An Evacuee's Adventure (Long Sleep Meditation Bedtime Story)

So,

Take a moment to close your eyes and begin to relax.

And as you begin to comfortably drift asleep,

I don't know whether you're going to drift asleep faster to the sound of my words or to the spaces between my words,

But as you begin to drift asleep,

I'm just going to tell this sleep story in the background.

And you find yourself walking along a seafront.

And you're walking along a sandy beach.

You've got the sounds of a distant meadow on one side of you,

And beyond that meadow is some woodland.

On the other side of you,

You've got the sound of the ocean rolling in up onto the shore,

Gently rolling out again.

And as you wander through that sand,

You walk closer to the seashore,

Noticing the way the footsteps change and how they sound as you walk from the dry,

Soft sand down into that damp sand nearer the shore,

Where your feet make a slight sloshing sound in the sand as they push that sand down and pull some of that sand up like a slight vacuum under your shoe or under your foot.

And as you wander along,

So you can see some sparkling stones along the shore.

And you wander over and you pick a couple of them up,

Gathering them up in your hand,

Running your thumb and forefinger around them,

Noticing their smoothness,

Noticing the different colours of each one.

And as you continue walking,

You get a handful of those stones,

Noticing how these little bits of glass have been shaped over many years,

Broken up,

Rolled around and through simple wear and tear of the ocean.

And if worn down to be incredibly smooth,

And you find a place along the beach where you sit yourself down,

You create a small campfire.

And as the sun begins to set,

You just gaze out over the sea at the setting sun,

Feeling the warmth of the campfire,

Hearing that crackling of the campfire.

And as the sun lowers down over the horizon,

So you can look in another direction,

Seeing the moon appearing in the sky.

And you hold up the different stones one at a time in the direction of the moon.

You notice the slight change in colour of the moon as the sky changes colour,

While the sun has passed over the horizon and the last of the light is fading.

And holding the different bits of glass up in front of you,

Those different glass stones.

You notice how each one changes the look of the moon when you look through it.

Looking through a green stone.

Looking through a blue stone.

Looking through a violet stone.

You then just rest back near that campfire,

Gazing up at the sky,

Feeling a slight cool breeze on your cheeks.

As you watch those stars very slowly circling overhead,

See the occasional shooting star streak across the sky.

Getting a glimpse of perhaps a slight glow in the sky as your eyes begin to close.

You begin to drift comfortably into a reverie.

And while you drift into this reverie,

Your mind starts focusing on the sight of that moon through the different coloured pieces of glass.

And as you focus on that sight of the moon in a different colour,

You start to get that feeling like somehow you're transporting through time.

You have that feeling like your heart is slowing down and relaxing,

Your breathing slowing down and relaxing.

And a sense within you almost like you're somehow synchronising with the past.

And you don't know what's happening or how or why or whether this is just part of a reverie.

But you feel so comfortable going with the experience.

You have that feeling of your hands resting on grass in a meadow.

You have a feeling of the sun beginning to rise and warm your face.

Beginning to see light through your eyelids.

Looking the flowers of the meadow.

And then you open your eyes and start looking around this meadow.

And it's the most beautiful summer's day with the slightest breeze.

You notice a willow in this meadow and the way it blows in that breeze.

You see some children running and hiding under the tree.

Laughing,

Chasing each other around.

You see some parents sat down on a blanket.

You see the mother holding and gently rocking a baby in her arms.

Smiling,

Looking at the baby and then glancing up over at the children.

And engaging in conversation with her husband.

And you start to notice that they seem to be dressed differently to how you would expect.

And you realise that they appear to be dressed as if.

.

.

This is perhaps the early 1940s,

Maybe even the late 1930s.

And you see other people walking around.

Others with children who are also playing.

And everyone looks so happy around you.

And you stand up,

You walk through the meadow,

You walk down to a narrow road with hedges lining that road.

You follow that road down towards some houses.

And as you walk down towards those houses,

You notice a row of conifers along the side of a large field.

You notice in the field a sheep.

You can hear them barring.

You can see the little lambs.

You notice there's a couple of black sheep where most of them are white.

You notice in a field the other side,

A cow,

Some sitting down.

Some eating the grass.

As you continue walking towards the houses,

So you just have this feeling like this is just the most beautiful and perfect day.

And you have this feeling like there's a house that you're heading toward,

As if somehow you're carrying out some instinctive behavior.

And while you walk down between the houses,

You can hear someone mowing a lawn.

You can hear a mechanical lawn mower being pushed backwards and forwards.

And as you get closer,

That sound gets louder.

And you notice the smell of cut grass.

As you near the gardens of these houses,

So you hear even more country birds.

You see in the gardens,

Butterflies flying from flower to flower,

Bees going about their business.

Over in the fields,

You notice some rabbits twitching their noses,

Eating grass.

Eating the tops of daisies and dandelions.

And hopping a little way and being very vigilant.

And you turn up a path.

And you realize that your legs almost start skipping.

And you skip up that path toward the front door of a house.

And the doors open.

And as you near that house,

You can smell the smell of baking cookies.

And you enter that house.

Notice it's darker inside this house.

And yet feels cozy,

Comfortable.

You walk into the lounge.

You walk through the lounge into the kitchen.

You see a tray of freshly baked warm cookies sitting on the window sill at the back of the kitchen.

You see a woman dressed in a long dress.

It looks like she's just been cooking,

Baking these cookies.

Standing at the back door.

She turns and smiles at you.

Gives you a big hug.

You see a cat walking in from the garden that comes up and starts weaving its way around your legs.

Around your feet.

You can hear it purring at your feet.

The woman tells you to wash your hands.

And so you go to the sink,

You wash your hands.

And you feel like you're just going with the experience.

Not sure whether this is some kind of a lucid dream.

Where you're aware that you're in the experience.

But kind of going with it.

Curious what's going to happen next.

And you see as you're washing your hands that out in the back garden are some chairs and table.

And the woman walks out into the back garden.

And she calls you out into the garden as well.

And you end up surprised because she calls you Ellen.

And yet you know she's not your mum.

And the situation seems strange.

And so you head out into the back garden following her.

You have this feeling like somehow you're supposed to know her.

And that perhaps if you become more absorbed in the experience.

Things will make sense.

And whenever you close your eyes you hear the faint sound of an ocean.

And you hear that with each blink.

But when your eyes are open you're here.

And you realise that you're a small child.

And you head out into the garden.

You sit at that table.

And this woman pours you a drink.

A nice cold drink for this warm day.

And she starts talking to you asking you how you are.

Whether you've been having fun.

And you say that you've been up to the meadow.

That you just lay down in the sun.

Up on the hill.

That there are some families there.

Other children playing.

And she says oh you didn't fancy going and playing this time.

And you respond that you just felt like relaxing for a little bit.

That it looked fun to be running under that willow tree.

But you liked the warmth of the sun on your face.

Just lying back the feeling of the grass under your hands,

Your arms.

And just having a moment to relax.

And this woman starts saying about how you've been here for a couple of years now.

And you seem to really have settled in.

And hopefully you won't be here for too much longer.

But while all the issues are going on this is where it's best for you.

And it's great that you're managing to settle in so well.

And you start to realise and get flashes of memories.

That you've been evacuated from the south coast of England.

Up to Yorkshire.

Because there's some fighting going on that your parents want you to be safe from.

And you suddenly remember that.

And then you smile and remember that you're here and that this is a fun place to be.

That you like being able to play with these children.

These friends of yours you've been making here.

You like that each day seems to be sunny.

You like all of this countryside.

And how friendly all these people are.

And you recall how much you've been enjoying these years up here in Yorkshire.

And after your drink you wander down the garden.

You climb a rope ladder into a tree house.

It was built just for you to play in here.

And this woman had her own children as well but they're a little bit older.

And so they didn't play with the tree house as often as you'd like them to.

But you liked sitting up here in the tree house.

You'd write a diary up here in the tree house.

You'd rest,

You'd close your eyes.

You'd have little naps here.

And sometimes the cat would come up and join you.

And you were thinking about the cat.

And wondering why they decided to name the cat Tiddles.

But just as you were wondering why they named the cat Tiddles.

It looked up at you so lovingly as it jumped up into the tree house scrambled in.

Before doing a little wee in the corner.

And you found this amusing and realised perhaps that's why it's called Tiddles.

And a part of you was aware that this isn't you.

And was also aware that you're aware of who this is.

Almost like two brains in one body.

And a part of you was aware that this seems very real.

Like somehow you've travelled through time.

Into this young girl.

Here in this tree house.

And you noticed that she had her child humour.

That so easily gets lost as people get older.

That she had her child views.

That so easily gets lost as people get older.

She had an innocence to her views.

And a way of seeing each moment as being a moment.

And being able to be in the moment and enjoy the moment.

And enjoy the simpler things in life.

And you didn't know quite what was happening,

How or why.

And that night you went up to bed.

You settled down into the bed up here.

As you closed your eyes and began to fall deeply asleep.

So you could hear the sound of waves in the distance.

You could feel the warmth of a campfire.

As you drifted and floated deeper and deeper asleep.

And in the morning you could feel footsteps on the bed.

As Tiddles jumped up on the bed,

Scrambled over to you.

And all but sat on your face to try and wake you up.

And you opened your eyes and looked up at Tiddles.

And together you headed downstairs.

You went and had breakfast.

And you could see a little pile of post on the table.

And then the woman handed you a letter that was addressed to you.

And you opened that letter carefully.

And inside that letter was a photograph.

It was a photograph of your father in a bunker.

And you could see behind them a map on the wall.

And then you put the photograph to one side and read the letter.

And the letter spoke about how much they loved you.

It spoke about how they hope you're enjoying yourself.

How they hope that the weather's nice.

How they're doing well and looking forward to when they can see you next.

And it said that there's a rose that they had pressed.

That you'll find in the envelope as well.

And that they want you to keep that rose next to your bed.

So that it's one of the last things you see when you fall asleep.

One of the first things you see when you wake up.

To remind you that you'll all be together again.

And to keep that connection.

And you take that rose out.

You take a look at it.

You feel it in your fingers.

You take it upstairs.

You put it by your bed.

You stand up.

The picture of your dad.

Next to your lamp.

You look forward to when you'll see them again.

But also looking forward to the fun that you can have today.

And this person who's looking after you.

This family.

They let you go out for most of the day.

They shout to call you back.

When it's mealtimes.

But everyone acts like they've not got a care in the world.

And as a child.

You feel a great sense of freedom.

And so you run out the front door.

You run down the road.

You run into a meadow.

You play with some other children.

You head along the edge of a stream near a meadow.

You carefully walk along the edge of that stream.

Carefully walk over a fallen down log that crosses the stream.

Then you head into a farm a little way away from where you live.

And in that farm you can hear some goats.

Then you see those goats suddenly catch a glimpse of you.

They start heading across the field towards you.

They put their heads through the fence.

You stroke their heads.

You try and find something to feed them.

Before continuing on.

Following the fields.

Moving to a field that has the most incredible tree in it.

And as you near that field.

So you see the largest horses you think you've ever seen.

And hairy horses.

And you see a farmer carefully attaching a cart to one of those horses.

And this cart seems to have some kind of a plough at the back of it.

And they start walking it to a field and then walking it through a field.

They lower that plough down.

And they walk with it through the field as it ploughs that field and churns that mud up.

And you watch as all that mud is carefully churned up by the plough.

And you see seagulls and other birds all flying down.

Feeding some of those worms that are unfortunately now at the surface.

And you feel like you could watch this farmer working all day long.

But the other children with you want to go to this tree.

So you continue on down to that field with that large tree.

And that field is down where the stream goes and meets a river.

And heading down that river.

There's some narrow boats carrying goods from town to town.

Some with people on them who live on them and just travel.

Moving about from place to place.

Making this area their home.

And you go into that field and you see the most beautiful,

Enormous oak tree.

And this oak tree looks a bit scraggly in places.

Like it's been here longer than time itself.

Which to you as a child is perhaps not that long.

But it looks like it's seen so much life.

It has a dark stain going straight down one side.

Where at some point it's been struck by lightning.

And survived the encounter.

And you all walk over to that tree.

You climb into the tree,

You swing from the branches.

You see who can get the highest in the tree.

You try and rock the branches at the top of the tree while you're all holding on tight.

Then you laugh and have a bit of nervousness at the same time.

Then you climb down and you sit at the foot of the tree.

And you just talk.

Not about anything particular.

Just talking.

And then the other children decide to wander off.

To see what they can find among the hedges.

To see who can find the largest snail.

See if they can find any hedgehogs.

And one of the children would like to try and catch a rabbit.

And you say you'll just sit under the tree for a while.

And so you sit there,

Rest your back against the tree.

And each time your eyes close you get this sound of the ocean.

This sense of another world.

Where these two worlds somehow seem to be connected.

And while leaning against the tree you start to notice almost like the tree is beginning to vibrate slightly.

And so you stand up and turn around.

You touch the tree with the palm of your hand.

Feeling the bark of that tree and your hand.

You notice that it looks like time around the tree is slowing right down.

Birds in the sky.

Stop moving.

The boats stop moving.

The water stops moving.

Your friends by those hedges stop moving.

You notice the sky turning a violet colour.

The ground almost turning a bluey green under the light.

Then you notice that around you and around the foot of the tree toadstools seem to spring up.

Just as if from nowhere.

And you're curious what's going on.

And then you remove your hand from the tree.

And as you do you notice somebody incredibly friendly wandering out from inside the tree.

And they're dressed almost like some kind of a wizard.

But not in any bright kind of robes.

But they do look like they've got a cape.

And they look like they've got a tall staff.

And you think to yourself it looks like the ideal walking stick.

That everyone needs a good walking stick when you're out in the countryside.

And theirs looks so perfect for the job.

And time seems to still be stood still except for you and this person.

And they explain that they're a hermit.

That they like to keep themselves isolated away from others.

And their role is to protect nature,

The environment.

They come from a time when people used to worship those who looked after the land.

And people used to believe that there were spirits that looked after the land.

And that although people were wrong,

That there weren't necessarily spirits.

There were these beings who would watch over nature and make sure there's a balance.

And that now some things are beginning to fall out of balance.

But that's for a future,

Not for now.

But what they wanted to say now was that they've got a mission for you to go on.

That they need you to save this bit of land.

And you're curious about what it is that they're asking and how they're stopping time.

And you ask if they are stopping time.

And you ask if they've changed the colour of the sky.

And you ask if they've made the toadstools appear.

And you ask if they've made the boats stop.

And they respond in a bit of a crabby way.

And then apologise.

They don't really talk to people that often.

So all these questions become a bit too much for them.

They explain that they know that you know that you have a connection through time.

That it happened that the two yous happened to fall into sync with each other.

That you were both doing the same as each other at different times.

And yet through time your brainwaves synchronised.

Your consciousness is merged.

And it means that you're in a unique position to be able to share information across time.

To be able to heal the land across time.

To bring comfort to the land across time.

And you don't have to know as either you exactly how any of it works.

Just that there are greater things out there than what you already know.

And that the you in the future also may be more technologically advanced but doesn't know all there is out there.

And the child responds just accepting what's said.

And the adult has more questions.

But goes with the child's consciousness.

In this hermit explains that there's a secret location that once it's night time where you can make the journey alone.

You can head to that location.

And there's something you'll find there.

And you'll know what to do when you get there.

They then tap their staff on the ground.

Head back into the oak tree.

The sky changes back colour.

You can hear your friends.

You can hear the water,

The boats,

The rustling leaves.

You can see all these toadstools that are now bright red surrounding the tree.

You walk away from the tree.

You ask your friends about the experience,

Whether they shared the experience.

And to them it seems like time stood still.

You wonder for sure whether you'd had the experience or not.

But you know those toadstools definitely weren't there.

And after you and your friends finish playing here,

You all begin to journey home.

And as you journey home,

They're all looking around excitedly.

While you're in your own mind,

Curious about what you've got to do when everyone's gone to sleep.

And you arrive home.

That evening you eat your evening meal.

You spend some time talking with the family here before heading up to bed.

And Tiddles sits on your bed with you.

And you pretend to go to sleep.

And then you open your eyes and you sit there a little longer.

And you look over at that photo at the rose.

And you sit there longer still.

Until the whole house goes quiet.

And as the house goes quiet,

So you carefully sneak down the stairs.

Peek out the front door.

Close the door behind you.

And head out into the night.

And you start heading to where you were told to go.

And you don't think there's anything special there.

You head in a different direction to the way you normally go.

Going down the street and off a footpath.

Heading into the woods.

And you walk through the woods.

Hearing the occasional sound of the odd bird.

The rustling of the leaves.

Watching just the slightest dancing silver rays of moonlight occasionally reaching the floor of this woodland.

You walk your way through the woodland.

Across the hills beyond this woodland.

And with your small legs it feels like a long journey.

But you enjoy breathing in that fresh cool air.

You enjoy hearing these sounds at night you don't normally get to hear.

You pass out the other side of the woodland.

Out into a moonlit meadow.

Gazing over the rolling hills.

Seeing that river curving around passing through these hills and off into the distance.

Shimmering in the moonlight.

And you follow the path through the meadow through the hills.

And you find yourself arriving at a cliff.

You're at the foot of a cliff.

That's almost like one of the hills had broken in half and half of it had collapsed.

And you've been told that you just need to run your hand along the cliff.

And everything will become clear.

And so you walk along the edge of the cliff.

Gently running your fingertips along that cliff.

Until eventually you run your fingers past a part of the cliff.

And it feels like the cliff starts to move.

And you move away from the cliff face.

Just in case anything falls down on you.

To discover that actually it's not that anything's falling.

It's that a doorway is opening up.

And this doorway when it opens seems to be illuminated by the most beautiful blue glow.

And you walk in and see a blue glowing fungus around the walls illuminating this path within the cliff.

And it's the most beautiful glowing blue.

And you walk into that cliff following that path.

Heading deeper and deeper.

You then descend some steps.

And as you descend you notice how the air pressure seems to change.

How the sound seems to change.

And you find yourself in an open space.

And in the centre is a glowing blue pool of water.

And that pool of water is just shimmering slightly.

The surface is moving slightly.

As bubbles are bubbling up from the centre underneath the water.

And you realise this seems to be some kind of a spring.

And you walk over to that spring.

You touch that spring with your hand.

As you touch that spring with your hand.

So you can feel how cool that water is.

You notice that blue surrounding your hand glowing around your fingertips.

Around the palm,

Around the back of your hand.

You lower your other hand in.

You see the same happening to that other hand.

You lower those hands even deeper into the water.

And you can feel the surface tension of the water around your wrists.

Feeling the coolness of that water.

The calmness of that water.

Just like that water is beginning to pass healing,

Coolness in through your hands.

Comfort through your hands.

As if that's spreading up through your hands and round through your body.

Comforting,

Calming,

Relaxing through your body.

As if somehow it's helping you become one with this cave,

With this open space.

And as that blueness begins to pass around your body.

So you begin to feel even deeper relaxed.

And the deeper relaxed you feel,

The calmer you become.

And the more serenity passes through you.

And each time you blink,

You hear those waves and the crackling fire.

And you realise that the you there is beginning to glow blue.

And relax and calm.

And feel comfort throughout the body.

And deepen that connection.

Then you notice that the fungus around the walls,

The blueness,

Is increasing in intensity and is beginning to spread.

And that the fungus,

The strands of it,

Are stretching out,

Meeting with itself,

Until it's covering the entire wall.

And then the whole wall around the outside starts glowing and pulsating blue.

And then you hear a deep throbbing sound pulsating around you.

As that blue light is pulsating.

And the water seems to be pulsating.

And then the strangest thing happens.

That the cave seems to begin to change.

And you start at first thinking you catch a glimpse of people out the corner of your eye.

Almost like the haze of people in a long exposure photograph.

Walking past.

And then you get this glimpse as if someone else is walking past in another direction.

And then someone else is walking past.

And then after a few moments,

It's as if that reality,

Almost phase shifts with you and that reality joining together.

Then you notice that these aren't people,

But they are beings.

And that somehow where you were and where you are now seem to have merged.

And you take your hands gently out of the water as this new reality begins to form around you.

And you realize that you're stood on the bridge of what you would describe as some kind of a spaceship.

And one of these beings comes over to you and begins to talk to you.

And you're surprised that you can understand them.

And you're sure that if you can understand them,

They can probably understand you.

And they ask you what your name is.

And you answer them.

And then they welcome you to the ship.

And they ask you to come with them.

And you have so many questions for them.

And they explain that you've met one of them before.

That they live for thousands of years,

In earth years.

And that they'd helped the course and the direction of life on the planet.

And that they'd left a few of them behind,

Who were keen scientists who wanted to observe how things progressed and evolved.

And that what,

To a human,

Can feel like an enormous amount of time.

Through evolution.

To them,

It's just a short period of time,

Because they live so long.

And so some of them remain behind.

And that they chose you to pass on a message.

Because they couldn't themselves travel to the ship.

Part of being left behind was that they had their research posts.

And they can observe from those research posts.

And they have their ships.

But they're not expected to go to their ships.

Unless it's absolutely necessary.

And clearly,

The one that you've met trusted that you would be better placed to pass on the message.

Than them having to find their way to their ship.

That there's something different about you.

And you explain that there's two of you here.

That that may not make any sense,

Because it doesn't to you.

But there's two of you here.

And that they said that made you special somehow.

And this alien spoke about quantum entanglement.

And about some strange properties that can occur.

And that although what's happened here isn't exactly that.

It's within the realms of what the you on the beach can understand.

And they asked what it was you were supposed to do.

And you said that you didn't know,

You were just told that you would know when you got there,

And that you touched that water instinctively.

You just felt this compulsion to touch the water.

And they wondered why.

The alien.

That hermit.

Hadn't come themselves.

And hadn't come themselves in the future.

And that maybe they still will.

Because now is a different time.

And as a child.

You were confused.

As an adult you were slightly less so.

But still slightly confused.

Because you hadn't even considered that maybe that hermit could still be around.

At the time the adult.

Is around.

And they reach out.

And they ask if they can just do something.

Just access.

Through time.

By making contact.

They touch the side of Ellen's head.

And they relax.

And Ellen feels that deep comfortable relaxation.

Feels her breathing softening and relaxing.

Because the you on the beach begins to also feel that deep relaxation and connection.

And then begins to feel the voice of this alien in your mind.

And notice this alien scanning your mind.

And the alien scans.

And detects what it is that they needed to know.

They detect.

That that hermit isn't there in that time.

And neither are the other aliens.

Who were dotted around the planet monitoring.

And that their role was to monitor make sure everything continued to progress okay.

Make sure that life flourished.

That nature continued well.

And yet they seem to be gone.

And the alien wondered where they had gone in the time between one mind and the other.

And so probed and explored.

And then discovered.

That something had happened that had made them no longer around.

And that this needed to change.

And that that's why they'd used the you and the girl.

To be able to pass on this message.

To show that they had a future that was ending soon.

The alien then removes their hand.

They then tell you that they've got something they need to do.

That it's not for you to worry about.

But they've got to intervene.

To ensure the continuation of these aliens.

Making sure that they either continue their job.

Or decide to leave.

But whatever it is that's been happening.

Gets avoided.

And you wonder what it is you'll be doing next.

How you're going to get from this spaceship.

Because you just touched a pool of water to appear here.

And you don't know if touching a pool of water would send you back.

Because the pool of water no longer looks like the pool of water.

And the alien walks you to a screen that looks like a giant window.

And says that they'll be taking you home themselves.

And you look down out the window and you see a strange planet.

You see two moons in the sky.

And then in almost no time at all.

The spacecraft shoots off.

The planets vanish from beneath you.

And yet you feel nothing.

No movement.

No acceleration.

And then in almost an instant.

You're looking down on a planet that's blue and green.

Looking down at white clouds.

And you recognize the moon in the sky.

You recognize that that moon is the one that you see at night time.

And the alien explains that you live down there.

That that is Earth.

That every human being that lives,

Every animal that lives,

Lives down there.

On that planet.

And you feel a sense of wonder looking down.

You see the glowing green around the top of the planet.

As the spacecraft circles the planet.

You recognize from maps where the United Kingdom is.

You see that it's still in night time.

And that it's just from some of the lights in some of the areas.

That illuminates just enough to recognize some of the shapes that make it up.

You see that right along the south coast none of the lights seem to be on.

But a little further up there are some lights on.

And that spacecraft flies down.

Heads to near that cliff.

Hands in a field.

You exit that spacecraft wondering what they're going to do.

What it is that's happened between now and the future.

And you head back.

Walking back home.

But as you walk you go up past that cliff.

You find the entrance is no longer there.

It doesn't open when you run your hand along the cliff.

You can hear those first sounds of morning birds.

You walk back through the woods.

You sneak back in.

Head back to your room.

You don't feel like you've got much sleep.

Before the sun's shining in your window through the curtains.

Tiddles is jumping on your bed waking you up.

You're being called to come for breakfast.

You go down for breakfast.

You're yawning at the table.

You get asked whether you're tired that you seem really tired this morning.

You explain that you had a lot that you dreamt about overnight but you'll be okay.

You head out of the house after breakfast.

You go up to that meadow.

Lie down in the meadow.

You drift into a reverie under the warmth of the sun.

Hearing children playing under the willow tree.

And as you drift into that reverie so you hear the sound of the ocean.

You hear the crackling of the fire.

You feel the warmth of a morning sun.

And you wake up on that beach.

And you realise that you lied there all night.

And that somehow the fire is still just popping and crackling slightly.

Just as embers burning down.

Giving off a little warmth and orange glow.

Looking at the way the sun glistens off the sea.

You wonder about the experience you've just had.

Whether you've just been in a reverie and yet it feels so real.

And you start to walk off of the beach.

You head home.

Once home.

You decide to research.

See if you can find out what might have happened.

Then you find an article about a suspected UFO sighting.

Decades earlier.

But you can't be sure whether that's the same as your experience.

And then when the post arrives you pick it up off the floor.

You go to your dining room table.

You eat some breakfast and while eating you open the post.

And you see a handwritten letter.

You open that handwritten letter and as you do a pressed rose petal falls out onto your dining room table.

And you can see that that letter is written in a shaky handwriting.

And that it's written directly to you.

And you read that letter that confirms that the experience was real.

And that they had gained so much that Ellen had learned so much about the day and date.

That you had your experience and were having that experience.

That that connection between the two of you.

They'd remembered that much about you.

And they'd had a lifetime to work out who you were.

Where you lived.

And to explore what it was all about.

They explained in their letter that they went back to that tree.

And that those red toadstools were still there.

But the hermit never came back out.

They explained that they started to explore what these aliens might have been after.

And whether that hermit was still around somewhere and just not communicating.

They couldn't find a way back into that cliff.

They assumed it was opened just that one time for them.

And that they knew that you had doubted whether it was real.

But it was important that you know the experience was real.

They said that they'd found something that's included with this letter.

That's on the back of that rose.

And you turned over the rose.

And you saw on the back of the rose.

Something just stuck there.

And so you took that off.

You took it upstairs.

Where you had a microscope.

You looked at it under the microscope.

Twisted around the lens to look closer.

And you recognised it as being some cells that resembled plant cells.

But looked slightly different.

And you carried on reading.

And the letter explained that these cells are connected to the aliens,

To their life.

And that it's almost like there was a connection among the fungus.

That were able to light your way.

And that although when you saw the aliens through Ellen's eyes,

They looked like you would expect aliens to look.

In reality they're kind of like a form of fungus.

And you get really curious about this.

And as you continue reading,

You see that they're able to create hallucinogenic properties that alter your consciousness.

That can make it so that time can slow down.

So that your perceptions can change.

They can connect with you.

And manage to almost attach to your neural network.

To be able to read the neuronal impulses.

And that they almost live like an endless consciousness.

That they can put energy into fast growing.

That they can conserve energy and grow slow.

But they can't really move much.

That where they are is where they stay.

And the letter explains that this is what the problem was.

That suddenly advancements in technology,

In development overtake all locations.

And they can't get out the way.

They can spread and grow.

But eventually wherever they are can be taken over.

And they need nutrients to live like any other being.

And that after that experience on the ship,

The aliens came down.

They had recognized what was going to happen.

How there was going to be an explosion of humans around the planet.

And the impact this was going to have on where the alien observers were.

And that they were helpless to defend against this impact.

They might be able to defend for a while.

But being unable to move quickly.

Just being able to spread out.

Means I had no escape.

So the aliens came and rescued all of those researchers.

That their technology allowed them to come down and help.

And that within each one is a core of the consciousness.

And that's what needs rescuing.

And you read all the way to the end of the letter.

And then attached to the back of the last page.

You see some photos.

The photos of Ellen as she grew up.

Photos of Ellen.

Reunited with her mum and dad.

Photos of Ellen on a wedding day.

Dancing.

Eating a meal.

Going on holidays.

And you look through those photos.

Feeling that deep connection.

With this person that you existed with for a while.

But barely knew.

And yet felt you knew her well.

You really appreciated being able to look through those photos.

There's a photo from a few years earlier.

Of Ellen and her husband.

On a boat.

With icebergs in the background.

Stars in the sky.

The most beautiful aurora.

And a whale breaching.

And just signed off.

Saying it's been a happy life.

And you fold that letter up.

You put the petal down next to your bed.

Put the letter in the envelope.

Put that down next to a light by your bed.

You go and sit downstairs in the living room.

Listening to a tall grandfather clock ticking away.

Letting you know that it's approaching the middle of the day.

You feel somehow satisfied.

That you've been able to help.

Somehow through a conscious connection.

Things you didn't even know.

That somehow situations just seem to occur.

And you can be grateful for things.

You didn't even know you had to be grateful for.

And you wondered whether when you look up in the sky.

Those aliens are up there somewhere looking back down at you.

Whether they pay attention to who you are.

That they met Ellen.

And you wonder how much of you they know.

And that night you stand in your back garden.

Gazing up at the sky.

Wondering whether they are out there.

Whether they know you.

You see a shooting star.

And you have this sense that perhaps that was them giving you a sign.

And then you see the strangest thing.

You see what looks like a tiny dot in the sky.

Floating.

Drifting.

Down towards you.

And as it drifts closer you realise it's getting larger and larger.

Then you notice it's not that it's getting larger and larger.

It's that it is large and it's getting closer and closer.

Then this giant bubble.

Lands at the end of your garden.

So softly and delicately.

You walk over to that bubble.

You touch the bubble.

It bursts.

And something drops to the ground.

And you walk over to it.

And you see this red toadstool just lying there on the ground.

Then you pick it up.

And as soon as you touch it you get this connection with those beings.

They thank you for your help.

They say that you should be really careful with this toadstool.

You can plant it.

And it'll keep growing as long as you look after it.

And you can scrape off little bits of the red side of the toadstool.

Pick them up in some food.

And they'll help you to explore consciousness.

To connect with the nature of reality.

Begin to explore the wonders of the universe.

And that this is the gift to you.

From them.

And that as long as you don't do too much damage it'll continue to grow.

And continue to be able to be eaten in small amounts.

For you to explore that consciousness.

And so you plant that up.

You place it on a shelf.

You know that friends will often ask when they visit why you seem to be growing a red mushroom in your living room.

And you know you're never going to say exactly why.

But like that it's a bit of a talking point.

And you go to bed that night.

Feeling satisfied,

Comfortable.

Looking forward to drifting and floating asleep.

As you close your eyes you drift and float asleep.

And begin to connect with the wonders of the universe.

Feeling had a little of that mushroom before bed.

Drifting,

Floating,

Relaxing into the most pleasant,

Dreamlike inner experiences.

So comfortably.

All night long.