Pulse Rush
Opposites are inevitably attracting. Where one entity exists, so does the other pole on the magnet, and we all know the big N and S can't keep their paws off of each other. Take good and evil for example. The two coexist in on such a thin, dangerous line. There is no middle, no grey area. But why is it we find the light is constantly in search of the dark, and the dark for the light? What a strange draw… The real question is, when the two join forces, is it a combination so incredibly violent, so vicious the balance is thrown off the charts? Or is the combination what could extinguish the war between the opposing forces, and bring peace? I pray that the world will never have to find out. I, on the other hand, would not be so fortunate.
Ch. 1
My mind is humming. Not like a tune, but more like a computer. Colors enter and exit like a Crayola freeway. My mind retracts. A radio turns on and I hear sound bites of thoughts. My mind retracts. A movie clip of a fender bender in the parking lot plays out in my head. My mind retracts.
As some might like to call it attention deficit disorder, I know all too well that's not what I am. Hypersensitive? Not exactly, but it's getting warmer. ESP? If you tilt your head and squint your eyes. A freak? True, but too vague. The word psychic is really outdated, and is usually associated with a wrinkly lady with a crystal ball and a Ukrainian accent saying "For a small fee, I shall tell you your future." I'd like to think I'm not as sketchy as that.
If someone asks me "Pash, what the hell are you?" I think I'd have to just stick with the freak option, because in all honesty, I don't know what to call it. To me, people exude an aura which is like an electricity field and color from within. And like a radio that's a little too fast, I hear conversations before they happen. It's the same with the movie scenes, and it's even more sensitive to the touch. To put it in perspective, it's like someone took my internal remote, put it in the microwave oven for a moment, and gave it back saying "have at it."
My arm, now being roughly shook by my coworker and friend of ages, Melanie, catapults me back to JR's Groceries, my place of employment.
"That'll be $26.93, Ma'am," I say sheepishly. The elderly woman reaches for her wallet, but gives me that same bizarre stare. She hastily hands me a fifty, hand still hovering for her change, as if she'll bolt at any moment's notice. When I give her the change, she swipes her bagged groceries and hobbles off. This is a daily ordeal.
"Have a great day…" I say to the now unoccupied space the elderly woman was just in.
"So what's the outlook, Pash?" Melanie sometimes liked to get a look in on my weirdo internal television.
"Fender about, oh, 6:33… No, make that 6:37. Other than that it's normalcy, normalcy, and some more normalcy," I informed her. She gave a pouting look of dissatisfaction.
"Ugh, spare me the mundane. How 'bout the guys? Is there a nice piece of ass on his way over here for me?" She asked, her eyebrows wiggling suggestively.
I smiled and gave her a slight shove on the arm for this. "Mel, you and I both know I can't see that."
"A dying shame…" She said reluctantly as she combed through her hair with her nails.
I paused as I went back to my mind for a moment. Something came up on my grid that was sort of unusual. It was black. Not like the color black, but more like a void black. It's as if I had been staring at the sun a bit too long. I had never had a blind spot like this before.
"Hm… Something is coming, though I can't tell what it is." Melanie gave me a questioning look. "I guess we'll have to wait and see, like the regular ones do," I chuckled.
The clock on my register chimed away that it was 6 pm, my break time. This was also the time of day Mr. Capp (AKA J.R. Capp, the owner of the store and my boss) gets edgy, since the sun is down by then.
Until three years ago, the supernatural had been enveloped in a shroud of speculation and myth. They were a ghost story to be told 'round a fire, not something that could very well be your next door neighbor. But three years ago changed a lot.
To the shock of people around the world, the vampire community as a whole made themselves known to the public. With them, they brought indisputable evidence that they weren't some well organized cult of wackjobs, and they also brought a metaphorical olive branch to tell people that they were no (immediate) threat to the welfare of the human race. Once the government realized what they weren't dealing with some bullshit prank, they brought out the whole nine yards; Posting thousands of National Guard soldiers, sending kids home from school on a daily basis, replaying emergency broadcasting stations. After ten days of frenzied press meetings, ambassador consultings, the occasional address from the president, everything had resumed to a state of regularity. From then on, the world would just have to accept that vampires were a reality. The years that followed were riddled with controversy. The occasional young girl found dead sparked massive heat from the public and press, but the vampire representatives proved they were good at cleaning up their messes with poise. And of course there were the radical crowds who would burn a cross here, riot it out there, but in truth, people were too afraid to become overly interested in the vampires. Instinct told people that the vampires had a level of danger that shouldn't be screwed with.
The human side of me was just as freaked out as everyone else when the vampires came out of hiding. The not-so human side of me was granted a strange kind of relief that I wasn't the only inhuman thing out there. By no means did I relate myself with the vampires, but there is a definite peace in knowing you're not the only oddity.
I sat in the break room and saw Mr. Capp had stationed himself outside of his office scanning his store for any unwelcomed patrons. Being a food store, we've never had a vampire customer, though things were changing. We recently got an unusual shipment specially made for the undead, though Mr. Capp refused to put in on the shelves. I laughed lightly to myself because if a vampire ever did enter our store Mr. Capp wouldn't know what to do with himself. He'd probably have to scurry back to his office and piss his pants from there.
As I munched away on a blueberry granola bar in the remaining minutes of my break, I tried to probe this peculiar void. It was definitely closer than it was before, intuition telling me the source was going to stop by soon. I wondered if it was human or not. Maybe it was another one of… me. The idea bubbled in my brain for a moment or two, but the high pitch buzz of my alarm told me I needed to resume my work.
I continued ringing customers up, but my mind was having trouble staying alert and in reality. Having this ability (though it's more like a disability) makes me constantly work to stay in the present and not retract into my mind. This is a good reason school had always been a challenge for me. But I could tell the void would be stopping in very soon. Like hearing approaching footsteps on the floor, it got louder with every passing moment. It was in the parking lot now. The void was becoming larger, all else disappeared within it. I could feel the fine hairs on my body perk up one by one.
The air stilled, things became very, very quite. A tall thing walked in the door. No, it was more like a stalk or a prowl rather than a walk. Its wild, slate painted eyes betrayed it in telling what it really was. Vampire. But what had me slack jawed was the silence I felt. My body was still buzzing, but my mind was a rest. For the first time, I didn't hear everything and anything. It was the void.
He surveyed the store, and I saw his nostrils flare. He turned into my direction, and I saw him in all of his immortal being. The sides of his head were shaved in a weirdly hipster style, and then it was dyed an ocean green. He had large, unsettling piercings through his ears, lips and nose. Various tattoos coated his skin. When his nose had found what it was looking for, his crazed eyes narrowed on me and his lips curled up to a cocky half smile. This was the first time I had encountered a vampire, and I was sure I looked like a dumbstruck idiot.
On cue, one car easily collided in the back of the other. 6:37 pm.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! I've been wanting to write this story for a long, long time, and am so glad I've got a running start on it. So many ideas are a'brewing! I encourage all to review (praise or criticism, I need to hear both you know). See you guys in the next chapter.
