Chapter XLI

Déjà vu, which translated means “already seen”, is the sensation of experiencing or witnessing a current event or situation as something that was previously seen or done. It has been suggested by theorists that this human feeling is due to the existence of multiple Universes that exist parallel to each other within which there are an infinite number of human experiences being had by multiple versions of each individual; some of these Universes are similar while others are drastically altered, but all are different and are unfolding simultaneously. This concept is commonly known as The Multiverse Theory.

When the cosmic wall which separate one Universe from the next is weakening, an individual may experience what has been labeled: déjà vu. This experience is outside of our linear understanding of time and can be something as recent as seconds prior or as distant as years because each Universe exists on a different energetic frequency. Each Universe consists of multiple energetic frequencies, though the whole of humanity is tuned into one frequency, the frequency that corresponds to our physical Universe or reality, with which we all share and are intimately familiar, however this does not discount the existence of the other frequencies or Universes.

The majority of human beings are only able to align with one frequency at a time, however the Universe consists of atoms that are oscillating at all times at unique frequencies that other Universes are not, making them available for alignment at all times by anyone possessing the ability. These Universes or realities coexist even if they are not perceivable by the majority of humanity. They don’t align on the same frequency due to the division caused by time, but when the Universes do align, it is theoretically possible to move between the realities. Déjà vu is the result of those times, the moments when the Universes are vibrating in entrainment with a parallel Universe or reality.

 

After Chloe left our house to return home and Daniel retrieved his box and duffle bag and brought them upstairs presumably to settle in, I walked through the quiet house searching for Aunt Rachel. I was hoping to have that conversation about Mr. Stokes and his relationship with our family that I had wanted to have with her since I woke that morning, but also to discuss my new concerns about my brother and his role within our family, both in a purely mundane sense as well as in a … not so mundane sense; was there a possibility that he might also possess some uncommon abilities? Was it possible? Maybe Chloe’s instinct to ask him about it was valid. Perhaps I should have engaged in the conversation with him regardless of whether it would have pushed us further apart. And if he didn’t have abilities perhaps he had information that might be important for me to know. I really wanted to talk with my aunt.

After searching throughout the house I found her sitting on the beige Queen Anne sofa in the morning parlor where she had been earlier that day. At first glance it appeared to me as if she hadn’t moved from her original position though I knew she had; she had answered the door for the pizza guy and had been at the front door when Daniel had come home earlier that evening. She had briefly spoken to Chloe and I in the foyer and had gone to the kitchen after we had finished, but as I stood there in the doorway my perception shifted and the memory of what had occurred earlier in the day was confusing me. It felt as if that morning’s experience and the current moment were somehow intertwined.

I reached out my right hand and braced myself against the wave of vertigo that threatened to drown me. My head tingled, my eyesight blurred and cleared, blurred and cleared. I felt myself sinking, spinning, and floating as I saw each moment shift from one to another, morning to night, like a strobe light flashing in a night club. It continued until both experiences I had with Aunt Rachel fell into entrainment so that they existed simultaneously allowing me to perceive both moments, one overlaying the other.

I stared at Aunt Rachel who was both drinking a mug of coffee and looking at a magazine while concurrently sitting motionless and staring ahead towards the opened doorway where I stood studying her, attempting to discern if I was actually upstairs in bed dreaming about an actual experience from my day or whether I was here downstairs experiencing a new moment I had yet lived. Confusion and hallucinations were both side effects from taking and withdrawing from Klonopin, but I was having difficulty determining what it was I was experiencing.

Was this reality or was it all my own creation? Was I awake or asleep?

My perception of past and present was obscured and my thoughts had become scattered as I tried to reconcile what I was experiencing in the morning parlor. I felt as if my knowledge of what reality was had fragmented from a shared understanding and expanded into something greater, but my brain was incapable of comprehending such a grand concept and thus was unable to reveal to me the truth. It was strangely exhilarating and perplexing.

I took a few tentative steps toward Aunt Rachel, not knowing how else to determine whether I was awake or sleeping.

“Aunt Rachel?” I called as I slowly approached her, feeling as if I was reliving a moment of my life.

“Angie, don’t!” a familiar male voice called out to me.

I spun around expecting to see Mr. Stokes standing behind me in the foyer, but found it empty. Anxiety crept through my body. It felt as if my mind was shattering. In one moment I had a single cohesive thought and the next it dissolved into utter confusion. Perhaps it was unwise for me to stop taking my prescriptions. I was losing touch with reality and was drowning within my own delusions.

Daniel. I should call my brother. He would be able to help me. He was always able to protect me when we were children; perhaps he could help me now.

“Dan!” I screamed as loud as I could.

Sitting in the dimly lit room Aunt Rachel brought the multi-blue colored ceramic mug to her lips as she looked up from her magazine and smiled at me, motioning for me to join her while simultaneously sitting motionless with her hazel eyes focused on something or someone standing next to me that I was unable to perceive, unaware of my presence at the doorway.

“Are you kidding me?” I whispered aloud to no one, feeling completely overwhelmed. I glanced over my shoulder towards the crimson carpeted stairs willing my brother to hear me and come to my rescue.

“DAN!”

I waited, listening for some indication that he had heard me and was coming to help. I gripped the doorframe as I was overwhelmed by another wave of vertigo followed hastily by its companions; anxiety and fear. I felt a familiar lump form in my throat and my eyes water.

Aunt Rachel continued to stare in my direction for what felt like minutes, until her eyes shifted and met mine though the rest of her physical body remained motionless.

She saw me!

Comforted and strengthened by her acknowledgment, I released my grip on the doorframe and entered the room approaching the matching sofa across from her position. I watched as the air around her shifted, moving strands of her hair that had fallen from the top of her head to frame her face. It appeared as if there was a subtle breezing blowing in the parlor. The vision before me pricked at my intellect.

I was startled by the grip of fingers on my forearm and turned to see my cousin Christian standing beside me.

“You have no idea what you are getting involved with here. That, right there,” he said, pointing to his mother, “is a power vastly beyond anything you might have experienced. It’s beyond your immature abilities. Don’t fuck with it, Angie. Leave it alone. Let this play out as it should.”

“What?”

I was confused. My head was muddled. How did Christian get here? Everything felt too familiar. Different, but recognizable. I attempted to yank my arm away from my cousin. I turned back to my aunt, who was simultaneously pointing to the mug on the table in front of her, speaking wordlessly to me and floating above the sofa, the air around her spiraling creating a wind that I felt from where I stood beside Christian. The image before me was surreal and familiar. I glanced at my cousin hoping that he would act as an anchor to reality, but something about his expression and presence was odd.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t heard him enter the house.

The pressure in the morning parlor dropped as the calliope of organic murmurs emerged from the corners of the silent room. In that moment I gained clarity and understood what was transpiring, but I doubted my ability to confront them again so soon. I didn’t think I had enough mental power to fight. I could barely keep hold of my perception of reality, how could I stand alone against the Ancestors? I had no one with me, well, except Christian and I wasn’t even sure he was actually there.

The familiar screech pierced my brain, “Time for the reckoning.”