GOD HATES HEAVY METAL:THE GIFT
The Gift
Emily’s phone buzzed—Jill. Her cousin’s name glowed on the screen like a ghost from the past. They hadn’t spoken in five years. The message was simple: I’ve been thinking about you. I miss you so much. I’m back in New York. Join me this weekend in Woodstock. It will change your life.
Curious, Emily called her cousin and they chatted momentarily but Jill was in the middle of something and couldn’t talk. She sounded good and healthy and elatedly convinced Emily to come and see her before she hung up. Emily left her cat with a friend in Brooklyn and drove upstate, winding through the misty roads to a meditation temple nestled deep in the forest. Jill greeted her with a strange intensity, her once-familiar features had changed with a miraculous weight loss. Emily couldn’t believe how skinny she was now as they went inside and sat down on a row of giant pillows in large open area.
“I have to confess something,” Jill said, gripping Emily’s hands. “I’ve spent my whole life competing with you. I’ve envied you. It poisoned me.” Her voice trembled. “But I’ve found a way to let it go. This meditation—it will free us. I want our relationship to be strong again. Like it was growing up.”
Emily hesitated at first, but relented. Inside, a man in flowing robes led them into a dimly lit chamber. The walls pulsed faintly, like they were breathing. He spoke in a whisper, playing deep, resonant frequencies.
“To transcend, you must rise beyond fear,” he said, offering a cup of dark tea. Emily drank, unaware of the narcotics sinking into her bloodstream.
Her vision swirled. A golden light engulfed her. She felt herself floating, rising into a ship above the trees. Beings of shimmering beauty welcomed her, radiating warmth and love.
Then the warmth turned to cold.
She tried to move—but couldn’t. The creatures’ large, black orange bore into her like fire. Something drained from her, an invisible siphoning. The bliss melted into terror.
She turned to Jill for help. Jill smiled—her face rippled like water. Her flesh slid away, revealing something other.
The last thing Emily saw was the chamber’s walls shifting like veins pulsating around a heart, pumping and vibrating. The walls constricted, revealing other humans like her—motionless, hollow-eyed, their essence stripped away.
She screamed, but the sound never left her lips.
Art and story by Hal Hefner.
Produced by Catmonkey Studio