Glimmers: Excerpt From Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Amy,

This isn’t working. You’ve tried — I’ve watched. It’s commendable but futile. You’re lonely and sad but I have a solution.

Click Here and Get Away!

She sat up, bemused. Her small, pale, hand brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes and circled it behind her ear as she leaned closer to the monitor. Amy peered at what she originally thought was a travel ad. Her gut — something that tended to be right, started to tell her otherwise. Although years of daily pop-up bombardment had encouraged her distraction, this cryptic message from some unknown source stirred her heart. She tried to blow it off, but couldn’t and read the message again. Perhaps it was the word “lonely.” She wasn’t sure.

A change might be nice Amy pondered. Her days seemed to blend together offering little refuge, no pleasure and heaps of aggravation. The recent birth of her oldest sister’s baby did nothing for her mood.

As a little girl, when “it” came she crawled under the dining room table. Arms clutched, body hunched. Pretending she was a species on the brink of extinction, having failed to evolve and adapt. She tried to push the memory away but it latched on tight. Her throat narrowed and tears welled up in her eyes.

She took a deep breath — then clicked on the link.

What could best be described as a shock; ran through her index finger, up to the space between her eyebrows and penetrated its way through her skin and into her body. Instinctively, she tried to pull her hand away but couldn’t. She looked down at her right hand. Fingernails with chipped polish curled motionless around the mouse. Her blue, butterfly, tattoo peeked out from inside her wrist as her body tingled, a hazy wash of warm fog numbed her face and seeped into her mind. She gently floated out of her chair like a ballerina being lifted in pas de deux. Dense, Jell-O like, air buffeted her.

This can’t be happening.

The apartment morphed into departmentalized shapes; looking more like the set of a demented children’s show than an actually dwelling. Walls pushed their way outward and disappeared into an endless void.

The screen grew; changing into a rippling, iridescent, ocean. Heaving and breathing. It became larger with each, pixelated wave, violently moving towards her ready to pound her body into the ground. The watery image closed in on her trembling frame.

Am I going insane? This couldn’t be happening. And yet…

The ground shifted on its axis, daily — unnoticed. Amy wondered, what else she didn’t notice.

The smell of cool metal filled the air and the hum of the computer grew louder, droning in her ears. Fragmented images of celebs, she once worshipped, danced in a blaze around her slender body and blurred her vision. She tried to cover her eyes but she couldn’t move.

“Stop it! Go Away!” She cried out, voice stunted in agony.

Their faces pulled apart and formed into pulsing luminosities. “It” came; (she knew it would.) A familiar dark hole formed in her chest and spread. But this wasn’t depression. This was something else.

A shot punctured her brain causing her face to wince. Painful, electric waves injected her body. She pictured a thousand needles piercing her skin. Thoughts swarmed in her head, like a bee’s nest disturbed by the crashing rock of a mischievous child.

Am I dying? Oh God, please no.

Brain firing, chemical and electrical synapses—exploding—cutting and burning. Her head throbbed and she whimpered in pain. It was as if someone was holding the remote control to her mind, flipping through channels, looking for something interesting to watch. Amy screamed.

“Stop! Please stop!”

She tried to hang on but there was nothing to hold. She wanted to cry, but couldn’t and tried to fight back. Helplessness flooded her spirit. Her arms and legs were forced apart, as if two malicious people were playing tug-of war with her body, each one determined to win.

Something ripped the clothes from her body. Frayed garments lingered in the light, then disintegrated. She tried to cover herself, but couldn’t. It was impossible to move her arms or legs. What little power she had left was squeezed away, leaving her terrified and naked. Exhausted, she ceased struggling; pain subsided — relief.

Body stretched and submerged in the light, she hovered in its pure energy. Whirling in air her eyes saw nothing but bright glimmers, specks of white light flickering all around her. Encircling her body and settling on to her head like warm dust, weaving in and out of her hair.

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