The feeling that none of this happened before.

It felt like total darkness. Sand ran against me. Staring at my hands on what might seem like an uncomfortably familiar object, yet I couldn't quite put a finger on it. I blinked. Hoping I'm just seeing things and it'll be gone when i opened my eyes again. But hope only works for the helpless man, not the stupid one. It was still there. Not even the slightest movements at all, just like how it was the way before.

What is this?

I'm pretty sure I've seen it before somewhere. Might even use it before. Yet the thoughts of all these were only the faintest notation at the back of my head. Help me, somebody.

I looked around for a moment just to realised that I'm alone. Help yourself when no one's around, Grandpa use to say. Now seem to be the best awful situation to apply it. A drop of cold sweat rolls down my forehead and fell into it. Funny how I didn't realise it was so hot before. Did somebody turned up the heater by accident?

The lights on it began to dim. Fading into the darkness, as if it was reminding me that time is running out. It's late , any longer and I might just miss it. My thumb waved above it fanatically, shaking and trembling in a never felt before fear. The rest of my fingers, as though dictated by invisible forces responding to my overwhelming fear, gripped the object tightly. It screamed at me sharply , telling me to embrace what come may.

Slowly and carefully, like a surgeon in the operating room, my thumb moved in for the kill. It was a difficult move, the air around me stiffen, threatening to choke me to death. I resisted , rebelling my way out of it and concentrating on the only task on my hands and rested my thumb slightly on top of the object. A sudden feeling of peace and remorse surrounds me.

"It's now or never" A voice in my head spoke.

What?
I know this voice. The awfully familiar voice that spoke to me at times like such, yet we never managed a greeting before. It was more like a one-time affair I can never seem to fathom. I close my eyes again , hoping it will go away. Not surprisingly, it didn't.

Now what genius?

The light came back as I press my thumb gently on the object. It shook me a little. Just a little to send all the 'creepy-crawlies' (goosebumps) all over my skin. Looking at the series of numbers in it, my heart pound faster and another drop of sweat fell down. I couldn't do it. No way in hell could I. An instant jerk of my hand snapped me back to reality, the object felt like an incredible 200 pounds now. It's wearing me down , I gotta put it down somehow yet I was stubborn and unwilling to give it up without a fight. I looked down at it once more as the lights began to fade away slowly.
The display screen writes :
Call Joanne?

The red or the green button? I've been at it the whole night. I gotta make a decision now. I hit the red key and place the phone down on my bed and blamed myself for being such an idiot and it was that very moment a weird tingly feeling creep up my spine. The feeling that none of this happened before. That feeling you'll say it in French.

Vuja De.




Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this. It's been a while since I did any short stories but Stephen King sort of brought me back. I was reading this book of his , Everything's Eventual and he spoke about the lost craft of short stories. I felt inspired by him to write something of my own, a short story that will sound awfully familiar to you and yet you can't quite put a finger onto it. Before I realised , I came out with Vuja De (no , I didn't really say that though) some other guy did. I wanted to present a sort of feelings everyone else knew but yet didn't know what it was. If you needed to shout at me , there's the tagboard. If not , have a great weekend!