Turbulence

2021, the year of the atomic bomb, at least that’s what I've seen on old newspapers. The year the earth experienced waves of radiation and death. I think I was born that year, but my childhood is a blur at best. I live alone now, but in the blur of my childhood I seem to remember two kind faces. Maybe they’re my parents, maybe it’s a dream. I try not to think about it though. The most company I’ve had in the years I do remember are cockroaches and the copious amount of books in my home. I often ask myself why there are so many books but just me to read them. I walk to the library in my house now, running my fingers along the cracked wallpapered walls. Everything in my house always seemed a little off, like the cracked wallpaper, or the leaky faucets, or the Turbulence.

I call it the Turbulence because it shakes things up in my house and it doesn’t seem entirely friendly. The first time it happened, that I can remember, I was reading a book and it just flew out of my hand. It’s usually something simple like that, but I sometimes think it's because of the Turbulence I can’t remember my past. I’m not very good at science, although I’ve tried to be with the limited amount of science non-fiction books in my house, they just don’t make any sense. And even in my limited knowledge, I've never read anything about this Turbulence. I’ve heard of ghosts being able to do things like that, but I don’t think it’s a ghost. If it was a malevolent spirit, I would think it would have killed me by now. But in the 19 years I’ve lived here I have never seen a ghost that I can pin the Turbulence on.

I walk down the ruffled carpet till I finally get to the library. Shelves of books stand wall tall, many of which I have read twice over. I didn’t come to the library today to read a book, I came to look out the window. There are other windows in my house obviously, but only this one overlooks the chasm. The wide pit has been here since I can remember, but something about it creeps me out so I stay away from it mostly. The chasm is probably the most interesting thing about the town outside my home, a deep tear in the earth large enough, and if I had to guess, deep enough, to get lost in. I've looked into the deep pit, almost fell in three years ago, but never been inside of it. I’ve gone outside, of course, explored the whole town, but nothing out there beats what I find in my home.

Bang

I hear the noise suddenly, bringing my mind back to reality, and rush to the library window that faces the town. I knew the sound had come from behind me, but I couldn’t begin to guess what it was. A trashcan being knocked over, the wind or maybe even the turbulence knocking something over, or maybe... a gunshot. My insides churn and my mind races in a panic, and then a large crash from inside the room I was in. My favorite armchair, red velvet and made of wood that always smells like pine, was tossed across the room and laid on its side in the hallway that I had come from.

This rattles me for sure, but I have no time to investigate the turbulence’s actions like I usually do. I get to the window and peer out into the bright sunny town, and see something I’ve never seen before.

It was a figure of a person. He approaches the house slowly, a huge mallet resting on his shoulders which I can only assume made the noise. As he walks nearer, not noticing me yet, I see that he has messy black hair with brown highlights, his body is bulky, and he looks like he could break me in half easily. He wears, if I had to guess, body armor, black like his hair but with accents of red, and a grey cloak flows down to his ankles.

Then, his eyes, a deep black, shift toward the window and he stares directly at me. I feel his eyes burn into me as if they were laser beams. He starts to run, definitely in my direction, and I run desperately for the front door. I have to go through the hallway I came out of, but realize again there's a huge chair blocking any escape. I'm trapped.

I hear the door slam open, by the sound of it breaking the wall it hit. I could only imagine the man's figure stomping in and with that huge mallet of his, which I swear I could have seen blood on earlier, smashing me to pieces.

I haphazardly scan the room, which I've visited a hundred times, looking for any hope of escape. My eyes hit the window, the one that overlooks the chasm, and immediately bolt towards it. I had looked out the window many times but never climbed through it.

I took the tall lamp, the one that hadn’t worked ever, and smashed it against the window. To my surprise, the lamp just bounced back, as if the window was plastic.

“I know I’m not that strong but I'm not that weak,” I think to myself as I looked for another weapon against this window.

Then a ladder slammed through the window, a ladder that had been halfway across the room a moment ago.

“Thanks, Turbulence,” I say and rush through the window, careful not to cut my arms on the shard of glass.

I can’t remember the last time the Turbulence didn’t screw me over, usually it just threw things like a child.

I looked back into the library and saw the figure, the parts not blocked by the armchair, and realized if the Turbulence hadn’t of helped me, I would’ve been smashed. I turn to run but then hear a great bang, not too unlike the one I heard earlier. I look and see the figure, his mallet down and the armchair smashed to scraps of wood.

I rush away from the window, trying to avoid being like that chair, but suddenly my toes aren’t on solid ground anymore. I jump back and see I’ve come to the edge of the chasm.

“Yeah choose the window that creates an ultimatum of death, brilliant Axe,” I begrudged, “all those books and you're still so stupid!”

“Hey,” I hear a voice yell from behind me.

I turn and see the guy, and my hopes that he would be less menacing up close are shattered.

“Stay back,” I yell, although the confidence doesn't translate into my voice.

“Wait,” he says, his voice I notice much deeper than mine, “I’m not here to hurt you!”

“Prove it,” I say back.

He puts down his mallet and raises his arms in a friendly manner, and I start to see the sincerity in his eyes.

“I know you must be scared,” he says and edges towards me, “but I’m not gonna hurt you, I swear.”

“Who are you,” I ask the question that’s weighing on my mind the most.

“My name is Irwin,” he says friendly and stops before he gets too close.

A big noise comes from inside the house, a bunch of thudding noises.

“Watch out,” I yell as I see about thirty books hurl toward Irwin.

He ducks right before the books hit the back of his head and they fly into the chasm past me.

“Did you make that happen,” he asks as he gets up, his eyes confused.

“Ummm no,” I say, although no one had ever asked me if I was the one that caused the turbulence.

Well, there had been no one to ask me till now.

“What’s your name,” Irwin asks me, dusting off his coat from the dust from the books that had tried to kill him.

“Axe,” I say, then cursing myself for giving out more information about myself.

“Are you sure you didn’t just do that thing with the books?”

“Of course I am, how could I do something like that?”

“Well, I’ve seen so many things I wouldn’t be surprised,” he says with a bewildered look around.

“What do you mean by that,” I ask, thinking more and more that he might be not completely sane.

“Do books fly around here often,” he asks, completely ignoring my question.

“Umm yes, sort of, but I asked you a question.”

“Oh, yeah sorry, my mind gets a little side-tracked sometimes,” he says, “I’m a traveler I guess you could say so I’ve seen a lot.”

“Traveler,” I ask, “Traveler from where exactly.”

“Is this a boomtown,” he asks, ignoring my question again.

I had a feeling that he may not be used to talking to people, or at least not having to be questioned.

“I don’t-,” I start to say but suddenly wobble.

I had forgotten I was still on the edge of the chasm, and started to fall. The feeling of falling, it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before, like losing yourself in the wind. I see Irwin run to catch me, but it’s too late, my body already breaches the surface, and I see his face above me in the light. I’m falling into darkness. Then, I feel my body stop, then rise as if I had just fallen on the ground and needed to just get back on my feet. Light floods my eyes again and I see that I’m above Irwin now. But, as soon as I see the top of his head, I immediately fall to the ground to his feet.

“What the-,” he starts to say but then looks at me as I get to my feet.

“I don’t know, I guess it was the Turbulence,” I say, brushing the grass off my jacket, and start to analyze what just happened.

“And, what is the turbulence?”

“Oh, I-,” I feel stupid as I trying to explain, “It’s like this force that seems to follow me and mostly it knocks things around, but it’s never saved me before.”

He’ll probably think I’m bonkers, but I guess it does sound impossible.

“I see,” he says, “Well that’s pretty cool!”

“What,” I exclaim, out of a mixture of disbelief and shock.

“I bet that kind of power helps in the wildlands,” he continues, “so when did you find this place, it's a pretty good hideout? I assume a while since you ran from me.”

I stare in disbelief at the impossibleness of the situation. The Turbulence saved me, I can understand that, but this guy; I have no clue. Here I was, originally I thought I was being chased, but now asked questions I don’t even know how to respond to.

“Do I have something on my face,” Irwin asks and causally runs his fingers over his chin.

“Oh, no,” I say, “I’ve just never seen another person...and what was that you said about the wildlands?”

I’ve never heard of the wildlands, but it sounds like wasteland so I guess it’s something like that.

“Oh my god,” he says suddenly, “Is it you?”

“Umm,” I respond dumbfounded, “what do you mean?”

“I’ve heard stories, but I thought it was all myth and people with the brain damage from the second wave, making up stories!”

He was shouting, practically beaming with excitement at this point.

“You’re the kid who made all the atomic bombs go off when you were born, aren’t you?!”

“I-,” I start, but can’t seem to think about anything.

“Your 19,” he asks at rapid speed.

“Yes.”

“You have a power that you’ve never understood.”

“Well maybe, I-.”

“You live alone and haven't met a single human.”

“Well, maybe.”

I thought that would slow him down but he just brushes past my answer or regards it as a yes.

“And you live in a hideout in the desert, and have no clue of what you’ve done” he asks, finally slowed down and not pacing anymore.

“No, all I’ve known is my home, a little bit of history, and that the turbulence seems to be attached to me.”

“Is that what you call it,” he asks, his eyes still beaming, “the force that caused all the atomic bombs on earth to explode and kill millions.”

If I imagined that sentence any other way, I wouldn’t imagine it to sound not as friendly as he says it. I feel my head churn and my body starts to fall, but I feel the turbulence, or whatever it might actually be called, lift me back up.

“If this is all true, then I killed millions of people just by being born,” I ask, the air seeming thin around me.

His bold facial features seem to shift, and I think he might take his mallet and kill me for this supposed crime, but instead, I feel his heavy hand on my shoulder.

“It’s ok, it’s not like you wanted that to happen,” he says with a small sympathetic smile, “now there’s something else I need to tell you.”

I nod my head and he continues.

“I didn’t just wander into this little town; I’m being chased by the military and if they figure out who you are,” he says and pauses solemnly.

“What,” I ask, looking around, now worried that a whole military will storm into town.

“They’ll kill you, cause some people do blame you, if they believe you actually exists, for what happened; well most people actually.”

“Oh great,” I exclaim, “well, what do we do?”

Right after I finish my sentence I hear a noise come from a distance, like a thousand footsteps and machinery.

“They’ve found me,” he says while looking back, “I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I've put you in danger.

I’m gonna hold them off, but you have to run!”

“Run where,” I ask, frantically looking around, “All I see is the house and the chasm.”

“Exactly,” he says, picking up his mallet and assuming an offensive position, “use the turbulence and escape through the Chasm.”

“But, I’ve never tried to use the Turbulence before!”

“It’s all I can think of, now go,” he yells.

I turn and run back towards that chasm, stand on the edge and look down into the darkness I've been scared of for so long.

“When will you join me,” I ask, the chasm staring at me menacingly.

“As soon as I can, but when I’m ready you're gonna have to use the turbulence to catch me if we’re both still alive.”

“Ok,” I say, not at all confident.

“Now when I yell-” he started to say but then was dead silent and fell to his knees.

I look at his stomach and see a red liquid drip from beneath his armor, and his eyes look in shock.

I hear myself scream, but I feel so far away now, and then he turns his head and looks at me. His eyes dimmer but still retaining life, and mouths the word go with his dying lips.

I step back and feel myself fall.