Lori Ryder and the City of Crystals

I feel out of breath suddenly. I close my eyes for a second in an attempt to catch my breath. I open my eyes again. I am standing in the eye of a hollow tunnel of colour and sounds. It is like I am surfing inside the curve of a wave and all of the colours of the rainbow are turning in perfect circles all around me. I can see the horizon right ahead of me. I try and stay centred. I glide my fingers caressing the water. This is exactly like that. It feels surreal. Absolutely incredible. Except that I am not on water. I am in another place, I can no longer see Amanda sitting by my side. I can feel the beating of my heart in my ears, it is deafening. I must remain calm and see where all this is taking me. But then, it is all gone in the blink of an eye! I am back sitting on the couch with Amanda by my side. My head is still spinning. I do not understand what just happened. Amanda is repeating my name anxiously; I can feel the pressure of her long delicate fingers on my arm. “Lori, are you okay? Lori? Lori, is everything all right?” “Yes, yes.” I can only mutter a couple of words. I am out of breath. I am still trying to process what I saw and how I felt. I do not even know how long I was gone for? Was it minutes? Or hours? It felt so real. Did I even leave the room for a second? What happened? “Gosh, Lori, you frightened me.” “I am sorry, Amanda. I am here. Now.” “What happened to you? Did you see anything?” She is smiling softly at me with a sweet mix of angst and awe in her glance. “Oh, Amanda. Yes, I saw. I saw and I went there too.” “Okay, I totally get the ‘I saw’…but I am more interested in the ‘I went there too’. What do you mean by that? Where did you go to?” “You mean, you have not tried it. You saw the tunnel of rainbow colours appearing in the glass ball, didn’t you?” “Yes, that I did. Isn’t it awesome?” She was clapping her hands. “It is more than awesome. But did you go inside the tunnel?” “Hold on. You were inside the tunnel? You went inside the tunnel? Lori, that is insane. How was it? Tell me!” “Well, it was like surfing through a hollow wave. Gliding through the water, except it was dry and seeing a whole world all around you with all the colours of the rainbow. Actually, each colour emitted a sound. It was beautiful. I was touching those colours while gliding the curve effortlessly. How long was I gone for, Amanda?” “A few minutes only. But I began to worry, because I was talking to you and you did not respond or move. You were completely absent. So I called your name and shook your arm a little. I thought that you were daydreaming.” “I could not hear you anymore. I was gone. I was in that place. It was so beautiful. It looked like an endless tunnel of rainbow colours. It went on and on and on. I must go back. I want to explore. I want to see more of it.” “Ok, since when have you become so adventurous?” Amanda bursts into laughter. She adds: “I am usually the daring one.” “Yes, you are. But listen Amanda, what if we hold hands and return to that place together so that you can see it too. You would be there to protect me.” “That sounds really exciting. It reminds me now of what the elder who gave me the crystal sphere said to me in the rainforest. He said that this was the beginning of a life time journey.” “Did he tell you anything else? Like how to get to that place. I mean, I ended up there but I don’t even know how I did it and even less if I can do it again.” “No. His only words were to breathe, to let go and to open your eyes. I guess what he meant is to open our minds to all possibilities. Even to things we are not used to. Things we have not seen before.” “Okay. So let’s try it again.” Amanda and I are holding hands, breathing in and closing our eyes, trying really hard. Again. And again. We look at each other. Trying once more. Nothing. “Why are we still here?” “I am not sure.” “How did you do it before?” “Well, it sort of happened. I do not remember doing something in particular.” “Let’s try again.” Nothing. Oh, this is so annoying. Footsteps, we can hear footsteps. A light knock and the door opens softly. “Mum, not now!” “Sorry darling, but I wanted to check if you and Amanda wanted some tea.” Amanda and I look at each other. We don’t have the heart to refuse my mum’s offer. We leave the couch reluctantly. Amanda puts the sphere back into her bag. My mother has no idea what she has just interrupted.