Plague Part 6

Plague Doctor

The bane of being a university professor is the fear of being humiliated by a student or another academic. We’re not gods and have feet of clay and being well-educated is no protection against being mistaken or duped or led astray by a cult.

I know this fact very well. It happened to me.

Even now, after years of extricating myself from a certain group and their toxic ideas, I still feel twinges of guilt when I fail to follow certain prohibitions, even if I know they’re absurd.

But mainly what I experience is shame and silence, so opening myself up to my colleague, Sarah Richardson, was akin to ripping a bandage off a wound—worse even, because I was romantically attracted to her.

Sarah was staring at me waiting for an answer, oblivious to the upheaval going on inside me.

“So, are you going to tell me what kind of a cult were you involved with and how it relates to this business of the plague?”

“I can tell you this much.” I said flatly, “it involved spiritual abuse.”

Her eyebrows arched. “That’s the last thing I expected you to say.”

“Yeah, I guess I come off as quite the godless modern pagan.”

”Well, that’s harsh,” she laughed, “ because I see you more as a secular humanist but definitely not spiritual or religious. Which is curious in a way because I don’t see how it relates to this virus outbreak unless you’re seeing it as a plague of Biblical proportions and linking it to some apocalyptic scenario.”

“No, it’s not quite that conventional, although I’m sure that’s a widely held view in the Bible Belt. What I experienced is far more personal—perhaps, you might say even more mystical.”

“Mystical—Grant Jeffries—the esteemed Professor of Victorian Literature? It hardly seems possible.”

“Perhaps based on my published articles in academic journals, but unfortunately very true based on my personal experience.”

She adopted a more serious tone. “Look, Grant, I can’t begin to imagine the turmoil you must have gone through in that cult but how does it relate to the plague? I don’t get it.”

“Well, it wasn’t just the cult—what affected me happened long before I got mixed up with them. Actually, I was a psychic on Television.”

Her jaw dropped. “I did not see that coming.”

“I always had paranormal experiences as a child and after the death of my mother every Friday night I began phoning into a local cable TV show called Spirit Talk—it was hosted by a blonde, blue-eyed woman called Alma North. I became a regular caller.”

“This is so strange, Grant—it seems so out of character for you.”

“Well. At the the time I was obsessed with spiritualism and the desire to contact my dead mother. The really weird thing is that one Good Friday I happened to look out my front window and catch a glimpse of my neighbour directly opposite my house. It was Alma North. I couldn’t believe it. I went over and introduced myself and she invited me inside and when I told her about my psychic experiences, she tested me and found out I was the real deal.”

“Wow! That is some weird coincidence.”

“Alma suggested I join her psychic classes to develop my gift and then she took me under her wing and began mentoring me. This is why this whole business of the government cover-up and the plague is so upsetting to me—it stirred up these long dormant abilities inside me."

I paused for a moment, almost afraid to tell her and then I suddenly blurted out the truth.

"I had a vision, Sarah, and it shook me from my head to my feet. I can tell you for sure that this is not just a government plot—it’s a demonically energized attack that’s Satanic in origin.“

© 2020, John J Geddes. All rights reserved

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