Out Of This World
Maybe my New Age pal Fortuna was on to something after all…
WRITTEN BY KATE HOGAN
I stare at the vista ahead of me and reach for my phone. I’m not sure of the signal here, but I need to express my gratitude to Fortuna for all her help and advice – so right was she about the New Era weekend.
The itinerary she drew up, recommending Chakra Cleansing, Zero Balancing, lectures on Spheres Of The Unknown and The Mystery Of Crop Circles, terrified me.
Still, during our New Age therapy sessions, she’d advised me to change my view of things; feel the fear and do it anyway.
She promised that, if I could relax and let my true self shine, the universe may create the right sort of energies to help me recover from the break-up with my long-time boyfriend.
I didn’t think changing the way I viewed the world would be easy.
For as she’d pointed out during one of our long talks, I’ve always carried too much baggage. She said I had to let go, discover what was out there. Break free from the chains of the Earth that bound me.
Well despite my trepidation, timidity – call it what you will – after submitting to the range of holistic treatments she’d signed me up for, I felt fantastic. By the time I arrived for the lectures I was on what she referred to as a “natural high”.
I tried to be open-minded and listened intently to all the weird and wonderful theories being spouted.
By the Saturday afternoon I couldn’t believe I was looking forward to an evening hike to view the zodiacal landscape, under the stars. Me!
The leader of the group – an expert on natural phenomena and unsolved mysteries – was really handsome. Though I guessed he was far more interested in the possibility of alien life creating crop circles over the past thirty years or so, than in someone ordinary like me.
Still, being on my natural high, I did what Fortuna was always telling me to do – decided to create the future rather than wait for it. Make him notice me.
Deciding to create one of those so-called crop circles he’d been going on about, then inviting him to join me to discuss if it was genuine or not, was a flash of inspiration.
Stealing away from the group wasn’t too difficult.
And after all the holistic treatments, climbing over stiles and marching across farmland in search of a suitable field of corn was easy.
By the time I found the right spot and got started, it was heading toward a wonderful late summer evening, the sun falling ever lower in a pink-hued sky as I thrashed out the shape of a circle by swirling like a Dervish in the centre of the field.
For the first time in years I felt free, unfettered, and alive, the sweet song of a skylark overhead.
I was gazing at my rather impressive handiwork when I heard the sound.
At first I thought it was the sheaves of corn gently chafing together. It was only when I felt a hand on my shoulder that I realised I wasn’t alone.
“You know our ways,” said a male voice, as I was spun around.
He was taller and more handsome than anyone I’d ever seen and his clinging spacesuit was… well…!
“You’re an alien,” I said, not sure whether I was hallucinating.
“Just call me Al,” he said, flashing me the most fabulous white-toothed alien smile, and whisking me into his arms. I’d never known anything like it in my life.
I never made it back to the group. I took everything Fortuna told me on board. As for all that “old baggage” she advised I needed to get rid of, there wasn’t much room on Al’s spacecraft.
I really have cut free from the chains of the Earth that bound me – literally!
So, if somewhere down on Earth’s plane Fortuna’s wondering about my plans for the future, I’m hoping this text message gets through.
Because thanks to all her guidance… my plans really are out of this world…
We’re sharing another intriguing sci-fi themed short story from our archives every Monday and Thursday during November. Watch out for the next one!
