Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) by Kevin Weinberg

disappointed
she was at him leaving.
    "Come on, what’s the worst that can happen if
you’re five minutes late?”
    She was definitely making this hard for him.
Every last fiber of his being wanted to stay with her and drink in
her majestic blue eyes. But if he angered his mother, the
consequences would be vast and far-reaching. No, he
really
had to go.
    “ You’re killing me here, but I just
can’t. In fact, as it is if I don’t sprint I won’t make it home in
time, and then Mom is gonna take away my Xbox.”
    (Monday, June Fourth 11:47PM -> Jack’s Heart
Rate: 95 BPM)
    “ So, you’re really just going to
leave me? Without even a goodbye kiss?”
    (Monday, June Fourth 11:48PM -> Jack’s Heart
Rate: 1,402,182,154 BPM)
    Did I just hear that right?
    “ I’m sorry, Melissa, what was
that?”
    Melissa released his arm and instead playfully
tugged on his shirt, pulling him close. Jack’s mind reeled in
surprise. Instinctively he hoped, no, he prayed that his mother had
signed him up for a donor list, because the way his heart was
hammering in his chest, it was going to burst out of
him.
    It was only a millisecond, but the time it took
to go from arm’s length to a distance close enough to be mesmerized
by her enchanting eyes felt like an eternity. He could feel the
soft touch of her long hair on his forehead. She had the scent of
cherries, and her perfect features were the only sight that filled
his vision.
    This close, he could feel her chest pressed
against his body, aflame with white-hot passion. His emotions
transitioned at a maddening speed. From nervous, to excited, to
exalted, to a feeling of bliss so pure it could remove the dark
from the murkiest swamp.
    Her breath was sweet as she pulled him in, her
powerful arms wrapping around his neck. Her lips came into view,
moving ever closer to his. His heart beat faster, faster
…
    When their lips connected, fireworks brighter
than a thousand suns lit off with glamour to the sound of a million
beating drums. A pure joy and sensation of ecstasy far beyond that
which he had ever known possible blossomed and coursed throughout
his heart. Not even an eternity burning in the fires of the deepest
layer of hell could make him forget this moment.
    The sweet-cinnamon taste of her lips covered
his and any thought of returning home vanished. The kiss seemed to
last a lifetime, a perfect moment repeated on a loop throughout the
infinitum. It was powerful, like a concrete floor slamming into the
back of his head.
    Wait, what?
    The pain was so great that Jack didn’t feel the
boot on his throat blocking his airway, and the fuzzy feeling
almost distorted the furious roaring words that Melissa shouted, in
a booming, angry, and commanding voice from lips that moments ago
were so passionate and filled with lust.
    “MOVE A MUSCLE, EVEN A MUSCLE
AND I’LL END YOU HERE AND NOW.”
    Jack blinked, trying to clear his mind. He was
on his back, his ears ringing, pain shooting in and out from under
his eyes. The impact of the fall had disoriented him—he struggled
to make sense of something, anything.
    His inability to breathe came to him as a
sudden burst of recognition. With a gasp, he gripped his arms at
the boot slamming down on his throat.
    “ I said, don’t move! Stop struggling
this instant or so help me god I will kill you.”
    The confusion was so strong that it hurt.
Jack’s brain scrambled to find some kind of answer. He had kissed
her, he was sure, but then something had happened. She had lifted
him off his feet and tossed him on the ground as if he were an
infant.
    Jack’s body cried to him for oxygen. “Wh—” he
struggled to speak. The words came out between raspy half-breaths.
“Wh-why?”
    “ Is that what your victims asked
you, you sick freak? Did they ask to know why? Did you even bother
to tell them the reason they had to die?”
    Is this a dream?
    Jack fought frantically to remove the leg
pinning him. The strength of it was not natural. It carried the
force