Beneath the Elder Tree Read Free

mental barrier that had to be broken down. It was almost like learning to swim or to ride a bike. It hadn’t been a physical challenge as such, more so a psychological one.
       ‘Now that you’ve accepted that you don’t have a physical body that can get tired or be damaged, you should be able to take the next step.’
       ‘And that is?’
       ‘Passing through solid objects - like the door in front of us.’
       ‘How is it possible for someone to pass through a solid object?’
       ‘It’s not possible for anyone to pass through a solid object,’ Emily replied with a condescending smile. ‘We can do it because we don’t exist in the same world that the object exists in. Do you understand?’
       ‘No. I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on here.’
       ‘You’ll get it … eventually. It takes time to recognize the differences between the realities that spirits exist in. Now, the easiest way to do this is to close your eyes and pretend the door isn’t actually there. You can keep your eyes open when you get used to sort of thing.’
       I shut my eyes and gingerly moved forward. I had some sense of the door as I passed into it, but it represented no obstacle. I seeped through it without properly feeling anything. I did, however feel something as I stepped outside. There was a definite chill crawling over me. I opened my eyes to find the entire world appeared different than it had when I was alive. The sky was bright but had little definition, and instead of radiating heat, the sun seemed to emit coldness. The houses, that always seemed to follow straight lines, appeared crooked and fragile. The perspective of everything around me was flawed, like a child’s drawing, and I found it difficult to judge distances properly.
       ‘Come,’ Emily said, taking my hand. ‘Let’s make our way to the centre of town.’
       The grey, blurred shapes of the living people passed us on the pavements, and I found that I could grab some of their thoughts - as if they were being transmitted. They were all so caught up in meaningless dramas like being late for work or being short on money or about how they looked and what others thought of their clothes or hairstyles. It all seemed so foolish to me now.
       ‘Sad, isn’t it?’ Emily said distantly. ‘So very sad.’
       ‘I never realised people got so worked up over the stupid little things that are of no real importance.’
       ‘You never realised it but you were the same up until yesterday. You used to worry endlessly about how others perceived you. You worried about what guys thought of you. You worried about what girls thought of you. You used to worry that people wouldn’t like the songs you wrote. Where you so different to the people you now consider shallow?’
       ‘Maybe you’re right. I guess I was pretty dumb.’
       ‘No dumber than those who influenced you. Society had made you that way. You weren’t to blame.’
        Emily wasn’t the most pleasant girl to talk to, but she did know how to open a person’s mind. I’d already reached a higher level of understanding in the short amount of time we were together, and she said I needed to because I now lived at a higher level of existence. But for all her philosophising and grumpiness, not to mention her deathly appearance and her multi-coloured eyes, she was just a child to my eyes.
       ‘How come a kid like you is so brainy?’ I wondered. ‘Someone your age should know more about cartoons and dolls than different stages of existence.’
       ‘I’m not a child. I died when I was eight years old, and my appearance reflects that age, but I have now lived for just over twenty seven years. I think that qualifies me as an adult.’
       ‘That must be annoying. You know, being an adult and looking like a child.’
       ‘You have a lot to learn, Lucy. Appearances mean little in this world.’
       ‘You said spirits could change the way they