When Stars Align

-Chapter 7: Where is the Light Switch?-

I act like I am just fine.
Really, I'm a computer without wires
Nothing seems to connect

-.-.-.-

I thought I saw him again. It was at the supermarket this time, where my sister and I were picking up some groceries for the week. I heard his voice from the next aisle over, I swear. I turned to hear better, but it wasn't him after all. I almost called out, but stopped myself from creating a scene. I rolled back to where my sister was waiting. I felt a small shudder in my chest, and before I knew it, I was crying. I couldn't stop myself, and I was grateful that I couldn't see the people staring at me. It was only going to be a few days until the solstice, but it dragged on as if it were centuries. For a reason I may never fully comprehend, I wondered about how he feels at that moment, about whether or not he thought it was anything special at that café. I had a drastic realization that maybe he was just faking it for something, a dare or anything like that. Maybe... Maybe all of the things I was feeling were fake.

I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts with a slap from my older sister. "This is not the time to be spacing out on me." She muttered in her firm tone. She walked behind me and gripped the handles of my wheelchair, pushing me down the next aisle. I found it strange, since I almost always rolled myself. I tried to think of what could possibly cause her to be so protective, but made the decision to save it for later. I thought back to my second false encounter with my mystery man. It was so unlikely, and yet, I heard him wherever I went. It seemed like my mind was trying to trick my senses into making him appear, overcompensating for what I lacked in mobility and sight.

I had nothing to fear until I laid my head down to sleep that night. Almost as soon as I hit the pillow, I was thrown into a nightmare that tore at my very soul. I could hear their cries again as I tried to reach for them but failed. I remember crawling out to the flashing lights, only to be picked up by some stranger and carried to some new place which I have no memory of. I could hear him talking, only for his voice to distort into the cries of a monster. I screamed out, but no one came for me. I was alone, fighting the demons which had taken what little flickers of hope I had left. I tried to look around in a mess of frantic glances fueled by humanity's will to live, only to remember that I had no reason to look around when I could only see the darkest of blacks. I felt only the cold of an unknown floor and the pain in my shoulders as I desperately tried to drag myself away from whatever abomination had formed from my tireless efforts to find love. I thought I was dead, mutilated and devoured by the creature that seemed too horrific, but also too realistic for my mind to discern the difference between what was reality and what was not.

I woke up in a pool of sweat, scared nearly to death. I thought to myself about this dream, and only one phrase came to mind.

What have I done?

-.-.-.-

Two chapters left and only one day to do it. It's gonna be so close