3. Premonition

I could feel Julian's emotions emanating through his nose, via each successive intake of air. We both stared at the walls of my room, both of us trying to decipher what I had written down.

"This makes no sense", Julian blurted out. I couldn't blame him. Poor guy, he must think I'm going nuts. All this was too much for one soul to bear. I could feel the pressure weighing down on me. Like everyone expected me to uncover the mystery of Lucifer's death. "Stop it!", said Julian. "Wait...what!?", I asked. "Stop pressurizing yourself. No one expects you to uncover this mystery. No one, besides us, even knows that he's dead. Let's just cut our loses, and leave".

That sounded like the perfect idea, for it started to get tedious. We weren't going anywhere with the investigation, so it'll be to both our benefit if we cut our loses. I almost gave in to the temptation of quitting, but something in my head said no. It's either Julian literally read my mind, or I was starting to lose it. I thought about this issue. Did I think out loud? Did I accidentally say my thoughts out loud? What was going on? "You know I can hear you, right?" Julian proclaimed. Ok, now I'm sure he's reading my mind, but how?

"But... but, how? How are you reading my mind?", I asked desperately. To which he responded, "what do you mean I'm reading your mind? What you said was loud and clear." "No, I did not say it out loud. At first I thought I accidentally said it out loud, but the second time proved to me that you're reading my mind." I sound crazy, I know, but something was up, and every time he read my mind, the symbols I had drawn on my wall would glow. "What aren't you telling me Jules?" I could see the amazement in his eyes: either he really doesn't know how he's reading my mind, or he's the best actor in hell.

I tried to approach him, get close and choke out his secret. "There is no secret", Jules declared. This was the third time. "Did your three years in this pit somehow give you psych- powers?", I asked sarcastically. "What did yhu say? Repeat the part about psychology", he replied. No, I said psych- powers, not just psychology. And besides, I was just messing with you". "No! See, that's the thing", Julian said, "You are on to something Jacob. If it's true that I really am reading your mind, then I think I know what's going on here."

"Tell me, what did you earn a living while you were still, well, living?" he said with a firm face:

"I was an astrophysicist, but what's that got to do with all this?"

"Wow! For a smart guy, you really are dumb."

"What's that supposed to mean"

"I know you saw how the symbols glowed when I supposedly read your mind."

"Yeah I did, but..."

"I know all you scientists don't believe in religion, but it's kinda hard to say no to something when you've literally been in hell."

"And your point is?"

"

What's the square root of pi?"

"Look, I don't know what you think astrophysicists do, but cramming the square root of irrational numbers is not. (pause) 1.7724538509"

"Exactly!"

"What just happened? There's no way, I don't remember knowing the square root of pi".

"I was a clinical psychologist in my days as a living man".

"Wait, are you insinuating that whatever life we led can affect us down here?"

"I was a clinical psychologist, and I just read your mind. Don't you see the hidden meaning? These symbols enhance our last capabilities. You'll probably be super smart or something...since you were a physicist and all."

This was probably the most absurd thing I ever heard in my life and afterlife. "Not necessarily down here, but in your room. All these 'powers' started today, in your room. I believe those symbols mean something" he said unto me. Now I was intrigued. I wanted to figure out what my dream was about, and this could only be achieved by studying the symbols first.

I took a book, a pen and I started my meditation before attempting to decode the symbols. "What the HELL are you doing?", asked Julian as he saw me sitting down on the floor, preparing to transcend deep in my thoughts. "Give me ten minutes, I'm meditating. It'll help me clear my head and we'll have the brain power of 3 people instead of just 2. I need to talk to 'It'." What 'It' are you talking about? he asked. To which I said: "All will be revealed soon, now shut it, I need to concentrate".

This was probably the longest 10 minutes of my life. It was excruciatingly painful, like it was my first time. In about 7 minutes into the meditation, I had a 'vision'.

The Vision (transcendence):

"My child. My child. Come over here" All of a sudden I was in the woods, and heard the roaring voice calling out to me. I followed the sound, and it led me to, strangely enough, the place I grew up in back in Munich. I entered the building, didn't even think twice about it. I lived here for a whole 19 years, what the worst that could happen? As soon as I entered through the door, I saw a brown envelope that reminded me of my childhood. I opened it, and the nostalgia was just everywhere. Inside was a letter with instructions, instructions written in the same language as the symbols in my room back in hell. Now I remember where I thought I knew the symbols from.

I took the envelope with me and tried to wait until my vision stopped. All of a sudden, it started raining. And before I could save the envelope, I woke up. Turns out the 'rain' was just Julian waking me up by pouring water on me. "Why'd you do that for", I shouted. "Look around you", he said. You went crazy and started writing all this on the wall....AGAIN! I'm sorry, but I had to wake you up". To which I said: "I'm glad you woke me up. I'm glad I didn't have to face 'It'. And I know you're probably wondering what 'It' is. All in due time my friend.".

I looked around, "I did this?". The new symbols from my vision were complimentary to the ones from my dream. It became easier for me to decipher the message. After 3 days , and 3 sleepless nights, I finally cracked the code. Holy sh...!