Still listening to her music, Vicky watched with curious eyes as Brendan walked past her. She noticed that his face was wrinkled as though there was an intense smell in the room. She sniffed the air, but didn't get a whiff of anything abnormal. She then paused and subtly smelled herself. All she inhaled was the scent of the new perfume she had bought the previous day. She knew Brendan's nose was sensitive, but not that sensitive. Confused, she looked back at him inquisitively.
Brendan unlocked the window and opened it, but what he got was not the result he expected: all the scents from outside hit him like a tidal wave. The smell of trees, dry grass, car fumes, cigarette smoke, and nearby animals shot into his nose. Combined with the smell from his room, he felt as though he was drowning. He quickly covered his nose, feeling his cold touch against his warm face, and stumbled back from the window as though someone had violently pushed him. He felt the cold air from outside sting his warm lungs and he started to gasp. But this only made things worse because he could taste everything he could smell. It was like he had eaten them all, and they had left a horrendous aftertaste in his mouth. The sweet taste of flowers; the savoury flavour of old pizza; the bitter hint of grass. They all swirled around in his mouth and stung his tongue. It was putrid. He desperately wanted to close the window, but he felt nauseous. It was too much. Too many odors, too many flavours. The room began to spin, he was overloading. He felt his insides churning and that’s when he couldn’t do it anymore. He fell to his knees and threw up.
He felt the burning sensation of the repugnant bodily fluid pass through his chest and ignite his throat as it exited his mouth. His vomit-coated lips burned while his tongue sizzled. He could taste every meal he had eaten that day with accuracy, but it was mixed in with the acidic flavour of his stomach juices.
Seeing this unfold in front of her, Vicky quickly pulled off her headphones and kneeled down in front of Brendan.
"Oh shit! Brendan, what's wrong?"
He would have answered, but with everything going on he had forgotten that his hearing aids were still off. However, he didn't need to hear her words. After one quick glance at Vicky he could see how her muscles tensed and twitched in her face; how each strand of her blue-streaked, brown hair fell across her face as she hastily moved; how she looked at him with her light-blue eyes filled with concern. No, he didn’t need to hear her question because he could see it.
"Window...Close it...Quick..." He said as vomit-infused saliva dripped from his mouth while he still gasped.
Vicky didn't question it or waste any time as she got up and slammed the window shut. Unfortunately, though it did stop the flow of air, the smell of outside still lingered in his room, and he couldn't stand it. He threw up once again.
"Brendan, talk to me! What's wrong?" She said in a panic.
Again, he didn't answer. She then remembered the hearing aids, so she quickly reached over to his ears to switch them on.
While she did so, Brendan felt the quickened thumping of her heartbeat through the tender warmth of her finger tips as they brushed against his earlobes. As soon as she flicked one on, he felt everything around him suddenly dim, and once the second one was turned on, everything dimmed again. It was as if someone had snuffed out a blazing fire and all that was left was a small, tender flame. The smell and taste of the scents became much weaker, but still present, and colors around him became less vibrant. Though he felt like he had finally surfaced from being held under water, deep down he couldn’t help but feel like the world just became a lot more boring.
His breathing slowly normalized to Vicky's content.
"Jeez...Are you okay?" Vicky asked letting out a sigh. "What the hell was that? One minute you were by the window, next you're on the ground throwing up!"
"Sorry about that..." He responded, head down, still trying to catch his breath.
Vicky reached over to his desk and grabbed a few tissues so he could wipe the remnants of vomit from his lips. She passed him the tissues and as he raised his head to grab them, he happened to notice the little spider he had seen earlier crawling on the back of Vicky's other hand. It was a small and utterly harmless thing, but to Vicky it would be an eight-legged nightmare. With semi-wide eyes, Brendan could only hope that she wouldn't see it. It was close to making its way off of her hand and he didn't want to alarm her by bringing attention to it. But to his dismay, fate was not on his side. Even though he tried to keep a straight face, he was exhausted and had let his guard down because Vicky noticed his gaze. Curious, she followed his eyeline down to her hand and saw it: her nightmare.
Vicky let out a chilling scream that made Brendan cringe and cover his ears in pain. He watched as she fell back and frantically brushed herself off. The spider had definitely been crushed or thrown off, but she wiped herself off everywhere. Then, like something out of one of Alyson's comic books, Vicky's light-blue eyes suddenly turned grey, and her skin became translucent.
Shocked, Brendan tried to grab Vicky's attention but she wasn't listening and, right before his eyes, she disappeared. All that remained were the frantic movements of her floating clothes.
Brendan, trying to find an answer to what was happening but coming up with nothing, quickly tried to grab her arms to stop her from moving about, but he wasn't sure where they were. He had her moving clothes as a reference, but since she was wearing a tank-top he had no idea where her arms could possibly be flailing until he felt a sudden smack to his eye. Brendan went tumbling back, holding his right eye in pain. But by having that eye closed, he felt all his other senses greatly increase. They weren't as strong as earlier, but it still felt like someone had poured a small amount of fuel on that little flame. Vicky's screaming became much louder, and the throbbing pain of his eye became more intense as if he was repeatedly being punched in that particular spot. Not only that, but while most people would have shrugged off the fall he just took like it was nothing, he felt the pain of it like he had been tackled to the ground by a professional football player. And as his face touched the, now very cold floor, he felt rough grains of dirt scratch against his cheek. Through his untouched eye, he was momentarily blinded by the sudden increase in brightness but, again, his eye quickly adjusted. He could no longer see the intricate spider webbing, but he could still perfectly read the ingredients on the cereal box. He could also taste and smell once more the blend of pleasant and unpleasant aromas in his room, which made him dizzy, but this time he could keep his stomach in check. Yes, his world had become colorful once again, but he undecided on whether that was good or bad.
Feeling that she had hit something, Vicky slowed her frantic movements to see what it was and saw Brendan on the ground holding his eye. Realizing what she had done, Vicky stopped her erratic flailing and moved back over to him. She extended her hand to reach out to him, but nothing was touching him. She knew she had definitely raised her hand, and it was indeed touching his shoulder, but there was nothing there. Nothing at all. She looked at the rest of her arm, but there was nothing but flooring. She looked at her other arm, then her feet, and then she raised her pants... Nothing. All there was were clothes shaped to her body, and the sensation that something was undoubtedly there.
Looking up at where Vicky's head should be, Brendan heard a petrifying scream.
Comments (0)
See all