Heart Eyes: Chapter 1

The people in the office were overly excited. It had been years since the last solar eclipse.  Everyone had the special glasses ready for the event.  Alynna wasn’t too excited about it.  She would probably just watch a livestream; getting up and going outside was just too much.  The eclipse’s prime time was getting closer and the whole office was going outside.  A lot of commotion and chattering.

“Alynna, aren’t you coming?”, said one of her co-workers, in an eager tone yet somewhat disappointed that she wasn’t as excited as he was.

“Oh, I have to finish some work. I’ll just livestream it.”, said Alynna in a monotone voice.

“Aw, partypooper.”, said her co-worker as he left.

“You know”, said Daniella, another co-worker, “solar eclipses bring about change. A cosmical event such as this one won’t come by again soon. And the livestream doesn’t do it justice.”

“I know. But I would really rather sit this one out.”, Alynna repeated in the same monotone voice but with a slight annoyed tone.

“I think this solar eclipse will bring about a great change to this world. A very much needed change.”, Daniella said hopeful as she left Alynna to her work.

Alynna sighed and continued her work. She had a livestream on one screen while she had all of her work in another screen. Time kept passing and she distinctly noticed her co-workers going back in the office.  They kept talking about the solar eclipse but she barely paid attention as she was concentrated on her work.  She was grateful it was a Friday, otherwise she would have to hear all about the eclipse the next day.

Clock out time came by quickly.  Alynna picked up her belongings, punched out and headed home.  Since it was Friday, she planned to go drinking for a while.  As soon as she got home she would shower, get dressed and head out to the nearest bar alone.  Alynna thought that most people were hypocrites anyway so she would rather be alone.  Arriving at the bar, she asked the bartender for a drink.  The bartender quickly grabbed different bottles of liquor, poured it into a glass, shook it up and served it to Alynna.  Alynna picked up her glass and as she did, she thought about her next week.  She had finished most of next week’s work while everyone was watching the eclipse, so next week she would have plenty of free time.

“Maybe I should put some work in my book.”, she thought.  She’s had an idea for a story for years but hasn’t found the time to sit down and write.  As she thought, she looked at her glass and it was already empty.

“What a solar eclipse, huh?”, some guy approached Alynna. Alynna didn’t look at him, but she was annoyed that someone would just approach her. She liked her alone time.

“What an incredible world we live in. To get to experience such a fantastic event… I’m so glad to be alive right now.”, the guy kept rambling. Alynna glanced a bit and noticed that he was drinking as well.  Maybe he’s been here for a while and is already drunk.

“I hope your pretty eyes didn’t get burned, haha!”

Again, Alynna glanced at the seemingly drunk guy and he was looking at the bartender.

“Gimme two of what she’s having.”, he said. The bartender quickly prepared the drinks and gave them to him.  He slid the drink to Alynna.

“I’m Peter.”, he said, letting go of the drink.

“Pleasure.”, Alynna replied coldly.

“Now now, can’t I at least get your name?”, he replied in a joking tone.  Alynna took a deep breath.

“Look”, she said annoyed as she looked him in the eyes.  In that moment, Alynna felt as if she left her body.  

For a few seconds she felt disoriented, the world passing by around her.  When she came to, she was dizzy and could barely stand up.  It took all of her willpower to stand.  She looked around, everything dark.  It felt surreal.  Suddenly, she noticed a house in front of her.

“What the hell..?”, she whispered frightened.  One minute she’s in the bar and the next she’s standing in front of this house with absolutely nothing around it.

“What is this?”, as she spoke, a car parked in front of the house.  The door of the car slowly opens to reveal Peter.  Only this time he was completely inebriated.  He could barely get out of the car without holding to some part of it.  Alynna still couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Did you bring me here?”, she yelled enraged.  But he wasn’t answering.  He paid no attention to her.

“Hey! Answer me!”, Alynna yelled louder.  He kept walking towards the door.  Alynna tried grabbing him, but as she went to grab him her hand just phased through him.  She gasped as her face turned pale.

“What… is going on..?”, she said softly. She looked at her hand.  It was trembling with fear.  Peter opened the door to his house, barely able to stand up.  Alynna walked inside the house.  In there she saw a woman looking at Peter.  Her face showed anger, but fear at the same time.

“You keep doing this to us Peter. When is it going to stop?”
“Not this bullshit again.”, he replied angry.

“You need to stop this, Peter. What kind of example are you setting for your son? He needs you. We need-”, before she could finish, Peter lifted his arm and punched his wife in the face.

“NO!”, Alynna screamed, watching in fear. Peter’s wife fell on the floor, letting out a loud scream.

“I’ve told you to stop this bullshit Catherine. Every week I have to put up with this.”, he yelled as he repeatedly kicked her in her hip area.  Catherine pleaded Peter to stop.

“STOP IT YOU ASSHOLE!”, Alynna roared.  She tried to stop him but she couldn’t grab any of them.  It was as if she was a ghost, invisible and unable to do anything about the situation in front of her.  Peter stopped kicking Catherine.  He wiped his forehead and looked at the hallway in front of him, where an infant boy was standing, looking at the scene horrified.

“Ugh.”, Peter exclaimed as he went towards him.

“What the hell are you doing? NO! STOP!”, Alynna yelled.  But she knew it was pointless.  Peter grabbed his child by his pajamas.

“Daddy no! Please!”, the kid cried.  Alynna looked in horror as Peter dragged his child through the hallway and to an open door.  Peter threw the child in the room.

“Stay in there and stop the fucking crying.”, Peter shouted as he slammed the door.  Alynna was in tears, in disbelief of what she just saw.  She immediately felt what she had felt when this whole scene started.  She lost consciousness and felt the world passing by her.

She was once again back in the bar.  But the shock of returning made her fall back in her stool.  Peter, and others in the area, suddenly got up and approached her to see if she was okay.

“What happened? Are you okay?”, Peter said, worried, reaching for her.

“Get away from me you fucking creep!”, Alynna shouted as she slapped away Peter’s hand.

“Whoa whoa. Easy. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Alynna tried getting as far away from Peter as possible.  When she found the chance, she got up.  She looked around her.  Everyone was staring at her.  She was breathing heavily, her pulse must’ve been through the roof.  She was trying to make sense out of everything that happened.

“You… You have a wife.”, Alynna said.

“What?”, Peter said, surprised.

“Catherine. That’s her name, right?”, Alynna said, louder.

“How… Do you know her?”, Peter replied, confused.  Alynna took a moment before speaking again.

“I…. I saw.  I saw what you did to her. To your son.”, Alynna told him in a sinister voice.  Peter looked baffled.  He couldn’t reply.

“How dare you? She was just trying to take care of you.  And your son… How dare YOU?!”, Alynna exclaimed. She was getting angrier, her breathing faster every second.  Peter just looked.  He didn’t know what to say.

“Are you going to deny it?” Peter stared.

“No…”, he spoke softly. “How… How could you know?”

Alynna looked at him, enraged.  She then looked around her again and saw everyone staring at her.  She was a mess.  Heavy breathing, clothes all messed up from the fall.  She wasn’t thinking straight, so she walked away from them and left the bar.  On her way home, her mind only replayed over and over again the whole scene she just witnessed.  Alynna immediately went to the bathroom when she got home and washed her face.  She looked in the mirror.

“What was that?”, she whispered.  She couldn’t get that picture out of her mind.  How was it possible that she could witness something like that? It’s clear  that she wasn’t present when it happened. But it did happen.  She changed her clothes, poured herself a glass of water and went to sleep.  Hopefully this whole situation was just a dream.