Unchained

Chapter Eleven

The next day, I woke up a lot earlier than I normally would. Usually, after getting home from the hospital, I'd wake up at about 9:30 or even 10. But this day, I found myself waking up at 3:30. 

I was feeling a bit dizzy, so I tried to close my eyes and sleep it off. After the dizziness stuck in my head, I got up and got myself a drink of water. Ryker started to whine at my door so I let him in. He sat happily and stared at me while I washed my face. My head was still spinning so I flopped back into my bed, hoping to fall asleep but it wouldn't go away. Did I need to throw up or something? Even after I hung around the toilet, the dizziness remained and no barf felt like coming up. It was like being sick, but with only a headache. A painful one.

I downed some water and hopped back in bed, hoping I'd fall asleep and this unusual dizziness would pass. After about ten minutes, I pulled out my phone and watched some Youtube for a while. When the battery ran low on that, I tried to work on some homework but I couldn't stop thinking of Sean. That got me thinking of David and how he gave me roses and how he said we could talk. It was comforting to think of, it made me smile and thinking of his face made my heart skip a beat. It was crazy, I know.

An hour had passed and my headache still ached. I couldn't even sleep without feeling like I was being chopped up in a blender. While I didn't want to wake up my parents and tell them, what else could I do? I could go to the medicine cabinet and get some Tylenol, but what if I overdosed myself? Or one of my parents woke up and thought I was doing drugs? Or something? I just couldn't risk it.

But I couldn't last like this. I felt awful! So I stood up, pulled on some sweat pants, pulled my hair into a ponytail and stuffed my phone into my pocket. "C'mon, Ryker," I whispered quietly and opened the door into the hallway. Ryker happily trotted behind me, licking my feet which reminded me to grab some socks. I stopped by the laundry room, grabbed my socks and Ryker's leash from the kitchen. Then, I slowly opened the door to the garage. That was the door that didn't creak as loud as all of the other doors. I slid into the garage and out the door from in there that lead to my backyard. Then, Ryker in his leash, I started to walk.

I don't know why I did, I just felt like I needed to get some cool night air to cool myself down. While my headache blurred, it felt good to feel the earth beneath me and just...

Suddenly, my vision exploded into several colors. My head spun faster and I bent down, worried I would throw up. I felt Ryker licking my face but I couldn't even see him. My vision was blurry and colorful and I couldn't see straight and my head, it was spinning and spinning and...

Oh no. Was that thing happening to me again? Where I could see through things? No, not now, please, not now...

I bit my lip, squeezing my eyes shut, hoping that I wouldn't start seeing through my dog now. That would be weird. And I did not want to see throug the neighbor's windows. Heaven knows what people could be doing in there. 

I opened my eyes, hoping it went away...

I gasped.

I could see through my neighbor's house. I saw their garage, their cars, their kitchen, their unfinished basement, the people themselves sleeping soundly on the floor for some reason...

My breathing grew raggedy and panicked as I looked at my hands and saw the blood and veins and muscles inside of them. I looked at Riker and saw the inside of his furry body, too.

I could see through things again.

I closed my eyes, biting my lip. Please, I couldn't have this happen to me now! I was so dizzy and I needed to find my way home, please... 

I started to stumble forward, maybe I could find a bench or something. I moved my hands out in front of me, hoping to feel it. I let go of Ryker's leash and I didn't hear him wander off.

My hands moving around in front of me, as I blindly closed my eyes and tried to cry it off, they connected with a cold, hard light pole and I leaned against it, sinking to the ground as I squeezed on it hard, trying to make my strange vision go away. I squeezed hard and hard and hard, hoping my strength would vanquish the vision in front of me.

I let out a breath and opened my eyes. Would it be gone? Or would it - 

The vision was gone, all right. I could see perfectly normal now. But I screamed, because the light pole was falling down all of the sudden.

I jumped backwards, just in time before the pole hit the ground with a loud CLANK . I stared at it, wondering how it had fallen. Had I leaned too hard against it? Was I too heavy? Or was it just weak, waiting for someone to correctly hit it so it could fall down, ending its life?

I crouched down, examining the base of the pole. Maybe it was too old or something. But then my eyes slithered up to where I was squeezing it in terror. And then I started to panic.

The part of the pole where I was squeezing was completely bent in. 

I could see the marks where my hands were. Where my fingers were.

Had I squeezed the pole? So hard that it fell?

No, there was not a human that strong. 

But could it have already been like that when I found it?

No, it would have already fallen down.

So what happened?

I was too scared to think about it. With my normal vision, I turned around and ran home, into my house and under my covers, and fell asleep without realizing my headache was gone and that Ryker was, too.