Ethereal Dusk

Chapter 5

I hated to be updated on current events. It seemed that global disaster continuously pummeled through each passing day, no mercy. Something about sympathizing with the populations misfortunes made me want to sink deeper into the hole I had dug for myself. You know what they say, right?

That ignorance is bliss.

Even looking at Chelan's Daily Mail newspaper made me want to rip out my own hair. I'm too busy focusing on the imaginary beasts inside of my own house to fathom the serious predicament of tragic happenings all around me. It wasn't the monsters under my bed that needed to be feared. It was the ones that passed by me on the street from day to day.

The newspaper crinkles in my hands as I sit on the hood of my car. Breaking headlines about a woman that was found in her home with her throat slashed spread the front page. Big surprise.

'Investigators determined that the death was not a suicide. The murder weapon remains missing from the scene. As of now, there are no leads.'

I look out over the view and shift uncomfortably as I think about all the tragedy that struck Chelan. If I was smart I would skip town and go start fresh again. Really, there was nothing holding me back but the invisible ties that felt as though they were keeping me hostage. Despite being nonexistent, I would use the excuse a million times more. Leaving just didn't feel right.

Anxiety pools in the pit of my stomach as my mind sifts through the mysterious murders and suicides that happen far too often all around me. Maybe it was depression rates skyrocketing  from the plummeting economy? Or maybe it was actually something in the water? That might explain why I'm not all there in the head sometimes.

I bite my thumb nail as I look back down at the face of the victim on the front page. See, this is why I hated keeping up on current events. My anxiety just couldn't handle it. I'd much rather be confined to the mishaps of my own life than of those around me. I should be taking my anxiety medication daily, but feeling like a robot irked my creativity. And its sort of hard to stay away from the news when it smacks you directly in the face.

The damn newspaper had flown out of nowhere and attached itself to my head... menacingly. As if whispering read me Roslyn, in a venomous tone.

"What do you want me to do about it?" I ask no one in particular as I look up at the sky.

I think about chucking the paper back into the wind for a moment. Fuck, I'm no litterer though. Save mother earth and all that. So I fold the newspaper into a neat little square before tucking it into my sweatshirt pocket.

I pull out my phone to text Natalie about the fight with Anthony when I see my bare palm. I gasp as I drop the phone between my crossed legs and closely examine it.

"What the hell," I say quietly to myself as I hold my hand close to my face.

The cuts are gone!

I closely examine both palms in awe, rubbing my thumb over the smooth surface to feel for indents. Zero crescent moons. Okay, I might actually be losing it. Scratch that, I'm actually insane. I pick up my phone to text Natalie again.

Me: Dude you remember seeing the cuts on my palm yesterday right?

I continue to look at palm before feeling my phone vibrate.

Natalie: Duh I'm the one who noticed them before you mentioned anything why

I let out a breath of relief as I push my hair back out of my face.

Me: They literally gone. I'm trippin right now

I snap a quick picture of my palm before hitting the send button. What is going on? Am I in a simulation? Did we switch timelines or something? Suddenly the air around me feels eerie as my mind spirals with possibilities. All logic was long gone at this point.