The Guardian of Threshold by A. A. Volts Read Free Book Online

me a strange, yet pleasant sensation. At that moment, I felt my body lift up as if gravity had suddenly been turned off. I was floating… I don’t mean my physical body, but dare I say it? My spirit.
    At first I couldn’t see much, yet I knew exactly where everything was. It was a different form of vision, an internal sense, or radar if you will. I could feel my surroundings. I guess it was what I heard some people call the mind’s eye. The best way I can describe it is that every object seemed to possess its own energy.
    I was floating upward when a frightening thought invaded my soul.
    Am I dead?
I wondered out loud.
    Nothing could’ve prepared me for what was about to happen—the simple act of asking that question caused a jolt of panic to start building inside of me. I felt lost and alone as I floated in utter silence; I felt dreadful.
    “You don’t know what death is!” came a whispered and raspy reply.
    I stopped moving immediately. I just floated in place, petrified by the fear as chills overtook my body.
    After a good few seconds of silence, I managed to ask, “Who… are you? Why can’t I… see you?” My head was spinning, making me feel dizzy and sick to my stomach.
    If I hadn’t experienced so many panic attacks, I would have thought that I was dying—I wasn’t totally sure I hadn’t—but somehow that voice made death seem warm and even inviting.
    “Trust me, you don’t want to see me. For the moment, you just have do what I say,” the raspy voice replied.
    “Where am—”
    “Where you shouldn’t be. Do not continue! Turn back now before it’s too late.”
    “What do you mean?” I asked, more scared and nervous than curious.
    “Consider yourself warned. Don’t venture into this realm again!” As soon as it finished talking, I felt an invisible force push me, sending me tumbling down toward the floor. I was falling at such extreme speed that all I saw were streaks of light as my body quickly fell through the air.
    As the ground grew larger, I tried to change course, but all I managed to do was spin out of control. That’s when my heart did what I thought was impossible: it sped up even more. As a last resort, I tried to reach for something to grab, but there wasn’t anything within reach. So I did the only thing I could: I covered my eyes with both hands so hard that I felt them burn. Yet that didn’t bring me any relief, as I could still “see” everything clear as day.
    I thought I was either going to die from the crash or from a heart attack—that is, if I wasn’t dead already, which was still a serious possibility.
    Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the floor of my bedroom opened to reveal an abyss that seemed at least fifteen hundred feet deep. A fall that shouldn’t have taken more than a few seconds seemed to last over three minutes—three whole minutes of desperation.
    But just as fast as it had all started, it was over. I felt my body hit the ground, but much to my surprise, instead of pain I felt the rather satisfying and pleasant sensation of a plush landing. My body bounced up and down on my bed as though I had fallen from a great height. I was alive… confused, but alive nonetheless.
    As I lay there, awake and contemplating what had just happened, it occurred to me that I didn’t know how to feel about whole thing.
    My heart still raced, my face was still covered in cold sweat, my T-shirt was drenched, and the sheets were soaked.
    What was that all about?
I thought as my eyes sought out the alarm clock next to my nightstand and I realized it was past five o’clock. I quickly got up to take a cold shower. After all, I still had to find something to wear, something simple and yet classic.
    I still felt tired even after taking a shower. Part of me wanted to stay home and finish my homework and relax. But at the same time, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to be around Carla. Whenever I was close to her, I felt the season change to spring.