Voices in the Theater - Chapter 2

Truths & Half Truths

Four more people came into the room while Migs was talking about the “short history” of the group.

And Migs really had a way of making it sound simple, and short.

“So that’s it,” he concluded. “After five terms of trying to make this an official org, we’re now having our first meeting.” He smiled that little boy smile, but his intelligent eyes made him look serious and grown up.

I knew there was more to the story Migs told. There was something he wasn’t saying. But I didn’t want to think too hard about it.

Sir Julius nodded, then turned to Aris.

“Well…” Aris began, smiling, “obviously, I’m here because that’s what friends do—you support each other, no matter how crazy your friend is.” Migs looked at the floor and chuckled beside him. “So when Migs had this wild idea for creating gadgets that could capture ‘ghostly activities,’ I had to sign up as his first member.

“I’m not really sure if I believe in ghosts,” Aris continued. “Haven’t seen any myself. But Migs’ theories make sense, and I like having a fun non-school project to use up the little free time I have. It reminds me of the real reason I’m taking this hellish fcourse that’s ruining my life.”

We laughed. Aris seemed like a really nice, easy-going guy.

“I guess it’s my turn,” Richard began. He had a thoughtful expression on his face. One corner of his mouth was turned upwards, and his head was tilted slightly towards the ceiling. He looked like he was laughing at a secret joke, and was deciding whether or not to share it. “The truth is…” He faced the group now, the one-sided smile still on his face. “I’m here because this is exactly the kind of org my dad would never approve of.”

Aris laughed out loud, Lana giggled, and Migs chuckled. Everyone else smiled, except for Chynna. She still looked bored.

“Well, that’s very self-aware of you, Richard,” said Sir Julius. Even he was smiling. “Is there any reason you like getting that kind of reaction from your father?”

Richard’s smile broadened. In one comical movement, he bared his upper teeth, ufsed them to bite on his lower lip, and simultaneously scrunched up his nose—he looked like a bunny monster. Then his smile went back to lopsided normal.

“Hmm. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that after college, I’m gonna be his slave for the rest of my life. So I might as well do anything I want now, right?”

Richard ruffled the hair at his nape after he said this, then adjusted in his seat as he stretched his long legs in front of him. Chynna just kept on playing with her arrow-straight hair.

Sir Julius nodded. “I understand.” His thoughtful expression made me believe he did understand.

“Okay, my turn,” Lana chimed. Her voice, like her face, reminded me of pixies. She leaned slightly forward in her seat as she addressed the group. Her smile was bright and sincere. “Unlike everyone else in this ghost hunting club—”

Migs faked a cough.

“—I mean, paranormal research group,” Lana corrected herself, her smile growing wider, “I actually joined because I believe in ghosts. Well, more than ghosts, really. I mean, I believe in God. I also believe there’s a heaven, and a hell, and that angels and saints are real. So I’ve always thought that, if they’re all real, then evil spirits and demons and the devil must be real too. Same thing with ghosts.”

Her hands moved animatedly as she talked. Her words had a strange effect inside my head, like a fog was clearing up. Almost like I wanted to accept her words as the truth.

Which was crazy, of course. In fact, if she’d said any of those things out loud in my old school, she would’ve been given unflattering nicknames behind her back—there are many variations for the word crazy—and she would’ve lost all her friends and never made new ones again.

But as I looked at the faces of the people in the room, I didn’t see any hint of the reaction I expected. Some of them were nodding, and the others were looking at Lana like they believed her. Even Chynna was looking at Lana with interest.

“That’s good.” Sir Julius smiled and nodded. “So far we have two members who believe that ghosts exist,” his hands gestured towards Migs and Lana, “Two members who’d like to use scientific theories to gain hard evidence about whether or not ghosts exist, and a member who’s… neutral.”

Richard chuckled as everyone glanced his way.

Sir Julius now looked directly at me.

It was my turn. And I didn’t know what to say.

Yes, I knew my reason for being here. But I didn’t know if I could tell them the truth.

I took a deep breath. “I’m here because…” I looked at the ten different faces in front of me. “Because I’m… looking for answers.”

Migs’ deep set eyes grew more serious as he seemed to study my face. Aris tilted his head. The four new people who’d come in and sat behind them now leaned forward to take a better look at me. Lana’s face was now just inches away from my cheek.

“Can you explain?” It was Sir Julius who asked. His voice was comforting in the middle of all that scrutiny. His question sounded like an invitation that I could either accept or refuse, and either way it would be alright.

I looked at Sir Julius, and tried to be honest. “I’m not sure I can.”

“You’ve had a strange experience before, and you want to make sense of it,” said Migs suddenly. It was both a statement and a question. His voice sounded slightly deeper when he said it, which made me look back at him. There was a slight darkening in his deep-set eyes. Suddenly, a clear single thought flashed in my mind:

He’s talking about himself.

“Yes,” I answered, simply.

It was true.

Granted, it was an extremely abbreviated version of the truth, but the truth nonetheless. I was beginning to realize that Migs really had a gift for summarizing things so briefly yet accurately—whether or not he was aware of it.

“Oh,” said Richard. He gave me a crooked grin. “I’d like to hear that story sometime.”

Chynna frowned.

I smiled politely. “Maybe. Sometime.”

Lana briefly squeezed my hand. Her smile was reassuring, as if she was saying, “It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything else.”

“Good.” Sir Julius nodded. “That’s a very good reason for being here. Is anyone else looking for answers, like Sam?”

An older-looking guy in a white collarless uniform raised his hand from behind Aris.

“Peter,” he said, introducing himself. “Peter Cartalaba.” Aris turned a few degrees sideways in his seat so he could get a better look at Peter, who was sitting directly behind him.

Peter’s slightly wavy hair was clean-cut, with a slight hint of bangs resting on his forehead. His voice was measured—cultured—and coming from his chest. “I’m actually in my second year of medical internship now. Which is why I’m late—I just came from a 24-hour shift at the hospital.” He smiled openly. “Actually, the school doesn’t really see me as a student anymore. And I really don’t have much time for extracurricular stuff like orgs.”

The girl to his right (who was also wearing a white uniform) nodded in silent agreement.

“But something happened to me,” Peter continued. “Well, something happened to one of my patients. She died. But somehow we brought her back, and when she woke up she said she’d been to heaven.”

Lana gasped beside me. The smile on her face was joyful as she hung on Peter’s every word.

“She’s only twenty-three. My patient. Let’s call her Tina. She’s part of this Charismatic group, so I’m not sure if that influenced her experience.

“She was leaving this building after a Bible study of some sort, when she got sideswiped by a car. Dragged her almost ten feet down the street. Hit her head on the pavement, broke a few bones. Her friends quickly rushed her to E.R. She was gone for a few minutes. When she… came back, she seemed very sure about what she saw.

“Tina said that after she died, she saw herself leaving her body. She said that she’d never felt so free in her life—like she was everywhere and could feel everything at once. Then she gazed down at her body, and it looked so small and worn out that she didn’t want to come back to it.

“Then she saw this bright ray of light shining from the ceiling. She went up to it, and the next moment she found herself alone in a garden. But she could hear music all around, so she didn’t feel alone. In fact, the music seemed to come from inside her, vibrating through her. Tina said the music was so comforting, like it was embracing her with sound. For some reason, it made her absolutely sure that she was deeply and incredibly loved.”

The breath I didn’t know I’d been holding came out in a gasp. But no one noticed, because everyone was just as focused on Peter’s story as I was.

Music. I knew that kind of music… I’d heard it too. Once. The first time… the first time I started hearing things. Music so strong it vibrated through you. Music that enveloped you until you felt like you were being embraced.

“But then, she heard a voice in the music,” Peter continued. “It was telling her to go back to her body, that it wasn’t her time yet. When Tina woke up, she was back in her hospital bed, and every part of her was in pain. She keeps telling everyone what happened, and the way she tells it, you want to believe her.”

We were all silent for a few moments.

Peter smiled. “You should see her. Her face is… different. Like she’s incredibly happy—definitely not like a young woman in a neck brace and double leg casts. Sometimes when I feel tired, I just pop into her room to say hi. I always feel a bit lighter afterwards.”

“That is amazing,” Lana whispered. “I’ve got goose bumps!” She showed me her arm.

“A near-death experience,” said Sir Julius, nodding. “That’s another angle we can explore here.”

“Definitely,” agreed Migs.

I looked at Migs when he spoke, and at that exact same moment his eyes met mine.

His eyebrows were slightly knitted. He was asking me a question in his mind.

What happened to you, Sam?

Did he know I could hear his thoughts? I was sure he didn’t, but it bothered me anyway. I looked away.

“I have a not-so-heavenly experience,” said the girl to Peter’s left.

She was big-boned, with golden brown skin and beautiful wavy hair that seemed to reach her knees as she sat. Her smile was bright, and she began her story with a flourish that assured us we would be entertained. “It happened just last term. I’m part of the drama club, and we spend a lot of time rehearsing for our plays. We usually practice in the Little Theater on the third floor of this building. You’ve all been to the Little Theater, right?”

Everyone nodded, except me.

“So last term we were there, having our dress rehearsal for Avenue Q, with the puppets and everything? It was, like, two in the morning, and our show was scheduled for seven PM that night. So I was standing on the stage with my puppet—I was playing Kate…”

She now stood up, and went near the door where there was more space for her reenactment. “I’m Eartha, by the way,” she added, smiling. “Eartha Tejada.” Eartha gave us a little wave, before she continued:

“So I was standing over here, and my partner Jason—he was playing Princeton—he was standing on this side. There were just the two of us onstage, and there was Chris at the piano, with the rest of the cast seated in the front row as the audience, Mark and Jethro were up in the booth, manning the lights.

“Like I said, it was early in the morning, and we really wanted to finish and wrap up. I was holding my puppet with both hands like this, and I was looking at this cassette tape that my puppet, Kate, was holding. When I looked up at Jason to say my next line, I saw something move near the curtains behind him..."

One minute Eartha was speaking, with every head in the room turned to her direction.

The next second I was hearing other things, other voices, and it was like someone had taken a remote and put Eartha on mute.