Читать книгу Weightless - Gregg McBride - Страница 10

PROLOGUE

the weight-ing game

I am standing in darkness, having been hidden away by my host.

I’m not sure what’s happening at this moment or why I was shoved into this dark room and told not to touch anything or make any sounds.

I can hear people passing by in the hallway. Who are these people? Why am I not allowed to see them? Are they embarrassed of me? Have I done something wrong?

I am overcome with paranoia and anxiousness—feelings I’m all too familiar with after everything I’ve experienced in my life. The abuse from my parents that I thought was normal and sometimes felt was deserved, getting teased and tortured throughout my school days (even into college), not fitting in (often literally) wherever I went, and, saddest of all, not believing in myself enough to not let any of these things matter.

Is the event that I’m here for—something I thought was going to be so wonderful—to be another letdown? Am I here to fall flat on my face? Is this going to be my destiny forever? To continue to fail?

As I begin to wipe sweat from my brow, the door opens. I hold my breath.

Light streams into the room and I am yanked out into the hallway and shoved toward a doorway.

“When that door opens, walk through it,” says the gruff voice of the man who’s shoving me forward. I turn to get a closer look at him but he disappears just as quickly as he appeared, having entered a side office.

I am once again alone.

My heart is pounding. I try to breathe, but my chest is tightening up.

“This was a mistake,” I tell myself. “I never should have accepted this invitation. But it’s too late now. I’ve got to go through with it.”

I look toward the doorway I was instructed to walk through. I realize this is it. This is going to be, like it or not, a defining moment.

Am I going to sink or swim?

I summon up the courage to do everything it takes to soar, as the door in front of me begins to open. As I step forward I can’t make out anything but bright lights. I’m squinting to see what’s waiting for me on the other side. But I’m blinded by the lights.

I realize what’s about to happen is going to change everything.