Here’s chapter-three!
THREE
Heather stood in the corner. She did not move. In fact, she had not changed her position in almost three days. She watched the light filter through the window, and then she watched it retract.
Even when the Guardians passed through the portal carrying the limp body, she remained still. She watched as they set her down, and she gasped for air. She wondered where she had gone, and what it would be like to travel beyond this world. The girl they called Ava awoke, unaware of her surroundings. She had fear in her eyes, but the man called Gideon smiled at her, and she calmed.
Heather loved the way Gideon smiled at Ava. She watched his face. The way his mouth turned, and the glint in his eyes. She longed for someone to look at her that way. Paul had laughed with her, talked to her, but he could not see her. He could not smile at her while gazing into her eyes.
She left him. She wanted him to love her, but she knew she had to find her way home. The problem was she had no idea where she belonged. She was caught between worlds. This placed that she wandered was no longer her home, but there was nothing else.
Heather stared at Ava. She wanted what she had; the ability to travel. If Heather could go to another world, she would be able to find her home or someplace more suitable.
She watched Gideon gently lift Ava and embrace her in his arms. Heather ached for any attention. She pushed herself tighter into the corner; she could feel the rough, cold wall pass through her, but she did not care. She whimpered. Ava turned her head and looked directly into Heather’s eyes. She had heard her.
Heather gasped. No one had made eye contact with her in a long time. She leaned away from the corner, still maintaining contact with her hands. She needed the security. She did not take her eyes off of Ava. She thought she saw sadness in her eyes, but then Ava did something entirely unexpected. Her eyes turned from sad to afraid, and then she mouthed the word, “help.”
Heather lost sight of Ava as they descended the stairs to the lobby below. She shook her head, did she just imagine it, or did Ava just ask for help? She closed her eyes and pictured Ava in that last moment. Heather knew she did not imagine it, but what was she supposed to do?
Heather glanced towards the portal. It appeared to be just an ordinary window made of extraordinary pieces of glass. She gazed back towards the stairs. They were gone.
“Do I go,” she muttered. “No, no I cannot.”
“What would I do, before,” she asked. “I would have gone. I would have taken control.”
She looked at the glass. She eased away from the corner. But she did not go, nor did she go down. She stood still.
“Go,” she said. “Why are you afraid?”
“I am not afraid,” she bantered back and forth with herself. “I am cautious. I know what happens when you take a chance. You die.”
“You are already dead,” she said. “Go.”
She stepped towards the portal. She brought her hands to the glass. She could not feel anything, which was not unusual. She had hoped that her touch would be significant. That when her hands met the beautifully colored glass a sensation would replace her constant numbness.
She pushed her hands and her head through the glass. She did not see a magical light. No, all she saw were the trees and lawn beyond the walls.
“How do they do it,” she asked?
She pulled herself back into the building. She examined the window, not leaving out any detail. She backed up and ran towards the window. She had watched Ava leap into the portal.
She jumped. She opened her eyes and saw the stars through the trees. She drifted down to the ground, landing with ease. She closed her eyes. Her heart ached for anything that would make her feel human again. She reached down to the ground.
She opened her eyes. Her hands were caressing the dewy grass, but she could not feel their blades. She did not feel the cool wetness of the dew. She watched as each piece passed through her flesh in a misty tangle of existence.
She thought about Paul. He wanted her to stay, but why? She could offer him nothing, for she consisted of no more than nothing. Then she thought of Ava. Was she in danger? Surely, Gideon would not harm her. No. she had seen the look in his eyes. He adored her, and Ava would be safe with him. So who was she supposed to save Ava from?
Something happened; a thought occurred to her that Paul and Ava might be closer to her than she could have imagined. She could not feel touch, cold, hot, or any other physical sensation, but she could sense changes in her environment. She also possessed an acute awareness of others like her, and she felt something approaching Lakeside.
Her curiosity lured her to leave the safety of the campus. She wandered through the tree lined grounds and came upon the road. She hesitated. The sensation intensified. She felt her soul tighten and tremble.
“Paul,” she moaned. “This must be why Ava was terrified.”
The more she concentrated on his image, the more upsetting the sensation became to her. She knew she did not have much time.
She stopped. The streets were still. The sun climbed above the horizon, illuminating the night. She felt the presence meander along the pavement. It pushed back the light. She could not see it. She could not hear it, but every part of her vibrated with its presence. She lifted herself above the town and gazed down upon the seemingly peaceful community. The early morning sun glistened on the calm surface of the lake. She could see a dark shadow, like a river of death intricately woven into every part of the town. She zoomed down to get a better look.
It stopped right in the middle of town, leaving a perfect empty square. She hovered above the shadow, but only for a moment before it began to dissipate, sending a thin veil of its existence across the entirety of Lakeside.
It was not black, as she suspected. She saw swirls of silver and gray, and hints of blue beneath the surface. The closer she got, the more intense her body vibrated. She shuddered, trying to shake the increasing feeling of discomfort and dread.
But then something unexpected happened; it responded to her fear. The colors swirled in frenzy directly underneath her. The silver reached upward, breaking the surface of the shadow with a sharp, cold hiss.
At first she gazed at the smooth tendrils as they approached in a playful and inquisitive manner. She even had to resist the urge to reach out to touch them, but then she saw her reflection in their mesmerizing surface.
It wasn’t just her distortion, but the deep feeling of despair that seeped into her soul that made aware of the danger the presence presented.
Heather lifted herself above the street, trying to avoid the intruder. She watched it spread and seep into every nook, every cranny. She waited until the light forced the darkness deeper into the shadows. The heavy dread had eased, and she knew Lakeside would be safe until nightfall.
She had one thought; she needed to warn Paul. She drifted towards his place. She did not know what she would say, but she knew she needed to say it quick.
Miria
E.P.I.C., Episode Two
Star Gazing
By: Miria Masdan
Published by Miria Masdan
Copyright 2015 by Miria Masdan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied, distributed, transmitted, reproduced, or otherwise made available, in any known or future form, or by any known or future means, including without limitation electronic, digital, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author, except for short quotations in a book review. Any person who does commit any unauthorized act in relation to this book may be liable to criminal and civil actions for damages.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, living or dead, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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