Little Cherine Book 05 - BPost027
“Do you know yourself Cherine?”Cherine asked, “You mean that even with sensing what we emote and reading each others’ thoughts, using telepathy, we still cannot know the real person!”
3061
She thought about it. “I have done things that surprised me.”
Sam began to cry. Robert was instantly at her side and picked her up, cradling her against him.
“You nearly killed them because I got afraid.” she sobbed.
I waited a while and then asked Eleni, “It seems you may not have a gift after all love. We need to know. Will you let, will you trust Cherine and let her into your mind?”
“If Dommi came with, will it help Eleni?” Cherine asked.
She did not answer and everyone went silent, staring at her, only Sam still quietly sobbing into Robert’s shirt. Eleni glanced at me and I saw her fear.
“No, not Dommi. Bring Sam with you.”
Now they all think they understand what I saw in her and why I fought to open her heart. I adored her at that moment, as they all did (though not anywhere as much as I did), but the truth is I saw nothing of the kind. I believed and still do that any kid, given the right opportunity has a heart no adult can compare with. I knew that if she learnt to love, her love will be something very precious. I had not expected her to be so brave though.
I sense Sam is going to want to take over the diary again, but I have something I want to say first. I do not understand Eleni, even if we can and do share our minds. She only spent a short couple of weeks with me as a five year old and yet she came out of it with such a different attitude! What happened? More important - how do I hang on to that love? I’m so afraid I’ll lose it.
Neither Cherine nor Sam found anything to suggest she has a special gift, at least, not in the way they’d thought. I expected Eleni to be upset about us putting her through hell for something that did not exist, but she only laughed. She said it made her happy. Now she will not have to think of them as gods. Stupidly I told her the ancient gods of Greece were not infallible, but luckily it did not mean anything to her since she can hardly read and never studied them. One more thing. I might be reading more into it than exists, but, Eleni came to me that night as an eleven year old. I cannot help it, she felt how it affected me and now she no longer seems interested in being an adult.
When I switched on the computer to write again, I told myself, very strictly, that I will not read what was written by Robbie and Allan. The last paragraph though leapt out at me and once I started I ended up reading it all. Robbie my love, it was kind of you to delete my gibberish - I never would have, so I’m glad you did it for me. Allan amused me. Before he met us, he enjoyed writing of our sex, but when it comes to him and Eleni, all he hints at is that he found a special beauty and joy in making green love. I should have peeked so as to write about it!
According to what we’ve read, depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. I wondered why my healer did not pre-empt the situation, but Robbie’s healer informed him that all moods change the balances and unless we ask for the brain to be interfered with, the healers do not. Thinking about it I decided I agreed. I prefer to be in control, though I did decide to instruct it to accept an order from Dommi should the same happen again. Dommi was not pleased.
“You are wrong Sam. Things build up, we suppress our emotions during emergencies and when we are upset with someone we love and at other times. What happened to you was a safety valve. I trust our bodies, nature built in safeguards and we should not tamper with them. I will only interfere if I sense you really need it.”
“Normal people take pills to heal themselves and avoid suffering depressions.”
“You are not a manic depressive love.” She sat in thought for a moment. “Haven’t you noticed medical reports move in fashions? If new medicines come out, they become the ultimate solution - until a new one is discovered. Suddenly they will concentrate on healing the mind instead of the body, warning us to go for help instead of taking pills and then pills become the fashion again - perhaps because it is easier and faster. The worst of it, is that children in certain so-called advanced countries are being treated by pills when it is love and companionship they need. We have recently learnt of the reasons why so many have conspired to compel all of mankind to use psychotropic drugs - the documentary 'Marketing Madness', was a real eye-opener for all of us.”
3062
I thought this would be a good time to bring up something else that was bugging me. “Dommi, why should we have to brush our teeth every day? Our healers can keep our teeth clean and our breath sweet. We never need to have plaque scraped off.”
“I think it will become a matter of personal choice. What about washing? Why take a shower?”
“That’s different! I feel so nice and clean after a shower. I suppose you are right.”
“Use both Sam. Same as with the pills, we are told our toothpaste brand, whichever it is, is the best, it cleans our teeth, cares for the gums, sweetens our breath and so on and soon as we become used to it, they come out with a new formula which they now claims does what the old formula was supposed to do, but at a higher price. Then we learnt that all toothpastes poison us with fluoride and other chemicals. Even our damn toothbrushes keep changing and with every change they become more expensive. As they become more expensive people try to use them longer so they come out with an announcement that we must replace our toothbrushes every six weeks - it used to be every three months. It leads me to suspect that none of them are as good as they claim, each change a cosmetic and marketing exercise, with no benefits to us, the customers.”
“I wonder if any Cherinians will become doctors or dentists?”
“Let’s go out for a coffee. I want you to meet a friend of mine.” She phoned and sweet-talked her into meeting us.
The woman was in her thirties, her hair dyed black and her face already showing a fine network of wrinkles. After being polite Dommi suggested I pretend not to listen to them. It was not long before I understood why Dommi brought me. The woman sees all of life as being dark and filled with unhappiness. She told Dommi her doctor has put her on a new treatment and it is helping, but she is convinced it will only work for a short time and then her body will become used to the medication. The side effects did not sound too good either.
When we were alone Dommi asked, “Now that you have suffered as she does, can you empathise better?”
“I think so.”
“You noticed that her own beliefs affect how long the pills are of help?”
“Are you saying no Cherinians will become doctors because we cannot really empathise with the plight of the patient?’
“I’m not saying anything Sam, I only wanted you to think about it. After all, among the Normals there are a number of doctors who have a very restricted ability to empathise and it has not stopped them from helping many people, even if they only do it for the money they earn from pharmaceutical companies and the standing it gives them in the community.”
I have given it a lot of thought. I believe there will be very few Cherinian doctors and those who do chose the profession will do so because of their own talents and interest, not because they are Cherinians. Most of the girls disagree with me, especially Wendy. They think that many Cherinians will be drawn to the job out of a need to help. I suppose there are two opposite ways of looking at this and it can go either way. I hope Wendy and the others are right, I will not mind being wrong about it.
Since the dramatic change in Eleni, we have been re-examining ourselves. It came therefore as no surprise when Robbie resumed his nightly searches. Obviously he cannot cover the whole world. He will choose a city and as the void he will go there. He opens his mind and tries to sense all children who are feeling something not normal to a child. It can be very painful, because he also feels the children in hospitals. People do not normally think of how many children there are at any instant suffering or dying. One night, he was compelled to enter a hospital, the children’s department, because the pain he felt was like a lance of fire. The child had been burnt in an accident, and all the drugs doctors used to kill the pain only made her appear unconscious, but she was aware. He used his healer to reduce the pain and help strengthen her body, but regretted it the next day.
“It would have been better to help her die. Damn it Cherine, twenty years have passed and we are still no closer to helping the children of our own world! Because I interfered, but do not dare cure her, she will live, mutilated and suffering for the rest of her life.”
“Was Mother Mary blonde or brunette?”
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“You’ve lost me. What has that got to do with…,” he burst out laughing, all his tension and sorrow gone. “You really are something!”
Cherine evolved a plan which he saw in her mind. Dommi frowned, she did not like it. For her, a Greek girl who had grown up as an Orthodox, the idea smacked of sacrilege or blasphemy. It is funny in a way, she stopped going to church many years ago and I think she does not consciously believe anymore, but the imprinting since childhood leaves a skein of compulsions and undercurrents of beliefs that have nothing to do with her present conscious thought processes.
She did not have a chance to inhibit the chosen course of action, for we cannot leave the work begun by Robbie half finished, especially since the victim is a child. Cherine’s idea also opens a world of possibilities for us. We realised we could have helped many children if we had thought more creatively, though we should not always use a religious motif. In this case, Dommi will appear to the parents as Mother Mary, floating and with a golden glow, and tell them they must pray at a certain spot for their daughter and she will heal her. It made more sense that they have their daughter with, so Robbie will send his healer to keep her pain bearable until then.
“There will be a side effect to this I’m not too happy about.” Robbie hesitated, not quite certain he will not be treading on somebody’s toes. “The experience will make the child grow up deeply religious. It means that whatever happens during her lifetime, even if a major part of humanity become Cherinians, she will not be able to.”
Cherine was not fazed. “So what? We make her a Cherinian the day she dies.”
“You are wrong Cher, it will not be that easy. If she is convinced Mother Mary saved her, and her parents will ensure she is, she will not stop believing because she meets us in the void.”
Meli asked, “What if one of us spends some time with her from now. We visit in her mind and play with her, help her through this time. We then tell her that because we are friends we have decided to help her, but nobody must know we exist so we are going to appear as Mother Mary. Whatever her parents tell her, she will never forget.”
“I will not mind doing that. I…”
Robbie cut in, “No Dommi, I’m sorry. You will emote your mother love and that will be stealing the child from her mother. Wouldn’t it be better for her to have someone to play with? How about the imps?” He grinned. “That will get the two of you back in practice.”
I had an idea and for this once I asked the others first. “Can we take Eleni to meet the child? Let her see how she suffers and then help her watch as the imps play with her. She needs to see that we do good. I think she has the impression we are some hedonistic semi godlike beings who only care for ourselves.” Nobody objected.
Allan was spoiling Eleni, taking her all over the world and showing her all the sights. He is getting so much joy out of it that Eleni hardly dares tell him she is suffering from sensory overload and wants some time at home by themselves. When I sensed they are at home, I knocked on their door.
“Since when do you need to knock? Eleni, Sam is here to see you.” I guess I must have let him sense my thoughts.
I explained the situation to her, with a few minor details not explained. She agreed to come with and we jumped back home.
“Eleni, you should come into my mind and see why I interfered.”
“Sam told me.”
“It is not the same as experiencing it. Can you bear the pain?”
“If you say I must.”
She returned to her body and wept. “Why was it wrong to help her? If you had not and the doctors make her live, she would have suffered so much!”
“Do you disapprove of our plan Eleni?”
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“No. I wish I could also help.”
The imps did not appear in the mind of the child as souls. They projected a field of grass and flowers and themselves as children younger than her age of twelve. They helped her materialise in her normal shape. All that is said between them and Clara is not heard by Clara in English, she hears them speaking in her own language, thanks to Claudia, just as we also understand the nurses, doctors and parents.
“Hello Clara, is this a nice dream? Do you like the flowers we made for you?”
“Am I really dreaming? I must be, I don’t feel any pain.”
“We don’t allow any pain in our dream worlds, Clara. My name is Jade and this is Cassie. We decided we want to be friends with you and come to play in your dreams. That way you won’t have to feel your pain all the time. Will you like that?”
“Yes please. Can’t you make the pain go away forever?”
“I’m afraid not.” She pulled a face and Cassie said, “We are not allowed to. We will stay and play a long, long time so that you don’t have to feel a lot of pain.”
Clara put her hands to her face and then touched her ears. Without a word she began to cry. “They thought I was asleep and I heard the doctor tell someone, I think he was another doctor, that I do not have a face and my ears were burnt off. I don’t want to go back there.” She sat on the grass and bawled like a baby. They both sat by her and held her, waiting for her to cry it out. We had discussed the possibility of her being aware to some extent of the damage and the imps knew they must not yet promise her anything. She has to accept them first as friends.
Candy asked and Robbie let her. She appeared as a little cherub in the air, wings softly beating as she sang for Clara. The song touched on her pain and moved on until it ended on a note of hope. Clara stopped crying and looked up at her. Candy gave her a sweet smile and in a shower of golden motes of light she disappeared. It took her mind off her woes and she asked the imps who that was. They told her she is a younger sister of theirs.
“Will she come again? She looked like a small angel. Why don’t you have wings if she is your sister?”
Cassie laughed. “This is a dream remember? We can look any way we want. Would you prefer us with wings?”
“Wings can be a nuisance Clara. We have to be careful when we play not to hurt them.”
“Oh! Are you angels?”
They laughed. “Our family call us the imps because they say we are naughty.”
“Then you must be fairies! Please, can I see your wings?”
“If we do, then you must also have wings so that we can fly together.” Her eyes grew large and she jumped to her feet when she felt wings grow out of her back. They showed her how to fly and soon the three of them were flitting about, laughing. We watched as the imps weaved their magic and made her forget her problems.
“They are going to get tired of playing in a field of flowers. They need more to do and see, Robert. Can’t we take her to my world?”
“Gilli, we miscalculated. At this stage she spends most of her hours asleep, the imps cannot stay that long with her. How will you explain your world to her?”
“It is the world of the fairies. Robbie, even when we cannot be with her, my people can look after her.”
We use descriptions that make people sound special, apart from others. We say, she was sweet, kind, gentle and so on. The truth is that when we first met her, Clara was an entirely normal girl, the kind most people will hardly notice and who will grow up to become one of those young women who get themselves a nice steady job, marry someone and become nice mothers and yet, she was also all those descriptions that would make her sound so special. Between the Gillians, Eleni, the imps and Lua she lived her magical life and we saw to it that she does not suffer much pain during the hours she has to return to her body.
3065
The doctors declared her out of danger a week later and made their plans for a series of operations to help give her some semblance of a normal life. We waited another two weeks until it was time for her to be discharged.
Both her parents work and after the first two weeks the mother had to return to her job. She still spends every free minute she has with her daughter, often spending the night by her side, and the husband tried to, but it broke his heart to see his little girl, knowing that under those bandages his child is disfigured, so his wife saw to it that he does not spend as many hours with them.
“Clara baby, you have been a very brave girl. The doctors tell me that you have been healing faster than they expected and you can return home in a few days. Will you like that? You mustn’t worry about being alone. Your grandmother took the train and is arriving tomorrow to look after you while I am at work.”
“Does she have to come mama? I’d rather be alone.” Clara was worried she will not be able to be with us if her grandmother watches over her.
“The doctors say you are sleeping too many hours. Her company will help to keep you awake. She can tell you stories and you can play your music. I’m certain your friends will also want to visit you.”
“I know what I look like mama. I’m blind and ugly now. I won’t have any friends in this world, specially when they see me without the bandages.”
With a catch of fear in her voice her mother asked, “This world? What do you mean Clara.”
“I…nothing mama. I meant the way people are in this world.”
The mother sat by her with tears silently running. “You are a lucky girl Clara. This will give you an opportunity to see who are your real friends. Most of us never get to know that.”
“I know who is my only real friend in this world mama. It’s only you. The other girls have to go to school, go on holidays with their families, watch videos and other things I can’t do. Mama, I’m tired.”
“Shh. Rest my baby, mama is here with you.”
The imps went to collect her, but she was wishing so fervently she can be on Meli’s world that she found herself there. The imps went there while we worried about the development.
Wendy reassured us, “It does not matter. It will always be her secret world. We never told her to keep it a secret and she did. I thought her explanation, when she slipped up, was brilliant.”
“Wendy, if she can go there whenever she wants, she will meet all of us and learn the truth about us.”
“Robert,” Cherine calmed him. “She can become a Cherinian, she is a good person.”
“I know that love. She will be a good Cherinian, but there are too many problems that need to be solved first, even if some of them are only moral problems. If she gets her own healer she will stay the same age she is now for a long time. We cannot expect her to hide her gifts and neither can we leave her on her own. She will want to spend time with us. What of the times we are not here?”
I felt butterflies in my tummy. “Dad, Cherine, I have an idea, but it may change a lot of things for us.”
“Let us see.”
I did and it caused a variety of reactions. My plan includes telling her about the Cherinians, so as to show her what waits for her, without linking and opening her mind. Once she becomes an adult she will then be linked. Since she does not need the link to visit Meli’s world, she won’t feel totally cut off from us, even when we are not home, on our Earth.
Robbie was pleased. “This can be done with others, even adults. A sort of in-between stage. Sam, we can grow much faster. As long as we visit them on a regular basis to ensure they are healthy and have no serious problems, they can wait a few years. We can increase by a few thousand without standing out.”
3066
He calls them the Cocoon Cherinians. I liked the name; it invokes an image of them waiting to metamorphose, turn into glorious butterflies. With the decision being made, it was time to talk to Clara.
“Don’t run off into the forest Clara, we have to talk to you.”
Her heart sank, thinking they were angry with her for coming here by herself and were going to stop her from ever visiting again. She recalled from childhood stories that fairies are secretive and shy creatures.
“I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do it again.”
They grinned. “We’re not upset you came here Clara, it made us happy. We want to tell you about someone special who is coming to meet you. She is the mother of all Ch…fairies. She is not really the mother of all of us, but when you feel her love, you will understand.”
“You mean she is a mother spirit?”
“Yes. Her name is Dominique. She has something to tell you that will make you very happy so don’t be afraid of her.”
Dommi appeared, about twenty metres away, and walked over to them. Clara stared at the girl of eighteen with a hammering heart, but waited for Dommi to speak first. Dommi looked at her little face, eyes anxious, but also filled with wonder, and her heart reached out to her. Clara knew immediately what the imps had meant.
Dommi sat on the grass next to her. “Hello Clara, I am usually called Dommi. I’ve been watching you for a long time. You are a very brave girl and we are all happy that you love this world.”
“Is it a fairy world?”
“Not really love. You nearly slipped up today when talking with your mother. You handled it just right though. Clara, we have not asked you to keep it a secret about us and that is why we told you we are fairies. You know fairies are good and so you were not afraid of us. It is time we tell you the truth, but now you will have to promise to keep everything a secret. Since you are not a little child anymore, I think we can trust you.”
“I swear I won’t tell anyone.”
The imps laughed. “You can’t tell anyone can you? They will think you are crazy or just being a baby.” She nodded in agreement.
“We are people just like you Clara. But, we have a very special secret. I bet you know from television what people with gifts are? You’ve heard of telepathy?”
“You can read my mind!?”
“We would not do that Clara, not without you inviting us. What I’m really saying is that telepathy is a gift. We have a lot of other gifts. One of those gifts is the ability to come to this world and now you have that gift also. Other gifts we have are more important. Do you know what empathy is?” She nodded again. “Our first and most important gift is empathy. We feel the pain in others as if the pain is ours. It makes life on our world very difficult for us, so we also come here to escape that pain sometimes - just like you did.”
“You really are not cross with me for coming here without being invited?”
“Cross!? Sweetheart, we are proud of you. You wanted to come here so badly that you found a way to open a door in your mind all on your own! I think you are going to be a small problem for us. Let me explain first.” She took hold of her hand. “Promise you will not be frightened. I’m going to show you how I’m going to appear to your parents. Clara, we want to fix your real body, but we cannot do it as we are. We have to pretend and trick your parents.”
Clara jumped up excited. “You are going to make me well? I’ll see again and have ears!?”
Dommi stood up and took a few steps back. “Yes my love. Now tell me who you see.”
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A golden haze surrounded her and as it faded Clara gasped. The only problem was she did not recognise who Dommi was supposed to be. The imps had a good laugh.
“Clara, she is supposed to be Mary, the mother of Jesus.” They had another good giggle.
“But…but, oh, I see.”
“What is wrong Clara? Tell me, I won’t be upset.”
Shyly she said, “You’re not blonde.” She blinked. “Oh! You are blonde!”
Dommi floated a few feet in the air. “I know it is not nice to lie, but just this once…I am going to ask you to pretend for us love. We want you to beg, plead, cry, whatever is necessary to get your parents to take you out to the countryside tomorrow. We will secretly help them see it is a good idea. We will let you know when I appear to them. You must then cry out to your parents, ‘It is the Virgin Mary!’. Can you do that? Even if you still have the bandages covering your eyes, pretend you can see me. The rest I will do.”
She happily agreed and it took her a while to question us. “Why do you have to pretend to be the Virgin Mary?”
“The doctors want to operate on you soon, so we cannot make your scars disappear over months. Clara, if we fix you without appearing, everyone will think it is a miracle. Some people might begin to ask very difficult questions as they will suspect you may have a gift and you healed yourself. They will make your life miserable with all kinds of horrible tests and you will never be able to have a normal life. They will remember that when you should have been screaming with pain you only slept. Can you see what problems wait for you if we do it secretly?”
“I’m not afraid to do it, if you want me to.”
“I know. The second choice we have is that I appear as I really am. There will be questions, people will be afraid of the girls and myself and do you know what will happen? Governments will try to steal us to force us to spy for them or to teach their soldiers how to use our gifts for killing. That is why we stay in hiding. Nobody must learn about us.
There is another one of us, a man. He passed near the hospital on your first night there and he could not bear to feel your pain and he helped take it away from you. To do that he risked the lives of everyone he loves, friends and family; these two little monkeys are his daughters. If you ever speak about us, you will have betrayed the love and empathy he felt for you.”
“I swear I won’t.” The imps laughed, tickled at the idea of Clara swearing to the Virgin Mary.
“You will have to pretend to believe it was the Virgin Mary who healed you Clara. It sounds easy now, but there will be times you are tempted to tell your mother, a priest or a close friend. Worse will be the times the lying and pretence make you sick and you need to tell someone. Meli, tell Cherine and the others to meet us some distance from Clara.”
*We are asking the impossible of her. She must know enough to carry her through the difficult years ahead. Roberto, we must take her to our World.*
He was worried. She will be able to describe all of us, even if we look green on the island. He reached out a tendril, touching Clara and she responded. *Don’t I know you?* He sent her a few love motes and withdrew. *Alright.*
Cherine did not link her to us. She keeps a gentle link that only helps her (Cherine) feel Clara so that we can sense her should she be in trouble at any time.
The next morning we all concentrated on watching Clara. Her parents would not even consider the idea of taking her out. They were afraid of germs; as her burn wounds are still open, she can easily catch an infection. With subtle help from Cherine, they felt they were compromising, just to please her, as they decided they will take her for a drive into the country so that she can breathe some fresh air. Gently the father carried and placed her on the back seat, her head resting on her mothers’ lap.
Robbie was tagging along as the void and when he saw they were close to a hill without any other people close by, he let Cherine know. On her cue, Clara begged them to stop by the hill and let her out of the car.
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“The sun is not too bright and it may do her some good. Honey, how did she know there is a hill?”
She laughed. “Mummy, it is full of hills here. I guessed we must be next to one. I’m so tired of being stuck in a room. I want to feel the grass and smell the air.” They looked at her bandaged hands and without comment the father turned into a small dirt road, opened a gate and drove through. He parked at the foot of the hill. The mother waited until he had their daughter in his arms and she got out quickly and sitting on the grass gestured for him to place Clara on her lap. We could feel both their hearts breaking as they looked at the ruined body of their daughter and the bandages that hide her destroyed face and burnt scalp. Unspoken between them is the knowledge that they cannot afford the private medical attention to give her the treatment and operations she needs. They each felt so helpless and yet we can feel their hearts reaching out to each other to help them brave the future.
*Clara, they have put you facing away from the hill. Try to turn around and ask them what is that light on the top of the hill.*
A golden glow appeared on the hill as Clara asked and her parents turned to watch, their faces filled with incredulous wonder. The glow drifted down and stopped, about three feet in the air and about fifteen feet away from them. Through the golden hazy light the form of Virgin Mary appeared. She looked at Clara with eyes filled with compassion and her mother love.
“Clara, do you know who I am?”
“The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.”
“Open your heart to me Clara. Let me enter and feel your sweetness.” Her eyes raised and she met those of the father. “Fear not, your daughter has the purity and heart of a child. I helped her bear the pain when she was burnt and I am here now to heal her.” She spoke to Clara again. “All this time I never felt any bitterness in you. Pain and despair that your life was over, but never bitterness, anger or envy. You have a sweet soul Clara. Believe in me and you will be whole again. Unwrap her hands for her.”
In a sort of holy terror the mother tried to obey, but her fingers were shaking too much. The father knelt and taking her one hand unwrapped the bandage. They both cried out as they saw a hand whole and beautiful, her fingers clear of any scars. Quickly now they unwrapped her other hand. Clara held both hands up towards Dommi.
“Use your lovely hands to unwrap the bandages over your head. I want you to see me Clara, so that you remember throughout your life that you are loved.”
They had to help her with the beginning of the bandage and crying and laughing, still terrified, they helped her undo the bandage. As they saw her hair peeping through the last turns of gauze they believed. Clara let the bandage go and removed the pads over her eyelids. She opened her eyes, brilliant blue eyes. They misted with tears as she saw Dommi.
“Thank you, thank you. You are beautiful.”
“The beauty you see Clara is in your own heart. Go home now and then take off the rest of those bandages. You will not be needing them again.”
Invisible to them we stayed, watching as they drove home, removed the bandages and stared at their daughter who no longer has the slightest burn mark. The mother rushed to the telephone and called their priest (who had visited Clara at hospital).
Eleni left her seat and kneeling on the carpet took Cherine’s hand in hers and brought it to her lips.
“Thank you.”
Robbie raised her to her feet. “We know what you mean Eleni, we all feel the same way. But none of us may kneel to another. All Cherinians are equal and if we use the gift Cherine gave us wisely, we will have the joy of helping many people through their suffering. Look into your own heart to find in what way you will fulfil yourself as a Cherinian.”
She shook her head in denial. “No, there is one other.” She came to me and my face flamed as she knelt to me. “You Samantha, you believed in me because of Allan. I can see what I was and what you helped make me become. I will never forget.”
3069
Robbie, the idiot, let her do it to me and I felt like jumping to get away. The only thing I could do was lean forward and kiss her cheek. “You were worth it Eleni, just as Clara was. Allan was right, he felt the baby in you who still cried for what she had lost. Let those years of pain go and love us all Eleni.”
Apart from my embarrassment, this has been a lovely day. Poor Clara did not have it so good though. The priest made her kneel and pray, giving thanks. She was treated by all the numerous visitors as someone blessed and they all wanted to touch her, hoping some of the power of God will be felt by them too. She quickly came to understand our problems and the words of Dommi on Meli’s world soon made sense to her. That night, alone in her bed she whispered “Thank you Dommi. Thank you all of you.” She was too excited, her day too eventful for her to drift into sleep so she went to Meli’s world. We all joined her there and had food and drink from Daniel as we talked and laughed with her.
The success with Clara changed the focus of our group for a while. In some cases, especially the very young, we only sent our healers in to reduce their pain and boost their bodies, repairing whatever we can so as to give them a fighting chance to survive. Those we wished to help and acquaint them with some of the truth, we first let Cherine check. A few were not good candidates, so we helped them to the extent we can, without causing too many suspicions. Our list of children and young people we helped and cocooned grew daily. I estimate we had about two hundred Cherinians spending at least two hours daily on finding children and helping us. Within a month we had over 1500 Cocoon Cherinians After our experience with the Gnolats this has been like therapy for the family. We find ourselves smiling and laughing for the silliest reasons.
“I think it is time we call a meeting. Do any of you feel like jumping to let the other Cherines and Roberts know?” He ended up sitting at home by himself while we spread the word. Soon as we were all back, Alki and Robbie shushed everyone.
“We have some pleasant news for you. Alki and I discussed the waste of having an apartment in Cyprus. We hardly ever see it, never mind use it. The problem, as I see it, is that for us to take a holiday there, it means we are using real time. What if we had the same apartment on another Earth? We can use that one and others can use ours. That led to a few more ideas. We are thinking of renting from Dimitri his house in Dar, the Dimitri of this world and others. Not only have we been using it without paying, we have not done much to help him survive and he is too proud to accept help from our fund. A decent income will make him independent. My loves, Alki, as usual, has taken the idea to extremes and has offered to buy an apartment in London, a house in South Africa and a large bungalow or house in the Seychelles.”
“Robert, we can have another place for alternate Cherinians to visit. The space we created on the moon has been very popular, which means there is no private place for us. Why don’t we built another home there?”
“If we are going to do that, I think we should also build facilities for visitors to come to Freddie. Just those visitors by themselves can pay for everything else.”
“Good thinking Claudia. Since all the visitors will be Cherinians, we won’t have to worry about them littering or spoiling our world. Alki, it looks like we are growing our tourism business.”
Alki chuckled. “I’m glad, it means we can justify paying Allan a higher salary. This time he won’t be able to refuse me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Last end of the month I put into his account an extra five thousand dollars and he brought it back to me, he said he does not deserve the increase!”
“Alki, how are things going with Petsas?”
“Your rat? The reports I’m getting show he is behaving. The problems in Cyprus are no longer as acute as they were and we will have to expand our mandate to help mostly elderly people. I found out that pension payments are very low and most of them struggle to survive. The economy has recovered and tourism is growing again, but I doubt the government will raise the pensions substantially.”
“I must visit him.”
3070
Cherine laughed. “Pappou, whenever Robert wants to have some time apart from us, he visits Petsas because he knows we all refuse to meet him.”
Alki laughed. “Then you girls must be keeping him happy since he has not been there for a long time.”
Robbie shook his head. “No, that’s not it. They have all been studying so hard for university that I get all the time I need to be alone.” As usual, thanks to his compulsive honesty, he put his foot in it. First he got attacked for denying we keep him happy and then we demanded to know why he needs so much time alone, why isn’t he upset at us spending so much time studying. It was all a lovely way of teasing while emoting love.
It did give him the excuse to give Alki some canvas and CD’s of his latest work. Jade then brought two new paintings of hers. One of them is of the world with the many-coloured crystal lace. It is the worst picture she has done for a long time and she knows it. Robbie suggested she study how to use an airbrush. He showed her a few pictures hosted on 3D sites and she flipped. They are going to London tomorrow to buy her the equipment she needs. She is not interested in using her computer for her art, as she says seeing her pictures on paper or canvas give her more pleasure. I’m glad that seeing what can be done with new tools will open her to new possibilities.
Marian had joined us and she teased Cherine and Robert. “The two of you are the only ones not studying anything. Even little Goldi is studying!”
“I don’t study Marian because I’m too lazy, and Cherine doesn’t because she already knows everything.” Cherine promised us by mind-speak that she will make him pay for that comment.
She did not get the opportunity to do so. As we were going to bed she stopped undressing in shock. We all felt it through her. She had picked up from Allan that he is in a white-hot rage and Eleni is ready to kill someone. We immediately opened our minds to them and Robbie asked Allan what is wrong.
*Robert, that picture you had in an early part of your diary, the girl tied up in the garden…. we’ve come across something similar, only this child is about six!!*
Robbie immediately ordered us to pull out of their minds. “Cherine, come with me. He might mess things up with both of them so angry.”
Dommi stayed and kept an eye on us to ensure we do not try to look in the diary or peek at what Allan and Eleni are doing. She saw I know what it is all about and left me alone, so I kept my mind fully open to Allan.
The two of them had gone to New York to visit Lynda and she had invited them to stay the night. While Eleni and Lynda chatted, getting to know each other, he left his body, travelling out into the night. It was mostly without purpose, but he was keeping himself open to any unnatural pain in children. He encountered a number of cases, but nothing so extreme that he needed to interfere. Most of what he sensed was due to poverty or parents fighting. The call that caught his attention, it was not one of extreme pain, mostly fear. Among so many others he might have ignored it, but he sensed a helpless terror so he stopped to examine the situation. He expected to find a drunken father beating his wife, but sensed there is no other source of pain in the house. As a matter of fact he found the mother was experiencing the same feelings of excited anticipation the father is. So, as I said, mostly out of curiosity, he entered their home.
They had used neckties to bind their little daughter. She was in the nude with her legs tied so that they were held up towards her head and splayed open. They had put a large towel on the carpet on which she lay and she was tied to the furniture surrounding her so that she cannot move and her mouth was gagged. Her mind was screaming in terror and horror.
The parents were speaking to her gently, but with excitement, telling her that she will enjoy it. They were both in the nude and holding a medium sized dog which they had positioned between her legs. The mother had brought it’s face to her daughters’ sex and the dog was licking her.
As Allan came in, the parents had decided to take the next step and moved the dog forward. It was already humping the air and as they moved it forward it obviously knew what to expect and lowered its hindquarters, seeking her opening. Without thinking Allan sent his healer in with the one order no healer can bear. He ordered it to kill the dog instantly. He’d realised the parents have used the dog on themselves and it will now be a danger for all children. He wanted its brain sizzled so that all the cells go haywire and it dies instantly. Such was his rage that the healer had no choice but to obey. Eleni felt him and shot over, abandoning Lynda. Even with all she had suffered and seen, never had she experienced anything like this and her fury only served to fuel Allan’s so that he was ready to strike out at the parents.
I hope you enjoy reading this story of fantasy, adventure and love - and should some of it be true for our reality, I hope you will love our Cherine.
Αλέξανδρος Ζήνον Ευσταθίου
(Alexander Zenon Eustace)23rd November, 2019
- posted: 23rd November, 2019
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