Nirvana

Chapter Eight: Blinding Lights

12 years later~

Lucy stood in front of her mirror, getting ready for work. Now, at twenty-three, working at a bookstore, she had a routine life with a predictable schedule and barely anything interesting going on in her life.

She pulled her hair back into a neat ponytail, securing it with a black hair tie that matched the one on her wrist. She applied two dots of concealer under her eyes, brushed on some mascara, and finished with a thin layer of lip gloss, enough to make her look presentable with minimal effort.

She threw on her work uniform: a white button-up blouse, denim jeans, and her favorite black ankle boots. It wasn't an official uniform, but rather the same outfit she wore to work every day, with the blouse occasionally swapped for a different color.

Her life changed a lot in the past few years. She moved out of her father's place, found a job, and had been living on her own for over four years by then.

A part of her felt guilty about leaving her father living alone with his advancing age and his deteriorating health. However, staying with him meant dealing with all the hardships he put her through when she was younger. She couldn't help but feel conflicted. Her mind constantly rang with clashing thoughts all day every day.

Actually, it wasn't just thoughts that plagued her mind. Ever since the day she saw the dead woman in her house, Lucy had been haunted by strange visions, following her wherever she went.

She was half certain she was on the verge of losing her mind, yet kept the things she saw a secret from everyone. Either that or she was psychic– or perhaps clairvoyant. She wasn't sure.

It reached the point where she questioned whether her childhood friend, Alec, was ever real. They never met since that day at the bay.

As she waited at the bus station for her bus to arrive, she caressed the necklace that had never left her neck. The once vibrant pendant had grown dull and worn out with time.

Her father claimed that the necklace had always been there in one of her drawers, meaning it couldn't have been a gift from anyone. She sighed, trying not to get too consumed by her thoughts as her bus pulled up.

She boarded the bus, catching a subtle floral scent as she sat next to someone. She took out her phone and went through her notification seeing if she had anything important to read.

Weather alerts, newsletter subscriptions, random alerts– she turned off her phone.

Looking back up from her phone, her eyes were suddenly blinded by a strong light. Unbeknownst to its origin, the light moved closer at a startling speed, growing ever more blinding.

Shocked, she struggled to breathe, her breath hitching. All she could see was a bright light that pierced her eyes. Gasping for air, her head felt increasingly heavier, gradually falling backward as her vision slowly faded into blackness.

"Miss... Miss," a voice called, getting louder every time. Lucy felt as if her soul got sucked back into her body. Slowly, she began to regain awareness, and her surroundings returned to the familiar bus she was on.

"Are you okay, miss?" A voice called again. It belonged to a man in his late thirties, with a small beard on his chin and wrinkles spread around his eyes, showing signs of aging. He was seated beside her and had witnessed her going through one of her episodes. She felt quite embarrassed.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat. "Ah, yes, I'm fine. It seems I just forgot to have breakfast this morning," she chuckled, brushing off the topic with a little lie. While she did indeed forget to have breakfast, it was far from the reason why she was losing consciousness.

It wasn't the first time she experienced this. These were visions or illusions she often had, with their frequency subtly increasing as of recently. Each time, she saw something different, it typically consisted of people she didn't know or unfamiliar places she had never seen before. Yet, she never really passed out during any of these episodes before.

Regardless, this was the first time she had seen something like that; Lucy rubbed her eyes, still feeling the soreness from where the light had struck them.

The man nodded. "You should eat something; your blood pressure is fluctuating. This time you got lucky, but next time, but next time, things could be different."

His words seemed to offer nothing but advice on the surface, but deep down Lucy could sense a hidden meaning behind them. She couldn't figure out what, though.

As the bus approached her stop, she stood up and nodded in thanks to the man. "Thank you, sir. I have to go now." He nodded back as she got off the bus.

She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she made her way toward the bookstore. The bells jingled as she pushed the door open. The cool air from the air conditioning hit her face, giving her a brief sense of relief. She took a deep breath, allowing the refreshing air to fill her nostrils, a much needed contrast to the heat outside.

"Good morning," the old man, Frank, owner of the bookstore, greeted her as he glanced up from the book he held in his hands. The man was of few words, but he always made sure to greet her every morning.

"Good morning, Frank," she replied. With so few people working here, she found herself filling in for so many roles to cover for the shortage. She didn't mind, really. The old man she worked with was kind and paid her a fair wage, so she wasn't complaining.

Lucy braced herself and got to work. Seeing as there were no customers that day, she began dusting off the shelves. With a cleaning cloth in hand, she glided it over the rows of books, leaving them as clean as they could get.

After finishing with the shelves, she took a moment to admire the fruit of her efforts. With a satisfied sigh, she returned to the front counter and sat in her chair to wait out the rest of the day. The shop was slower than usual that day, so she allowed herself to relax for a while, her head propped up against the back of her chair. Unexpectedly, she drifted into sleep.