In a Heartbeat || Cindy Moon [1] [ON HOLD]

three: everything got worse

It was silent, and it was the middle of the Saturday following the accident. I sat on my bed, my eyes wide as I stared around my nearly destroyed room. There was a lump in my throat, huge, dark bags under my eyes, and my hair was frizzed, sitting in a tangled mess.

My stomach growled. I was home alone and had waited for the perfect chance to grab a snack, and I figured now was my only chance. So I slowly got up from my bed and tripped over a boot, sending myself flying forward and nearly slamming my head into the corner of my dresser. I caught myself and grabbed onto the wood to stop myself, watching as a glass picture frame tipped and fell off of the surface. I reacted quickly and my hand flew forward to catch it before it shattered, but instead of catching it, a sticky substance was sent out of my fingertip.

As if it was in slow motion, I watched as it was sent out and latched onto the corner of the picture frame, blanketing itself around it and catching it just centimeters before it hit the floor. My eyes widened and I almost screamed, but I was too shocked to do anything. I stood there, watching the picture dangle from what looked like a web coming out of my fingertip.

Oh. My. God.

What just happened?!

For what seemed like hours I stood there before I pulled my hand up high, so that the frame was dangling level from my face. It held, and the picture didn't drop. I watched as the faces of my mother, father, and Albert stared back at me, swaying from the substance holding it to my finger. I pulled the picture away from my fingertip, but the web did nothing but stretch. It didn't break free, it didn't pull from my fingertip. With my opposite hand, I grasped onto the glass frame and violently shook my hand, trying to release the web. I stood there for a good fifteen minutes, struggling to break free of the web.

Slowly I grew more and more frustrated. It wouldn't budge. I was stuck to this picture frame, connected by a spiderweb looking substance. I plopped down on my bed with a sigh. Tired. I was so tired, and hungry. I mean, it wasn't like I hadn't eaten in a week or something crazy like that, I just hadn't eaten all day and it was almost three in the afternoon.

I let my head fall back and I sighed. What the hell is going on with me?! First I'm breaking everything in sight, and now...

My thoughts were interrupted as I seemed to relax, sitting on my bed and silently complaining to myself. A weird sensation took over in my fingertip, and I looked down. Finally, the substance had released from my finger. My lips parted, and I smiled for the first time in what felt like forever. I brought my hand up to my face and examined my skin where the substance was.

Nothing. It was untouched.

Instead of exiting my room, I shot my hands out, fingers pointed, trying to shoot more of whatever had just come out of my finger. I sat myself on the edge of my bed, looking like an idiot as I threw my hands out all over the place.

Nothing worked.

I turned my arm so that the inside of my elbow was pointed up and threw my hand out, watching as absolutely nothing happened. I kept that position and started to move, twitch, bend and circle my fingers, but yet again, nothing happened. Stupid. What did you think was gonna happen, Cindy?!

I shot my hand out, finger pointed one last time, and I don't know what I did different but my jaw dropped and my eyes widened as webs jetted out from my finger. My eyes were wide, my mouth hung wide open. The feeling was unfamiliar and indescribable, it was light and dainty and almost tickled.

The substance fell to my floor and I watched as it gathered in a pile onto the dark laminate floor, growing denser and denser.

I looked around my room and stood up, turning around slowly. I spotted a stray pencil on my desk and threw my arm out in the same exact position, only with my index finger and my thumb pointed out. I missed the pencil just slightly, but a web sprouted from my fingertip and latched onto my desk, and soon I was stuck and couldn't get it to release again.

"C'mon," I grunted.

After moments of fiddling and getting angry and frustrated all over again, I stopped once more and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. Relax. That seemed to help the last time. So I tried it again, and finally, it released. I let out a little squeal of joy before shooting my opposite hand out and aiming for the pencil again. I watched as the  web latched onto the pencil and I twitched my arm back just slightly, and the pencil flew back to my hand. Again, my jaw dropped, and I smiled.

"Holy shit," I murmured, almost amazed.

About an hour later my room was absolutely covered head-to-toe in the web-like substance, and everything was a mess. It was a completely and utter disaster, and I was standing in the middle of it. Everywhere you looked, except for the majority of my bed, it was covered with webs, or...whatever they were. I didn't even want to begin to think how hard it would he cleaning all of this up... if I could clean it all up.

I sighed, sitting back, looking at my masterpiece of a room. So tired. I yawned, and flinched as I heard the distant sound of the front door opening.

Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit.

"Cindy!" My mother called, and I almost pictured her shutting the door behind her and traveling into the kitchen to set her purse and her keys down, sliding the rubber band holding the tight bun out of her hair.

I bit my lip before responding. "Yes?"

It was a moment before she heard the sound she was dreading - footsteps. My mother was coming up the stairs. "I'm home," she called.

"Are you feeling any better?" I heard a hand land on my door knob.

I practically flew to my door, grabbing a hold of it and quickly locking it.

"Uh, no, not really." I responded, raising her voice a little. The doorknob jiggled.

"Everything alright? Let me in." My mother ordered.

"Um. Hang on, I'm changing!" I called, backing away slowly from the door, nervous as I lied. "I'll meet you downstairs, okay?" I added quickly.

It went quiet for a moment before I finally heard her turn and walk back down the stairs. I sighed again, squeezing my eyes shut as I practically collapsed to the floor, setting a hand in my hair and flinching as the floorboards creaked.

They had never creaked before, from what I could remember.

Suddenly, I burst into tears. It was like an explosion - I curled up into a ball, hugging my knees as tears gushed out of my eyes, rolling rapidly down my cheeks as snot already began to gather at the edge of my nose. This wasn't your usual pretty girl crying flawlessly over a guy like it was in the movies - no, this was messy and ugly, and genuinely gross. Snot bubbled in my nostrils and my eyes grew bloodshot red, spilling out of my eyes like never before. I tried to inhale but my breath got caught and it turned into another sob.

I rocked back and tried to breath again, but my chest heaved up and down rapidly, in and out, in and out. I just kept crying.

I was alone and terrified - terrified of myself and the fact that I was slowly losing control and losing everything I had once known and loved. My world was ending and I was sinking into a deep, deep hole, a hole that would take a long time to climb out of.