Chapter 9

The treatment that I was experimenting with Kate didn't turn out to be only one way. Talking about your problems wasn't always helpful, sometimes it seemed to even make the problem worse, but I found if you combined talking about your feelings with dealing with them more logically, often finding the unexpected emotion that was behind the one you thought you were dealing with, you could cause the spike to settle or the past emotional hurt to lose its intensity.

To make that happen in Kate's case, it helped if I projected peace as she was talking about something that hurt her emotionally. At my inner core, underneath all my layers was a deep peacefulness and I found tapping into it and projecting it to others relatively easy. If I projected peace, Kate became more thoughtful about what she was saying and naturally delved deeper, getting insights that helped her deal with her emotions. For example, she talked about a cutting remark that one girl had said, but with under my influence, instead of getting angry and hurt, she started asking why that girl felt the need to strike out at others. The underlying insecurity that girl must have been feeling, even feeling sorry for that other girl while Kate's own emotional hurt just faded away. Once we had worked out the best methods for easing Kate's emotional issues, we started working on mine.

I didn't feel much emotional trauma from my death, but the attacks from my step-father, even if they were at Cindy rather than me, they still left me with an underlying fear of men. I wasn't raped, but my body was and again that left its marks. I talked it all out with Kate and between her hugs and tapping into my inner peace, reduced the hurt to a more manageable level. We also dealt with my insecurities about being female. Kate pushed me to explore femininity and even suggested that I explore my body, find out what I liked and didn't like. It wasn't about sex or sexuality, but acknowledging that I was now female, dealing with it, accepting it and hopefully, start to enjoy it. It was very freeing with a lot less restrictions than I had as a male. Kate's main mantra was if I enjoyed something, I should be honest with myself and others, that way I would get more of what I enjoyed.

My previous ambition, as Eric, was to become a concert violinist. Now, I wanted to be a psychologist. I thought I could use my insights to develop a whole new school that utilises the best parts of other psychologist techniques that I could visibly see working. If I could teach my energy techniques, maybe I could incorporate my special abilities into the therapy.

I didn't think of my invisibility ability and teaching that aspect until there was an incident that was being reported on the news. A father of a three-year-old baby girl whose mother had successfully claimed full custody and was intending to take her child permanently to England to live with her and her new man. That father had gotten desperate and kidnapped the child from school and there was now a hostage situation, with the father threatening to kill the child.

My mum was still at work and Kate was at school, but the house they were talking about was within walking distance, so after an internal debate, decided to leave a note and quickly head there. The closer I got the more obvious the location was with police and media surrounding the area. I pulled my energy in and walked to the back of the house. All the blinds and curtains were obscuring the interior, but there was a doggy door into the kitchen. Using my emotional sense I knew that he wasn't anywhere near the kitchen so I eased myself inside. The doggy door wasn't that big, but I was tiny so it wasn't difficult. What I saw in the living room brought me close to tears. The little girl was huddled in the corner while the father was pacing with a phone in his hand.

I tried to project peacefulness onto him, but I felt him reject it. For whatever reason, he wanted to be angry. Giving up on him I turned to the girl who was vibrating with terror. I moved to her, stroked her hair and projected my peace again. She stopped crying and fell asleep. I picked her up being careful to fully shield her body with mine. She woke up with my manoeuvre but didn't complain. Keeping my back to the emotional hotbed of anger that was her father, I walked calmly to the kitchen and again shielded her as she went through the doggy door with my urging. I followed her through and led her away. We hadn't gone very far before a media woman started calling out. I told the girl to run to the lady as I walked away as quickly as possible.

A flawless operation it was not. I didn't consider the number of recording devices that were aimed at that house. Having said that, I am not sure I would have done anything differently. The cameraman for the media lady that I directed the girl towards must of captured me on film, but the media have restrictions. It was the bystanders who caught me on film and uploaded the clip to youtube that was the problem. The video went viral.

The father, without his hostage, gave himself up. I was worried that he would kill himself and was relieved to hear the better outcome of my intervention.

I hadn't got out much so I didn't think my appearance was well known, but I couldn't go shopping with Kate and mum while being invisible, so there was a trail that would eventually lead back to mum's house. I kept an eye on the news, so when they described me as a runaway from Sydney, I knew they had matched my picture to my real identity. I packed my clothes and travelling gear into my backpack and dry bag, including my violin and the five hundred dollars that I had left.

Mum and Kate had come home and I explained what had happened. We watched the news together to check the fallout. They had a cute picture of the girl in her mother's arms. The girl called me her angel, which gave me a warm feeling. My mum was proud of me and scared for me. We didn't know what to do, but doing nothing was not a good idea, so we phoned Michael.

Michael explained that he was too far away to immediately help, but he would be on his way. He needed to make a call and then call us back. He had contacted someone he knew in the USA who needed my help. He was suffering PTSD quite badly and under Michael's recommendation had already flown to Adelaide, but was waiting for Michael to introduce him to me. He was staying at a hotel in the city and had now been advised about what had happened. He was there with his wife and daughter and after discussing everything, they suggested I stay with them for the next few days. Michael told us that he hadn't told them about my ability to go unnoticed since he didn't think he would be believed, so I had to turn up in a hoodie and keep my face completely covered.

He assured us that he was working on something that would allow my mum and Kate to be with me, but he needed more time. His phone call made me realise that he hadn't abandoned me and had taken on the role as my protector. His calm confident voice went a long way to make us all feel better but leaving mum and Kate was still hard and emotional. I didn't like hoodies so I had to borrow one of Kate's.

Walking away from mum's house, pretending to be strong for them, only lasted until I knew they were out of sight. I broke down sobbing, sitting with my back against a brick wall with roses blooming above my head. When I managed to get myself together, I made my way to the bus station and eventually to the Hilton. I sent a text message to Byron, who came down in the lift to meet me. It was only when he couldn't find me that I remembered to let my energy out and headed towards him.