Chapter 4

***Chapter 4 ~ Electricity***

***Glitch Voltaic***

***~***

***Lafayette, Louisiana, United States of America***

“Ma, have you seen Zulu lately? I ‘aven't seen her anywhere, it's raining buckets out there and you know how she feels about that thunder.” I rambled as I wandered into the kitchen.

I could hear thunder rumble outside and looked out the window to try to see if Zulu was out there.

“Renée, Chérie, it is raining too hard to go out searching. I know Zulu doesn't like the loud, scary thunder, but I don't want you going out there, imagine all the mud and critters that you'll track in.” My mother explained as she stirred the pot over the stove.
“But Ma!-” I objected.
“No buts, now wash up for supper.” She ordered calmly, changing the subject. I muttered under my breath about how unfair it was, but did as I was told and walked down the hallway to our washroom.
My eyes wandered slowly to the back door as I passed with the rain still hammering down and thunder shaking the ground. I looked back to my mother who was focused on her cooking and looked aback to the door. Before she could notice I quietly opened the door and sprinted out. She must've noticed because I could hear her call my name from the doorway, but that didn't stop me. I pulled my hood over my head and kept on running

“Zulu?? Where are yah?? C’mon, girl, it's time to go home!”  I shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth, an attempt to be heard over the storm.

There was no sign of her anywhere and that was seriously starting to worry me. She had to be out here, she was absolutely nowhere in the house. I kept looking, especially along the road, she had been known to like it there. I could hear a faint whimpering from under a brush as I ran passed. I quickly backtracked my steps to see my scaredy-cat Australian Shepherd.

“There yah are! It's okay, it's time to go home.” I held my hand out to her so she could know it was safe.
She hesitantly crawled out, anxious to get out of the rain. The sound of thunder shook the ground as lightning cracked against  a nearby light pole. Wires went flying, sending sparks everywhere. I tried to find a way around them but the sparks got in the nearby puddles, blocking off my paths. I had to get out and fast. When I tried to run around the water filled potholes, I tripped, sending me face first into the zapping water. All the electricity from the wires jolted through my body unrelentingly. It burned and ached like nothing I've felt before. All I wanted was for it to stop and put me out of my misery. My whole body shook and spazzed out of control like a fish out of water. Everything faded out more and more as my eyes struggled to stay open.

“My, my, Glitch what have you gotten yourself into?” Said a deep voice with a foreign accent.
“What are you going on about? My name ain't "Glitch," last time I checked.” I snapped as I attempted to stand up in this black wasteland.
“My apologizes then, but this is all suppose to go according to plan, even calling you Glitch. You'll understand one day, just give it time.” He cooed. “All I want is to make a little deal and all your troubles will disappear.”
“And I’m supposed to trust ya, you're just a voice to me now.” I countered, looking around for him.  Finally something yellow caught my eye, it was a jewel, attached to a string. It hung around a man in all black's neck. He had an annoying smirk on his face, I wanted to just slap it clean off his face.
“Now you see me, is that better?” He asked politely.
“Hmm, now, what do you want?” I snapped, folding my arms.
“All I want to do, is to save you and by the looks of it, you could use my help. All it takes is for you to sign the deal.”
“Deal?! That's cheap, how am I supposed to trust ya with that joke?” I said with a dry snicker.
Still with a smirk plastered on his face, he dug through his jacket pocket and pulled out a worn out piece of paper and held it out to me.

“What's this for?” I took it and looked over it’s black swirly lettering and fancy “X” at the bottom of the page, followed by a long black line.
“For your rule, of course, you have an important part to play in the future Glitch, we can't let you miss this chance.” The man responded and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a jagged knife and handed it over to me.
“Aww hell no, what ever you want me to do, I ain't doing it, I ain't that crazy, Cher.” I shook my head back and forth, sending my bright yellow-orange hair flying.
The man just kept that annoyingly smug grin on his face, like he knew more than I did. I rolled my eyes as a response, and looked over the knife. I held it up to get a better look and pulled it back down; down into my fingertip in the other hand. I kept the tip on my finger firmly until I broke skin, letting droplets of blood turn into a tiny river. It flowed down my finger and off my hand onto the paper. The man just took the bloodied paper from me and folded it back into his pocket without a care. I watched confused and unamused, but noticed his baby yellow necklace around his neck changed from the yellow color to a bright sky blue kind of color.

“Till the next time, Glitch. Promise me you won't change one bit.” The man smirked as he vanished into the darkness.
“Hey! Wait!-” I started but stopped suddenly because of a strange pain that had throughout my body.
It was like being stung and zapped all over, and was endless. I squeezed my eyes shut and was ready to scream it away (useless) before falling to my knees from the pain.  My eyes started to keep closed, like I just couldn't keep them open.

The pain slowly subsided, and I could finally open my eyes again, but I was sure as hell wasn't where I was before. I was surrounded by tall trees that circled around me with brush by the trunks. My head still throbbed as I pushed myself off the dirt and leaf covered floor.

“Hey? Anybody here??” I asked loudly.
There was a faint rustling in the brush and definitely whispering.

“I know yah there! Show yahself!” I shouted in that general direction.
Slowly, a head then a body came out of the brush. He had scruffy dark blonde hair with bright blue eyes; I mean, he wasn't too bad looking but whatever. In one hand and by his arm, a homemade looking harpoon. He looked at me with a mix of curiosity and anger.

“Who are you?” He asked with a voice that boomed like thunder.
“Aw nah, Cher, I ain't answering any of your questions until you answer soma mine. Startin’ with who are yah and where da hell I am” I snapped, definitely not in the mood for sitting by and playing it easy.
“Twister. They call me Twister. Flare is somewhere, I don't know, he's a bit younger than us, I would assume, given your appearance. We just call this place the Island, nothing much here besides us and a run down old abandoned town. We’re in the middle of it trying to figure this place out.” He said plainly.
“Huh, cute. Names Glitch, I think. And what yah mean by my appearance?” I asked, looking around.
“I’m just saying you look older than him, that's all, haven't seen you two together so can't make any decisions off the top of my head, I just met him not too long ago.” He added.
“Whatever, so why am I here?”
“We have a few theories but nothing concrete. All I know is that we got something special in us, and that might be something that will matter one day.”
“Special, well doesn't that make me feel…special.” I smirked, as I felt little sparks crack between my fingertips
“That's new…” He muttered, a little surprised. “This might be an awkward question, but do you have any markings on your wrists? Flare and I both have something, so it's not a crazy thought.”
I shrugged it off and rolled up my denim sleeves of my jacket to reveal a bunch of lightning bolts splaying off of my hand in golden beams.

“What the hell is this??” I yelped.
“Easy, easy, there. We don't really know yet but we’re trying to. How about we find your house so you can take a breather before you have an aneurysm.” He offered, and me, not knowing basically anything about what was going on who this stranger even was, my last resort option was to follow him but to at least keep on the straight and narrow while around him.
Twister hooked his harpoon onto his back and motioned for me to follow him down the trail; such a gentleman, huh. I just pulled myself up and trudged along behind him, sneaking little sparks at the twigs along the sides, gotta get the hang of whatever this was at some point. We continued with this awkward silence until he led me into a clearing about half a mile from where I woke up; filled with little log cabin looking houses in disarrayed rows. He stopped by one with a storm and sunshine burned into the door and dropped the harpoon on the porch before taking me down yet another path, looking for one in particular.

“I know I’ve seen yours somewhere. I mean, it shouldn’t be that hard to find really.” He muttered to me.
We kept walking for a bit longer until we came to one on the far edge, with lightning branded on the wooden door which was slightly open. “Here you are. It’s all yours so feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Sure, yeah, thanks, Cher.” I smirked and nodded my thank you to him before sliding through the door to go in.
So much yellow; so freaking much. there were yellow curtains and a matching turtle lamp on a desk table. Luckily the couch isn't yellow and neither is the pillow with a star lightning bolt. The kitchenette looked good enough. There was also some blue, way up on the second floor which required a freaking ladder to get to. I lugged myself over and up the ladder, all too much work just to get to a bed that had yet ANOTHER yellow lamp beside it. No one can tell me that I’m not from this point on living in an oversized lemon.
I collapsed on the bed to look at the logged ceiling, letting little sparks dance on my finger tips and causing the lamp to have an electrical spasm. Yeah, I didn't know what the hell was going on and who the hell Twister and Flare and I was stuck here I was living in a lemon  but hey, I can make lightning, that’s got to be a plus, right?