Burning Down The Night by Bryan Smith

Author:Bryan Smith [Smith, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grindhouse Press
Published: 2022-06-12T22:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

A WAVE OF LIGHTHEADEDNESS OVERCAME him as he dashed through the open doorway. He staggered forward until he hit the opposite wall of the hallway. Bracing his palms against the wall, he tried taking a few sideways steps but that sense of lightheadedness became more pronounced and he began sliding to the floor.

Cole briefly retained enough awareness to understand that a period of unconsciousness—perhaps a permanent one—was encroaching. It was enough time to experience some moments of mind-bending terror. He’d summoned enough bravery to attempt an unlikely escape and for one exhilarating moment freedom and continued life seemed not only possible but probable. Then his body and mind betrayed him and once again doom seemed certain. Even as darkness descended, his mind worked hard to deduce what had happened.

That first beer.

Yes, that had to be it, the one he’d had out at the bar while trying to talk to the sullen giantess who would later wrap her strong hands around his neck. That beer must have been drugged, too, perhaps at a lower dose.

Cole sighed as his knees touched the floor.

He felt a tinge of melancholy pride on arriving at this likely answer.

Then the darkness took him.

~

He knew something was wrong as awareness returned, but at first he had trouble identifying the source of the wrongness while his eyes fluttered and he struggled to focus. Then the world snapped back into sharp relief and he saw the face of another person directly in front of him. The face of an attractive young woman with short brown hair. He had no idea who the woman was or why she was so up in his face like this. Then an intense sense of disorientation took hold of him as the secret behind the feeling of something amiss began to reveal itself.

He was looking at a mirror, a reflection, not at the face of a different person sitting directly opposite him. His breathing quickened and he leaned forward, staring harder at the reflected image. The woman in the mirror leaned forward at the same time, her eyes widening. Cole studied the mirror closely in hopes of glimpsing himself somewhere, but all the mirror showed him was the unknown woman mimicking his every movement.

He felt like he was losing his mind and maybe that was true, because from all indications his consciousness had taken up residence in the mind of this woman. Also, from what he could tell so far, his consciousness was the one in control. To prove this, he decided to perform a test. He raised a hand and gently touched his face. His pretty face.

For fuck’s sake.

He waved the hand at the mirror, another movement initiated and executed by the consciousness of Cole Watson, who now existed inside this woman whose name he did not know. Warring instincts to laugh or cry flared up inside him. Both at the same time seemed the most appropriate response to this insane and impossible situation. He did his damnedest to hold back tears, however,

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