The Starseed Experiment

Chapter Seven, Part Two

Jezebel stared with wide eyes at the fire. There was no saving her home, the fire engulfed it completely. She quickly called nine-one-one. She didn't wait around for them, getting back in her car and driving straight to her mother's house. When she got there it was the middle of the night and Julia looked very surprised, and tired. What Julia didn't expect was for Jezebel to tell her everything, speaking fast and chaotically. And when she said her house was on fire Julia didn't seem concerned that it was, instead exclaiming that it was Jezebel who started the fire, that she was crazy. Julia didn't believe anything she said. And that's when police showed up at the door, saying they were looking for Jezebel. That they agreed that she probably started the fire and was crazy. Jezebel was horrified. She may have been crazy, but she didn't start the fire.

The cops took her to a mental ward where she was left to fight for her sanity, speaking just as quickly about everything that had happened. Of everything that was going on. That people were watching her and messing with her head. Of course no one believed her, and diagnosed her with several mental disorders. It hurt her, to think that no one would ever believe her, that she would be stuck in this place. She didn't want to be seen as insane, didn't want to be insane at all.

She laid in bed at night, tired from the pills they gave her, but she fought sleep just long enough to talk to her inner voice, "Am I crazy?"

"No."

She cried herself to sleep most nights. Some nights the fire inside her came back, arousing and comforting all at once. She knew what true love felt like.

One morning, about two days into the stay, a psychiatrist brought her to a room to talk.

"So I hear you think people are watching you. Can you explain that a bit more?" he asked with indifference, staring at her almost blankly; his voice robotic.

She wrung her hands together in her lap, feeling scared and self-conscious. What could she say other than the truth? She nodded meekly, "Yes, I feel people watching me. In the corners of my room. Like they're... astral projecting."

The doctor nodded his head upward with a, "Hm." He wrote down what she said, "Astral... projecting..." He looked back up to her, "And you think celebrities are talking to you?"

"Yes. They're messing with me. I think one of them is my soulmate."

More, "Hmm..." as he wrote it down. "And who is that?"

She flushed and looked down at her hands, "I don't want to say."

"Alright." He tilted his head, "And you think you're an alien?"

She froze, how did he know that? She hadn't mentioned that part. "Yes..." she breathed.

"Mm..." And he wrote.

He let her go. She went straight to the television room, where they were playing- Roland Asher. No way. It's like they knew she was going to mention him as her soulmate. She watched him, captivated. It made the place seem more bearable. She hung on his words as he spoke, "Come home with me to the stars." Her heart leaped, it was like he was talking to her, the way he looked at the camera. She wanted to believe he was talking to her. And even more so, she had just been asked if she thought she was an alien. She'd been told in her dreams that she had to go home. She wanted to go home with him to the stars.

Speaking of such things... The doctor appeared once again, beckoning her to go with him. He led her to a large white room and her anxiety spiked. Was she going to be kept in here? But there were two chairs, maybe not. He told her to sit in one and he sat in the other, facing her, staring her down with his blank gaze. "Tell me again. Do you think you're an alien?"

She opened her mouth but all that came out at first was a choked out, "Uh." She didn't understand why she was being asked again. And everything that was said sounded loud somehow, like their voices were being amplified. She tried to speak again, "Yes." It sounded so loud.

"Thank you. You may go."

She stood up and walked out the door in a daze. She had an inkling, a feeling that there had been someone listening in. That they personally wanted to hear her say she was an alien. She went back to her room and got into her bed. She stared up at the ceiling for a moment before closing her eyes. She thought hard. Thought about why they might want to know if she was an alien. She thought about her family, how different they seemed, she thought about her father. He was so strange, there had always been something about him. But she was reaching a dead end and she felt like she should go outside to get some fresh air.

She entered the courtyard and sat down, looking at the sun. Suddenly she heard the voice in her head say, "Bask in the warmth of the sun." Roland Asher had said something like that. It made her smile. But, why was the voice reminding her of him? Her heart fluttered and she asked, "Is Roland Asher my soulmate?" This time, this time it finally said-

"Yes."

Her stomach coiled with happiness. She'd never felt so much joy. Finally she knew who her soulmate was. She had always been obsessed with finding it. But she thought about the voice, how she knew it was him that she was feeling when she felt that certain intensity. She realized then that she was in love with it, with him, in a sense. The feeling was too good. But if Roland was her soulmate, then she had to choose him. She was conflicted. Then she had another insane realization. Her body spiked with hope, "Are you Roland Asher?"

The voice said, "Yes."

She almost fainted. Her soulmate could talk to her in her head. How was that even possible? And, god, she was so happy it was Roland. A celebrity was talking to her, in her head. She couldn't get over it. How could she? Freaking out inside, her mind racing, she just had to ask, "How do I get to you?"

"Come to Los Angeles."