CHAPTER 18-2
630 Words
“Are you two all right?” Mara stood over Ping and Melanie, looking pale and concerned.
“I’m perfectly fine.” Melanie smiled, wiped soot from her upper lip. “Mr. Ping, how are you?”
“I’m okay. That was a little disconcerting, but I have to admit it felt enlightening, like my perspective of myself has been expanded in some way,” Ping said.
Bohannon raised a hand to get their attention. “What was all of that stuff about a dragon? And why was there fire coming out of Melanie’s nose?”
Melanie had a blank look on her face and self-consciously rubbed her nose. “Fire? Out of my nose? What is he talking about?”
“You don’t remember?” Ping asked.
“I don’t generally have physical manifestations of any kind. Are you saying fire came out of me?”
Bohannon pursed his lips in a silent whistle and nodded.
“Like I said earlier, I generally remember the words that are spoken, but I don’t remember what motivates them. I would assume that the reference to a dragon is metaphorical, something that means more to you personally,” Melanie said to Ping.
“That’s it exactly, something metaphorical,” Mara said, nodding at Bohannon.
“That smoke and fire coming out of her face was not metaphorical,” the detective said but decided to let it go after Mara glared at him.
Ping simply smiled and nodded.
Melanie looked at Mara and patted the bricks on the other side of her from where Ping sat. “Mara, come sit with me.”
Mara shook her head and backed up a step. “Oh, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I’m not much of a believer in these sorts of esoteric things. Just ask my mom.”
“I promise it will not hurt,” Melanie said. “I have a strong sense that a reading will help you gain some perspective.”
Mara looked to Ping to back her up. He simply nodded to her and said, “There might be some benefit for you in doing this. It is a little disorienting at first, but there’s something enlightening about it that I can’t put my finger on.”
“I, I don’t know.”
Melanie smiled, trying to reassure her. “We can stop anytime you feel uncomfortable.”
Mara walked over to where Melanie sat and joined her. “What do I do?”
Melanie placed her fingertips on Mara’s temples, laying hands along the sides of Mara’s face. “Like Mr. Ping, breathe deeply and relax. Let the experience flow over you.”
Mara watched as pools of inky, glossy blackness spread over Melanie’s eyes until there was nothing in them except the reflection of Mara’s anxious expression. The smudge of light that made up Mara’s image intensified and expanded, filling Melanie’s eyes with a blue fluorescent liquid that vanquished the darkness. They swirled and glowed from within, casting a dull radiance across Mara’s face.
Melanie gasped and said, “Oh my. Endlessness. I see endlessness.”
“Yes,” Mara whispered.
“Time. Space. Consciousness . . .”
“Yes.”
“You are the maker of reality, the mother of consequence, the one called progenitor.”
Mara flinched but was drawn by the light that shone from Melanie’s eyes onto her face.
“You have entered the Crucible of Creation, and soon the Battle for Existence shall be engaged.”
Mara’s eyes widened. “Tell me what that means.”
Melanie gasped again; her neck muscles tightened, and she gritted her teeth. Her jawline flexed, and her face reddened. The light emitting from her eyes intensified. An expression of fear melted across her features, punctuated by another gasp. “Stalking . . .”
“What?” Mara asked.
“They are stalking you. You can sense it.”
“Who?”
“Misery and joy. Misery and joy.
“What are you talking about?”
“They are drawn to you, and they will come.”
“Who, Melanie? Who?”
“A nemesis, a blight. Your adversary.” Melanie trembled; she scratched at her own arms as if ants were crawling on her.
Mara reached out to her and said, “Who are you talking about?”
Melanie fell backward onto the wide brick step, her entire body rattling as if she were having a seizure.
Mara leaned over Melanie, grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back up. The light in Melanie’s eyes was fading to black, to the inky swirling orbs of tar in which Mara could once again see her reflection. “Melanie, are you okay?”
Melanie’s head lolled onto her right shoulder, and, in a child’s voice, she said, “Mar-ree, Mar-ree! I’m coming!”
- Writer
