Completion
It was such a shock, discovering my brother’s charred, deformed body in the middle of my yard. Now, a week later, I stare out the window at the place he was found. Yellow tape, like morbid streamers, still hangs between the trees.
The cops poked through everything – under the porch, through the flowerbeds. As though the cause of his combustion could be found in my azaleas.
I close the shade, allowing the house to swallow me again. I haven’t left since that night.
With excruciating care I open the door to the basement. In utter darkness, I feel my way down the almost ladder-steep stairs. I don’t realize I’m holding my breath until my lungs ache.
A glow begins in the far corner and I let my breath out in a slow release. Moving toward the illumination I take inventory. The worktable, the drawers filled with materials, the locked chest, and the obelisk emitting that soft, enticing glow.
I pull the key out from under my shirt where it hangs on a chain and open the chest. My brother’s journal seems to give off a glow of its own, but maybe that’s because I know what it contains. Every brilliant thought George had, he transcribed here. There are scientific notes that even I do not understand, but I comprehend enough to know he was not the crackpot everyone considered him.
I reach out a finger and it trembles as I press it against a diamond symbol on the obelisk. The diamond glows against my fingertip. Heat builds and a surge of energy pours through my body. If I had any hair left it would be standing on end. Goosebumps rise like a tide, sweeping across my skin.
Then the obelisk goes dark and cold, but I feel alive. Vibrant, ecstatic and full of such energy I can barely hold still. I flip on the light over the worktable and thumb through the journal to find the sketch of the obelisk and the instructions in George’s maddening shorthand. I lay the obelisk down.
Already the energy is fading. Cold begins to creep into my bones. The feeling of life is almost gone.
With a tiny screwdriver I remove the base. Something is wrong. Something is keeping it from producing the power George intended. I trace my fingers across his notes and carefully begin to work.
I have done this every day now for seven days. Ever since I found the box with the journal and the obelisk in my basement. The night after my brother died.
I have been on the cusp of victory for two days. I feel as though I am just missing the solution. I move a wire, tweak a connection, breathe a curse as my fingers slip and I have to start over.
Then suddenly I know I have done it. Adrenaline fills my veins and I have the entire thing reassembled and standing almost before I can think.
I reach to the top and tap a circle. There is a low hum. The ground vibrates, the obelisk pulses. With my thumb I touch a wavy line about midway down the obelisk and stretch my pinky over to reach a matching line on the opposite side.
There is a high, sweet noise. My heart pounds. The obelisk begins to glow and I turn off the incandescent bulb, the light seeming sacrilegious next to the purity of the obelisk’s radiance. My breath comes in short gasps as I reach out one last time to touch that diamond.
The heat is beyond words, the energy so intense my entire body arches upward and suddenly I am floating, flying. A beam of light stabs through me, then another and another as each symbol etched on the mysterious surface of the obelisk glows white hot. The light carries me. Through the ceiling into the living room and then through that ceiling into the bedroom.
I see it all in vivid colors, experience it as I never have before. Then I am through the roof and the sky is blue and cool and clear and the sun is growing closer and then I am no longer me. Far below, on the vague form of the earth I see my body, charred and twisted like my brother’s, but that is not what I truly am. I am more alive than I have ever been as the blaze of the sun shimmers out to call me home.
(c) 2010 Rebecca Thompson
All Rights Reserved
14 comments:
Hold on, you can't stop there. I'm sorry, but I'm so intrigued now. You're killing me with these tiny snippets of stuff!
I LOVE those shoes. They are punch-yourself-in-the-face cute!
Congratulations on blogging everyday so far :D
I love the clothes. Shopping is one of my most favourite things to do EVER! And I can't resist a good deal.
The shoes are also adorb. I a have a pair very similar, only black, and I LOVE them for work. Comfy, yet dressy enough for the office. Sweet!
I don't know how you keep up with all of the contest and everything else. I honestly have a hard time managing to comment on the few blogs I follow:)
But it is fun, so I manage. :)
I'm leaving your C post up on my computer until I've checked out every one of the contests you listed. This A to Z idea is turning out to be more fun than I ever imagined.
@Amie: but, that's the end of the story. At least of that one. Glad you're enjoying yourself though!
I think I'm going to use the other short story about the dog and the bone for my next NaNo novel.
@Joan: they ARE punch-yourself-in-the-face cute! My nose is kinda sore.
@Jenn: I LOVE shopping. SO therefore I try to avoid it until I have to because I would be so poor if I didn't. And blogging has become like my new hobby. Who needs sleep. Seriously.
@Patricia: haha - that's how I discovered all of these - by keeping up someone else's post who had listed a whole bunch! So much fun!
You are so adorable. I snorted when you said "totes weird."
toped: Coming to the top
oooh, those are such cute shoes. What size do you wear? where do you live? What's your address and when is no one around so that I may steal them? These are questions a girl needs to ask.
@Joan- "punch-yourself-in-the-face cute" LOL!! That's what I say about the Man. Then he looks at me funny when I punch myself in the face.
@Palindrome: You are high-larious.
@Palindrome: I have clown feet, otherwise known as size 11. haha! I don't have to share my shoes with anyone because of this!
And I know you're asking for my address just to throw me off the truth. You're already stalking me, I know it!
I wear a 10...they'll fit fer sher!
I love contests1
And Kohl's!
And chocolate!
We are kindred spirits!!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I will follow you till Z..and beyond!!!!
first off, those shoes are adorable!
Also, i, too, never knew that blogging could lead me to win so much free stuff. It's awesome!
I've read books i never would have on my own
SM: like morbid streamers
Wow. I can't believe I've never read that before. Nice.
Joan: LOVE those shoes. They are punch-yourself-in-the-face cute!
So how many pairs do you own?
VW: pilloy — An expression used by Jewish grandparents when they forget their medication.
@Rae: I know this was ages ago, but Yeah! For blogging soul mates! you're sweet.
@Falen: I too have read things I don't think I would have taken the time for without these wondrous blogs :)
@Blam: Thanks. that was one of my favorite lines and as I was cutting to get down to the contest limit I did everything I could to keep it in.
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