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Karma Chameleon

It was another one of those lazy summer nights where the hustle and bustle of nature and time seemed to be at a stand-still. I was sprawled in the bottom of an old rowboat, floating lazily around somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The salty air was thick and sticky with humidity. I felt the heaviness of the air draping its way over me, slowly smothering me, but in a good way. I was drained of energy and passion, and moving just seemed to take too much energy, but I sat up eventually and peered into the night around me. Pure black darkness surrounded me on all sides, interrupted only by the large reflection of a full moon and it's tiny little, shining followers. The water was deadly calm, and an eerie panic rose in the back of my mind. The ocean was never this still…never. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move, and I turned my head sharply to meet it. A single patch of water was moving and waving on itself. Nothing else seemed to be moving…except that patch of water.

The waves suddenly swelled and moved outward, clumping thousands of tiny star-lights into shapely glittering masses. A silent wisp of familiarity flew in and out of my mind. It was an odd feeling, not quite déjà vu, but yet I sensed I had seen this somewhere before. My curiosity overwhelmed me, and I had to look over the side of my boat, as if something was calling for me. I moved slowly, praying it was not a shark as I peered over the edge and came so close to the water that my breath sent their own little undulating ripples. I breathed heavier and the shimmering clumps of stars shifted. They were ever moving, always twisting and writing like little glittery worms. They seemed to taunt my eyes, daring them, 'Can you follow us?' I sat still and watched the strange spectacle for a while, and soon it was impossible to pull away from it.

I was entranced and put in some sort of a hypnotic state as I stared, very much glazed over, at the water in front of me. Suddenly, the water froze again. Not even my breath could disturb it. The reflections of the stars were still and the tiny light balls, forever stuck in a velvety-black curtain, stopped twinkling. These were not constellations I had ever seen before. I was leaning inches from the water when sudden silence rang in my ears. The world, as I knew it, was wrapped in a muffler. The air around me grew denser, and a breeze wound its way around me. "Wendy…" It whispered and every hair stood quickly erect on the back of my neck, yet I stayed there my nose almost brushing the stationary water.

Abruptly, a new memory slammed into my mind, no really it slammed. I took a sharp breath, and in a blur of motion a pair of mossy, webbed hands grabbed my shoulders pulling me into the water. I tried to scream, but instead I swallowed a massive amount of very foul salt-water. My eyes burned with it for another moment, and finally I broke the surface next to my boat. I held on to the side as my lungs began to expel the rancid water. I wanted to scream but I couldn't…what was that? I felt as if my heart had stopped thudding for a full minute and was now speeding to make up for the beats it had lost.

I pulled myself into the dinky little rowboat, taking with me a fair share of ocean water. Breathless, I lied in my boat, ignoring the water tickling my ears. "Insane." The sound of my own shaky voice made me aware of the sharp return of sound at all.

I, Beatriz Indy, was going bonkers. It was the only explanation I would accept. It's probably a shame that one of my worst habits was lying to myself. Looking up into the sky I finally realized how dark it was. And it scared me for the first time in my life.

'Mom's gonna kill me…,'I thought. I checked my watch, "DAMN!" It had stopped and the hands were waving at me frantically from a watery grave as I attempted to revive it by shaking it violently. The moon was far past its peak in the sky. I pondered, 'Maybe I just dozed off. People do that all the time, right...fall asleep while looking at a peaceful lake…' That was the only explanation for my hallucination. Wasn't it?

There I was in a perfectly pitiful state basking in seawater filled boat and feeling it seeping into every pore. I knew if I didn't get dry soon it would soon start a mad poison-ivy like itching sensation in places I'd rather not itch. Gathering what was left of my self respect; I took the oars and quickly paddled toward my house. The glittering shapes teased me from the water and I leered at them. The shapes shifted again and I almost screamed when my boat hit the bank. I speeded across the sandy beach, and the porch stairs rattled as I bolted up them as fast as I could. I ran towards whatever security my room could offer. Which frankly, as I would soon come to realize…was none.

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