Oct 10 • Echoes - Stories, Experiences
The Sacred Strange - Borrowed Lightning
I don't remember exactly when this happened, but I believe I was in my late twenties or early thirties.
I was preparing to cook something and putting aluminum foil on a baking sheet. I'd been experiencing occasional static-electricity shocks around that time, so when I began to feel a strange, sharp, tickling sensation in my fingers, I initially thought little of it.
Then I looked at my hands.
As I slowly pulled them away from the baking sheet, I saw continuous threads of electricity stretching between my fingertips and the metal. When I moved my hands a few inches away, the threads remained visible. If I pulled farther, they dissipated, but when I brought my hands close again, the electricity would strike.
I was astonished.
I could feel what seemed like a current of energy moving through my body, traveling through my arms and chest and into whatever I touched. Rather than immediately pulling away or dismissing what I was seeing, I became curious. I wanted to understand what was happening, so I decided to experiment.
I placed a piece of bread on the foil-lined baking sheet and put my hands on the flat handles at either side. Then I concentrated on the sensation of energy moving through me and tried to direct it in a continuous circle.
It worked.
When I flipped the bread over, I found that it had been lightly toasted. I couldn't believe what I was experiencing, so I tried again, directing the energy toward the other side.
The bread toasted again.
I was both excited and frightened. Here I was, seemingly conducting electricity through my own body and using it to toast bread. I had no idea how to explain what was happening, but I was fascinated by it.
Then I started thinking about my cat.
I became afraid to touch her. What if I accidentally electrocuted her? As amazing as the experience was, the thought of hurting something I loved was enough to frighten me.
And just like that, the sensation disappeared.
The current I'd been feeling through my arms and chest was gone. I couldn't see the electrical threads anymore, either. I tried again with another piece of bread, hoping to reproduce what had happened, but nothing worked. Whatever I had been experiencing, I couldn't bring it back.
I considered taking a photograph of the toasted bread as evidence. But I knew that if I showed someone a picture of a piece of bread, they'd have no reason to believe I hadn't simply used a toaster.
So I did the only thing left to do.
I ate the bread.
To this day, I can't explain what happened that day. I know what I felt, what I saw, and what I did. I remember the electrical threads connecting my fingertips to the metal, the sensation of a current moving through my body, and the bread that came out lightly toasted after I concentrated on directing that energy.
I also remember how abruptly it all stopped.
I don't know what to make of the experience, and I can't claim to understand the mechanism behind it. But for a brief moment, something happened that I had never imagined possible.
And all I have left to show for it is a memory - and a piece of bread that, unfortunately, I ate.
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The Sacred Strange - Borrowed Lightning
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