Fiction

I Scream Float

Loose Leaves From The Tree of Daydreams

Suddenly, a cloudy day alights from whispered years and like an eerie past, caresses the back of your neck and asks: have you forgotten yourself?

I didn’t perceive time. A lightness of mind came over me and blurred my vision. I moved my eyes and observed the text in front of me: it was a blot, no point focusing. I almost didn’t know I was there.

I heard mumbling around me.

My stomach scratched my mind, something was squeezing it provoking tiny gasps that thumped at the base of my skull. I felt a bit off on my chair. I’d not moved a muscle. I felt light, weightless, my body wasn’t pressing the cushion.

I focused. The light in the office hadn’t changed. The come-and-go continued like yesterday. Never done.

I leaned on my desk and pushed backward moving my feet to get up as the chair slid across the cubicle. Before it stopped, I’d walked a few steps, I’d ignored a few people. Exhaustion draped over me igniting tiny sparks as I dragged it on my way to the bathroom. Static on my nape spiked down to my elbows; blinking lightning strings reached the tips of my fingers.

Before I could check if a stall was free, a bitter, boiling explosion filled my mouth. I didn’t hear a thing. I couldn’t smell. Space was filled by silence, a burning feeling, and a flashing high fever. I grabbed the bowl curving over as liquid propelled out of my mouth and nose.

I’ve no idea how long I took to reach the sink, much less how much it took me to pour some water on my face. Elbows on the sink, heels felt light. I felt weightless over an empty stomach and under a buzzing head. A smell filled the air. Sour. I could taste it.

I began pulsing. I tried to stand straight in front of the mirror. I lifted my elbows from the sink and lightness took over. I could see my reflection in the mirror growing smaller as I flew across the room. My feet weren’t pressing the floor. I hovered backward an inch above the ground. My body floated freely. Terrified.

A small thump against the stall stops me. Still floating.

I wasn’t pulsing anymore but my respiration was intense. I inhaled desperately. I stretched my legs like a broken ballerina, trying to reach the ground, I was so close. The tip of my shoe brushed against the floor pushing me upward. My respiration became erratic intensifying, faster and faster, but the oxygen reaching my brain was not enough. I got dizzy as I went up. Ever so slowly.

Breathing at the speed of light. Life at the speed of a slug.

I felt a slight touch and my back was against the ceiling. No more breathing. I was frozen in absolute silence.

A beam of light from the door cut the room. Her heels walked across under me. She stood at the mirror putting on makeup. I screamed but my mouth was a hollow cup, no sound. I saw black spots before blacking out.

I can lie — maybe try to remember- but I think there was an instant when I felt the breeze on my face as my body filled with gravity and went down. For the brief moment that it lasted, I can’t really say, only guess. The hard floor that stopped my fall hit me like an iron the size of my body.

I was awake.

I tasted blood, felt a tooth sink into my palate, and my eyes were about to pop from their orbits as I hit the floor. I was tangled in asphyxia. I think I heard one of my knee bones crack, I’m not sure, the loud pain in my skull numbed my ears.

I remember the fear on the face of the woman in the mirror. Her lipstick ran across her cheek when I fell. I can still feel the hands of those who picked me up wondering what the hell happened; stunned when they saw my face, swollen purple from impact.

The entire floor was silent when I walked out of that bathroom. An office stood still. A gear paused. A cog left.

I’ve given a lot of thought to this since it happened. I’ve not found answers yet.

The only thing clear to me is the grave condition of my gravity. I’d drifted off on my desk many times.

But I never thought I’d float away.

“Loose Leaves From The Tree of Daydreams” is a series of moments that reflect on everyday thoughts through surrealistic interpretation.

I write about and photograph life, nostalgia, love, melancholy, time, and a nameless place where I search for dream filled crepes.

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