<< Headache Ch. 9 | Headache Ch. 11 >>
“Yeah, that’d just be weird…”
Auras.
I was seeing peoples’ auras.
Like I was some kind of patchouli scented, chai drinking, be-dreaded sociology dropout with some philosophical objection to soap.
Any minute now I was going to start remembering my past lives.
Knowing my luck, I was probably Alexander the Great’s chief eunuch.
Fucking auras.
A hand waved in front of my face.
“Uh, hello? Up here.”
I came to.
“Sorry, I just blanked for second there – “
whilst staring at your chest.
Fuck.
I went red. Started looking at a point about 6 inches above Elise’s head.
“Sorry, no, I wasn’t… staring… I was just… I was just thinking about… fucking Dillinger.”
Elise raised an eyebrow. Not another eyebrow raiser. How do they do it?
Bastards.
“You were thinking about fucking Dillinger?”
“Yes – ”
Elise’s poker face cracked. Giggle, snort, giggle
“- wait! No!”
Giggle, snort, giggle.
“Bitch.”
She calmed down.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“What, with Dillinger? Fucked if I know.”
“No, not just Dillinger. Everything. Look around.”
She gestured vaguely.
“This place, it’s deserted. The streets, almost empty. Work, everyone’s called in sick. With headaches. Everyone I’ve spoken to today’s got one. You, me, John, that really fat woman who smells like sweaty feet, the one in copying – “
“Millicent.”
“ – yeah, her. Even fucking Dillinger said he had one.”
She paused.
“And there’s other stuff too.”
“Oh, yeah?”
She started to do the whipped cream peek-a-boo thing, then stopped.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain… not to mention a bit weird..”
“What, weirder than having Dillinger read your mind?”
“When you put it like that, no.”
Pause.
“It’s like I’m more… aware. Aware of my physical environment. Like I know where everything is in relation to me, y’know, even if I can’t see it. I know that there are eighteen sugar sachets in that bowl, and that the barista behind me, the one with the mohawk, has two mugs, one empty, one full, on his tray- ”
I looked over her left shoulder.
One empty, one full.
“- and that there’s three coins down the back of your armchair.”
I started to fish around.
One.
Two.
“It’s really far down, on the left hand side – “
I shifted and
“Yuk!”
“ – underneath some gum.”
Baleful look. Counted out my loot.
“Sweet, enough for another cup.”
“I don’t think they can legally serve you that much caffeine.”
I looked down at my mug.
“Yeah, I’ve still got half of this to go, and I’m way too jumpy already.”
Pause.
“So when did it all start, this… heightened awareness thingy?”
She picked up her long handled spoon, scooped up some whipped cream. Started to lick it off the spoon. If it wasn’t for the faraway look in her eyes, I’d say she was doing it on purpose.
It was still pretty bloody distracting.
Elise was talking. I snapped out of it.
“…hard to say, really. It sort of just snuck up on me. Past couple of days, I guess. It’s been really noticeable today. Like yesterday, it was just kind of a general thing, knowing where large objects where, couches and stuff. All today, it’s been getting more and more… precise. Smaller objects, being able to make out individual objects in a clutter, that kind of thing.”
Pause.
“Pretty weird, huh?”
Whilst she’d been talking, the blue sparks at the corner of her mouth had spread out over her cheeks, down her neck, up her nose, until all of her face was covered, from her collar to her hairline. As I sat there, blue started to peek out from under her cuff, spread up along her wrist.
I closed my eyes.
I could still see her, a blue lady on the insides of my eyelids.
I opened my eyes.
I spoke, surprised at the weariness I could hear in my own voice.
“No weirder than the rest of today.”
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