Prologue
A cicada. Nearly a pointless little insect. All they do is make noise. Lots and lots of noise. And from what I could tell, most of the people in the middle of nowhere town loved the sound. To them it was the pure essence of summer. But to me… It was the most annoying sound on planet Earth.
Just a little farther and I could reach it; knock the little monster out of his perfect little tree. Not that killing one of them would do me any good, or get me any more sleep, but hey, it made me feel better.
He, or she I suppose, was green. A sickly brownish-green. And its sheer wings, when they slowed from making noise, were an equally disgusting shade of yellow. The bug sat in the fork of a rather large, and pretty, oak tree just outside of my front door. Which was another reason I had an interest in relocating him to the ground. The tree was too gorgeous to me marred by such a disgusting creature.
Just a few more inches. I had one foot planted on the tree’s bark, and the other on the tallest root next to the trunk. Even standing on tip-toe I couldn’t quite reach it. I sighed, although it was really more of a growl. Luckily enough I lived outside of town. If anyone were to see me in this position…
Houston… how I loved that place. It was huge… True, parking was hell, but there weren’t bugs like this all over the place. I much preferred the sound of cars to insects like this one. Because cars stayed outside.
“I give up!” I shouted, a bit louder then I actually intended, but it wasn’t like anyone could actually hear me. With one last effort, I forced my right foot, the one on the ground, up on to the tree and reached out for the smaller of the sides of the split.
“Aha! I have you now. Thought you could escape, didya?”
I reached forward lazily, and flicked the cicada with my index finger of my right hand while my left arm held on to the tree for dear life. A little crackling sound rose up from the bug, and he barely moved. I shuddered. It was much more gross then I had planned, and the monster wasn’t even phased, he just went on chirping away.
“Eeeew,” It was nearly a squeal, although it completely expressed my feeling towards the matter. Ew indeed.
I moved to thwack the insect with the back of my hand, but I began to slip. I could feel the tree bark abasing the skin on my arm. Subconsciously I wrapped both arms around the tree, but I was already too far down to catch grip again. And with one last harsh slide, I fell. In my desperation to get a hold, my knees swung forward and I could feel them scrape nearly the length of the remaining trunk. And if that weren’t enough, I could feel sharp points of pain in my shins and forearm, which had hit the ground first. Sticker burrs.
“I. Hate. Everything!”
I hauled myself up, grimacing at my aching knees and throbbing elbow. “No, that wasn’t Karma. Not in the slightest.” The sarcasm dripped from my words like the venom I wished I possessed.
I limped back across my porch and into my house. Maybe limped is the wrong word. Shambled?
I dragged one of my dining room chairs behind me through my hallway, across the cool linoleum, and into the, strangely, carpeted bathroom. I was not taking any more chances. I nearly threw the chair into position against my bathroom cabinet and climbed up on it to sit on my counter. No chances!
My tweezers, which had a permanent place in the middle of my counter for this sole purpose, were nice and cool between my fingers, just as my floor had been to my bare feet. It had to be in the high nineties outside. Even for me, that was disgustingly hot and I doubted I had escaped a sunburn.
The tweezers, which were clearly marked to be made of stainless steel but weren’t, had dull red rust spots on them. A color close enough to that of the stupid little cicada that I shuddered again. I quickly decided that I could splurge on a new pair when I went into town. Although when that would be, I had no idea. How I wish for a car.
A little tickle of heat fell from my knee. At first I figured it to be another bug. A fly, perhaps? But at the glare that I shot it, I realized for the first time that I was bleeding a bit from both knees. With another glare at nothing in particular, I seized the cream-colored, barbed, orb of pain which had so delicately lodged itself in the curve of my ankle.
“Like a band-aid,” I hissed, and ripped the stiff seed from my skin. I watched closely, observing the bead of blood that developed where the bur had previously been. With a click that was close enough to being inaudible without actually being so, the sharp barbs were dropped in the sink. The only sure place where I would not sit, or step, or put my hand on, or even remotely see it until I decided it time to toss the object into the trash.
Because with my luck, that would happen anyway.
And with that same luck, the phone rang. "Of course. " I sighed, ripping the rest of the burrs from my flesh with a lack of delicacy that I was known for. The phone rested just around the corner from my bathroom, and I snatched it from the base.
"What!?" I near shouted, then sighed. Again... Yelling on the phone to the person on the other end was probably a bad idea.
"Geez Nikki! Did I wake you up or something?" It was Cayden. My boyfriend. Well in his opinion he was my boyfriend. I would prefer to keep it a friend relationship, but he was a guy, what was I supposed to expect.
"Sorry. I fell out of a tree. I'm kind of in a bad mood."
"Oh. Well I was going to ask if you wanted to go to Wal-Mart with me? I need to get a few things..."
"You know what? I'd love too. I'll meet you out at the end of the road. And make sure you bring the truck, I'm not walking this time." He laughed, knowing exactly what I meant. The last time I had walked to out pick-up spot, I had been chased down the road by a skunk that was probably rabid.
"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes then"
"Okay! See ya!" I hung up before he had time to answer with an 'I love you.'
I glanced down at my scraped up knees and bloody shins. That would mean I would have to wear pants. And a long sleeve shirt. How I hated the heat. Even in the middle of autumn it was still nearly seventy degrees. I stalked into my bedroom and began to dig through my box of clothes that I could never wear because it was always so hot out (which was actually written in sharpie on the drawer), and discovered a pair of knee length leg warmers. With my knee and elbow pads I could hide my injuries without having to wear too much extra. Besides, in a town this small, leg warmers were still in style, even if they were bright purple and striped with orange. I mentally flashed myself the V for victory, and pulled the wool over my sneakers.
I cringed as my knee pads pulled tight against my scrapes, however, once they were on, I was ready to go. My bike, like my tweezers, was rusty and old. Not to mention second-hand that I had picked up from a yard sale three weeks ago. I had bought a new seat for it, and had replaced the chain and tires, so it worked fine. It was just ugly.
I started off down my driveway, noticing the dark purple thunder heads in the distance. They were probably over the next town, the one with the name I could never, ever, remember. I kicked up the stand and started off down the road, pedaling hard to make it through the sand. I made short work of the first mile, but stopped at the bottom of the largest hill on the path. The dust I had kicked up swelled around my ankles and tires like fog before settling. I decided I could take a break and glanced back at the clouds. A faint rumbling rang in my ears. "Thunder?" I asked myself, not paying it much mind. I turned back around in time to see a bright flash of reflection, and hear a blaring trumpet before it cut off suddenly, echoing into the darkness that had taken over all my senses.
A cicada. Nearly a pointless little insect. All they do is make noise. Lots and lots of noise. And from what I could tell, most of the people in the middle of nowhere town loved the sound. To them it was the pure essence of summer. But to me… It was the most annoying sound on planet Earth.
Just a little farther and I could reach it; knock the little monster out of his perfect little tree. Not that killing one of them would do me any good, or get me any more sleep, but hey, it made me feel better.
He, or she I suppose, was green. A sickly brownish-green. And its sheer wings, when they slowed from making noise, were an equally disgusting shade of yellow. The bug sat in the fork of a rather large, and pretty, oak tree just outside of my front door. Which was another reason I had an interest in relocating him to the ground. The tree was too gorgeous to me marred by such a disgusting creature.
Just a few more inches. I had one foot planted on the tree’s bark, and the other on the tallest root next to the trunk. Even standing on tip-toe I couldn’t quite reach it. I sighed, although it was really more of a growl. Luckily enough I lived outside of town. If anyone were to see me in this position…
Houston… how I loved that place. It was huge… True, parking was hell, but there weren’t bugs like this all over the place. I much preferred the sound of cars to insects like this one. Because cars stayed outside.
“I give up!” I shouted, a bit louder then I actually intended, but it wasn’t like anyone could actually hear me. With one last effort, I forced my right foot, the one on the ground, up on to the tree and reached out for the smaller of the sides of the split.
“Aha! I have you now. Thought you could escape, didya?”
I reached forward lazily, and flicked the cicada with my index finger of my right hand while my left arm held on to the tree for dear life. A little crackling sound rose up from the bug, and he barely moved. I shuddered. It was much more gross then I had planned, and the monster wasn’t even phased, he just went on chirping away.
“Eeeew,” It was nearly a squeal, although it completely expressed my feeling towards the matter. Ew indeed.
I moved to thwack the insect with the back of my hand, but I began to slip. I could feel the tree bark abasing the skin on my arm. Subconsciously I wrapped both arms around the tree, but I was already too far down to catch grip again. And with one last harsh slide, I fell. In my desperation to get a hold, my knees swung forward and I could feel them scrape nearly the length of the remaining trunk. And if that weren’t enough, I could feel sharp points of pain in my shins and forearm, which had hit the ground first. Sticker burrs.
“I. Hate. Everything!”
I hauled myself up, grimacing at my aching knees and throbbing elbow. “No, that wasn’t Karma. Not in the slightest.” The sarcasm dripped from my words like the venom I wished I possessed.
I limped back across my porch and into my house. Maybe limped is the wrong word. Shambled?
I dragged one of my dining room chairs behind me through my hallway, across the cool linoleum, and into the, strangely, carpeted bathroom. I was not taking any more chances. I nearly threw the chair into position against my bathroom cabinet and climbed up on it to sit on my counter. No chances!
My tweezers, which had a permanent place in the middle of my counter for this sole purpose, were nice and cool between my fingers, just as my floor had been to my bare feet. It had to be in the high nineties outside. Even for me, that was disgustingly hot and I doubted I had escaped a sunburn.
The tweezers, which were clearly marked to be made of stainless steel but weren’t, had dull red rust spots on them. A color close enough to that of the stupid little cicada that I shuddered again. I quickly decided that I could splurge on a new pair when I went into town. Although when that would be, I had no idea. How I wish for a car.
A little tickle of heat fell from my knee. At first I figured it to be another bug. A fly, perhaps? But at the glare that I shot it, I realized for the first time that I was bleeding a bit from both knees. With another glare at nothing in particular, I seized the cream-colored, barbed, orb of pain which had so delicately lodged itself in the curve of my ankle.
“Like a band-aid,” I hissed, and ripped the stiff seed from my skin. I watched closely, observing the bead of blood that developed where the bur had previously been. With a click that was close enough to being inaudible without actually being so, the sharp barbs were dropped in the sink. The only sure place where I would not sit, or step, or put my hand on, or even remotely see it until I decided it time to toss the object into the trash.
Because with my luck, that would happen anyway.
And with that same luck, the phone rang. "Of course. " I sighed, ripping the rest of the burrs from my flesh with a lack of delicacy that I was known for. The phone rested just around the corner from my bathroom, and I snatched it from the base.
"What!?" I near shouted, then sighed. Again... Yelling on the phone to the person on the other end was probably a bad idea.
"Geez Nikki! Did I wake you up or something?" It was Cayden. My boyfriend. Well in his opinion he was my boyfriend. I would prefer to keep it a friend relationship, but he was a guy, what was I supposed to expect.
"Sorry. I fell out of a tree. I'm kind of in a bad mood."
"Oh. Well I was going to ask if you wanted to go to Wal-Mart with me? I need to get a few things..."
"You know what? I'd love too. I'll meet you out at the end of the road. And make sure you bring the truck, I'm not walking this time." He laughed, knowing exactly what I meant. The last time I had walked to out pick-up spot, I had been chased down the road by a skunk that was probably rabid.
"I'll pick you up in twenty minutes then"
"Okay! See ya!" I hung up before he had time to answer with an 'I love you.'
I glanced down at my scraped up knees and bloody shins. That would mean I would have to wear pants. And a long sleeve shirt. How I hated the heat. Even in the middle of autumn it was still nearly seventy degrees. I stalked into my bedroom and began to dig through my box of clothes that I could never wear because it was always so hot out (which was actually written in sharpie on the drawer), and discovered a pair of knee length leg warmers. With my knee and elbow pads I could hide my injuries without having to wear too much extra. Besides, in a town this small, leg warmers were still in style, even if they were bright purple and striped with orange. I mentally flashed myself the V for victory, and pulled the wool over my sneakers.
I cringed as my knee pads pulled tight against my scrapes, however, once they were on, I was ready to go. My bike, like my tweezers, was rusty and old. Not to mention second-hand that I had picked up from a yard sale three weeks ago. I had bought a new seat for it, and had replaced the chain and tires, so it worked fine. It was just ugly.
I started off down my driveway, noticing the dark purple thunder heads in the distance. They were probably over the next town, the one with the name I could never, ever, remember. I kicked up the stand and started off down the road, pedaling hard to make it through the sand. I made short work of the first mile, but stopped at the bottom of the largest hill on the path. The dust I had kicked up swelled around my ankles and tires like fog before settling. I decided I could take a break and glanced back at the clouds. A faint rumbling rang in my ears. "Thunder?" I asked myself, not paying it much mind. I turned back around in time to see a bright flash of reflection, and hear a blaring trumpet before it cut off suddenly, echoing into the darkness that had taken over all my senses.
