Chapter 3 ~ Rough Weekend
The rays of light are now filling up my room, I begin to stir. I groan. My limbs still feel stiff from the events of yesterday and this light isn't helping my migraine any. To make matters worse my alarm goes off. I sit up a bit to reach over and snooze the damn thing and … I bonk my head? I open my eyes and lay back down. The ceiling? Why is it so close? I look over to where my alarm clock should be and just see the top portion of my wall? I roll over and see that in fact I'm five feet above my bed and floating on my stomach. I panic. Just as I do I hear harsh footsteps approaching my door! Fuck what if it's mom or dad? Fuck! They knock on my door. My heart stops.
"Danny can you please turn off your alarm?" It's only Jazz. Come to think about it, our parents are probably still in the lab and likely have been there all night.
"I … can't" I sigh.
"What do you mean you can't?" Jazz asks as she turns the knob. She comes in and shivers. She walks over to my alarm and dismisses it. Jazz looks all around the room … except up.
"Danny, Where are you?" I smile weakly at her.
"I'm up here Jazz." She looks up at me floating there awkwardly. She begins muttering to herself under her breath, things I can't quite hear because I'm too high up. I've always wanted to experience zero gravity just not like this!
"Just … wait there... I'll be back." She departs. I feel my panic on the rise again. What if I just float here like a human helium balloon forever? What if the ceiling disappears, will I just keep floating up indefinitely? Is Jazz going to rat me out to mom and dad? Shit! Shit! Shit !… Only Jazz comes back, With a long broom and some rope. I feel a great sense of easement.
"Here grab on." She tells me as she is handing me the end of the broom. I grab on and she pulls me down. She then ties my leg to the corner of my footboard and gently pushes me, so I'm sitting on the end of my bed. Jazz joins and wraps her arm around me. Thankfully this stops me from floating back up to my ceiling.
"Ya'know, you weigh less than a chicken feather right now ?" Jazz makes a bit of a goofy face and I chuckle. I feel a portion of my anxiety melt away.
"Danny how did you get up there and how long have you been there?"
"I don't know Jazz, I think I floated up there in my sleep. So probably a while, though I'm not too sure. Thanks for getting me down though" I smile. Suddenly ,I feel my body recall: 'hey I just remembered gravity exists' as I sink into my bed slightly.
"Hey Jazz, I think my body just reaccepted gravity." Jazz slowly took her arm off me. I stay put. She unties my leg from the bed. I stay put. We both sigh with relief and laugh.
"How about I make us my blueberry pancakes?" I nod and grin ear to ear. Jazz's blueberry pancakes are the best! We both exit my room and begin to head down. Out of nowhere my foot gets this weird tingly feeling and it doesn't hit the next step instead it goes through it. I completely lose my balance and tumble down the rest of the stairs, past Jazz and, end up face planting at the bottom. She rushes down right after me.
"Danny are you ok?!" I'm still dizzlely getting up but collapse as I try to use my foot again.
"I think so" I stare at the offender. My foot is a translucent blue. I experimentally try to touch my foot but my hand just goes straight through. Jazz helps me to my one tangible foot, and we both head to the kitchen. Jazz helps me sit down at the kitchen table. As that weird feeling in my foot dissipates, giving me some reprieve. Jazz starts taking out the ingredients for the pancake batter. She then starts mixing the dry ingredients.
"Hey Jazz, can I help you mix the wet ingredients?" She glances over with a gentle look of concern paired with a weak smile.
"No, I'm fine, thanks. You just sit tight. Breakfast will be ready in about ten to fifteen." I grumble a bit but understand, as weird shit has been happening with me since I woke up, and I honestly doubt it's over. I just pull out my phone and find an article on the Arecibo radio telescope, collapsing due to cable failures. Wow! What a shame! Just as I finish the last column Jazz sets our plates. I grab the syrup and pour some on. Jazz grins at this.
"Hey Danny, want some pancakes with that syrup?" I laugh.
"What can I say? I like 'em sweet." We both start carving into our pancakes. My hand abruptly gets that same tingle my foot had, and I drop my fork. My hand just passes through the fork and part of the table. I just give up and use my other hand, despite it being a bit more awkward. Jazz looks over to me.
"Danny, I thought you were left-handed."
"I am! I just can't seem to get a hold of it with my left hand, is all." I pass my still translucent blue hand through the table and wiggle my fingers. Jazz gasps, then mutters something under her breath. There is an awkward silence for the remainder of breakfast—neither of us wanting to talk about the incident. I take my plate to the sink.
"I'm gonna head upstairs and maybe read some comics or something." With that, Jazz takes our plates to the sink, rinses them off, and puts them in the dishwasher as I depart.
I lay on my bed. I can't help this feeling that my body doesn't feel right. It feels wrong, like it isn't mine. I stare at my arms but can't help but think that they're not connected to me. I really don't know what's going on with me today. I need to take my mind off it for a while and decide to pull out several Hellblazer issues I hadn't had the chance to read. I just really need something to do. I am about halfway through my issue when Jazz peeks into my room. I am still deep into this issue, so I briefly look up and wave at her. She doesn't reply and looks around, grumbles then leaves, and I go back to my issues. I finish the issues I pulled out and realize I've been reading issues for most of the day. Just as I'm getting up to go grab the next issues because I'm really enjoying this current arc; Jazz knocks on my door and enters. I don't know how to describe it, but she has a strange blue-violet shimmer with hints of green about her. It kinda feels like … fear? And a few other things, it's too murky to discern though.
"Danny are you in here?" She asks looking around.
"I'm right here where I've been all day." I gesture to the comic stack on my bed. "Reading comics" She begins pacing around my room, panic written all over her face. All the while not even looking at me! This is starting to freak me out. "This isn't funny Jazz!" I get up and firmly grab her arm. She yelps in surprise? "I'm right here Jazz!"
"Danny?" She asks meekly.
"Who else would it … " I trail off as I look down at her arms. I only see her arms. I see the imprint where my hands should be. I can feel them still firmly holding her arms. But mine are just gone. I yelp. I start to breathe heavy, and start to panic.
"You really can't see me, can you?" she slowly shakes her head. She says nothing; she just wraps her arms around me (kinda awkwardly as I'm invisible). I return her hug. She rubs circles on my back. This helps ease the panic. I look down at my arm still wrapped around her back. They are slowly starting to appear back to visibility. I can see myself again! I have to make sure.
"Can you see me now?" Jazz lets go of me. She just nods, and that weird blue-violet light begins to die down as weak yellow and green lights start to swell. What are these lights, though? They kinda look like an aura and feel like emotions. Jazz and I should probably talk.
"Hey Jazz maybe w… " I'm cut off by a timer.
"The meatloaf!" With that, Jazz rushes out of my room, and I follow her down. We are about halfway down the hall when I go all weightless again and start floating upward. Crap!
"Um, Jazz!" She quickly turns around and jumps up, grabbing my ankle and pulls me down the remainder of the hall and down the stairs. I feel like a child's birthday balloon!
When we get to the kitchen, Jazz fastens me to the table with the same rope from earlier to stop me from floating away (apparently she had it in her pockets all day). She then proceeds to grab oven mitts and takes out the meatloaf. She makes four plates, one for eof us and one for mom and dad. She takes ours over to the table and sits down across from me. Maybe now I can bring up the weird happenings.
"Jazz, can we talk about all … "I trail off, distracted by the color changes in her aura. There still is that green, but now blue-violet, violet, and lesser colors swirling about her. I can't tell what those are, though. I can pick some of them out. Like blue-violet, one feels like fear. And the violet is loathing? Doubt? No. It's more of a mix of the two. Then there is a faint flicker of a red one that's annoyance for sure. Ok, she probably is still not wanting to admit she's wrong about all this paranormal stuff that's been happening. Maybe I'll try again later. I get lost in thought for a while longer when I notice that we have both finished our plates. I also feel weight return to me once again. I bend over and untie my leg from the table. And reach for her empty plate and put it on mine.
"Jazz, I'm doing the dishes tonight," I tell her. I want to distract myself from the floating thing. I'm still finding it kinda embarrassing and how she had to pull me by the leg and tie me to furniture again! And, that strange wrongness I've been feeling. She doesn't protest, knowing full well my mind is made up and isn't changing. I wash our plates and put them on the drying rack. I go to move a cast-iron pot to get at the meatloaf pan underneath when I hear a sizzling sound, and pain shoots through my hands. I drop the pot.
"OUCH!" What the actual fuck just happened? That pot is room temperature. Jazz is at my side, almost immediately, and worry written all over her face and aura. Damn, it's so bright.
"Danny! What happened?!" She grabs my still shaking hand and turns them over to see they are really severely burned. I'm completely baffled, and from looking at her, so is she.
"How'd you manage this by washing dishes?!"
"I don't … " She cuts me off before I can finish.
"Nevermind … just running your hands under cold water. I'll be right back … Oh and Danny, try not to burn yourself again." She sighs as she quickly departs. I go do as I'm told and run my hands under cold water, careful not to touch the pot again. The cool water does feel nice. Jazz returns a little while later. She shuts of the water.
"Ok, Danny, this is going to sting." I nod. Then she pours peroxide on my hands and leaving it for a few minutes to foam white, me wincing all the while.
"Ok, I'm just gonna dab your hands dry and get the burn ointment and bandages on." She grabs a clean towel and very gingerly stipples my hands dry. She then proceeds to tenderly rub the ointment on my hands and neatly wraps them up.
"Is it on too tight?" I shake my head looking down at my bandaged mitts.
"I'm going to finish up these dishes. … You just … head upstairs." I nod and depart.
I reach my room without incident. I throw myself on my bed. I decide to continue reading my comics from earlier and lose myself in issues. I start to feel weary and look up from my current issue only to see it's about half-past eight. Why am I so tired this early? Oh well, I get up to the washroom that joins both Jazz's and my room. I go in to get ready for bed the best I can with my hands as they are. Just as I'm finishing brushing my teeth and spit, I see a flash of green in the mirror. Wait a minute … I do a double-take, and sure enough, my eyes are that same lifeless green. That can't be right. They're supposed to be blue! I take a few slow solid blinks, and sure enough, my eyes are their usual vibrant icy blue. I sigh with some relief. I walk back into my room and change into some clean PJs and slip into bed. I have difficulty falling asleep due to that strange wrongness that has only been getting worse as the day has progressed. Not to mention my hands are itching me like crazy! Though after an eon tossing and turning, sleep finally takes me.
* BEEP BEEP BEEP *
"Ouch! What the … " I bang my head on a slat? Yesterday I woke up over my bed. Today I wake up under my bed. What next, I wake up inside my bed? I shudder at the thought and crawl out from under my bed and hit my alarm. I take off my pajamas, shake them out, and throw them in the hamper, not missing this time. I change into a black NASA t-shirt, a pair of baggy jeans and find a pair of socks that have no holes. I walk into the washroom and decide to check on my hands and maybe change the wrappings. I use my mouth to help me get the bandages off one hand, and with the now free hand, I undo the other. I turn my hands over and definitely, am surprised at what I see. The burns are completely healed over with only slight discoloration to indicate that they even existed in the first place! Well, I don't need to rewrap these then. Still confused, I wash my face, exit my room, and head downstairs (very cautiously given yesterday) to grab myself a bowl of cereal.
Strange, isn't Jazz usually down by now? I grab myself a bowl and take a while to eat with me thinking about the past three days. When I eventually finish eating, I grab my dishes and the milk carton, intending to take them to the sink and fridge, respectively. Just as I'm almost to the sink, both my hands go all 'tingly.' Shit! Before I can react, both items in my hands slip through, crashing to the floor. I bend over and awkwardly put the carton upright with my still tangible wrists to stop the milk flow. But what about the broken bowl? I can't possibly pick those pieces up with my wrists. So I wait for a while, hoping my hands will become solid again. After a few minutes, they do. And I throw the shattered pieces out, put the milk away, and clean up any remaining mess. I decide to just head back up to my room. Passing by Jazz on the way there, I see that she looks absolutely peeked, and from the light show of conflicting emotions, I can tell she isn't ready to talk just yet. I groan, feel slightly a little more disgruntled. But, continue into my room.
I just sit on my bed thinking about the last few days some more. The way my body just feels wrong in a way I can't descibe and how it's only getting worse. How I'm getting irritated with Jazz. Why does she not want to talk about any of this at all?! Though, I'm pretty sure it's all that stupid extreme aversion to being wrong. But really? With all the weird shit that has been going on with me, even she must be starting to see that I'm not entirely human anymore. Yeah, with all these slip ups. I'm so lucky mom and dad have been in the lab the whole weekend. But what if they hadn't? What if they saw? I'd be in the lab right now, wouldn't I? Probably strapped to an examination table. That's gonna happen soon. I have no control! They're gonna find out! It's only a matter of time. There's also the possibility that after they're done, if there's anything left of me at that point, sell me off to some scientific institution. My life is over!
* Thwack *
Getting nailed in the head by something breaks my panic spiral momentarily. I look around to find the culprit to see one of my model rockets zooming around the room with no clear flight pattern. Soon pretty much everthing in my room joins it. I manage to duck out of the way from a lamps tragectory and roll off my bed. I crawl under my bed to avoid the onslaught from the tornado of crap and wrap my arms around my head. I stay there for a long while and the stuff only seems to get more sporatic.
"Danny! Cut out all that … noise?" Jazz opens the door and sees the state of my room. She dives out of the way and drops to the floor to avoid getting hit with my night table.
"Danny?" she crawls toward me in an army like fashion, slipping under my bed with me.
"What's going on?"
"I-I don't know … shit just started flying around." My shaking worsens. When did I start shaking?
"Danny breathe. Panicking won't help the situation." I just tense even more, barely hearing anything she says.
"Danny, are you with me? Deep breath in … exhale … Deep breath in … exhale …" She keeps calmly repeating this mantra to me till I start to follow. I loosen my arms around my head and let them fall in front of me. Ok, deep breath in … exhale … deep breath in … exhale … I continue this for a few minutes gradually calming down. As I do I hear random objects crashing to the floor. I feel a little better. Jazz and I wait a few minutes before crawling out from under my bed. Man it looks like a tornado passed through here. I motion Jazz to sit on my bed.
"Jazz, I think we should-AHHHHHHHH!"
AN: Wow 3248 words I think this is my longest chapter thus far.
hr is what the actual tag of a linebreak in HTML is called lol.
Yeah I know that was a nasty cliffie. Haven't uploaded because I had some things to contend with (And maybe … a touch of writer's block):
- final assignments get my final grades back on the 24th of Dec. (feel like I'm in limbo rn)
- An Arch install (I really HATE DELL's bios saying it was in UEFI when really it was actually in lagacy [this effects the partition format and how GRUB is installed] and its bullshit RAID firmware) my brother's Manjaro installation went borked. I don't think I've stared at a bash terminal for that long in a while …
- A debian GNU/Linux for myself because XSane didn't want to recognise my scanner driver. Yes I stalled another OS just to use a scanner. And I did actually have fun manually binding all the sticky keys and the kde has GUI feature to bind default programs to shortcuts ie meta (Windows key) + S to open spotify. Anyway enough with techno-geek talk
~SkarlettSkwrl