Blink {Featured}

Chapter Three

(17y) JANUARY 2005, 12.55

The memories stung though they were of happy times. John sighed and got up, hands in his pockets. The Headmaster was taking forever. He walked up to the awards board, spotting his name at the top in English, of course. No one could get near him in this subject. But the other awards? Acko the Bastard was right; John was crap at everything else. The other subjects just didn't grab his attention.

'A truly amazing imagination,' that's what all his English teachers said, even when he had been in reception. This wasn't the entire truth, of course. Because he could look at a photo and experience that moment in time, he could write everything that was going on in thorough detail. He had even won prizes for his literature. The more fun the photo looked, the better he could write. John called it "the Blink".

All the photos of the different classes hung next on the wall. How boring. These were not worth his time. The show album was better. John walked over to where it lay open. "School Italy Trip 2004" stood on its front cover. He flipped it open. The photos from the trip were much more interesting. Trips like these were like celebrities to him. Untouchable and distant. He never really got to go on them because Mam couldn't afford it. Mam was gutted he couldn't go, but John wasn't really that bothered, as long as he could look at his friend Martin's photos. He always asked if he could take them and show Mam so he could go next year--a convenient excuse. Once he got into his bedroom, he would Blink every one of the photos. By the time he had finished, he felt like he had been there all along.

Ahh, here was one of his favourites. Martin and the others held raised glasses, their cheeks red from skiing in the cold all day. John smiled, concentrated, and Blinked.

The photo blurred in front of him as he shot forward at breakneck speed. In the early days he'd felt sick as a dog after Blinking. The sudden velocity at which he seemed to travel had at first made him feel dizzy and queasy, but it soon got better. Now he was so used to doing it he was alert even at the dead stop before he entered the scene.

The first time John had entered the Blink, he screamed.

(7y) FEBRUARY 1995, 15.18

Screams tore from his terror stricken throat as he thundered down towards the photo, spinning out of control, hurtling head over heels. The picture flashed in front of him and he grasped out, desperate to catch hold of anything that would slow his descent. When he turned around, the picture loomed ahead. He screamed again and covered his face, knowing the impact would kill him. He hit a barrier. It gave, cushioning his fall, then flexed back, pushing him away.

John kept screaming and the noise echoed around him. He only stopped when he opened his eyes again and looked around. A deep impenetrable black surrounded him, and to the other side was the photo of him and his parents out on a walk, which now seemed as big as a house. An innate urge overcame him to touch it, so he reached his hand towards the photo. A translucent film covered the picture and he brushed it with the back of his hand. Where his hand had touched the film, a hole appeared. John jerked back his hand and the hole closed up again. The darkness felt choking and intense, and John turned, hoping there was a way out. The only thing in the pure dark was a single star. It didn't twinkle like those in the sky.

Somehow he knew that star was his way back to reality.

His eyes wandered over the photo's frozen surface. Nothing moved. Over the top, underneath, and all around the photo he floated, taking in its 3D version. To his delight he realised he was "flying". 'Miiiint!' he yelled. He flew away from the huge photo, swooped, loop-the-looped, and stopped just short of the barrier. In this way he visited hundreds of photos, but he didn't have the guts to go through for a long time.