This is a piece that I'm working on for the new novel. Title - DO NOT ASK

Do not ask

A piercing, sharp spark in her brain awakened Camellia after a flash of fire struck her senses.  She tried to 

move her body, to scream, to open her eyes, but to no avail.

          Her brain revealed the crash and burn of her existence.  She saw many young bodies void of their vital organs abandoned in the wilderness.  She didn’t know where.

          A distant sound brought her mind into her authentic reality.  She heard a familiar voice calling her name.  The young woman waltzed into the back door and announced, “Hey Ma, I’m home where are you?”

          “I’m here on the sofa, where have you been? I thought you’d be back hours ago.”

          “I went to my post office box and found that I’d received the results of my DNA test that tells me what part of the world my ancestors come from. Here look.”

          “What’s that you say?” Camellia said coming out of her nightmarish sleep stupor.

          “It's my results! Now I know where my whole bloodline comes from,” Camellia’s daughter said.  “You ought to do this Ma, it’s easy.”

          “No,” Camellia said.  “Why’d you want to do that? That’s crazy.”

          “Why do you think that Ma?”

          Camellia took a deep breath, stared at the food drop spot on the floor and began, “Because those DNA folks get your information and they own it forever, and . . . they can also use it against you.”

Camellia took another deep breath. “Those test also collect your health history.  The fact that they will own your life story is suspicious.  Anyone who captures your information who is unscrupulous could put your life in danger.”

          “That is so crazy!” her daughter remarked with a chuckle from deep inside her chest.

          The air in the room dried, all movement left them. A new phase had begun. As tiny light beams flickered behind her daughter’s head Camellia stuttered even though every muscle tightened, her jaw clenched her teeth tight together.  Another deep breath.

            Camellia composed herself, put her hands on her rib cage and smoothed her sweater down to her hips.  Her neck lengthened and her lips tightly pursed, she knew the time was right for her to tell Fantasy about her previous lives; or take her there. So with a motherly soft smile, she said “I can tell you and show you where you come from in an instant. So the room and its inhabitants EVAPORATED!