ZOMG, I'm soooo sorry guys! I was going to post this over a month ago, but then I was busy, and then I went on vacation, and *INSERT EXCUSE HERE*, and... yeah. I had this typed up right after Chapter 9 was posted, I swear. On my nonexistent Harry Potter box set, which is the equivalent to the bible.
Okay, on with my rant-thingy. So, a bunch of important announcements in the Author's Note at the bottom. Please read them!
Now, I present, FINALLY, Chapter 10!
Chapter Ten - Eyes
I had another dream.
It began with blankness, just me and an endless expanse of white. Then there was a flash of blue, a heavenly azure that blinded me for a few seconds, and I found myself in the dark, a lantern, the same blue light filling it, clutched in my hand. In front of me stood Tessa, holding a blue cube with the same light, staring out into the shadows. Somehow, I knew something was lurking out there, waiting. It was scared of something, but the light was drawing it in. There were sounds, too. Quiet, singular sounds, like a clink of metal, a muffled sound of a gunshot, and a thunk of a body hitting the ground. There was also a steady beat, filling the space with a pounding thump-thump.
"They want the cube," Tessa murmured, pulling said cube closer to her chest. "They want it so badly. All of them. But they cannot have it." She looked at me, her blank gaze rooting me to my spot. "They must not have it, Eve." Her voice was different, softer and less erratic. She sounded like a poet, not the artist that she is. It wasn't my friend.
I opened my mouth to speak, but a shrill scream stabbed the air and cut me off. Tess looked out into the dark, and glowing red eyes looked back at us. She turned back to me and hurriedly spoke. "But you are not ready to hold the burden. Not yet." She whirled around, and a dark shape leaping toward her was blasted out of the air by a shot from the cube. Surveying the scene, she said, "Someday soon, you will have to carry the cube. Now, you must choose your path. One choice will lead you to the cube, and ultimately, to what you desire most. The other will hold only pain and grief."
Another shot was fired into the darkness, and the victim of the attack howled, causing goosebumps to rise on my arms. Tessa took my lantern and blew out the blue light, then handed it back to me. "Your choice," she whispered, then took off running, the glowing cube pressed to her heart, dark shapes in pursuit. I was left in the suffocating blackness, the thump-thump speeding up. It was my heart, constricting with fear and confusion.
Then the lantern flickered with a golden-white light, the world was illuminated, and I was calm.
When I woke up, I found myself on the floor again. I faintly remembered passing out there, but the whole night was a blur. All I recalled was that I was barely-able-to-function drunk, and that the sharp pain in my head was not a tumor but another hangover. But when I managed to pull my weak body into some form of upright position, I realized that the pain was a tight headband that I remembered putting on at one point during the night, not the after-effect of too much alcohol. I, the queen of hangovers, did not have a hangover.
Because I was hangover-free, I thought I was free to stand without trouble. I thought wrong. The second I stood, the world began to spin and I noticed that I was shaking uncontrollably. I fumbled to open the door, then half-stumbled, half-shuffled to the kitchen. Everything in my peripheral vision was blurred, and all I had my eyes on was the bunch of bananas sitting on the counter.
I ate all seven of them within three minutes.
After yanking off the headband and tossing it into a corner, a loaf of bread, a bag of potato chips, and a large bowl of pistachios vanished down my throat. When I was finally satisfied with my eating binge, I found myself standing in front of the television. I took the remote, flopped on the couch, and turned on the TV. After a full five minutes of channel surfing, I settled on some violently nasty cartoon and zoned out.
An hour later, I was yanked away from my brain hiatus when Johnny sat down next to me, too close for comfort in my opinion, and snatched the remote from my hand. He changed the channel to a reality TV show, and in a few short seconds, I figured out why. The whole show centered around a group of scantily dressed women with bad tans and even worse attitudes. They undoubtedly wore a lot of exposing clothing. The sounds faded to the background as I pressed my face into the pillow I clutched in my arms, smashed between my chest and my knees.
"Where'd you go? You know, last night?" Johnny's question brought me back to reality again. I glared at him, then stood and shuffled into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. When I returned, he posed his question again, looking at me expectantly.
"Somewhere," I growled, reclaiming my seat on the couch. He put his hand on my knee, and my head snapped around so fast, I nearly whacked him. He gaped at me, pulling back. "What?"
He raised his eyebrows, shook his head, and looked back at his program. "Nice eyes," he commented, before engrossing himself in the show as three of the women came to blows.
It took a second for his words to sink in. Then I thought of Ben's rocky form, and the gray lines of hair at Reeds temples, and panicked. Leaping up, I scrambled to the bathroom, slammed the door, and shakily stood in front of the mirror with my eyes closed. Slowly, I opened them, and found myself staring at a face I hadn't seen in a while.
It's safe to say I don't use mirrors very often. The times I do, I usually look like a steamroller ran me down. So as I stared at my reflection, I didn't recognize the golden-eyed woman standing there. My skin was taut across my bones, my face hollow and sharp. Any extra fat on my body was gone, leaving my skinny frame exposed. My eyes, which had once been a muddy brown, had lightened considerably, making them look yellow. Like lighting, I thought, noticing the dark circles that usually underlined my gaze had vanished. I span around, looking at myself from all angles, seeing me for the first time since the accident had ruined my quiet life.
When I finally made my way back to the living room, Reed was sitting in the kitchen, studying the newspaper and eating a bowl of cereal. I was clean, wearing a new set of sweats, and hungry again. It seemed to me that I was eating every three or four hours. Snatching the box of cereal, I began eating by the handful as I sat down next to Johnny once again. He was watching another reality show, and was shouting at the TV.
"Break up!" he cried, a single flame erupting from his shoulder. He noticed it and jumped back, shouting and trying to put it out before he set the room on fire. Reed jumped up and dumped a glass of water on him, putting out the blaze. "Thanks for the help," he said, watching me.
My brain had frozen, and I was blankly staring at the ink smudges on my thumb. It was barely legible, and read: Br k p. But the words had been permanently etched into my mind, and were bouncing around in there, echoing through my thoughts. Slowly, I tore myself away from my hesitation, and pulled myself together. "It's my job," I whispered, too quiet for anyone but myself to hear. "Just my job." Sitting back, I settled in and waited for my chance to spring.
When Sue walked into the kitchen, I noticed the rustling of papers that meant Reed was still there had stopped. "Good morning," she said to everyone, smiling as she put something in the microwave.
"Mornin'" replied Susan's brother without looking up from the TV. I had finally reclaimed the remote, and Jonathon and I had compromised on a ridiculous game show. He was now docilely watching the contestants swear at each other. I looked up from behind the back of the couch at Dr. Richards, who was looking at her sadly.
She smiled again as she left, taking the steaming plate with her. Reed watched her go, nearly dropping his coffee when a gunshot went off on the show. Johnny noticed too, smirking. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. This was my opportunity.
Turning to the blond, I said, "How did they break up?" He looked at me like I was crazy, and I heard Reed do a spit take behind me. There was no going back now. "Reed and Sue? How did they break up?"
Johnny shrugged. "Something about moving in together. Right, rubber band?" he asked, calling Reed by the name I had dubbed him last night. He hadn't been in the room at the time, but someone must have told him. Or maybe he came up with it as well. In any case, the doctor looked uncomfortable as the object of the question.
"Uh, yeah. We had a disagreement." He was slightly flushed, and looked away quickly under my stare.
I swallowed. "Who broke up with who?" was my next question. Again, Johnny shrugged, but Reed looked even more flustered, if that was even possible. He couldn't come up with a reasonable answer, and just mumbled something incoherent before fleeing the room. Storm and I looked at each other, then turned back to the show, content with the silence between us.
Later that day, during Sue's testing, I heard the sound of someone falling over, papers following. Leaving the hall and dashing to the kitchen, I saw Reed and Susan picking up a mess on the ground. Just as I made it through the doorway, I heard the dark-haired man say, "I mean, you broke up with me, right?"
Smiling to myself, I entered the living room to see Johnny standing at the sink, trying to turn the sink on with several flames erupting from his torso. "Move!" I yelled, and as he jumped back, I grabbed the sink hose and dosed him with it. When the smoke and steam cleared, his shirt had lots of gaping holes, exposing his chest. Silently I thought, There must be a god, for letting his pants not catch fire. Who knows what could have happened!
"Like what you see?" he asked, gesturing to himself, his panic from before melting back to his usual cockiness.
"Yeah, that shirt looks way cooler after being set on fire. Maybe you should do that to all your stuff!" Going around him, I pulled an apple from the bowl on the counter and took a big bite, raising an eyebrow at his expression.
"You wanna wear it?" he asked, smirking again. I took another bite and flipped him off, sparks leaping from my finger. Backing down, he said, "I'm gonna go talk to Reed about this. Try not to get to lonely without me." As he left, I rolled my eyes and bit into the apple again, smiling to myself once more.
When I finally left the kitchen, I found Reed analyzing one of Victor's skintight suits under a fancy microscope. Mine was ruined, after puking on it during the cosmic storm, but it seemed he had the rest.
"Hey, Reed?" I asked cautiously. He looked up, saw me, and swallowed nervously. "I'm, um, s-" I stopped, taking a breath. "I'm sorry about yesterday. Y'know, the fighting and all." I mentally slapped myself. I sounded like Tessa. "I, uh, wanna finish the tests. But... I hafta be asleep, or sedated, or whatever. I think I might break any machines you have if I, uh... freak out again?" I really sounded like Tess, and prayed that I didn't sound like this every time I apologized.
"Oh, um, okay." He, too, sounded weird, and I realized that I scared him. "I'll have to get Ben to help...," he said, trailing off. I nodded slowly, then sighed. He stood up abruptly, and went off to get his best friend, while I quickly pulled out a little camera from my pocket, stood on a desk, and planted it in a corner, giving it the perfect view of the workspace. Getting down, I fingered the fourth and final camera in my pocket, and mentally braced myself for the testing to begin.
Okay, as you may have not noticed, Striking is the first installment in my extremely long, thought-out series called the Voltage Saga. Voltage being *INSERT SPOILER HERE*, which will be revealed in a coming chapter. The dream Eve had this chapter is vital to the saga, and will be mentioned in the next installment, Shocking (coming soon!). Also, the fact that Tessa is in all of her creepy dreams, the fact that she always has a headache after, and the fact that her dreams sound prophetic will be addressed in coming chapters and installments.
Patience, kiddies! Patience! *INSERT COWERING HERE*
All readers, I ask that you at least give me a emoticon in a review. REVIEWS MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND AND THE CHAPTERS COME FASTER, GUYS! Guess why Tessa is a creepy poet-person, what the glowing blue cube is, and, more importantly, what the dreams mean. Or suggest awesome one-shots for me to write some day... hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Also, I promise, Chapters 11 and 12 will be up within seven days. If not, I give you full permission to come after me with pitchforks and torches.
BTW, sorry for the awfully long AN here. *INSERT MORE APOLAGIES HERE* *ALSO, SPELL CHECK, BECAUSE I CANNOT SPELL APOLOGIES*
I'm off to go terrorize Eve in more crazy ways and possibly blow up some stalkers in creepy white vans. Until next time, my pretties! *INSERT SKIPPING DOWN THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD HERE*