Day 117 - What Just Happened?

 What Just Happened?

 Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

For a moment I felt insane. I heard a pop and saw a flash of light. I could swear there had been a puff of smoke. But a fraction of a second later, and no smell, no burn marks, no evidence of any kind. The fan that was plugged in was still running. The clock on the wall kept ticking away. The lights we all on. So, if I had witnessed an explosion of some kind, it was the least significant one ever.

Outside the sound of rain began, which was a complete shock, but really the neighbor’s irrigation system had cracked and one sprinkler head was shooting water straight up into the air and it was pitter-pattering down on my walk. That also explained why I had seen evidence of rain in the morning when I woke up. When I knocked on their door to tell them, we were unable to recreate the phenomena.   

Perhaps I really had gone insane.

I was biting my nails again. Some of them down to the nub. Sometimes I would tear enough that it would pull the sides and strike that fleshy never tissue. I knew it would hurt for the next week, but I couldn’t stop myself, something in the texture was off and it was driving me crazy.

The phone rang but by the time I got there, no one was there.

I took a bath to calm my nerves and ending up walking around naked for a while. I went back to see if my sprinklers were working correctly. Then I heard what distinctly sounded like a cellphone alarm. There were voices outside, but I couldn’t see my neighbors and they couldn’t see my naked body. Thankfully our fence was tall. Still through, I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had seen me, despite there being no evidence.

The day was long and my sleep was lacking, and my right eye muscle began twitching. Perhaps I had too much caffeine to compensate. Or perhaps my eyes were strained and it was time for a new pair of glasses.

It was only eight, but the idea of sleep seemed captivating. The day had been full of strangeness and I just wanted to abort and start fresh in the morning.

I lay there, unable to fall asleep. Too hot, afraid to use my fan lest I set my house on fire. Mind racing at every little sound I heard outside. I was beginning to sweat and I bit the inside of my mouth. It was going to be a horrible evening.