Overlap

Chapter 5: Mark of the Altiri

<08/21/2009 - 12:40 | Saffrin Middle School (Math), Austell, GA, USA>

As the days went on, my time spent became a little more interesting, though I was more confused than entertained with what had been happening the entire time. Throughout all of my classes, I became acquainted with a few more people, most of which were just friends of the current small group of acquaintances I made so far. Even so, I still hung out with mostly the same people I met at first.

In my Honors Math class, Banarus, Maddison, Laura, and Malica Moringstar sat together with myself often with the desks pushed together to form clusters of four or five groups. It wasn't a requirement, since our teacher allowed us free reign over seating so long as we could behave. When I say I hang out with them, all I really mean is sitting there quietly with a stupid look on my face while my whole reality is typically overridden by all the day dreams my mind wants to throw at me.

But today, I sat just a bit away from them, sliding my desk apart from their formed square to focus on something else. I only did this because I really couldn't afford any further distractions from my latest obsession.

Even as I thought back to it, I knew that something was strange about all of this. Even though a large part of me wrote it off as something I didn't mind, my thoughts have been unbelievably obsessed with the mere concept of the universe and outer space itself. I became more interested in sci-fi shows and movies, more interested in observing the night sky with a telescope, and playing video games with a space theme to them. It wasn't just random either. If I ever found myself outdoors, be it day or night and my eyes manage to meet the skybox above me, every bit of wonder and interest to it floods my brain in an uncontrollable spur of emotion and certainty. At the same time, I had no idea why, which led me to an unnatural conclusion that whatever I was feeling was not actually normal.

It isn't me, or perhaps it isn't supposed to be. When I say obsession, I really do mean that the sight of the sky sets me awestruck, triggering chain reactions of automatic day dreams and imaginations of some other kind of world and life in space. It's like day dreaming though without the ability to control the subject matter or its details. I couldn't help myself at all. And every day since about two weeks ago, that sensation has been growing stronger and stronger, as if there was some central importance behind it all, not that I could piece it together.

No, the sensations it left only confused me so much further than it should have. Because as much as I knew it wasn't exactly natural, the other part of me simultaneously embraced that sensation, or at the very least cared not for any potential downsides these distractions could cause. Unnatural interest in outer space, and now an unnatural acceptance of what I feel; that is the model of my current conundrum. Only now, it has gotten a lot stranger than before.

Sitting alone in class, I opened my spare notebook, flipping through the pages until I got back to the art project I left off on. Finding a page covered in strange triangles, I realized that this was another cause of my current obsession. These triangles, I did not draw them out of randomness or boredom. They have some important purpose, though I have not drawn it exactly right, which was why there were so many.

This too had the same sensation attached to my other obsession about the stars of the night sky. These symbols, these markings, I feel like I know them, or that I should know them. I also feel like they are incredibly important! I knew they were important, something that holds so much significance.

But how? How did I know that? Why did I think that? Why was I so obsessed with getting this symbol drawn exactly right to the exact proportions? This too was another instance of unnatural obsession, and like with the other aspect of it all, I didn't care that it was strange for me to be like this despite being able to register that I knew it was strange. Instead, all I have cared about most for the past three days was getting this symbol exactly correct. I have never seen it before, but somehow I knew what it was supposed to look like. It's an upside-down equilateral triangle. In the center, there is a small perfect circle, the eye of the triangle, and from that eye, straight lines are strewn about in multiple directions. The lines represent the eye's vision, and going out in all directions means it is an eye that can see just about everything. What was it called? I had no idea.