Page 96 of The Unraveling of Julia

Julia felt like things just got real. “I would love to talk to him again,” she answered, trying not to hope as much.

“If he chooses not to, please understand it is not a rejection.”

“Okay.”

“Let me tell you what to expect next. I am going to put myself into a trance, for want of a better expression. My eyes will be closed. I may speak, shout, or become upset, but you need not be alarmed. I will be safe. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m going to begin.” Helen shifted back in the couch, placed her hands on her lap, and planted her feet flat on the floor. She closed her eyes and began breathing deeply.

Julia swallowed hard, anxious. She didn’t know if Mike would come or what would happen. She watched Helen’s lips seal and her chest go up and down, as her breathing seemed to lengthen.

“My goodness!” Helen’s eyes flew open.

“What?” Julia tensed.

“I’ve been rejected as a medium, in favor of you.”

“What?”

Helen looked directly at Julia. “You have abilities of your own.”

Julia’s mouth went dry. “What are you talking about?”

“You don’t need my mediumship. You don’t need me to contactthese souls.Youcan contact them. They want you to. They tell me they’re trying to contact you.”

Julia gasped, astonished. It didn’t seem possible. Itwasn’t. “Who told you that? Who’s they?”

“I don’t know, but I was asked to leave.” Helen smiled, amused.

“So you’re not going to contact them for me?”

“No, dear. They want you to, and you have a unique ability to receive what they’re telling you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“This can’t be true.” Julia resisted the notion, reflexively. “I’m not a medium, I’m a website designer. I’m a Cancer, Sagittarius Moon, Virgo rising. I grew up inPennsylvania, for God’s sake.”

“Yet you have these abilities. I’m an astrology adherent, too. I think we are driven by forces that we don’t always understand, some cosmic in origin.” Helen shifted forward. “Julia, have you ever had an experience in which you knew something was going to happen before it did?”

“Oh my God, yes. The night my husband was murdered. I felt like something bad was going to happen, and a man stabbed him to death.”

Helen’s eyes fluttered. “Have there been other times? What about when you were younger? Can you recall the first time?”

Julia hadn’t thought about it until this moment, then it came to her. “I knew I was adopted when I was really little.”

“Tell me. Close your eyes and try to remember.”

Julia closed her eyes, and the memory was there, as if awaiting her. “We had a house with a back deck, and I was in a playpen.” She could visualize every detail. The white netting of the playpen. A stuffed pink rabbit she loved. The warm sun, shining. “My mother was smiling at me, but I knew I wasn’thers. I knew I wasn’tofher. I always knew.”

“Open your eyes.”

Julia did, shaken.

“You were born with this ability. Those of us who have this ability often experience it at an early age and remember that experience, just like you did. However, many people born with these abilities ignore them as they get older. They talk themselves out of them. They’re seekers, but they dismiss their feelings. They see them as inconsistent with science or ‘the real world.’” Helen made air quotes. “In truth, these abilities are consistent with both. My mother had the gift, and she recognized it in me and nurtured my abilities.”

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