Clever Reflections

NINE- Cinna

I stared intensely at the items spread around me in the dirt They stared back. At least-the ones with the ridiculously terrifying button eyes and the cat did, and judgmentally at that. The other things sat there, being if not staring. Before today, I hadn't known inanimate objects could be judgmentally. There isn't any today, or yesterday, or tomorrow, Noir's voice echoed in my head. Time is an illusion. I shook my head, refocusing.

I stared at the objects before me. Stared and stared and stared and willed something to happen. A mug of water; a flickering candle; a thin piece of wire that Jeb had wordlessly coiled into a spring then re-straightened by touching it; a light bulb; and frowning; three button-eyed dolls that looked different every time my gaze returned to them; and the cat, who was definitely, consciously staring back at me, belittling me with its slitted, surreptitious gaze. I gave the cat my most heinous death stare. Its tail flicked but otherwise the thing was still as stone. It didn't even blink.

Reaching forward, I sank my fingertips into the water, then watched the droplets grow fat and slip back into the mug. I ran my finger through the flame, once again willing something, anything to just happen already. It isn't about willing, persay, more like expecting, Noir silently reminded me. It is the eradication of any doubt. It is complete belief in one simple outcome, and the impossibility of any other outcome. Willing has to do with wanting or thinking. What you're trying to do requires knowing with absolute certainty. Wanting is an illusion. I rolled my eyes. According to Noir, everything was an illusion. Time was an illusion. Gravity was an illusion. Pretty much everything in the physical world was an illusion. Thoughts. Sight. Flavours. Age. Pain. Everything.

It gave me a headache to try and come to terms with all of Noir's information. The woman was a faucet stuck on high, power-washing food bits off of dishes that asked only to be rinsed. She had no restraint, but we never tried to stop her because when Noir was talking, you listened. She was the epitome of lecturing finesse; the professor of professors. She poured power and influence into every word, every phrase like it mattered, and never seemed to run out of energy. When Noir was talking, you listened, because anything she said might be the last thing she said, and how awful would it be if you missed that?

I cleared my throat, shook my head, then shook out my arms and repositioned my criss-crossed legs beneath me. I shoved my glasses up the bridge of my nose and breathed deeply. I picked up the light bulb. Holding it up, I closed my eyes, and pictured it nonchalantly. It was old-fashioned and grungy, actually round with a twisted wire on the inside. I thought about nothing, and suddenly it was there, behind my eyes, clear as day. I didn't examine it. I wondered what was for dinner, and accepted its presence. A second later, A switch bobbed by, and I knew it was for the bulb but I didn't care. I thought I maybe heard a noise, but it was distant and didn't matter. With the mental equivalent of a shrug, I idly flipped the switch, and of course the light would turn on when I did.

A blast of bright light turned my eyelids red and my eyes flew open in surprise, an action which I quickly regretted, as the world around me was lit up like a christmas tree. Like a christmas tree inside a giant string light, with one of those dentist's super-bright lights that they make you wear stupid Hello Kitty sunglasses for. It looked like the world when I first opened my eyes in this place, but all of the colour was replaced with searing, white light.

I leapt to my feet, squealed bavely and dropped the light bulb. I heard a crack and saw the broken glass in between the thudding sunspots blanketing my vision. The world spun crazily. I liquified, crumpling to the ground, barely registering the pounding feet as they came closer. As my gaze went completely black, I wondered how those people could possibly be running with the world so sideways, and decided they must be magic.