrived at a crossroads, which way do we take?”
“Let’s
head left; I think I came from there.”
While
moving through the passages, ducking here and there, Bhosun isn’t
as assured anymore that he is following the right path and because of
his insecurity, the decisions he takes while guiding them further,
become less assured.
All
of a sudden they hear a loud scream!
‘‘What
is that sound?”,asked
Henry.
‘‘Someone is in distress, let’s go check it out.”
As
they follow the curve of the bend, the ground starts to rise up
steeply. Eventually they need to hold on to protruding rocks on
either side of the passage but they end up on a dead end.
*AARGHH*,
even louder and nearer and yet there is nowhere to go.
Strange,
this is not logical, that while we hear a scream, we can’t reach
it. Perhaps we need to take another direction at the crossroad? Or
might there be a way through here? No, this cave seems to be
naturally occurring. *AARGHH*, but where is this coming from?
*AARGHH*, reverberating through the stones all around them.
Again
and again, these screams are heard. Henry places his ear against the
part of the surface where it seems most loud, just when another
scream begins. It shakes Henry to the core of his being.
Henry
opens his eyes and
finds himself lying in bed. Covered in sweat and lying there naked,
his covers wrestled aside.
Have
I screamed only in my dreams?
Where
am I?
‘‘Henry
are you allright? Need me to come up?”
,asked Clarity.
Come
up? I was just wandering through the cave. How did I get here again?
“No
you don’t need to come up, I am allright but
wait a second. I’ll be there in just a minute, I need to refresh
myself and get dressed.”
He
throws a bucket of water over his body and then dries himself with a
towel. Then throws on some clothes lying around and goes down the
stairs to see Clarity waiting for him, breakfast ready. Seeing her,
calms him immediately, wearing off the effects of the night.
He walks
into her loving embrace and gives her a long and affectionate kiss.
Her long and dark hair is caressing his skin. Looking in her blue
eyes, the colour of flowing water, speckled with drops of white, the
fears of the night, wash away.
Clarity
looks him in the eyes, bloodshed pupils, and sees something is off.
The smell of his body, slightly acrid or is it the twitch in his
eyes? She places her hands around his waist on his buttocks and
presses her breasts against his chest. Without a word, they keep
standing like that, pressed against each other, while last night’s
dreams recede for a while to the back of his head. His heart-rate and
breathing calm down. With a sigh of pleasant calmness, he begins
explaining about the dream, about Bhosun and the Syrrah.
“You’ve
been abducted in your dream? They tried to brainwash you in becoming
one of them, one with them? Sounds horrible, I can understand that
you’d be screaming. Yet they also seem nice and gentle. A weird mix
of characteristics. Imagine having no real personality, nothing that
makes you distinct.
This might apply to some of our neighbours. Maybe
even sometimes to us. It may also be a form of protection, a way of
hiding out of fear of standing out, even though in the inside so much
more is going on. They claim to be of one mind but there seemed to be
some of them that got a little lost through your interaction.”
“Yes
that’s interesting. How they began blinking in a disarray. They
aren’t completely deaf nor blind even if they fall back in line
again.”
“The
first damage is done. A small incision. You may not see what comes of
it, but you both infected them, with the virus of freedom. How will
they react. Will this emerge spontaneously? How does a hive-mind
receive such notions? I am getting curious about your dreams. Curious
as to what happens next. Won’t you take me with you on one of your
next dreams?”
“If
only I could do that, we’d be travelling together. Perhaps you’d
understand me better then.”
With
a mischievous grin: “We are beginning to understand, to speak, Mr.
Sleepy guy.”
“I’m
not sleeping right now, I see you. I feel you.”
“You
feel me? Try touching me a bit more here. Let’s get warmed up
again, too bad you got dressed already, you were looking better
before. We have a whole day before us. Let’s begin it with a bang.”
“Now
that, that is a good idea.”
