Chapter Three

Daniel slowly discovers how to piece the orb back together.

Daniel sat down at his hard, oak desk with a cup of tea. It was midmorning, the sun rising slowly to the peak of the day. When he woke up, he had delayed dealing with the contents of the jacket as much as he could by doing morning chores in preparation for any day. His belly was full from a warm breakfast, his brown hair neatly swept to one side of his forehead, and his outfit looked extraordinarily tidy, despite it being a plain, white shirt tucked into a pair of belted cargo pants.

 

   Finally, the boredom of a day off had settled in and he knew he couldn't delay the issue any longer than he already had. He took a long sip of his steaming tea before setting it down on the desk and turning to the tan, leather jacket.

 

   He untied the knot in the sleeves, while at the same time tying a knot in his own stomach, and undid the package with care. Before him sat thirteen glass pieces of what seemed to be a broken sphere. They were smooth to the touch as he picked them up, trying to see if any would fit together.

 

   Thirty minutes passed and he had no results. No matter what Daniel tried, none of the broken ridges fit into each other, not a single piece.

 

   Another hour passed by and he still had no such luck. He gave up and pushed the pieces of glass aside before downing the rest of his cold tea.

 

   He left his apartment and took a walk around the city to try and clear his mind. Any passerby could easily see that he was troubled; however, no one dared to approach him. They seemed almost scared of him and people were having trouble walking near him as they went on their way.

 

   His mood was dangerous, and he hated it. He couldn't remember ever feeling so foul in his life. Happiness usually consumed his soul, even with the many fears he had of the world.

 

   The next couple of days continued just the same. He would wake up and have a nice meal, then sit down and tinker with the pieces of glass for about half an hour. Then, he would take a walk before sitting down to read the newspaper. After he had his fill of current events, he would grab a nice book, curl up next to the fire, and read for hours until the time came for supper, and after that, bed.

 

   On the fifth day, he sat down at his desk and stared down at the thirteen shards of glass. They looked different, almost as if they had changed shape.

 

   "Blimey!" he cried, and searched through his drawers until he found his notebook and a pen. He set one of the pieces aside and drew it as best as he could manage in an empty page in the back of the notebook.

 

   He left it alone for the rest of the day as he flew through his routine and went to bed early. When he woke up the next morning, he ran to his desk and closely compared the drawing with the piece of glass.

 

   "It has been changing shape," Daniel stated in awe.

 

   Later that day, he walked into the office of Herald Mankins, a lead researcher who studied ancient glass and pottery at the FIA.

 

   "Over time, glass does tend to sink with the pull of gravity, but it happens so slowly, we could never see a difference in it within our entire lifespan. This is why, when you and your team go to visit an ancient city with glass windows, the glass is slightly thicker at the bottom than it is at the top," explained Herald.

   "Is there any exceptions to that? Is there any kind of glass of another material? Glass such as this?" Daniel pulled a shard from the orb out of his vest pocket and held it out for Herald to see.

   He took the orb and examined it closely. "No, there really is no other kind of glass, however, this does look a bit strange. Let me run a quick test."

   The man opened a bottle of clear liquid that sat on his bookshelf and he dunked the shard inside of it. After a minute of letting it soak, he took it out and dried it off, handing the piece back to Daniel.

   "This doesn't appear to be glass at all. Glass turns an exotic shade of purple when it comes in contact with that chemical, but this really has no reaction. I'm sorry, Daniel, I really do not know how to help you."

 

   Daniel left after thanking him for his time and returned home. He had just ruled out the only idea he could think of as to why the shards were changing shape. It was so abnormal, the only thing he could think of it being was a supernatural occurrence.

 

   When he arrived home, he had received a letter from his boss stating that he wanted Daniel to see a therapist about his time trapped in the sanctuary room. A date was set for three in the afternoon, the next day. Daniel thought his boss was taking the matter a bit too far, but didn't decline and decided he would show up.

 

   That evening, he had a very troubling dream about the orb, a dream that felt almost real. In the dream, he had gotten out of bed and made himself a cup of warm tea before sitting at his desk with a jar of tar.

 

   Ever so slowly, he pieced each shard back together, finally completing the smooth sphere. When he had finished, the tar slowly melted out and it welded itself back together, as the sticky substance wasn't needed in the first place. Daniel gasped and backed away, knocking his chair over as the orb started to glow like it had before: every color imaginable and not at the same time shown from the sphere in beauty. The light grew to an amazing intensity before diming to a dull glow. It sat on his desk, dormant after its brilliant display.

 

   Daniel awoke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He took a moment to calm himself down before sitting up to examine his room. His breath caught when he saw the orb, pieced fully back together, laying on his desk. There was no evidence that it had ever been shattered.

   After getting past the initial shock, he lay his head back on the pillow and lay staring at the ceiling. That dream felt so real, it could have been that he was in a trance. The very idea of that made him shiver. It was awhile before he was able to drift back into sleep. That night, his life had taken a turn.

 

   That night, he ran from nightmares that chased him.

Reviews

[Lady]

Like the two before, I really enjoyed reading this chapter. Daniel is shaping up to be an interesting and well developed character. Be careful though, especially with this chapter it seemed, not to summarize. It was as if you were trying to skim past the non eventful parts and get to the interesting ending. Maybe when Daniel goes to the FIA pottery researcher, he brings with him a shard of the orb so the researcher can run some sort of test. Some more facts about the orb would be nice for the reader - might make it more curious.
Also the ending, though it was exciting, seemed a bit off. You dont just wake up from a dream and know how to do something. Maybe he was in a trance, or was sleep walking. Maybe the orb has some sort of power over him. Maybe have Daniel wake up in the morning to discover it's all in one piece again and he can't remember anything that happened at night.

Can't wait for the next installment. Good work!