His Life (Part 2)
Based on a True Story CHAPTER 3 We drove from California to Alabama with everything we owned in our cars. The trip took an entire…
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Based on a True Story CHAPTER 3 We drove from California to Alabama with everything we owned in our cars. The trip took an entire…
Based on a True Story CHAPTER 1 Our friendship began as teenagers. I first met Jax as he sat on the couch in my Southern…
The hustle and bustle of the city pushed against her face in a forceful, inescapable hug. Maxine Devereux shoved her hands into her pockets, grumbling…
In the pit of my soul where I knew honesty was never shy, I felt a swarm of butterflies invade my system as I left…
In the pit of my soul where I knew honesty was never shy, I felt a swarm of butterflies invade my system as I left my job downtown in the boisterous city of Citadel. Lex and I had gotten into another argument regarding our future together and I was trying my best to remain level-headed, but with every passing mile, I found my anger spiking. We’d been texting since mid-afternoon after my lunch break and when the topic rolled in I tried to be clear and concise without the bitchy attitude I’m known to have. Yet, his message said: I’m still not sure if I’m ready for that. Then, it was like something in me snapped.
My fingers were moving on their own and before I knew it I’d sent a string of messages that were filled with curses, pain, and sadness. I wanted to get married already so we could work on starting our family. Lex and I have been together for five years and around our third year, we began to seriously dip our feet into the conversation about our future. He wasn’t apprehensive then, so I couldn’t figure out what was wrong now. We were twenty-eight with very promising and successful jobs. If there was a time to get hitched, it’d be now.
The car slowly pulled into the parking lot of our apartment complex, winding with the road around necessary curves like a serpent. I stepped out of my car as a light drizzle sprinkled the top of my head. The bundle of tight nerves intensified itself around my core and I caught myself chewing one of my nails as my eyes gazed into the sky. I didn’t want to fight with Lex. I loved him and I wanted nothing more than to be with him for the rest of my life, but what if he was beginning to feel differently?
I trucked up to our apartment, careful not to take the stairs too quickly to avoid slipping. I sighed deeply as my key swiveled in the doorknob and mentally prepared myself.
Lex was waiting for me. He was pacing near the door when I walked in, brows furrowed and lines marring his handsome face. A shade of pink blended into his Latin skin across the apples of his cheek, his hazel eyes cutting razors as they took in my appearance.
“What?” I snapped, despite wanting to come across less icy.
He shook his head. “Nothing, mì amor.”
It wasn’t a look of desire. I knew that one all too well. This one was like he was contemplating something and wasn’t sure how to approach it. “Are we going to talk about our text message war?”
He just looked at me; those same eyes that swept me off my feet five years ago were now blank. I clicked my tongue and stomped into our bedroom to strip down for a shower. I threw my things on the bed and went straight into the shower not waiting for it to warm up. Minutes later, I heard Lex entering the bathroom. He sat on the counter near the sink, watching.
“I just don’t know anymore if being a dad is something I want,” he said quietly.
I continued to wash and keep my back to him even though I could hear him under the subtle roar of the showerhead. “You mean with me or just in general?”
“In general,” he answered, and I instantly felt my heart crush into pieces within my ribcage.
“What changed your mind?”
He hesitated and then, “Um…I…”
I whipped around so fast that I had to grab the shower door for support. “What fucking changed your mind, Alexander?”
His head shot up abruptly at the sound of his birth name. “I’ll wait until you’re done.”
Immediately, the shower shut off and I stepped out to the towel rack where I dried off quickly and slipped into a change of clothes. Lex was standing in the doorjamb between the bathroom and our bedroom. He wouldn’t make eye contact.
“Go on,” I prompted hastily.
A grunt and gulp accompanied by a nervous sigh. “There’s someone else, Quinn.”
Everything around me ceased to exist. It wasn’t until after I felt the sting on my palm did I realize I’d slapped him. A thunderous boom resonated outside and the raindrops fell like softballs against the glass window. My eyes burned, heavy tears threatening to fall. My chest constricted over a broken heart and the muscles in my legs felt like jelly, though I somehow made it outside into the pouring rain.
I nearly slipped on the last step, but I didn’t care. The sky cried out and flashes of lightning soared through the dark clouds. I’d made it to the courtyard when I suddenly couldn’t move and everything went black.
“Jesus Christ—Quinn!”
I woke to an incessant ringing in my ears and my name sounded like muffled jargon, though I could see clearly. My skin felt like the depths of Hell had its claws deep into each layer down to the muscle. I tried to sit up or move my fingers even slightly but I could do no such thing. Lex barreled towards me, dropping to his knees as I gazed at the overcast sky with a blank stare. My face was wet with raindrops, my clothes sticking to my wounded flesh.
“Call 911!” he screamed.
It took everything in me to move my head. My chest rose and fell shallowly then I closed my eyes to welcome the darkness again.
When I woke again there was a myriad of people and a commotion that raised several questions. A light shined in both my eyes and gentle hands moved my body from the hard earth to a gurney. Lex was back again, panic scribbled all over his face. He was replaced by the woman who flashed the light in my face. She was asking me a question. I think she asked my name.
“Quinn…” I muttered in a voice like shattered glass.
She smiled. “Quinn, you’ve been struck by lightning and we’re taking you to a hospital for treatment.”
I was loaded into the back of the ambulance with a different paramedic. He was checking my vitals and speaking to the woman who addressed me when I felt my fingers involuntarily twitch. Now that I’d had better mobility, I craned my head to see my battered fingers crackle with thin tendrils of electricity between them before finding slumber once more.
***
I regained consciousness in a hospital room with tubes hooked into my arm. The heart monitor was a soft tempo in the background and my entire body felt sore like I’d had the workout of a lifetime. I attempted to sit up, my muscles burning against the strain, but Lex was there to help me up into a sitting position.
“Easy,” he whispered.
I winced against the pain in my head and shoulders. “What happened to me?”
He took my hand, his thumb caressing my knuckles. He explained to me that I’d been struck by lightning and I’d somehow made it through unscathed. My body initially held several large marks of burned skin that were no longer there by the time the ambulance brought me to the hospital. In other words, I was inexplicably lucky.
“Is there anything else?” I asked.
He pursed his lips then shook his head. At that moment, I felt a tingle in my fingers and a sliver of electricity danced from my forefinger to my thumb. Mystified, I clamped my hand into a fist to put it out.
In need of a distraction, I asked, “Why was I outside in a thunderstorm?”
The way Lex’s eyes darted down and away, I knew he was hiding something.
“We’d gotten into an argument,” he murmured.
As I recalled the incident that took place soon after I’d made it home, my mood began to sink. I was still baffled by what transpired with my fingers, but my relationship with Lex was more practical and urgent. I withdrew from him and he let me. Physically, we were as close as possible but the distance in our relationship was a thick, clear line.
“How long were you cheating on me?” I asked as I gazed out the window. The rain had let up some, though the sky was still turbulent with thunder and lightning. Strangely, it was like I could feel it from inside the room.
“I wasn’t cheating.”
“Then, what the hell do you call it?”
He sighed. “I was having feelings for someone else, but I wasn’t cheating.”
“You were emotionally cheating,” I clarified. “Makes no fucking difference to me.”
“I was being honest.”
I turned to him, eyes bugged. “Lex, are you being serious? You can’t possibly think your honesty is going to be your savior. You and I are done.”
His eyes narrowed. “We can’t work on this? We work on everything.”
“How do you expect me to move on from this? I’ve been with you for five years, thought about marrying you and when I bring it up you give me answers that actually made me feel bad for you. But lo and behold, you were really a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Lex shut his eyes tightly. “I just needed someone to vent to…and it got out of hand.”
I scoffed, ignoring the fizzle in my hand again. “You are digging your grave deeper and deeper. Please, shut up and leave me alone. I’ll call my sister to come get me.”
The expression on Lex’s face was something I’d never seen in our five-year history. It looked like he was about to cry. He worried his bottom lip in two strenuous moments that seemed to drag on forever. Then he shot up and left me in the room with the sound of the heart monitor beeping loudly in the background.
***
Several days had gone by before I was released because I was a walking miracle. Like Lex said, the doctors were amazed at how my body physically showed no signs of any brutal electrical damage. They pricked and prodded as much as they legally could without performing surgery, though it was obvious they wanted to run more tests and throw me in a lab. Thankfully, my sister was there to deflect most of their questions.
Those sparks of electricity I kept magically creating were here to stay. I hoped they were a figment of my imagination, though I’ve learned they are attached to the storms. During a storm, my body warms, and my blood tangles with the electricity throughout my system to manifest the sparks. I put my hands together like a prayer and slowly moved them apart to watch the thick stream of white bolts flow between my palms. For my sanity, I’ve been keeping it a secret. I even recorded my hand engulfed in pure white electrical currents because I couldn’t believe I was capable of such a thing.
The bolts were magnificent. And up close, they were mesmerizing. I spent hours in my sister’s backyard during rainstorms testing out my connection with the lightning. It was like it was part of me and I could feel the blaze of it as it moved from sky to earth. When each string made contact my veins jumped and my pulse scurried about. It was a joyful feeling and more than once I had the inkling the bolts were playing with me. On multiple occasions, I’ve caught said bolts in my hands and held them there as balls of swirling electricity that only went out when I commanded.
When my sister and I went out into the city it seemed like the skies were on their best behavior. Smidges of thunder here and there with lots of rain but no lightning. I tapped into the electrical currents of cell phones, cars, and other sorts to keep my newfound ability busy. It seemed like phones were my favorite since they were the fastest and most used. There was no limit to how far it could go as I’d accidentally managed to burst one of the streetlamps several blocks behind. My sister said it kept flickering and then it just popped.
The one time my sister allowed me to leave on my own, the show in the sky was back. I was still tethered to this earth, yet my soul felt like it could move just as fast and graceful as a bolt. My blood roared and my lungs expanded wider the longer the powerful storm brewed. Much to my sister’s chagrin, I didn’t bother with rain jackets anymore. I seemed to feel more comfortable without it, so I could feel the tiny hairs on my arms and neck fly to alert as a bolt made its entry.
***
It had been two weeks since I last saw Lex. Of course, there were the constant text messages varying from apologies to accusations to straight-up begging. All of it was a turnoff and when he called I immediately put my phone on silent mode. Hearing his voice was killer and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hold my own against him if he tried to wiggle his way back into my good graces without much of a fight.
Since my job gave me the next few weeks off to recuperate—despite having no physical ailments the naked eye could see—and my relationship was somewhat still in the air, I decided I’d meet Lex for coffee in my spare time. Choosing Steam Room was definitely nostalgic on his part considering it was where we used to meet every Sunday at the beginning of our relationship. Maybe being on familiar ground would make our painful conversation easier to bear.
As I approached the building, my emotions were a mixture of black and white swirls that somehow wouldn’t touch for that touch of gray. I was either royally pissed at Lex or hopelessly yearning for a life with him. I couldn’t find a safe equilibrium I could happily live with. As my thoughts moved, I felt the hairs on my arms stand at alert as the light rain transformed into a tumultuous storm. I quickened my pace knowing my connection to the lightning wasn’t completely stable and I could do some real damage if I wasn’t careful.
My anxiety rushed in tenfold when I saw Lex seated near the window at a small table fit for two. Seeing him up close I felt our future clear as day just as I’d always envisioned it. I mean, I couldn’t erase five years so easily.
Lex stood upon seeing me, gesturing for me to sit where there was a steaming cup of coffee with all the fixings that I like. I wrapped my cool fingers around it, though I made no attempts to actually drink it. I pursed my lips, finding it best for him to speak first.
“I’ve missed you, Quinn,” he murmured. His voice was groggy and he looked like he hadn’t been able to get much sleep.
Hearing his voice shattered everything in me and I was thrust into my black emotions where I was pissed beyond repair. The storm agreed with me as a bolt struck wildly into the Earth’s crust. My fingers shook around the paper cup as another string of electricity connected.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss you too.”
“Then let’s get back together,” he said eagerly, reaching for my hands.
I moved away like he was fire. “You fucked up five good years, Lex.”
“I know. And I want to make up for that by marrying you.” He pulled out a small case from his pocket that would have made my heart pound with glee only a few weeks ago. Now it was pulsing with an animosity so powerful I could only see red.
“Put it away.”
He did so with slow movements. “I thought that was what you wanted.”
I sighed, scrubbing my jittery fingers over my forehead. “Yes, without the pressure and guilt. I wanted to be the one for you, but you made it evidently clear that I’m not.”
He sat forward, the desperation heavy in his tone. “Quinn, you’re the only one I’ve ever loved in my whole life.”
“Then why go to someone else about our problems?”
He didn’t have an answer for me. I patiently waited and after a few minutes I got up to leave, knowing it was the last time I would see Lex. I balled my hands into fists when I felt the urge to let go of my restraint and let my ability take control until it consumed me. I shot out of Steam Room into the pouring rain as the deep growl of thunder rumbled in the gray sky.
Electrical discomfort aside, I felt a sense of completion wash over me like I was at the end of a book and moving on to the sequel. I could tell Lex was coming after me, nearly several feet away, when I heard the jingle of the coffee door bursting open. My hands flexed before I shoved them into my pockets, trying to ignore him. I heard his footsteps fast on my heels and when he called my name I swung around, nearly crashing into him.
“What?” I shouted as a jolt hit my core like a defibrillator causing my body to straighten.
And just like that a beam of electricity cascaded in the sky and crackled on its way to Earth, passing through at hyper-speed into Lex’s body causing him to fall onto the damp sidewalk like a lifeless doll.
What have I done?
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