*All characters are 18 years of age or older*
It had to be this thing that had done that to her. Impossible as it was, I couldn't think of any other explanation for the way she had acted after she touched it. She did everything I said, literally and obediently. It was amazing. But it was also terrifying. Nobody should have that kind of power over someone else. I knew what I had to do.
I held a hammer over the glittering, mysterious stone. I hesitated. I'm not proud of that. The possibilities this thing represented were undeniably alluring. A fantasy of calling up Tanya's house and asking her to come over tonight was playing through my mind. She had been so eager. She had looked so happy, her eyes shining up at me. But I already knew this thing couldn't be trusted. I had never intended for anyone else to see it, let alone touch it, and it had inexplicably ended up in Tanya's hand. If someone else were to find it, and use it...
It had to be destroyed. I raised the hammer. Swung it down.
I felt the impact of the cold metal head of the hammer as if I were clobbering myself. I also heard a voice that was not my own cry out in pain. It sounded like Tanya. A seething agony blossomed through my skull and shot down my neck and shoulders. I staggered back against the shelf behind me. My vision blurred. I gasped, struggling for breath.
My phone buzzed. I had a text. I didn't have the number saved, but it was local.
Ow! Pls don't do that :(
The ordinary action of holding my phone somehow helped me focus through the pain. I numbly typed a response.
Tanya?
Yes. Came the immediate reply.
I took another shaky breath and tried to stand. I wobbled back over to the shelf where the crystal sat. A tiny scuff marred its otherwise unchanged surface. It seemed to shimmer in the electric light and the haze of my slowly receding pain. I exhaled in defeat.
We need to talk. I typed.
Duh
Come to my place in 20 minutes
I waited a moment, but she didn't respond. Which meant I needed to get moving. I picked the stone back up. I was suspicious of how good that felt, it fit so perfectly and pleasantly in my hand. Was I just as much enthralled by this thing as Tanya was? It didn't make sense. But I now knew that destroying it was probably going to be impossible, at least for me. I had never experienced pain like that before, and I had barely scratched the thing. Apparently Tanya felt something when I hit it, too. I hoped she wasn't reeling from the same searing agony.
I quickly finished locking up the store. My thoughts were spinning in furious circles during my walk home. Should I tell someone about this thing? They wouldn't believe me. Unless I showed them. But then they would be wrapped up in this mess, too. Or they would try to use it for horrible purposes. But... what was its purpose? Was it... trying to get more people to touch it? Was it somehow alive, or was it just a tool?
I was so wrapped up in this contemplation that I didn't even notice Katie in our shared entry. Not until she said:
"Hey Mac. You dropped this."
I spun around, panic seizing me. I was too late. She was already picking the damn thing up from the carpeted floor of the vestibule. She straightened up to standing and the disappointed expression I always saw on her face softened as she looked at me.
"Oh no." I quietly said.
Katie just stood there. She was wearing her cafe uniform, a white button-up blouse and a simple navy skirt. Her golden blonde hair was styled into ringlets that framed the delicate features of her face. The rest of her hair was swept back into a tight ponytail. She held my inexplicable crystal in the palm of her left hand. A slight smile tugged at the corner of her crimson lips.
I remembered how my words had been interpreted by Tanya in this state earlier today. I needed to be very careful.
"Katie? Are you okay?"
"Yes, Mac." She replied without hesitation.
"Do you know... what is happening to you?" I asked awkwardly.
"No." Came her immediate response. A look of confusion played across her face and she looked down at the stone. But then she looked back up at me, and smiled. It was a warm, simple, honest looking smile. I don't know that I had ever seen her look so happy. She was beautiful.
"What do you want to do now?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"Anything you say." Katie beamed at me. It was difficult to feel apprehensive in the face of that radiant smile. I tried to voice a question that would help me understand just what was happening, something about personality or free will, but at that moment the street door opened and Tanya stomped in. She was wearing black boots that went up to her knee, and fishnet stockings that climbed her knees and thighs up to a tiny black frilled skirt. She had a leather jacket draped over her slight shoulders, and beneath that a skimpy tube top. Her pale skin was contrasted by a black choker and her usual dark makeup. She clomped right past Katie and stood directly in front of my door.
"Ugh. I'm here, loser." She leaned back against the wall and fixed me with an exasperated look.
"Okay. Uhmm... do you two want to come in?" I asked hopelessly.
"Yes." They both said in eerie unison. Katie smiled, Tanya glowered, but they both walked right into my apartment when I opened the door for them. Two beautiful girls, in my front room. Two women that I never even dreamed of having a chance with, and now they were going to do whatever I told them.
"Uh. Have a seat on the couch." I said, taking my shoes off. Tanya and Katie walked into my living room and sat down together on the love seat.
"Tanya, do you know Katie?" I asked, dumbly trying to play host.
"Duh. Yes."
"Okay. What do you think of her?" I couldn't think of anything else.
"She's the most beautiful girl in town. Obviously."
Now, at this point, or several steps earlier, I should have stopped. I should have told Katie to go home and tried to see if Tanya knew any more than I did about what was going on. I didn't have high hopes for getting any information out of miss attitude. I should have tried. But as I stood in front of them, grappling with what to do, I realized that Katie was still holding my stone.
