Run.

I'm probably the luckiest person in the world right now, to have had a chance to witness a truly stellar event. But I'm also the most frightened person in the world, and my curiosity doesn't mean a thing if I'm going to get hurt.

I get to running back to the campus where I figure I can be safe. After a few short moments, though, I realize how far I've gotten in a short time, as the sound of the forest fire dies off quickly. In other words, I needn't hurry, and I'm getting tired anyway.

I rest my hand on a tree and take the chance to calm myself before I set out again. It's not a big deal, really. No doubt everyone within a few miles' radius heard the blast, and firefighters and other authorities would come soon. I feel like Paul Revere galloping through the colonies, except that the British already announced their presence by loud speaker...or deafening explosion... whatever.

Suddenly there's a rustling in the leaves above me, and as I look up I catch a glimpse of something vaguely star-shaped falling out of the canopy. I don't even have a chance to react before it lands on my face and grips me tightly with spindly, insectoid legs-- the points of the star.

I'm panicking. I can barely see past the creature, and when I try to scream it pushes its chitinous body over my mouth. I do the only thing I can think of and start pulling anywhere I can. Every time I get close to prying off these segmented arms, though, they grip me tighter, til I think my skin must be bleeding. But I press on. I know that it's tiring; I can feel it losing strength.

Then it does something to sap -my- strength. With a weird bone-cracking sound it rotates its tiny head and shows me an array of lifeless, clear green eyes arranged in a filled oval or diamond. I look at them and proceed to fall-- fall into the depths of something I can't explain. All the while I see myself in the animal's dozen eyes. Have you ever seen someone frightened? Have you ever seen -yourself- frightened? I think my heart stopped.

Yet, even if my heart won't fight, my mind will. But when I try to scream again, the creature's eyes light up in a shimmering green, and a foreign voice buries my own. It tells me to be quiet and calm, relaxed. What is this voice? You don't just listen to any random voice and relax, yet this feels natural.

You're right; maybe I should relax. Maybe I should put my hands down and let things be. I know whose voice this is now, it's yours, Alex. Mine. Our voice, of course. What was I so afraid of?

My hands fall to my sides, and I keep perfectly erect and still. With renewed vigor the spider-like being again takes hold of my head and thrusts its eyes up to mine, the soulless orbs burning stronger than ever. As before, I can see myself, only now I observe my whole being, one among thousands-- maybe millions-- of other discreet beings, lined up in perfect rank and file. I don't really understand it, but then again, I feel so good it couldn't possibly matter much.