Arc Positive

     Like everyone else eventually does, I died. I got sick and passed away. Except I didn't. I swung back to life in the hospital half a minute after they pronounced me dead. 

     The two attending bedside nurses first thought my recovery to be an against all the odds miracle of medical science, but a few seconds later both women released fearful moans. I didn't look the same anymore, my appearance had changed. 

     "What in God's name?" RN Petunia Higgins whispered.

     "I don't know," LPN Margorie Thompson unconsciously replied, also in a hush.

     However, I understood instantly.

     "I'm the chosen one," I explained. "I'm here to fix the problems. I've been resurrected to redistribute the atomic truth to the world. The atomic truth is the absolute truth, the atomic truth is the new truth, and the atomic truth is the only truth."

     "Go get Dr. Robinson," Nurse Higgins huskily ordered, clearing a lump from her throat. "Stat."

     Undeniably haunted, Nurse Thompson scurried out of the room as if being chased by an unfriendly ghost, and began chanting the word 'oh' repeatedly as she continued down the hallway.

     "There's no reason to be frightened,' I assured nurse Higgins. "I come with love and as love. I will not harm anyone here. I'm going to help, to assist, to make human life on the planet better."

     "That's fine Mr. Barkley, I don't have a problem with that sir. So just relax, okay, everything's going to be alright. We're going to figure this out. Dr. Robinson will be here in a minute."

     "There's no need for Dr. Robinson," I told her. "There's no need for anyone now."

     I rose from the gurney, but couldn't feel the weight of my body. I walked towards the toilet but didn't sense my legs. Nurse Higgins involuntarily screeched, and as I entered the bathroom and looked into the mirror I knew why. I'd levitated three inches from the floor, and my lower limbs weren't moving. I propelled forward like a cardboard cutout being pushed by an invisible stick. And my eyes, well, they must've been what spooked Nurse Thompson, because my peepers glowed like polished gold nuggets, like black panther orbs in full moonlight.

     I quickly glided back through the room and out the threshold into the hallway. As I passed by Nurse Higgins she recoiled, as if my mere presence had produced a wake that physically pushed her aside. I continued towards the nurse's station, and an LPN popped into the hallway from another patient's room. She dropped her clipboard at the sight of me, mouth agape, yet her frozen gaze showed more bewildered surprise than horror.

     She looked up from my feet and saw my peepers. Gasping loudly, the woman fell away from me just as Nurse Higgins had done, her arms and hands shielding her face as she back-pedaled into the space from which she'd just departed. However, the moment I cleared the door jambs her courage returned and she poked her head out, warily watching me as I floated onward a few more yards. Then, feeling confusion and anger, as if I'd tricked her somehow and made a fool of her in the process, she raised an alarm.

     "Security! Security! We need security up here please. Somebody call security!"

     I hit the edge of the recessed Nurse's station and glanced in at the long desk. LPN Thompson, Dr. Robinson, and two other nurses had just swiveled their heads in the direction of the call for help. Dr. Robinson met my eyes with his, then glanced down at my feet. 

     "Good God!" He exclaimed. What's happening here Mr. Barkley? How, how are you doing that?"

     Without giving me a chance to answer, he prattled on.

     "Do you feel alright Mr. Barkley, are you okay? I think you need to sit down sir, yes, please come with me. We need to figure out what's going on with you."

     He gestured in the direction of my room and put a warm hand gently on my shoulder, while keenly studying the anti-gravity ability my lower extremities were exhibiting. 

     "How are you doing that?" He nervously chuckled. "Is it a trick?"

     Again, no time to answer.

     "Is it a joke? Is this some kind of prank? What's going on here? Who are you?" 

     "I'm the chosen one," I replied. "I've been sent here to straighten out humanity. We're a real mess you know, and we need real fixing."

     "O-kay," he responded, figuring me for a 51-50. "Well, Mr. Barkley, I don't know why you're still alive and I don't know how you're hanging in the air, but let's just get you to that bed, alright? Follow me and we'll get you comfortable."

     "I can't stay," I told him. "I have work to do and places to go. Goodbye."

     I started for the elevator but Dr. Robinson forcefully grabbed my arm.

     "I'm sorry Mr. Barkley, I just can't let you leave until we've run some tests. I insist, and I'm not signing you out until we do that."

     I made a graceful arcing motion with my free arm, like a ballerina does when she pirouettes, and Dr. Robinson scrambled away from me panic stricken, as if he'd suddenly found himself standing only meters away from the towering flames of a fast moving, raging forest fire.

     Physically unharmed but emotionally battered by the sheer intensity of the encounter, Dr. Robinson wildly cried out, and security guard Bobby Newman, who'd just arrived on scene and witnessed the bizarre event, took offense to it.

     "Hey, what'd ya do to Dr. Robinson?" He ferociously queried.

     "I didn't do anything to him," I answered honestly. "He did it to himself."

     "Yeah, well don't do it again!" He cruelly ordered. "You alright Dr. Robinson?"

     "He's fine," I assured him. "And I'm leaving now, goodbye."

     "Stop him Bobby!" Dr. Robinson shouted.

     "Alright Barkley, you heard the doctor, hold it right there!" Bobby demanded, as he attempted to grab me from behind.

     Yet I simply lifted both arms pirouette style and every human being standing near or around me fled in terror, certain they were witnessing the gruesome approach of a massively destructive pyroclastic flow.

     I liked my hovering ability. It felt light and worry free. I didn't have pain anymore and I also enjoyed wielding my new power to disappear people if and when I wanted them gone. I beelined it to the elevator and pushed the lobby button. The lift then stopped on the seventh floor, and a man in a wheelchair rolled in. He glanced at my levitated feet and looked up at me with a huge grin on his gaunt face.

     "You're flying bro," he told me. "Man, you're flying!"

     "I know," I agreed. "I'm a supernatural being now, and this is how I travel." 

     "Wow, that's amazing!" He slurred, making eye contact.

     "Whoa!' He exclaimed. "Hey, look at your eyes man, your eyes are crazy dude! What do have in there, some kind of contacts?"

     "No, these are my eyes now." I answered him. 

     He cocked his head in disbelief, then returned his stare to my feet.

     "Whoa! How are you doing that bro? How the heck are you doing that man? I've never seen anything like that before. That's freaking me out dude. What the heck is that?" 

     "I don't really know for sure," I assured him. "I died a little while ago and this is how I woke up. I'm sorry if it's freaking you out."

     "Oh, never-mind man," he stated apologetically, "its okay bro, it's all okay, yeah don't mind me, I'm an idiot. And besides, I'm flying too!"

     He pointed to the morphine drip attached to his chair and laughed like a man who truly comprehended how to happily enjoy every moment of his existence.

     "I'm Tony," he announced joyfully. "I'm in hospice care, and I'm dying of cancer, but it's okay, it's all okay man, and I'm going to be okay."

     "I'm Barkley," I said. "I'm going to Washington to talk to the President about making things better. Do you want to come with me?"

     "Yeah, sure bro. But how the heck can I come with you? I'm messed up man, I'm dying in a hospital and can't even walk anymore. Nope, I'm not going anywhere man. I sure wish I could though bro, but I just can't."

     "Hey Tony, look at me bro," I insisted. And that's when it really all began.

     The elevator reached the lobby, the door opened, and Tony danced out of it. The IV pulled him back, but he simply tore it out and kept dancing. A heathy glow had returned to his skin, and instead of appearing weak, he just came off as a super lean and probably very hungry guy.

     "Look out world, here we come!" He shouted. "Yeah, me and supernatch are going to Washington to have a little chat with the commander-in-chief baby! Woo-who! Oh man, I feel so good right now bro! I feel amazing! But oh my god I'm so hungry all of a sudden dude. Can we get some food bro? I mean seriously, I'm starving over here!"

     Tony's manic, shining celebration brought on a lot of attention, but not all of it stayed on him, if fact, most of it ended up on me. 

     "Look at him, he's not touching the ground!" Someone yelled.

     Oh my God! Is it a trick?" Hollered someone else.

     "Dios Mio!" Shouted an Hispanic woman. "Lord have mercy!"

     Tony and I kept moving fast, and we exited the main entrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital heading for E. 120th Street. But a lot of people followed us.

     "Hey! Why are you doing that?" Asked an African American man. "You shouldn't do that man you're scaring folks!"

     "Are they making a movie?" Another person wondered aloud.

     "No, he must be one of those street magician dudes!" A stranger emphatically explained.

     I hailed a cab as we reached the road, then turned to the small crowd.

     "I'm an atomic cluster come to Earth for the purpose of healing." I orated. "I don't mean to frighten anyone and this isn't a trick."

     "Well then how the hell are you doing that if it ain't a trick?" A teenage girl interrupted. "We're all out here watching you literally defy gravity, and if it ain't a trick then what is it?"

     "Yeah, what the fuck is it man?" The guy with her demandingly posed.

     "Well, I'm not sure yet." I humbly answered. "This just happened to me a little while ago in the hospital. I died but then I came back. I do know the atoms sent me. The atoms are the makers, the atoms are the whole and the atoms are the one."

     "He's crazy!" A woman shrieked. "He's a crazy devil, man! Can't ya all see? Somebody do something! Somebody get him! Somebody stop him!"

     Like Wolfmen, a few of the guys in the crowd inched forward clenching their fists, seeming to be visibly morphing from peaceful citizens into angry mobsters. 

     "Did you just say you rose from the dead?" One of them spat. 

     I tried to answer, but he cut me off.

     "You're a goddamned liar!" He bellowed, stepping forward. "Who do you think you are motherfucker! Jesus?"

     "You're about to get an ass whooping freak!" The same woman shrieked again. "Get him, man! Get him!"

     A half dozen people came towards Tony and I, but I simply began an arm pirouette and the entire gathering ran wide-eyed and screaming in the opposite direction, as if a gargantuan tidal wave wall piled high with dangerous debris had crested directly over their heads. 

     We hopped into the cab, and I told the driver to take us to LAX.

     "Wait!" A wee person shouted, while banging on my passenger side window. "Wait, please!"

     The driver slammed the brakes and cursed.

     "It's okay," I told him, "let's just see what they want."

     I rolled the window down a few inches and asked the young lady what I could do for her.

     "I want to come with you!" She stated emphatically. "I believe in the atoms too! I think you're right about the atoms! The atoms are God!"

     Our eyes met and we stared deeply into one another's awareness like old, abstinent lovers. Her sweet face dripped with empathy, and cutely she cocked her head and did an arm and shoulder shrug.

     "Well?" She asked, smiling brightly.

     "Get in." I said, opening the door. And off we merry three went.

     We sat in silence while the driver took E. 120th to North Wilmington and got on the 105 freeway, Tony and I each in our own way staring out a window and contemplating the incredible how's and why's of what we were currently experiencing. At last I noticed the girl's scarlet colored eyes glued onto me, accompanied by a grin of satisfied deliciousness, which adorned her pretty, freckled face like colorful sprinkles on a hot-fudge sundae. 

     'What's your name." I quietly asked.

     "I'm Bobo," she answered coyly, without altering the grin's shape. "And you have beautiful eyes."

     "How do you like being a midget?' Tony blurted out sarcastically, already jealous of my chosen second.

     "I love it," she answered him in stride. Her adorable grin turning into a devastating smile overflowing with kindheartedness and compassion.

     "Tony!" I winced, "we'll have none of that, okay? Let that kind of thinking go or I'll have to let you go."

     "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tony lamented, instantly regretting what he'd said. "I'm an idiot Bobo, an idiot, please, please forgive me."

     "I already have Tony," Bobo graciously offered. "I've already forgiven you for everything forever and ever. I love you unconditionally Tony."

     "I have money," Tony countered, compensating for his ignorance. "I have money and a nice house in Brentwood. We could go there Barkley, we could go there and figure out what to do next."

     "I already know what to do next Tony," I corrected him. "But that's not a bad idea." 

     I decided instantly. 

     "Driver, we have a new address for you. Tony, give it to him."