Flare Read Online Free
Book: Flare Read Online Free
Author: Jonathan Maas
hard on you.
Dad—
Let me speak. The deep tone brooks no counterargument. Let me speak.
He nods, and his father speaks.
I’m sorry I pushed you . I pushed you forward, and then away. It came at a cost, and we weren’t as close as we could have been. But I did this because I had to, do you understand?
Yes.
Do you really understand? I pushed you because of your potential. It was too great to waste. Now I’m here, earlier than I should be, but you’re launched. You had so much potential, and we put so much into you. Now’s your time to give back to the world, to do something. Do you understand this?
Yes. The reply is more out of instinct than meaning.
Good. Now it’s your turn. Every day you have is a gift you should give to the world. Every single day. Don’t ever settle for the ordinary, or even the exceptional. Do what they haven’t thought of yet, and bring things into being that they’ve never seen before. Do this, because so much will depend on you, and the world deserves nothing less.
/***/
Ash opened his eyes to darkness, the vague cloud of the dream fading into the room around him. Then came the realization that he was awake and whole, and that he didn’t know where he was. He had a splitting headache, his mouth tasted of coal, and it was a struggle to think of anything else. He rubbed his head and felt a bandage, and realizing that it was obscuring his vision, pulled it back to see that he was on a couch in a large room, dimly lit. It was his sister’s house … the basement? He was desperately thirsty and wanted something to cure the pain in his head, but he had so little energy that he couldn’t bring himself to get up. He decided to look around and figure out what had happened to him.
Was I drinking? No, but something happened. This is Heather’s place, so I’m all right.
He saw that his twin sister Heather had left a jug of water by the couch, and a glass. He drank the water, and the pain in his head grew until he almost vomited the water back up, but he relaxed and was able to hold it down.
I don’t know what happened, but Heather’s here, and it’s going to be all right.
Ash looked around the basement again and noticed that though the room was dark, it seemed to have a dull incandescence, as if it was lit by a black light. There were no lights on in the room, and Ash looked to the windows and saw that the curtains’ edges were glowing quite strongly, framing an outline of washed-out borders.
Ash thought about going upstairs, finding Heather and asking her what this all was about, but decided against it.
You’ve woken up like this before. Things are always disconcerting after a long sleep.
He pulled the light switch dangling from the ceiling, but it didn’t work. He pulled it again, and still nothing, so he walked over to a television set and turned it on, but nothing happened. He flipped the switch again, then the remote control, and then checked the plug, all to no avail. The television didn’t work.
He tried another light switch, a lamp, and played with a digital alarm clock, and none of them worked either.
Ash then went over to the curtains with the light bleeding from their edges. They were unnaturally thick and taped into place, as if to seal the edges from a hurricane. He took one of the edges off, looked outside and—
“Jesus Christ !” he yelled.
The light blinded him and he spun around and clutched his face, and in doing so his shirt got stuck to a piece of tape that held the curtain back. He fell to the floor, still clutching his eyes, and felt a sting on his lower back. He yelled again and then crawled away from the window, still in pain but scrambling like a crab on the ground. He reached the opposite wall and crumpled up in the fetal position, both his back and eyes still burning. His headache pulsed in whenever the other sensations pulsed out. The pain finally faded until he could handle it, but he still stayed in the fetal position, afraid to open his
Dad—
Let me speak. The deep tone brooks no counterargument. Let me speak.
He nods, and his father speaks.
I’m sorry I pushed you . I pushed you forward, and then away. It came at a cost, and we weren’t as close as we could have been. But I did this because I had to, do you understand?
Yes.
Do you really understand? I pushed you because of your potential. It was too great to waste. Now I’m here, earlier than I should be, but you’re launched. You had so much potential, and we put so much into you. Now’s your time to give back to the world, to do something. Do you understand this?
Yes. The reply is more out of instinct than meaning.
Good. Now it’s your turn. Every day you have is a gift you should give to the world. Every single day. Don’t ever settle for the ordinary, or even the exceptional. Do what they haven’t thought of yet, and bring things into being that they’ve never seen before. Do this, because so much will depend on you, and the world deserves nothing less.
/***/
Ash opened his eyes to darkness, the vague cloud of the dream fading into the room around him. Then came the realization that he was awake and whole, and that he didn’t know where he was. He had a splitting headache, his mouth tasted of coal, and it was a struggle to think of anything else. He rubbed his head and felt a bandage, and realizing that it was obscuring his vision, pulled it back to see that he was on a couch in a large room, dimly lit. It was his sister’s house … the basement? He was desperately thirsty and wanted something to cure the pain in his head, but he had so little energy that he couldn’t bring himself to get up. He decided to look around and figure out what had happened to him.
Was I drinking? No, but something happened. This is Heather’s place, so I’m all right.
He saw that his twin sister Heather had left a jug of water by the couch, and a glass. He drank the water, and the pain in his head grew until he almost vomited the water back up, but he relaxed and was able to hold it down.
I don’t know what happened, but Heather’s here, and it’s going to be all right.
Ash looked around the basement again and noticed that though the room was dark, it seemed to have a dull incandescence, as if it was lit by a black light. There were no lights on in the room, and Ash looked to the windows and saw that the curtains’ edges were glowing quite strongly, framing an outline of washed-out borders.
Ash thought about going upstairs, finding Heather and asking her what this all was about, but decided against it.
You’ve woken up like this before. Things are always disconcerting after a long sleep.
He pulled the light switch dangling from the ceiling, but it didn’t work. He pulled it again, and still nothing, so he walked over to a television set and turned it on, but nothing happened. He flipped the switch again, then the remote control, and then checked the plug, all to no avail. The television didn’t work.
He tried another light switch, a lamp, and played with a digital alarm clock, and none of them worked either.
Ash then went over to the curtains with the light bleeding from their edges. They were unnaturally thick and taped into place, as if to seal the edges from a hurricane. He took one of the edges off, looked outside and—
“Jesus Christ !” he yelled.
The light blinded him and he spun around and clutched his face, and in doing so his shirt got stuck to a piece of tape that held the curtain back. He fell to the floor, still clutching his eyes, and felt a sting on his lower back. He yelled again and then crawled away from the window, still in pain but scrambling like a crab on the ground. He reached the opposite wall and crumpled up in the fetal position, both his back and eyes still burning. His headache pulsed in whenever the other sensations pulsed out. The pain finally faded until he could handle it, but he still stayed in the fetal position, afraid to open his