Switch (excerpt)

Then I hear the voice in my head, clear and urgent:

Do it! Flip the switch! It’s been so long…

“No,” I say, closing my eyes, trying to resist. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Frank asks, but I scarcely hear him. The other voice is too loud now, drowning everything else out.

Yes. You’ve kept this up long enough. It’s time.

“No, I promised,” I hear myself saying even as my will slips out from under me. My heart races and my breaths come short and shallow. I tingle all over, excited, because I know I’m going to cave.

It has been a long time…