The national - Not for the easily offended

[Shurikane]

THE NATIONAL

"Robin."

"What?"

"Wake up. It's Monday."

"Ohh please no..."

"Get up!"

This story is irrelevant for its conclusion. It's urged that you skip through.

Robin opened her eyes and saw her friend Mary. It was seven thirty.

Are you really reading this?

"No time for breakfast, lazy butt." Mary said with a giggle. "Get dressed; I'll be waiting at the front door. Have you finished your history report?"

"Oh that..." Robin opened her closet, chose a shirt and a skirt at random and threw them on the bed. "Yeah, did it yesterday."

Okay, so you are reading this after all.

"Okay good; I'd like to compare mine with yours on our way to school."

"Sure..."

Well, all right, as you wish. But be warned, it isn't what you think.

Once Mary was out of sight, Robin changed, grabbed her bag and her coat, and headed for the entrance.

You'll be disappointed.

"No breakfast?" Mary asked.

"Not hungry... Man, I've got a terrible headache."

"A little fresh air will do you some good. Let's go!"

They took a right on the street and began the daily trek to school. It was fifteen minutes away. Ten minutes were spent chatting with friends, and the last five minutes walking over to the room for first period. She did that five days a week, the same six classes every day. Little had changed since last year. She was a sophomore, but the classes all seemed the same. More math, more English, more history, more physical education, and off into Spanish II we go. As a complementary, she had chosen some kind of introduction to physics, a choice she regretted deeply.

What made matters worse was the head. It was banging. She realized with some dismay that she had forgotten to bring aspirins along, let alone take some before actually leaving.

"Mary, stop, it really hurts..."

"Robin?!"

Robin leaned against a tree and stared into nothingness for the next few seconds. She had trouble seeing in three dimensions. Her senses became dizzier as time went on. All of a sudden, the feeling of the bark against her arm became unbearable. She pushed herself away without realizing she couldn't really stand up in such a state, but something was holding her legs straight.

She wished she could have a bed right in front of her. Gradually, the pain faded away, but she didn't feel any better.

"Man, I'm tired..."

Her intelligence at zero, her senses impaired, she tipped herself forward, thinking she was on the edge of her bed, that she would land on a comfortable mass of blankets and sheets, with her alarm clock at the left and a lamp at the right. And then she'd turn her head to the side and find peace for the next eight hours.

She didn't expect to hit the cement sidewalk. She didn't hit it either. She landed on a soft and warm surface, almost intangible. She could go off to sleep, right now, but a voice was forbidding her from doing so.

"Robin!! What's happening?!"

She lifted her eyelids with as much effort as a strong man trying to break a record, and she saw a sideways view of Mary, who was staring with her eyes wide open in shock.

When Robin looked down, she saw she wasn't touching anything.

"Oh, how did that happen..."

Her mind was too tired to think. Her eyes were half-closed, yet she could now see perfectly. She knew which way was up and down. She knew where Mary was, where the school was, where her home was - she knew exactly where she was in space. With a little stupid smile, she willed herself upright and looked down.

Her feet were off the ground. She seemed taller than Mary by two feet now. Yet it wasn't illusion.

She could read Mary's mind. Mary couldn't understand anything. Mary was in awe. Mary couldn't believe it. Mary was looking at thoughts racing by all over the place, frantic like cat and mouse, never stopping, always accelerating. Seeing this, Robin told those thoughts to chill down and come to a stop. There. Now Mary was perfectly lucid.

"How can you do that..." Said Mary. "What's... going on?"

Robin didn't know. For kicks, she hovered in several different directions to test her new ability. She could go up, down, left, right, forward, backward, rotate in any direction. She could settle back on the ground but it felt uncomfortable, as if she was touching a forbidden object. So she kept herself two feet off the ground.

She was absolutely tired as well. The fatigue didn't want to go away. Her head bobbed with each of her movements, mind not really following the body.

"I don't know." She finally answered. It had all happened so naturally, so quickly and fluidly that it seemed like she had had that power ever since she was born.

Then she saw the auras. A mixed feeling of sight, sound and touch, where she knew exactly what was going on around her and how it was going on. She could tell that Mary was going to stay silent. She could tell that a red Mercedes-Benz CLK 230 would be rolling down the hill in 8 seconds at an average speed of 22 MPH. She could tell that most of the people within range of sight were still asleep, the others making breakfast. Some of them were already gone to work or to school. She took all those feelings in and found herself comfortable with them. It was the way she should have been living all along. It was something she could do naturally and with perfect control.

An angel appeared on the top of the hill. It told her to go over to Hollywood Boulevard. Nodding, she turned around and began moving. She knew exactly which way to go to reach Hollywood Boulevard.

"Wait, Robin!"

"What?"

"Are you okay?! I mean, are you feeling all right?"

"Yes."

"So... We can't go to school like this!"

"No. I am going to Hollywood Boulevard."

Mary stopped in her tracks.

"Hollywood Boulevard? Why?!"

"It just is."

And she kept on going. When Mary caught up with her, she went a little faster to reach a normal walking speed.

Her eyes scanned every bit of light that passed by. Everything was so beautiful now that the world was covered in those blankets of auras. They made everything glow and hum, they gave everything a purpose and a sense. She thought she was about to understand the meaning of life. Yes, that was it. Once she reached Hollywood Boulevard, she would be given the absolute enlightment. She would become perfect.

Her headache was completely gone. Her pains were absent. She didn't feel the urge of nature's call that she had had upon waking up. She didn't feel that numbness in her arm from sleeping in the wrong position. She felt none of it. She felt only good things.

A few minutes later, she took conscience of cars stopping and of people watching. She expected a news team to come in the following five minutes with a late-breaking event. In the meantime, Mary was walking beside her without a word. She scanned Mary's thoughts. They were absent. They were blank. Mary didn't know what to think. Mary was just waiting for the next episode like a child in front of his favorite cartoon.

She saw a man looking at her. He had arthritis. Seeing this, she cured him. He immediately took knowledge of it. All of a sudden, he found out he could move his fingers with no trouble. His pain was gone. He was happy.

The news team arrived. The man with the microphone was very nervous. So she soothed his mind with a careful mental massage. And when he spoke his words, he spoke in words that were calm, controlled, and confident. She didn't listen to what he was saying though. She had lost all interest in those matters.

She turned around once in a while to check up on Mary and the rest of the people. She could see in every direction at the same time, but she liked to move her body around a little and feel the air as she rotated. It was a nice feeling.

Then, halfway through her progress, she began to see odd colors.

"Mary, have you ever seen a color that had no name?"

"What?"

"Like... A color that doesn't exist?"

"...Never."

"I am seeing them now... I think I'll call this one Jeet. And this other one I'll name Sly."

"What do they look like?"

"I don't know..."

The conversation ended there. She saw millions of these new and unknown colors. She saw everything with new eyes. She saw Hollywood Boulevard. She was very close. She knew that once she reached that Boulevard, her feeling of tiredness would be gone.

More news teams came and talked. They pushed the people away and urged them to turn their televisions on. They hijacked the street and blocked the way. She was in front of sixteen cameramen and millions of people.

"Robin, why is this happening to you?"

"I don't know..."

Mary was stumped once again. She would never know. She knew it. Robin had implanted the idea into her mind. It wasn't with bad intentions. It was because Robin genuinely didn't know the why or how of her new powers.

The feelings were getting more intense by the minute. She felt in bliss, floating in the air, free of gravity. Then she became free of electromagnetic fields. Then she became free of radio waves. Then she became free of ultraviolet rays. She could see the ultraviolet light, but it didn't harm her anymore. She was free of all those things. Touching her was absolutely nothing.

There it was, the last street before Hollywood Boulevard. She smiled, she beamed, she had reached her goal. Her eyes let go of a few tears of joy. Everything was perfect today. It was all meant to be. Everything was the way she could have ever wanted it. Everything would work out and she would reach supreme and eternal happiness.

She reached Hollywood Boulevard. There she stood, exactly ten feet above the yellow line, out of range from anyone who would try to jump to touch her. She knew someone would do it. This man. There, he tried, but missed her by seven inches. Then, someone shouted at her:

"Can you tell us what's happening with you?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I can't describe it... All I can say is that it's so good..."

She felt like her chest was about to burst. She felt like a gas inside a container too tight for her preference. A bright light formed itself inside her chest and peeked out of her body. Everyone stood around her, silent, hoping for her to say something. To reveal something.

"Are you the Second Coming?"
"Are you God?"
"Is it the end of the world?"
"Have you come to save us?"
"Is the suffering over?"
"Are we in Heaven now?"
"Will the world live in peace?"
"Will we find happiness now?"
"Can we do it too?"
"Can we join you?"

"No." Robin answered.

"Why not?" Everyone shot back.

"I don't know..."

She closed her eyes. She was feeling tired and not tired at the same time. Her mind was more active, but her body was stopping all activity. The ball of light grew bigger and bigger, until it formed into something matching the shapes of her skin and went all over it, extending to all extremities in the most beautiful manner.

She dropped her head back. A giggle escaped her mouth. Enlightment was beginning to flow inside her. Happiness was following suit. She didn't know why it all happened, why her, why now. She couldn't answer any questions. She could just do it. She could just be it. She had been chosen by whatever higher power or roll of the dice, and it was the way things were meant and should be.

With the light now all over her body, it shrank, leaving nothing behind but a giggle.

---

There was silence on Hollywood Boulevard.

People felt cheated. They had seen something beyond comprehension, and had gotten nothing from it. Robin hadn't told them anything. They were back to square one. It had happened and ended with no further explanation. That was it and that was all. All of it.

Gradually, anger made its way among the crowd. Some of the women broke in tears from failing to see the point in all this. Some men began cursing because they wanted to feel like Robin too. Others were still wondering what hit them. People watching the television thought it was all too good to be true. Some philosophers all over the country were asking each other what the motive was behind this event. No one knew the why or how. It just happened this way.

Talks lasted for a month. No answer came. No one ever heard of Robin again. Mary went to school just like any other girl. She had seen everything firsthand, but that was it and that was all. All of it. All of all.

With the anger now in place and the feeling of the cheat well in sight, people searched for a solution.

So, they blamed it on the Jews.

[Selrahc the Evil]

um...yeh