Chapter 1 - Part 2
Day 12, Day
Weather: Clear, 35F
Location: Clifton, NJ
Glowing balls in a dark room danced around him. No larger than a tennis ball, they reminded him of fireflies dancing in his backyard on a sticky summer night. He tried to reach out, to touch one, but it lay always outside his grasp. This doesn’t make sense, he thought, was he awake or dreaming? Maybe he’s dead? He smiled as the balls started to vibrate, like the speakers on one of his amplifiers, but without any sound.
Behind him he heard the whimpering of a dog. He snapped around, forgetting about the balls for a moment to see the shape of dog outlined in a green glow. He walked to the dog, to get a closer look, but paused when he recognized it.
“Goldie?” He said. “Is that you? Is that really you?” The dog looked at him, with deep soulful eyes and panted when she saw him. Justin dropped to his knees. Tears welling up in his eyes he flung his arms around the dog’s neck. “Oh my God, it really is you Goldie!” He cried, tears rolling down his cheeks. Goldie let out a yelp in acknowledgement. He hugged her tightly, burying his face into her golden coat.
“I missed you so much girl!” He blubbered in between the tears. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” His crying echoed throughout the room. He lifted his face from her fur, eyes red and blurry with tears, he whispered, “what is this place?” Goldie whimpered again, he looked down at her but she was gone.
“No. No!” He scampered backwards on his butt. Looking around in fear, the glowing balls seemed larger and were pulsing faster. They were humming now. Somewhere in the distance he heard Goldie whimper again. “What is this place!” He screamed. “Where the hell am I?”
Suddenly, everything around him went dark. The glowing balls were gone, no humming and no Goldie.
“Goldie?” He said, his voice quivering. Nothing.
A bright green light exploded above his head, blinding him for a moment. He raised his hand to his forehead and screamed “what the hell are you?” The green light began to fade and grow smaller – it was one of those damn green balls. “Damn you,” he said, “damn you and this place…” It hung in the air for a moment before shooting itself into Justin’s head. Pain seared through his body. The force of the impact shot his body across the floor in this room, depositing his crumpled body somewhere in the darkness.
“What is this place?” He gasped as the darkness overcame him.
