Obsidian Plague

Obsidian Plague

Zoe Burgess’s phone buzzed in her pocket, distracting her from the tour guide’s speech. She stopped to open the Snapchat she’d received and quickly snapped a selfie to send back. Lost in her own internal world momentarily, her friends and the rest of the group continued on their tour of the ruins, slipping out of sight around a bend. Zoe jogged to catch up with everyone, but stopped again, a glint of black catching her eye.

She bent down to uncover the shiny object from the dirt and picked it up. It looked almost like a piece of glass, shiny and reflective, but a deep black color. She held it in her palm, cold and smooth against her skin. Her first instinct was to toss it back on the ground, but her hand didn’t seem to want to let go of it. She liked the way it felt with her fingers grasped firmly around it. There wasn’t time to think too hard about it, though. She had to catch up with her friends, so she casually slipped it into her pocket.

“Where were you?” Andrea whispered as Zoe slipped into the back of the tour group. 

“Taking a selfie.”

Andrea rolled her eyes and linked arms with Zoe. “You’re supposed to be paying attention to this very important history lesson about the ancient Mayans.”

“I’m bored. When are we done with this so we can go back to the beach?” Zoe whispered, trying to avoid disturbing the rest of the group.

Andrea shrugged. “I don’t know. Hopefully soon.”

Back on the tour bus, Zoe sat down next to Cam and Andrea and noticed a subtle lump in the seat. Inspecting her pocket, she remembered the strange object she had found and pulled it out. “What do you think this is?”

Andrea and Cam leaned in to inspect. Andrea shot her a harsh glance. “Did you steal something?”

“What? No. It was just on the ground.”

“You can’t just pick up things off the ground and take them from an archaeological site, Zoe. What if it’s an ancient artifact or something?”

“Then they should have found it already. Free game now,” Zoe defended.

Cam grabbed the object and examined it for a moment. “It’s obsidian. It’s one of those healing crystals like Rose Quartz,” she said and handed it back so that she could pull out her phone and Google more information about it.

“Cool.” Zoe turned toward Andrea. “See? It’s just a rock. Free souvenir.”

Cam read from her Google results, proving her hypothesis by showing a stock image of black obsidian. “Obsidian is a type of volcanic rock that has been used by ancient civilizations to create jewelry, weapons, and protective objects.”

Zoe turned the rock over in her hand. It was flat, almost like a small mirror, but irregularly shaped with sharp edges. It didn’t appear that it had been carved into any type of jewelry or weapon. “What kind of protective powers is it supposed to have?”

Cam scrolled a bit and continued reading. “Obsidian has often been used as a shield against negativity, as it is believed that it can absorb negative energy from any environment.”

Zoe squeezed it in her hand again. The cool surface felt good against her warm skin, but there was more to it than just that. She could feel the positive energy, as if being recharged by it. “I think it works, guys. Like I feel…,” she paused for a moment to find the right words to describe what she was experiencing but couldn’t grasp on to anything. “Better, somehow.”

At the end of the day, the girls trudged back on to the cruise ship, not wanting to say goodbye to the beautiful beach of Tulum they had been sunbathing on for hours. Zoe carefully placed her new crystal on the bedside table before going to sleep that night. All three girls passed out quickly in their shared room, exhausted from their long day.

Zoe woke up the next day feeling refreshed and eager to start the day. She jumped on her friends in the bed next to hers to wake them up, too. “Wake up, sleepy-heads!”

They peeked out from under their covers as she turned on all the lights. Andrea gave her an annoyed look but got up easily without complaining.

“I have a really awesome feeling about today!” Zoe half sang, half yelled at the other girls.

“You have way too much energy this early in the morning. What’s gotten into you?” Andrea asked, rubbing her eyes to wake them up.     

"I don’t know. I just feel really good. Maybe my crystal is working.”

“It’s not a crystal,” Andrea corrected. “It’s just a rock.”

Cam yawned and stretched. “I don’t know guys. I feel pretty good too. Maybe it, like, cleansed our room while we were sleeping.”

“Yass, exactly!” Zoe shouted. 

Andrea rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. “Let’s go get some food so we can start drinking. I’m ready for a pina colada.”

Cam and Zoe both squealed in agreement as they stood up to get ready for their last day of the cruise. 

Zoe and her friends spent the morning at sea sunbathing on the upper deck and drinking expensive frozen drinks until the cruise ship arrived at the port and they took an Uber home. Still a little tipsy from their frozen concoctions earlier that day, Zoe stumbled in through the front door, dragging her suitcase behind her. She yawned and threw the suitcase down in a corner of her bedroom before remembering her crystal souvenir. She dug through her bag to find the obsidian stone wrapped carefully inside of a pair of socks for safe keeping. She pulled it out and wrapped her fingers around it, enjoying the cool feeling against her skin. Zoe moved to place the rock on her bedside table, but her fingers fumbled, and it slipped. The slick rock fell from her hand and crashed to the tile floor, shattering like glass. 

“Fuck!”

She fell to her knees in a pointless attempt to save the splintered pieces, but recoiled immediately, feeling as though she had received an electric shock that travelled up through her arm. She pulled her hand instinctively toward her and noticed a small drop of blood gathering at the tip of her pointer finger. The sharp edge had pricked her finger. 

She sat motionless for a moment, unsure of what to do. A cloud of regret settling over her. She tried to shake it off. It was just a dumb rock. Get over it.

But an overwhelming wave of grief struck her, her body responding as if she had just lost someone she loved. She fought off the unfamiliar feeling and peeked out of her bedroom door to make sure Andrea was in her own bedroom and not out in the living room or kitchen so that she could grab the broom unnoticed. Her sense of shame was not yet ready to tell anyone of her mistake. She swept up the mess and threw the broken pieces away, being careful not to touch the sharp fragments again. The sadness settled over her body like a weighted blanket as she walked back to her bed and sat down, suddenly drained of energy. A sharp prickle of disturbance climbed steadily up her spine and into the back of her throat.

You’re so dumb. You should have been more careful. Why are you always fucking everything up?

She sighed and laid back down, falling asleep almost immediately. 

Zoe awoke the next day feeling worse. She felt that all of her energy had been drained from her body throughout the night, almost as if someone had drugged her. She could barely force herself to lift her head long enough to silence her alarm. The annoying chimes splitting through the silence of her apartment, almost unbearable to her ears. She mustered enough energy to email her boss to call in sick before falling back asleep again.

Hours passed, and the sunlight from the day outside bled into her quiet bedroom. Zoe forced her eyes to open and sit up in the bed. She contemplated actually going to the doctor.   There must be something wrong with her. But besides being exhausted, she didn’t feel physically sick. Just overwhelmingly sad.

The day slipped away, but Zoe remained in bed. She was awake but unable to find the motivation to even get up and take a shower. She knew she should try to eat something or at least drink some water, but the negative voice inside of her head made it impossible to resist the comforting lure of her bed. You don’t deserve to feel better anyway, you worthless piece of shit.

Andrea came home from work later that night and knocked on Zoe’s bedroom door. Zoe didn’t respond, but she cracked it open anyway, peering in just enough to say, “Hey are you okay? You haven’t responded to my texts all day?”

Zoe stirred in the bed but didn’t get up or say anything to respond. Andrea could barely control the shock on her face as she observed this disheveled version of Zoe she had never seen before. Typically, well put-together, it was apparent that she hadn’t gotten out of bed today. “Are you sick?”

Zoe shrugged, struggling to find the right words to explain how she felt. “I don’t know. I just don’t feel good.”

“Do you need me to take you to the emergency room? You really don’t look good.”

The heaviness she felt inside of her became too much to withhold. Unable to find the words to express herself or ask for help, she burst into tears.

Andrea rushed to the bed and sat down next to Zoe, wrapping her in a big hug. “It’s going to be okay. I’m here for you. Whatever you need.” She sat there for a few minutes, just holding her tightly and allowing her to cry.

Zoe’s sobs slowed, and she sat up straighter to wipe her wet face. She smiled meekly, appreciative of having a friend who cared that much about her. “Thanks Andrea, I really needed that. I feel a little better already.”

But Andrea’s demeanor had already changed, the color draining from her face and her shoulders dropping almost imperceptibly. She looked distracted, but responded, “Of course. That’s what friends are for. We’ll figure this out together.”

But the darkness had already taken hold of her as well.