Bind

Solid

     “Tairuka!”

                My eyes flutter open, engulfed in black at first until the light spills into them, painting the world around me.

                “huh?”

                “Don’t ‘huh’ me! You’ve been here for all of 15 minutes, and you fall asleep! We’re not even at the previews and you’re snoring like a Harley!”

                Where am I? I didn’t remember coming here. I would have panicked from the sudden displacement of my memory, but this wasn’t the first time I had found myself somewhere without knowing how I got there. My mind mustn’t have been recording this time.

Obnoxious.

It was dark. There were lights creating circular pools on the ground to let people see where their feet would fall. A massive screen churned with angry colors. My right eye portrayed the world in an exaggerated blur, while my left was a tad smudgy. I must have fallen asleep with my palm on my cheek. I tried to clear the fog from my eyes to get a better picture of what was going on around me. I was able to make out a very disgruntled face a little too close to mine. It was Marilyn. I liked to think of her as a mini tiger with the way her rage took hold, coupled with how adorable she appeared. I scrambled for an explanation to ease her vitriol … too bad I was still looking for one myself.

                “Uh… sorry. I guess I’m a little tired.” My voice cracked in all the wrong places. Was I really only asleep for 15 minutes? It feels like I had been out for a few hours.

                Marilyn huffed indignantly, crossing her arms and falling back into her chair. The world around me became more defined. I was obviously in a movie theater. Why I was here though? I was still trying to factor it out.

I started from scratch. What day is it? The last day I recall was the 3rd of November, a Tuesday. Is it still Tuesday?

I pulled out my phone, which was greeted with an angry hiss from Marilyn.

                “I’m silencing it.” I growled in a subdued voice. “The movie hasn’t even started yet anyway.” I whispered snidely to myself.

                Hungry for answers, I almost couldn’t wait for the electric glow of my phone to appear and reveal where I was in time. The light stabbed my eyes in the darkness, but I couldn’t take them from the glossy screen. It was the 5th of November, 7:46pm.

Whoa… I’m missing a big chunk this time. This was going to be awkward. I wonder what I’d have to try to pretend to remember at work and in class tomorrow. It was going to be hell attempting to ask people what happened the last two days without coming off as a total fool. I know what I’d hear. “You were there! Don’t tell me you had your head in the clouds again? You’re such an airhead!” I felt my chest heave in an involuntary sigh. It was going to be fun to say the least.

                Ok, so it was two days later, I was in a movie theater, I was with Marilyn, and I must be tired from something I did the night before. Did I work late? I hoped so, that was the mildest thing I could think of that didn’t involve frivolous parties or any sort of juvenile dangers. I quickly ran a mental check of my body. I tensed muscles, heightened nerves to the point of tingling, searching for any soreness or even, god forbid, bruises and cuts.

The guiding lights hovering in the darkness that was the ceiling flickered momentarily, enough to break my focus and bring me back into the here and now.

 Everything seemed to be in place, the only thing that felt out of the norm from my usual homeostasis was the headache that was making itself known on my right temple, and a little bit of a burning sensation around my eyes. Both were normal. My eyes never did adjust well to dim lighting, making them over focus, and in turn creating these irritating headaches. Now that I was sure that my body wasn’t damaged, only my memories, I worked on the damage control of the emotionally fragile Marilyn. I could feel her begrudging emotions heat the space between us. These seats were way to close together. They should at least come with a bulletproof shield for that glare she was shooting me.