Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 6

             I’m starting to feel very stupid, sitting there on the verge. This time, Benjamin doesn’t beat me with his cane, he just looks at me, encouraging me to find the answer myself.

            ‘A memory I’ve never actually had?’ I say the words slowly, considering each one. I feel a small spark of recognition, knowing I’ve found the correct train of thought to board. ‘The only time I’ve had memories I can’t remember, would have been before I was born. So…’
            ‘Your own mother saved you from the Edge,’ Benjamin finishes for me. ‘The moments you were alive in the womb, soothed to sleep by her heartbeat.’
           I sit back for a second, unable to utter a word in this strange new land where I live beyond death and long forgotten memories become real again.
             ‘Can I visit the Edge?’ I ask. ‘If I want?’
             ‘That’s the best thing about this place,’ Benjamin continues. ‘You can visit anywhere you want. Close your eyes tight and think hard enough and you’ll be there. That goes for your memories or anywhere else you can think of.’
             ‘It’s that easy?’ I say. ‘Will it feel the same, being in there I mean?’
             ‘Only if you lose control.’ His eyes help me stay calm. ‘And that’s easier to do than you might think. It’s so easy to dwell on the past. Those moments in life we wish we could change. If you want my advice, I’d let the past stay where it is, and think about the road ahead. Getting lost in the Edge is no way to live, it only helps us travel over it.’
            I nod slowly. He says live like we’re still alive. I guess we are in some shape or form. I guess life is a resilient opponent, apparently harder to extinguish than people might think.
            ‘I’m Easton,’ I say, holding out my hand. He shakes it, his palms as touch as leather. ‘Thank you for helping me.’
            ‘No problem, son,’ he says, waving his hand. ‘I always help when I hear people needing it. Not enough of us do these days. I can’t tell you how long I was pacing around the world before I found a man who could see me. Because that’s the thing, close your eyes and you’ll find yourself in Vegas, but time’s still time, straight as a highway.’
            ‘How many of us are there?’
            ‘Oh, too many to count.’ He pauses. ‘Close your eyes.’ I do so. ‘Listen carefully,’ he says. ‘You feel that? A tingle in the tips of your fingers, the warm feeling at the base of your neck. That’s everyone who’s died, existing in this place.’