Something Different

Flash Fiction Fantasy

“Looking at life from a different perspective makes you realize that it’s not the deer that is crossing the road, rather it’s the road that is crossing the forest.”                          – Muhammad Ali  (reddit)

For days Estrela Mann felt a heaviness in the air. Not as in the humidity of the tropics where she lived, but as a wave of negativity from the people around her. Each morning she would summon the light within her to fill her heart in order to illuminate the darkness around her.  So it was that Stela, as her friends called her, made it through each day weary and exhausted but in good spirits.

One particular morning as the alarm rang out its cheerful tune, Stela prepared for the day ahead, resolved to make it a good one. She still had lots of errands and things to do to prepare for her trip.  She allowed herself to feel good about the workshop this weekend and was looking forward to it.

Stela was eager to get going, but just before stepping outside, through the door’s glass panel, she caught sight of an unfamiliar car parked across the street with three angry faces glaring at her house. At first glance, Stella didn’t recognize them without the masks of pleasantry they always wore in public, but over the past few months, her awareness and intuition had sharpened. Stela knew exactly who they were, but what were they doing here and what did they want?

As she considered how to handle the situation, her phone rang.  It was a video call from her friend Tom Aldi.  This morning was getting more bizarre by the minute.  What did he want this early in the day? She hadn’t spoken to him for months, but she smiled, it did make sense. They each had an uncanny sagacity of reaching out to the other in the most opportune moments.  “Guess what?” he told her. “I’m almost at your back door. Open up and let’s put on a fresh pot of coffee. I’ve got great news!”

Forgetting the strangers outside for a moment, Stela went to the back of the house without hesitation.  She would save her questions for later.  Stela was glad to see him and was surprised at how relieved she felt to have him here right now. They had been friends since high school, and Stela often shared things with him that she felt foolish to tell others. She was sure he could help her sort out the signs to understand what was going on. Tom had a naturally keen ability for solving such puzzles.

Stela watched him casually walking out of the woods as if this morning’s visit was an everyday occurrence. She stepped out the door and was about to reach him when out of the ground in front of her, there arose a cloud of black smoke as when a small brush fire suddenly turns large and menacing. Stranger still was that someone appeared to be trapped in the smoke waving hands and screaming, “Get away, get away!” A hand making a fist shot up from out of the blackness as if to stop Stela from reaching Tom. The voice in the black cloud screamed obscenities at Stela. Amidst the confusion, Stela seemed to recognize the shrill voice.  It sounded like Melana. As Stela approached the screams became louder, “Stay away! You ruined my life! No, not again! I forbid it!”

Was she dreaming? Was it Melana’s malicious nature from across the miles after all these years?  This situation was all too much, too absurd! She told herself.  She tried to look into the smoke. There was no flame; there was no one there! Just ear piercing sounds like a screaming Banshee. Frustrated and confused, Stela raised her hands and shouted back, “Stop it!  I never ruined anything! Your own deceitfulness and manipulation achieved that!  Now leave me alone, I have more important things to deal with!”

As Stela put out her hands toward the screaming smoke, rays of bright light shot out from her palms. Stela watched in astonishment as the smoke turned from black to gray to white, and finally, a thin fog evaporated into the fresh, quiet morning air. Through the light mist, Stela could see Tom getting closer as she stood there trembling in disbelief.

“Did you see that?” she asked Tom as they embraced when he reached her.

“The brush fire?  Yeah, that was weird. There were no brush fire warnings.  Good thing it fizzled quickly. Are you cold? Why are you trembling? Let’s go inside.”

Stela stared at him.  Was that all he saw?  “Did you hear the screeching?” She asked.

“Oh yeah, that old car parked across the street finally got going. If I were them, I would drive it over to the nearest auto repair shop.” She suddenly remembered the car out front, but when she looked,  it was no longer there.

Was it the car that produced black smoke and the screeching? That reasoning would make some sense of this wild morning.  Stela tried to relax as she half listened to Tom’s stories, but she remained restless. Either she was losing her mind, or something very strange was going on around her.

She thought of the Gandalf-look-alike she had met at the coffee shop a few months ago and again began to shiver as she remembered what he told her. Stela needed to get hold of him, but because she hadn’t taken him seriously, she didn’t even remember his name. Where did she put his business card?  She had missed Tom, but now was trying to find a way to get him out of her house so that she could concentrate on finding “Gandalf.”  Maybe he’ll sense my distress and find me again, like in the movies. She thought.  “This is not a movie.”  she scolded herself.

Tom noticed she had stopped listening, and she was trembling again. “Is everything alright? What’s going on? ” Stela wasn’t ready to share her ideas with Tom. When they were kids, she felt she could tell him anything but the events of the past few months were too much for her to try to explain, even to Tom.  He had always been tolerant of her beliefs and ideas, but this went beyond anything she had experienced before.

“I’m not feeling well this morning. I was going to call in sick to work and lay down for a while.” She lied.

“Ok, if you don’t mind, I’ll wait in your TV room in case you need anything. I don’t want to leave you like this. “

Stela stared at him and started to argue, but he gently pushed her into her room and closed the door. She had to admit that the events of this morning left her shaken. She was sure she had not imagined them. Again she noticed that she was glad Tom happened to be around.

In her room, she noticed a shiny business card on her nightstand. Had it been there all along? Was it glowing? Ridiculous! Stela thought as she picked it up and sure enough, the card read, “Dr. Ailfred Cleary: Light Theory.”

She rolled her eyes as she read to herself, but picked up her phone to call.

(TRYING SOMETHING DIFFERENT.  A FANTASY FLASH FICTION, PART OF A PROJECT I AM WORKING ON)