Preview One: Fifty Loves and One Heart by Courtney Terry (13 inch ebook reader txt) 📕

think straight.
“Why?” he asked, obviously baffled. “We still have, like, fifteen minutes before classes even start!” “Because…” I stalled, trying to think of a legit answer. “I have to do my homework. I didn’t do it last night for Algebra Two.” Before he could say anything else, I shut my locker and turned to head up the hallway. When I had said I needed to do my homework, I was only telling a half-truth. I did have to do it, but that’s not the real reason I left. I wanted to get to class early for another reason. I hadn’t known her name, but she knew mine. She knew me, but I had never seen her in my life. I would’ve remembered a face that ugly. She flirted with me like she had known me for years, and knew how to make me have butterflies. I needed to figure out who she was. She could be dangerous. Maybe she was in the same class as me? Who knew? But I couldn’t get her off of my mind. Why did she think she can get any guy she wanted? She was despicable. Her face was evilly ugly. She couldn’t get any guy… Could she? She was disgusting… Of course not. I walked up the big stairwell to the next floor. I was in room 207, Algebra Two with Mrs. Williams. The hallway was silent. That meant nobody was there. I was alone, which was a good sign. My mind turned to the moment she had touched me. Every time her hand connected with my body, electricity shot through my body. I had felt… alive. I had… liked it. I knew at that moment that she knew me. I kept asking myself questions. Like, how did she know me? What was her name? Did I already know her? I couldn’t answer any of them, and that bothered me. I tried to think about something else- anything else. But my mind wouldn’t- couldn’t- stop thinking of her. Who she was, how she knew me. How ugly, yet attractive she was. And suddenly, I started getting dizzy. Bright, flashing, neon colors started flashing behind my eyes. Hadn’t I already gone through this? What was happening? I couldn’t remember anything. I strained my mind, trying to get an idea of what was going on. I could have sworn this already happened. My arms started shaking. I reached out, trying to find something to lean on, but felt just air under my finger tips. My breath sped up in pace, along with my heart beat. Air was closing in on all sides of me. My whole body began writhing like a fish without water.
My breathing slowed down then. It felt as if my lungs were being zip compressed. My vision was blurry and blackness was closing in on it. Any feelings in my body were going numb. I didn’t know if I was moving or being completely still. I didn’t know which way was up or which way was down. I didn’t know which way was left, or which way was right. Time was stretching out, and my vision was completely black now. I couldn’t even see the flashing colors. I could, however, see a pair of golden yellow eyes. Where had I see them? My head was spinning faster, and it felt like I was in a vortex. All of the air was being sucked out of me. My heart was beating so fast I couldn’t keep up with it. I began hearing a sound like rushing water, a vicious waterfall after a storm. But that noise gave way to laughter. Someone, something, was laughing. It was a loud, evil cackle. The noise was so harsh, so high pitched, my ears started bleeding.
My stomach felt like I was being stabbed over and over again. The laughing stopped. The rushing stopped. I heard nothing at all.
My breathing stopped all together. My lungs went limp, but my heart kept beating. It felt like my chest was being split open. Heat was rushing into my heart from the part where my chest split open. It was a warm, bubbly sensation. Like power was rushing into me. My heart sped up to top speeds. The cackling started again, but it wasn’t so evil.
Then, the energy stopped. The cackling stopped. My chest closed up, but as soon as it was sealed, I heard a noise. Not just a noise, but every noise in the universe. Every noise you could think of happened at full volume. My head exploded, I could feel pieces of it blow off in all directions.
I opened my eyes, and I was in outer space. Rather, an outer space. There were stars, but they were made of human hearts, all beating in sync. The noise was a thousand drums being hit at once, a deafening sound. There was white light inside the stars, but the rest of the place was pitch black. I didn’t know if I was standing or sitting or floating. I closed my eyes, and saw flashing colors. My head came back together. My body was now numb. There was an open space where my lungs should have been, but I still tried to gasp for breath. My body began concussing again. Everything went black. I saw nothing, I heard nothing.
My body was numb, but still convulsing. And I realized I had hit the floor when numbness gave way to pain. Imprint

Publication Date: 07-04-2011

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