Heart Condition

Chapter Thirty: Surge

Chapter Thirty: Surge

            “I am so sorry, you guys.” Sasha said, all of us crowded in the parlor in front of the fireplace.

            Joy smiled, “Don’t worry. I think we brought the bad luck with us.”

            They’d been here two hours before the power went out. They said the snow on the way over was brutal; Thankfully, it wasn’t dark yet, so we were okay. And the generators had kicked most of the lights back on.

            Miah laughed, “Abbie, remind me again why you didn’t hang out with us last year?”

            “Because we were just way too cool.”

            Zeda smiled, “Oh yeah, that’s it.”

            Z and I sat on the floor, Miah and Sasha on the couch while Joy and Hudson curled up in chairs opposite each other.

            Miah persisted, “Seriously, we should have been hanging out up here a lot more often.”

            Suddenly, there was a buzz, and the lights started to kick on slowly.

            I looked at Sasha, and he smiled. I said, “Well, I’m going start dinner. Anyone opposed to pasta?’

            Standing up, I felt a rush to my head. Everything separated, and I felt the house tilt a little.

            My eyes blinked, and Hudson looked up, “Are you okay, Abbie?”

            Nodding, I rested my hand on the sofa. It took me a minute and I breathed deeply, “I think I just stood up a little too fast.”

            Miah spoke up, “You sure you’re okay, Bee?”

            I righted myself, took another breath and smiled, “Sure. Good as gold.”

            Walking toward the kitchen, I put my hand against my chest; my heart hadn’t settled quite right since this morning.

            Pan in the sink, I filled the pot with water. Waiting, I closed my eyes and counted my heartbeats. Ba-boom, ba-boom.

            Ba-boom, ba-boom.

            Lifting the metal in my hands, I turned, the noise getting louder in my ears.

            Ba-boom, ba-boom.

            Ba-boom, ba-boom.

            My knees started to shake, and I could feel the pan slipping through my fingers. Everything I saw was sprinkled with black and red dots, light that was there one moment then gone the next.

            “Sash…” I tried to say his name, but it fell off of my tongue. As I took another step, nothing around me seemed to be concrete. It all moved, spun, and hovered out over the—the…

            I closed my eyes, trying to find my center of balance, but before I could, my feet fell away. I was moving sideways; falling, I heard the clamor of metal hit the ground, lukewarm water absorbing through my socks. I was crushing my side, and my head made contact with something hard, slamming into me like a full-force collision.

            I’d hit the ground, but my body had disconnected from my mind.

            My heart had sent my brain away.