Ascended light
Julia and Derek sat at opposite ends of their quaint living room with its lime green wallpaper and tribal masks from travels to Africa. .
The wind outside rattled the windows. As the TV's images flickered, a strange sound entered the room.
“Did you hear that?” Julia said. She had badly kept greying brown hair. Her glasses sat on a nose that resembled an evil witch.
Her husband Derek shook his head, his red complexion peeling from abuse of the sun.
The noise became louder, to a point where its presence in the room was almost unbearable. It was a sound like a radio's static, an angry frantic noise.
“What was that?” Derek said.
The noise seemed to pop. A bright light shone for a second and seemed to engulf the whole room.
The buzzing sound was low now like a chorus of bees buzzing. Something had appeared in the middle of the room. Both Derek and Julia were shaking.
As their eyes adjusted to the room, which was now back in its normal light, they saw that there was a large white crystal sitting on the carpet.
As Derek stared at it, he started to smile and he looked like a child observing a sunset for the first time.
“I think...” he said, “that whatever made this appear was very good, just look at it dear, you'll see images you can't understand, nor comprehend.”
“Aliens!” shrieked Julia “I think aliens made this appear and yet you sound so calm, we need to call the police!” Her eyes were wide to the point where she looked like her head might explode from terror.
“Just look for a moment,” he urged her.
Julia reluctantly let her eyes rest on the crystal and her fearful expression melted. She turned to face Derek with a look of amazement.
“Aliens...” she smiled broadly, “but they’re like angels.”
“Yes, when I looked into the crystal, I saw it too, the story they had to tell. They can't reach us personally, but they could deliver this gift, if we choose to accept it.”
“I want to embrace the gift,” beamed Julia.
They saw beings of light. They were dressed in white robes and had long featureless faces. The creatures were noble with a quiet holiness. They lived in a world that was like a tropical rainforest and a world that was overflowing with kindness. In the vision, it was like seeing the embodiment of goodness. They didn't believe in cruel concepts such as war or hatred. The aliens hoped to spread peace. They showed them that love and light had magical powers, magic that was unseen to the human eye.
Derek looked at his wife, “Do you want to accept the mission they wish us to take on?”
Julia thought of the potential of what the aliens had communicated to them and how they wished to allow Derek and herself to become healers. They didn’t know what being a healer would accomplish because what it entailed wasn't entirely clear. The message from the aliens was clear in its intent, yet the actual logistics came through like a bad radio reception.
“I think we should,” Julia said.
Derek walked up to the crystal and placed his hands upon it. He looked at Julia.
“Nothing’s happening, maybe whatever power they have sent has been lost in the transmission.”
Julia touched the crystal, an electric sensation travelled through her hands and passed into every atom of her body. She felt a world of power enter her. “Something’s happening!”
“What? Describe it.”
“It feels like knowledge that isn't facts and figures is inside of me,” Julia said.
“What do you think it means?”
“I think, we will have to see over time,” Julia said after the crystal was drained of whatever power had seeped into her.
They sat back down and watched as the crystal seemed to transform into a dull grey colour. Before their eyes it began to expel smoke and before they knew it, the smoke had evaporated in the air and soon the crystal was no more than a non-toxic grey gas. Outside they heard rain begin to tap, tap, tap on the windows.
“It's a strange universe,” Derek said.
******************
Over the next few days Derek and Julia discussed the strange phenomena. Recounting the alien experience, made them feel young again, like giddy teens. They decided not to tell anyone else. For one thing the crystal was gone, and with it all evidence of the aliens. They also knew that these beings meant no harm to humans.
“We should go on as normal,” Julia said as she was getting ready for work at the local medical centre where she was a GP.
“We really should,” Derek said.
“So... I'll be off.” She put on her coat and looked questionably at her husband before opening the front door and venturing out.
Julia got into her car and began the drive towards the next village. As she drove her hands were tingling and the car seemed to move smoothly over bumps in the road. Her car had been an old hand-me-down, and had never glided along the road with such elegance that it possessed now.
When she got to work her receptionist looked glum. Julia gave her a nervous smile, and saw how she returned that smile with joy.
When she got to her office, she noticed how the plants needed watering. She fetched a jug of water; as she watered them they opened up as if the sun was directly on them and new leaves flowered rapidly. Julia gasped; it was obviously the work of the alien crystal.
***************
Soon her first patient arrived. She was a thirteen-year-old girl who Julia had only seen once before. The girl was a dirty, skinny creature, with thin greasy hair, the kind of creature the world pushes aside.
“Good morning,” Julia said warmly.
A strange look registered on the girl’s face. “Um, hi, Doctor Smith.”
“How can I help you today?” Julia remembered the girl had had a pregnancy scare a month ago.
“I’m pregnant!” the girl blurted out.
“Oh.” Julia was composed as any good doctor should be. “Are you in a relationship, if you don't mind me asking?”
“It's not someone my age,” the girl said and then started to sob.
Julia put a reassuring hand on the girl’s shoulder. A strange expression animated the girl’s face. She looked wildly up at Julia.
“It will be OK,” Julia promised the girl, “Do you wish to keep the baby?”
“No. I need an abortion.”
“Of course. Are you comfortable telling me who the dad is?” “No!” snapped the girl.
“That's fine, dear. Let's just do a pregnancy test and then we will sort out the abortion, everything's going to be fine.”
“Thank you, Dr Smith,” the girl said nervously.
Julia made arrangements for the pregnancy test. As they waited together for the results, it came back negative.
“I did eight tests, all came back positive,” the girl exclaimed.
“Sometimes babies pass early in the pregnancy. When you’re older and have found the right man, then your time to have a baby will come.” Julia was relieved for the child. She wanted to know who the potential father had been. She was terrified for this girl; her radar was telling her whoever had slept with her was much older.
“Do you feel like you'd be able to tell me who your boyfriend is, I won’t tell anyone,” Julia said.
The girl looked up at her with serious eyes. “Dr Smith, he... he does things to me, sick things.”
“How old is this man?” Julia asked.
“Forty-five,” the girl whispered. “He’s my mother’s boyfriend.
I need help!”
“Stay in my office and I'll arrange a social worker to come a
nd see you, darling. You don't have to tell me anything more, keep it till you see the social worker, this abuse has to stop now.”
Julia arranged for a kind social worker she knew well to see the girl and Julia prayed that this would never happen to the girl again.
**************
In the following months, their lives continued the way they always had Their marriage was happy although sexless. The attraction between Derek and Julia had fizzled out in their early thirties yet they remained together. She had got saggy and he had lost what little beauty he’d ever possessed.
But one morning the wail that left Julia alarmed Derek. He ran to the bathroom to see what was wrong. She was shaking and holding a pregnancy test.
“What? Why do you have that? We never make love any more!” Derek said.
“Pregnant,” Julia whispered, her eyes wide.
“Are you having an affair?” Derek said nervously.
“Never!” the question shook her out of her stupor, “I don't know what this means. Derek, I swear there's been no one.”
“It must be a mistake then,” he said looking at the positive blue line on the test.
Except it wasn't a mistake. Derek tried to believe her when she said there had been no men in her life. He wanted to accept that the pregnancy was something to do with the alien intervention. Yet part of him felt maybe they had both hallucinated that night. Maybe Julia had cheated on him. After all their marriage had been devoid of romance for years. Derek hardly remembered what it was like to experience passion that invigorated him like fire burning in his chest.
They decided to keep the baby. They had never had children, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.
Their daughter, Gillian was born healthy and they promised to cherish her as if she were a priceless diamond.
“I'll love this miracle child always,” beamed Derek as he looked down at the baby girl.
***************
The years swept by quickly, each year melting into the next. Their daughter grew up in their loving arms. Time was gentle and no other signs of the aliens’ presence graced their lives.
One day , the postman delivered a letter addressed to Julia as 'Dr Smith.'
'Dear Dr Smith. My name is Kyle, I don't know if you'll remember me but when I was thirteen you helped me through an extremely difficult time. I was being abused by a man who my mother was seeing, he was in his forties. If it wasn't for your help, the abuse would have continued. I want to thank you with my whole heart.'
Enclosed in the letter was a picture of Kyle who bore a remarkable resemblance to Julia's daughter. Julia crumpled the letter together in shock as memories rushed back to her. The event with the aliens had been six years ago. She remembered the girl's features, how she had thin brown hair and a gangly expression that only a mother could love. Much like her daughter Gillian. Was it possible? After all the pregnancy had been a miracle. She remembered touching the girl, trying to console her. When she had taken a test in her office, the girl had not been pregnant. Yet the gangly teen had sworn she was carrying a baby.
Was her most beloved daughter originally the result of an unwanted teen pregnancy? Conceived in abuse. She remembered the aliens’ message which had not been in words but strange images. They had expressed how they would give the gift of healing onto the world. Was this child some kind of super human who would help the world in untold ways? Julia didn't have any of these answers, but when her six year old looked into her eyes she saw only goodness.
Kindness radiated from Gillian. Her daughter seemed to attract animals when they went out to the park. Cats would follow her home from school and birds flew low in the sky tweeting merrily in her presence.
What in the world had the aliens hoped to achieve by this act? Had they realised that their powers would cause such a phenomenon?
She asked Gillian to water a plant, and saw how it opened and flowered immediately. The girl had the gift that the aliens had originally given her. She was the healer! She must never tell Gillian about the aliens, it would only scare her. The secret would die with herself and Derek. She only prayed her daughter would bring light and happiness onto the world.