Crystal Bella (13 page)

Zing urged Halo to check the money.

“Bring it up to the light!” he said, checking to make sure it was valid. Halo looked at Ethan, with the coolest look with a sweet smile that said
, I know it’s cool, just let Zing do his thing, he’s cool, but I know you are too.
                                               

Ethan jumped on his new bike and
the feelings awoke his senses to the time when he was 13. For a moment he remembered the exact day and details of when he rode it back then, the words that were said, the feelings he had, the actions of that time and the freedom of 13 with the innocents of youth to fall back onto. Ethan never wanted to grow up, he would always be the wild child.

Ethan r
ode home on his new bike. He realized he had missed the feeling of riding a bike, especially a banana one. He rode it all the way home passing a few cars, jumping onto the footpath in some places and burning up someone’s lawn when it appeared to be a short cut, and purposely found a couple of small ramps to do a few jumps.

Ethan arrived home, he p
ut the key in the door and knew straight away his mom was not home. He could sense when she was not there and when she was. They often arrived at the same time and called when they were thinking of each other. It was now around 7pm and Ethan checked the phone messages. His mother came on, as always so sweet and lovely. She said she was going to be late tonight and for Ethan to get some dinner from the fridge saying there was a salad and a few dishes left from the previous dinner. Ethan closed his eyes and sent her love. He never really worried about his mother, she was so in tune with her senses that she was always protected. It felt nice not to have to worry about her but he always sent her love and often asked the universe and the angels to protect her, always. Ethan felt protected too but like today he knew he had to be at one with his senses. It could be a tough world out there but the faith and spiritual qualities could guide you away from the rough elements of life and the nasty people that did walk around. Ethan wanted his own bubble where only love and light entered. Just fun stuff and attract that only. He knew he could do it and minimize the negative. And when the negative did arrive he just had to be as Zen as he could be and neutralize the situation by being detached and not feeding it. Choosing peace instead, not fueling the drama or the chaos with stress and worry which only made it worse. Ethan knew, once you allowed the stress to affect you, it would enter the body and put a strain on the cells. It would also attract more stress in general life, pulling it towards you, and blocking your manifestations.

Ethan jumped into the shower. The water trickled down hi
s body. It felt so good to feel the moisture and water run through him. It felt cleansing and after today he knew he needed it. He imagined light falling all over him with the water clearing his aura and clearing the day. He did this usually every evening before he went to bed, but in the shower now, was a nice change and the light and the water gave him peace.

~~~~

The situation with the old lady never returned in the negative for any of them. One week from now (Ethan’s soul already knew this) the old lady would be in the community newspaper about her heroic actions. The police were called in after a neighbor heard the shooting. The old lady had told them there was a break in and she had no choice but to defend herself. The police were fine with her story and advised her not to be so gun happy next time. Secretly they admired her for her spirit and awareness. She didn’t mind the attention and the local community newspaper labeled her a hero. She got some recognition, though when she was honest with herself, she felt let down by her actions and was happy it was over. The drugs had made her paranoid and hyper. In that state, at the peak of her instability, on that particular day, she had blamed Christian for her woes. The incident made her stop and look at her life and she stopped taking drugs. The speed was gone and some of her clarity returned with the absence of the drug. She used some weed to wean herself off. Once every two days then down to once a week. This became the incident that made her change her ways. She did feel sorry for Christian with how she had treated him in her high and toxic state. She prayed to her God that one day Christian would understand and forgive her.

~ CHAPTER NINE ~

THE
ETHER

Ethan went to his room and got ready for bed. He saw the curtain sway from the window on his small Juliet balcony and walked over to close it. He
opened the curtain, looked at the trees outside and decided to go onto the balcony and took a couple of deep breaths. The moon was about 7/10
th
full and he faced it, looking right at it to see if he could connect to the energy of the moon. Then he returned to his room and decided to keep the door ajar. He liked the breeze and felt safe enough to keep it open.

Ethan jumped into
his bed just wearing his boxers. He lay there and closed his eyes. 10 minutes later he was still awake. His mind was racing with the events of the day. He rolled over but an hour later he was still having no joy.

This is
ridiculous, I need sleep.

Then he got up, lit the scented candle on top of his bedside draw
er, and grabbed a pen and started writing in a book. This was a ritual of Ethan’s when he couldn’t sleep. He would write whatever was on his mind or heart or soul. Read it out aloud, then burn it and release it to the universe.

He wrote about his day, his feeling
s for Kali and how he didn’t listen to his soul. At the end he felt some peace, especially when he read it out aloud. It made sense and it was soft and loving, the words were from his soul. His heart and soul would never judge him and he felt love and peace knowing that his essence of who he really was understood him unconditionally.

He put the paper to the candle and it came alight
. He quickly hurried across his room with the paper on fire and he went to the balcony and then threw it off the edge. He gave a gesture of letting go, the release of the situation. Then he peeped over the balcony to make sure it was out, and it was. He returned to his bed and blew the candle out.

This ritual usually worked for him and he felt he should sleep now. It was often the mind or the heart wanting to say something and even though it was the last thing he wanted to do when he was tired, Ethan knew he had to do it, and sure enough his eyes felt heavy and he started to fall asleep.

Ethan lay there in between the
moment of full sleep and just going into it. In this half sleep state, Ethan saw a light appear from his balcony. It was a ball of light, it skated inside towards him full of life and energy. As it came to him it took on an angelic form. It was love, she had love all around her, she was not from this plane, she was heavenly and Ethan felt that new realm that he had not felt before, but he had felt it, but so long ago that he had forgotten. It was bliss coming to him and then she entered right into Ethan and a splash of the light rippled throughout him and woke him up. He sat up, his eyes opened. This wasn’t a dream. It had the DNA fine print of something else. He just felt peace and love.
Wow!
It blew his mind, the feeling from her was so deeply light and had an energy that seemed separate from this world, like another dimension or a new discovery of a taste but in energy or feeling form. He closed his eyes and when he fell asleep he entered another world. A place called the ether.

~~~~

He was now in the ether. His soul had left his body and he entered this new world. The space dynamics were different here, he could move to other places incredibly fast and there was a sense of knowing. The feeling was light and tingling and the serenity wasn’t just there, it radiated, it pumped, it pumped love and joy but it was so calm. Heightened light that made perfect sense. There were no negatives here, no fear, it couldn’t exist in these conditions, it was just love and light.

Kali came to Ethan, she was there
also. It was no surprise for Ethan, he knew she would be here. She was like a spiritual animal waiting for him, she couldn’t wait to see him. For Ethan to see Kali in this form was overwhelming. In the ether she was more perfect, more pure than in the real world, if that was possible. Any human layers were diminished here, even the slightest human negativity would be removed in the ether as the soul was in its true environment, just the deep love of the soul that was centuries old. In the ether there was no mind, it couldn’t really come. But it would remember these moments here when Ethan returned to his body.

Kali went up to Ethan and kissed him.
They didn’t really have to speak, they could both understand each other and communicate just by looking at one another. It was unconditional love. That was this world called the ether, it was the Gods, Goddess’s world and those in its reflection mirrored the same conditions which was love, light, knowing and fun.             

Kali lay in a bed
that was woven together by flowers and plants that had formed amongst the native bush, she looked at Ethan. She made Ethan glide towards her, like she was a magnet and her look pulled him towards her. Ethan was now on top of her but then she rolled him over. She felt light and pure to him, she was stronger here in the ether as was Ethan. She sat above him and an image flowed from her. It was like a story and they looked into the story and it showed their path and their immediate future. Every time it looked as if the cycle in the story would close and an end would emerge and stop the path and story, a new beginning entered just at the right time. It was like a dream for them to watch, to let them both know everything would evolve to how it should and they would be provided for at the perfect time to help them evolve. On the final, seventh cycle they came to a large gate and something big was on the other side. Then Kali positioned herself in the image of the story but also on the bed that they were on and they joined together, the world of the image and their real selves, and they found themselves in the position with Kali on top, her legs wrapped around Ethan.

Kali then
plucked a symbol that meant everything from above. It had a thousand paths and a thousand years of deep meaning. It felt like it could only fit into someone who matched and that match was one in four billion. She placed the symbol into Ethan’s heart and he felt the connection of one in four billion enter his soul through Kali to him. The feeling was magic. He looked at Kali.

“
I love you I love you....”

Suddenly
Ethan was back in his body in bed, his eyes opened still saying, “I love you I love you....”

Ethan
eventually returned back to his normal sleep. When he awoke he was still transfixed about discovering the blissful world that he had heard about, but now had roamed within, the world of the ether.

~~~~

Ethan hopped out of bed and quickly jumped into the shower. When he came out the phone was ringing. He picked it up, it was Christian. They chatted for a few minutes and Ethan asked him about his arm.

“
Arm all good?”

“Six
Stitches.”

“Man...
.anyway, I’ll pick you up in 20.”

“Cool, got some replacement wheels?
”

“
Of course, see you soon.”

Ethan jumped on
to his new banana bike and headed to Christian’s place. He was really enjoying the ride, the bike really rocked for Ethan and he rode it like an excited child. He came to Christian’s place and he pulled up outside and jumped off his bike and yelled out to Christian. A few seconds later Christian came out.

“What the fuck!  Where’s the car?”

“
Your mistress attacked it remember? On the seat you’re too heavy for the handle bars.”

“We can’t ride all the way to college man.”

“I know, I’ll take you some of the way, then I’ll drop you off at a bus stop. You’ll make class in time. Then I have to go and see Kali.”

Christian jumped onto the back of the bike and they rode off. Ethan turned around and looked at Christian.

“You can either put your arms around me and hold
on tight, or hold the arc bar at the back.”

“I’ll use the bar thank you and keep your ey
es on the road.”

They cruised a
long both enjoying the scenery. They chatted along the way, talking about girls, baseball, travel, school and nothing too serious. Ethan took one hill a little too fast for Christian’s liking.

“We’
re not in the Porsche man!” Christian yelled.

Ethan couldn’t
really hear him with the noise of the wind and his fierce concentration. The bike seemed to go faster down hills with the extra weight.

Ethan dropped Christian off at the bus stop. They got there just in time and Christian hopped on
to the bus and Ethan waved to him as he jumped on. He kept waving as the bus went off, as if Christian was a child going on his first bus ride. Ethan then jumped back onto his bike and headed to the waterfront where he had arranged to meet Kali. As he cycled he felt the excitement as he knew he would be in her presence really soon. Seeing Kali again for the first time always gave him a certain feeling. Every time he felt this connection, a knowing and this love. The concept and thoughts of her were magical but when he physically saw her again there was something tangible that touched him in a new way. When he saw her, the love that pulled him in was so deep. Like finding the ether for the first time, the beauty came from another paradigm.

Kali
was sitting at the cafe table on the waterfront and saw Ethan on his banana bike. As he got off his bike he could see the shine in her face. He walked up to her and said hi and kissed her on the cheek.

“
Wow, cool wheels.” Kali said.

“
Thanks.”

“
Where did you get the bike from?

“I bought it yesterday off this cool kid.”

“
Was his name Halo?”

“
Yes.”

“
Cute kid, nine, hair up to here?”  Kali put her hand to her shoulder.

“
Yes!”  

“
He’s my little nephew. I’m staying with his mom, my sister.”

“
Oh man, that’s crazy. What are the chances?”

“Meant to be I guess.
How did you meet?”

“
I had a problem with my car. (
I’ll elaborate on that story another day
, he wisely thought) I had to walk from the garage and then bumped into Halo and his mates. He had a cool banana bike and I bought it.”

“
That is surreal.”

“
I think he now wants to buy his friend’s bike, a girl called Apple.”

“The intermixed world. I’m glad we don’t really know each other
’s past people in our lives but I like it how the ones we do want to know come in quite smoothly.”

“Yeah a clean past with
a new beginning that has ancient ties.” Ethan smiled at her and just stared. He couldn’t rush but he wanted to get cozier with her, she smiled back.

“You look pretty cool on that bike.”

“I know,” he
said in a smart way.

They
looked at one another and Ethan noticed the sunlight that glared from behind Kali, poetic in its appearance. It was just there, like the time when they first met and she had a sparkling view behind her. Here it was again, the light was behind her and it made Ethan squint his eyes a little.

“How is it that the sun has come glaring in from behind you again?”

“
I don’t know how I do it, Ethan.”

“Maybe you have magical powers
.”

“I might have some of those.”

The waitress came over and took their order and their meals arrived pretty fast and enough time had passed where they felt okay. It was like they needed some time to settle at the intensity and excitement of seeing each other again. Then Ethan decided to tell her about his night.

“I dreamt of you last night.”

“
Oh…tell me.”

“
I normally wouldn’t tell you since we’ve only just met, so for this moment can we pretend we’ve known each other for a bit longer?”

“I like that,
we can just take a trip to the future now, two weeks ahead, be there, be here and now and let them combine. Tell me Ethan!”

“
Okay I’m Ethan from the future. No..I’m back right here now.” Kali had gone quiet and it was making Ethan a bit nervous. “Okay I’ll tell you,” he said.

The
way she looked directly into his eyes was making him shy. So he just said it.

“
At the time it made the most profound, perfect sense like a different understanding in that dream world or spiritual world. It came in where I just knew everything. You were there and so perfect, nothing but love, no opposites, just your soul. You gave me this symbol that meant everything, it was deep and meaningful and out of this world. The symbol fitted into a part of me, like a perfect fit, or a fit that only happens one in four billion or something. Then I suddenly awoke, as the day goes by, the details fade. It’s like too beautiful and out of this world to stay in this human mind, though at the time of waking from the dream, you feel as if you have just been born, or clicked into finding the ultimate knowledge…that was my dream, well not really a dream, just our souls meeting up and remembering. The beautiful world of the ether.”