Shambhala Page 16

  “If something weird happened last night.”

  “What do you mean ‘weird’?” I insisted. It irritated me that sometimes he assumed things were understood and didn’t explain more.

  “Did you see or feel anything? A being, heard something strange in your head, I don’t know, anything unusual?”

  My eyes opened wide. How could he know that?

  “Yes, something like that, how did you know?”

  “Something peculiar happened to us when we went to have dinner,” he said.

  “What?” I hurried to ask. I wanted to know in detail what had happened to them. Would they have seen the same being as I did?

  “Hold on, we’ll tell you about it. We’re only five minutes away from your house.”

  “You’re together?” I asked, surprised. For a minute, it surprised me more that they were together again than that they’d had some paranormal experience.

  “Yes, since yesterday.”

  That did surprise me. What were they doing together since last night—had something serious happened?

  I didn’t want to ask any more.

  “Okay, I’ll wait for you guys.”

  As soon as I hung up, I went to my room. I opened the wardrobe looking for something comfortable to wear. I grabbed some dark leggings and a thin long-sleeved shirt. I got a set of underwear and socks from the chest of drawers. I carried everything to the bathroom. I desperately needed a shower to clear my head. What could have happened? Why had they been together since yesterday?

  I undressed quickly while the water heated up. I submerged my body under the crystalline stream and after that my head, letting my whole body enjoy the strong pressure emanating from the shower head. I closed my eyes trying to relax and take a deep breath. Until that moment I didn’t realize that I was nervous, restless; I was panting and breathing fast.

  After three calm and deep inhalations, my heart started to harmonize. It was then that the eyes of the being who accompanied me hours ago arose in my memory: Eset. A single word that meant nothing to me, or at least when I couldn’t see him any more. Was that his name? His planet? A deep sigh escaped me and I found myself smiling. What peace that being transmitted. What beauty. What a powerful attraction he lit within me. I had to learn to control it, to calm down, and now, to focus on finishing that shower, since Ian and my father were about to arrive.

  The doorbell rang. I wrapped my towel around my body, dried my feet and tiptoed to the door to ring them in.

  Without asking who was on the other end of the line, I pressed the button to open the door to the lobby. I did the same with the house door—I left the key in the lock, on the outside, so they could come in as soon as they got upstairs without having to ring again. From the inside, I pushed the door until it closed and ran back to my room to get dressed while they came up.

  When I was putting on my pants, I heard someone come in.

  “Hello?” called my father, sticking his head around the door.

  “I’m coming!” I yelled.

  I finished putting on my shirt and slippers and went to meet them.

  To my surprise, my father and Ian were both dressed in the clothes they’d been wearing the day before. Apparently it wasn’t a joke that they’d been together since then.

  “What happened to you guys?” I asked, frowning and watching their faces as I neared to give them a kiss.

  “You aren’t going to believe it!” Ian answered.

  “Ha, ha,” I laughed to myself. “You are the ones who aren’t going to believe it.” I thought.

  “Last night, after we left you at the door, we headed towards the restaurant,” said my father before I had time to say anything. “And all of a sudden we saw some small dots in the sky,” he said, opening his eyes wide and raising his hand above his head. It looked like he was watching them at that moment. Ian and I stared at him in disbelief.

  Joaquín paused briefly in his story.

  “Do you remember the conversation we had a few days ago in the living room when we were watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Remember I told you about when your mother was pregnant and a light appeared out of nowhere and followed us wherever we went?” he said enthusiastically.

  “Yes, I remember,” I said candidly. I knew that, even though it hadn’t happened to me, I’d never forget it.

  “Well, I felt the same thing, as if they were the same flashes—as if they were intelligent and they wanted to tell us something,” he continued passionately.

  “Did they follow you again?” I asked curiously.

  “No, not this time. There were several resplendent points on the horizon, at a relatively low altitude. They moved intensely from one side to the other, zigzagging, changing color. Sometimes I counted three, then others arrived until there were five spotlights at once. They seemed to make different formations so that we would appreciate that they were not normal or conventional lights; they were not planes, or satellites...they were something else.”

  I was enjoying my father’s story. Everything pointed to them seeing UFOs the minute they left my house. My eyebrows rose at the same time I felt a smile on my face.

  “And what else happened to you?” I asked anxiously.

  “Why?” my father replied with apparent bewilderment.

  That surprised me.

  “You asked me on the phone if I’d seen or heard anything, and I took that to mean that you asked me that because you’d seen or heard something,” I answered with inscrutable eyes in a gesture of not understanding anything.

  “Oh, yeah! Wait until I get to it.” My father was one of a kind. “What patience you have! I said that because—well, wait while I continue,” he interrupted himself to continue with his story where he had left off.

  “We still had a good stretch to get to the restaurant. We were on the avenue for the industrial area, that long one. And not a car passed, not one. That got our attention. Seeing the flashes with some clarity, we stopped the car in the middle of the road with the engine running. We watched the dance of those little points in the sky for at least three or four minutes, and during that time, not one single vehicle went by. That’s when we head someone talking to us. We clearly heard a masculine voice, but since there wasn’t anyone around, it was logical to question where the voice was coming from. But we both knew immediately that they were speaking to us from a distance from that flying position, by telepathy. And you know what? He spoke to us in our language!” he exclaimed in amazement. “The first thing he told us was that his name was Eset...”

  Upon hearing the word ‘Eset’ I couldn’t pay attention any more. My mouth dropped open and my eyes were glazed over. The same being, I thought. My father noticed my distraction.

  “Daughter, are you okay?”

  “Yes, yes,” I replied hastily, coming back from my abstraction.

  “Did something happen?”

  “This morning there was a being in the house...well, in energetic form...” I didn’t know how to explain my improvised adventure. My father and Ian stared at me with expressions of disbelief. “The thing is that, among other things, I wanted to know his name. When he was leaving, he transmitted one word to me—‘Eset.’ Though I didn’t know if it was his name, his planet or what.”

  My explanation was ridiculously short and inaccurate but I didn’t want to go into detail. I felt the need at that moment for them to tell me in great detail what had happened to them—I needed to know everything I could about that being.

  There were several seconds of silence. My father and Ian seemed to be more stunned than I was, and honestly, I didn’t know why. Without a doubt, my experience had been much more intense than seeing a few lights in the sky. A being had been with me in the bedroom! It was amazing!

  “Let’s sit down on the couch,” I said, gesturing with my hand. “You want anything?”

  I didn’t know if they wanted to eat or drink anything, but my gut was wanting to get some food.

  “No, I don’t want anything
,” my father said.

  “And you, Ian?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” he said sincerely, distracted.

  “Well, I am hungry,” I said. “I’m going out to the kitchen to see what I can find in the fridge.”

  “I’ll go with you,” said Ian, coming after me.

  “I’ll stay here. I need to think about this,” said my father, letting his back fall against the back of the sofa.

  Once in the kitchen, I started looking in the fridge and cupboards for something to eat. It was an odd hour—late for lunch, early for dinner, and what I usually had for snacks didn’t sound good.

  I uncovered a tray in the refrigerator to find out what it was hiding.

  “Yum, a salad!” I said satisfied, taking out the container. “Do you want some? There’s plenty,” I said, showing it to him.

  Ian leaned over to confirm if it was true that there was enough for both of us, and seeing that I wasn’t lying to him, accepted my invitation.

  “What do you want to drink?” I asked.

  “Just water.”

  “Okay. Can you get the water jar and some glasses?”

  Without saying anything he went to the cupboard and got out three glasses. Then he got the water jug from the table and filled it after waiting for the water to run for a minute. While I got three plates and forks, in case my father decided he was hungry, we could hear the liquid starting to filter into the receptacle.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said. “And I was a little worried...”

  “I’m fine,” I said smiling and giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Should we go to the dining room and you can continue your story?”

  It was the best way I could find to get away from being alone with him any more time than necessary. I felt a little guilty for noticing that strong attraction to that indecipherable being. I didn’t want to kiss Ian again until I was sure that I wanted him in my life that way.

  We took everything and put them on the table in the dining room. We handed out glasses, plates and forks. I invited them to take as much salad as they wanted.

  Despite the experiences we had each experienced and the desire we had to exchange information and sensations, we were distracted and meditative.

  “That being,” said my father, breaking the silence, “gave us a message and I think it has to do with you,” he said, still resting on the sofa. “He said,” and at that moment pulled out a piece of paper he had folded up in his pocket, straightened it out and started to read it aloud:

  This is Eset speaking to you. It’s my job to communicate with you since I’m one of the beings who has been in contact with humanity for centuries. I and those of my species are from another part of the galaxy, outside of your solar system.

  At this moment, we are approaching some earthlings as a prevention measure. The events and times that come and go are endangering your evolution and survival on this planet. We are here to show you alternative ways to anticipate the future, to reverse the consequences of certain decisions and actions. We know and trust in your abilities, in your compassion. We are here because we believe that we can achieve steady progress on your planet based on peace and love.

  Our support is always there but you must do the work. We cannot directly interfere in your decisions or actions. That is a task that is not allowed and does not correspond to us.

  Soon you will know more details.

  Light on your path.

  Eset

  I almost couldn’t believe it. Was it possible we’d all gone crazy at once? That was starting to seem like an overdose of science fiction movies. But, if it wasn’t fiction? If it was truly real and there were people, humans, who were working with extraterrestrial beings for the future of our planet, to achieve stability and lasting harmony? Was it too beautiful to be true?

  We looked at each other briefly, in silence. No one spoke.

  “What does that have to do with me?” I finally said.

  “Well, that message doesn’t mention anything that involves you, but Ian heard...wait, you tell her,” my father told Ian.

  Ian lowered his head, looking from one end of the parquet floor to the other, his eyes lost. He seemed to be worried about something. We waited patiently for him to speak.

  “I heard another message.” His voice trembled. “I knew that each one of us was receiving a different communication, complementary to each other. It was inscribed clearly and in detail in my memory. When we stopped seeing the lights, I grabbed a piece of paper from the glove compartment and wrote. We both wrote down everything,” he clarified, making a detour in the conversation.

  It’s then I noticed he had something in his hand, too. Maybe that was the piece of paper he was talking about, but he kept it folded...I suspected he didn’t want to show it to me.

  Suddenly, he calmly started sharing the contents:

  In the next few days, some of you will receive a call. For at least three days, you’ll work as a group, guided by Enrique Paz in an expedition to a place connected with the Himalayas, between China and India, a place connected in turn to the energy heart of Mongolia. There they will perform specific jobs and receive new instructions. They will also learn the importance of this mission and the reason for their direct involvement in carrying it out.

  Your companion Aumnox is called to the appointment.

  Light on your path.

  Eset

  When I heard ‘Aumnox’ my heart skipped a beat again. That was the word I’d heard at the conference the night before. Doubt overcame me. Was it possible that that term referred to me somehow? And what was that about ‘your companion’? Did that being think that Ian and I were a couple or something? Too many questions without answers...

  “ ‘Aumnox’ is you, right?” Ian questioned me, obviously affected, and pulling me out of my thoughts.

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Probably.”

  “Did you hear something during the group meditation?” my father intervened.

  “I thought I heard a word a little bit before the meditation ended,” I explained. “I thought it was some rude person disrespectfully talking out loud. Then the sound repeated,” I explained like a good little girl who had never broken a plate in her life, “but I didn’t say anything.”

  “Why did you keep quiet?” my father scolded me. “You could have asked Enrique, he might have been able to clarify it for you.”

  “I don’t know.”

  Joaquín shook his head.

  “And you guys didn’t hear anything?” I countered.

  “No, we didn’t. We heard the messages later, when we were going to dinner,” clarified Ian demurely.

  “What do you think it means? Does it mean anything to you?” my father wanted to know.

  “The truth is when I heard I thought it alluded to me. It’s as if they were talking about me, as if they called me.”

  Ian grimaced in insecurity or concern, I couldn’t tell which.

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “What am I going to do about what?” I said, confused.

  “Are you going to investigate? Wait? Get in touch with Enrique Paz? I don’t know...what are you going to do?”

  “I suppose I’ll have to meditate on it,” I said reflectively.

  A few seconds passed in which silence was the only thing that intervened.

  “By the way, who are you both still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday? Haven’t either of you been home?”

  I felt like they were hiding something from me, that they weren’t telling me everything that had happened, and in some way I understood, because I didn’t want to give them the details of what had happened to me that morning. I don’t know if it was to protect them, or embarrassment that they’d figure out my attraction to that being, or because I thought they wouldn’t understand. In any case, I was aware that all three of us were keeping back information regarding our recent experiences. The only thing that was clear was that, apparently, we were going to receive ‘a
call’, something that led me to understand we would feel a desire to involve ourselves in some kind of specific work with them or something. I didn’t know when that would be, and above all, where that activity would be, despite talk of the Himalayas in China, India and Mongolia. The Himalayas? Mongolia, China, India? Really? It seemed like a pretty bold trip for a first contact. What could be there that was so important? Why that place instead of someplace else—someplace closer, maybe right there on the Iberian Peninsula?

  But there must be some serious reason, though I didn’t know what it was. From what Enrique had said, these beings programmed everything with extreme meticulousness. If we went there (assuming that I was already including myself), how would I know when I needed to go? And with whom? At each attempt to answer, a new question arose. It was overwhelming.

  It would be best to wait and see what happened, because, what was clear, was that something was going to happen.

  Chapter 20

  Estir

  Three days went by after that. It was Tuesday. Now that I didn’t have to go to the office, I wanted to establish a new work routine, with a flexible and comfortable schedule, and a focus on my main intention: to dedicate myself fully to my books. However, without the need to go anywhere, I felt misplaced, and it felt like I was on vacation or something. That made full concentration difficult, though I knew it could be passing. I liked that recent state a lot. Who doesn’t enjoy a vacation? Instead, what I felt was better—after many years, I felt free.

  I hadn’t seen Ian again since Saturday. We both felt strange and distant, and for my part, I didn’t feel like forcing closeness. Moreover, it was very good for each of us to be occupied with our own things.

  I thought it would be a good thing to have some time to reflect on everything that had happened in barely four days. I felt at a crossroads and had to clarify my pretensions. On one hand, Ian was now reappearing in my life, and yes, I loved him very much, and with him I enjoyed an inexplicable well-being, I laughed, he paid attention to me, pampered me...and in addition, the attraction I felt for him was palpable, but...on the other hand, there was Eset, that intrepid being who, without my knowing, slipped into my room to make me—do something, I don’t know what. I didn’t understand why I felt such an intense desire to get closer to him. I had hardly seen him a couple of times and on top of that, one of them was through a dream...it didn’t make sense. None at all. However, my heart beat quickly, as if it recognized something deeper than a simple physical excitement. I felt excited and disconcerted. I never thought it was possible to feel something so strong towards someone you don’t know, or even more, towards a being from another planet. Could a human fall in love with an extraterrestrial? If that feeling could be called that...