Dreams to Fire chapter 5

Fourteen year old Fy types a school report on her desktop computer for two hours. Right before she’s done, the computer completely crashes. It had a bad hard drive from the factory. Something beyond her control. She’s disgusted, and her mom notices.

They talk for a bit, sitting in computer chairs. Erica wants to help her through this mini-tragedy.

“But I guess you’re right Mom, it’s not the end of the world.”

“No, it’s not. Let’s think about how this little act of destruction could cause future creation. I mean, maybe you will write the report better this time. Maybe you will get a better grade now.”

“Probably, but it’s not like grades matter. What matters is learning things I’ll actually use.”

“True. So what else could change in the future because of this?”

“I don’t know. Stuff like this just kinda happens right?”

“Yes. Will you trust technology to never fail?”

“No. I wasn’t even thinking the computer could crash.”

“Hardly anyone does. What else?”

Fy’s face ponders as she looks up and to her right. “Well, I know this kind of thing is going to happen again. So I won’t get so upset next time.”

“Precisely. Hon, stay here for just a moment okay? I’ll be right back.”

Erica climbs up the stairs to her bedroom. She promptly comes back down with something in her hand. It’s circular, green, about three inches across.

“Do you know what this is?” Erica says as she sits back down.

“No. It’s cool though. Is that a dragon?”

“Yes. It was gift from your father, for our wedding. We did our own little private celebration, inviting only the people we were close friends with. It was a wonderful time with live pagan music, outside in the forest. I’ll never forget it. I wore this around my neck on that beautiful day.

“This symbol is a unique creation from your father’s imagination. He had an old friend make it for him. It’s a combination of two symbols. The dragon is an ouroboros. You see how the dragon’s mouth is eating its own tail?”

“Yeah.”

“The dragon represents the cycles of life and death, the balance between creation and destruction. Like a cheetah killing an animal which then feeds its young, or the big fish eating the small fish, and all throughout the entire fractal of existence. Even the burning giant orb of ‘destructive’ forces, the Sun, that creates and sustains life here on Earth.

“There is an endless number of examples I could give. Like when a hard drive crashes and kills a school report! Things, get destroyed. The question is, what can be created from that destruction?”

Fy nods, with a serious face. Her mother continues, “The great dragon eats itself to gain energy, energy that is then used to regrow its body. And in this process it actually gains a small amount of total overall energy, allowing it to grow from within. You can call it Negantropic. It has infinite energy potential, forever expanding of its own Self.”

“I get it. So I shouldn’t look at destruction as such a bad thing?”

“Precisely. But that doesn’t mean you can just go on a rampage and destroy everything! It means destruction happens beyond your control. Make the most of it, alongside consciously creating.”

“I will. So whats the other symbol mean? The spiral in the center?”

Erica gives a silly-smirk to her daughter. “You know what that is. It’s a Fibonacci Spiral, an expression of the Phi Ratio.”

“Oh yeah, the math pattern found in Nature. That is so cool. I should have recognized it, you named me after it.”

“That’s right. As well as… my favorite character ever from my favorite fantasy books ever.”

“I forget about them! It’s been so long since I last read them,” her voice gets playfully serious, “’Sophia’s Warrior-Goddess, Slayer of The Dark Ones, the Beautiful Liberator of the half-minds, bringer of peace to all the Lands of Numina!’ I can’t wait to see what happens in the next one. That author needs to get to writing.”

Erica smiles at her daughter. “That he does.”

“Mom, I know we talked about it before, but…”

“It’s still coincidence hon. A very strange one.”

“I guess you’re right. So Mom, what does the symbol mean, exactly?”

“Let’s break it down. The surrounding dragon represents Infinity. Forever. And the Phi Spiral inside it represents what is natural, since that pattern is found all over Nature. Personally, I find what is truly natural to be absolutely beautiful. So to me, the symbol represents: Forever Beautiful.”

Fy whispers those words under her engraving breath.

Forever Beautiful

* * *

Fy is growing up, and she looks more like her mother with every passing day. Except for her huge ears which now curve out well beyond her shoulder-length fiery hair, to more than a handful. And while her mother is rather short, Fy has an impressive height for her age. The tallest kid in school is intimidating to most people at first glance, until they get to know her.

She recently turned sixteen and has stopped getting teased about her ears. Now she’s getting asked out. But Fy doesn’t let a boy take her out based solely on his looks alone. She reads them, tests them, and sees from afar if they are “cool” or not. She’s gone through nearly every boy in school. But a new kid shows up, and he’s not only cute to Fy, he’s “cool.”

The bell rings, and the class begins. The math teacher walks in front of the seated class with the new kid beside her and says, “Everyone, this is Justin. He just moved here and this is his first day, so let’s give him a warm welcome.”

Everyone does a casual wave to the new kid. Justin is in great shape, average height, and seems confident in front of the class. He looks at some girl, then at Fy—and she thinks she’d better move quickly. He takes a seat next to the other girl.

After class, Fy approaches him at his locker. He turns around and stops dead in his tracks. Fy wasn’t standing when he looked at her before.

“Hi, Justin? My name’s Fyrona. Or just Fy for short,” she offers a hand.

He accepts, and has to look up to see her Super-Human green eyes. “You uh, you seem to have already introduced me. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. I was hoping to, just give you a warm welcome. Um, after school there is place I go to all the time to grab a bite to eat. Wanna join me?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Awesome, I’ll meet you here at your locker then.”

The two go out after school, and it quickly becomes a routine. They get to know each other over the next few weeks, and over a number of dates, they completely fall for each other. They become “regulars” and every boy in school takes notice. As does the girl Justin first looked at, whose name is Katherine. But the two young lovebirds are happy. They become acquainted with each others families, and everyone gets along, for the most part.

Some time passes by, and Fy and Justin fall in love over many beautiful experiences together. The rumors and envy start up, but Fy ignores them. She’s knows they’re worthless. Although, she did kiss him that one night.

Fy decides that Justin is someone she can fully express her love with, so she respectfully asks her parents for permission to do so, which they agree to. Even though they told her she didn’t have to, as they know and trust their daughter will make the right, and smart, choices.

Which she does.

* * *

Away from civilization, above countless grains of earth, fields of dust finally fall back to the ground, settling in to a new home. The powerful old engine rumbles, still strong after its hibernation. The black disturber of dust is still, its wheels finally unmoving.

“Nice. You can definitely drive,” Rob says.

“Thanks Dad. I have a good teacher.”

“I’ve been around. So, since I know you can drive, and I know I can trust you—well, trust you unless it comes to eating all my cookies,” they laugh, “I think it’s time to let you have something that will bring a lot jealousy your way…”

Her eyes widen. “No!”

“Yup, she’s all yours.”

“But Dad, you can’t just give me this car. It’s yours. All those stories you told me. How could I just take it?”

“Fy,” a mischievous smile slys upon Rob’s face, “Take my damn Pontiac Firebird and drive it like you stole it than.”

She laughs. “I love you Dad.”

“Than stop eating all my cookies!”

They both chuckle, and Rob reaches behind him to the back seat, into a box, and pulls out another gift for his sixteen year old daughter.

A strange sense of purpose creeps into the back of her mind. Not forceful, or malevolent in any way, simply a little nudge that says: “This means something, pay attention.” It’s a feeling Fy gets rather often, but she never talks about it with anyone. She’s strange enough already.

“This is a wallet as old as this car. I had a friend make it a long time ago. It’s made from special materials, and will last through anything. I want you to have it along with the car. Since I know you’re not the biggest fan of purses.”

The pristine wallet is black, with a front displaying an orange and red fiery phoenix dotted with burning violet eyes. It somehow looks brand new.

“It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome. Now let’s get home so I can eat your cookies.”

Fy grins, dust screams in fear, and she slams the gas pedal down.

“But not like you stole it, that was just a joke, slow down!”

* * *

“Okay. So what you telling me is, the world doesn’t work the way I think it does?” Justin says across the Chinese restaurant table.

“Yup.”

“I love you and all, but that’s just too much for me to believe. I mean, don’t beat me up, but,” he almost whispers, “it sounds kinda crazy.”

She softly smiles. “I know how it sounds. That’s why it’s not something I usually bring up with people. Because, well, people generally don’t want to talk about all that. But I wanted to bring it up with you because, you know, I love you. And I want you to know who I am. Everything I am.”

“I know. And I do,” Justin says.

“Okay look. I’ll go watch your movie with you, in the movie theater, if you watch one of my favorite documentaries on all this stuff with me.”

“I don’t know.”

“I’ll make it worth your time…”

He spots a certain glow in those enchanting eyes. “Alright.”

“Awesome. Let’s eat our fortune cookies.”

“Wait. You have to read the fortune first.”

“Why’s that?” Fy asks.

“Because, if you eat the cookie first, you have to accept the fortune. But if you read the fortune first, you can throw the cookie away along with the fortune.”

Fy eats her cookie first.

Later on that night Fy is snuggled up next to Justin, on her red couch in her room, but she’s already seen this one—he’s the one who will need the snuggling.

“You know I’m not into all this stuff right?”

“I know. But you can watch at least one documentary with me. It won’t kill you. And I’ll make it worth your time, I promise.”

“Beyond just watching my movie?”

Her look says a thousand words. “Okay, I’m starting it.”

They agreed to talk only when the documentary is paused. And only Justin can pause it. The lights are turned down low, and the bedroom door is closed. The big screen pours light into the room, and shadows dance across the walls. The documentary flows with music, the speaker’s words, various images, and movie clips. Everything is quiet save for the documentary, which is just a few minutes in.

“‘Here stands the new man. His conception of reality is a dance of electronic images fired into his fore-brain. A gossamer construction of his master’s design so that he will not under any circumstances perceive the actual, or the real. His happiness is delivered to him through a tube or an electronic connection. His god lurks behind an electronic curtain, and when the curtain is pulled away, we find the CIA sorcerer and the media manipulator.’

Jim Keith, ‘Mind Control,’ ah, ‘Mass Control.’ Just one of the fine books on the manipulation of Consciousness that he did before he sadly, basically was killed you know. He was one of the people, one of the few, who understood that the real war, is a war on Consciousness…”

The documentary goes on, but Justin has yet to pause it. More because he’s afraid to investigate further about what’s being talked about, than trying to get it over with as fast as possible. The documentary goes on for another hour or so.

“And never forgetting also that there is this other unseen hand that knows absolutely what Consciousness is. Who are experts in that fact. You’re walking around couldn’t care less, you’re waiting for the next movie to come out, and the next fashion, and all that, what Hollywood is going to do next. But there’s people there who have a thorough understanding of human Consciousness, human psyche, human libido. And they’re working on it, twenty-four seven. To feather their own nests, and also to keep man in servitude. Man, whom they think is their creation…”

Justin hasn’t said a word, but she’s been observing his facial expressions. He’s watching, but he’s not wanting to listen. A short time passes in the documentary.

“So the fundamental line is discover that there is a hidden hand mind-controlling the world, operating to keep you down. Understand that you are participant in that because you are allowing those hooks into your flesh. I’ve said it many times, and I said it recently, I said it last year, you must distinguish the difference between saying,

“‘Have I been sold a lie?’

“And the difference between, yeah but,

“’Have I BOUGHT a lie’?

“Because there is all the difference in the world attitudinally between those two statements. You are being sold a lie! But that’s the perfect right of that salesman to sell you a lie. The universal force doesn’t care about that. The universal force’s judgment, you know, field, is not really operating on that frequency at all. The judgment field, the whole spiritual ball of wax begins based on whether or not you bought that lie. That’s the clause, that’s the nuance, that’s the difference. It’s no different of a rule than anything that applies when you’re shopping downtown. I can’t even think of how it would be different. This person prefers, Gucci over Fracci, you know, Levis over Wrangler. They have the right to sell you whatever they feel like. They have the right to even believe what they feel like.

“Somebody likes cappuccino, somebody else likes what, latte, mocha right? The choice must be there, the decision is yours, but where the real moral component comes in is what you bought. And what you put your energy into, and what you gave in exchange for what you bought. And if man is not in inner harmony, or attuned correctly, he’s going to create chaotic noise. If a guitar isn’t tuned properly don’t expect it to play well, it’s gonna be in discord and it will create chaotic sounds. So the bottom line comes in, how are you tuned? How are you tuning your inner instrument, your Consciousness?”

The documentary goes on, and eventually ends. Fy looks for a response while the music plays and the credits roll.

He only says, “Interesting stuff, but I’m hungry again. You wanna go grab a bite to eat?”

She only says, “Sure.”

At least I can say I gave it a shot.

* * *

“Hey, glad you could make it,” Justin says, arms open for the incoming hug.

She wraps her arms around her loving boyfriend, in front of his empty home. “Me too. My parents are cool with it, they understand. A night for just you and me. No parents, no cell phones, no friends. Let’s make the most of it. It will be awhile before we see each other again. I just love how they don’t get in the way.”

“Me too. I’m so jealous of that. I wish I had your parents.”

She looks away. “I know. I wish everyone had parents more like them.” She looks back at him, “But anyway, we got the entire night. We watched your movie, which I admit was funny, but I still have yet to make up for the architecture of control I put you through.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right…”

They go and do what teenagers do. But these two are respectful, understanding, and smart about it. They fall sound asleep, and get a good night’s rest.

Justin has to leave in the early morning for his emerging career in sports. They say goodbye, and Fy makes her way back home.

She drives along her familiar roads, happy and content, mostly thinking about her future. Dreaming of a beautiful life somewhere beyond the craziness of the world, where the madness will finally fade into the background.

The morning is cold, something she barely notices anymore. She turns onto the street that holds her beloved home, and spots a cop car parked on the curb. Bart must be over visiting. She drives up, parks her car in her reserved spot, and wonders why Bart is sitting on the front steps.

“Hey Bart, whats going on?”

His face forms a distance to reality the span of an entire world’s denial. The atmosphere between them warps into a long dark morning moment, of glaring macabre silence.

“Fy, I don’t know how to say this. Your parents, Rob and Erica, are… dead.”

Chapter 6