Chapter 1
The hushed and whispered voices that echoed through the darkness of her subconsciousness disturbed the forced peace of her mind. The voices had no meaning and the words were a jumbled mess of buzzing sounds.
Penny Shultz desperately wished the voices in her mind would quiet down, especially during the horrible plane ride she was currently on.
Penny, a.k.a Penelope Shultz, was a little more special than the average joe. And also deathly afraid of being more than a foot above the ground, considering she was in an airplane that was soaring through the air at an altitude she desperately tried to not think about, let's just say her nerves were beyond frayed and she was afraid she'd lose her fragile control over her...odd tendencies as her mother occasionally put it when the woman was more sober than not.
Sitting at a pleasant 5'4", Penny sat hunched over in the cramped seat, trying very hard to focus on the meditation tactics her counselor taught her when her mind got a little to cluttered and her control and little too lose.
'Deep breath in, deep breath out, slowly and calmly count from ten and imagine calming things.'
She repeated to herself over and over, but the fear of being in the plane and the overwhelming voices buzzing in the back of her mind, made it very very difficult for Penny to do anything that resembled calming down.
'There goes trying to take a nap.' She thought bitterly to herself.
Stomach lurching as the plane rolled through a patch of turbulence, Penny fought the sudden and strong urge to purge her stomach right then and there. Fumbling with the seatbelt she had latched over her lap, she finally got it undone after a heaping dose of mental swearing, and frantically darted into the aisle and towards the airplane latrine.
Silently and Profusely thanking whatever God was out there listening to her mental cries, the latrine was unattended and waiting for her to hurl the sad contents of her stomach.
Shutting the door and latching it, she dropped to her knees and lost all control. Body shuddering, Penny retched and gasped as stomach bile and barely digested bits of airplane food flew out of her mouth and into the toilet.
Finally satisfied with the lack of content within it, Penny's stomach decided to ease up on the squeezing and forced ejection of her stomach acid and maybe a few peanuts she had nibbled on out of politeness to the stewardess that handed the tiny package to her.
Spitting out any lingering bile, Penny wished desperately for something to rinse the vile flavor out of her mouth.
Jumping, when a knocking sound came from the other side of the door, Penny quickly spit once more, wiped her face down and flushed before wobbling back to her feet to open the door.
Blinking in surprise at the concerned face of the stewardess that had handed her the peanuts from earlier, Penny forced a smile on her face.
"Is everything alright ma'am?" The stewardess asked, her hazel eyes roaming Penny's pale and probably near gray face.
'I hope to God that she doesn't have any transmittable illness' the last thing I need is to catch a stomach bug' Wincing as the thoughts of the flight attendant before her invaded her head. Penny smiled tightly as the lady narrowed her eyes on Penny.
"I'm fine, I get air sick really badly, and I can't take any medication to help control it, it tends to counteract with my medicine." She explained, hoping that would appease the flight attendant before her.
Nodding, she seemed satisfied with the response before stepping aside to allow Penny to shuffle through the tiny corridor.
"If you need anything, just let me know. I can even check if we have any kind of ginger ale if you want?" She offered.
Pausing as she tried to think of the right response, Penny offered a simple thank you before hurrying back to her seat. Standing to close to people made Penny beyond uncomfortable, she couldn't control their thoughts from invading her mind, but it was worse when she came into contact with them.
Visions of their lives and experiences bombarded Penny's mind's eye, almost like a movie nobody asked to be made.
Mentally berating herself for forgetting her gloves in her carry on, Penny sat back down and buckled herself up. Trying to continue with where she left off with her attempts at meditation.
"My granddaughter gets airsick too." The older lady that sat in the middle seat said in a hushed tone, leaning over Penny stiffened as her shoulder brushed up against Penny's.
Shying away from the contact, Penny grimaced as she made eye contact with the older woman.
"That's really cruddy. flying was my only option to get to where I'm going...If I had, had a car I definitely would have driven instead. I'm really really afraid of heights, but since the tickets were bought for me, I couldn't turn them down...besides the whole not having a car thing either..." Penny realized she was rambling. One of her more verbal ticks when she was on the brink of a mental melt down, Penny tried to put a stop to her babbling.
Chuckling, the older lady reached out and patted Penny's hand.
The second the older woman's skin touched Penny's, she gasped, body going ramrod straight before she forced herself into a bend.
Hands going over her ear's, Penny tried to fight the barrage of images that began to assault her braid. Teeth clenched in a painful lock, she tried to fight the scream that was forcing its way out of her convulsing throat.
Tears leaked from beneath her tightly closed lids, it was horrible when somebody made skin contact with Penny, she saw everything about them, their past, their present and it always ended in the way they died, the worst part was that Penny couldn't stop anything from happening. Once her skin made contact with that person, a mental connection was formed and Penny was forced to become privy to the person's entire life.
Stifling a sob as she reached the inevitable death scene, she watched the scene become sharp and clear. The doctor telling the old woman that she had so many days to live, that the cancer had advanced so quickly and so unexpectedly. The grief on the doctors face as he watched her break down. The thoughts the old woman will have as she worried about her only child and grandchildren.
Shaking as the scene faded from her head, she aggressively wiped at the tears that were now streaming like a hot river down her face.
Feeling a hesitant touch on her shoulder, Penny cracked open a swollen eyelid to stare at the older woman that looked at her with gentle pity.
"You know?" Penny asked, her voice coming out as a croaky whisper.
Smiling sadly, the older woman nodded.
"I've known for awhile about my health condition, the doctors have told me that I had at least another good couple years to live. The medication I'm on hasn't made much of a dent at killing the cancer, it's just prolonging my life a little." She said, her eyes becoming glossy and distant, as if stuck in a memory.
Shaking her head, she turned her attention back on Penny.
"You're a very special young lady aren't you dear?" She said, her age lined lips lifting in a sad smile.
Sniffling, Penny used the heel of her palms to continue wiping away the straggling tears that continued to drip from her lashes.
"My momma wouldn't call it being special. She'd call it being a nuisance." Penny muttered bitterly as she thought on the woman that locked her away for being different.
Scoffing at Penny's words, the old woman sat back in her chair while still staring at Penny as she tried to recover from the mental barrage.
"Your mother was a fool, gifts like yours only crop up so often. Whatever may have happened to you shouldn't have, and I hope where ever you are heading is to a place with a warm welcoming home waiting for you." She said, her hand hovering over Penny's before moving back to settle in her lap.
Smiling at the gesture, Penny sniffled once again, her feelings stabilizing once more.
"Thank you, my aunt found me and invited me to come live with her in Tennessee, she seems like an extremely wonderful woman and I am really excited to get to meet her for the first time." Penny divulged, her thoughts wandering to the letters that her Aunt had sent her while Penny was in 'treatment' as her mother liked to call it.
Mouth opening to respond back to her, the older woman was interrupted by the overhead speaking coming to life.
"This is your captain speaking, here soon we will be landing at the Paradise Hill airport, please buckle up and prepare for landing." The pilot said while the intercom clicked off.
Stomach plummeting once more, Penny closed her eyes tightly and began to pray.
