LIGHT FROM BEYOND by Sue A. Hart

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A vertical crack three inches long tore in the fabric of space before her eyes with a brilliant light behind it. The fracture wasn’t in a wall. The room wasn’t dark. Nor was it dark outside. Sun shone through the window in the room. Lisa’s vision was intact. She glanced away and then looked back. The split remained stationary. She leaned forward as if to examine what she saw. A tear, widening, as if the fiber of the world was tearing apart, and she could see through it to the other side. The event only lasted for a minute, then disappeared.

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She pressed her fingers against her eyelids, as if it had been her vision that had caused the event. But if it had been, wouldn’t it have remained anywhere she looked? That was the point. It was as if a zipper appeared in front of you, hanging in thin air while you were looking across the room and that zipper began to open showing a light behind it.

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The sight freaked her out. The planet didn’t have a curtain dividing us from ‘the other side’.

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That light had been bright. A blue-white light, more brilliant than an L-E-D light shining in your face at close range. Then it simply vanished. No one breathing would believe what they saw. Things like that didn’t happen. Perhaps in the Twilight Zone, but not in real life.

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Disgusted with running the event through her head, she grabbed her baskets and hurried outside to get some work done in the garden, and frankly, to escape what had happened. The weather predicted rain, and she had vegetables waiting to be picked.

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She was down on her knees cutting the stems of cucumbers when she heard voices. The clippers dropped to the ground as she rose to see who would invade her ranch. The gate was locked.  There hadn’t been the sound of a vehicle either, and she was three miles away from her nearest neighbor. She stared back up at the house, fifty feet away, and saw no one. Unsatisfied, she marched to the house, saw the door was shut and walked around to the back hollering, ‘Is anybody here?” Not a sign of anyone. To be safe, she stepped inside the house, checked the rooms and was assured she was alone.

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Another half hour went by when she heard it again, voices and laughter. She was up and searching, but this time she could tell it didn’t come in the direction of the house. Thinking it was a neighbor walking by; she continued to fill her baskets to take up to the house.

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As she finished and stood with her collection, she saw the light again, not fifteen feet away. This time it was larger—quite a few inches longer and gaped wider. Gray shadows moving within the light. Lisa was used to being alone, so most things didn’t scare her. But at this moment she wished her husband was home instead of working out of town. She’d be screaming her head off for him. With legs shaking, she slowly sat back down on the dark soil while keeping her eyes on that light.

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“I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s freaking me out.” No one answered her, and she was relieved. If they had, she would have gone bonkers. They? Why did she think… Okay, that was a crack to the other side, she had heard them, and also saw movement. Likely their shadows moving past that rip.

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And she honestly needed to get a hold of her imagination.

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Taking her eyes away from what remained hanging in midair, she grabbed her baskets and hightailed it back to the house. She refused to accept she was losing her ever-loving-mind! She reached the porch and flew inside the house slamming the door shut.

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The effort was useless, because she’d seen the first split of light while in the kitchen. She dropped her baskets on the table and rushed in the bathroom and quickly closed the door… locking it. Stupid, but it made her feel safer. No one could run away from their imagination, or from insanity. The problem was, she wasn’t insane, and she had seen the blasted thing.

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She washed her hands, splashed her face, tempted to dunk her head under water, and then reached for a towel and dried off.

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She spoke aloud, saying, “If the world is going to start tearing apart, why couldn’t you choose somewhere else to do it?” The question was thrown up at God, but thankfully he didn’t bother to answer her. That was a favor. Hearing another voice would have made her black out.

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Intimidated by the view of a little anomaly she had no name for; her feet hadn’t made a move to leave the safety of this tiny room. At the moment, it was important to gain some control. Yet the second she heard the phone ring, she darted out and rushed to answer. The ringtone belonged to her husband.

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“Thank, God. I’m so happy you called.” She sank down on the sofa laying her head back against the cushion.

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“What’s wrong, Lisa? You sound upset. Did a cow get out?”

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She wrapped herself around the sound of his voice. “No, the ranch is fine. I’m the one that’s losing it. I’m seeing and hearing things.”

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“Like what?”

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“Have you ever had spots before your eyes, or perhaps distorted vision?” She heard herself and knew she was dancing around it. Worrying him wouldn’t change anything. If she let on it scared her, he would come home. “It was sort of like that. I was out working in the garden when I heard something. I thought we had company.”

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“You probably got too hot, Sweetheart. I’ve had my vision act up from overheating. You should watch yourself. I wouldn’t want you to pass out in the yard with no one around to help you. Take the phone with you from now on. You didn’t black out, did you?”

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“No. Nothing came of it. Don’t worry. We’ll talk about it more when you come home. Will that be soon?”

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They spoke of how the renovation of an old property was going. He hoped to get home next week, and then they ended the call because he’d arrived at the restaurant to eat dinner with his crew. Lisa honestly wished she was in the kitchen making his meal. They had been married for almost three decades, and she hated being separated like this. Nowadays, a small ranch didn’t pay the bills and leave much left over for other necessities. She couldn’t earn what he did, so that left him working at jobs he could find, leaving her with running the ranch. Though, he saw to everything he could before leaving each time.

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She returned to the kitchen and cleaned the vegetable from the garden and created a salad from the fresh spinach and lettuce. As she ate, she began smelling bacon frying. “No, I don’t smell a thing. This is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t even like the greasy stuff. Zip up your world and leave me alone!”

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Out of patience and tired of feeling afraid, she slid the chair back from the table and stood. Marching to the sink, she opened the cabinet door, pulled out an aerosol can of air freshener and sprayed it around the room. Before she sat back down, she flipped the radio on to drown out any objections the other side would have. If they insisted on disturbing her world, she would return the favor.

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“… and this behavior proves I’m losing my mind,” she mumbled with disgust.

Outside, the sound of rumbling in the distance meant the predicted rain had arrived. Her simple salad was once again ignored as she turned off the music and turned on the weather radio. It prattled on about the thunderstorm, a chance of small hail and high winds. Just what she needed when her nerves were already frayed.

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Before she returned to her meal, she checked through the window to see the approaching storm. The sky churned with dark, ominous clouds, and the wind tried to blow trees in half. When the rain began, she sat back down, but felt a vibration that made no sense… not unless a twister…

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She was up and running out onto the covered front porch to get a better look at the sky. The swirling wind did seem to be turning in a circle. Fed up, she raised her hands above her head and yelled, “Enough! Winds, cease!” To encourage them, she motioned her arms up. “Rise back up, I command you!”

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A moment later the circulation of the clouds stopped and went back to blowing in one direction. Lisa began to cry. Was she the only one who actually tried to talk to the weather? It wasn’t the first time this had happened either.

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Her husband, Tom, could attest to it. He’d been on the roof repairing a few shingles when a thundercloud had appeared out of nowhere heading in their direction. Lightning flashed, striking down towards the ground and she had screamed at him to come down from the roof. He’d glanced at the cloud still a distance away, and insisted he was almost done. Of course, he continued to work, ignoring the lights flashing inside the white cloud making such a ruckus with thunder.

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Fearing for his safety, she had stomped off towards the threat, yelled at the cloud to go away, and then pointed in the direction she wished it to go. The fact was, she pointed in a direction the wind wouldn’t carry it unless the wind changed direction. Tom had laughed, saying she had sure told that cloud where to go. Then he’d continued his work. But as she watched, the wind changed and the cloud moved away from them.

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The love of her life simply shook his head with a grin on his face and finished his job.

There had been other times as well. An event ignored by both of them, until now. She suddenly became very suspicious. In Florida, they had been visiting friends when a storm hit. She had been outside staring at the ominous clouds… taking pictures. It had only begun to sprinkle, when she called out, ‘Don’t rain yet. Wait.’

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The rain stopped, but the wind began to blow harder. “Calm down, I want another minute here.” She’d laughed, along with Tom, when the wind obeyed. At last, he’d grabbed her arm and tugged her into the house. She’d laughingly called out, “Okay, you can let loose now.” The problem was, it had. Hail the size of softballs began to fall. One came through the window showering glass with it. Their daughters screamed and ran down the stairs to the safety of arms.

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Tom had teased, “Aren’t you going to make it stop? That hail’s going to put a hole in the roof.”

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Sassy, she had smirked, “Just watch me.” With one arm around the shoulders of her youngest daughter, she raised the other and commanded, “Stop! No more hail.”

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They paused to listen, and a chuckle came from Tom, but then… the hail came to a full stop. They didn’t speak of it. He gave her a funny look and that was the end of it.

The topic of coincidence concerning weather was left on the back shelf. Until a drought, this past year turned everything brown. Nothing grew, trees were losing leaves, and they were worried. Grass was food for the cattle and it was too soon to start feeding them hay.

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This particular day the skies were overcast, but there was no prediction of rain. She’d stood on the porch begging for rain as she cried. The first drops of rain had her looking up with thanksgiving. At the time, Tom had been gone on a job again, so he hadn’t witnessed how the clouds gathered, darkened, and brought rain… just on their land. She had been begging for rain to water their grass, their trees, and protect their property from any chance of fire. This was what was happening. Later that evening, the weather reported a small cloud of rain developed in one spot, lasted an hour, and then dissipated.

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The next day the grass began to turn with shoots of green.

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She attributed the events of weather as answers to prayers. No way would she claim that kind of power, even if the bible had spoken of it.

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After the lights had been turned off, she lay in bed snuggled up against Tom’s pillow thinking of the strange day she’d had. But the rip wouldn’t leave her alone. The room had been dark until the light shone through the crack and illuminated the room.

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Whatever appeared to be happening, this event insisted she pay attention instead of throwing the sheet over her head. However, she did close her eyes hoping it would disappear. Unfortunately, it remained.

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“Okay, you have my attention. I don’t understand any of this. Not the weather and especially the reason for seeing this light. Why is this happening?” Did she expect an answer? Definitely not. But inside her thoughts, came one command. ‘Prepare for the storm.’

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The rip disappeared and she threw the sheet over her head. “What did that mean? Prepare. How?” Then it dawned on her. The coincidence with the weather—wasn’t one. How had it happened? What was she to think? An ability she hadn’t thought possible, she had been given. Now, she was being called upon to use this gift to fight against something coming. The idea almost overwhelmed her. Not until now, had she taken any of it seriously. For her, each time had been nothing more than a coincidence.

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When her mind calmed and her body relaxed, a memory from her youth came to mind. There had once been a game she played. Though, she had been lying in the dark, she would close her eyes and see brilliant shapes of light behind her eyelids. The same way as watching clouds in the sky take shapes, she watched images appear. Because the colors were red, pink, and blue, she assumed her blood brought them. But she also knew others didn’t see anything but darkness.

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Sleep came and so did the dream. She stood before a churning ocean, tossing and choppy with high winds swirling in the sky and all around her. A tall man with white hair and fair skin appeared beside her. His gray eyes stared into hers as he pointed toward the ocean. She turned to look, and though it wasn’t possible to see that far, somehow, miles away, saw a giant wave building into a wall far out at sea.

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He pointed down at the sand for her to notice how the undercurrent pulled the ocean out feeding the wave as it steadily moved towards land. She knew the power of such a wave would destroy everything in its path. The tsunami that hit Japan carried ships onto land, tore highways up, and destroyed buildings and the people in them. This one was much worse. It would take out the entire east coast. There wasn’t enough time to evacuate anyone.  Millions would die with no way to prevent the disaster.

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The man nodded encouragement. She knew what she was supposed to do. She raised her arms towards the sky and she shouted for the winds to calm. A heartbeat later, she focused on the ocean shouting for the water to rest and return to normal, and then motioning with her hands she pushed them down as if shoving the wave to flatten. Miles away, the ocean obeyed.

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Once the danger had passed, she shook her head at the man. “This is all ridiculous. People cannot do these things. It’s unrealistic.”

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The man beside her smiled and finally spoke. “In dreams, all things are possible. You have fulfilled a purpose. Thank you.”

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With coffee the next morning, Lisa watched the news of an earthquake in the Atlantic. The satellite images showed a gigantic wave heading towards the American shores, and then simply fell apart.

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Her heartbeat raced because the event she had dreamed had been real. Questions bombarded her. There had to be a logical answer. Perhaps thousands of others had the same dream and that created a power of the mind in unity. A late night radio show experimented with such a thing. They announced the time, the topic, and told everyone what to concentrate on to gain a specific outcome. She racked her brain trying to remember what it was, then it came to her. They’d asked for a miracle to happen for the African people plagued with Ebola. Soon after, a cure was found.

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When Lisa’s husband came home, she didn’t say anything about what had happened. Sharing something from a dream and claiming it had been real sounded crazy. Over the following year, she occasionally smelled food, which made her hungry. Heard music playing faintly, and wished the sound could be louder. And worse, she listened to voices as if in the distance, which made her lonely.

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Each time events happened, she asked Tom to see if he could verify what she smelled or heard. But if the smell was food, he’d laugh and ask if she were hungry.  Asking if he heard something, he’d ask her to describe the sound, and then guessed it was an animal. He always had a reasonable explanation. Because he did, she couldn’t bring herself to admit anything.

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The splinter of light never reappeared during that time. The bad weather skirted their area. Life became mundane from day to day. Tom left on other jobs, and from time to time their daughters paid her a visit.

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She had grown accustomed to living in isolation. Reading replaced the repetition of television programs and work kept her busy. She was content.

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Lisa learned of the tremors in the northern part of Oklahoma. One day, they experienced a 6.0 quake. Fracking had been blamed. The constant drilling caused the water table to be contaminated. The cities filtered out what they could—and treated the water to make it safe to drink. Most of the population remained in ignorance.

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She and Tom had their own filtering system and a well over two hundred feet deep. The mountain they lived on supplied a natural filtering system through rock. Their water was safe, soft, and tasted incredible. But that would change if the fracking began in the area. There was little they could do about it. The government allowed such practice.

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In today’s world, nothing was ever enough. Planes constantly circled the air spreading chemtrails; something they said was a conspiracy theory. But she had watched those streaks of white trailing from a plane to form a haze that completely covered the sky. Contrails were different. They dissipated.

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Unknowingly, neighbors sprayed weed killer over their land to grow more grass for their cattle, and that filtered down into the water system. Every act one did had a price. Each day that passed, man slowly destroyed the very planet they inhabited and the water they needed for survival.

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Lies replaced fact for those with something to gain. Most were ruled by money, and as long as it did, man would ignore the tragedy waiting to happen. Just like the recent earthquakes.

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Tom was the kind of man who closely watched what happened around him. He paid attention to the news and listened to her. She was never belittled for what she feared. He respected her. His mantra, ‘See what you can find out about it.’

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She wasn’t sure if man’s carelessness had anything to do with the split of light. Did it lead to another dimension? She began to think it did. If so, wouldn’t both be affected since this was one planet?

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Man had built nuclear power plants in California over fault-lines. Why, because the land was economical. The waste from them left no way of disposing of the radiation. Burying it to eventually leak into the water table? What good would it do if she were able to help the planet?  Why had man insisted on creating something that would bring devastation to the earth? Greed for electricity.

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Tom had installed a wind and solar system to power the batteries for their home. When the weather refused to cooperate, they had a bicycle connected. One of them could ride for an hour and churn more power into the batteries. But recently, a perpetual battery could do the same thing. Tom was looking into it.

 

Her idea of two dimensions being connected soon became reality. The crack reappeared. This time, Tom was home. He was relaxing on the sofa reading a book. She was using the computer online. The light gained her attention by shining right into her face.

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“Tom?”

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His eyes didn’t move from the page. “Huh?”

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“Do you see that?”

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“What?” He glanced up and followed what she was staring at. “What is it, a spider?”

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“No. Do you not see that light shining there?”

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He was quiet as he stared at her. “Are you feeling alright? I don’t see anything, much less a light.” The book was closed and he rose from the sofa to join her, continuing to look in the direction she concentrated on.

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“I don’t see anything.” He moved to squat in front of her, closing the laptop lid. “Do you still see it? Maybe you’ve been in front of this for too long. You know what they say. These electronics are bad for you. They do something to the brain. Perhaps you should limit how much you use them.”

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“This happened to me before we acquired the Internet. Remember me telling you about seeing and hearing things? The day I was in the garden?” He nodded when the memory came to him. “Well, at the time, I seldom used the computer. I’ve seen this light before, Tom. I’ve also heard voices, seen shadows within this light, and smelled food. I also experienced a strange dream.”

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“The spots you saw last year was this light you see? You let me believe it was the heat. Lisa, this could be serious. You should see a doctor.”

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 “A doctor can’t help with this, Tom.” With doubt on his face, she reached out to cup his cheek. “There’s more I haven’t admitted to you. I was afraid of your reaction.”

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Anger replaced doubt on his face. “Don’t jump. Once I explain, you’ll understand why I kept silent.”

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She moved the laptop from her lap and rose with him to walk hand-in-hand with him into the kitchen, where she began to cut a freshly baked apple pie into slices. Tom took one look at the ice cream she pulled from the freezer and began to make coffee to go with it.

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 “What does this light look like?” The single-cup coffeemaker brewed into a mug. He removed it and began making one for her. When she didn’t answer his question, he stopped and watched her scoop ice cream from the container and place it on top of the pie.

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“If you stood in a dark room,” she said, “and put a flashlight behind a rip in the side of a black box, with no other way for the light to shine out, what would it look like?”

“Okay, I get it. But the living room isn’t dark. I was reading with a light over my shoulder. You’re saying you saw a light like that in the middle of the room?”

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She carried the plates to the table and he followed with the coffee. After he set them down, he pulled her chair out and took his usual place at the table.

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“Yes, the light is bright and I can easily see this split—each time it’s happened.” She cut a bite and lifted the fork to her lips, waited, and he cooperated by digging into the pie. “It happened three times before the tsunami hit in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last year.”

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He stared. “You said you had a strange dream about it the night it happened.”

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“Eat. You’ll need the comfort food.” She grinned at his frown. “I never told you in detail about that dream…” Lisa began the tale, leaving nothing out. His expressions changed with each detail until he finally rested his forearms on the table waiting for the end.

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“And the tsunami reacted like your dream?”

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“Yes. And all this time, the crack hasn’t reappeared. But now it’s back. Before you think I’ve become a storyteller to entertain you, think back on the radio show. Group meditation?”

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“Yeah, okay, I remember. They actually did it. But you dreamed this here alone by yourself and it happened. You’ve ordered clouds to move away, stopped the hail, and told the wind to calm down. I know I laughed and made fun, but I’ve seen those things with my own eyes.” He stared at her face and took her hand. “Now, I know I’ve not discussed it with you. Fact is, talking about that kind of thing is a bit of a jolt. But I did witness it all. I tried to tell myself it was just a coincidence but time and again is stretching it.

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“I think there’s something more to this.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s a gift you’ve been given. Some people are born with psychic abilities, some even heal. I know you get premonitions about things. You knew when your mom died before we got the call.”

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“Tom, I believe I was one of many others called to do this. When we sleep, we don’t fight against what happens, we just see it happening. I have seen what the power of belief can do. You scared me on that roof, wouldn’t come down even with a thunderstorm coming, and you left me with no other choice but to try and demand it come no closer!”

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He grinned and gave her a peck on her lips. “I don’t know of too many wives who have managed to accomplish such a thing—trying to protect their man from something as stupid as that.”

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Lisa laughed. “I love you, silly man.”

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“I love you too, even if you do scare me a little.”

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“Okay, I can understand that since what’s coming scares me.” She gripped his hand firmly. “If the light I see means anything, something will happen soon. What, I’m not sure. I don’t even know if it will come in a dream.”

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“This time, I’m here.”

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A tear slipped from her lashes and Tom caught it before it trailed down her cheek. She took his finger and kissed it. “Whatever happens, don’t wake me.” She offered a smile, and he kissed her again.

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That night she was wrapped securely in his arms. She knew he was worried. But what could either of them do?

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When she fell into a deep sleep, she stood atop a tree-covered mountain, with the man from before by her side. Below them, a geyser erupted high into the sky. The water steamed. The earth trembled. He pointed above them and she saw the Yellowstone Caldera. The volcano was considered the most powerful in the world. Beneath her feet, the earth moved once more, and a dark cloud rolled from the top of the mountain.

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The man took her hand and knelt down. Lisa knelt beside him and together they placed their hands upon the ground. He closed his eyes, and a bright light shone from all around him as power seemed to envelop him. Lisa closed her eyes, calmed her center, and called out. “Still yourself. Be calm.”

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The man spoke in a language she had never heard, placed his forehead against the earth, and Lisa followed his example. At that moment she felt the others. As if surrounded by thousands. All of them sought to calm the planet. The presence was powerful. She continued to sooth the earth as if the planet were a child. Soft coaching words, yet firm in her plea. After what seemed like hours, the ground calmed. They both continued to kneel but sat back on their heels.

“Will that be enough,” Lisa asked him.

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“This time. Soon, more will be needed from both sides. Thank you for your help.”

Lisa nodded and found herself waking with Tom’s arms still wrapped around her. She turned her head to look at him and found him watching her.

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“Sweetheart, you have dirt on your forehead. I don’t know how it got there. I’ve never let you go.”

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She curled into his arms and began to tell him of her dream…

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The End

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