The Builder

The Builder
By Dave Skinner
 
Mary Jane Reynolds felt like crying, she felt like that often, ever since her son Anthony had been diagnosed as Autistic, four years ago. Four years wasn’t a great deal of time in the scheme of things, but it felt like a long time to Mary Jane, especially when most of the time had been spent as a single parent.
Anthony’s father had stayed with them for one year after the diagnosis, a year after that he was gone from their lives completely when he moved to Toronto.  Mary Jane had dated a few times in the first year after he left, but almost as soon as her friends learned about Anthony’s condition, they stopped calling.
 Not because Anthony was a difficult child, he didn’t act out, he wasn’t violent, and he didn’t yell or scream. He just didn’t communicate, most of the time he was lost in his own mind. Mary Jane estimated that she could count on her fingers the number of times Anthony had taken notice of something in the external world.
Mary Jane admitted she only had herself to blame for the way she felt right now. It hadn’t happen as much in the last few years because she didn’t allow herself to hope for anything different, but when she read the article in the Vancouver newspaper a few months ago, hope had stirred in her heart again.  The headline had read ‘Child’s Love Cures Dolphin’, and if that wasn’t enticing enough, the mother’s studio was located in Victoria, just over an hour drive from home. Further research into the matter hadn’t turned up any red flags, and Mary Jane had allowed a little hope to root itself in her heart.
After her first interview with the mother, Debra of Debra’s Studios, Mary Jane had felt even more hopeful. Debra had been a Montessori teacher before she moved to Canada. She had dealt with many different types of children. She didn’t promise a miracle cure, and she was up front about her doubts, but she was willing to make an attempt to get Anthony interested in the meditation and the exercise routine she called Breezing.
They had agreed to try four sessions, but despite the efforts made by Debra, it hadn’t worked. This was the end of the fourth session, and Anthony had not shown any interest in the exercise routine or the one on one meditation sessions that Debra had tried. Mary Jane had enjoyed both activities, but Anthony had not responded at all.
Debra could see the sorrow in Mary Jane’s aura as they sat in her office discussing the situation. Mary Jane sat across the desk from her with Anthony beside her. Mary Jane listened attentively. Anthony was lost inside himself. Through the one way glass window Debra could see her daughter, Megan, getting started on a meditation class for her school friends.
“I am terribly sorry, Mary Jane, but I don’t see any reason to continue Anthony’s sessions. As far as I can tell, he hasn’t responded to anything I have tried, and with all conscience I can’t continue to offer you any hope of success.”
Debra didn’t mention that the sessions they had tried had not made the slightest difference in Anthony’s aura. Debra could see differences in a person’s aura when they were interested, and Anthony’s aura had been unresponsive, no matter what she tried.
“It isn’t a problem, if you want to continue to bring Anthony to the studio while you attend classes. He can sit in my office and watch you through the glass, but I cannot continue to accept your money for his sessions when they aren’t doing any good.”
“Thank you Debra. I will give it some thought. I appreciate everything you have done, and I appreciate your honesty,” Mary Jane responded. “Do you mind if Anthony stays here while I get changed?” She could feel the tears coming, and she wanted some time alone. The shower in the change room would do nicely.
“That’s fine with me.” I have some paperwork to do, and he isn’t any trouble.”
Mary Jane made her escape. Anthony didn’t seem to notice. Debra retrieved the day’s mail from the inbox on the credenza behind her and started processing it, but she couldn’t concentrate. She felt sad that she hadn’t been able to help Anthony, but nothing she had done had penetrated his shell. She looked at Anthony sitting across from her.
Debra was positive something was occurring in Anthony’s mind. His aura said as much, in fact, Anthony had one of the most interesting auras Debra had ever seen. It wasn’t the colour that was interesting. Anthony’s aura was grey, a flat grey, as if he had put a protective layer around himself to facilitate his desire for non-involvement, but there were also flashes of intense colour, lightning flashes of violet and yellow that rolled like a thunder storm through the usual grey. They were happening right now, as she watched him, but unfortunately, they didn’t happen when she tried to interact with him.
Anthony wasn’t aware of Debra watching him. The world outside wasn’t interesting. He preferred to build structures inside his head. Anthony’s head was full of the structures he had built. Fantastic structures made of lines and curves that wrapped around themselves and each other as he expanded them outward. These were the things that made him happy, the things that caused the lightning Debra found so interesting. Building structures in his mind was much more interesting than interacting with the outside world, but sometimes, many more times than he wanted, the outside world intruded on his joy, like now.
Mary Jane returned to Debra’s office. She had composed herself; the tears were gone, along with her hope.
“Thank you again Debra. I’ll think about continuing with lessons for myself, but right now I have to say it doesn’t look promising.”
“Even if you decide not to continue, I think it would be beneficial to keep up with the meditation. I find it helps to centre me in times of stress.”
Debra watched as Mary Jane spent two minutes holding Anthony’s chin, so that his face was towards her, as she talked to him about leaving. Debra wasn’t sure if she detected a glimmer of recognition or irritation in Anthony’s face when he finally seemed to pay attention. Holding tightly to Anthony’s hand, Mary Jane directed the two of them out the office door. As they started to walk across in front of the one way glass window, Anthony stopped walking. Mary Jane tugged him a little bit to get him moving again, but he refused to budge.
Debra, walking behind them as they exited the office, almost ran over Anthony when he stopped. It took both women a moment to realize that Anthony’s attention had been captured by something in the exercise area. Following the direction of Anthony’s gaze, they realized his attention was on Megan, as she led the meditation session.
Mary Jane was so surprised that she let go of Anthony’s hand when he gave it a little tug, and even more surprised when he started walking across the floor towards the session group. She was about to make a grab for him when she felt Debra’s hand on her arm. Both women watched in astonishment as Anthony joined the group of young people seated around Megan on the floor. There were tears in Mary Jane’s eyes again, so Debra led her back into the office.
“Are you in a hurry?” she asked.
“No.”
“Then why don’t we sit here and see what happens? I think Anthony may have found something that interests him.”
Anthony had definitely founds something of interest. As he had been led from the office, he had caught sight of what the young girl was doing in the centre of the room. She was talking softly and gesturing to a group of other people seated around her, but what interested Anthony was the fact that her words and movements were building a pattern or structure around the group. It was similar to what he did, but she was doing it in the external world. He had to be part of what was happening so he walked into the pattern and sat down.
Anthony watched the girl create the pattern with her words and gestures. Unlike his structures, hers did not build outwards, instead it grew inward, into a funnel shape that drew Anthony into it. Before long, Anthony was experiencing the same type of euphoria he felt, when he built his own structures in his mind. The funnel grew more substantial, Anthony grew more euphoric until down the rabbit hole he went.
If it wasn’t for the euphoria, Anthony might have reacted violently when he found himself surrounded and bombarded by bubbles. As it turned out, the sudden change startled him enough that he tried to jump away from the bubbles, which caused him to rise slightly above them. The feeling of floating above a sea of multicoloured bubbles was pleasant enough to recapture his euphoria.
For the first time that he could recall, Anthony was thinking about something other than building his structures. Bubbles extended below him for as far as he could see, while high above him the occasional streak, like a shooting star, could be seen.
Being surrounded by the bubbles had been startling but not overly unpleasant. There had been so many images bombarding him that he hadn’t known what to do. Now, as he contemplated the bubbles, one brushed against him and suddenly he was playing a musical instrument. The music seemed to pour into his being giving him another shot of euphoria. The bubble passed, the image faded, but the understanding of the music remained.
Anthony floated low enough to brush another bubble. He experienced a feeling of intense joy and fulfillment as he signed a name at the bottom of a large piece of paper. The paper contained something like the structures that he constructed in his mine, only drawn with pencil on paper. The bubble passed, the image faded, but understanding blossomed.
Anthony continued brushing against bubbles and experiencing their content until he felt another presence beside him. He knew it was the girl who made the funnel. He let her guide him back up the rabbit hole. When he opened his eyes, the girl was seated beside him with her hand on his arm. His mother was seated across from him.
“Thank you” he said to the girl.
He smiled at his mother, “Come back okay?”
His mother’s hugs, kisses, and tears seemed to go on forever, but she was smiling all the time so Anthony put up with it, without retreating to his structures.
#
How could his mother be so stupid? Didn't she realize how important Megan was to him? Those were the thoughts racing through his mind as he sped his bike through the streets of the Victoria suburb where they lived. Megan had been away for the last four month, but now she was home, according to what his mother had said - home for a week, leaving again today. How could she be so stupid? How could she not understand?
Anthony was getting closer now. One last hill, the bitch hill, the hill he hated because it seemed to tear his heart out every time he climbed it, climbed it so slowly, heart pounding, legs burning, as they we're now. He stood on the bike’s petals. This wasn’t a hill you climbed while seated, even the Lycra suited riders, on their thousand dollar bikes, stood to climb this hill. Each push of Anthony’s legs was getting harder, with the bike almost stopping between each one. His mother had named this hill the first time they had ridden their bikes up it. When they had stopped at the top, she had looked back and named it.
“That hill is a bitch,” she announced.
“The bitch hill,” Anthony had responded.
When she had caught her breath, she had instructed Anthony not to use the world ‘bitch’ because it wasn’t polite, and asked him to forget she had used it, but Anthony hadn’t forgotten. He liked the name, and his mother didn’t tell him not to use it anymore. After all, that had been four years ago when he was seven, and they had just moved to Victoria.
He snuck a quick look towards the top of the hill. He knew he shouldn’t because it was always farther away than he wanted it to be, and that was disheartening. Sometimes it was so disheartening that he gave up and walked the rest of the way, but not today. Megan’s house was just over the crest of the hill. His desperation to see her gave his heart strength, and he pushed that strength to his tired legs.
Megan always made this climb look easy. She wasn’t that much stronger than he was, even though she was a year older, but she could pull energy from the Core with ease. She was teaching him to do it also, but he needed to concentrate to reach the Core energy, and he usually didn’t think about doing it until he needed all his concentration to keep pedalling. Megan’s connection to the Core was stronger than everyone else’s, even stronger than her father’s, and he had been the one, who taught Megan and her mother, and none of them – not even Megan, could do what Anthony did. None of them could see the lines of energy like he did. At least he didn’t think they could.
Truth be told, he had never discussed it with them. The only person who knew was his mother, and she had insisted that he not mention it to anyone else. He had wanted to tell Megan, but his mother had made his silence a condition of their moving to Victoria. She knew how much he wanted to be close to Megan, even though he had said it was Debra’s studio he wanted to be close to. His mother had known it was really Megan, and that was what made him so angry now. She knew how much Megan meant to him, and still she had waited until the last day to tell him that Megan was home.
Supposedly, she hadn’t known herself until Debra had come to the studio yesterday, and then Debra had said that Megan needed rest and wasn’t to be disturbed, but Anthony knew that he wasn’t a disturbance. It would make Megan happy to see him; he told himself, after all, she called him her little brother didn’t she? Not that he liked the term. He didn’t consider her to be his big sister.
Anthony snuck another quick peek at the top of the hill, he was almost there, just a little more. Megan just had to be there. He had to see her, even if it was only for a minute. She would be happy to see him, also. She still thought of him as her little brother, he hadn’t confronted her about that yet, but one day he would. One day she would leave that stupid, jock, Brandon when Anthony told her how he felt about her.
Finally the bike crested the hill. Anthony could see Megan’s place five houses down on the right. There was a car in the driveway, and Megan was walking towards the vehicle’s open door. Anthony tried to call her, but he didn’t have enough breath to make a sound. He tried again, and again nothing came out. In desperation he reached for his doorway to the Core, and was amazed to feel the energy surge into him.
“Megan!” he screamed.
He saw Megan’s body jerk as the sound came out. A large, muscular, dark skinned man stepped from behind the car, and placed himself in front of Megan, effectively shielding her from Anthony. Megan’s mother, Debra, rose from the passenger’s seat of the car, while Megan peeked from behind the man. They all stared at Anthony. None of them were smiling.
The bike had picked up speed after he topped the hill, and now, finally, in front of Megan’s house, Anthony slammed on the brakes and jumped from the bike, letting it fall to the curb.
“It’s me, Megan, it’s Anthony. My mom told me you were home, so I came to say hi. Hello, Mrs. Waters.” Anthony’s voice trailed off because no one was responding to his words. He stopped walking across the lawn about fifteen feet from the car. This wasn’t at all what he had envisioned. He stood looking from face to face, waiting for a response.
“It is only Anthony, Mom,” Megan observed.
“It’s alright, Jamal,” said Mrs. Waters, as she placed her hand on the man’s arm.
“Hello, Anthony. I was wondering if your mother would keep this a secret. She looked at her daughter, “We have to leave in a few minutes Megan. The plane won’t wait.”
Megan walked up to Anthony with a big grin on her face, and gave him a hug. All of Anthony’s apprehension disappeared. The mad ride had been worth it.
“I’m glad to see you Ant, but we don’t have time to catch up. I should be home tomorrow or the next day. We can catch up then.”
“Are you still doing the tour?”
“Yes, this is the last engagement. Wish me luck.”
“You know I will, but isn’t it old hat by now. You’ve been doing it for four months now. Doesn’t it get easier?”
“It is easier now, but this is a big one, and my Dad won’t be in the Core feeding me energy. I’m a little scared Ant.”
“I can do it, Megan.”
“You can do what?
“I can feed you the energy. I pulled energy on my way up the hill today. I’m sure I could help.”
Megan’s mother called from the car. “Say goodbye, Megan, we have to leave.”
Megan hugged Anthony again. She whispered into his ear as she held him. “Watch for a silver bubble being formed. Once it’s stable, touch it, and watch the show. If I need energy, try to push it to me. The bubble should start to form around seven-thirty or a little later. Thank you, Ant, you’re the best.”
Anthony didn’t move as Megan returned to the car and they drove away. He didn’t trust his legs to hold him up, if he had tried to move. They were tired from climbing the hill, but that wasn’t the complete reason. He was sure Megan had kissed him on the cheek just before she let him go, and to top that off, she needed his help. Could life get any better?
In the car, on the way to the airport, Megan was considering her reaction to Anthony screaming her name. It had caused her heart to jump into her throat, and she wasn’t at all happy about that. She thought she was completely relaxed, after being at home, and away from the stresses of the tour for a week, but obviously, she was kidding herself. Or maybe it was just the anticipation of how tonight would go. So much depended on what she could accomplish tonight.
She had told her mother and Jamal that she was confident about tonight, but to herself she had to admit to the jitters. Why not? She asked herself. I have an alien, who could be in possession of anyone’s body, trying to kill me, and I am about to attempt to connect the most people I have ever done. I did 12,000 in Sydney and in Rio, but there are 20,000 people tonight. I hope Ant connects to the bubble, if he can locate it, and can feed me energy. He might make the difference between success and failure.
Success and death might be more accurate, she thought. If I fail tonight, it could be a month or more before another session can be arranged. That would be an additional month for the Searcher to find me, hurt me or kill me. I can’t think like this. Try to think positive thoughts, Megan, she told herself.
Megan fixed the ear buds from her MP3 player into place and turned it on, trying to drown out the doubt in her mind. She reached towards the Core and drew energy from it. It helped. I can do it she thought. I can do it. I can do it. She repeated those words like a mantra, trying to believe them with all her young heart.
#
Anthony was getting proficient at entering the Core. Being able to see the spiralling lines of energy, that led him down the rabbit hole, probably accounted for the ease. He saw the energy lines all the time, but they only created the spiral to the Core when he meditated. Megan had shown him an energy spiral the first time he enter the Core. It had taken him almost a year to master meditation on his own, but now it was almost second nature.
He sunk into meditation, and into the Core, hoping he would be on time. Megan had said around seven-thirty, but it was closer to eight now. Maybe he should have stayed home to do this, but when his mother had said she was teaching a class at Debra’s studio, he had decided to go with her, thinking that being in the studio might get him closer to the bubble that Megan said she was creating. If he had understood her correctly, he was sure that was what she said, but he admitted that her kiss to his cheek had distracted his attention when she said it.
Anthony pulled himself up out of the bubbles that surrounded him. You always end up in the bubbles when you enter the Core. He now realized that they were people’s experiences with Core contact. Without meditation, people usually connected with the Core in times of extreme emotion. If you touched the resulting bubble, you would experience the same emotions, and the situation that caused the emotion, but tonight Anthony didn’t want to be distracted by ‘bubble bursts’ as he called them.
He had to concentrate on finding a silver bubble that was forming. That was what Megan had said, but he didn’t know what to look for, and she hadn’t had time to explain it, so Anthony floated above the multi coloured bubbles waiting for something to happen. He didn’t have to wait for long.
The first thing he noticed was a ripple of energy lines spreading out from a central point. Like a ripple from stones being dropped into a pond, over and over, in the same spot. He floated closer to the spot and saw a grey bubble forming. It went through a number of changes in colour and opacity as he watched, eventually solidifying with a silver hue. Anthony tentatively reached out and touched it.
He was looking out at a huge arena filled with people. His vision swept across the crowd, and he realized he had no control of where he looked. He was seeing through someone else’s eyes, and he was feeling someone else’s emotions.
Anthony felt what the body he had entered was feeling, and understood what she was doing. He knew it was a girl. He was sure it was Megan. He was inside Megan. The thought made him blush.
This had to be what she was doing on her tour for the last four months. What had she said to him? Enjoy the show and feed me energy if I need it. Anthony decided he would do exactly that. He settled into Megan, felt her emotions, and watched the show.
Seeing through Megan’s eyes was different he realized. She was much more sensitive to the colours of people’s auras. He saw auras also, but not as intensely as Megan did. She saw them the way Anthony saw energy lines. He realized that Megan was using the colours she saw to direct where she needed to concentrate her efforts, and he also realized that she was getting frustrated.
She would concentrate her efforts in one area of the audience, get them where she wanted them to be colour wise, and then move on to another area. She was about a quarter of the way through the arena, but the areas where she must have started were beginning to lose their structure. Anthony could see what was happening because he could also see the lines of energy in the areas.
Megan created a spiral of energy in an area as she spoke, gestured, and literally forced her will onto the group. The spiral was strongest in the centre because it was more concentrated there. Out on the peripheral of the group, the energy lines of the spiral weren’t as strong. They lost cohesion with the centre as time elapsed. Eventually, the energy lines in the next group had more attraction than the centre of their own spiral. The peripheral energy lines would join with the other group, and pull energy from the centre of their own spiral.
Anthony was sure if Megan could see the energy lines the way he did, she would understand the problem, so he attempted to overlay his vision onto hers. It seemed to work.
Anthony watched as another spiral started to pull itself apart. He could feel Megan’s frustration as she watched it happen again. Anthony reached out with his mind, and changed the character of the spiral. He added internal cross connections between the energy lines, like the connections in the double helix of DNA. The spiral held. Megan’s emotions lifted.
Anthony reached out again, and manipulated the other spirals that Megan had created. They also became stable. Feeling his energy level wain, Anthony also reached back to the Core and pulled energy into him and Megan. Together they reached out, and formed stable spirals in all areas of the arena. With everyone ready, Megan sent a flood of tranquility out over the arena.
Suddenly, Anthony was back in the Core, floating slightly above the silver bubble. He looked at the grey above him as he sensed something happening. The grey dissolved into a sky of intense blue with clouds of silver white floating across it. Anthony stepped into the landscape below the sky and stared.
Around him, on a vast hill side, were thousands of people, all staring in disbelief, at the scene before them. Suddenly there was a face before him. A face on a flat screen, like a plasma TV, but not exactly like that. Before Anthony could make out what was different, the face spoke.
“Welcome to the Core young sir. Any questions you have should be answered momentarily. All relevant Core information is being shared with you right now.”
Anthony could understand what the face meant by those words. Information was streaming into him. All the answers to questions he thought to ask were there before he could ask the questions. He looked around and realized that all the people where receiving the same welcome from the same type of face in a window. Anthony noticed that the windows perched on energy lines that came out of the ground. He also saw Megan not far away, confronted by her own window. Anthony reached out and pulled the energy line attached to his window with him, as he stared walking towards her.
“Oh my goodness”, said the window face. “You are a Builder. We have not seen a Builder in over one hundred thousand years. You are most welcome young sir.”
“I’m not a sir, I’m a kid, and what is a Builder? I don’t understand that term.”
“Of course, that information isn’t part of the normal welcome package. A Builder is someone who can see the energy of the Core. Everyone can use the energy of the Core, but no one but a Builder can see the energy. Your race promises to be an interesting addition. I am speaking with your Prime about this right now.”
Information about what a Prime was had been part of the welcome, but Anthony didn’t know who the Prime was, so he asked.
“She is a young woman named Megan. She is coming to you now.”
Megan arrived, and immediately gave Anthony a hug.
“Thanks, Ant. I couldn’t have handled that large a crowd without your help. I take it those lines I saw are what makes you this special Builder person the Core has been telling me about?”
Before Anthony could say anything the Core face spoke.
“He has the ability required to be a Builder, but he also needs the knowledge. I will share the knowledge I have about structures with him when he is in the Core, but he also needs to be educated about design and building sciences in your physical reality. You will have to see to that.”
“I will talk to my parents about this as soon as possible. I’m sure we can work it out, as long as it is also what Anthony wants.”
At that moment, Megan’s mother hurried up to them.
“Megan, your father has been injured back in the arena. He needs you.”
They disappeared. Anthony looked around. Others must have stopped meditating and left also because there were far fewer people around now. Anthony took a last look at the scene before him, said goodbye to the face, and stopped meditating. His mother would be waiting for him.
The End