Is this a prank?

“Who is it?” I turned around, startled, because someone was touching my shoulder, but I didn’t see anyone. I was home alone, or at least I thought so. I was nervously scanning my room, but I didn’t see anything suspicious at all.

“Alice, is that you?” I asked, but there was no answer. Alice was my roommate, and she pranked me all the time. Like when she taped a life-sized photo of our old grumpy neighbor to the window of my room or when she glued googly eyes and a mini microphone on my cactus, and the cactus started talking to me in the middle of the night. I’ve almost had a heart attack many times because of her pranks. This must be another one, but she won’t get me this time.

“Alice, I know it’s you. Don’t hide and come here,” I said, but no one answered. I started to search our apartment, but it was oddly quiet, and there were no signs of anyone’s presence. Maybe I was just being paranoid and making it up.

“Okay, no one touched my shoulder,” I reassured myself and returned to my room when suddenly I felt the touch again. It was a little bit different now; it was more like tingling or feeling electricity running through my body. Okay, I wasn’t making it up; it was real.

“Alice, you put something in my T-shirt, right?” This was probably the most likely explanation; it had to be it. I took off my T-shirt and smirked at my cleverness. I was rummaging through my T-shirt, but I didn’t find anything.

I sighed and started to look around for anything at all. The whole situation was weird enough. I was standing in the middle of my room, half-naked, because who wears a bra at home, right? But there was absolutely nothing suspicious in my room. If this is a prank and Alice grabs that on video, at least she can’t publish it because of my nudity.

I put my t-shirt on again and sat desperately on the floor. I was questioning my sanity when I felt that touch again. It was more like a reassuring and calming pat.

“Who or what is it?” I asked myself, because I didn’t expect any answer. I was expecting someone, especially Alice, to step out and yell, “You just got pranked,” but nothing happened.

“Go meditate,” I heard a soft voice in my head, but it didn’t belong to anyone; it was like my own voice, but just in my mind. Go do what? I have never meditated in my life, not even once, and now my mind wants me to do that. I am definitely going crazy.

I had been considering it for a while, but I didn’t know how to start or what to do during meditation. But suddenly I heard that voice again.

“Just close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and imagine a nice place.” Okay, I could do that; it didn’t sound that hard. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to obey some strange voice in my head, but I wanted answers, so I shut my eyes.

“And meet me there,” the voice added. It was more like a thought than actually hearing that. “Meet who?” I asked, startled, opening my eyes again. I waited for a while for the strange voice to answer my question, but nothing happened.

Okay, so meditation it is. I closed my eyes again and started focusing on my breathing. It was pretty hard because my heart was beating fast and my breathing was irregular. I was scared of this touch, of this voice, and of this situation, but at the same time, I felt excited and curious.

It took a while to steady my breathing, but it felt pretty good. I started imagining a forest. I have always loved nature, so the forest was my first choice without hesitation. I pictured myself standing in the forest, and I could actually feel the soft moss beneath my bare feet.

I was enjoying being there when I noticed a man leaning against a tree. He was handsome and oddly familiar. I had a feeling I had known him for a very long time. I wasn’t afraid of him at all; on the contrary, I was attracted to him. He smiled at me, and I immediately fell in love with that smile. I took a few steps toward him, but he stayed in the same place, looking at me.

“Hello,” he said, but the voice, again, was only in my head. “Hi,” I answered out loud, and he started laughing.

“You don’t have to say that out loud, I’m hearing your thoughts.” He scared me with that sentence. I started to blush and hoped he hadn't heard what I was thinking about doing with him. Did he hear me when I was thinking about how hot he was, too?

“Yes, I did,” he chuckled. Great, ground, swallow me up. It was a rhetorical question. I didn't need an actual answer for that.

“Who are you? Are you real, or am I making this up?” I asked, but only in my head this time. I probably was just imagining it because talking to the hot stranger in my head didn’t seem real at all.

“I am one of your spirit guides, and yes, this is real, but am I real? Well, yes and no. I’m just a spirit, so I don’t have a physical body, so the image of me you are seeing is just what I want you to see, but my essence is real,” he explained. I was a little bit caught by this information. No physical body, noted. What a pity.

“One of my spirit guides? Are there more of you? And what is a spirit guide? What do you do, and why are you here?” I had so many questions, and I really needed some answers.

“Yes, you have more spirit guides; there are three more spirit guides currently assigned to you. We are here to guide you through life and help you with some aspects of your life,” he explained briefly, but it was somewhat sufficient to understand it. If they are here to help me with my life, they are bad at their jobs because my life kind of sucks.

“We can’t interfere with your free will, so we can’t just make your life great; you must do that for yourself. We are here to support your decisions, help you, and guide you through them,” he answered without me asking that. This mind-reading is a little bit crazy.

“Okay, so you are here only to give me some advice and support my decisions, even the bad ones? You are kind of like a psychologist, then,” I said in amusement. I have four personal shrinks, that is just hilarious. Maybe I will need an actual shrink after this conversation.

He didn’t look offended by my thoughts; he was only laughing. “You can call me that way, if you want,” he said casually. I didn’t want to call him that, though. But I completely forgot to ask him about his name. Do they even have names? Is it wrong to ask him about his name now?

“My name is Veker, and yes, we have names.” Oh, this mind-reading again. It is pretty annoying and dangerous. “Nice to meet you, Veker,” I bowed with courtesy, and he just smiled. “We have known each other for a while. I have been with you since your childhood,” he said. Okay, that is a long time.

“Why did you reveal yourself now, why not earlier?” I asked immediately, because I had never noticed his presence until now.

“Because you asked for help yesterday,” he replied. Yeah, I've been going through a lot lately, and I had a little meltdown yesterday. And I was praying for some miracle or help; that was true. But I actually didn’t think someone would help me or that anything would happen at all.

“Oh, okay, that’s nice. But you said you are here to help me with some aspects of my life; what exactly are you helping me with then?” I asked.

“Every spirit guide helps you with something else, but I am helping you with self-confidence and to be braver and not afraid of trying new things. I am here to support you in this.” I probably should try to do something new; my life is pretty much the same every day.

“But what should I start to do?” I asked him, and he just shook his head. “I can’t tell you what you should do; this is up to you, you could do anything you want, and I am here to support you in this decision.” I would actually prefer someone to tell me exactly what to do in chronological order, but I get it.

“Okay, so I just need to change something and start something new; that’s the goal for now. It can’t be that hard,” I said, and he nodded, pleased with my decision. He made a few steps toward me and offered me his hand. I grabbed his hand hesitantly, and suddenly the image of the forest changed. We were standing on the edge of a large rock crag, and beneath us, we could see the whole forest.

“I like this place, from this height, you can see everything. It reminds you metaphorically of how many options you have in your life,” he explained to me about this sudden change of images. I kind of like this place too, even though I am normally afraid of heights; I wasn’t afraid here.

“Now fly and choose some option,” he grinned in amusement, and he pushed me from the rock. That was rude! I was falling for a while, but I wasn’t afraid. I just imagined myself flying, and suddenly I started to float. It was relatively easy.

Veker smiled broadly and nodded in appreciation. He waved at me and then disappeared. I was enjoying the view for a while, but eventually I opened my eyes. I felt different now—calmer and more hopeful. I am ready for a change, and I know I am not alone in this anymore.