Floating Ink

by James Livingood

CHAPTER SIX

  Walls

  Ruth’s legs burned from running all over town looking for an escape. She was no closer to finding the truth. People still behaved like people. Trees, sparse as they were, moved in the wind. The sensation trickled down her back. What if the world was the same and it was just her that had changed. What if she had no place, no home to go to? That cold feeling stopped her where she stood. Spotting a bench nearby, she sat down. What if she didn’t belong in this world? Should she mask her emotions and pretend to be like them?

  Did it matter anymore? Ruth felt hollow inside. She was surprised to feel wetness on her face. The old her would care who saw the weakness. After all, it wasn’t polite form to be sad. Feeling as disconnected as she did now, Ruth no longer cared for polite form. She watched the trees sway peacefully. The grass danced back and forth on the rhythm of nature. In a state of disconnectedness, she cried. Soon, her tears began to float away.

  It wasn’t something she noticed at first. Like little spheres of soap, one in five tears floated away from her face. Each of these small bubbles reflected more light than was natural. It was as if she were crying diamonds that floated away. It wasn’t until she saw a black bubble that she panicked. She immediately grasped her face and stopped crying. Was this confirmation that her eyes had turned black like the rest of the people in this town?

  As she stared into the black bubble, she saw little floating dots. Her mind tried to understand what she was seeing. It wasn’t like the specs floated in the dark bubble. Instead, it was as if the bubble was a window into the night sky. Ruth forgot her sadness and curiosity took over. It looked exactly like the night sky. It wasn’t until she saw the moon in the image that her thoughts were confirmed. She looked around the bubble; clearly it was still day out.

  If she could reach in and grab a book out of a bubble, what would this do? Would night suddenly occur? She slowly reached toward the bubble, finger trembling. That finger inched closer and closer to the bubble. It then pressed against the bubble. The surface tension of the bubble held for a moment, allowing her to push in slightly.

  The bubble then popped and a small circle of night remained in the air. A giant wind immediately picked up from all sides, all forward to the bubble. Ruth turned around and held onto the bench. Trees, shrubs and rocks began to fly toward the circles of night. As they hit, a small portion was suck through the night, leaving a hole in the substance. It flew out, then twirled back around getting another hole ripped out. Ruth held onto the park bench with every muscle she had in her arms. Her legs were dangling toward the circle of night. It was as if two tornados were lined up next to each other, neither deciding to budge. Soon, the circle of night had a small barrier of dirt circling around the hole. Ruth didn’t have time to observe why this was happening.

  A tree from the edge of the park ripped out of the ground. It toppled end over end and hit the park bench. The jolt from the hit made Ruth lose her grip. She screamed, but the sound of the circle of night quickly consumed that as well. When she was an inch away from the circle, it vanished. The moment it disappeared, so did the wind and the rings of debris. It all felt to the ground. Thick tree branches and twisted metal landed near Ruth. A small wire cut her near the side of her eye. If she had been a quarter inch to the left, it would have sliced her eye open. She felt the blood trickle down her dazed face.

  A man came running from a nearby building. He ran toward Ruth, helping her up. The man had black eyes, like the rest. He also wore a jean jacket and a cowboy hat. He was clean shaven, and Ruth thought that the callouses on his hand felt right in place.

  “Thank you,” Ruth said, not trying to stare into his eyes. She adjusted her clothing and tried to push her hair back in a semblance of pattern.

  The man let go and stared at her. His head cocked to the side one way, then the other. He looked around at all the wreckage, then up at the air. He opened his mouth to speak and left it wide open.

  Trying not to stare, and assuming it was an expression of shock, Ruth ignored the man. She began to walk away when a siren erupted from the man’s mouth. It was an unnatural sound, high pitched and wailing. The man did not move his mouth to make the siren noise. Ruth knew a warning siren when she heard it. She began to dart away from the man. He lifted his hand and pointed at Ruth.

  As she ran, others began to stop what they were doing and looked in her direction. One by one, they opened their mouths and sirens poured out. Each person pointed where she was, while they stood still. She picked up as much speed as possible, unsure of where exactly she could hide. She risked a glance back and saw everyone on the block was pointing in her direction. She looked up and saw people from the buildings were also pointed at her, their mouths open in a siren.

  Wanting to escape the noise she kept running. She tried to find places that didn’t have these black eyed people. Perhaps she could lose this tide of people pointing and hide. She began to panic, and thoughts of hiding in the dirt went through her mind. Would it be possible to dig her way under the wall? She hadn’t tried that and in her panicked state it made sense. She reached the nearest wall and set to work.