And Then, It Happened

Rachael left and I ran upstairs. Crystal was right behind me with a million and one questions. She wanted to know everything. My response was to say nothing. I was digging through all of my things without even thinking. I started by looking through my work bag, I usually put it in there. I never left the house without it. Clothes were flying across the room as I was trying to get words out. “First, (throwing another armful of clothes) I noticed that none of it made sense. Then, ( there goes my headphones and my wallet) When I started looking up dates there was nothing.” Crystal was standing in the doorway looking even more puzzled now than she had been downstairs.

“Ha! There you are!”

I held up the notebook. Crystal rolled her eyes at me. “ What could that little book have to do with any of this?”

So I started walking down the staircase. I began to explain to her what was going on. It probably just sounded like ramblings of a crazy person. Trying to explain the letters and the dates. How I had been watching and waiting for the last year for everything to make sense. We finally got into the sitting room and I opened the notebook. I ran into the hall and grabbed a pen and some paper off of the slender table in the foyer. When I came back, Crystal was looking in the book. “Do you see? Here.”

I began explaining “When Dad died I had taken his book and immediately found it odd that the first date in the book was the day that he died. Then, it was that none of the other dates correlated to anything else in my life. When the first few dates had come and gone I began to worry that all of these dates were meaningless. KH - Kim Hathaway died on 06/06/2017 that's the second date in the book! Crystal this has to mean something doesn’t it!? Each of the names Rachael Matthews gave us matches initials and dates in the book, EVEN HERS!”

Crystal stared at me. “Sarah, What do you know about this group? The All See-ers?”

Well I knew absolutely nothing about them at all! I didn’t know that my Dad was part of any groups. Not just that, but why they would even bother giving me money, let alone $20,000. I just looked at her, shrugged my shoulders and shook my head no.

She asked me to follow her. We began walking up the stairs and she started to share with me the meaning of her room. “This room is a sacred space, and no one may enter it without permission and without my blessing. I am going inside and you wait here.” Crystal had her quirks, but what I didn’t really look into was her Ritual Room and her hobbies.

She went into the room and closed the door behind her. I could hear her muttering behind the door and she was clearly knocking things about. She came back and this time the space behind her was dark and she left the door wide open. She held up a stick of something that was smoking. She told me to keep an open mind and to breathe in deep. The smell was flowery and stinky all at the same time. I tried to ask what she was doing, but she told me to shush. She told me that I just needed to be breathing and having faith and trust in her. After she was done she told me to turn around and covered me once again in the smoke. I stifled a few coughs, I didn't want her to feel bad. When she was finished she told me to turn around, looked me dead in the eye and said “ Repeat after me.” It was all so mysterious and I just nodded at her.

“I enter this space with an open heart and an open mind.”

“I vow to keep this space clean of impure and negative thought.”

“As I will it so shall it mote it be.”

I felt strange saying her words. Who even talks like that anymore. I took a deep breath. She put her hand out toward me and told me to step through the doorway. As i stepped across the white line on the floor, I felt a breeze come through the door with me and the room was brightly lit by thousands of candles all at once. It was unsettling. The room was larger than mine with bookshelves that went floor to ceiling in it. All the shelves were filled with books, some of them looked like they were bound in skin, it was a little gross. There were white lines painted on the floor like the one I had to step over to get into the room. When I looked a little closer, she never stepped on any of them, They weren’t painted, they were poured. Salt, sand, sugar, i don’t know but it looked like that. There were all sorts of different Plants hanging down from the ceiling and in pots in front of all the windows. The room had 6 windows in it and they, like the bookshelves, went floor to ceiling. There were three tables in this room as well. One was only a few feet in the room from the door. It came up to my stomach and had rocks and crystals and dried shriveled things on it. There was a table on the other side of the room that looked like this one as well. The one that really had my attention was in the middle of the room. It was a table made of thick wood that had burn marks on it. There were 5 main focal points on it, a flame that burned seemingly out of nowhere, a Chalice style cup of Water, a tall vase that held many different flowers, a large bird like statue(about the size of a football)holding a smoking stick thing that she had used on me earlier, and in the very middle of the table was a black cauldron, about the size of a soccer ball. All of these items were sitting on a White cloth that was covering the top of the table. She turned to me and told me “This room is sacred. It is never to be entered with any ill will or bad intentions. Do not ever come into this space without me.” She took both of my hands and looked at my wide eyes. “Never come into this space without me! There are powers here that are beyond your control and you must heed what I am telling you in order for you and I to remain safe.”

The level of fear I felt in that moment scared me. The candles behind me blew out and Crystal turned to me "Do not be afraid my dear. Here is where you will learn about the All See-ers. I will teach you what your Father didn’t. I want you to know that you are a very powerful being and you are stronger than us all.” As Crystal said these words I didn’t know what just happened. I went to work as a normal person this morning and now she’s telling me I’m powerful and that these people who I didn’t even know knew this about me. What is happening in my life right now!? As I thought this the candles all began to burn a very bright blue, a gust of wind blew me out the door and closed it in front of my face. A few moments later I hadn’t moved, but the door opened slowly. Crystal looked at me, “ I know de…” “Stop, just stop Crystal. My dad’s gone, all these people are trying to take care of me I guess, I don’t know. Then you're telling me I’m.. Just stop. Air I need Air. I’ll be back.”

I turned and headed down the stairs. Crystal said something, but I was no longer listening to her. I’m done. This is all just too super crazy. I pulled on my hoodie that was hanging on the banister and walked out the door.

What just happened? I don’t even know. Outside it was still wet from the day's rain. The traffic was busy as usual. I was looking at all the mundane everyday things that were going on at 10:30 at night. People driving heading to parties and hang outs with friends. People riding their bikes with deliveries for restaurants in the area. So many people with normal lives instead of the crazy thing I called my life. None of these people had to deal with everything I had to. Did they? It was strange, people were staring at me more than usual, or at least it seemed that way as I walked down the street. So many people nodded and smiled at me as I wandered away from Crystal’s Palace. I just needed to be alone and clear my thoughts from the day's craziness. Who would have known that today was going to be such a disaster? Apparently my Dad knew. I had so many questions. Why didn’t he tell me about this group he was in? How did he know all these dates? Was I actually powerful, and if so why would he hide something like that from me? Now I was mad at him. I missed him so terribly and I was mad at him. All I could think about was how foolish I was about to look at home while yelling at my Dad’s urn about all of this. I caught myself giggling at the thought of that. I really must look silly. Hands on my hips sternly cussing at his urn about not sharing information with me. The neighbors probably thought I was crazy. As I rounded the corner to head back to the house, a car pulled up. Right in front of the house. Three ladies all in green got out of the car. I stopped and sat on the stoop a few doors down from ours and watched. They knocked, there was no answer, which was strange, because I knew Crystal was home. Maybe she left after I did? They had a conversation amongst themselves, they all got back into the car and left. I watched them drive right past me. They were ugly women. They all had very gray hair pulled back into buns that rested just behind their shoulders. The noses on their faces were definitely large enough to make note of. They were talking in the car as they moved past, one began to turn my direction and I went limp to make it look like I was a bum sleeping on the stairs. I stayed there for what seemed like an eternity. I got up and went home. I opened the door and all the lights were off. “Auntie Crystal” I whispered, I was worried something horrible had happened while I was gone. “Auntie Crystal” I said a bit louder. I slowly moved up the stairs and heard a small noise and stopped dead in my tracks. I was quiet and listened. The noise was sort of a scratchy sound. I quietly and carefully moved up the stairs, “ Auntie Crystal.” I was almost at the top of the stairs and saw a green glow from under the door. I sat on the floor and listened to the sounds on the other side. I heard bottles clanking and it sounded like chanting or singing. I couldn’t hear any of the words, I was just trying to make sense of what was happening. Who were those ladies and what was going on behind this damn door!! I was listening and suddenly I felt very dizzy. I squeezed my eyes shut and when I opened them, I was in the room. With Crystal.