by Andrew Peed
“So why put ourselves in their path by going on what seems like suicide missions?”
“If we just hide here forever, they’ve won.” He looked me in the eyes, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to hide my whole life. This little town is great and all, but I have a feeling that they will find it eventually, and when they do there is nothing stopping them from leveling it.”
“You don’t think that Sam can keep us safe?”
“It’s a team effort. He is only one man, he needs our help.” He stood up from the ground and brushed himself off. He held out his hand, “Now let’s get back to work.”
I took his outstretched hand and pulled myself up. He let go when I had my balance, and took a few steps back. He balled his fists and spread his legs to give him perfect balance.
“Give me your best.” He yelled over the explosions in the field behind us.
~//~
When we got back to the house I could feel the bruises from fighting Ryder. I knew he was taking it easy on me too. I did learn a lot about defending myself.
I went up to my bedroom and laid down in bed.
I woke up after a few hour nap when Ronnie knocked on the doorframe. "Hey, the showers are open."
"Thanks." I heaved my sore body up off the bed.
I grabbed a new set of clean clothes and went down to the first level. When we had gotten home the sun was still up, but now it was pitch black outside. I went into the bathroom and looked at my side where there was a nice bruise starting to show.
I had taken so many face plants to the ground but every time I just got back up and rushed Ryder again. No less than twenty times he asked me if I wanted to stop. He kept telling me that we could pick up the training another day.
I didn't want to stop. I needed to be doing something.
I took my shower and then went back to bed.
Sleep came quickly that night.
Chapter 15: Past
I could hardly get out of the bed the next morning. I forced myself to crawl out of bed and go down to the kitchen to satisfy my stomach’s need for food. It growled loudly but there wasn’t anyone around to hear it. Everyone had left already for the practice field.
For the second time I had to wash dishes before I had a bowl to eat cereal. Once I had my brand cereal and milk I curled up on the couch to doctor my bruises while I watched TV.
There was nothing on that I wanted to watch so I just stared at the wall and ate my brunch. Once I had finished I cleaned up everyone’s mess.
I heard someone pull into the driveway so I investigated. I was so bored I was praying for something that I could do. Sam was getting out of his truck.
He knocked on the door, but didn’t wait before coming in, “Oh good, you’re up.”
“Yup, just picking my brain for something to keep my mind occupied for a while.” I pointed to the dishes that I had hand washed even though there was a dishwasher.
“Well, the doctor would like to see you immediately.”
“Let’s go then.” I pulled on my shoes and we left.
~//~
When we arrived at the clinic Doctor Z was waiting outside. He was almost bouncing on his heels in excitement yet Sam was somber as we got out of the truck. I couldn't help but to wonder what was wrong with this strange man.
“Ah, Grace I have wonderful news, please come into my lab.” He directed me with his arm outstretched. I followed Sam who led the way through the clinic to Doctor Z’s lab.
“Have a seat, please.” Sam sat on the doctor stool.
Doctor Z shut the door, “I have been going over your test results from the other day coupled with scans that we took while you were at level six within the Aurora facility.”
"Alright." I wasn’t following as the small man zipped all over the room showing me different images.
"These are, I must say, nothing short of magnificent." Dr. Z rambled, “Anyway, I have been working on a drug that can remove your mental block.”
“Completely?”
“It could, or only slightly.” He sighed, "It could also do nothing at all."
“Alright,” I thought for a moment, “I’m in.”
“Grace I want you to know I’m against this, I think you should work through this, on your own.” Sam voiced his opinion.
“There is one other thing.” Doctor Z Said, “If it works as designed it won’t just get rid of the mental block that prevents your powers; it will remove all mental blocks.”
“Really, I don’t think that I have any other mental blocks.” I joked.
“This is serious Grace, you could unlock horrible memories that you don’t want to remember, you were an orphan." Sam paced around the room running his fingers through his hair. He was determined to talk me out of using the drug.
"I remember every bit of that.” I growled.
"You may have to spend more time putting the blocks back up, then it would take to just work through this one.” He continued to pace.
“Sam, look, I’m ok with this.” I stopped him and looked into his eyes.
“Alright, Alright. Let’s do it.” He finally let up.
I laid down on the table. Doctor Z rolled up my sleeve and sterilized a spot on my arm. He opened a small plastic case where he removed a small syringe full of glowing purple liquid.
“This will hurt, at first.” Dr. Z was sure to inform me.
He pushed the needle into my vein and emptied the chemical into my blood. He pulled the needle back out and replaced it in the case.
I felt burning as the chemical coursed through my body. My legs began to shake. Slowly, the movement shook up my arms. My whole body began to shake. I tried to keep my eyes open but my eye lids became more and more heavy.
I fainted.
~//~
I was knee high. I couldn’t see over any counters, or anything for that matter. Beside me stood a man and a woman, who seemed familiar, but that’s all.
“My name is Joseph Madison and this is my wife Abby. We spoke on the phone.” The man spoke to a woman behind the counter.
“How may I help you today?” the woman asked.
“We had an appointment.” Mr. Madison said.
The woman looked down at the book in front of her, “Right this way.” We were led into a back room.
I was placed in a small play area where there were several toys but I just sat there. I could hear everything that was going on.
“Mr. Madison, the first question that I am forced to ask is, did you bring the required compensation? Obviously you are a wealthy man.” The woman asked.
“We have the requested amount, along with instructions for an account that will be injected with one million dollars when she reaches eighteen, safely. My work is getting increasingly dangerous and I don’t want my daughter to be a part of it.” My father explained.
“Alright, the child’s name?”
“Her name is Grace. I want her to disappear. I do not want her to seek us out. I want her to think that we are both dead.” He slid an elaborate wooden case across the table to the woman. “Inside this box is a tracking system that will lead you to the girl when she is eighteen years old. It will not activate until then. When she is of age I want her restored to her place as the inheritor of my estate. I will be dead by the time she is of age I am afraid, and if by some chance I am not, all the better.”
“I hope to have her in a family rather quickly; she is such a cute child. We have a back story and fake records prepared already.”
Everything got very fuzzy and the room dissolved into thin air.
~//~
I woke in Doctor Z’s lab covered in sweat and shot bolt upright, “What do you know about Joseph Madison?”
“He used to own all of this; he died a few years back.” Sam said, “Why?”
“I just had a hell of a dream.” I rubbed my head.
“What happened?” Doctor Z asked.
“My parents were getting rid of me.” I closed my eyes trying to remember al
l the details. “My father was Joseph Madison.”
“I will look into it.” Sam said.
“Can you use your abilities?” Doctor Z was irritated with the detour that we had taken away from the reason he gave me the treatment.
I held out my hand and concentrated on a powerful flame. Foot high flames burst out of my palm.
Doctor Z clapped his hands and whelped for joy. Sam smiled but still looked disturbed.
I got off of the bed, my legs a little weak as I stood up, and ignited my other hand with flames.
“I’m going to take another scan, keep the flames active.” Doctor Z brought out the electronic crown and placed it once again on my head.
“Could you dial them back a bit though?” Sam worried that I might burn the place down.
I lowered the flames down to a two inch height while the good doctor took his readings. As the results began to appear, he frowned.
“This is interesting.” He projected the picture to the big screen.
The lines were similar to the earlier scan. The blackness that they thought was a mental block was still there, but it was much smaller and only the extreme ends of the graphs were blocked.
“It was only partially successful. You may only be able to use your powers in the tier three ranges. And that may be only with extreme concentration.” Doctor Z zoomed into the blocked areas.
“I’ll work on it; I mean at least I can use my powers some.” I smiled and took the scanner off of my head, “Thank you doctor.”
He took the scanner and put it back in its case, “Please keep me updated on any changes.”
Chapter 16: Emotions
I lay on the ground in the middle of that desert again looking up at the sky. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there, but I wasn’t worried about it. I was content to just lay there in the warm sand.
Clouds began to fill the sky, threatening to dump rain down on top of me. I decided that I could do one of two things; lay there and get rained on, or I could try and find some shelter. I turned my head either way, and couldn’t see anything until the horizon.
So I just laid there.
Lightening struck behind where I was laying inches from my head. It scared the crap out of me, and when the light from the flash finally went away I was somewhere else altogether.
It was an old Victorian era house, white with peeling paint. I recognized the house but I couldn’t remember from where or when. Since I was somehow now standing, I decided to walk inside and take a look around.
As I walked through the front door I was hit by a massive cold chill that shook my whole body. I rubbed my shoulders, and started to look around the house.
“Hello.” I said aloud.
There was nothing but silence. I checked the rooms on the first floor. Every single one was either empty or the door was locked. I became frustrated with one door, and melted the handle, but before I could actually open the door the handle had reappeared.
The memory of this house scratched at the back of my head. I knew that I had been in it before. The kitchen was empty and so was the living room.
I decided to finally stop wondering around on the bottom floor, and go upstairs. Each step creaked under my footsteps. When I reached the landing at the top of the stairs the memory hit me like a ton of bricks.
The house came back and even the night. I remembered what was happening now.
And it was too late to turn back.
I walked down the hallway where my room had been. This house was one of the orphanages that I had lived in as a young child before I was sent to Hillside.
I looked into the doorway and there I stood. Eleven years old against the back wall. I was crying and holding a stuffed animal. My hair was a mess and there was a smashed table next to my bed.
He stood on the other side of the room. Furious, but crying as well. The man’s name was George Halaway. He was one of the caretakers along with his wife and one other woman for this orphanage.
“I don’t understand it!” He yelled, spit flying everywhere.
“What are you talking about?” the other me sobbed from across the room.
“Whenever I am near you, your thoughts get inside my head.” He pounded on his own skull trying to understand the emotions inside of his head, “Why must you torture me?”
Looking at it from this angle, it looked so pathetic. This grown man yelling at a young girl because he felt sad when he was around her.
He walked over to the younger me and knelt down in front of me. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, “What are you doing to me?”
“I’m not doing anything.” the young me cried.
I rubbed my neck because I knew what was going to happen next.
He wrapped both hands around the young me’s neck and squeezed, “Make it stop! Make it stop!”
I rushed over and tried to grab the man as my younger self’s body began to go limp from oxygen deprivation. My hands went through the man. I remembered that I was in a dream, or a memory, or something. I forced myself to remember that this was all in the past.
My younger self gasped the words, “please stop.”
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” he yelled like a maniac.
A woman rushed into the room. Her name was Rebecca. She was not George’s wife, but the other woman that managed the orphanage.
She grabbed George and pulled him off of the other me.
“Get off of her!” she yelled.
He let go of the younger me’s neck sending me crumbling into the ground gasping for air. Rebecca ran over and scooped me up into her arms. She left the room and rushed down stairs where all of the other children were waiting and listening to what was going on.
She put the young me into the back seat of a car and then got into the driver’s seat. I climbed into the passenger seat so that I could listen to what happened next.
She started to drive in a hurry. She took her cell phone from the seat where I was sitting. It felt strange to see someone put their hand through me. She held the phone to her ear and said, “Call James.”
After a few seconds she said, “I have a natural. I don’t know how she got past the screenings, but she should be a good candidate for the C-series.”
I could hear a man on the other end of the phone but I couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“She was able to project her emotions onto another person. Best emotional projection that I have ever seen, even from some of the people that have focused on learning to control it most of their lives. It was extremely effective.”
More that I couldn’t understand.
“But sir I think that she should be brought in for at least observation.” She pleaded with the man on the phone.
She waited, “No, the Hillside location is not ready yet. If I put her back in the system I am going to lose her. Like I said, she has gotten through screenings before. She may be able to hide her ability completely. It almost got her killed.”
A pause, “I can’t take her back to that orphanage. A man tried to kill her. I assume that he was very susceptible to the girl’s ability and couldn’t take it anymore. He may try to hurt her again.”
“Yes sir, I will have him terminated.” She said after a final pause then hung up the phone.
She threw it through me and sighed loudly. She slammed her hands on the steering wheel and pulled the car over to the side of the road. She looked around for a few seconds then she looked up into the rearview mirror, and smiled as I slept in the back seat.
~//~
I woke with steam rising from my skin. I was sweating; it was from my nerves. The sweat was evaporating almost instantly.
I climbed out of bed, in the hallway I could see that the sun was still down. I slowly shambled down to the first level and into the bathroom. I turned the water on full blast, cold, and stepped into the stream still fully clothed.
The water evaporated like my sweat had, billowing in the air of the small bathroom. The thick white cloud of vapor made it hard to brea
th.
I just stood there until the steaming stopped and I actually felt the cold chill me. I turned off the water. I climbed out of the shower grabbing a towel.
I dried what I could and left the bathroom.
I took the steps one at a time.
It took me a few moments to find clean, dry clothes, and get dressed. My head was killing me and I didn’t want to turn on the light. I laid back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I saw nothing but darkness but could feel the memories of that man’s hands around my neck.
I played the parts of the dream that I could remember in my head over and over again.
I wondered what it all meant. I had caused a man so much sorrow that he tried to kill me and I was only eleven years old. Rebecca had told the person on the phone that I had used emotional projection. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Rebecca again after that incident or the man for that matter.
I had to find out what exactly emotional projection meant and if I was still able to do that. I have to keep myself from torturing anyone else with my emotions; I hardly understood what was going on in my head. I didn’t need anyone else to suffer because of me.
There was a soft knock on my door.
"Yeah." I turned my head over to look at whoever opened the door.
Kenny leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, "Hey, was that you that got up and took a shower?"
"It was." I sat up.
"Are you sick?" He looked worried, "I was watching TV and you walked by like a zombie and ignored me."
"I guess you could call it that." I smiled. "I didn't mean to ignore you."
"Don't worry about it; most people are zombies this time of night. You want to talk about what’s on your mind?"
"I wouldn’t know what to talk about if I wanted to." I sighed.
"Come on, you used to talk to me all the time. You know that I won't say anything to anybody." he was right. There weren’t many secrets among the four of us, but if there was ever something, Kenny was my go to guy.
"What about Sandy, you two don't keep secrets." I picked at him.
