as it had been all day.
Heading back with chattering teeth to the bedroom, warm clothes were the only option.
Thinking that some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt would suffice she didn’t even make it to the closet when something that could only be described as out of this world happened.
Kate’s legs grew rigid as she struggled to comprehend the totally bizarre fact that she was now dressed in the very clothes she’d just been thinking about. Her mouth opened, her eyebrows lifted as high as they would go.
“How the hell can I be dressed when I haven’t even made it back to the closet? Am I truly losing it? What’s going on?” Her hands had come up to grip her throat. “I have to be dreaming.” She closed and opened her eyes vigorously, trying to force herself awake and back to the present. “Come on, wake up!”
Kate’s fisted hands rubbed her eyeballs trying to erase the illusion. Keeping her eyes closed for a minute, she prayed that when she opened them, everything would be back to normal. She’d be in the dress she had on that morning. Her handbag would be hanging over the back of the chair that sat against the wall beside the freshly painted timber windows and her keys would be lazily strewn on the bedside table.
Scrunching her face up, only opening the left eye to let enough light in so she could see, she glanced down. Disappointment had her screaming expletives over and over until she thought her voice might disappear.
She walked on autopilot, dazed and confused, to the kitchen table, where she knew her cell phone still sat. The meager work-station was still an organized mess with fresh faxes overflowing from the machine onto the terrazzo tiles. Recipe books lay scattered over and under paperwork, open to the very pages they’d been left.
She pulled the faxes off and scanned them to see if any evidence of the missing afternoon could be found. She didn’t know what she hoped to find but at that point, every angle needed to be looked at. Four from the boss, editor and chief, Cindy Caulfield, wondering where the overdue article about healthy Italian food was.
Kate threw the faxes to the ground.
Revelers outside eradicated the quiet, confirming that their day had gone on as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary for them to worry about, yet inside the quaint building directly above, a different story unfolded. Eyeing the cell phone on the table, Kate desperately grabbed it and pressed the number for Carlos, barely even feeling the keypad. A recorded voice responded with an out of range signal.
“Oh my God! I need you! What’s the point in having an effing cell phone if I can’t get a hold of you? We’re in the digital age now and it’s saying you’re out of range. For all I know you’ve gone to the moon.” She slapped her palm down on the table in frustration.
She thought of her father. He would know what to do. With trembling fingers she punched in the numbers on her cell and put it to her ear, waiting for a dial tone, but all she received was a bunch of static. Hoping it was just a bad signal, she tried it again and got the same white noise.
“For fuck’s sake! What’s happening? Have I been sucked into a parallel universe? Have I gone totally off my rocker?” She threw her cell phone on the ground, sending the back of it flying in one direction and the battery in the other.
Kate sat, exhausted, feeling mind numbingly alone, trying to determine what to do next as she rubbed at her temples.
She focused intently on her inner voice to see what it had to say. There was nothing coming through about where she had run to after the festival or how she got home but the strong sensations of her ex-lover needing to see her held firm.
“Jake!” Kate toyed with the idea that if he was stalking her he may be able to hear.
“Stay the hell away from me, you hear? I don’t want you near me! I want you to leave town. I don’t love you anymore. I’ve moved on with my life.”
Her body sagged onto
Heading back with chattering teeth to the bedroom, warm clothes were the only option.
Thinking that some jeans and a long-sleeved shirt would suffice she didn’t even make it to the closet when something that could only be described as out of this world happened.
Kate’s legs grew rigid as she struggled to comprehend the totally bizarre fact that she was now dressed in the very clothes she’d just been thinking about. Her mouth opened, her eyebrows lifted as high as they would go.
“How the hell can I be dressed when I haven’t even made it back to the closet? Am I truly losing it? What’s going on?” Her hands had come up to grip her throat. “I have to be dreaming.” She closed and opened her eyes vigorously, trying to force herself awake and back to the present. “Come on, wake up!”
Kate’s fisted hands rubbed her eyeballs trying to erase the illusion. Keeping her eyes closed for a minute, she prayed that when she opened them, everything would be back to normal. She’d be in the dress she had on that morning. Her handbag would be hanging over the back of the chair that sat against the wall beside the freshly painted timber windows and her keys would be lazily strewn on the bedside table.
Scrunching her face up, only opening the left eye to let enough light in so she could see, she glanced down. Disappointment had her screaming expletives over and over until she thought her voice might disappear.
She walked on autopilot, dazed and confused, to the kitchen table, where she knew her cell phone still sat. The meager work-station was still an organized mess with fresh faxes overflowing from the machine onto the terrazzo tiles. Recipe books lay scattered over and under paperwork, open to the very pages they’d been left.
She pulled the faxes off and scanned them to see if any evidence of the missing afternoon could be found. She didn’t know what she hoped to find but at that point, every angle needed to be looked at. Four from the boss, editor and chief, Cindy Caulfield, wondering where the overdue article about healthy Italian food was.
Kate threw the faxes to the ground.
Revelers outside eradicated the quiet, confirming that their day had gone on as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary for them to worry about, yet inside the quaint building directly above, a different story unfolded. Eyeing the cell phone on the table, Kate desperately grabbed it and pressed the number for Carlos, barely even feeling the keypad. A recorded voice responded with an out of range signal.
“Oh my God! I need you! What’s the point in having an effing cell phone if I can’t get a hold of you? We’re in the digital age now and it’s saying you’re out of range. For all I know you’ve gone to the moon.” She slapped her palm down on the table in frustration.
She thought of her father. He would know what to do. With trembling fingers she punched in the numbers on her cell and put it to her ear, waiting for a dial tone, but all she received was a bunch of static. Hoping it was just a bad signal, she tried it again and got the same white noise.
“For fuck’s sake! What’s happening? Have I been sucked into a parallel universe? Have I gone totally off my rocker?” She threw her cell phone on the ground, sending the back of it flying in one direction and the battery in the other.
Kate sat, exhausted, feeling mind numbingly alone, trying to determine what to do next as she rubbed at her temples.
She focused intently on her inner voice to see what it had to say. There was nothing coming through about where she had run to after the festival or how she got home but the strong sensations of her ex-lover needing to see her held firm.
“Jake!” Kate toyed with the idea that if he was stalking her he may be able to hear.
“Stay the hell away from me, you hear? I don’t want you near me! I want you to leave town. I don’t love you anymore. I’ve moved on with my life.”
Her body sagged onto
Similar Books
