#BlogBattle is a weekly short story challenge using a single word for inspiration. Hosted by Rachael Ritchey.
The Rhythm of Life
Sebastian entered the kitchen finding his mom making dinner. “Hi Bass, how was school?”
“Fine.” He says with little emotion.
Sebastian walks into his room, drops his backpack on the floor and begins to change his clothes. He mutters to himself, “Fine…Ha…school sucks. I’m sick of always being on high alert, constantly looking over my shoulder so I don’t fall victim to a stupid prank, and the name-calling is just stupid. Those morons don’t realize how I could destroy them. I could easily hack into their precious social media accounts; I could embarrass them so bad their kids would blush. Eh…They’re not worth the trouble, I have three more years of this BS, some days I just don’t know if I can take it another day, I don’t see how things will ever change. Whatever.”
Deflated, he flops down on his bed and grabs the new sci-fi book he’s been reading. He only gets through a couple of pages before he drifts off to sleep.
It is then that they appear, out of nowhere. Aramis looks around at his surroundings. Clothes are everywhere; there’s not one clean surface in the room. Pop cans, candy wrappers, shoes, socks, all cover the floor, disgusted he asks, “Why are we here on this godforsaken planet again?”
Athos calmly replies by pointing to Sebastian sleeping, “Him.”
Perfectly on cue, Sebastian rustles, snores, frantically scratches his nose, then stills.
“Lovely.” Aramis flatly replies. “No really, what is our mission Athos?”
“Sebastian here is very special, he has intelligence that is paramount to the future of his people, he just doesn’t know it yet. He is being harassed from other humans in his institution of learning, and he is very discouraged, to the point of giving up. We cannot allow him to do that. He must use his knowledge for good and not evil. He must be aware of his greater purpose, so that it takes over his being, where nothing can deter him to move forward. Where he can drown out the noise that tries to distract him. He will become like us. But we must move expeditiously before the cosmic rain storm hits, and awakens him.” Athos responds.
Confused yet trying to impress his superiors with facts, Porthos says, “How will it disturb him? Earth is constantly hit by cosmic rain, which is just dust particles, for the last 30,000 years…without notice.”
“Not today. We’re here, it will be different…he’ll hear it. Ugh, you’re such a fledgling, you have so much to learn.” Aramis says shaking his head in frustration.
Athos replies calmly yet sternly, “Yes, that is why he is here, the only way to learn is through experience, let us begin.”
The rain is steadily falling now, sounding more like pebbles than raindrops hitting the window, getting louder and louder. Sebastian slowly wakes up. He sees the three men dressed alike wearing some sort of green and black uniform. He rubs his eyes, and groggily says, “Sup?”
Athos whispers to the others, “He’s awake, I’ll handle this.”
Louder and with more enthusiasm he addresses Sebastian, “Greetings and Salutations Sebastian, please do not be alarmed, we are here to help you.”
“Whoa…this is trippy, you didn’t actually say that…I’m not actually saying this, but yet we’re communicating.” Sebastian says a little disconcerted not sure if he is fully awake.
“That is correct, it is thought transference, or telepathy. This is Porthos and Aramis” as he extends an arm gesturing to each individual. “I am Athos, I am a cosmic soothsayer, I can foresee the future in any galaxy. I am here to show you a glimpse of your future.”
“A soothsayer.” Sebastian’s says, his voice flat.
“Yes.”
“Like a psychic.” Sebastian questions for understanding.
Athos tilts his head back and forth trying to reconcile the ambiguity of the term is his head, but simply says, “Yes.”
“A clairvoyant?”
“Yes.” Athos replies impatiently wondering when this questioning will end, but indulges Sebastian so that his curiosity is satisfied.
“Like…the oracle?” Sebastian says with a little more excitement, like he just realized the answer to a million-dollar question.
“Yes.” Athos replies more confidently, sensing that Sebastian relates to this. He has been called worse.
Sebastian says, “Cool.” Completely accepting this whole situation. “So dude, what’s with the green and black uniforms.”
Looking down at his clothes and a little confused, Athos replies, “We scanned the earth for the most superior human exhibiting expertise in making other humans feel happy and content. What we found is that the…” he pauses, looks down and leans his ear towards Aramis prompting him to share their secret with only him.
“The barista, sir,” Aramis replies quietly under his breath.
“Yes, the barista…had the highest levels, so we fashioned ourselves to emulate them, in order to not draw attention to ourselves.” Athos responds.
With his eyes wide with excitement Sebastian says, “Cool! So you’re shape-shifters.”
Aramis looks at him and just gives him a nod confirming his observation. Sebastian eager to see what will happen next says, “So what do I have to do?”
“You don’t have to do anything.” Aramis replies.
“OK…but wait.” Sebastian pauses and closes his eyes, like he’s trying to hear something. “What’s with the music? It’s like I hear it but I don’t. It’s more like I feel it. It resonates from each of you with your own unique rhythm, but yet I hear, or feel them separately. I feel calm, peaceful even hopeful.”
“Yes Sebastian, it is our natural vibration frequency that resonates from our inner being, it is who we are, it is the energy that helps us be who we are meant to be. Humans have it too, but it takes them years to tap into it and learn to utilize it properly. We are here to speed up the process in you, so that you will have it too. Think of it as…the soundtrack to your life.” Athos replies with a smile.
“Ok then…do your thing.” Sebastian says without any hesitation.
They move towards him and Athos reassures him, “You will not feel anything, or remember any of this. When we are done your natural vibration frequency will empower you to stand against anything or anyone who tries to discourage you to move towards your future. Just relax.” Slowly, their individual vibration frequency becomes louder as it begins to beat in unison, as Sebastian is lulled to sleep.
A flash of lightening fills Sebastian’s room followed by a loud clap of thunder which startles him to full consciousness as he bolts upright in bed. He looks around, trying to get his eyes to focus. He smells food, and realizes he is hungry. He gets up from his bed, the book he was reading drops to the floor, and a white card falls out from between the pages. He looks down at the blank piece of paper, and bends down to pick it up. When his fingers come in contact with the edge of it, something slowly appears like when you turn on your phone. Illuminated in blue letters, the card reads:
ATHOS
a.k.a. The Oracle
Cosmic Soothsayer
He drops the card on the bed like a hot potato, and it goes blank again. He rubs his hand down his face and looks at it again and says, “Nah…it had to be a dream.”
As he leaves the room, he faintly hears music, or at least he thinks he does. He turns to see if he left the TV on, but he didn’t. He shrugs his shoulders and heads towards the kitchen feeling well rested and…empowered.
© 2015 Carrie Ann
