Possessive Behavior

Excerpts from video series: Paralellism Season 3 - Beyond The Multiverse.

Playlist description: Welcome back to Season 3, folks. In the first season we Interviewed both people who believe in the Multiverse theory, and those who fancy other explanations, like Bubble Expansion and the Jungian Cosmos [Playlist here] . Season 2 saw us talk to both Heroes who can travel to supposed parallel worlds and the first ever Interview with Elizabeth Taured, chief Magus of the Interdimensional Research Commission within the Magic Castle! [Playlist here]. Now join us in the third Season, where we try to uncover the reality behind non-parallel extra-dimensions. Prepare for 19 harrowing Interviews with people who have come into contact with other dimensions very much unlike our own, plus commentary from the returning Magus Taured on each and every case. Additionally, 10$ + subscribers can look forward to one week early-access, and an extended tour of the Interdimensional Research Commission at the end of the Season!

Video 3: An Empty Mind

Interview Portion

The footage shows a young man with his face blurred sitting on a chair. One of his hands is raised to his mouth, the other consistently scratching at the same spot on his jeans.

The interviewer coughs, getting the man's attention.

"Is it okay if we start now, Mr. [⬛⬛⬛]?"

The man nods.

"Wonderful. You say you have experience with extra-dimensional phenomena? Or, one phenomenon, to be precise."

He nods again.

"Could you elaborate for us?"

The man hesitates a bit before answering.

"Yeah....yeah, I can do that." His voice is distorted. His speech is slow and stuttering. "Ever since I was a little kid there was this...this room. An empty room." He takes a deep breath. "At first, I only saw it in my dreams. A big white square of nothing. No doors. No windows. No furniture. Just pure white walls. I really thought they were just dreams at first. Nothing abnormal. Even though the walls felt so real...I...I kept telling myself it was just dreams. Nothing more."

"What changed your mind?"

"It was gradual....a gradual change. First, the dream appeared more and more often. Eventually, every night. But hey....just a coincidence, right? Happenstance? But then it started to appear in my daydreams as well. Every time I was not at full concentration.....every time I dozed off in class....every time that damn room appeared."

He shakes his head before going on.

"But believe it or not, that still didn't clock me in. Daydreams are just what the name implies, right? So it made perfect sense to have one influence the other. Peak logic, right there. But then.......then it...it just happened. During the day. Fully awake. When ever I closed my eyes for more than a few seconds it would appear. There was this.... unmistakable feeling every time. And when I opened my eyes again it would still be there. Just for a bit. Until I blinked a few times. That was the last straw for me."

"So, what did you do about it?"

"I searched the Internet like crazy. Weeks spending all my free time scrolling through obscure forums and weird, badly designed websites, but it was useless. I found nothing. I....I asked myself a lot why. Why was I the one this room chose to haunt? If it was a curse, why was I the one who was targeted? If I was actually an Empowered, why did I receive this of all abilities?"

"Did you ever tell an adult about this?"

He nods.

"My...my mom. I asked her what was going on with me, but....she didn't believe me. Said I was just spooking myself and seeing ghosts. That discouraged me from telling anyone else. I get her though. Now, I mean. I was a very easily scared kid. Funnily enough, the empty room changed that."

"Oh? How so?"

"The more scared I became of the empty room, the less scared I was of anything else. I think it's because the room was so omnipresent in my life. No time to worry about spiders, supervillains, or darkness when I could get transported into the empty room at any time, anywhere. You could almost say that the empty room drove out the monsters under my bed to make space for itself. Another thing the room inspired was my love for heroes."

"You got into capes then?"

"Big time."

His speech clears up a bit and his posture straightens out.

"I put posters of all the big White Capes on my walls. Daylighter, Redbeard, Mage Queen Ozma, Minuteman, and so many more! The idea of a larger-than-life figure breaking down the wall and rescuing me was appealing at the time. Sadly, the posters didn't do much of anything..."

He slowly slumps back down.

"And the fear of this room haunted you all throughout your childhood?"

This time, he shakes his head.

"No. Humans can get used to anything. After a while, I just accepted my lot in life. And my other fears never returned either. Eventually, I even welcomed the thing. I was able to keep a cool head in that room. Nothing could bother me. I felt invincible. And soon enough I found myself needing a place to escape to more and more often."

"Trouble at home?"

"No....the opposite, in fact. There was this guy at school. Let's just call him A. He was 2 years older than me, and for some reason, he had it out for me. A had a Power. His spit was hot as hell, and if he spit on something multiple times it almost always caught fire. And he loved to use it to torment me specifically. An inevitable Ragnarok Season thug in the making. The only person I felt I could rely on was T.....my big sister. She......she was smart, kind but still tough. The only Empowered in our family. Could make her fists as hard as steel. She was the best big sister ever."

He stops for a few moments before continuing on.

"One day, when I was 14, A dragged me behind the school after the final bell rang. The day before had been his birthday and he told me to bring him some gift money today. But I forgot. Or maybe I just didn't care. After two punches I closed my eyes. I emptied my thoughts. I wanted to get this over with. Stay in my safe space while I was hurt. Ignore A."

He slowly drags one of his knees onto the chair.

"Then I heard my sister. I had guitar lessons that day, so she was coming to pick me up. It had totally slipped my mind. She was yelling something at A. I don't remember what. All I remember is the feeling. The sensation of the empty room. I immediately opened my eyes, but for the first time, the room wasn't there. Nothing was. Just the scenery behind the school building. No smooth white walls. No A. No sister."

His scratching intensifies.

"I....I went to the parking lot and, sure enough...her car was there...I...I just bolted home. Didn't even bother to call mom. I just wanted to see her."

After this, he just stops talking.

"What happened then?"

"I...I didn't tell her about A. Or hearing my sister. Just that she never showed up. And you know what happens next. The usual. Police are called, and search and rescue heroes are notified after 2 days, but nothing. Neither A nor my sister were ever found by the authorities. To this day."

"What about the empty room?"

"That's the question, right? Afterward, I tried to make it appear again. Every hour of every day, for a full week. But nothing happened. Until exactly 7 days later. That night, I had a dream. I...I still like to tell myself it was. If not for that wretched feeling. In that dream, I saw the room. Just a glimpse. The white walls were smeared with red. Both Sis and A lay on the floor. Sis...the way she looked, I....."

He shakes his head, his voice shaky.

"She was still. But A was still moving. Barely. He looked at me with such fear in his eyes.......When I woke up I immediately vomited. It was just too much. After I was done cleaning it up I decided to bury the empty room deep in the recesses of my mind. Stop thinking about it. Stop remembering it. Lock away the memory and throw out the key. And... it worked! It did! Until..."

He is silent again.

"Until?

"Until a couple of months ago. When I'm silent, and close my eyes, I can feel it again. It feels bigger....emptier....The empty room, I....I almost vanish inside it...."

His breathing becomes heavy.

"Mr. [⬛⬛⬛], are you okay? Do you want to stop the Interview?"

"An...and lately, my wife...she's...she's pregnant....we've tried for so long, but....ev...every time I touch her I can feel it. The empty room....the empty room between our skin....."

"Mr. [⬛⬛⬛]?"

The man continues muttering while slowly shaking his head.

"I think it's for the best if we turn this thing off now."

---------------------

Video 13: Your Inner Kid

Interview Portion

The footage shows a jovial older man in casual clothing sitting in a chair with one leg up.

The Interviewer coughs.

"How old did you say you are again?"

The man chuckles. He looks to be in his early to mid-forties.

"I think....it has to be about 800 years, 900, maybe more. I stopped keeping track a while ago."

"Interesting. And you say this is because of your power?"

"It has to be. I don't think my ability is magic. I'm not casting any spells. It's not a curse, I had that checked out many times. Many times. So it has to be a power, right?"

"Maybe so, but Empowered didn't exist 8 to 900 years ago. Neither did magic. How do you explain that?"

His grin widens.

"I think you know full well how I'm going to explain that. It's the reason I'm on this program, isn't it?"

He pauses for a few seconds.

"It's Graceland."

"I'm sorry, Graceland?"

"Yes. That's its name. The place I can go to. The promised land."

"Can you explain what exactly this Graceland is?"

He laughs and shakes his head.

"I don't think so. I'm not the be-all-end-all expert on Graceland. I'm just a soul fortunate enough to be allowed to visit that wonderful plane. I can try my best though."

"Please do."

"Do you mind if I start from the beginning? Not my childhood or anything, though I guess that will become relevant later anyway, hehe. No, I mean my very first visit."

"Do it any way you like. We're all ears."

"Good. Mhhmm....Where exactly to pick up?......When I was young...younger, I mean, the Empowerment was in full swing. The first generation of children born with Powers had grown up, and while most were under strict government surveillance, even taken from their parents entirely, a lot of those who slipped past the radar were not shy to use their new abilities to gain an advantage. A chaotic time, a scary time. Paranoia and hate were rampant. It's hard to believe how far we've come."

"And you were one of those who slipped through the cracks?"

The man laughs heartily.

"Oh yes, though I was not aware of it at the time. Anyway, I was in my fifties when it first happened. 52, I think? Sometimes it's so difficult to remember...but that day...that day is still clear in my mind. It was a Friday. Friday evening. Things were terrible, as I mentioned, and I needed some reprieve, some distraction to keep me going. I had lost almost all joy in my day-to-day life."

He stops for a second and then adds

"In life, but not in myself, and I think that's important. You'll see why."

He takes a sip of his glass. It's not filled with water, but milk.

"I had been invited to a party. Some old friends. We met on the fourth floor of an old run-down building, a place we used to use as a hideout of sorts. Not a villain hideout, though maybe in a way....I was part of a gang, in my youth. Switchblades, leather jackets, the whole enchilada. No superpowers though."

He makes a short pause and then lifts his head to look at the ceiling.

"I loved these guys. So much. So much. I owed much of my personal development to them. We were brothers, closer even. And now it's difficult to recall a single one of them."

He refocuses at the interviewer with a sigh.

"I just needed to take a leak. Into the bathroom, do my thing, leave again. But that's not what happened. When I was done, when I opened the door back to the party, everything changed. Instead of loud rock music, I heard the laughter of children. Instead of smoke and booze, I smelled sweets and hot chocolate. And instead of my friends, my blood brothers, I saw a town. A quaint little town. A mountain in the distance. A great lake nearby. A green field as wide as an ocean."

"And what did you do?"

The man seems perplexed.

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I entered. The moment I set foot on that grass I felt a sense of satisfaction I had never felt before. I went in a step further, but once my whole body had passed the doorstep it slammed shut behind me. And when I turned around I saw that the door I had just stepped through was not attached to anything. A lonely door in the middle of a beautiful meadow."

His brow furrows as he remembers.

"I tried to pry the door open with all of my force, I banged against it, I tried to kick it in, all to no avail."

While describing his actions at the door, he acts them out.

"I must've spent at least an hour trying to get that damn thing open, but...it was not meant to be. I was confused. I was exhausted. So I walked over to the lake and that's where I saw my reflection in the water. You can imagine my surprise when instead of an old drunken fool way past his prime a little boy of 12 stared back at me."

"So you became a child again?"

.

At that question, he let out a loud belly laugh.

"Of course. If there is one thing you learn about Graceland it's that everyone is either young or dead. There is no middle ground."

"So judging from your presence here you found a way to escape?"

.

"Escape?"

He seems genuinely taken aback.

"Why would I want to do that? I spent 10 years in Graceland. It was...the shortest of my stays. When I was ready to leave I just walked up to the door in the field and went through. I left because for some goddamn reason, I missed this shithole. That misguided impulse has lessened nowadays, but I guess it's impossible to kill. I didn't 'escape'. I simply left."

"But didn't the door refuse to let you back out when you first wandered in?"

"No, no, you misunderstand. You can leave Graceland whenever you want. But you really have to want it. And back then, no matter how much I was trying to convince myself, I just didn't."

"So what happened when you left? Did you just come out of the rundown bathroom a decade later as a kid?"

He chuckles.

"No. But the way it works is quite interesting I think. When I came out....no, whenever I leave Graceland, I find myself stepping into the midst of a family in the process of moving. Sometimes at the old house, sometimes at the new one, and sometimes I step out of a gas station bathroom on a stop in between. And this family, these strangers, are convinced I am their son."

"So you take over the body of someone's child?"

The man shakes his head.

"Hmmmm, no. I don't think so. I did at the beginning, but it seems unlikely. I think these are just normal childless couples whose memories are somehow altered to think they had always had a son."

"And why do you think that?"

"Well, firstly the family never has anything belonging to a child. No children's clothes, no toys, no furniture for a child's bedroom. There are no family photos including a child either. I think that's why we get dumped on families that are moving. Because every time the blame is put on the moving company for the missing things. And I suppose their memories are altered too seeing as they always admit to having a truckload of things stolen, when in reality they probably never even existed in the first place."

He leans back and scratches his chin.

"It's funny, I think. I had so many parents. So many. And though I loved all...well, most of them, I was only ever related to two."

"I....alright. Interesting. What can you tell us about Graceland?"

When he is done reminiscing he sits back and his whole body visibly relaxes.

"It's....it's amazing. There are two large sections. The Inner City and the Outskirts. Everyone who arrives arrives in the Outskirts. Neverafter Lake, Powder Mountain, the Greener Grassfield....there is nothing quite like it. And even the houses. You'd think they'd be all old, humble, and rustic, and they can be, but there are plenty with the most state-of-the-art, modern appliances. And if we want something that is missing, we just write it on a list and the Attendants will bring it for us within a day."

He downs the rest of the milk before continuing.

"You can eat what you want and never get sick. You do gain weight, but when you want to lose it again you just wish for it and when you wake up the next morning you're skinny as a bean. That's the Outskirts. It's Graceland, baby. No one grows up. Little girls playing house 24/7. Little boys having grand adventures in their connected treeforts for months on end. Small tribes who war among one another via proving who's better at video games. Fat little children searching for cake. It's bliss."

"There are others there? Others like you?"

"Oh yes. When I first arrived we were maybe 200 strong. Give or take. When I last left it was several thousand. They are all like me. People who came to Graceland from this world. Most leave home periodically, like myself. Some never leave. Some....some never come back. I'd imagine it will keep filling up, inviting new souls to join. There are hundreds of thousands of homes that still lay empty. We have plenty of room."

"So you see Graceland as your real home?"

"Naturally. We all do. I spent more time there than I did here. Magnitudes. When I first left after a decade of Paradise I found out quickly that only a few days had passed here. Graceland may be the realm of the young, but the world itself is old and slow, much slower than this one. That's what the Attendants say, anyway."

"Speaking of these Attendants, are they people like you too?"

He vehemently shakes his head.

"No, but....."

"But?"

".....Do you know why I am the first one to speak of Graceland in public like this?"

The interviewer takes a few seconds to answer.

"No. Why is that?"

"Whatever memory mumbo jumbo messes with the people whose lives we enter is a lot more active than just that. Whenever one of us leaves Graceland, they lose all memory of it. They seamlessly integrate into the family that was chosen for them. They only remember when they open the door again. When Graceland beckons once more."

The interviewer chuckles.

"So, have you seen it and refused?"

"Ha! I would never. No. I don't know why, but I was never affected by that kind of memory loss. I'm the only one, as far as I know. When an old friend returns we always take a while to catch up, and no one ever mentioned retaining their memory. But what I'm getting at is the Attendants. I think it is them or maybe the ones above them who manipulate memories because whatever method they use, I am only resistant to it. Not immune."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because even though I can remember Graceland clearly, the Attendants are....foggy. There are not many, at least compared to us kids. I don't think they're human. Humanoid, but not human. I know that whatever they are, they are young, though not as young as us. And I think they might all be girls. Thats it. Other than that I only retained some of the things they often repeated. They had something like stock answers for specific questions, I remember those."

"Can you tell us one of those stock phrases?"

He scratches his head and shuts his eyes.

"Sure. Sure I can. Uhm....oh yeah. Sometimes, our ages fluctuate. Not within Graceland, but when we return. When I first arrived I turned 12 years old. When I came back I was 9. Then 17. That's the oldest you can get apparently."

"So teenagers are allowed in Graceland?"

"Allowed? That's what the Inner City is for. There is almost no contact between the two areas because they live very different lives."

"How so?"

"What do you think? The Outskirts are a children's paradise. The Inner City is teenage heaven. We have libraries with books and videos about all sorts of things for the scholarly types, videogames, comics, and movies for the eternal nerds, a racetrack for both car enthusiasts behind the wheel and behind the wrench, we have so, so much edgy, artsy bullshit you could fill a thousand museums. Everything. Everything any kind of teen could want."

"And what was your area of interest?"

He sports a mischievous smile.

"In the Inner City, I found myself a new gang. Couple guys, couple gals, fast bikes that never crash, lots of booze with the added bonus of no hangover. We had songs, sex, business as usual....just younger. I still can't decide which part of Graceland I like living in most. I love both for different reasons. But back on topic. Whenever someone asked one of the Attendants why our ages shifted as they did, all they said was "You are always as old as you love yourself.""

"What exactly does that mean?"

"Fuck if I know. It's always cryptic shit like that with them. But they're nice. I like'em. Graceland wouldn't be the same without them."

"And you are content? With this situation?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I can live in a perfect paradise as long as I want, and if I miss this place, really miss it, I can come visit anytime. And to be honest, these short 40 to 90-year trips to this plane really make me appreciate my true home. People can cry about how stagnating and empty and boring a perfect life would be, but I can tell you from experience, once you had the opportunity to compare and contrast it's really not a hard choice."

He takes out a bonbon and pops it in his mouth.

"Plus, I find it fascinating how our visits affect Earth. Whenever we return home to Graceland, all of the memories that were implanted as well as all new memories of us we created are taken with us. Our parents will be child-free again, our spouses unmarried, etc. Even pictures and videos of us will fade."

"So what you're saying is that you will vanish from this video and I'll look like a crazy person interviewing no one?" The interviewer asks, amused.

The man grins slyly.

"Perhaps not. You see, last go around I decided to live my life as one of those unbearable hipster assholes I fucking abhorred in all my previous lifetimes. Filmed a few videos of myself, on actual film of course. On a whim, just three months ago I went back to where I stashed all my hipster stuff. I like to hide some of my favorite possessions from each life I've lived so I can enjoy them in the next one too. And surprise, surprise, while my digital footprint completely vanished those videos were still fully intact. Isn't that funny?"

"So that's why you insisted that we record this interview on film?"

"Yes. I'll soon be gone. Everything that I was will. But this time, this time something will remain. Just imagine the theories once all evidence of my existence aside from this video vanishes. Was this interview real? Was I an unregistered Empowered or mage, possibly a villain, who decided to fuck with you with memory magic? Was I just a paid actor and you guys made all this up? I can't wait."

"It'll be interesting for sure."

"You don't seem very rattled at all. Aren't you even a little bit excited?"

"Haha, believe me, I am probably just desensitized. After you've Interviewed a dozen dimension hoppers nothing can really shock you anymore. For my last question though, how long do you think you'll keep this cycle up?"

"As long as I can, I think. I like this place, I was born here, but.....every time I spend a few decades here I enjoy my time less and less. Elvis has left the building. But he didn't leave because he had to. He left because he realized that the building he thought was sturdy, strong, and safe was in reality just a house of cards. People will deny it, but everyone, every single person, would choose to be able to start over from the beginning if they could. Immediately. Graceland is that chance. And I'm one of them. More than I am one of you. I don't know why some people get to go to Graceland. I don't know what connects us. I still suspect it is a Power we all share, but I'm not sure. In the end, I'm just grateful I am included. In the end, there really isn't an alternative anyway. Not seriously."

"What do you mean?"

"It all comes down to a single choice. Graceland, or death. That's all there is to it. And who in their right mind would choose death?"