text: “How long since we took them?” Derek asked. Richard looked up to his friend. He was wearing a loose cotton t-shirt with a crudely drawn colorful circle as a print, a black sport shorts and light summer shoes. The sport shorts were a bit ironic as they didn’t look like they had seen any exercise in a long time. The added weight suits him though, Richard thought. He’d gone from a lanky adolescent to a plump and full young man. He’ll have to watch out nonetheless, if he’ll let go too much, his jolly belly might turn into a beer belly. The forest they were hanging out in was known for its beautiful full sequoia trees, luscious green fields in between and full of colorful and vibrant fauna and flora. Especially during spring you could hear the full concert of hundreds of birds and the complementing white noise of the wind rushing trough the treetops. Richard was raised in an Atheist household and was 99.9% sure there wasn’t an afterlife, but if there was one place he’d want to go to when he died, it was this place. “Must have been an hour or so ago”, he replied to his larger friend. Another beautiful thing about the “Forest of Heavenly Songs” as he’d started calling it, was the fact that almost no one came there. Something about not being close enough to the nearest Starbucks. Richard smirked to himself. Better that they keep their Social Media sewage water out of his forest. The fact that almost no one came here was something enjoyed by the rare jogger and hiker. But it was especially useful for another thing. “Should be kicking in then any moment now, right?” It was a paradise for psychonauts. Men, women and everyone in between using ancient herbs or modern, lab fabricated substances to reach different states of consciousness. Richard grinned to himself again. “Druggies” was a more commonly used and less whitewashed term. He looked around in the forest and remembered the first time they came here as young teenagers, to smoke their first joint. They ate through four bags of chips and couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous the frogs sounded. He was glad all of his friends were drawn to nature. He’d met some people who only smoked inside, blinds closed, gaming or watching stupid tv shows. He shuddered at the thought, took a swig of his water bottle and turned to Derek. “Yeah, not too long from now.” Derek nodded and took a swig as well. The thing that should be kicking in right about now were mushrooms. Not just any kind of mushrooms, but magic ones. Or at least that’s what everyone called them. It was actually very scientific, or at least chemical. The active components would bond to certain receptors in the brain and then... something made all areas of the brain work together, that wasn’t entirely understood, then again not a lot of research had been done on it. His face frowned together. No wonder, if it’s still illegal. He sighed and tried to let the thought wash away. Wasn’t there someone who said that any science we didn’t understand might as well be the same as magic. Huh, maybe they were in fact other-worldly. Semantics aside, that wasn’t why the both of them had bought the mushrooms. The description on the website stated that the fungi would “help you view things from another perspective”. A pretty vague description, Richard thought. Then again, he’d experienced something like that in a previous trip. He’d been having trouble with overcoming his overthinking. He’d already made great strides, but there was just something not clicking in his mind. Mushrooms had made that click possible. But like any skill, story or lesson, once learned, can always be forgotten. He looked at Derek staring off in the distance, no doubt waiting for the effects to come up. Both of them were at troublesome points in their life. Derek had changed universities and Richard was still dealing with the after effects of some nasty mental issues. Normally it wouldn’t be a great idea to take psychedelics in these circumstances, but he was stuck, Derek was stuck and a trip among good friends always made for an interesting story to tell. Derek suddenly got up and said; “I’m gonna take a piss and stretch my legs before they start kicking in, be right back.” He walked off to the nearest tree behind them, still a while away from the field they were sitting in. Richard waved him off and laid himself down on the green. He looked up to the sky to see if the clouds would take on any strange shapes. Still nothing, he sighed to himself and closed his eyes for a moment. “What was the name of the mushroom again?” he asked out loud to no one. Psilocybe Sensus , that was it! He smiled to himself as he felt a rush of warmth and comfort engulf his entire being. Speak of the devil... In the darkness of his eyelids, strange shapes began to take form, some geometric figures, some more anthropomorphic. He enjoyed them and let them continue to flow in his sight. After a while the shapes became brighter and brighter, until there was only a white canvas in front of his eyes. This is weird, my eyes are still closed right? He thought to himself, not feeling where his head began and his toes ended. He decided not to fight the visuals and instead stared at the canvas slowly becoming greener and greener. He suddenly could distinguish shapes again. It looks like.... A branch? Trees? But I’m nowhere near around.... He tried to rub his eyes but found his arms not responding. Oh shit, not nice. Was all his fragmented mind could come up with. Just breathe Richard, breathe. He blinked a few times to distinguish more clearly what he was looking at. Suddenly he saw his arms zip his pants up and stare down at the ground. Is that... a small belly I’ve suddenly got? What’s going on? His visage shifted uncontrollably to his raised arms, he was waving his hands in front of him and noticed the tracers of his fingers going in all manners of direction. “Hehe, guess it was about time” he heard Derek say. What on earth... I’m... inside Derek’s eyes. No this can’t be, I’m just hallucinating, projecting what’s happening to Derek. Oh God... Derek, it’s got to be kicking in with him as well, I have to find him! He tried all his might, but couldn’t even try to get up from the field. He just looked on, helpless as Derek was waving his hands in front of him, trying to touch the tree, which all of a sudden looked ten meters away, when he had just peed against it. “Brooo, this is some potent stuff” Derek said again. A branch cracked and Richard saw his vision swap to the right. He felt like Derek wanted to let a little shriek out, but found he could only gasp at what he was seeing. A deer was standing right next to him, eyeing him with a tilt of his head with those big black eyes. Richard could only imagine what was going through Derek’s mind right now, he could barely comprehend his own thoughts. They both knew you shouldn’t pet a deer, something about the mother not being able to recognize its calf’s smell. But this one was too big for a calf right? “I don’t know, I’m not a deer expert”, Richard heard Derek utter to himself. Jesus, their minds were synced now? The calf, or not-calf, didn’t seem to mind Derek, it even came closer and closer to him, even bowing his head in front of him. Richard saw his right hand going up and up, ever so slowly to touch the animal. When he made contact the deer flapped its ears for a second but then allowed Derek to continue. “You’re a sweet girl aren’t ya?” Derek said to the mammal. It shook its head slightly and Derek started to giggle. The deer looked up to see the peaceful, laughing face of the young adult, licked his and turned his head away. Richard saw his vision turn dark as Derek blinked in the first time since what felt like forever. When his eyes came to once more, the deer was standing at least twenty meters away, taking one last look at Derek before sprinting out of sight. The deer hadn’t made a sound, nor crackled any leaves up when Derek looked away. “Impossible” they both said. But the wetness of his hands and the fur on his clothes didn’t lie, he had just petted a deer. “Fuck, I gotta go check on Richard, tell him what happened” Richard saw his vision turn towards the field he was lying on and flashing back to a white canvas again. Suddenly he had control of his body again, and was staring up at the clouds. He got up to see Derek racing towards him with a smile as wide as the grand canyon on his face. “You’re not gonna believe what just happened to me!” he panted to Richard. Richard laughed and replied; “Before you say anything, shouldn’t you wash that saliva off your hands?” Derek’s jaw dropped as far as anatomically possible, at which they both started laughing like they were smoking their first joint again.