The Wooden Chair

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She left the lab after a two-hour wait of blood tests. She still had to have lunch before she headed off to her next class. When she left the lab gate there were no buses or taxis, however, there was a chair and on this chair there was an envelope. The chair was an ordinary wooden chair. It didn’t have any wheels on it. It was just a simple brown wooden chair.

She took a closer look at the envelope and her name was written on it in big blue letters. She looked around to see if there was anyone that she recognized. This had to be a joke.

She picked up the envelope and it read: Sit comfortably and hold on tight.

She put the envelope in her bag and sat down on the chair and followed the instructions. She had nothing to lose.

Suddenly, the chair started moving. It went into the street and started heading down the street. The cars that went passed it did not realize that it was simply a chair. The wind blew in her face and she was happy that she had managed to get some kind of transportation and also that it wasn’t raining, she couldn’t afford to get wet. She still had classes to teach.

The chair turned right and then left and finally came to a stop in front of a restaurant. She looked at the envelope once again and this time the message had changed. It read: go in and eat something.

What was going on? She had never heard of anything like this. She checked around and everything seemed real. She was wide awake, but just maybe she was hallucinating because of all the blood that had been taken and her last meal had been the night before. But this was a far-fetched explanation. At that moment, she decided to just go with the flow of events and risk it. She had nothing to lose.

It was a self-service all-you-can-eat restaurant. She got in the lineup and chose her food carefully according to her diet. She was under medical treatment and although the doctors did not know what the matter was, she followed their advice.

Half plate of salad, grilled chicken steak, one table spoon of beans and two of rice and lastly the vegetables. Everything looked so delicious and colorful. She was really hungry.

She looked around for a place to sit and couldn’t spot one. A nice looking waiter came over to her and said that there were more tables on the top floor. She smiled and headed towards the stairs.

Going up those steps was not an easy task. She had to carry her tray and she could feel how tired she really was. To keep focused she counted twenty-fire steps. She looked around and there was a seat beside two men. She decided that she would sit there because it was the closest to the stairs.

-Excuse me. May I sit here?

There was no answer. They didn’t even look at her. Perhaps they were foreigners and didn’t speak her language. She sat there anyway.

During her meal she noticed that the men didn’t talk to each other. The man she sat next to was husky looking and never smiled. She had a strange feeling about him. But it really didn’t matter because she just had to eat and get on to her next class.

She ate and thought about the chair. She wanted to look at the envelope once again but she looked at her watch and noticed that she had to chew a bit faster if she was going to make it to her class on time.

All of a sudden the husky man started banging his left arm on her and  then his whole body making her spill her food all over the place and almost knocking her off her seat.

-Hey! What’s the matter?

She looked at him and it looked as if he were having a seizer.

-Help! He is not feeling well. Help!

Everybody stopped eating, looked at her and did nothing.

-I think he is going to fall down. Somebody help!

He started banging into her real hard. At this point there were standing and she was trying to hold him up with her back.

Out of the blue, he stopped, looked at her, took his tray and moved to the empty table to the left. Not only did he move, but the other guy did the same.

She could not make heads or tails of what had just happened. She sat down and was about to cry when a well dressed man came in.

-May I sit here?

-Yes, please do.

-Are you ok?

- I am afraid not.

She told him what had just happened.

-That’s the way it is here in this town.

-I’m sorry but what do you mean?

-People in this town treat strangers like that when they want the person to move.

-You’ve got to be kidding. But hey wait, I was born in this town.

- In this town?

-Yes, I have lived here all my life.

-Are you sure?

She was perplexed. What was this man trying to say? She got up that morning, went to the lab and then came to the restaurant. The streets hadn’t changed. The cars were the same. Those streets were part of her daily routine.

-You didn’t notice anything different this morning?

-It seems like you are reading my mind… I …

- We have that talent, let’s call it that, here.

-Here?

Something was going on and she started to feel scared.

-There is nothing to be afraid of.

He was doing it again. He could also read her feelings.

-You will eventually get used to this new place.

-You are blowing my mind Sir, please; please tell me what is going on.

-You will eventually figure it out.

With this he got up, excused himself and bid her a good day.

-No! Please don’t leave yet. You haven’t told me where I am.

He just smiled and from the top of the stairs said:

-Think back and recall what happened before you fell asleep last night.

         She couldn’t finish her meal; most of it was on the floor anyway due to the previous events. She just sat there and started thinking about what happened the night before when she was trying to fall asleep.

She recalled that she had seen a bright light come through her bedroom window. She had thought at that moment that that was really strange because the window shutters were closed and it had been made to hold back the lights of the city. But now, she remembered that the light did penetrate through the shutters.

-Excuse me miss, have you finished eating?

-Oh yes, would you like the table?

-Yes, please.

-Ok, I am sorry. I have to go anyway.

She got up and did not notice anything different about the couple who sat down at her table. She gathered her belongings and headed for the cash register. She tried to focus on what she was going to do in her class and came to the conclusion that all of this must be due to the medication that she was taking and the stress due to the blood tests and all the other medical tests that she had to have done to find out what was wrong with her.

Before reaching the cash register, she decided to go to the ladies room. The door opened by itself and there was a little old lady there at the sink washing her hands.

-I thought you’d never leave the table.

-Pardon me? Are you speaking to me?

-Yes. You sat at that table for so long and still haven’t figured out what is going on.

-Excuse me?

-Listen, last night a shiny bright light appeared in your bedroom, right?

She went into shock. Who was this lady? How did she know all of this? What was going on?

-All the answers will be revealed now for we do not have time to waste.

-What do you mean? Yes, I know I am late for my classes.

-Forget that! You will have enough time for that. Sit here and listen.

She was pointing to the toilet seat and she pulled up a stool and there they sat and she started to tell the whole story.

-Last night your life changed. The light that appeared in your bedroom was a shift in the worlds.

-A shift in the worlds? What worlds?

-The parallel worlds. I am sure you have read about this.

-I have, but I always thought that it was just a fantasy that some crazy person was trying to prove.

-Do you still think that is so? You were brought here on a plain wooden chair. Is that common in the other world?

-Nope. But…

-We don’t have time to waste. The portal was opened last night when the moon reached the Earth. Only the chosen ones noticed it.

-I was chosen? By whom? The moon reached the Earth?

-You ask too many questions. Can you please just listen?

So she did just that. She sat there and tried to take in everything this woman was telling her.

-The chosen ones have come into this world and have to be informed of their mission so they can protect themselves from those who are trying to take over.

-Protect ourselves? Like the guy who hit me in the restaurant?

-Yes. Now you are getting the hang of things. He is part of the group which I have just mentioned. You were lucky that one of us came around at the time to help you out.

-The nice guy who sat down and read my thoughts?

-There are two groups here, one that is good and the other bad. Let’s keep things simple. The bad group is killing the good group with their ways. They are not nice, they spread hate and violence. It is very painful for the good group, which is being outnumbered slowly and bitterly.

-People are being killed?

-Literally not killed, they just become bad and lead their lives in their evil ways.

-What is my mission then?

-The chosen ones were brought here to stop the bad group. When you came into the restaurant and before sitting down you politely asked if the seat was taken and if you could sit down. This weakened the bad guys.

- But they hurt me anyway.

-Yes, but they didn’t make you have the reaction that they wanted you to have which was get back at them and treat them exactly they way they were treating you. Instead you thought that the man was not feeling well and tried to help him.

-So simply by being polite and nice the chosen ones will be able to change things?

-Yes, that is correct. However, being kind is not an easy task. You need to be thoughtful of others for this to happen and nowadays people are more and more self-centered.

-That’s a fact. Even in the other world. Wait I am still confused.

-You will eventually get used to all of this.

-How do I know you are not a bad person?

-Good question. You are still pure and if you stopped to talk to me it means that you still have faith in people, otherwise, you would just have told me that you were in a hurry and wouldn’t have stopped to hear what I had to say.

-Hummm…

- You will go on with your life like you have always done, but just be aware of the people that come in contact with you. Be positive and be kind always and you will be fine.

With this she opened the bathroom door, paid her bill and walked outside. Tons of questions were running through her mind. The chair, the mind reading, good versus bad… Her head was starting to hurt.

Nothing had changed and at the same time, everything had changed.

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(Written: September 21, 2012 Based on a dream I had last night.)

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