Jake C. Wallace: Wednesday Briefs #6: The Hollow: Soul Seekers

Each Week a group of authors participate weekly in Wednesday Briefs Flash Fiction. Each installment is 500-1000 words long and is posted to our blogs each week. After you read the latest in my story, click on the link at the end to visit the other flashers.

Welcome my new weekly flash story The Hollow: Soul Seekers. My previous story Diventando: Becoming has been pulled so I can prep it for publication. I will let you know in the future a date of publication.

Levi could scarcely appreciate the magnitude of the force growing from some primitive pit deep within his mind. It – whatever it was – was coming, ready or not.

He had to get out. Running was his only solution, the only thing that made sense. A break with one’s psyche had to be messy and definitely nothing a room full of his fellow students deserved to witness. It sounded like nasty business.

“Hey,” Gia said, from behind him setting a hand on Levi’s shoulder. “You okay?”

Unprecedented pressure crowded Levi’s mind, and, like an over extended balloon, something eventually had to give. Terrifying visions of his grey and white brain matter splattering across student’s faces, on pages of open textbooks—expensive textbooks, Mr. Cobbert and that hideous tie covered with statistical equations invaded his mind. Levi wondered just how long he had before his head exploded.

Gia’s hand on his shoulder shot pain into his bone and it was more than he could stand. Levi jerked away.

“Levi?” Concern colored Gia’s voice.

Fumbling to gather what remained on his desk and his messenger bag, Levi bolted for the door. What was happening to him? God, anywhere but here. The electric heat rushing through him spiked, and he swayed to balance the load in his arms. A large black blur startled him as it rushed past the window of the door. Taken back a bit, Levi hesitated and he grabbed for the metal door handle and started to pull it open when a painful spark of static electricity crackled at his fingertips. Instinctively, Levi pulled his hand back. Don’t let the door close. Lifting his leg, Levi caught the metal monstrosity and squeezed through as it slammed behind him.

Which way?

His car. It was in the front parking lot. To the right. The hallway was empty. As he ran down the hallway, the unrelenting cranial pressure doubled him over in agony. Stumbling to remain upright, Levi steadied his palm against the wall and pushed off, propelling himself forward. Thoughts were vacant from his head. He was in pure survival mode, true fight-or-flight, however something was wrong. No. Something was missing – the fear.

The front doors. Blinding sunlight. Colored figures rushed past him, pushing and knocking into him.

So much pressure!

“Hey, watch it!” a male voice yelled as Levi bounced off his chest.

When his vision came into focus, Levi was well into the parking lot, dodging moving and parked cars. A blur of black passed nearby but he ignored it. His only objective—find his car and fast.

Again, he doubled over as the pain escalated, this time accompanied with a roil of nausea. Where was his damned car?

Digging deep into his front pocket, Levi fought to free his keys. Just as he reasoned the piece of shit must have been stolen, there it was. He had never been so relieved to find the old rusting heap of steel. Juggling the keys, Levi managed to hit the button on the key fob, grateful for access to the locked car.

Dropping into the driver seat, another wave of mind-numbing pain knocked into him. Not again. His hands went to his head. Maybe if he squeezed hard enough the counter-pressure would relieve the pain, or maybe it would simply crush his skull. The act was enough of a reprieve from the pain and Levi revved the four-cylinder to life. Without hesitation, he backed out of the space then slammed the gearshift to “D”, fleeing, as if he were being chased by every scary monster in the history of scary monsters.

On Main Street, he took a left, even though the route home was to the right. Barreling through town on autopilot, he took the left onto Howson then the left onto Lakeview, which ran along to the east side of Lake George. The pressure that had threatened to explode from his head was backing off. The further he traveled on the paved road, which eventually turned to hardpan, the further the force shrank. Dazzling pops of electric shocks still invaded his hands and went up to his elbows. Not numbing but alive and dancing. He watched as his hands twitched and jumped on the steering wheel making it hard to hold on.

Levi turned his attention back to the road. Large lakefront homes with well-manicured lawns lining the left side of the road became further and far between. Smaller camps peeked out from overgrown brush and evergreen trees on the sides of the road, which narrowed even further into one lane. His rusted Ford creaked and moaned as it bounced over large holes and ruts in the neglected road. Levi’s escape hadn’t been as aimless as it had first appeared, but why the hell he’d chosen to come here, he couldn’t fathom.

Levi was no stranger to Lakeview Road or this southern corner of Lake George. Childhood summers were spent at a small camp that had belonged to his paternal uncle, Ray and his wife Aunt Helen. Hot and hazy summer days had been filled with hiking, swimming, fishing, and boating. Uncle Ray had died suddenly about ten years ago. After that, Aunt Helen pretty much had disowned their entire family for reasons Levi could only guess. Now, exactly which camp it was, eluded his memory. Anxiety tended to turn his memories into Swiss cheese.

Reaching the end of the road, Levi slowed and pulled into the large dirt area cleared for the sole purpose of parking. SUVs and trucks were parked at various angles, parked without care. Their occupants were either hiking the extensive trails that circled the unpopulated areas of the mountains, or were at the state campground two miles down the lake. The only access to those areas was by boat or the well-marked state trails.

Parking at the furthest end of the lot, Levi hoped no one would notice his car, but then, who would know to look for him here? Levi had an urgent desire to breathe fresh air and exited the car. Quiet rushed at him. A beautiful requiem.

Something, in those few seconds, told him that he should stop to allow reason to creep back in—a moment to ponder his flight to this location. But no. Levi locked his car and jogged to a nearby path, failing to consider just where he was going.

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