Beyond the Veil
Fragments from the Book
Some people live one life. I’ve lived three. The one I thought I was living, the one I actually lived, and the one I’ve been trying to make sense of ever since.
One day, I ended up in a government building, maybe a school, maybe an office, I’m not sure anymore. What I do remember is the blood on the walls. I stared at it for a long time. Not trying to understand, just…looking.
At first, I thought I was just tired, because I felt no pain. Then I realised, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t sit up, raise my arms or legs, not even turn my head. It was as if my body had become foreign to me.
He had basically been kidnapped and was being held for ransom. We hadn’t done anything criminal. It was just a business deal that went wrong. But I was too young to know how to handle it.
As soon as I handed my passport over to the office, another officer appeared behind me and handcuffed me, like I was a criminal trying to escape.
In that moment, all I felt was an intense wave of heat surging through my body, from my feet to my head. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I was airborne, launched high into the sky.
My body was beginning to shut down. The doctor said if I’d arrived fifteen minutes later, I wouldn’t have made it.
I couldn’t understand their reaction until I turned around and saw the car I had just climbed out of. I stared at the wreckage, my knees weakening under the weight of the impossible. I was alive, but nothing made sense.
It felt like the longest night of my life. I came from a place where I never saw crime, drugs, or gang affiliations, and in one night, I hadn’t just seen it all, I’d been thrown right into the middle of it.
In that moment, Adam squeezed my hand tightly. I can still remember the pressure of his little fingers digging into my palm. I looked at him and smiled as best I could, trying to mask the fear crawling up my spine.
Then came his conclusion. He leaned back, pen finally still, and said, “What you’re describing doesn’t actually exist in medical literature.”
Maybe I haven’t been misunderstood, maybe I’ve just misunderstood myself. Or maybe…I’m just an asshole. You decide.