I Can Hear You

by Hannah Davenport

  I offered her a smile. I was used to being seen as odd but I still didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “Yeah, it should be fun.”

  “What about breakfast?” She asked, smiling. This was us… pretending to be normal.

  “We’re picking something up this morning, probably fast food. What are you doing today, Sarah?” I asked as I took another sip of coffee.

  “I’m not sure what all I’ll get into. I need to weed the flowerbed and just get things done around here. I’m also going to visit Jim and Megan’s grave today. I saw the sadness enter her eyes and knew I needed to leave. I wasn’t trying to be mean but she had never shared her family or her pain with me. As far as she knew, I didn’t know anything about them and if she didn’t want to talk with me about it, then I certainly wouldn’t pry. Being a foster kid, there are things that I just kept to myself as well.

  “I think I’m gonna head out. Becky should be waiting by now.” I looked down at my watch.

  “Okay, be careful.” She gave me a slight smile and I appreciated the effort she made for me.

  I headed out the door and found Becky waiting by the curb. She drove a red two-seater beetle that she got last year for her seventeenth birthday. I loved her car. I jumped in the passenger seat and we headed for the big city.

  “Where do you want to go first?”

  “I thought we could go to the mall. It has about anything you could possible want, even dresses.” I saw her watch me from the corner of her eye waiting for my reaction.

  “Sounds good.” A grin spread across her face and I smiled back.

  Two hours later, we pulled in to a parking space at the mall. It was crowded today and it didn’t take long before I regretted my decision to come. There were so many people around, so many thoughts, and it was loud!

  I can’t believe they just fired me!

  What should I wear on my date tonight?

  If I catch her with that man again, I’m going kill them both.

  I looked at Becky, she was grinning ear to ear and I promised myself that I wouldn’t ruin this day for her.

  Suddenly I heard a sound that chilled me to the bone and made my skin crawl. It wasn’t words exactly, but an odd screech of words that made me want to cover my ears. I turned just in time to watch a huge, muscular, warrior man wearing black leather pants. He had hair as black as night. I watched as he pulled out a short sword with a curved blade. He fought with …. what was that thing! Oh my God! It was built like a man but he didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before except in horror movies and nightmares.

  His eyes were glowing red like flames of fire and when he flashed his pointed teeth they looked as if they could cut through flesh. As I stood, unable to take a step, my eyes darted from his teeth to his grayish colored skin and black pointed fingernails. I knew he wasn’t human, he couldn’t be. Frozen, I could only stand there and watch as my body trembled. This was something nightmares were made of, an actual horror movie come to life.

  The warrior man with the short sword slashed at the red-eyed demon creature, cutting streaks down his chest. The demon creature took swipes with his black pointed nails but he was no match. The warrior kicked him in the stomach and as he bent forward, he nailed him in the face with his elbow; the creature fell to his knees. I knew it would be over soon. As the warrior raised his sword to deliver the final blow, the demonic looking man let out an ear-piercing squeal, knowing he had lost and disappeared into thin air.

  With the demon man… creature… I didn’t know what to call it… with it gone, I took deep gasping breaths as the fear abated my body. Moving my eyes from the now empty pavement, I glanced up and stared into eyes of turquoise unlike any I’d ever seen before.

  The victor stood well over six and a half feet tall and had black hair that reached his ears. He stood shirtless and I could see his sculpted chest and arms along with his chiseled abs. I tried to hear his thoughts, but it was silent which left me with an odd sensation. When I noticed that he was studying me, my pounding heart stopped and then started beating again even faster than before. I felt connected to him somehow, as if I should know who he is.

  Tearing my eyes from his, I glanced at Becky to see if she could see him. For the first time, I felt Becky’s hand on my shoulder asking me if I was all right. My body felt disconnected somehow. When I turned my head back to the warrior man… he was gone, leaving me to wonder if it really happened or if it was just my imagination.

  “Did you see that?” I asked Becky, but she just stood there looking at me in a strange way.

  “What are you talking about? I didn’t see anything except you standing there staring at the parking lot like you were in a trance. Come on Amber, let’s go.” Becky turned and walked toward the entrance. I took one more look but there was nothing there. Turning, I followed Becky wondering what the hell just happened.

  My interest in shopping left with the sexy warrior man and his short sword, as my mind replayed the fight over and over in my head. He wielded his sword with confidence as if it was an extension of his arm. I had never seen anything like that before and why couldn’t I hear him? And why couldn’t Becky see them? My mind kept running away leaving me to wonder if I was finally losing it.

  “Which store do you want to hit first?” Becky asked, startling me out of my own thoughts and rescuing me, even if she didn’t realize it.

  “It’s up to you. You know this mall better than I do.” I knew what she wanted to do. She had the whole day planned for us.

  “Ok, let’s go to the dress shop!” She squealed, as she dragged me to the escalator.

  I watched as the different people passed by and wondered again, what it must be like to be normal. Everyone worried about the most trivial things such as what to have to eat, what movie they wanted to watch or who to ask out.

  Then there were those thoughts that really I hated to hear: thoughts of violence, sabotage and vile actions. Lately those thoughts have been louder. I hear them over the nonconsequential thoughts like a funnel to my ear. There were times in the past few months that I almost intervened but I didn’t because I didn’t want to seem crazy. In the past, that only got me sent to a different home so I learned to keep my mouth shut. It was getting harder to ignore though. There’s a drive in me stronger than any Illinois tornado and I had to fight to stay out of situations I had no business even knowing about.

  Becky pulled me into a shop that was filled with floor length dresses from top to bottom. She ran straight to the rack that contained small sizes, as she wore a size two. “What color dress should I try on first?” She asked without taking her eyes off the rack.

  “I don’t know, why don’t you just grab some to try on and I’ll let you know if they’re gorgeous or hideous.” I thought I was being funny but she gave me a mock scowl. Grabbing an armload of dresses, she headed to the fitting room while I browsed through some as well, even though I still was unsure about going to prom. A few minutes later, I spotted Becky coming from the dressing room wearing a bright yellow dress.

  “What about this one?” She stood in front of the floor length mirror, turning slightly so she could see the back.

  “You’re kidding right? You look like the sun. We won’t even need lights at the prom; you can just stand in the middle of the room and glow.” I chuckled. It really did look terrible. “I know; you could paint your face brown and tell everyone you thought it was a costume party and you came as a sun flower.” I held my stomach as I laughed.

  “Oh, just shut up! A simple no would have sufficed,” she said jokingly. “Ok, this one’s out. I’m going to try on another one.” She returned a few minutes later wearing a purple dress. I stood there as I looked at her. I don’t think I like this one, even though it fits me well. "What do you think?” She turned and twirled.

  “I think you look like the purple dinosaur…what’s his name? Oh yeah, Barney! We could hold hands and sing the ‘I love you song.’” I laughed as she pretended to hit me. After she tried on several more,
she walked out wearing a strapless red dress. “That’s it! It looks beautiful on you.”

  “You really like it?” Pleases say yes! Please say yes!

  “I really do. You’re going to knock Charlie’s socks off.” The dress looked perfect on her. It hugged her body, showed off Becky’s tiny waist, and flared at the knees. Perfect!

  “Thanks Amber. What about you? Are you going to try on any dresses?” I looked back at the dress rack and one in particular drew my attention. I grabbed it and headed for the dressing room. After I put the dress on and zipped it up, I stepped from the dressing room to show Becky.

  “OH MY GOD! You look stunning Amber! Turn, let me see you.” I turned as Becky stood there with her mouth gaping. The bight turquoise dress suited my dark auburn hair and even went well with my blue eyes. I knew I had picked this dress because of my mystery man’s eyes. Looking in the mirror, I absolutely loved it. It was an A-line floor length dress with a V-neck. It certainly showed off my figure, although I never worried about being attractive. She is so gorgeous; it makes me jealous. I wish I could look like her.

  “Thanks Becky and stop that! You are gorgeous. Charlie asked you to prom and nobody has asked me.” I knew Becky had always felt like I was prettier than she was but she never got jealous. She had a better personality than I did because I don’t talk to others very much. At size two, she was much smaller than my size four, or six, depending on the style of clothes. My breasts were larger and my hips wider than most of the girls at my school and at almost eighteen years old, it made me look less like a teenager.

  Becky turned red with embarrassment. Occasionally, she forgot that I could hear everything she thinks. “Stop listening to me,” she said.

  “Well, stop thinking then.” I mocked her and we both laughed.

  As we stood at the register, Becky suggested, “Let’s run these out to the car and then we’ll look around some more.” I nodded as she slid her mom’s credit card back into her wallet. Becky and her mom had a rocky relationship and she would often make up for the fights by giving her the use of her credit card. It’s a wonder Becky didn’t start fights all the time.

  As we put the dresses in the trunk, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and shivers ran down my arms. I slowly turned around and found the source of my discomfort. A man with red eyes stood at the end of the parking lot staring at me.

  As his mouth began to move, I wanted to cover my ears, but I didn’t. Even though I was panicking, something warned me to stand very still, not acknowledge him in any way. I forced myself to look away, ignore him and act as if he wasn’t there. Nobody else could see him and some instinct deep inside told me not to show myself different. I realized I couldn’t hear his thoughts. He was something other: Not human. Not really a demon, even though I could call him that with those eyes.

  With my heart pounding I slowly, casually turned to Becky. “Let’s go back inside. I’m starved.” I tried to rush her without it seeming that way, still trying not to draw attention to myself.

  As we quietly walked away, memories came rushing forward. “Mamma, why are we running?”

  “We’re not running sweetheart; we’re just walking fast.” She smiled, but I remembered the panicked look she had. Her smile wasn’t natural and it was before I could hear every thought, so I never knew what scared her.

  “Amber, are you okay?” Snapping out of it, I looked at Becky. She seemed worried as we neared the entrance to the mall.

  “I’m fine, just lost in thought.” I gave her a halfhearted smile and as we entered, I looked back over my shoulder where the demon man stood, but all I saw were turquoise eyes staring back at me. As I kept looking at him, I almost walked into a man exiting the mall. Breaking eye contact, I smiled at the gentleman, “Sorry,” I muttered. When I looked back, he was gone and I felt empty. Strange.

  “What do you want to eat?” Becky asked as I turned back around. Please say pizza.

  Laughing I said, “Would you like to have pizza for lunch?”

  “I would love to. It’s almost like you read my mind.” She said with such sincerity that I couldn’t help but snicker. She felt like family to me and I loved the way she could lighten my mood without even knowing that I needed it. If she only knew the things I had heard and seen today.

  “You know, you could just say you want pizza. You don’t have to think it over and over again hoping I will say it.”

  “How can I test you if I just blurt out what I want? Just consider it practice, like exercising your brain.” Shaking my head, I know I had a silly smile on my face. Believing what she said, Becky had no idea how strong my ability was. I also hadn’t told her that the older I got, the stronger it became.

  “Come on, let’s go.”

  We finished lunch and decided to shop for some new clothes. While walking around I saw a cute little family and it made me smile. My mind started wandering again and I found myself thinking of my parents. Lost in my own world, a man bumped my shoulder when we passed and jarred me from my thoughts. What a jerk! He didn’t even say sorry, he just kept on walking.

  After shopping the rest of the day, Becky and I were finally on our way home. I didn’t see any more of my mystery man or the red-eyed demon guy, although it didn’t stop me from thinking about them… about him.

  “Now that I’m going with Charlie to the prom and you have an awesome dress, we have to find you a date so we can all go together. Who would you want to go with?” Becky casually hinted while glancing at me from the corner of her eye.

  Since moving here, Becky has always been my best friend even though I couldn’t share some things with her, like what happened today. I almost wanted to laugh at the thought. I watched two non-humans fight to the death and now we were back to prom. Because of my life experiences, I knew I acted much older than my almost eighteen, but I would do almost anything for Becky.

  “I don’t know. I could just go by myself and meet you there.” After such an eventful day, I just wanted to go home and not think about anything, especially a stupid dance.

  “No, we have to find you a date. You’ll enjoy it a lot more if we do.” I could hear the determination in her voice.

  “I don’t know Becky. Let’s wait until Monday and see how it goes.” Please let’s not talk about this anymore. I thought as I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

  “Ok, but I’m not going to let you forget it.” With closed eyes, I chuckled because I knew she wouldn’t. She would pester me to death until I had a date.

  When we arrived home, I waved goodbye to Becky and headed for the house. It was only 10 pm but the porch light was on and Sarah was already in bed. I climbed the steps and headed to my room, dressed for bed and while lying there, I replayed the events of the day over-and-over in my head. I knew sleep wouldn’t come tonight as I was left with more questions than answers.

  I met Becky Monday morning and as she drove us to school, I smiled slightly as I heard the turmoil churning in that head of hers. I wonder if she’s thought about a date for the prom. How do I ask her without seeming like I’m badgering her? Who should she go with? Her thoughts just kept coming while I sat silently beside her. I loved the fact that she forgot I was different. She treated me like any other seventeen-year-old girl, as a friend.

  “So Amber, have you thought anymore about the prom and who you would like to go with?” She asked without looking my way.

  “Not really. There are several boys I that I think are cute but I’m sure they wouldn’t go with me.”

  “Quit being so negative, you’re beautiful and a lot of boys would ask if they thought you’d say yes. They’ve just learned over the years that you never say yes. Whoever you ask will probably pass out from surprise.”

  “Shut up, they will not!” Would they? I really didn’t know. They stopped asking me out two years ago and now they didn’t even think about asking me out. I knew that for sure.

  We arrived at school, and after locking the car door we walked up the front steps.
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br />   “Oh, yes, they will. Just wait and see.” She smirked. “Ok, I have to get to class. I’ll see you at lunch.” She turned and headed down the hall.

  “Ok, see ya.” I headed off to math class wondering what Mr. Hooker had in store for me today. Sitting in my chair, I looked around at the boys and noticed there were some really cute ones. I just needed to decide who I wanted to ask. I hoped that whoever it was would say yes so I wouldn’t have to pick someone else. One time would be hard enough.

  When class was over, I realized Mr. Hooker hadn’t tried to catch me day dreaming that day, unaware and without the answer to whatever math problem he came up with. I walked up to his desk, and as he lifted his head, I asked, “Are you ok Mr. Hooker?” He smiled and I heard him think, I just finally gave up. You’re just too smart.

  “Everything is fine. Why do you ask?” He smiled politely.

  “I don’t know. I just wanted you to know that I’ve always looked forward to your class and I will miss you when I graduate. You have taught me a great deal and I wanted to say thank you.” I gave him my best smile. He really was a great teacher and most of the time I enjoyed our little game.

  “Thank you, Amber.” I’m sure I didn’t teach you much but it’s nice to hear that you enjoyed it. I nodded, and then left.

  As I walked down the hall, I noticed Dean standing near my locker. He was cute with his dark brown shaggy hair. Looking nervous, he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot. I slowed my pace to see what might be happening, but I understood the closer I got. I can’t believe I’m going to ask Amber to the dance. Why am I doing this? I know she’ll say no. God, I’m going to kill Becky if she says no. She is the prettiest girl in school, there’s no way in hell she’ll say yes. “Hi Dean.” I grinned at him as I approached my locker. Oh God, I can’t do this! I didn’t know what to do to help him. I knew I steered clear of most people, well everyone besides Becky, but I had a good reason. I couldn’t even hold a boy’s hand without him wondering if he could get to second base and devising ways to make it happen. Shut up Amber, this is for Becky! I reminded myself.