Under the Influence

One of the warnings I got early was that little horses (people who can get possessed and are new to it) are not allowed to drive on the islands.

I thought that was a little ridiculous. Not only did I have no one to call if I needed a ride, but the idea of being dependent on someone every time I needed to go to work or the store seemed like a great way to end up in a situation where someone controlled far too much of my life.

Now that I have a little experience with it, I see what they’re talking about. It’s incredibly easy to slip into a trance-like state while driving, and from there to suddenly find yourself overwhelmed by what I can only describe in metaphors (in part because it’s individual.)

For me, it’s a combination of flagrant violations of physics, the world swinging sideways, and the skin on my scalp standing up. The ground doing the wave is the beginning of the problems. That’s just a lwa peeking in at me to see what I’m doing. If one of them decides to hang around for long or take a more serious interest, the symptoms get drastic.

This is not a fun experience when you’re driving. I am getting a lot better at managing it, in part through negotiation (there have been some frantic moments on highway 295 at Jersey speeds) and in part through the process I’m going through with them.

All of this is to say that my godfather has a point, and people with the capacity to possess should not be driving until later in the process.