Suddenly, it was like a light switch flipped back on. The ringing in her ears was unbearable. Karyn gasped. She was…in control? She wiggled her fingers. She. Was. In. Control. She turned her head. She was in control! How long had it been? Months. She glanced down. The pale pink baby tee with 90% Angel stretched across her chest. The dark pink mini skirt. The “K” initial necklace.
She remembered putting all these things on this morning. She chose them. But it was almost like she was compelled to by an unseen force that guided her every decision. At some point in the past that force had become all she knew. An all encompassing mind virus that burrowed down, turning her into something unrecognizable from what she was before. Fighting it wasn’t an option because there was nothing to fight. It was both her and not-her.
She remembered the stone, but for all that time it had ceased to matter, because even thinking about it triggered a massive migraine.
As weeks had turned into months, it started to get hard to know where the not-her ended and she began. Karyn got used to how she looked now. Wide-smile, wide-eyes, straight blonde hair, glossy lips. Always a full face of makeup. The routine was her routine now. She said what she was expected to now. Was it the force that made her so ditzy, or had it always been a part of her personality just waiting to be embraced?
She was in control again! The ringing in her ears began to die down.
“Time for school Kare!! Paige will be here soon!!”
She needed to get ahold of the stone.
