Dark Daze (2 page)

“I feel kinda…” A low sting started in her
head just above her spine.

“Sit down.”

What was happening?

“Brie, sit—”

Her vision flipped upside down. Furniture
hung over her head, ceiling tiles seemed to line the floor. Then
everything folded. Her mother’s eyes and mouth sat atop each other.
Furniture rested on ceiling tiles. Just as the two melded, the room
slid away, and her mind went with it.

She floated through the nothing, unable to
move, then she was looking out at the lake. At the same time, it
didn’t seem like her. The world around her felt foreign. Even she
herself seemed foreign, like she was too tall.

She tried to close her eyes, but they didn’t
close. She wanted to turn her head, look around, but nothing
happened. She didn’t have control over any of her movements…or over
the body she was in. Was it her body? Something inside told her the
answer was no.

“
Roge, come inside now!” Her father called
from somewhere nearby.

Not gonna happen, Dad.
Her brother’s voice
came through the unnatural stillness, startling her. It almost
seemed to be inside her head.

Was he nearby as well? Why didn’t he want to
come inside? Was he hot too? But she wasn’t hot anymore. She
couldn’t feel anything. Her head moved without her permission, but
the world was abysmally black no matter where she looked. She
couldn’t even see her body, if it was hers. A rending sound made
her head move, again out of her control.

Roge? Mom? Dad?
She tried to say the
words, but nothing came out.

Pure light ripped the sky open, letting a
flash of bright white through the immense black. Something
shimmered in the fissure. A dark form fluttered at its center,
breaking through the sky with a loud crack. Her body moved back a
step, stumbled, and fell.

“
Oh shit.” The curse formed on her lips,
but her brother’s voice came out.

Her head hit something hard, a rock perhaps,
and snapped forward. There was no pain, but she saw her body…no,
her brother’s body as she fell.

Is this Roge’s body? But how could that
be?

Then she realized she knew things…He’d broken
her doll when she was five—the one he’d sworn he never touched,
he’d stolen a kiss from Jenny Engelmann two weeks ago and two
hundred dollars from their father’s wallet this morning.

Brie’s vision blurred. Her hands lifted to
wipe her eyes, and blood covered the calloused male fingers she
held up. She swayed, her eyes closed, and she fell. Her head
slammed into the rock with a nauseating wet sound this time.

Pain like a hammer smashed through her brain.
At the same moment, faster than it had gone, the cabin came
back.

“Brie!” Her mother knelt beside her, cheeks
wet. “Oh, my baby!”

Her mother rubbed a cool cloth across Brie’s
face where the flesh burned again.

“Mom?” Brie blinked. “I just had the
strangest dream about—”

“Roge!” Her father’s scream came from the
night beyond the closed door. “Oh God, Roge. No!”

Her mother stood and ran to the door,
throwing it, and the screen, open. The wood frame hit the side of
the house with a sickening thud.

“What’s wrong, John?” Her mother put a hand
to her forehead, blocking out the intense light coming in from a
growing breach in the dark sky. “Is Roge—”

Brie struggled to her feet as her mother
teetered and fell. It couldn’t be true. Roge wasn’t dead. Brie’s
stomach whirled, like a carnival ride, and threatened to make her
lose her lunch. She clenched her jaw to calm the churning.

Her father stepped through the door—his eyes
red-rimmed and his mouth slack. Her sixteen-year-old brother lay
cradled in her father’s arm, limp as a sleeping baby, but his pale
face dripping vivid torrents of red. Brie dropped to her knees, and
her stomach won the battle.

Brie plucked a newspaper from the open
distribution box and let the lid slam shut. The headline,
Amazing New Technology Could Make Your Car Obsolete
, had
drawn her attention. The story beneath said “Scientists are on the
verge of an amazing breakthrough. Travel by particle
redistribution—”

“Seriously? When are they going to realize
the connection?” Brie looked around and folded the paper. The world
had seen so many advances in ten short years, and no one wanted to
admit it might be unusual. That perhaps some people’s intelligence
might have increased at exponential rates since Dark Day, as her
father’s had.

Just like the vivid pain of her experience
ten years before had faded, so too had the stories. Tales of Dark
Day—as the media had named it—started on page one of every
newspaper
. A “Dark Day”
-
Thousands upon thousands dead
or institutionalized during horrible worldwide blackout.
Soon
they were relegated to back pages.
Astronomers and
Astrophysicists argue over cause of “Dark Day” phenomenon.
A
few years later, they disappeared from the newspaper altogether.
Now the tabloids were the only remaining proof something unusual
had happened.
Local woman claims her dog talks to her ever since
her harrowing Dark Day experience.
Even those articles had
nearly stopped.

Too bad her experiences hadn’t. She still
found herself trapped in the minds of relative strangers. And she
still had nightmares about her brother’s death. She sighed and
tossed the newspaper into the passenger seat of her car.

Perk Up, a funky café near her home, hosted
an assortment of chairs in different colors and shapes. Unusual
pictures, clocks, and all manner of eclectic and colorful items
lined cheery yellow walls. On any other day, this would be a
welcome sight, but today—

“Heyya Brie.” The pimple-faced teen waved
from behind the counter. At twenty-four, she wasn’t old enough to
be his mother, but she could be his much older sister. Brie had
been a bit chunky since her brother died, and while she might not
get the attention a supermodel did, she could do without Todd
watching her. So awkward—almost like your little brother having a
crush on you.

Yuck.

Everything taken into account, he was a nice
kid though. She smiled, trying not to show her fatigue, or the pain
which had been throbbing in her psychic spot since she’d awoken.
“Hi, Todd.”

She ordered a low fat Mocha Latte, her winter
usual. Todd had memorized it early on, and handed it to her as soon
as she asked. She gave him what she hoped was a warm grin as she
grabbed the offered drink, ignoring the way he’d positioned the cup
so her fingers would have to touch his to take it. She grabbed her
i-com and sat in a chair shaped like a hand.

“Let me clean up for you.” Her admirer rushed
over with a wet cloth, rubbing down the table.

“Thank you, Todd.”

ETA?
she texted Mandy.

Todd stared at her, the all but forgotten
cloth moving in slow circles over the table. A painful tugging
sensation, her psychic twinge as her mother called it, filled her
head again. She glanced away to hide her wince from the young man’s
scrutiny. Living with her twinge wasn’t always easy. Especially
when others started asking about her unusual behavior.

She ignored the spasm and checked her i-com,
despite the fact that it said
you gotta read this
every time
she received a message. She crossed her legs, impatient for her
friend’s response, but regretted the move the instant she’d done
it. Todd’s eyes just about bugged out of his head as her knee
length skirt skimmed up her thigh, his gaze glued to the exposed
skin. She adjusted herself in the seat so her skirt covered the
distracting patch of pink.

Putting a cool hand to her warm forehead, she
hoped she wouldn’t flip. The out of body “visits” disturbed and
tired her when she was alone. In
public
, she sometimes fell
or stared ahead in a vacant fashion, which every so often caused
people to call the paramedics.

If only he’d stop staring.

“You gotta read this.”

She slid open the i-com and read.
Todd’s
about 2 keel over. Lol.

Brie glanced out the large front window of
the tiny shop where Mandy struggled to get up out of the driver
seat. Mandy shut the door to her little red compact car, one hand
on her swollen belly, and winked when she caught Brie’s eye.

“Thank you, Todd.” She swiped her card in the
machine at her table, tipping him ten credits. “Can you get a hot
chocolate for my friend? Keep the rest for the fine cleaning
job.”

Braces showing, Todd nodded and ran back to
the counter to get the order.

“You’re gonna kill that boy one day, you
know.” Mandy crinkled her nose. “Can you die from your eyes bugging
right out of your head?”

“Why is it I never can remember to wear jeans
and turtlenecks to Perk Up?” Or at least wear dark glasses on days
when she might flip.

“Maybe we’ll pick up a turtleneck when we go
shopping today. No wait, the boy’s got it too bad.” Mandy shook her
head. “You’d have to wear granny clothes to avoid getting his blood
pumping. Even then he’d probably want some.”

“Ah, youth.” Brie glanced heavenward.

As Mandy squatted down into the chair across
from Brie, Todd rushed back with the hot chocolate, sparing Mandy a
single glance.

“You know, I heard eighteen-year-olds are
stallions in the sack.”

“No. Mandy.” Brie lifted a brow, smirking.
“Don’t you dare even suggest it.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Well don’t.”

“All right.” Mandy leaned back, rubbing a
hand over her rounded belly. “But on a serious note, I do have a
friend. Well, he’s a friend of Paul’s really. Anyhow, he’s perfect
for you.” She grasped her cup, taking a sip.

Brie took advantage of the silence, not
wanting to deal with Mandy’s matchmaking when a flip could be
looming. “No, no. I don’t need to be set up.”

“He’s a real estate agent. Works a lot.”

“You’ve been the consummate matchmaker since
you got knocked up, but I’m not looking to be matched. I’m doing
just fine on my own. Now let’s stop talking about it and go get
that turtleneck.”

Mandy’s voice turned singsong as she said,
“Super hot. I mean really, when I first met him, I wished—just for
a minute mind you—I wished I was single. What a butt he has on
him.”

“Mandy!”

Mandy struggled to her feet. “Well, he does.
Nicely rounded. He must work out too.” She lowered her voice to a
conspiratorial whisper as Brie stood. “He’s got a body that makes
me wish he were a nudist.”

“Stop it, Mandy.” Brie fought her lip, which
wanted to curl. “You are so bad.”

“Pregnancy hormones.” Mandy’s eyebrows
waggled.

“Either way, bodies aren’t everything.”
Especially not hers. The lingering smile melted as she held the
door for Mandy. “My last boyfriend was pretty hot, but he was also
vindictive, selfish, and not too bright. And he kept trying to tell
me I was crazy for believing in the unusual and for being nice to
people in general.”

A soft breeze cooled the unseasonal warmth of
the day, but didn’t calm the flip-induced heat scorching Brie’s
face.

“That’s why you need to give my friend a
shot.” Mandy breathed out hard. “Look, you haven’t dated anyone
since Tom. Not all men are like your ex. Heaven knows my Paul
isn’t. You just have to get back on the horse—well, the
stallion.”

Mandy didn’t understand what evils lurked in
the dark. Brie desperately wanted a normal life with a handsome
husband to kiss her every night and cherubic children to light up
her days. As a woman, it was hard enough when one didn’t meet the
social ideal, but all the rest of her problems made love a
practical impossibility.

Brie had seen so much since Roge’s death.
Heart and gut wrenching things she would never forget. Her ex’s
personality wasn’t the real reason she avoided men, nor was her
weight. The flipping wasn’t exactly conducive to an honest and
loving relationship. She’d been forced to tell one old boyfriend
she was epileptic, and she hated building a relationship on lies.
If only she could be honest without having to fear the
consequences.

Seeming to take her silence as wavering,
Mandy continued, “He has a well trained dog too. Cutest dog you’ve
ever seen. I think he trained Buster himself.” She inclined her
head as they walked, looking at Brie, eyebrow arched. “He makes
good money.”

Brie opened the door to The Chic Boutique
next to Perk Up. This was going to be a long afternoon.

“I know.” She picked up a polka dot halter
and held it against her chest. “So did the last guy you set me up
with. That was a real joke.”

Mandy wrinkled her nose and shook her head.
“You’ve always had a sixth sense about people, so talk to him. I
know you’ll like him.”