What I am telling you here, I haven't told anyone for 10 years because there were no witnesses, save for those who I met during the experience. It happened 13 years ago during the shuttle Challenger disaster. During that time, my life was in chaos. I was failing school, my mother was living in the shadow of a wife-beating heroin addict for a husband. And the worst thing was, I was hearing voices in my head. They gradually developed over time. I did my best to ignore them. But around this time, they seemed to do everything to get my attention. One of the voices told me that a space shuttle would be destroyed, and a young teacher would die at the same time. This was 2 days before the disaster. I did not believe this until 2 days later when I watched the launch of the space shuttle Challenger. I watched in horror as the space shuttle exploded in mid air. I watched the video repeated 5 times on TV. Then I suddenly suffered a nervous breakdown. My thnking was if these voices had the ability to give such prophetic information, then there was no telling what they would do.

I decided right then and there to end my life to protect my family and everyone else. So I ran to the bathroom, took a handful of Nytol pills and collapsed. Then I felt a sudden release. It was like I took a deep breath, held it in for a while and let it go. I felt myself get up. At this point, I did not believe I was dead yet. My eyes were closed until I was on my feet. Then I looked into the mirror. My reflection was not there! The whole bathroom behind me was reflected, but my face and shoulders weren't being reflected. No part of me was. I looked down and saw my body laying down and gasped. "I am dead. I am really really dead," I thought. I was almost in shock.

But then every negative feeeling I had seemed to fade away. I looked around. Everything was different. Spirit eyes have the ability to see things physical eyes can't. The light seemed as though it were shining through a prism. I could see it separated in all its colors, even the ultraviolet and infrared spectum. I could stare at an object and see every aspect of it. The walls looked thin as paper to me. I floated all around the house through walls, closed doors and windows. At one point, I saw my cat come dashing towards me and suddenly stop. She reacted as though she could see me. I called her name (Patches) but she didn't react. I waved my hand over her eyes, but she didn't respond. She simply sniffed the ground under my feet.

Then I floated outside and noticed something odd. Right where the sun should be, there was this ringed-shaped form, a portal. I felt a sudden need to go there, so I did. I found myself flying off earth, past venus and mercury at the speed of light. The portal seemed to transcend time and space. It was a long tunnel. When I emerged out of it, I found myself floating over what looked like an ocean. Below me was this blue energy which glowed like fire, crackled like electricity and rippled like water. Off in the distance, I could see a light. This was a very powerful light. Even a million blue stars put together could not match the brightness of this light. I felt drawn to it.

The source of this light was this fatherly figure. He was standing on what looked like a beach. I suddenly realized this person was none other than the founder of Christianity, the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The very one who used his blood to wash away the sins of others. He was incredibly beautiful, a being of pure crystal spinning the purest light. He beckoned me to join him. I followed. I found there were a few other spirits here with him, the spirits of the Challenger crew. The spirit of Judy Resnick turned to me and smiled. But that is where my memories of the experience end. I lost most of them right after I returned to my physical body.

After I revived, I suddenly had a vomiting spell. I looked at the clock and found I had been out for 90 minutes. That experience had changed my life mostly for the better. My grades in school improved somewhat. People had noticed a change in my personality. I used to get easily ticked off when people infuriated me. But now my temper seemed to cool down a lot. My guidance couselor looked over my grades and disciplinary reports (which were mostly blank) after that semester. He was amazed at my change in attitude and said "It's like you were touched by God." I had made a lot more friends and got out of the wrong crowd. And a few years later, my family packed up and walked out on my mother's husband. I tried helping him myself, but he always responded with abuse.

Every now and then, I do recover a fragment of a memory of my experience 13 years ago. One memory I recently recovered was the image of a waterfall. This waterfall is as tall as Angel Falls yet infinitely more beautiful. But unfortunately, I cannot find any way to draw it. To draw it would be to take away a lot of its beauty.

W.W.