Entry 4 Part One

From the Audio Journal of Niles Dantes

 

November 19^th, 1981

*Begin Recording*

Success!

This morning, I was able, after some trial and error, to trigger an experience similar to that which occurred five days ago. Given that they are indeed not some hallucination or once in a lifetime anomaly, I have decided to call these moments Reaches, after the crossing that seems to occur of the gap between my own reality and that fashioned by my mind. 

I began today’s Reach by working with a variant of the previous trigger phase. Inscribing The clothes and food of children are plain and simple resulted in a world that was most unpleasant, despite my intentions for creating an uplifting piece of writing. The first course of action was to determine the cause of this disparity. Was it a lack of specification in the actual wording? Or were my thoughts not focused enough when writing? Though I am well aware that it is terribly unscientific to alter more than a single variable at a time, I had no desire to create an exact replica of the initial Reach. As such, I decided to change both my writing and thought processes.

Lying stretched out on my couch so as to avoid another physical collapse, I began by calming myself and steadying my breathing, adopting an almost meditative state as I began to fashion my thoughts around a singular purpose. Children, bright and innocent, unburdened by the cynicism and weight of a fallen world, free to express unguarded emotion, each with a mind unique in its swirling ebbs and flows. An elementary school cafeteria, a safe, warm haven bustling with these young individuals, all contently enjoying meals according to their varying tastes.

As this vision spread to fill every iota of my consciousness, I lifted my hand in a detached manner, inscribing The innocent children cheerfully ate together on the same sheet of paper I had used previously.

To my bewilderment, nothing happened.

Doubt began to cloud my mind, as I began to feel that, whatever I had previously experienced, it could not be so duplicated. Yet I continued on, driven by some urge I find difficult to describe. Perhaps it was due to the potential importance of this occurrence, as I mentioned in my previous entry. More likely it was simply plain stubbornness. Regardless, I calmed myself, refocusing my mind and writing the phrase again and again. On the fifth attempt, the Reach occurred.

The apartment around me vanished, replaced by a scene that, to my great excitement, was just as I had envisioned it: a cafeteria, of roughly the same dimensions as before, but now warmly lit, with walls and tables painted in vibrant reds and blues. Young children filled the room, their visages thankfully energetic and full of life rather than that terrible blankness, laughing and speaking with one another.

I presumed that, if the first Reach was anything to go by, my experiences in this new world were finite, cut off by some arbitrary passage of time. As such, I needed to make the most of the time I had, yet attempts to move or speak produced no result, as before.

Please vote for one of the following in the comments section below:

1. Attempt to move around.

2. Attempt to communicate with the children.