There is a distinct quickening coming now, Adam can feel that he’s right on the brink of something. He can feel himself changing but can’t yet figure out why or how. Maybe it was the encounter with the fortune-teller? Or maybe he’s just growing tired of feeling hopeless and scared? Tonight he’s chatting with someone who he hopes will keep his mind off his worries.
A Personal Note: I was happy with the launch of this novel on Amazon in 2013 and was thrilled with the 4.5 and 5 star reviews it received. That said, nothing could have prepared me for how fulfilling and fun it would be to post the novel here on Steemit in installments. As a writer, nothing is more magical than when your words paint a picture in the reader’s head and then those pictures morph into a virtual world that they temporarily inhabit. To witness this happening and get comments in real time from readers here on Steemit has been amazing. In today's hectic world where we don't have huge blocks of time to read this platform might just be the future of fiction.
Thanks so much for your comments, follows, and upvotes. Now, let’s get on with our journey!
Over the course of the last few months Adam had been chatting online with the same woman almost every night. “VerbalTag7” was her screen name and she usually logged on at seven o’clock. If she was going to be available to chat, it was always at seven, not a minute before or a minute after. She was always on time, and Adam admired that about her. VerbalTag was like a mysterious mosaic that he had the privilege of putting together a piece at a time, always at her pace. It took patience, and the control was in her hands, always. In the five months they’d been chatting, she had revealed a few intimate details of her life but not yet her name.
So far he found that she seemed to be very well educated, had a good job, and occasionally shared her thoughts and writing with him. Adam quickly learned that VerbalTag saw more and further than the average person—not so much in distance but in time. She had a certain wisdom about her that was very attractive to Adam. She witnessed the world through a slightly different lens than anyone he had ever met. Even though he hadn’t physically found her yet, Adam still believed that his soulmate was out there. It was beginning to feel like VerbalTag might just be the one.
AH-Bliss - Are you there? Adam typed on his tablet screen while softening a bite of his dense apple cinnamon meal replacement bar with a sip of warm green tea.
VerbalTag7 - Yep. Not for long tonight, though.
AH-Bliss - Why?
VerbalTag7 - I’m not in the best frame of mind . . . a very long story. Hey, did you hear about the lights?
AH-Bliss - I’ve got nothing but time. What lights? Adam stared intently at the screen, waiting intently for her response. He sipped the hot tea, feeling the steam cling to his face before evaporating.
VerbalTag7 - For the past few weeks people have reported seeing strange lights above the Terra Valley. The news said it was just some rare atmospheric anomaly. I think they’re lying. I don’t know why but I feel like it’s some kind of warning from somewhere else. Adam, have you ever had a moment in time when you felt as though your life changed completely?
AH-Bliss - I hadn't heard about the lights. I try not to watch the news. Completely changed in an instant? Do you mean a kind of paradigm shift?
VerbalTag7 - EXACTLY! This might sound silly, but it’s a shift I can’t even fully explain.
AH_Bliss - It's not silly. This has happened to me a few times. I was in my early twenties and was feeling so lost and alone. I was standing all alone in an open field and it had just started to snow. After I lost my parents, I was raised in foster homes. I felt like I didn’t know who I was or where I came from. The snowflakes that fell that day were the kind that brighten the entire sky and float down slowly like downy feathers. I was so focused on them that time felt like it stopped. It was magical and comforting. For a second I forgot I was me and felt like I was one with all creation.
VerbalTag7 - I’m so sorry about your parents, A.H. It sounds like the experience in the snow was before the storms came.
AH_Bliss - Please call me Adam. Yeah, it was a few years before the storms . . . such a feeling of warmth and peace came over me, it’s hard to explain, but it was as though the universe felt the depth of my sadness and it was like it deliberately reached out to console me. At that moment I felt so loved, in perfect harmony, it was beautiful. From that moment on I knew that I could never be alone. I realized we are part of something much larger, something we can't yet understand with our intellects but only with our hearts. This is when I began my spiritual journey. Strange, I know.
VerbalTag7 – No, it's not. Actually, I'm quite envious. I wish I could believe in that kind of security. What happened to me, Adam, was almost the exact polar opposite of your experience. It was the same type of clarity, but it definitely wasn’t peace. It was an epiphany, a very unsettling feeling, a darkness of such magnitude that it made my stomach wretch.
AH_Bliss - Wow, that sounds awful!
VerbalTag7 - In an instant it all became so apparent that we as a society have no say in our future anymore. What we think is reality isn’t. We are spoon fed the illusion of freedom but in truth from here we will become less free every day. We exist within an elaborately crafted charade that benefits a chosen few. Mostly all that is truly important has been replaced by things that have absolutely no meaning. It became apparent to me today that I need to find my own unique reason for being alive before it's too late. This is why there's so much emptiness out there. We've been reduced to billions of miserable consumers, insatiable parasites using one another and destroying our own planet, the very thing that gives us life. Each minute we turn our backs on the beauty and blessings that despite all this still surround us. I’m convinced they will never allow it to be any different.
AH_Bliss - I think we all realize this to some degree or another. You know, as silly as it sounds, this is one reason why I collect these vintage watches. When I wear one on my wrist I feel as though part of me is transported back to a better time, a simpler time. Each time I hear the movement tick, it is as if the heart of that generation and that time still beats.
VerbalTag7 - Anything that can spark that kind of solace is comforting, Adam, but be careful not to dwell too much in the past. Memory lane is a dead end. They want people to be distracted, and it can become a dangerous thing to indulge yourself in an escape like that. And you know what else I believe?
AH-Bliss - What?
VerbalTag7 - People blame corporations, but—this was another epiphany I’ve had— people and corporations can’t fully be blamed for this predicament we all find ourselves in. It’s the financial market that forces companies to perform better and better quarter after quarter. At the root level I feel it’s the very economic system itself that has sparked this blinding greed. We've created an economic engine that will soon crush our society, and I feel like all I can do is sit back and watch it unfold. This is haunting me, Adam. What can we do? Where do we find our salvation?
AH_Bliss - Salvation? I truly think all that is left is personal salvation, getting in touch with your soul. Could it be enough to live a true and honest life within this framework of corruption, propaganda, and lies? If you think about it, those who are in power haven't represented the best interest of the people for a very long time.
VerbalTag 7 - I just don't know. I may feel different tomorrow, but at this moment I feel like it’s hopeless, like there's only one way out.
AH_Bliss - Wait, what do you mean?
VerbalTag 7 - Adam, I feel that our time is growing short if something isn't done soon.
AH_Bliss - Hello?
“Damn it,” Adam muttered under his breath as he watched her icon disappear from the screen. Sometimes the storms made the signal drop just long enough to break the connection. Whenever that happened, she was gone. Nevertheless, he was happy that he at least got to have a dialogue with her tonight. His evenings had become incomplete without—
VerbalTag7 - Sorry about that. I just lost my connection for a minute.
She’s never done that before! Adam thought to himself. She’s never come back once she left the chat! Hmm, I think we’re making progress.
AH_Bliss - I’m glad you came back. I wanted to share this poem. I wrote this after my moment of clarity in the snow all those years ago.
This lonely road unfolds you,
Quells the guilt that scolds you,
And dulls the fear that holds you
In the place you stand today.
Then the veil is slowly lifted,
And wicked lies are sifted.
Once muddled thoughts seem gifted.
What is there left to find?
Once precious ties are severed true,
An epiphany, you forever knew.
You no longer worry what you'd do . . . if
The moment's come and gone.
So beautiful, this existence
When pure truth spans the distance.
A call that makes Maya whence
Echoes from heart and mind.
Until now you’ve failed to see
That you're everything you need to be.
Won't you close your eyes and walk with me
Out to the very edge?
VerbalTag7 - OMG, this is beautiful.
AH_Bliss - Thank you.
VerbalTag7 - Adam, I'm really going to miss our chats.
AH_Bliss - What are you talking about?
VerbalTag7 - I can't do this any longer. Each minute I exist inside this broken society, I feel as though I’m contributing to it. I've made up my mind. I'm joining the Quiet Rebellion. I've heard about a man in one of the homeless camps, Ikeda is his name. He's a great spiritual leader and he’s teaching people the old ways of life, special techniques to help them rediscover how powerful they really are. This is my destiny. I feel it in my bones. Sleep tight, Adam.
With that last line VerbalTag’s icon, a picture of her favorite tattoo, the blue OM symbol on a background of bright pink ink, disappeared one last time from Adam's screen.
To Be Continued. The next installment of Alarm Clock Dawn will appear on Steemit tomorrow.
Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.
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