MISC: Correspondence With The Goddess #7: Stop Trying to Hit Me and Hit Me

[mrnelson007 at gmail.com]

I can’t help but worry about Lydia. On some level I suppose that’s understandable. She is under the sort of pressure that most people could never begin to understand, and that must be tough. She’s going through things that I never had to experience so I don’t really know where to start. It’s hard not to feel sympathy, even for someone like her.

Do you think she’s improving at all? I want to believe, to hope, but I’m not really sure. I sit here and I worry about what might set her off next, that maybe she’ll break things again, even worse than last time. Mortals were never meant for powers such as these…

- Elana

Welcome back, or whatever. I swear, my perception of time is all fucked up. Honestly, I feel like I just blinked and suddenly it’s time for the next letter to you assholes. It’s weird. Yeah, I know, everyone has some weird, skewed perceptions sometimes, but I can’t help but wonder if my brain is in the middle of adjusting for the reality of infinity. When you’re going to live forever, a week is, well, a blink, after all. Hm. I suppose that should be reassuring, since that suggests I’m not about to just keel over and die. But, that still might be better than living forever by myself.

And now I went and depressed myself. Fucking great. Back to story time.

“Wait, you want me to do what?” Elana stared at me like I had grown a second head, and I honestly couldn’t blame her. It sounded completely insane in my head, let alone when I said it out loud.

“I want you to punch me.” I repeated, giving her an insistent gaze. “Just sock me right in the stomach.”

“Okay, well, I’m sure you probably deserve it, but what sort of guilty conscience do you have right now?” She asked, giving me a bit of a smirk and a shake of her head.

“I don’t! That’s not the point! I didn’t do anything. I just… I’m testing something. It’s like an experiment. Think of the science! Or something.”

“Right, science. I forgot how much Sir Isaac Newton and Einstein were your big heroes.” The sarcasm was almost palpable as she rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Look, I’m not going to hit you. That would be terrible.”

“Please? Look, I’m serious here.”I sighed, crossing my arms. “When I knocked over the glass, last week? It-“

“I know, I know. It was all slow-motion, you told me about it already. A lot.”  Elana rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “I don’t really see how this is a big deal. It was just adrenaline, Lydia. That happens sometimes. I don’t see why you’re obsessed about this.”

“Because it wasn’t like that! I’m not an idiot, El. It… well okay it was like that. But I’m telling you it felt different this time! It wasn’t just adrenaline, it slowed down way too much for that. I… look. I’m going to figure this out. I’ve been testing stuff and I figure the best way to try to make it happen again is if I’m actually in some kind of danger.”

“How was spilling your juice actually putting you in danger?”

“You know what, shut up. This isn’t a perfect idea, but I figure if anything will do it, actual violence will.” I tapped my foot, crossing my arms. “Look, sis, if you don’t do this I’m going to go play in traffic or something.” I smirked, giving a shrug and running a hand through my hair. “Will you please just humor me? This is important to me, even if you think it’s stupid.”

Elana sighed again, but I could tell she was giving in. “Fine. If this is so important to you, I’ll hit you. …wow, that… really isn’t something I expected to say today.” She blinked a couple of times, then gave a laugh, shrugging her shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah. Dream come true, I know. Let’s just do this thing.” I stretched my arms over my head, rolled my neck, and then stood up straight, hands on my hips.

“Alright, well, I’ll try.” Elana stood there for a second, taking a moment to prepare herself, and then she balled her hands into fists. “Just… uh… I still think this is a stupid idea, for the record.”

“Shut up and punch already.”

“Fine.” She stepped a little closer, bringing her arms up, and then -

WHAM! I coughed, stumbling backwards as the wind was suddenly knocked out of me. “FUCK! Dammit, El… what the fuck was that?” I coughed again, wincing as I rubbed my stomach. “That was like a train slamming into me.”

“Yeah, right. You’re just a wimp.” She sighed, waving her hand in the air and giving a shrug. “It looks like you didn’t get your magical slowdown or whatever, though. Can we move on now? I have homework I need to do…”

“No, wait.”I coughed again, but overall I was recovered enough to stand up straight once more. “One more time. I think it will work.”

“I really don’t think so…” She shook her head, waving her hand dismissively as she turned to leave the room. “You really need to find a better hobby.”

“Wait.” Time to try a different tactic. “You should just give up on your homework. You’re going for a shitty degree with no future and wasting four years of your life doing something completely pointless.”

“Oh, are you trying to upset me?” Elana sighed, turning back around with her arms crossed. “Good luck.”

“Hmph. You’re a bookworm who never goes out and will probably die alone and unloved and no one will care because the total of your accomplishments will be zero.”

“Please. You’re one to talk. If I’m dying alone that just means you already left.”

Fine. She wasn’t going to go for the easy stuff. Time to get serious. Sorry, El… “Mom was a bitch who was addicted to her stupid pills and dad was an alcoholic who slept around.”

There. That did it. Her eye was twitching, and her hands started to ball into fists as she gritted her teeth a little. Time for the finishing blow. “He beat her and she cheated on him with that cop and-“

“Don’t you dare.” Her voice was quiet, but I had known her long enough to hear the anger under the surface, even as calm as she was. “I don’t care what you say about me, but don’t you dare bring them into this…” Her voice was gradually getting louder now, and she clenched her fists more tightly as her eye twitched again. “You stupid - argh! Why would you talk about mom and dad like that? Just for a stupid fight!? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM YOU BITCH!?” Yep, that was the winner. Hearing Elana swear of all people, I knew I had really gotten under her skin. She brought her arm back, still screaming at me. “YOU WANT ME TO HIT YOU? FINE, I’LL HIIIIIIIIII-“

And there it was. The world was slowing to a crawl once again. Her hand had just barely started to move forward, inching outward as she continued to scream at me. Fuck yes. This is awesome!

Except, this time I had learned my lesson. I wasn’t going to just stand there and let myself get hit. Experimentally, I stepped to the side, wondering if it would speed back up when I was out of danger. Ah, but no. She was still moving forward at speeds barely exceeding zero miles per hour, her punch clearly on a trajectory to miss me.

I still didn’t entirely understand the trigger, but it was definitely not a fluke. I knew that much for sure. More importantly, I still seemed to move at normal speed, even with the rest of the world slowed down. I kept moving, stepping over to the sofa and moving to flop down on it.

“-IT YOU!” Whiff. As I hit the couch, Elana hit nothing at all, stumbling a bit as her fist passed through nothing at all. “What the, where did y-” She was looking around in confusion, then froze when she saw me sitting down. “How did you get over there? You were right here…” She pointed at the ground in front of her, blinking a few times as her brain’s internal clockwork struggled to keep up with what she had seen. “There was a blur or something and now you’re over here and…”

“See?” I put my feet up on the coffee table, leaning back and giving her my best ‘told-you-so’ smirk. “Told you there was something else going on here…”

- Lydia