Monday 21 July 2008

Past Lives - Part 3

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Past Lives is a collaborative writing project for bloggers. The story starts with a fictional Australian character called David who goes through Past Life Regression (PLR) therapy to try and resolve his phobias. Join us as we follow David’s past life journey through different times and continents via clever and creative stories written by people across the world. Who knows if it will ever end?
For new readers, please read Part 1 and Part 2 of David's journey (please note that you will be travelling to different blogs throughout the series. If you would like to contribute and join in the fun, please email
lillyslife@gmail.com ) .______________________________________________________"I scream! I scream! I scream! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
As Sassy passed from her short life of untold suffering, she already knew that she had much to learn before she would be allowed to ascend. And with that she knew that she could be dropped back into the swirling spiral. At any time. At any place.
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David began his second PLR session feeling relaxed and positive. This time round he quickly succumbed to hypnosis with all thoughts of Sassy gone.
Dr Harlowe asked him, "Where are you right now, can you describe it for me. Just tell me your first impression. If things are vague, move over for a closer look."
David moved slightly in his chair and his voice visibly changed. He spoke in a softer, higher pitched tone and he smiled.
"I am sitting in a sauna in a bath house and am about to have a massage and a perfumed body wrap. There are many other women nearby in the sauna and cold pool and there is much laughter and chatting. I look forward to coming here every day."
Dr Harlowe quietly said, “What is your name and can you describe yourself and your life? If you haven’t yet noticed anyone else there, look around for other people.”
"My name is Julia. I am 20 and 4 and half feet tall. I am wearing a long white gown and beautiful gold jewellery with precious stones. I am married to Notholo. He is a 5 ft and 38 years old. He owns the town’s largest brothel and many bars. I despise him for his cruelty. He is as older than my father and I secretly hope he dies soon as most men here never live much past 40.

I live in a town full of Greeks, Etruscans and Africans. Half of the 20,000 people in the town are children and about 12,000 people are slaves.

I am proud of my family's success as my father, Cauis Polybus, is a descendant of a slave, and is now a successful and prominent merchant. My husband and I live with my father and mother Flavia, in a beautiful villa which takes up the entire block. Our home has an elegant courtyard garden with many frescoes of plants and flowers. My father is the envy of all his peers because he has the biggest collection of erotic art in the whole town and beyond.

We live by the sun and wake early. By 5.30am my mother and I and our slaves are in the kitchen preparing honey doughnuts and our favorite dish, garum, a sauce made with marinated fish. By 6.30am everyone is at work. Shops are open, markets are ready and farmers are in the fields.

Around 8.00am each day I go out in the crowded streets and on to the markets to look at the latest wares the merchants have bought. I stop to talk with others. My husband attends to his businesses and spends a great deal of his time at his brothel which is a haven for visiting sailors and the wealthy. I try to avoid this area and do not want to know my husband’s business or who is coming or going. I sometimes see his slave girls, mainly beautiful Greeks, in the baths.

Often in the middle of the day rich noblemen offer the town an exhibition of gladiators and so we go to the amphitheatre. We have a gladiator school here and we hold our courageous gladiators in high regard. I have become very close to one gladiator called Thrax who is favoured by all the girls and is now my lover. He is African. Tall with black silky skin. He noticed me in the marketplace and started to follow me everywhere. Thrax no longer fights and is now a trainer in the gladiatorial school and sometimes is a guard for my father and other wealthy noblemen.

In the early afternoon I usually go to the thermal baths. My favourite time of day. A short time before sunset, I sit down with my parents to have a dinner of olives, eggs, fish, meat and cakes. We go to bed early when darkness comes”.

“Can you tell me about your last day in this life”, Dr Harlow gently presses.
David becomes troubled and his voice rises and he appears extremely upset and his breathing becomes laboured.
It’s August 24, 79 AD”, he says hurriedly. “Vesuvius has been rumbling for three days now but today it seems angrier. The earth is shaking lightly beneath my feet. I am going to meet Thrax in his tiny cell in the basement of the Gladiator school. No-one around me seems to care as we are used to earthquakes as they happen often. But I notice the animals are restless, especially the goats in the marketplace. It’s as if they sense something and are trying to warn us.

I am glad to be finally safe in Thrax’s arms. I am now with child but I have not told anyone yet. Around noon a frightening roar makes us jump up and go to the window. The cell only has one tiny window. It is unclear what is happening.

Thrax said, “please don’t worry because everyone knows that Vesuvius is an extinct volcano. I will always protect you”.

"But now I can hear people crying in terror as they rush into the streets. I can hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men …I am standing on my toes trying to peek out the window but it’s completely black outside. It’s like the whole town is out on the cobbled streets, running. Running away from ..... "

David starts to become anxious and begins to sob uncontrollably.
Through muffled sobs he says,“We are trying to get out of the cell door but part of the building must have collapsed and blocked our way. Thrax uses his strength to try and force the door ajar but it will not open. Then I hear the sound of thunder. It’s the most horrible noise I have ever heard. It sounds as if the earth is splitting in two. I am suddenly conscious of this tiny space and I curl my body into a ball and rock back and forth, crying for my family. I know that I am being punished for my sins and I will never see my family again.


I scream out, "Oh poena. EGO sum sic vix terminus of orbis terrarum est near. Filiolus have fugitivus nos!! "

Thrax holds me tight for what seems like an eternity and I pray. I pray that the Gods have not deserted us. In the darkness, we can hear groans and shrieks of the terrified, noises from the mountain and the sound of roofs collapsing. I fear that the world is ending and that Pompeii and everyone in it is lost forever.

Strong winds howl down the streets, bringing sharp streams of ash, poisonous vapors and an unbearable heat.

Suddenly, I can hear a blood curdling scream and it takes me some time to realise it is coming from my own mouth. Panic takes over. I can’t breathe. I am trapped. I feel like life is being sucked from me. Our safe haven has become a choking prison of hell.
Then.......complete blackness and a deathly silence....is all that remains..."

Given the important headway David is making, his next PLR Session is scheduled for tomorrow. You’ll be travelling to Plainfield, Illinois to read the next stage of David’s journey in Past Lives - Part 4.

19 comments:

  1. Oh Lilly!

    I LOVE this life! I've always felt an affinity with the Pompeiians! I forgot where I was and standing right beside her and Thrax when the iconoclastic cloud came!

    Blessings,
    Dina

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  2. Lilly I LOVE this. And you know LATIN!! Oy vey. Listen - the link is wrong. You need to link to the post AFTER the "Portent of things to come".

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  3. Excellent Lilly. You’re such a romantic. The build-up was so sad it gave me chills.
    I absolutely loved the video of Pompeii.
    Really wonderful!!!!!!!!!
    Vikki

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  4. @ Dina - Oh I loved Pompeii, I felt so at home there (not sure whether it was because it was old and decrepid he he) but I have no Italian in me but I love all thing Italian. Cannot wait to read your story - bless David he is going to be traumatised...

    @ Iceel - Thanks for dropping by and no, I do not know any Latin - internet translators are amazing things but who is to say what it says...and I loved your story and you have to do it again...

    Miss Victoria - oh that was tough for me to do I tell you. I relaly wanted to be a prostitute given the kind of life Romans had and it would have been a bit more exciting but thought that I best leave it alone. OK, so are you up for doing another one? By the way I tried to put links on the sidebar and will add to them when each post is done. Trying to get four more people are interested. Even my mother wants to do one!!! She is an historian is why...I dint inherit her skills. Thanks partner, this is so much fun and hopefully your emails have stopped..hey, could you imagine a TV show doing this - has it been done before?

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  5. Wow! That was amazing Lilly! You are truly talented.
    Sacha

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  6. Sacha - do you own a blog because you are welcome to do some writing too - its just great fun sharing and actually learning form others' stories.. Thanks for stopping by and spread the word please. the more people inovlved the better it will be.

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  7. Oh Lilly,
    You have done it again!
    Fabulous! I too adore that place and time. I would love to wear the flowing gowns and all the cool jewelry!

    What a wonderful thing this is....
    Can't wait to read the next chapter!

    kiss kiss (like the Italians do) wink

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  8. Ciao Bella Jules - what fun it is and I think I have someone to take the baton from you - she lives in Romania - I will confirm in the next day or so. you just have to work on that brother of yours - we need more males in on the act. Maybe we should organise a blogger's meeting in Italy!!!

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  9. Lilly, that was wonderful. You made me feel like I was right there. Going to read Iceel's now.

    Toodles~

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  10. Oh Yea!!! Right now I've changed with Jules and I'm doing #6, Jules #7, and Lou is doing #8. Let's have your Mother do Number #9! (Make sure she sees the time period that have been used already)

    Everybody been absolutely fantastic. They've shown so much excitment and I'm so glad they're enjoying it. Far more of a response than we could have hoped for.
    Vikki

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  11. I'd like to have lived in that lifetime. I would love to have been pampered by servants and to have lived rich and famous.

    Such a tragic ending.

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  12. Tasha - yes I loved Pompeii and am planning to one day go back and spend much longer there. My cousin is on a dig in Italy at the moment and it would be a wonderful, wonderful thing to do. Servants? Mmmm not sure about that but massages on a daily basis would be great. Cant wait to you do a story. You are a great writer just remember that - you have me hooked on your novel.

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  13. Yes, massages on a daily basis would be so good. There was this old lady in the Philippines who used to massage me from hed to toe. She even gave me sauna baths when I was oh, 9 yrs.old, maybe? I used to complain how my muscles ached for no reasons and so that was why I was under her care. I loved it so much then.

    Thanks again for reading my novel. You're so kind with your words.

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  14. Tasha - your life growing up in the Phillipines would make such an interesting story on your blog. I would love to hear about it one day!!

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  15. This is a cool idea Lilly, really different and interesting! Am off to read the next parts now. How many moe are planned?

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  16. Lilly that was so absorbing...I'm on the third life and it's Sunday before my episode on Tuesday.

    I didn't realise the standard of the work - and just how enjoyable it is.

    Perhaps it was just as well for Julia that she perished in the ash and flames - if she had given birth to Thrax's child, her death may have been more protracted...

    h

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  17. Henry - thats ok - its ok to take shortcuts - its about what kind of life you would give this guy. Everyone comes at it from different angles. You are the one who has actually done PLR - by the way I had it done myself - very interesting!!!

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  18. Thanks for the post, It's quite a refreshing one1

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  19. nice post. thanks.

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Thanks for your comments.