P #AtoZChallenge Hunger Pangs #Fiction #SFF #WEPFF

If you are only here for the #WEPFF, please scroll to the dove at the song portion of today’s post.

My THEME for the A to Z challenge 2017 is an ongoing speculative fiction story featuring telepathy.

Each letter post is titled and inspired by a commonly misused word or phrase.

The story started with All Intents and Purposes.

Hunger Pangs

Ora huffs as she scoots away from me. “It’s rude to scream while someone is talking. Are you a bad person?”

“No, I’m not.” Is she a telepath? Is this why we’re both here?

“Why did you ask me about my favorite book if you didn’t want to know?”

I check my chain and find no weakness. It’s secured with a bolt thicker than my finger. Can you hear what other people are thinking?

Ora doesn’t answer at first. I hear her move, her chains jingle as she repositions. “I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

Can you think about it?

I’m privy to memories playing in her head. Adults tell her how dangerous it is for people to know what she can do. I’ve heard the same lectures.

Ora, have you called out to those grown-ups?

“No one can hear me anymore. The bad man took my gift.” I relive more memories with her. Every strike, the click of lock on her chain, her hair being pulled, the first time she wet herself, and the time passing alone in the dark.

I’m going to be very loud. Maybe louder than anyone you’ve ever heard in your head. Don’t be afraid, okay? She agrees, but I feel her fear intensify. I dial up my internal volume. My every breath vibrates my whole body. It’s like standing in front of a massive speaker at a rock concert. I scream for help in my mind. I scream the name of every telepath I know, and a few who I’ve only heard of in passing. Ora cries and stomps her feet.

Sorry, sorry. My inner volume dialed back down, I slide as near to her as I can. She rolls against me. I stroke her hair as she cries.

They can’t hear you, either, can they? He took your power.

I close off my mind while I think. I know I still have my powers because I can hear her. This is all new to me, being blocked from the world. What are my options?

My thoughts are interrupted by growling gurgles. Ora apologizes for the sound of her hunger pangs.

“When did you last have something to eat or drink?”

She cries. The darkness makes time imperceivable.

If I had the courage, I would chew off my leg to break us out of here. Would that work? I don’t even know where here is, who the abductor is, or why we’ve been taken. Is this the work of the Homeland Security Mind Task Force?

“Would you sing to me?”

I brush her hair with my fingers as I sing a Bikinis for Eskimos song.

So little love
they’ve not taken away.
My need for peace,
it grows more with each day.
Please tell my heart it will be okay.
This fight will end,
and we’ll see again,
that every wish wasn’t wasted away.

There’s so much more
than fighting these wars.
Please understand that we are the same.
Our goals are yours.
Just with different names.
Understanding
is what we need.
Then more peace and harmony.
You give more love,
and I’ll give it too.
This world is made
for me and for you

So little love
they’ve not taken away.
But with more peace
we’ll grow stronger each day.
Then our hearts, they’ll be okay.
We’ll end their fight.
We’ll do what’s right.

We are the light.
We are the light.
We are the light!
We are the light!
We
ARE
the
LIGHT!

Word Count (of the song only) : 149 FCA
Yes, that song is by me. That’s my fictional band in another story.

A pang is a feeling of emotional or physical pain, and is the correct term to use for describing hunger. It is a pain, but there is technically more going on in the body, and that is why pang is more accurate.

What would you do if you had the courage?

by J Lenni Dorner
Reference and Speculative Fiction Author
A to Z Challenge Co-Host
Operation Awesome Debut Author Spotlight Organizer