Kristina continued to watch the screen of her IPhone as she strolled slowly towards the front door of her parents' house. The doorbell had rung and it was undoubtedly the pizza delivery man bringing her order. It was 7 pm on her 22nd birthday and here she was housesitting for Mom and Dad. "How did I end up doing this on my birthday?" she wondered aloud irritably. She paused to take a deep breath and remind herself that a proper celebration had been postponed because of conflicting plans in everyone's schedules. "We'll celebrate at Aunt Jane's house in two more weeks," she thought as she opened the door.
Kristina looked up from her IPhone long enough to pay the delivery man, refuse the receipt, take the pizza and shut the door. He was a lean, scruffy, rough-looking fellow, not at all to her liking, which made her turn away from the interaction all the more swiftly. When she had shut the door and looked back at her phone she let out a sigh of irritation. Her friend Loni had backed out of coming over for the evening. "Great, so the only company I'll have all evening was the skanky pizza guy and he just left."
She walked into the kitchen and set the pizza down on the table. Hunger was slowly evaporating in her though. Kristina started down the hall to wash up a bit before eating. On her way to the bathroom something made her pause and look at herself in the large hallway mirror. She was 5'2" had long full brown hair, dark brown eyes and very pale skin. The long loose t-shirt she was wearing concealed her slender figure and well-rounded medium breasts. For a moment she admired herself. "If I was having company I'd clean-up a little more," she thought, still disappointed at being alone on her birthday.
After a trip to the bathroom Kristina felt wonderfully refreshed and her appetite returned. She surprised herself by eating almost half of the pizza and then decided to see what was on TV. After making herself comfortable on the large soft couch she started flipping channels. Alas, it was one of those evenings when, in spite of feeling unexpectedly invigorated, Kristina was unable to entertain herself with anything on television.
A commercial break came on and she muted the sound, letting out a huff of exasperation. Suddenly it occurred to Kristina that she was distracted with something. She couldn't focus on the TV to be entertained because she kept having this weird feeling like her attention was being drawn away to something else. As the commercial break dragged on Kristina laid in the chair pondering her feelings. She became slowly aware of a strange sensation, or was it just a thought?
It was like a tingling or a warmth, but when she tried to identify it, it would vanish. This frustrated her for some minutes and part of her wanted to just brush it aside and go back to the TV. She struggled back and forth until she suddenly realized that the TV was still muted and the show she had been watching was nearly over. "How long have I been laying here like this?" she wondered out loud.
Without thinking any further she turned off the TV, stretched out on the couch and closed her eyes. "I hate this," she thought. It was really the crescendo of the disappointment for her. She hated being alone and unable to keep herself entertained. It was then that the elusive sensation came back to her stronger and definitely not just a thought. She sat up, startled, and looked at her reflection in the large, now dark, TV screen.
At first Kristina thought that her sudden alarm and movements would chase away the feeling, but this didn't happen. As she gazed at her reflection she became aware of a gentle, pleasant, warm tingling radiating from the top of her head, down her face and neck and dissipating over her shoulders. As Kristina focused in on the feeling a knot twisted in her stomach as she came to realize that this was totally new and she had no idea where it could be coming from. That other voice was still calling her to ignore it and go back to the TV, but it now lacked conviction. It was distant and fading.