Young Writers Society

I shake my head as I wipe water out of my eyes, and Silvia laughs at the wonderful splash she made. Washing dishes has turned into a splash fest, but I think that I am losing this battle. Since reinforcements are not an option, I turn and head off towards the next room, trying to avoid her weapons of massive wetness. I run out of the kitchen and into the dining room where I retrieved plates from, but I realize that I am trapped because I have no idea where I am going in this house. Terrified of Silvia finding me before we manage a truce, I duck under the table and sit, waiting for her to come and find me.

From my seat under the table, I see her feet come around the corner. How did she know I was in here? Well, that is probably because she knows better than I do that I am in a completely new house with no sense of direction, so I have nowhere else to go. Using a childlike logic, I close my eyes and curl into a ball under this table. Surely, if I hide in a really small area and do not look at her, then I will be invisible and she will never be able to find me.

As the seconds tick by, my paranoia starts to kick into overdrive, and I begin to feel as though I am being watched from afar. Clearly, I have some issues with paranoia, but those can be resolved another day. For the moment, I tried to think of other things so that I could remain calm and not be terrified thanks to my own thoughts.

Right when I thought that I had calmed myself down enough, Silvia ducked under the table and tapped my shoulder. Apparently, I am not as calm as I like to think I am. I sit straight up, slam my head into the bottom of the table, and scream like a little girl. As if this is not enough of an embarrassment, I get to make the situation worse when I try to get out from under the table and away from her hand in such a hurry that I manage to crawl forward and get myself stuck under a chair.

Clearly, there is no lower moment than being stuck under a chair under a table and being unable to fix the problem. Accepting utter defeat and feeling as though I could crawl into a hole and be less embarrassed, I slid from my stuck crawl position into a pile on the floor. I watch as Silvia’s feet move around the edge of the table to end up next to my new position. She crouches down next to the table and peeks under the tablecloth at me.

“Um… Did I scare you?” She has a mix of apology and amusement on her face as she says this. This must be a strangely hilarious situation, especially considering she had the pleasure of causing it.

I look up from my half-fetal position under the chair and respond, “Maybe a little bit. But the real question at hand is whether or not you can help me out from under this chair.”

At this statement, Silvia leaned back off her feet rolling from a crouch onto her butt on the floor and starts laughing. For a moment, I thought she would laugh so hard that she would not be able to breathe. As she finally began to control her laughter, I look back at her from my awkward position and give her the most pathetic look I have ever made. My sad look must have succeeded because she proceeds to stand up and wiggle the chair away from the table. I must be really stuck because this process of removing me from the chair took quite a while.

During this terribly embarrassing escape from the chair’s clutches, I wonder what Silvia is thinking. Clearly, she is amused by my actions, but does she really love a man like me?

When she finally wiggles the chair off of me, I stand up and thank god for being able to move again. That is probably the most uncomfortable position to ever be stuck in. As if to answer my previous question from under the chair, Silvia reaches her hand around the back of my head and pulls me towards her. Her other hand slides over my shoulder to rest behind my back and she kisses me. A little taken aback at this change of events, I pause a moment before responding.

Recovering from my shock, I step towards her and wrap my arms around her waist and back. As we stand here and kiss, I begin to realizing just how much I really am falling in love with this girl. The tingling sensation I have with every touch of her is terrifying, yet I know that this must only come from love itself. Somehow, all problems disappear when I am around her. As I begin to relax into her, I start to feel tired and short of breath. I think that this might just be because of the moment, so I ignore this feeling.

Suddenly, my body slumps to the floor and I feel pulled out of my body.

What the heck?!

Of course, it is this again. I had actually forgotten about this nonsense, yet here I am again.

Well, if this works like every other time, then Silvia can hear me. So, here goes nothing. Hi Silvia.

I see briefs flashes of fear across her face, but when she hears her name, she realizes what has happened. She rolls her eyes and sits down next to my now ragdoll body. “Hey Ryan. Sadly, I thought we had gotten to avoid this, but here we go again. Apparently, you are much better at returning to this state than I am.”

Clearly… Well, this sucks. I was enjoying myself. I was even thinking about—

Just kidding.

Silvia raises one eyebrow in a sort of “I know what you were about to say” look, and I am so glad, in this moment, that she cannot see how my body would react to her knowing. Luckily, my body does not react to my emotions, so she cannot see the blush that would have occurred. “Ryan, I know that this is hard because all that you are saying right now is your thoughts, but you have got to try and keep some things that you are thinking a bit quieter. I do not need to know what you were thinking about a moment ago, that is why they are thoughts.”

Fine, I can accept that. Thoughts, stay in my head. No thinking out loud, which could be difficult considering the situation, but I can try. Got it. Okay, so now what do I do?

“Well, I figure we should probably take this chance to see if we can find out anything about this state. Perhaps if you describe how it feels we can figure out more about it?”

That seems logical enough to me. Okay, well, it is quiet. There is no background noise and no sounds at all. The only thing I can hear is my mumbling self and you. I am not sure if I can hear you because I can hear anyone, or if I can hear you because you have experienced this also.

“Good point. I have never had the problem of hearing other people because I never had other people around. Okay, continue.”

Well, I can understand you. Which, I know, sounds weird, but I can know what you are thinking and feeling. This is only partially though, not like you can hear everything I think now. Like our first meeting, I could tell that you loved that man and I could understand what you were thinking and feeling, but nothing else.

“That is a new one. I have no explanation at all for that one. I guess continue.”

Let me see. Actually, I can see. I can see everything around, including my oddly positioned body, but it is all a bit blurry. That is what is weird about it. Everything also seems to have a grey fuzziness around it. This is almost like all of my senses are trying to work, but they cannot really do it. Actually, if I think about it is almost like—

I am suddenly feeling very sick, like I have ridden on a roller coaster twelve times in a row, and I am now lying on the ground. My body should not be able to be positioned like this; I am not this flexible. I am confused, but I soon realize that I am back in my body. The weird experience has ended, but I am not able to explain why.

“Ryan, you’re back. What made you return to your body?”

As confusion spread across both of our faces, I slowly attempted to sit up. I lean back against the wall and respond, “No clue. That is the longest I have ever stayed like that, so maybe there is a time limit to it?”

“That is the only explanation we have right now, so I guess we will go with it.”

With this final response, the sick feeling got the best of me, and I threw up right there on the floor. As if nothing else could make this day worse, I have just thrown up on the dining room floor of the girl I just met. Clearly, this day is horrible. I have made her cry from a game of twenty questions, gotten stuck under a dining room chair, and got sick on the floor. Thinking that I could not sink any lower than I already have, I look at Silvia.

“Come on, Ryan. How about you clean up and take a nap?” With this and her help, I get off the floor and head off to the kitchen.

Once I get myself a little less messy, she leads me back up to the bedroom I first awoke in, and I lay down in bed. Sleep suddenly feels like the best idea ever, so I roll over onto my side and curl up into a ball. As I lay here, I begin to think about that experience, the experience. Sudden realization struck me, and I knew what I had not finished my thought with before returning to my body. The experience feels exactly like—

And then I passed out.