Alex Stone: Session 2. Three days later.
“Alex, I’ve been researching your ‘condition’ as it were. It’s simply uncanny that you cast no shadow. I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing and have no explanation for it. However, just because I can’t explain it doesn’t mean there isn’t some type of scientific reason that light affects your body in a certain way. I think it would more proper for a physicist to attempt to explain it than me.”
“Have you told anyone about it?”
“No. I hold all of the information you tell me in the strictest of confidence. It is an anomaly that is all I can say.” Dr. Clement said.
“Dr. Clement, I have to tell you something.”
“That’s what I’m here for Alex. Feel free.”
“It’s going to sound crazy.”
“That’s okay. I’d like to hear it anyway.”
“Alright, I’ll do my best to explain.”
“Please do.”
“I think there’s something wrong with Kelly.”
“Wrong? Because you believe she’s obsessed with you?”
“That’s part of it. It just sometimes…she’s not there.”
“Is she acting distant?”
“I don’t mean mentally, I mean sometimes she’s not there.”
“How so?”
“It’s that… sometimes I look at her when she’s sleeping next to me…she suddenly becomes transparent, literally, like a ghost. It’s like I can see the pillow and sheets underneath her, through her. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks in the dark but no. She fades away like she’s disappearing, turning invisible. I know. It sounds bizarre.”
“Alex, I’m sure it’s your eyes playing tricks.”
“That’s what I though at first, but it’s happened more than once and not in the dark. One time she stood staring out the window when she slowly began to vanish. I could see out the window right through her. Then she disappeared entirely. I freaked out and left the apartment for about an hour. I had to get out, compose myself. When I came back Kelly was there in the apartment, just like before. I asked if she noticed anything weird. She said she didn’t remember that I left, that she experienced missing time.”
Dr. Clement took notes on all Alex said. None of it made sense but she surmised that Alex was either fabricating the tale or he was delirious. Perhaps Alex created the story in order to make it look like Kelly was the problem. Despite the absurdity of it all Dr. Clement had to get back to the relationship issues.
“Yes, that is extremely odd Alex. I’m sure there is a reason for what you think you see. But I’d like to get to your relationship with Kelly. Can I ask you something and will you answer honestly?”
“Yes.”
“Do you always go out with Dan; go to the bowling alley, the pool hall, when you say you do?”
Alex took a moment to answer. “No. Not all the time.”
“I see. Do you lie to Kelly when you say you’re doing these things?”
“Yes, I do, but only sometimes.
“When sometimes?”
“When I go to see Marcia.”
“Who’s Marcia?”
“Someone I met a few weeks ago.”
“Are you dating Marcia, Alex?”
“No, she’s a friend. I just talk to her.”
“About what?”
“About Kelly.”
“Kelly? What about her?”
“Okay… it’s about what I just told you, about Kelly becoming like a ghost and disappearing. I wanted to know if I was seeing things, went to libraries, searched the internet, read up on eye diseases, and psychological problems that could cause what I thought I saw. Nothing helped. And no doctor, I’m not on LSD or other hallucinogens. I spotted Marcia’s Vintages, an antique shop. Sign said it had old books. I went inside to look, just out of curiosity.”
“Did the store have what you were looking for?”
“I perused a small section of old dusty books but found nothing. I ended up in a conversation with Marcia, the owner. She seemed like a deep kind of person so I ended up explaining to her the situation about Kelly, little by little of course. My story fascinated her. She later did some research so I kept coming back to see her to learn what she found.”
“And what did she find?”
“A book called Shadows, Ether and Consciousness.”
“I see. Did you buy it?”
“No, it’s extremely old and too expensive.”
“What did you learn from the book?”
“Everything of importance was in chapter 7.”
That night:
After the session with Alex, Dr. Clement couldn’t put the unsettling couple out of her mind. She’s never experienced such an out of the ordinary case. After a small dinner at home she informed her husband she would take a stroll out in the city, get some night air and think.
Alex Stone cast no shadow; this was a fact, she’d seen it herself. But his story was so utterly impossible she had to investigate. Alex claimed the book was a rare, one of a kind work and if it was real, she’d like to have a look.
The hanging bell of the door jingled as Dr. Clement stepped into the poorly lit book shop. Dust layered the shelves with old books and odds and ends. The rickety floor creaked under her high heels and the place reeked strongly of smoke and perfume: the very same odors Kelly said Alex smelled like when he came home. If anyone spent more then ten minutes in the store their clothes become saturated with the odors.
“Hello there,” said a woman in raspy smoker’s voice. Dr. Clement turned to the front counter, Marcia, Dr. Clement assumed, sat behind the counter reading a magazine with a cigarette between her lips. Smoke lingered above Marcia’s head. Her skin was pasty white and long, sandy blonde hair stopped at the small of her back. She had the bluest of blue eyes and was pretty, just like Kelly said.
“Hello,” Dr. Clement replied.
“Anything in particular you’re looking for?”
“As a matter of fact I am. I’m looking for a book called Shadows, Ether and Consciousness.”
An expression of curiosity appeared on Marcia’s face. “Any particular reason why this book interests you?” Marcia asked.
“I’ve just heard a lot about it, that’s all.”
“I see. Wait just a moment.” Marcia stepped into a back room and only seconds later returned with a thick, hard covered, black book. The binding was worn with age.
“You’re in luck, I just happen to have a copy of this antique book on hand.”
“May I see it?” Dr. Clement asked.
Marcia set the volume on the counter and opened it. Dr. Clement spied the ink drawings on some of the old yellow pages.
“When was it written?” Dr. Clement asked.
“Almost three hundred years ago. By Vladimir Kolov, a Russian alchemist.”
“Alchemist?”
“Yes, alchemy is the precursor to chemistry. It’s an ancient discipline that involved a blend of the supernatural and scientific elements of nature. Kolov’s expertise was in the realm of consciousness and sentiency.”
Dr. Clement went straight to the chapter 7 and Marcia noticed. “You’re Dr. Clement,” Marcia said. The doctor looked up at her. “Alex told you about me.”
“Yes. Chapter 7 that will interest you most,” Marcia said. “It’s about how sometimes we think things do not have consciousness when actually they do.”
