He knelt to check her pulse yet again. It's slowly increasing and there's nothing he can do to help. The telltale clock ticks louder and louder. It's been almost two hours. What if she can't return?

As an experienced hypnotist, Jeff knows to include suggestions that automatically bring the client back should they be in any danger. But this is different. She is the first person he's actually guided to physically manifest in a different place and time.

* * *

Leslie requested a hypnosis session to help overcome a fear of speaking in public. When she was told to return to just the time and place which is the source of her fear, she returned to mid-1600s Colonial Massachusetts. She described how she was wrongly convicted of being a witch. Just as she screamed in pain from the fire, he brought her out of the session.

They sat together in silence. She could still remember everything as though it just happened. "Jeff, you have to send me back."

Jeff was making notes in his pad and didn't really hear what she said. "I have to what?"

"Send me back. You say you've learned how go back to your past lives. Prove it. Send me back so I can help her."

He looked away searching for the right words. Yes, he's done this but only a few times. "Leslie, first of all, I've been religiously practicing this for almost a year and I still have significant difficulty in returning."

"Ok, so…"

"Secondly," he clamped the pen in his clipboard, "although this hasn't been proven, there are theories that if you visit yourself you could implode. In other words, you could die. Does this theory pertain to visiting a past life self? I don't know.

"So, I won't go near myself."

"Do you know what you look like? No. You might accidentally run into yourself." She shrugged her shoulders. "Third, you don't have the proper clothes. You will instantly be noticed and since unexplained things are often attested to witchcraft or the work of the devil…"

"So I won't allow myself to be seen."

He looked down to the floor, shaking his head. She refused to accept the risks. "And fourth: I haven't made changes to the past. And I haven't made changes because no one knows for sure how this may affect the future - i.e. your present. Altering this one event may ultimately change the history of the world."

"Oh, I'm sure I was that important. Change world history? I was just a girl burned at the stake - one of many."

"Leslie, you just don't know. What if the great-grandmother of one of America's forefather's doesn't have the benefit of seeing you burned at the stake, and ends up doing the same thing you did causing her premature death. We may now be eating wiener-schnitzels instead of McDonalds because Germany kicked England's butt in World War I since America is still just a British country."

"Oh, please. Jeff, just send me back."

"It could happen. Plus," he held up an index finger, "you are a product of all your previous life experiences. If you don't have such an experience, you may be a completely different person when you return."

"I may be a completely different person?" Leslie smiled in an attempt to lighten the conversation. She wanted very badly to return and she knew she could trust Jeff implicitly. She doesn't know why she knows - she just knows. "This may not be a bad thing. I couldn't possibly be any smarter or cuter... Maybe I'll be taller!"

He smiled and shook his head. "Oh, I'll give you cute. But smart…?"

"Come on, Jeff. You know you can do it."

"No way. It's too risky."

She sat up in the recliner and clasped her hands over his. "You can teach me all you know. I'll make sure I don't get near myself. My clothes - I'll stay away from people so I don't stand out. And the only thing I'll change is to somehow stop myself from being burned at the stake."

"Leslie, this is impossible. You want to save yourself while avoiding not only yourself but all people in general."

"I'll figure out something when I get there."

"Oooh, now THERE'S a good plan. You'll appear in a life-threatening unknown land with no means of protection and with no clear method of escape, and THEN you'll figure out how to solve this impossible problem."

"Jeff, you're wasting time. I need to go back while this is fresh in my mind. Just give me the same commands that you give yourself."

"It's not that easy. I can get you there, no problem. But I can't bring you back. That, you have to do yourself."

"So teach me how to do it."

"Teach you? Leslie, you don't understand. If you can't concentrate effectively, you won't be able to return. Have you been practicing meditation diligently for the last year or two? No, you haven't, so drop it. You can't go back."

"Jeffrey, I'll be fine. Just teach me everything I need to know through hypnosis."

"Leslie…"

"Jeff…"

* * *

Leslie

I 'stepped down' at the edge of a large body of water that I soon recognized as the Massachusetts Bay. There was something strange about the sky: so clear, so rich with color, so painted on unreal. Also, the silence: I can't remember a time when I heard nothing but nature's quiet song - no cars in the distance, no airplanes, no trains or machinery of any kind. I stood for a moment listening and breathing in the fresh air allowing myself to adjust to this new world.

As I stood lost in thought, I soon heard voices, which I followed until I saw a young couple - a girl and a Native American - arguing with an even younger girl. Eventually, the younger girl left in a rage. The couple was clearly concerned as I watched them talk and pace around each other. Finally, they hugged and she hurried off into the forest after the girl. He stood for a long time looking after her, then ran off in the opposite direction.

Just outside of the village, a surprisingly angry mob had already congregated. They surrounded the girl and shouted insults as she cowered on the ground shaking her head. When I got close enough to hear, it wasn't shouts of deviant sexual behavior. Instead, I heard again and again…

"Witch!"

I realized that this was me! I recognized everything happening from my past-life regression, but this time from the perspective of an observer.

The younger girl's name was Susan. Susan and I met Luka while walking up the coast. We both liked him - so tall, so agile, so confident in his ways. After meeting him secretly a few times Susan found us together and decided to get even with me for stealing her boyfriend. She told everyone that she saw me cast a spell on Mr. Dobson, who just recently died. Each time she was asked a question, she added more things to my witch list - I talk to animals, cast evil spells, I fly with the bats in the night.

I watched my other self taken to the center of the village and placed in a makeshift stockade. Two days and a night passed. She was constantly watched. People she called friends just days ago now spit upon her.

A trial, of sorts, took place. Susan told her story then they screamed at me to confess. From as close as I could get without being seen, I listened to myself try to reason over the shouting and the insults, but nothing I said mattered.

That evening, a parade of men carrying torches made their way through the people. I tried to think of something I could do, but no matter what I came up with, there was just no way I could fight off an entire crazed town. They said a few words then ceremoniously set fire to the logs around her. I remember seeing the faces of people who just a few days earlier were my closest friends, my family. But as the flames climbed towards me, I saw these faces shout in glee - a putrid mixture of hatred and fear fueled on my every painful scream.

I couldn't just let this happen, even if it meant my life. I hadn't accomplished this feat of traveling in time only to do nothing. "No!" I ran down the hill. "Stop!" But before I got close enough for the villagers to hear, someone jumped from behind a tree and knocked me to my feet. Two natives held me down, gagged me, and forced me back up the hill. I fought but they were significantly stronger.

I was presented to my previous self's boyfriend. As our eyes met, he backed away as though seeing a ghost. His eyes darted towards his girlfriend - towards the other me - then back. His confused expression slowly changed to that of shocked enlightenment.

From the vantagepoint on the hill, I witnessed several dozen natives rush the mob from both sides, throwing rocks and sticks and even nets onto the crowd. The mob was so stunned they didn't even think to fight back. Three others ran out of the forest, doused a thin path of the flames with an animal hide, cut her down, wrapped her in a blanket, and were gone into the forest within a matter of seconds.

Just as quickly as they appeared, the natives surrounding the mob were gone. By the time the villagers stopped cowering from the sticks and rocks, the girl was far away over the hill.

After watching the other me disappear into the forest, Luka looked into my eyes, touched my lips with his forefinger, and brushed the hair out of my face with a touch so light I could hardly feel his finger. He said, "You are spirit and protector of what holds my heart." He bowed in reverence, then said something to those who held me. I was quickly whisked away to a place safely removed from the villagers.

* * *

Jeff leaned forward with his head resting on the recliner, trying to think about what he could do to help. She took in a deep breath and he slipped and fell in his rush to get up. 'Is she back?'

Yes. After returning to consciousness, Leslie started to describe what happened. But he placed a finger on her lips and looked into her eyes as if to say, 'Please, just give me a moment to thank the Universe for you being here with me.'

He was so relieved she was safe, he wanted only to hold her, to feel her presence, to feel her everything - physically, mentally, spiritually. He wiped the hair from her eyes and delicately stroked her face hoping this affectionate gesture was enough to replace the words he wanted to say.

Something about his touch flooded her with forgotten images. She finally recognized the very eyes she was in love with so many years ago.

© 2002 Rob Daugherty