Naked Minds

Transcendence

12.

            The frat house seemed abandoned at first sight. A deadly silence had fallen over it. The flickering light of the TV was the only sign of life. Johnny stood at the porch and glanced around at the neighbouring houses. His eye caught a glimpse of a bright star. He looked up and noticed a very clear sky. Many stars were visible.

            Suddenly his perspective shifted radically. It felt as if he zoomed out of himself. His mind shoot through the top of his head and out into the cosmos. First he saw himself, than he saw the city, then the planet, and then the entire universe. He saw the big picture. Up to that point everything had been theoretical and intellectual. One learns that we live on a big rock which we call a planet that floats in the vacuum of space. A person knows that the universe is vast, endless, infinite, and eternal in a mentally detached way. Johnny now felt it, he experienced it. It became a visceral truth. He felt it in his bones, in his flesh, his heart. The vision, the experience was magnificent and terrifying at same time. It was humbling; body shattering and mind bending. An abstraction rapidly became tangible inside his being.

            Johnny entered the house once he managed to zoom back into himself. He crept up on the two dark figures. It was Simon and Luke. They were sitting silently as the newscaster spewed the latest dose of fear onto the concerned masses. Apparently the TNDM has slowly been spreading out of the cities and into rural areas.

            “Johnny,” Luke said, startled. “They let you go?”

            “Are you alright,” Simon turned to face him. “Did they torture you?”

            “No,” Johnny replied. “Well at least not physically. Maybe some psychological torture occurred or…I’m just flying high off TNDM.”

            “What did they want,” Simon asked

            “Where are the others,” Johnny noticed.

            Luke and Simon looked at each, waiting to see which one was going to speak first.

            “Mark had a serious panic attack,” Luke said. “Mary and I took him to see a doctor which recommended that we leave him there. Mary also decided to stay and help out at the hospital. They are really overrun, very messy. She said that she’ll come back to take hers and Mark’s stuff out of the house.”

            “That’s what she wanted to do so…” Johnny reflected. “And the Baptist?”

            “He’s in jail,” Simon said. “Regular uniformed policemen showed up and arrested him. I was just walking down the stairs when I saw them cuffing him. Baptist willingly went with them, no questions or resistance whatsoever. He just gave up, surrendered. They wouldn’t tell me what he was accused of since I’m not a family member. I told Baptist to ask them but he told me not to worry and to wait for your return, that you would have all the answers.”

            “So…do you have all the answers,” Luke asked.

            “More questions than answers,” Johnny said in a daze.

            “I guess it’s all over then. The group is done, if we ever were a coherent group,” Luke concluded.

            “Nothing is over,” Simon protested. “The opportunity to do something crucial is still there. The world is still in limbo.”

            “My own mind is in a limbo,” Johnny said. “I don’t know what’s real or true and the drug is obviously not helping in that regard.”