Fiction Fragment Friday
This week is a short, but hopefully powerful scene. I think it still qualifies as a flash fiction, but it may be more scene than story.
What I remember most is the pain. Every inch of exposed skin burned like it was on fire. My eyes filled with tears, closing on instinct as I turned my face, trying to block the wind. With the first breath of cold, dry air, I let out an involuntary gasp triggering a coughing fit.
Through blurred vision I could see an endless field of white snow with no signs of life. The only sound I could hear was the roaring wind, so loud that it drowned out my coughing. I doubled over, shivering and staggering under the assault. Between the pain and force of the wind, I slipped, falling into a snowdrift.
I lay there in the snow, curled in a fetal position, wearing only a T-shirt and jeans. Between my heart pounding, the pain, and sensory overload, I found it difficult to focus on anything. Through watery, barely open eyes, I glimpsed the sky. It was neither day nor night, but a glowing gray.
Without focus, my power felt just out of reach. It was there deep inside, but every time I reached it just slipped through my concentration. Fear, pain, and confusion fought to keep me from acting. A sense of self-preservation won, and my power surged. In desperation, I thought of home.
My body continued to shiver, and at first, I thought nothing had happened. I tried to push myself up, feeling the wooden floor under me. The sudden movement disoriented my more making it feel like the room was spinning. My shaking arms gave out and slid in the melting snow. That was when the tingling sensation started in my face and hands, then spread over my skin as the blood returned to it. It felt like a million little needles stabbing my exposed skin.
A puddle of water formed around me as the snow melted. My soaking wet clothes clung to my body while I tried to get my breathing under control. The adrenaline fought with the pain, and my panic was not going anywhere. I hyperventilated and lost consciousness for a moment.
As my breathing slowed, I was able to push myself into a sitting position. The room was warm, but I was still shivering. I could barely recognize my reflection in the full-length mirror across the room. My skin was bright red and swollen in places. It hurt to focus through watery eyes and constant blinking.
When my powers first developed, I would jump through time uncontrollably, returning to my strongest memories. Some of those were pleasant, but my mind tends to dwell more on my worst moments than remembering my best. I had a front row seat to all the traumatic events of my life multiple times.
As I gained a level of control, my curiosity started driving my jumps. If there was a mystery, I had to know the answer. Of course, I won the lottery, so I could afford to focus on my powers without worrying about a day job to pay the bills. The biggest mystery of all though, had to be the future.
I had to know what society and technology would be like in a hundred years. Instead of going slowly, I jumped right into it. I figured jeans and a t-shirt might not be in style, but they probably wouldn’t stand out too much. I had not expected to land in an arctic hellscape.
I did not know which frightened me more: the possibility that the world would end sometime in the next hundred years, or the certainty that I could not leave the mystery alone. I would have to jump forward again and again, narrowing down when and how it would happen.
The thought of jumping back into that frozen hell terrified me more than I can say. If it was possible to save the world, though, I was the only person capable of doing so. First though, I needed to rest and then pick out some warmer clothes.