Return to the Twilight Zone
Segment 2: "Unreality"
Written by Justin D. Hurkman
We arrive at a mental facility somewhere in this world. Sometime, perhaps today, maybe tomorrow, perhaps it was yesterday, or it may be several years forward, or even back.
The doctor's here were performing tests on a man, a man that had been inactive for the past three years…
The most recent test involved leaving a wooden stick in his chamber, seeing how he might react to it.
The man being tested was Greg Hopkins, and he had a sling on his left arm.
Greg began to notice something, a stick on the floor in front of him, he picked it up, and looked at it, moving it from side to side, he threw it out and it hovered in mid-air. He manipulated it like that, spinning it around in multiple directions.
Inside the observation room, the doctors saw this and were, quite frankly, shocked. "What the hell?" one of them said. This was more of a reaction than any of them expected to get. More of a reaction than any reaction they thought was possible from anyone.
In Greg's mind, it was as simple as picking it up with his hands, he understood everything...
Enter Chad Young, a parapsychologist, who has just today arrived at this institute. He was contacted about this unusual incident, and was immediately interested in it. The most interesting things in this case where the facts that the man was clinically dead for thirteen seconds, and that he his left arm hadn't healed for three years when it actually should have healed. He had been in a car accident three years ago, and ever sense then, he has been in a vegetative state, that is, until now, when he began showing these telekinetic abilities. However, he is about to discover something that is far beyond anyone's comprehension….
"May I see him?" he said.
"Certainly," the doctor replied.
They walked down to the chamber were Greg had lived for the past three years. When they finally reached to door, Chad looked inside to see Greg, looking directly at him, as if he had expected him to come here.
The door slid open, and Chad stepped in. Greg was still looking at him, it was at bit haunting. "Hello, my name is…" Chad started.
"Chad, I know," Greg replied.
"I didn't think they told you,"
"They didn't,"
"So you're psychic as well?"
"In a way, I can't read your thoughts necessarily, but I can tell who you are,"
"What exactly are the limits to your abilities?"
"The only limit is telling what other people are precisely thinking, and things I don't quite fell like doing,"
"What do you mean precisely thinking?"
"I have a certain kind of empathy, I can tell the basic way a person is thinking, I can get an idea of a persons character just by being in close proximity with them,"
"What are your impressions on my character?"
"I think you basically believe me, you have a genuine interest in my abilities, and how they work, the extent to which they can be used, etc., etc."
"Very interesting," Chad said, writing notes on their conversation as he said this.
"Do you wish to see a demonstration?"
"A demonstration of what?"
"Telekinesis,"
"Is it safe?"
"Would I use it if it weren't safe?"
"I don't know, I don't have the powers you do,"
"Well, I assure you that to the best of my knowledge it can't hurt you,"
"Well, I'll just have to trust you then,"
"May I use your pencil?"
"Of course,"
Suddenly, without even the slighting invocation, or the slightest hand movement, the pencil started to move, into the air then started spinning around. Greg had a look of mild concentration on his face. Chad was obviously amazed by Greg's ability. The pencil then returned to Chad's hand.
"How did you do that?" Chad asked in wonder.
"It's a bit complicated, it's like another layer of reality, a layer inverse to the world we live in, a world that exists between this life and the next. I can't explain it, I can only describe it to the best of my ability, I'm not sure how long ago it was, it was hard to tell how time was passing, but I saw a shaft of light, it seemed to be beckoning me," Greg said.
"You're describing a near-death experience. You were clinically dead for thirteen seconds,"
"Only that long, my entire life began to flash before my eyes, and although the light beckoned me, something was holding me back, telling me it was not my time. But somehow, I became trapped between those two planes. I discovered a world closely related to this one, a world that can be used to manipulate things in this world, I believe it is this link I use to do these things. Through this link, I can also tell people by what they think, but as I said, I cannot necessarily tell what they are thinking. I can only sense their character, their purpose, and their name. It is simply amazing!" Greg said.
Chad sat on a chair, in front of Greg, rapidly scribbling down notes, trying to keep up. Thankfully, he had the gift of a good memory and the ability to concentrate on listening and taking notes at the same time.
"This is simply mind-boggling!" Chad said, "It could be a breakthrough in parapsychology!"
"That may be so, but no one can understand it in its entirety without themselves experiencing it," Greg said, "It cannot be easily explained in conventional terms."
"Well, I'll see you again tomorrow," Chad said.
Chad left. Greg continued to gaze at him. Chad could feel that, and it was quite eerie.
Two weeks latter, it the courtyard…
"Over the past two weeks, I have seen many amazing things, but I have yet to understand entirely how your abilities work," Chad said.
"As I have told you before, my abilities are beyond normal comprehension," Greg replied.
"But there must be someway to show me how this works, how this 'unreality', as you can it, relates to our own universe,"
"It is basically in inverse, and by manipulating things there, the opposite happens here,"
"I don't exactly follow,"
"It's hard to understand, hard to explain. It is quite frustrating have an ability that you can use but cannot understand,"
"I'm sorry if you feel too pressured,"
"No, I too seek to understand my powers, you have simply inspired me to find out how they work,"
There was a balloon that Greg was manipulating to hover in front of them as the walked through the courtyard. It hovered, moving up and down, side to side, and diagonally as they walked.
"I find these powers incredibly fascinating!" Chad said.
"That is has been very evident from the beginning," Greg replied.
"Three years in that 'unreality' and you still haven't figured it out completely?"
"I have only begun to understand its relation to our world, in time, I will discover the true nature of the relation between reality and unreality,"
"I hope to be there when you get some results,"
"I hope so too,"
"By the way, do you know anything about why your left arm wont heal, even with your powers?"
"I'm not sure, perhaps it is a limitation placed upon me in the physical world in exchange for my abilities," Greg replied, "but I cannot be entirely certain."
"Well, I'll see you again tomorrow," Chad said.
One month latter…
Over the next month, Greg had discovered quite a bit about his powers, more about how to use them then the forces behind his abilities. Some of these abilities he kept to himself. He began to realize the greatness of his abilities. Today would be different from other days, very different.
"Hello, Greg," Chad said.
Greg said telepathically.
"Greg, you can speak telepathically!" Chad said.
Greg replied.
"Yes, of course," Chad replied.
I have powers beyond human comprehension, I have realized this, that I can do anything I please Greg said.
"What do you mean?" Chad asked.
I can even conquer all of reality! Greg replied.
"But the implications of that would be…" Chad began.
Greg said, and a knife was fabricated out of thin air.
"What are you doing?!" Chad said.
Greg replied.
"Why?" Chad asked.
Greg replied, and manipulated space and time to fling the knife straight through Chad's heart I am sorry.
Greg unlocked the door and the security guards were already dead.
Soon, klaxons sounded and everyone was alerted to his escape.
However, the security guards couldn't get near him as a shield of psychic force surrounded him.
He casually began to walk out the building, the security guards tried to use their guns on him, but the bullets stopped in mid air and dropped to the ground.
I wouldn't try that if I were you! Greg said.
He continued to move through the corridors of the building, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left arm and fell down, the security guards were trailing behind. He took off the sling and discovered that his arm was healed.
"How, how did this happen, have my powers become so great, I didn't even have to think of it." Greg said to himself.
But then he realized something, something was wrong. He tried to pull a poster off one of the walls, but he couldn't.
"What?! What is this?!" he said.
He tried again, with the same amount of success.
"No!" he said, "This can't be! Come back! Come back!"
"No! I don't care about my arm! I never cared about it! Break it again! Or do I have to break it myself? Is that what you want me to do?! Is that what you want!"
The security guards were finally catching up, and beginning to see what was going on, they saw him banging his now healed arm against anything he could find.
"Come back! Come back! Give my powers back! Give them back!" he said in rage.
He suddenly collapsed on the floor spacing and moving uncontrollably, as if he were having some kind of seizure.
Greg once again could see the light, beckoning him, and only his own will held him back.
Greg said.
The light began to pull him into it.
But the light wouldn't let up, Greg tried to grasp onto something, anything, to at least slow his being pulled into the light, but there was nothing, just the walls, which he clawed at in desperation.
he screamed as he was pulled into the light. Only when he reached the light did he truly understand why.
The security guards held him down, trying to control his spasms, but he banged his head against the floor, coughed up blood, and died.
One week after the "incident"…
At the funeral for all the people who had died during the event, Chad's son, Michael, meet one of the doctors from the institute.
"Do you know what exactly happened to my father?" Mike asked.
"We can't be entirely sure, it seemed that this man developed some kind of telekinetic powers and used them to fabricate a knife and kill your father," the doctor replied.
"You know I don't believe in those things," Mike said.
"But you'll just have to except that explanation, there are tapes we have that we can show to you as evidence, every session was tape recorded, including the last one, thankfully, he didn't destroy the cameras," the doctor replied.
"I may want to see those, but I'm not sure I'm ready yet,"
"I don't think that man was ready either," the doctor replied, and then walked away to talk to other people.
With that, Mike decided to go home.
Greg had been given a special gift, and for a time...he used it well...but when he began to abuse...those who gave him the power demonstrated how easily it could be taken away...and when he threw his "temper tantrum", he had to suffer the ultimate consequence. Just another lesson to be taught, in the Twilight Zone...
Segment 2: "Unreality"
Written by Justin D. Hurkman
We arrive at a mental facility somewhere in this world. Sometime, perhaps today, maybe tomorrow, perhaps it was yesterday, or it may be several years forward, or even back.
The doctor's here were performing tests on a man, a man that had been inactive for the past three years…
The most recent test involved leaving a wooden stick in his chamber, seeing how he might react to it.
The man being tested was Greg Hopkins, and he had a sling on his left arm.
Greg began to notice something, a stick on the floor in front of him, he picked it up, and looked at it, moving it from side to side, he threw it out and it hovered in mid-air. He manipulated it like that, spinning it around in multiple directions.
Inside the observation room, the doctors saw this and were, quite frankly, shocked. "What the hell?" one of them said. This was more of a reaction than any of them expected to get. More of a reaction than any reaction they thought was possible from anyone.
In Greg's mind, it was as simple as picking it up with his hands, he understood everything...
Enter Chad Young, a parapsychologist, who has just today arrived at this institute. He was contacted about this unusual incident, and was immediately interested in it. The most interesting things in this case where the facts that the man was clinically dead for thirteen seconds, and that he his left arm hadn't healed for three years when it actually should have healed. He had been in a car accident three years ago, and ever sense then, he has been in a vegetative state, that is, until now, when he began showing these telekinetic abilities. However, he is about to discover something that is far beyond anyone's comprehension….
"May I see him?" he said.
"Certainly," the doctor replied.
They walked down to the chamber were Greg had lived for the past three years. When they finally reached to door, Chad looked inside to see Greg, looking directly at him, as if he had expected him to come here.
The door slid open, and Chad stepped in. Greg was still looking at him, it was at bit haunting. "Hello, my name is…" Chad started.
"Chad, I know," Greg replied.
"I didn't think they told you,"
"They didn't,"
"So you're psychic as well?"
"In a way, I can't read your thoughts necessarily, but I can tell who you are,"
"What exactly are the limits to your abilities?"
"The only limit is telling what other people are precisely thinking, and things I don't quite fell like doing,"
"What do you mean precisely thinking?"
"I have a certain kind of empathy, I can tell the basic way a person is thinking, I can get an idea of a persons character just by being in close proximity with them,"
"What are your impressions on my character?"
"I think you basically believe me, you have a genuine interest in my abilities, and how they work, the extent to which they can be used, etc., etc."
"Very interesting," Chad said, writing notes on their conversation as he said this.
"Do you wish to see a demonstration?"
"A demonstration of what?"
"Telekinesis,"
"Is it safe?"
"Would I use it if it weren't safe?"
"I don't know, I don't have the powers you do,"
"Well, I assure you that to the best of my knowledge it can't hurt you,"
"Well, I'll just have to trust you then,"
"May I use your pencil?"
"Of course,"
Suddenly, without even the slighting invocation, or the slightest hand movement, the pencil started to move, into the air then started spinning around. Greg had a look of mild concentration on his face. Chad was obviously amazed by Greg's ability. The pencil then returned to Chad's hand.
"How did you do that?" Chad asked in wonder.
"It's a bit complicated, it's like another layer of reality, a layer inverse to the world we live in, a world that exists between this life and the next. I can't explain it, I can only describe it to the best of my ability, I'm not sure how long ago it was, it was hard to tell how time was passing, but I saw a shaft of light, it seemed to be beckoning me," Greg said.
"You're describing a near-death experience. You were clinically dead for thirteen seconds,"
"Only that long, my entire life began to flash before my eyes, and although the light beckoned me, something was holding me back, telling me it was not my time. But somehow, I became trapped between those two planes. I discovered a world closely related to this one, a world that can be used to manipulate things in this world, I believe it is this link I use to do these things. Through this link, I can also tell people by what they think, but as I said, I cannot necessarily tell what they are thinking. I can only sense their character, their purpose, and their name. It is simply amazing!" Greg said.
Chad sat on a chair, in front of Greg, rapidly scribbling down notes, trying to keep up. Thankfully, he had the gift of a good memory and the ability to concentrate on listening and taking notes at the same time.
"This is simply mind-boggling!" Chad said, "It could be a breakthrough in parapsychology!"
"That may be so, but no one can understand it in its entirety without themselves experiencing it," Greg said, "It cannot be easily explained in conventional terms."
"Well, I'll see you again tomorrow," Chad said.
Chad left. Greg continued to gaze at him. Chad could feel that, and it was quite eerie.
Two weeks latter, it the courtyard…
"Over the past two weeks, I have seen many amazing things, but I have yet to understand entirely how your abilities work," Chad said.
"As I have told you before, my abilities are beyond normal comprehension," Greg replied.
"But there must be someway to show me how this works, how this 'unreality', as you can it, relates to our own universe,"
"It is basically in inverse, and by manipulating things there, the opposite happens here,"
"I don't exactly follow,"
"It's hard to understand, hard to explain. It is quite frustrating have an ability that you can use but cannot understand,"
"I'm sorry if you feel too pressured,"
"No, I too seek to understand my powers, you have simply inspired me to find out how they work,"
There was a balloon that Greg was manipulating to hover in front of them as the walked through the courtyard. It hovered, moving up and down, side to side, and diagonally as they walked.
"I find these powers incredibly fascinating!" Chad said.
"That is has been very evident from the beginning," Greg replied.
"Three years in that 'unreality' and you still haven't figured it out completely?"
"I have only begun to understand its relation to our world, in time, I will discover the true nature of the relation between reality and unreality,"
"I hope to be there when you get some results,"
"I hope so too,"
"By the way, do you know anything about why your left arm wont heal, even with your powers?"
"I'm not sure, perhaps it is a limitation placed upon me in the physical world in exchange for my abilities," Greg replied, "but I cannot be entirely certain."
"Well, I'll see you again tomorrow," Chad said.
One month latter…
Over the next month, Greg had discovered quite a bit about his powers, more about how to use them then the forces behind his abilities. Some of these abilities he kept to himself. He began to realize the greatness of his abilities. Today would be different from other days, very different.
"Hello, Greg," Chad said.
Greg said telepathically.
"Greg, you can speak telepathically!" Chad said.
Greg replied.
"Yes, of course," Chad replied.
I have powers beyond human comprehension, I have realized this, that I can do anything I please Greg said.
"What do you mean?" Chad asked.
I can even conquer all of reality! Greg replied.
"But the implications of that would be…" Chad began.
Greg said, and a knife was fabricated out of thin air.
"What are you doing?!" Chad said.
Greg replied.
"Why?" Chad asked.
Greg replied, and manipulated space and time to fling the knife straight through Chad's heart I am sorry.
Greg unlocked the door and the security guards were already dead.
Soon, klaxons sounded and everyone was alerted to his escape.
However, the security guards couldn't get near him as a shield of psychic force surrounded him.
He casually began to walk out the building, the security guards tried to use their guns on him, but the bullets stopped in mid air and dropped to the ground.
I wouldn't try that if I were you! Greg said.
He continued to move through the corridors of the building, but suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left arm and fell down, the security guards were trailing behind. He took off the sling and discovered that his arm was healed.
"How, how did this happen, have my powers become so great, I didn't even have to think of it." Greg said to himself.
But then he realized something, something was wrong. He tried to pull a poster off one of the walls, but he couldn't.
"What?! What is this?!" he said.
He tried again, with the same amount of success.
"No!" he said, "This can't be! Come back! Come back!"
"No! I don't care about my arm! I never cared about it! Break it again! Or do I have to break it myself? Is that what you want me to do?! Is that what you want!"
The security guards were finally catching up, and beginning to see what was going on, they saw him banging his now healed arm against anything he could find.
"Come back! Come back! Give my powers back! Give them back!" he said in rage.
He suddenly collapsed on the floor spacing and moving uncontrollably, as if he were having some kind of seizure.
Greg once again could see the light, beckoning him, and only his own will held him back.
Greg said.
The light began to pull him into it.
But the light wouldn't let up, Greg tried to grasp onto something, anything, to at least slow his being pulled into the light, but there was nothing, just the walls, which he clawed at in desperation.
he screamed as he was pulled into the light. Only when he reached the light did he truly understand why.
The security guards held him down, trying to control his spasms, but he banged his head against the floor, coughed up blood, and died.
One week after the "incident"…
At the funeral for all the people who had died during the event, Chad's son, Michael, meet one of the doctors from the institute.
"Do you know what exactly happened to my father?" Mike asked.
"We can't be entirely sure, it seemed that this man developed some kind of telekinetic powers and used them to fabricate a knife and kill your father," the doctor replied.
"You know I don't believe in those things," Mike said.
"But you'll just have to except that explanation, there are tapes we have that we can show to you as evidence, every session was tape recorded, including the last one, thankfully, he didn't destroy the cameras," the doctor replied.
"I may want to see those, but I'm not sure I'm ready yet,"
"I don't think that man was ready either," the doctor replied, and then walked away to talk to other people.
With that, Mike decided to go home.
Greg had been given a special gift, and for a time...he used it well...but when he began to abuse...those who gave him the power demonstrated how easily it could be taken away...and when he threw his "temper tantrum", he had to suffer the ultimate consequence. Just another lesson to be taught, in the Twilight Zone...