Chapter One - A Hole in the World
By: S. N. Deane
Time flows through the clock; creeping into my mind like a headache. English drags on endlessly as I sit in a seminar circle, listening to four girls argue about world peace. My classmates listen, leaning over their desks’ as if they were actually interested. Mrs. Lane, taps her ballpoint pen against the edge of her hallow desk. The sound echoes through the brick walls of my skull, each time magnified. I feel my hands clenching the bottom of the chair; adrenaline pushes against my heart creating a vast hole within the center of my stomach. As I breathe deeply I draw attention to myself, adding more strain. A droplet of blood falls onto my threadbare jeans, settling in. A high pitched noise plagues my ears as last period ends. Pushing through the crowed of jocks and cheerleaders at the end of the main hall, I find the way to sunlight.
Light presses against my eyes. Trying to open them, a raspy voice calls to me, Aurum. Swiftly the anguish was gone. I lean against the wall surveying the mass of people, passing by. I had never felt so relieved. It’s like I was being pulled in two. The Man stands next to me trying to feel what he could not. He reassures me that everything will be okay and that my doubts will soon be resolved. I bring myself together, trying to fathom what just happened. Thoughts bounce about my ingenuity while I trek through the field behind school.
A cool breeze brushes against my skin swaying me. I gaze at the sky; a bird alights from the bow of my right eye. I travel to a small strip mall to a psychologists’ office, where I feel a great deal of fear. I force myself to open the door but I knew if I didn’t go today she would just constrain me until I give up.
The office smells of baby powder and juniper. A shaking woman sits in the corner, whispering to herself. The secretary, a rather large woman smiles at me as I walk through the door and to her desk.
“How ya doin’ honey?” she smacks her lips.
“I’m fine,” I say rapidly, “I have appointment at four with Delafonte. I’m Aurum L---”
“---Ah, I see ya. Well Aurum, ya can have a seat in the waiting room, Dr. Delafonte will be with ya in a just a moment.”
I nod and make my way over to the closet chair to the door. The shaking woman looks at my with big eyes as if she were trying to tell me something. I here for no longer than five minutes and I already hate it. The walls are painted a butterscotch cream and the floor a cherry wood, everything plain. Just as I take out a copy of Dark They were and Golden-Eyed, a tall woman with dark brown hair and an obvious lack of style comes around the corner. She says my name softly greeting me with a touch on the shoulder. I twirl around my fingers and carry it into her office. I take a seat on the plushy yet firm couch. Dr. Delafonte sits in a chair in front of me.
“Hello, Aurum as you have already guessed, I’m Sierra Delafonte.”
A smirk flashes on my face for a brief moment.
“So I hear that you had an incident at school where you said that you saw a eight-foot talk man in the corner of your classroom during counseling. You call him Albino Guy, correct?”
“Yeah,”
“Okay, well can you tell me when this all started? Tell me everything,”
I begin, “It was August 26th, 2006 that was the first time I met him, I was ten years old. It was my first day of fourth grade and things were going good. Mother had told me to call her once I got home, so that’s what I did. I went to my desk in the corner of the room, by the window. I dialed the number and it rang, one time, that’s when He answered. At first thought he was one of her co-workers but I was wrong. He asked me how I was doing, I told him that I wanted to talk to my mother, but he said no. I began thinking freaking out, demanding that I talk to my mother. I peeked out the window, to see if anyone was watching me. In the lower left of the corner from what I could see, there was a man, in a tan trench coat, with a tan blues hat, sitting on the bench, who was looking straight at me. I hung up the phone ran to the front door to make sure that it was locked. I stood by the door, and then the buzzer rang. I didn’t answer it but I could hear my name, said over and over again, all with different tones like a hundred people, trying to contact, me. But then it just stopped.” I take a sip of the water left on the side table for me.
Dr. Delafonte, writes something down in her book. “You’re sure that before that day four years ago, that you hadn’t seen him before?”
“Yes,”
“Your counselor has stated that you said now he comes to you all the time, when did this come about?”
“One day after practice, I was waiting for father and sister to come pick me up. I waiting in the lobby, where everyone else was, but father was late. I peered out of the window and that’s when I saw him, through my reflection in the glass. I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. That was a year ago. Now I talk to him pretty much every day.”
“What do you talk about?”
“Books, I don’t know.
Dr. Delafonte stops writing and looks me right in the eyes, “Does he ever tell you to do things, harmful things to yourself or anything or anyone around you.
“No, if anything he tells me to calm down.”
She nods, “Okay Aurum,”
We spent the next hour talking about Albino Guy and I don’t see how she’s going to be much of a help. I know that, Delafonte won’t understand what she does not know. When I enter the car, mother blinks at me with satisfaction.
…
Night continues without any sign of ending. As I sleep, I dreams a field of enchanting scarlet’s and a blue sky filled with emptiness. A smile appears on a soft place. I sit up looking at the ghastly man. I play with the grass. “It’s so beautiful here.” I let the wind take the blades from my palms.
“Yes, it is a wondrous place, isn’t it?”
I rush up and take his hand; Albino Guy runs with me through the intertwining trees. I laughs as they reach a odd waterfall. “Why can’t I be free like water, huh?”
“You can be.” Albino Guy looks at me and with a sudden motion of his hand, I’m thrown of the edge.
I relax my mind, not wanting to fight it. A tingling sensation of mist washes over me as I fall into the vast hole in the world.
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