Leticia started to form a hypothesis of what was happening. Thinking in this state was like trying to look through a dense fog. Her principle fear was that this was an attack of some kind and she needed to get out of the studio.
“Don’t fight it, honey” a silky feminine voice suggested.
“Don’t fight what? Who are you?” Leticia asked. Leticia was borderline obsessed with Aretha Franklin and she could have sworn that this voice was that of the late superstar.
“The feeling, sugar. Ride it like a wave. And don’t you mind who I am. Pay more attention to who you are. I’m gonna hold your hand through this ride. Now lay down and close your eyes”
Leticia didn’t have it in her to protest. Furthermore, she was convinced the owner of the voice was in fact her idol. The moment she closed her eyes a geometric neon light show commenced underneath her eyelids. It was so intense at times; she wanted to close her eyes, only to realize that they were already closed.
“If it gets too intense, just open your eyes, hun”
“It’s beautiful” Leticia said as she saw a river made of constantly changing fractals which moved with the pulse of her own beating heart.
“Now talk to me baby. Why you here? What are you doing? This ain’t what you dreamed about when you was little. You wanted to sing your songs. And why you hiding that beautiful voice behind some computer, anyway?”
Leticia started to speak and was amused by the fact she wasn’t even moving her mouth. “I know, but I can’t stop. I can’t disappoint. There are too many people counting on me at this point”
“But you disappointin’ you! You can’t even count on you, now”
Leticia started to cry, but the tears felt as though they were running down the inside of her cheeks. Visions of a younger version of herself filling notebooks with lyrics and Memorex tapes with her voice were projected onto the psychedelic background. Then her young face started melting, becoming grotesque as her latest, bestselling hit, shrieked out and assaulted all of her senses. She felt her skull would collapse under the pressure of the hellish sonic waves.
“I understand, please make it stop!” she cried.
“I can’t make it stop, dear, you put those vibrations out into the universe”
Leticia tried once more to scream but it was drowned out by another perverted version of one of her hit singles.
(To be continued…)
By Ryan 