Ana Raknid
The Mall was crowded, families bumped into each other and bags were tangled.The pressure of shopping seemed to fill the spaces with noise and steam. It sapped the energy from every adult, and seemed to energize every child with a demonic need for attention.The mothers failed attempt to balance children and the remaining purchase and motivating her husband. The men were all silently mourning the loss of a peaceful morning. Under the weight of the bags they struggled to come to terms with the fact that they will be there for much, much longer.
Then she was there, a human vision of the three goddesses Beauty, Temptation and Sin. As Ana moved through the mall she traveled in a pocket of quiet and space. Even loaded with bags, men pushed to give her room. The general noise and hubbub died down in two parts awe, one part intimidation. More than a few husbands thought to discard their spouses’ parcels to in favor of helping Ana. Then she was gone. The return of the noise and crowed was crushing. Few men have ever been subtle, least of all these overweight specimens of Middle America. Worse now, the sound rose in pitch as every woman raised her voice in protest to the look on her husband’s face.
Ana was mostly oblivious to all the attention that she garnered. All her life she had been beautiful, but just shy of seventeen she was finding that her life was getting notably easier. In the last six months she only had to lean towards a public building and the door would be hurriedly opened. Also even in this time of hectic shopping she had hardly had to wait in a line, and those that she found herself in all seemed to move twice as fast. Now approaching the exit of the mall she was so preoccupied that she barely nodded to the father and son who appeared to be fighting over the door.
The bags were starting to get heavy as she left the massive three-story mall. She had gotten lucky, as on only her second loop through the parking lot she saw a car pulling out of a space directly across from an exit. As she prepared to pull into the open spot, she saw that there was a car coming from the other direction. She paused not wanting to take someone else’s spot, but the nice man in the other car had motioned for her to take it. Approaching the car she was happy to give the weight of the bags to two brothers who were on their way into the mall. She was happy for the help; they even loaded the bags into her car. The older brother stammered something about her number while holding out a piece of paper and a pen. He beamed as she wrote on the paper and then snatched the folded paper from her hand. He walked away very fast, his brother having to almost run to keep up. She hoped that he would not be too disappointed when he saw that all she had written was “Thank You.”
Ana drove as she had walked, as if there was no one else around her. She drove fast, and changed lanes seemingly at random. If you have ever seen anyone cut across three lanes to exit the freeway, that person may have been Ana. The car was a place where she felt safe, a place no one could see her. She often changed lane or speed to avoid being next to one car for too long. Because of this sense of security, Ana found that the car was her favorite place to think. Today, all day all she had been able to think about what was going to happen that night.
Ana was the quintessential good girl, even if she was a bad driver. She had always worked hard in school, and she had to get good grades, it was the family expectation. She worked hard, and she was smart. But her it seemed that her teachers wanted her to succeed so they never challenged her. This last year had been a breeze. Her teachers loved her papers and she always seemed to pass exams easily. On one test she noticed in the grading that she received double points on the question she answered correctly for every question she got wrong. Ana had always felt that she had to be super good. She always went to class, she never partied, she was a quite perfect goody-goody two shoes. It was starting to drive her nuts, and it was sooo boring.
She had done so well in school that her parents had taken away her curfew, to show that “hard work earns rewards” as her father said. Because of this new freedom, and extra free time, hanging out with her friends was starting to get boring. Last night after hanging out at the mall for like five hours, when Jenny, Ana’s best friend said, “My brother, you know Micah, he just came home from college. I heard him on the phone, a bunch of his friends are having party, you know because they’re all back from school for the first time and all. My parents are gone we can dress up really hot. We’ll get my brother to bring us. We can party and get drunk.”
“Won’t your brother get pissed if you show up dressed like a slut, I mean,” Ana had never done anything like this and felt like she needed to find a reason not to go. “All of his friends there and you are his sister.”
“Oh, come on! I said hot, not a slut. Don’t slut shame me. I like it when guys look at me. I want to get drunk. Not hook up. Plus Micah told me to come he said that he wants to make sure I know how to drink before I go to college.”
“I guess I never thought about it that way.”
“Totally, it’s like practice, it would be fun. I’ve never been drunk before.”
Ana was convinced, “let me call my parents I’ll tell them I’m staying at your house.” This was just the thing she needed to break out of her role as a good girl.
“Great, I already told by mom that I’m staying with you.”
Ever since then all Ana could think about was the upcoming night. She was so existed. But now she needed to face her parents and gather supplies for the night. She tried to make it up the stairs to her room without her parents noticing, the plan was to hit them with quick kiss good-bye as she ran out the door. That was not the case both her mother and father were sitting in the den, which opened into the entryway. As always they were glued to the TV.
“Oh, Ana, you have to see this,” Ana’s mother was waving with one hand without breaking focus on the TV. “Opera’s Clone is interviewing a…I don’t even know how to describe it. Just come look.”
The screen showed a generic talk show setting, three chairs were placed in a semi-circle. In the chair in the bottom corner of the screen was a very small version of Opera, maybe six inches tall. She had a special chair, a very small chair. The middle chair was empty. The chair in the upper corner was also empty. Instead a large screen had been lowered to the approximate height of a seated human. On the screen flickered the most amazing menagerie of twentieth century celebrities’ faces.
“Uh, what is that?” Ana asked. “Or who? I guess.”
“It’s Doc Zed,” Her father said, “now sit, they’re just getting started.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know,” said her mother.
“Just watch,” said her father.
Ana sat down. On the screen, the muttering of the crowd died down and Opera’s Clone spoke to the camera. “Today we have a treat for you. Talking with us is DocZed. He is here to talk about the upcoming release of the TAP, and AntruA. Now, DocZed thank you so much for coming on to the show.”
“The pleasure is all mine Opera’s Clone, thanks for having me on your show.” The image changed from Jerry Springer to Slash.
“Please call me OC, I was hoping that we could be informal here.”
“Of course,” Slash now morphed to Tara Patrick.
“So DocZed,” OC continued, “I guess, simply put, what is TAP?”
“TAP is device that will connect a person directly to a massive network, the human network. It really will work with any network, instantaneously. It stands for TelNet Awareness Port. When Zed Inc releases TAP it will replace your computer, your cell phone and camera. Potentially it will replace both Television and ‘The News’ as we know them.”
“Wow, those are some serious claims. Aren’t there a lot of people that you challenge with a statement like that? I mean, if what you’re saying comes to pass what does that mean for me, or say Dan Rather’s Clone?”
Tara’s face melted into Steve Martin, “Yes! I am absolutely trying to upset the status-quo, one hundred percent. Anyone will be able to record anything they see or hear, really any memory they have, and broadcast it for anyone to watch, this will be called a Ping. By the same token anyone will be able to experience any Ping as if it was his or her own memory, this will be called TapPingIn. The deciding factor will be how many people want to watch your Ping. Are you able to compete for attention with all of humanity?” Steve Martin morphed into an ape with glasses.
“I see, and you can connect to anyone, so cell phones are done.”
“Exactly,” a baby burbled from the on-stage screen.
“So, how does it work?”
“A small device is implanted into the back of the neck. This device is packed full of little nanocomputers, or nanites. They are released from the device then float in your spinal fluid. In this way they spread throughout your nervous system looking for nerve bundles of a specific size.” The baby face now changed to Leonard Nemoy. “When they find what they’re looking for the nano attaches itself to the nerve and starts sending out a signal. The signal connects the nanites that are spread all over your nervous system. The rest of it is very technical, to make it simple the nanites become conduits sending and receiving information.” The face was now John Stuart. “Your bones act as an antenna, strengthening the signal and connecting to the other humans’ TAPs. By connecting directly to your nerves experiences can be sent to your brain as if you were experiencing them yourself. It has a lot to do with electric pulses and how information is sent from your nerves to the brain, which then translates them to feelings and memories. By adding new electrical pulses to piggyback on the ones that you generate naturally you can experience anything that is broadcast. By the same token anything you chose to broadcast can be experience by anyone who chooses TapIn.” Christopher Lloyd finished the last part with a twitchy enthusiasm. “Ironically these features, ya know the cell phones and TV features, were actually side effects.”
“You mean you weren’t trying to do any of this?”
“That’s correct OC.” Now it was Roger Clemens speaking to the tiny Opera. “This all started as I was trying to develop a video game, a MMORPG”
“A what? A emmorphamaporg?”
“Sorry, I spend most of my time talking with nerds. MMORPG is an acronym for ‘Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.” Replied DJ Qualles who then became Bill Gates. “It will be called AntruA. I guaranty it will be the most in-depth, realistic gaming experience anyone has ever experienced.” Said an animated Abraham Lincoln looking directly from his screen into the in-studio camera. He continued, “There will be no preconceived story. The events will be completely user generated. The choices that the players make will have consequences and lasting influence. The culture and the way people interact will be based on the communal choices.”
“This is amazing, so fascinating. We need to take a quick break for a word from our sponsors. But don’t touch your dial, we’ll be right back with more from DocZed.”
Opera’s clone had a slightly dazed look, an ape with a monocle looked out from the in studio TV. He picked his digital nose, ate a digital boggier and then grinned ear-to-ear out at the audience. The picture faded into a commercial.
Ana and her parents sat in silence for a few minutes. Ana knew that with her parents distracted it would be easier for her to get permission to go out that night. But she also knew that she had to approach the issue with care.
“What game is worth putting something in your head?” Ana said in a disgusted voice. She needed to keep them thinking about that whack-job DocZed.
“I don’t know,” her mom said, “Seems to me that all the other features would be handy, I mean I’ve lost, like what, five cell phones.”
Her father spoke slowly like he was really thinking about what he was saying. “It’s a very dangerous thing he was suggesting. Replacing TV with an open source network. See anything that anyone can think to watch. It’s always dangerous to attack the status-que. It’s a lot of money that this guy is talking about, and this game. No reason to talk to anybody else anymore. This will be the end of society as we know it.”
“Oh Please! ‘End of society as we know it,” this line was delivered by Ana’s mother dripping with sarcasm. “You sound like every stodgy adult that has ever lived. I agree with DocZed the only way to grow is to innovate.”
“Mom, can I go spend the night with Jenny, she invited me?” Ana jumped in as her mother paused to take a breath.”
“Sure dear,” Ana was elated, her mom continued to address her father. “Just think about how many of the things that a TAP will replace were at one time or another accused of ‘ending society. I think it is just a little creepy.”
Ana snuck upstairs to get ready if she was quick enough she would be able to leave the house while her parents were still distracted with their debate. She opened up her closet and was immediately overwhelmed by what to wear. There was nothing in her closet to wear, nothing. It was not like she didn’t like her clothes. She just didn’t like any for tonight. She didn’t have time for this. She packed a random selection, pretty much without paying any attention to what it she was stuffing into her overnight bag. Finished her packing then tiptoed downstairs.
When she got down stairs she saw that there was no reason to be concerned. The commercial break was over and her parents were engrossed with the interview. Ana could have moved a three-ring circus through her living room and her parents wouldn’t have noticed. On the TV DocZed now looking like Bill Nye was saying. “The interface is very flexible. You can choose how to see it and how you interact with it. You can project it in front of you and make selections using your hands.”
“Won’t that look funny, people pointing at things in the air that one else can see?”
“What do you think of people who talk to themselves out in public, connected to those bluetooth headsets?”
“Touché,” OC laughed, “so what about the …”
Ana found that she had stopped to listen, the idea of tons of little computers living on her nerves creeped her out. She opened the door then yelled “Bye,” then shut it on her parents’ mumbled response. That was that she was free to go out, free to party.
Just like Jenny had said her parents were gone by the time Ana arrived Jenny flung open the door to her house and dragged Ana up to her bedroom. The room was trashed, with cloths covering every possible surface and draped over anything with a corner or an edge. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to finding outfits that were just the right level of sexy. Ana tried the clothes that she had brought. First it was a black shirt with a diagonal drape across the front and jeans.
“What do you think?”
“It’s good…”
“But, maybe not jeans right, leggings maybe.”
“Yeah, black ones.”
“Of course, I didn’t bring any.”
“Let me find you some, they must be here somewhere. I think it’s in this pile, on the dresser, but check on that chair just in case.”
“They’re not over here, don’t worry about the leggings I’ll just try a different shirt. What about this brown one?”
“That works better with the jeans, here try this jacket. Yeah that’s good.”
“With these boots, I think this is good.”
“Totally hot, the boots make it.”
“Thanks, now you.”
“I was thinking this skirt, with these tights, but I need help with the shirt. What about this one?”
“The red is good, I think the skirt is perfect.”
“Me too. I don’t like the shirt.”
“Why not, it’s cute.”
“It’s too tight here and here, not tight enough here. I do like the color though.”
“I think I saw another red shirt when I was going through the pile on the chair.”
“Oh, good.”
“Any luck.”
“No, maybe on this other pile. No red shirt, but I found the black leggings. Wait, I think it’s in the closet. Yes, here it is what do you think?”
“I don’t know…not quite right.”
“Here, try this black tee shirt”
“Yeah give me that, and over on the desk there should be a pair of scissors, hand me those.”
“Over here?”
“Yep, in the cup.”
“No scissors, lots of pens.”
“Ok try the drawer, no, the other one on the right. Great hand those to me.”
“What are you doing you’re going to destroy your shirt!?”
“I’m just cutting off the shoulders, see then I take this blue tank and layer. It’s all about the layers.”
“That’s good, you’re foxy, and the open shoulders are perfect.”
“Yah, I’m ready, should we go?”
“No, I changed my mind this is not the right outfit.”
“Really? Common lets go, you look great.”
“No, I can’t go out in jeans.”
“Alright, you’re right. Let me see what I have here…Maybe this, try this dress.”
“Yeah! A dress. Let’s see, gimme a sec…Here we go, what do you think.”
“Wow, you are going to turn heads.”
“It is a little short.”
“No it’s perfect, anyways it’s time to go,” this was punctuated by a banging on the door, “Coming!”
“This is Micah.”
Jenny performed the introduction over her shoulder as opened the front car door. Ana shook his offered hand after she sat in the back seat. Micah was good looking if not a little plain. His mouth seemed a too big for his face and his eyes seemed a little flat. Ana immediately labeled him as not up to her standards. Not that she was planning to hook up with anyone tonight, no tonight was about getting drunk That being said she always had an eye out for someone, he just had to meet her standards, and up to this point no one had.
“We’re going to go up the Skyway,” said Micah, “It’s the quickest way to the coast, and if the sky is clear we may see some stars.”
“I love the Skyway!” squeaked Jenny.
“I don’t think that I have been on the Skyway since I was a little girl.” Ana said. “I heard that they added more fields on top.”
Micah nodded. “Yeah they have almost completely covered the City over with fields now. More people need to eat, so more fields. They left a small circle open so you can see the sky. But it is almost always covered with clouds.”
By this time they were screaming up the ramp. The ramp was by no means a straight shoot to the Skyway. It had many on and off ramps as it travelled up to the top of the city. As the space between the merges increased the road gained lanes and soon they were driving at top speed. Whipping around turns that seemed to dodge giant skyscrapers. The lights, like red and white snakes, reflected off the billions of glass panes. Ana laid her head back on the seat and listened to the hum of so many wheels. She opened her eyes looking up through the rear window. The buildings seem to stretch up forever; smooth gray green, she noted the random lighted windows where people went about unknown activities. The buildings were all connected with tunnels and byways forcing the Skyway to weave and twist upwards. The effect was like flying up into the roots of a super large tree. Though it all the lights headlights and brake lights, twirled likes two flying dragons. Then the car banks to the right.
There. The bottom of the fields…are so dull.
Boring.
Just flat gray. It wasn’t like the buildings did anything, they just stopped, and the gray took over. The gray seemed go forever. By now the skyway no longer dodged and juked around buildings, it was now more or less a straight drive. Still it went up. The gray now revealed its network; pipes, gears and supports all twisted, all feeding into the massive skyscrapers.
“Soon,” Micah broke the silence. “Look up as we go over the bend.”
Like going over a hill, the car rose over the crest, the true top of the world. There was the hole, like a smoke hole or a chimney, in the covering over the Earth. In contrast with the unending dull gray, the black of the sky was startling. A disk of black, Ana had never seen the real sky before. It had always been the faux sunlight of the arcology. In the midst of the black there were sparkles, pinpricks of light. Then it was all gone, like it had never even been. Gray again. Ana closed her eyes and saw the pinpricks of light on the back of her eyelids.
They started their descent, the builds like roots growing from the fields that encircled the Earth. As they went down the skyway again twisted whipped around buildings. As they left the gray behind them the world grew light, Ana hadn’t realized how gloomy it was near the top of the world. Lights from inside the buildings radiated out, and refracted across the hundreds and millions of panes of glass. Soon they were flying down a regular city street. It was lined with houses. They were all painted in light colors, with matching trim. Here and there were houses whose owners had tried to forge some kind of originality out of the anonymous pastels, whites and beige.
When Micah pulled into a driveway it seemed to Ana like he had picked one at random. However when they opened the car doors she could hear a driving bass line, pumping from the house. It was a light green ranch with some small flower gardens lining the front and a concrete path leading to the front door. Walking up this path, as the bass got louder, Ana started to feel butterflies in her stomach. She would have called it apprehension, she almost felt that she should call this off, but she had come to far for that. So when Micah opened the door and held it for her, she followed Jenny inside with her chin held high.
Opening the door released a wave of sound, a sound that overwhelmed all other senses. The room seemed to swim in a sea of heads, all bobbing to the insistent boom-dad-at-dat-boom, that everyone called the ‘Rican beat. Boom-dad-at-dat-boom boom-dad-at-dat-boom. Micah led them away from the door, the flow of kids swarmed around them, but Micah seemed to know where he was going. Ana followed till they came to another room; this one was less crowded and much quieter. The was long, it was a game room centered around a pool table, on one wall was a dartboard on the other, pin the tail on the donkey. The décor of the room seemed to mirror the pool table, the walls were wood paneled, with plants tucked into the corners and at middle points in the longer walls, and covering the floor was a green rug. Micah brought the two girls over to a group of guys involved in a game of billiards. That is to say that they all held sticks and that there were balls arrayed on the table. There was lots of talking but no one seemed to be taking any shots.
“I can hit that corner shot.” Said a messy haired kid bent over the table.
“Not a stinkin’ chance.” Spoke another leaning against the wall, also with messy hair.
“What are you going to do bank it off the green ball, I don’t think so.” The third boy in the group had also accepted the uniform look of unkempt hair.
“Oh yeah, and if I can you all have to be my man-servants for the next week.” boy one was feeling cocky.
“Man-servant? If you make that shot I’ll be your mom’s man-servant!” Shouted boy three, obviously pleased with his own cleverness.
“There is no point in discussing terms, you can’t hit that shot.” Boy two said in a tired voice.
“You hit that shot I’ll eat the plants in this room.” The fourth boy finally joined the conversation. Sitting in a chair in the corner of the room farthest from the door, he was absent mindedly spinning a pool cue between his palms.
“Hey,” Micah interrupted the group grew quite seeing that they were no longer the only people in the room. “I want you guys to meet my sister, Jenny, and her friends Ana. These are my suitemates from university. This is Jack, this is his place.” Boy four stopped spinning the cue and looked up. His was a flattish face with bangs hanging so the covered one eye. Using his right hand he pushed his bangs back, a totally useless gesture as the hair all fell back immediately. He nodded to the girls, saying nothing. He must think he’s too cool speak to us thought Ana.
“I’ll be right back, I’m going to get you guys something to drink. Hang out with these guys till I come back they’re ok.” With that Micah left the room.
“Here Micah’s sister,” Jack said handing Jenny a flask from his pocket.
“I’m Jenny.” Jenny said.
She looked at Ana as if asking permission, but the look that she got back could not be of any help. Ana was concerned, but Micah had said that these guys were ok, right? So she shrugged.
“Ok, here goes.” Jenny unscrewed the lid, and took a long swig, then gasped trying not to cough.
“Good stuff, huh. It’s not for the weak, that crap will burn the hair off your chest.” Jack took the flask back from Jenny, who was trying to catch her breath.
“It burns.” She said.
“Yes, yes it does.” Jack replied, and then took a big swig himself hissing through his teeth. He then offered it to Ana. She took it. This was the moment of truth.
Jack sensing her pause said, “Come on, your friend tried it, she liked it. Didn’t you?”
The tone that he said made Ana want to chuck the flask back in his face but Jenny chimed in. “You got to try it, it makes you feel all warm.”
Ana tipped it to her lips and took an experimental swallow. It did burn, but she had been expecting that, so she only grimaced a little bit, breathed through her teeth like Jack had. “That’s it, like a champ.” Jack said, reaching for the bottle.
Ana took another long pull on the flask before handing it back, just to spite him. He grinned at her, and then took a pull himself. He released a long drawn out “ahhhh” and looked at the flask like it was something to be revered. Micah then re-entered the room, with two red solo cups in this hands, he used the heel of his foot to close the door. “Are you giving them that Fernet crap? Don’t drink that junk. Though considering what I’m about to give you the Fernet is probably an improvement. This is called Punch, Bug Juice, or Ghetto Juice. It is lots of booze mixed with really sugary punch. The idea is that you can’t taste the alcohol, if you’re not careful this stuff will really sneak up on you.”
So they started drinking, they sat in the room while the boy argued about the game without ever really playing. After a few sips Ana was starting to feel pretty good. It was at this point that she realized that if she turned her head quickly from side to side the room seemed to lag just a little. Once she stopped moving the room would snap back into focus. She felt pretty good.
“Come on let’s go dance.” Jenny said.
When Ana tried to stand up at first she tipped one way then having to take a step to correct her balance seemed to sway the other. She would have been fine except that Jenny had also found that her balance was impaired. Jenny, on the other hand, was not able to steady herself and tried to grab Ana as support. If it had been anyone else in the room, she probably would have been fine, but this unanticipated force ruined what equilibrium Ana had managed to hang onto. They both ended up on the floor.
This was probably the funniest thing Ana had ever seen, and she had been part of it. But laying on the floor all she could do was laugh. And laugh. She was not the only person laughing, everyone in the room was laughing. Jenny was rolling on her back. Ana tried to get up, but keeping herself covered in the short dress and trying to stop laughing at the same time proved too much. Once again she dissolved into laughter. Finally she was able to stop, still gasping a little and wiping the tears from her eye.
“There is no way you guys can dance,” Micah laughed. “Come on, let’s get you home before you get sick.”
“I won’t get sick,” Jenny protested. “Won’t.”
“Whatever, this party sucks anyways let’s take off.”
“What, you guys are leaving,” this from Jack. “You can’t leave now, things are just getting fun.”
“Dude you’re talking about my sister.”
“Fine take your sister, but leave her friend,” Jack said with a leer.
Ana listened to this interchange with growing incredulity, or something. Who was this guy to assume that she wanted to stay with him? She didn’t know him, she didn’t even like him. She tried to tell him off, but it came out kind of garbled. “You don’t know, don’t stay here, or like you, whatever jerk.”
“What she said, come here and help get them in the car.” Micah was apparently not talking to her, as she felt hands helping her on to her feet. When she was standing, “No I can stand, really. Ok I’m, I can do it.”
But she couldn’t and though she almost fell twice they managed to maneuver her though the crowd and out the door. The cool air felt so good, and helped clear her head. After that she was able to walk mostly by herself. But her escorts keep their hand available for support. Ana was even able to get into the car without any help. The boys waved from curb as they drove off.
At first Ana just laid in the back seat with her eyes closed. The rocking of the car was soothing and the sound from the rush of the wheels droned in the background. But soon, that changed the rocking of car was now starting to feel like rocking in her stomach. Things seemed to be spinning in a really disconcerting way and she was getting hot. Sweet was breaking out on her forehead and it felt like little pinpricks. She sat up and opened her eyes. That didn’t help, the swaying in her stomach got worse. She was so hot; the hot was what was really making her feel ill. So she opened her window hoping the fresh air would just cool her down.
“Uh-oh.” Micah said from the driver seat.
She put a hand out the window, it just so nice to feel wind tugging and pulling on her hand. She turned her hand flat and let the wind pull it up and down. Having her hand in the wind helped a lot, but she was still really hot. So she stuck the top of her head out the window, feeling the wind whip her hair to frenzy. She turned her head and watched her hair steam out from the car. Then she put her whole head out the window, the wind stretched out her mouth. She pushed with her hands and stuck her whole torso into the shrieking wind. The pushing and buffeting of the wind made her laugh, suddenly she a deep release.She laughed out loud, louder, until it was hard to tell if she was laughing or crying. She took a deep breath the wind seemed to pull it from her mouth. Another deep breath, the wind seemed to cry her name. Then it changed. Deeper and harsher, now it howled the wind tearing at her hair and face.
Ana opened her eyes, to be confronted with the rippled steel side of a massive truck, in the lane next to the car, only inches from her face. She watched her reflection in the corrugated metal, it was distorted and with her hair flapping made her look stretched and pale. She turned her head towards the front of the car, and saw her face. It was small and far away but getting closer, the image was crisp in her eye, she saw herself. She loved what she saw, she saw all her beauty, and she saw that she was flawless. Never before had she just looked, without the perceived cultural guilt of being good looking. She was not searching for the enviable flaw, so she did not find it. But the reflection was attached to something.
A Truck’s mirror!
Ana only had time to turn her head. She heard more than felt.
*Crunch.*
