Awakened

While pondering the mysterious cyberMary, the two woman, occupants in a house that was neither theirs nor one in which they had been invited to enter did not feel the shift of reality happen. It happened so quietly, so stealthily that neither was aware that the feeling of the room had changed. A slight drop in temperature and the mental pressure was released in a gentle outpouring that made what was once sinister now just an ordinary house. Both woman, whom felt a bit of dislike in equal shares for one another, had forgotten the strain of relating to one another and found Communion in the artificial.

But the shift was there none-the-less in the form of a very baffled Joan, who upon the first rays of consciousness felt like she had not taken any iron pills in weeks. What was she doing on the floor, the floor of the dining room to be exact. As her vision came into a little more focus of basic shapes, she heard the voices. There was Mary, her true friend, and two others. As Rainey spoke, Joan began to disseminate her voice. But the other one? It really sounded like Penny, but why would Penny be here? And then it all came back. She had been talking to Penny on the phone, yes that was it, and Penny's true feelings about the engagement came into play.

Joan lay there for a few more minutes. Part of her wished these two intruders would go away. Part of her was really hurt and angry and wanted to show Penny what that looked like. Part of her no longer wanted to be alone. She continued to construct what had happened and why she was on the floor, but no real answer was forth coming. She had hung up on Penny and sat down at the computer and that was all she could remember.

Still oblivious to her awakened state, the two women prattled on about computers. Joan sat up and rested against the leg of the dinning room table. Now that she was down here, from this low angle, she really hated this hand-me-down furniture. It seemed to make her head hurt even more.

With those thoughts she began the standing up process a little too quickly, banging her head on the table. Feeling the explosion within, the other two heard it on the outside. Simultaneously they both turned to look at the girl they both knew.

"What are you doing here?" she addressed them equally, no welcome tone in her voice.