Free Atlas (The Atlas Series) by Becca C. Smith

television.
    What she saw made her lose the ability to breathe.
    Kala saw herself on the television.
    She was holding a gun and pointing it at…
    Jack.
    He was kneeling on the ground in a bedroom Kala didn’t recognize. His face was calm, but there were tears in his eyes. The Kala in the television looked broken, her hands shaking as she held the gun to Jack’s forehead. Then…
    BAM!
    Jack fell to the ground, a bullet in his head.
    Kala screamed as she watched herself murder the only man she ever loved.
    The scene repeated itself. Kala couldn’t seem to turn off the television. She kept watching herself kill Jack over and over and over again.
    Hallucinating. She had to be hallucinating. Kala tried switching channels to maybe snap herself out this nightmare.
    But every channel she turned to showed the same footage: Kala shooting Jack point blank in the head.
    Kala turned off the TV and threw the remote across the room, shattering it against the wall.
    Then she remembered what Atlas had told her about seeing her mission in a vision. He has said it would come to her in a way that her brain wanted to see it...
    Apparently, for Kala, it was on the television.
    Kala shook her head. She couldn’t accept it, not this, especially if what she saw was real. Killing Jack was unfathomable to her...
    Her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID: Derek.
    Kala didn’t wait for a hello, she dove right in. “Derek? What the hell is this crap someone put inside me? It’s driving me insane!”
    “Slow down, girl.” Derek tried to calm Kala through the phone.
    “Sorry, but these hallucinations are out of control.” The image of killing Jack seared into her mind.
    There was silence on the other end.
    “Derek? Are you there?” Kala stood up from her chair and almost tripped on a pair of jeans as she made her way to the window. “I get horrible reception in here.”
    “I’m here,” Derek said quietly. “Kala, listen, there’s nothing in your blood. You’re clean.”
    Kala stood frozen for a few seconds, trying to process what Derek had just told her.
    “Kala?” Derek’s voice sounded worried.
    Kala had known Derek long enough to know that he officially thought she was losing it.
    “What’s wrong with me?” Kala had intended on making Derek think this whole thing was a big joke while she secretly figured out what was really going on. Instead, her basic instinct was to connect to one of the truest friends she ever had. Derek would support her no matter what, even if she was insane.
    “Just give it a day, Kala. People hallucinate under high stress situations. Look it up. I did a lot of research about it. I’m emailing you some links.” Derek sounded more studious than Kala had ever heard from him. He must really be worried. Kala’s condition had actually made him research , something Derek had never been known to do.
    “Yeah, I will, thanks Derek.” Kala needed to be off the phone.
    “Call me if you need me. I’ll be by later to bring you dinner. I know you don’t have crap in that craphole.”
    He was right, buying groceries was never a priority on Kala’s to do list, that’s what take out was for. “See you later then,” Kala replied, then hung up and placed her phone on the window sill.
    Everything went still in Kala’s being. She stared out the window at the busy street below. Cars moving to and fro, everyone with a destination. Everything seemed so small. Kala felt small.
    No drugs.
    Everything she had experienced was real or she was certifiable.
    Denial is a funny thing.
    Kala still wasn’t sure if she was ready to leave it yet.
    Because, without denial, what was she really saying to herself? That she had to kill Jack in order to save the world? Maybe this was how all serial killers start. How many times had she read about some psycho who thought they were on a mission from God to kill and murder? Too many. So either her subconscious brain was telling her to kill her boyfriend or some divine fate was.