I’m often asked what it’s been like being involved with someone with such diverse and powerful psychic talents as Nick. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with someone whose abilities are limited to a pack of tarot cards, it’s quite another to be in one with someone who can hear your every thought and influence your state of mind, literally.

The most important thing to remember about Nick, and all psychics of his ilk, is that it takes a lot of energy – even as experienced as he is – to use his gifts. Some people are harder to read, some people are more resistant to his ability to affect their minds, some ghosts are harder for him to communicate with, etc. Those times his energy is depleted particularly fast. But even for those who are highly open to him, he still has to exert himself to exercise his talents. So he chooses his moments and targets carefully. It’s never been beyond him to play a practical joke using his abilities, but it leaves him weaker than if he just used a whoopie cushion like the rest of us!

At first it was intimidating dating a psychic. He didn’t hide from me the fact that he is what he is; he knew he didn’t have to feel ashamed or make apologies for his gifts…but I must admit, I was initially skeptical. He fixed that with what later became his favorite way to toy with me (and in all honesty, one of my favorite games to play with him, even if it did sometimes drive me batty). Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Of course you have, we all have. But imagine having a song planted there by someone. Imagine it’s not only a song that you “think”, but that you actually “hear”, plain as if it was playing on a stereo next to you. That’s what Nick did to me to prove he was the real deal.

We were in between our second and third dates. It was late at the restaurant. We were closing up shop around him; only Tony the bartender, Nick, and myself were in the place. After a little teasing banter Nick told me he was going to show me a mind trick. I thought it would be some kind of magic trick – pull a quarter from behind my ear, that sort of thing. He wrote something on a cocktail napkin and folded it for privacy. The next thing I knew I heard “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys as clearly as if it was coming from the juke box near the bar. In fact, I thought that’s what had happened, that the juke box began playing on its own – an electrical short, a coincidence, anything. Except I knew I’d unplugged the juke box as part of the shutdown routine. Just in case I was going crazy, I double checked. While I was busy imagining I was having some kind of psychotic breakdown (auditory hallucinations are the most dangerous kind), Nick showed Tony what he’d written on the napkin. When I asked what was going on, Tony held up the napkin, which read “God Only Knows”. How apt, now that I look back on it…both a song title and a statement. How’d Nick get the song in my head? God only knows.

I was impressed, if slightly unnerved. But I had to be positive it was real. I told Tony to whisper a song to Nick, then Nick to put it in my head, and I’d say the song title. I trusted Tony would tell the truth if I was right or wrong. And he was amused by the little game anyway. Tony chose “Back in Black” by AC/DC. I heard it and I was right about his choice. Finally, I whispered a song to Nick and told him to put it in Tony’s head, for Tony to tell me the song he was hearing. I chose “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and Tony confirmed it. That was all I needed to overcome my skepticism and believe there really was something to the seemingly fantastic talents my new British beau had told me about.

We’re naturally open and suggestive to music on a subconscious level – that’s how music is so easily “stuck” in our heads. Therefore this is the easiest thing Nick can do with another person’s mind. As such, it is one of the few things he’ll do on request without having to worry about weakening himself. It is a fantastic party trick. Well, it was back when he was with me at parties…

As an aside, once and only once Nick was a bit naughty with this ability. We didn’t fight often but when we did it was usually a matter of getting on each other’s nerves - nagging about something or another, nothing serious but mostly annoying one another. I can’t remember what I was on his case about but I know I wouldn’t let up. Suddenly Herman’s Hermits’ “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” blared in my head. I tried to ignore it, to continue talking, but even if I shouted I couldn’t keep my thoughts straight. It wasn’t the most original choice for him to make – remember Ghost? But I turned the tables when, for lack of knowing what else to do, I started singing along out loud…at the top of my lungs…it didn’t take long for Nick to hit the “off” switch on the psychic stereo.

At any rate, after our initial musical escapade at the restaurant, I was convinced that Nick really was a powerful psychic. That’s when I felt a little intimidated. I didn’t understand right away that he could turn it all on and off at will. I didn’t know if he’d be hearing my thoughts all the time, or if he’d eavesdrop whenever he wanted. Have you ever made love to a mind reader? Let me tell you, the first time it’s downright nerve wracking. What if the experience isn’t quite thrilling, can you close your eyes and think about somebody else?

But any fears were unfounded. (Particularly that last one, never a problem there…) Nick always respects my privacy (Herman’s Hermits notwithstanding) and the more I grew to trust him, the more I invited him into my psyche. At this stage, if he was here with me, there’d be no limits. I know he wouldn’t avail himself of the standing invitation to comb through the contents of my brain very often, but there is something comforting in knowing someone can understand you without your filters getting in the way. Communication has always been particularly easy for us (except now…) and I feel protected when he’s near. If someone or something ever threatened me I have no doubt he’d fairly well destroy them. Remember, he could have knocked Annie unconscious if he’d wanted to. But he has never been in the business of harming people without good reason, and he would never have harmed Annie if there was even a slight chance of another way to get through to her. So he didn’t.

I sometimes think the reason Nick can’t use his powers to escape the prison of whatever alternate dimension this place has trapped him in is that it’s feeding off his psychic energy. Rose Red fed off all the members of Joyce’s party. It has a habit of feeding off anyone it finds palatable. Breaking through and returning to life as we know it would no doubt take a lot of energy, and if his energy is lessened, he may not have enough to make the push. And if this is the case, he certainly wouldn’t have enough to bring back everyone Rose Red’s taken, Ellen included, along with him. Whether it meant bringing them back to life or releasing them to cross over to the afterlife, that’d be his agenda. I know he won’t simply leave them behind. So even the most potent psychic can find himself in a bind. No power is limitless.

I still hope to find a way to help him, to help them all. Perhaps to lend some of my energy if it’s enough to give Nick the boost he needs to make it back. But I need to know what we’re up against first. That’s what all the research is about – why I need to be informed about the curse that’s not only on this property but seemingly on all who end up victims here.

There’s another part of life with a renowned psychic. In certain circles there’s fame involved. Nick was very active in the media, both niche and mainstream (such as his work with the BBC in England). I was tickled pink with every project, though I did miss him when he had to travel. I was so proud every time he was mentioned in a magazine or newspaper. I even found a forum once with a discussion thread about how he was America’s sexiest psychic. (I think it’s fun that “America” has adopted Nick as if he’s a native son.) I thought that was great, but Nick blushed when I showed it to him.

Life with a powerful psychic is undeniably different from your everyday life. Yet at the same time when Nick is with me it feels like such a normal life. We may have parapsychological “extras” in our relationship, but we also do everything normal couples do.

But I do miss the music. Sometimes he’d spontaneously plant the most beautiful songs in my head. In those times he liked to say he was orchestrating the soundtrack of my life. “Track seventeen on the soundtrack of Ally O’Sullivan”, he’d say for example, “Title: ‘barefoot on dewy grass at dawn’”. One of my favorites of the regulars he often made me hear is Gregorio Allegri’s “Miserere” - a Renaissance-era ecclesiastical vocal arrangement. (I mentioned elsewhere that classical music is a genre Nick enjoys.) I’d never heard the song before, but I certainly know it well now. I’ve linked it in the YouTube video above; that’s the song performed by the Tallis Scholars. And as wonderful as they are, it sounds even better when Nick puts it in my head. It’s like being serenaded by the heavenly choir of angels in full host. Sometimes I’d stop what I was doing and dance, as if possessed by Terpsichore herself.

Listen to the video and imagine walking through a vast rose garden, every petal more red than the next, more fragrant, undulating and vibrating subtly as if each bloom is respiring in time with your own breath. Sometimes when I walk the rose garden here I try to imagine the song the way I’d hear it if Nick could reach me.

And I’m never really sure if that leaves me feeling comforted by happy memories, or filled with a painfully sorrowful longing. Perhaps both. It was one very charming aspect of life with a psychic like Nick.

3 Comments »

1. [...] Unraveling Rose Red put an intriguing blog post on Life with a Mind ReaderHere’s a quick excerptI’m often asked what it’s been like being involved with someone with such diverse and powerful psychic talents as Nick. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with someone whose abilities are limited to a pack of tarot cards, it’s quite another to be in one with someone who can hear your every thought and influence your state of mind, literally. The most important thing to remember about Nick, and all psychics of his ilk, is that it takes a lot of energy – even as experienced as he is – to use [...]

   Pingback by Topics about Games » Archive » Life with a Mind Reader — March 19, 2009 @ 6:06 am

2. [...] Unraveling Rose Red created an interesting post today on Life with a Mind ReaderHere’s a short outlineI’m often asked what it’s been like being involved with someone with such diverse and powerful psychic talents as Nick. It’s one thing to be in a relationship with someone whose abilities are limited to a pack of tarot cards, it’s quite another to be in one with someone who can hear your every thought and influence your state of mind, literally. The most important thing to remember about Nick, and all psychics of his ilk, is that it takes a lot of energy – even as experienced as he is – to use [...]

   Pingback by Topics about Travel » Life with a Mind Reader — March 19, 2009 @ 6:07 am

3. [...] blinded me had I been awake to see it. Soon after there was music, ecclesiastical choral music, like the song I wrote about the other day. I knew the song, it’s one of my favorites. Thomas Tallis’s 40 part motet “Spem in [...]

   Pingback by Unraveling Rose Red » There Are Many Rooms — March 21, 2009 @ 2:50 pm

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