Jake was unusually patient, a side of him Cassie had rarely seen. He listened with genuine interest, a stark contrast to the man who usually dismissed these topics as “too out there” or “too touchy-feely.” But today felt different.

The conversation flowed easily, without any of the usual pressure. Jake’s questions came naturally, without trying to push her in a certain direction. Or at least that’s how it felt to Cassie.

“I need some spring water,” she said, standing up and heading to the small fridge tucked under the counter in the corner. “Want one?”

“Yeah,” Jake replied, leaning back. “I love coffee, but I’m starting to bite my nails.” Then he paused, his eyes curious. “So, what’s it like?”

Cassie shot him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”

“The hypnosis sessions,” Jake clarified. “Is it easy to go under? You know, to get back there?”

“To earlier lives, you mean?” Cassie asked as she handed him a bottle. He nodded, affirmatively. “Actually, I don’t go back to earlier lives at all. At least, I don’t think I do.”

Jake raised an eyebrow, intrigued. “I thought that was his specialty. Isn’t that why you went to him? To find Lizzy?” His calm, engaged demeanor was so out of character that Cassie almost didn’t recognize him.

She unscrewed the cap on her water, her thoughts racing. He really is interested, she realized, a bit surprised. Maybe this conversation wasn’t as “out there” for him as she’d always assumed.

“You see, that first time,” Cassie began, her voice steady, “I explained to Dr. Newton why I wanted to see him. But he was quick to shut down my goal. Said he was a scientist, involved in some long-term study about the journey souls make—from heaven to hell on earth and back again.”

“And yet, you stayed. You kept going. How long has it been now?” Jake leaned in slightly, genuinely curious.

Cassie paused, recalling the moment. “I was just thinking about that yesterday. My first session felt more like an exploratory consultation back in September.”

She shifted on the sofa to face him. “Remember when I first called? He wasn’t taking new patients? His schedule was booked for years?” Her expression shifted, a hint of disbelief still lingering. “But then I said that magic word, and everything changed.”

“Magic word?” Jake tilted his head.

“Equilibrium,” she replied. “You remember? He told me he’d had a dream the night before I called. There was this strange, formless figure in a cloud, chanting the word ‘equilibrium’ like it was a mantra.”

Jake nodded, the memory flickering. “Yeah, I remember that. But what does it mean to him? It’s been over five months, and you still don’t know?” He absentmindedly unscrewed the cap of his water bottle, his gaze locked on her.

Cassie sighed. “That’s the heart of my frustration.” Jake arched his brows, urging her to continue. “It’s been thirteen months and…”

“No progress.” Jake speculated.

“Yes and no. Depends on how you define progress. It’s like I take one step forward, then two steps back.”

“Progress … depends on the purpose of the walk, I suppose,” Jake said thoughtfully. “Are you trying to get somewhere, or just exercising your legs?” Cassie smirked, a bit amused by his sudden insight.

“So, what exactly do you and your soul discuss in these seances?” Jake asked, trying to help her focus.

“They’re not seances, you know,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “I’m not talking to the dead.”

Jake muttered under his breath, “Well, they’re not exactly alive.”

Cassie shot him a look. “Of course they are! They’re spiritually alive. Maybe not physically, but they’re alive in every other way that matters.”

“Sorry. I don’t get it. And you don’t need to explain—it’s over my head.” Jake shrugged, clearly out of his depth.

A moment of silence stretched between them, unusual for their conversations. Then, unexpectedly, Jake asked, “So what’s a session like? Who does most of the talking?”

Cassie smiled slightly. “It’s pretty routine by now. Dr. Newton and I have been meeting twice a week for nine months now. Actually, just last week, he suggested we might consider upping it to three times a week!”

“Really? Must see some value in it for his research,” Jake speculated, leaning back in his chair.

“He does. But while we’re both invested in this inquiry, we’re focused on different things. He’s trying to understand decision-making from a soul’s perspective. I’m more interested in why I, as a Garb, am here. Remember? That’s the question I’ve been chasing—why am I here?”

“A… Garb?” Jake’s brow tightened in confusion.

“My body, Jake. My physical life. My Mortal Entity—M.E.!” She sounded mildly exasperated as he stared at her blankly. “Mortal Entity! Get it? Never mind. The point is, over a year of these sessions, Vimh has shared so many insights.”

“Vimh?” Jake asked, nearly spilling his water in his rush to follow along. “Isn’t that the name you gave to your soul?”

“Yes. Voice in My Head. It’s the name I’ve given my SoulYou. I call her Vimh.”

“Your soul’s female?” Jake asked, squinting slightly.

“No, of course not. Souls don’t have gender,” Cassie said, rolling her eyes. “But it’s my soul, and I’m a female.” She waved dramatically at her body, curled up on the sofa, legs tucked beneath her. “Or haven’t you noticed?”

Jake chuckled softly. “Okay, fair enough. So what do you talk about? Who decides the topics?”

“Hmm.” Cassie hesitated before answering. “I used to think that I did. I mean, there is a rule – what Vimh calls an Absolute Law – that souls cannot lead the conversation. They must wait to be asked.”

“So,” Jake surmised, “you call the shots. You pick the topics.”

“That’s what I thought. But now that I look back over our sessions so far – of these ‘Sharings,’ as Vimh calls them – I think maybe it’s been Vimh guiding me.”

“Interesting! So, what’s the most amazing thing you’ve discovered so far that you didn’t know?” Jake asked, his curiosity evident.

Cassie paused, her mind racing through a whirlwind of revelations. “Well, there are so many surprises. But maybe the biggest is that in Everly—the realm where souls exist—they see everything happening here on Earth, what they call TempTerra, as a game. To them, all of humanity is just part of a grand make-believe.”

“A game?” Jake’s eyebrows knitted together in disbelief.

“They call it the Game of Life.”

“You know, I’m glad you asked .. about what I’ve discovered. What I have learned,” Cassie said, her tone softening. “That’s why I was happy when you seemed interested earlier.”

She paused, her thoughts twisted in a knot. “Honestly, Jake, I’m overwhelmed. There are so many topics. So many concepts, terminologies, perspectives… everything is starting to interweave.” She shifted uncomfortably. “And it’s coming at me so fast,” she added.

“Interweaving themes?” Jake leaned forward, genuinely intrigued now.

“That’s the thing… in a nutshell,” Cassie began, her voice distant as if she were speaking more to herself than to Jake. “Vimh and I have covered so much. And it’s all so fascinating, but at some point, it all just blurs together into this giant, mind-boggling mess.” She paused, staring out the window, her expression growing more vacant. “I don’t know how to make sense of it. How to get my arms around it all.”

Jake, whose well-lived life had taught him how to know when silence was more valuable than words, let her continue.

“How do you do it?” she asked

“Me? Do what?” Jake asked, genuinely confused.

“You deal with massive construction claims. I’ve seen you work through cases that take years to untangle. You sift through mountains of raw data, piles of documents, and somehow, you reduce the most complicated mess into a clear narrative that anyone can understand. How do you do it? I wish I had that skill.”

Jake shook his head slightly. “I’m not working through this for you, darlin’. Sorry,” he said with a hint of finality. “This is your mountain to climb. Your dragon to slay.”

“I wasn’t asking you to solve …”

“But to answer your question,” he cut her off, leaning forward, “bite-sized chunks.”

“Bite-sized chunks?” Cassie echoed, tilting her head.

“You chunk it!” He took a swig from his Diet Coke. “In my line of work, we call it Decomposition. It’s a form complexity reduction technique.” She looked confused, with all of the trade lingo.

“Newton’s theory, actually. He believed that you can understand the whole by breaking it down and understanding the parts. It’s a system analytic that works… well, in certain contexts.”

“But not always?” she asked, sensing an undertone of doubt.

“It works, but when it comes to human behavior—especially when you’re dealing with things like emotions—well, the results can get a little murky. Humans can get unpredictable.”

Cassie sat there, taken aback not so much by what Jake was saying but by the way he was saying it. He sounded so… academic. It was strange hearing this side of him—like he was someone else entirely. And visually weird, coming out of a worn plaid shirt tucked casually into faded jeans.

“Bitesize chunks,” she muttered under her breath. “Even that feels overwhelming. I don’t know where to start. I wouldn’t know which chunk to take first.”

Jake leaned back in his chair, watching her carefully. “Maybe it’s not worth the trouble,” he said after a beat. “Maybe you’re so overwhelmed, your mind’s like a boat in rough seas, sloshing with confusion, tossed around like bilge water in the hull.”

Cassie’s eyes darted back to him, surprised by the sudden shift in his tone. “Why don’t you stop?” Jake suggested, his voice calm and measured. “These sessions, I mean.”

Cassie paced back and forth in the dimly lit room, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. The glow from the floor-to-ceiling window flickered as if matching the intensity of her thoughts.

She stopped, turning toward Jake, her eyes filled with a quiet urgency. “Because I feel like I’m onto something. Maybe more than that.” She paused, biting her lip as if trying to form her next thought. “I just can’t shake the feeling that these sessions hold the answer to why I’m here.”

Jake leaned forward, studying her face. “You mean here in Denver?”

Cassie shook her head slowly. “No, Jake. Here on Earth. I think… no, I know… it’s bigger than that. It’s why Lizzy ran away, why Mary died, why my parents struggled as they did. Even why you and I met, and why Harry’s gone, and Rexanne is here. It’s all connected.”

Jake slumped in his chair, the weight of her words sinking in. “You’re saying all of this is part of some grand master plan?”

“Exactly! It’s as if I’m a part of some larger story, something beyond any of us.”

He sat back, trying to absorb the gravity of what she was believing. “Okay, let’s say you’re right. What do you do with that? With this… gift, these insights?”

Cassie sighed in frustration, throwing her hands in the air. “That’s what I can’t figure out! It’s like I’ve been handed the key to the universe, but I have no idea what door to open.” She ran a hand through her hair. “That’s why I can’t quit. Don’t you see? I’m trapped by this sense of purpose I don’t know how to fulfill.”

Nodding thoughtfully, Jake asserted, “So, you don’t know how to move forward. You’re stuck.”

“Yes, exactly! And that’s why I need your help. You said you could help me simplify all this. So tell me, Jake—where do I even begin?”

“Well,” Jake began, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, “how many sessions have you had with Vimh now?”

Cassie closed her eyes, mentally counting. “I guess, around fifty. Each one introduces something new, but there’s always this feeling like it’s building on something I’ve already heard. The problem is, sometimes they mention things I don’t understand yet. Concepts that haven’t been explained yet.”

Jake scratched his chin. “Can’t you ask your spirit—Vimh—to explain those ideas?”

Cassie smirked. “I’ve tried. Vimh’s favorite line? ‘Everything in due time.’ Anytime I ask, that’s the answer I get.”

Jake rubbed his temple, processing. “Hmm. So, do the sessions flow together, or are they all over the place?”

“They’re all over the map,” she said, exasperated, as she eased back into the plush sofa. “Like I said. I can hear something mentioned and then get this strange feeling that I had heard it before.”

““Déjà vu?” Jake asked.

“No. I mean I actually heard it in a previous session.” Cassie sat forward in her seat. “That’s why I’ve started converting the audio into transcripts.”

Jake blinked, surprised. “You’re transcribing everything? That’s brilliant! Then you can use the search function to find recurring themes, ideas, terms—”

“Well … I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Cassie interrupted. “I’m still in the middle of just transcribing. And every week just brings more to do! It’s overwhelming. My plan is to wait until the last session, whenever that is, and then try to make sense of it all.”

Jake tilted his head. “How ya gonna know when it’s the last session ”

Cassie stood abruptly, frustration boiling over. “That’s the problem! I don’t know!” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I’m drowning in all this information. Can you help me organize it? Maybe using some of your claims techniques?”

Without answering, Jake asked, “Has Vimh ever given you any specific guidance on how to handle all this? I mean, why would the spirit world share all these mysteries with you and not also show you how to manage it?”

Cassie frowned, her gaze drifting. “Guidance…”

“Yeah, like a mantra or a phrase that keeps coming up. Something they’re trying to embed in your mind.”

Cassie’s eyes widened. “Wait… there was something, early on.” She stared at the ceiling as if trying to pluck the memory from thin air. “A phrase, maybe. Something simple. Mind waiting a minute?” she asked, dashing out of the room before he could respond.

“Fine,” Jake muttered to an empty room as he stood up. “I needed to pee anyway.” He shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. “She’s drowning in confusion. And I’m drowning in liquids!”