Behind The Voice

by Cassi Gray

CHAPTER SEVEN

  The elevator silence led me hand in hand to the brink of sleep. Tenderly rubbing my hand as if it cared so deeply for me and this was the only salvation for my soul.

  The air was soothingly warm and it only aided the silence in its mission to lead me to the edge of the slippery slope where I so easily and willingly stepped off.

  Twisting and twirling in the forever blackness that was always so welcoming, I marveled at how soft my hair felt while it gently caressed my face during my descent into slumber. My golden locks tracing the lines of my cheekbones, my nose, my chin, and gently stroking my eyelids. It’s cool, silken touch on my warm skin made me fall even faster into that open armed sandman, where I hugged him tightly like a long lost sibling.

  I found myself in the middle of a very large crowd of people. None of them took notice of me as they bustled about their day. It was as if I was invisible.

  Turning in a circle where I stood, I saw that I was in a square of sorts, shops lined the perimeter and an array of people streamed in and out of them.

  Candy shops, toy shops, cafes, shoe shops, all comfortably tucked in one after the other forming a wall that surrounded the brick laden square, it felt like a tourist shopping district. It was a place I didn’t recognize, but I found myself picking up on foreign accents as I looked about at those meandering around me.

  Most were too preoccupied with their cell phones, children, friends, or thoughts to take notice, but my eyes immediately went to the silhouette of a man that stood on the rooftop at the northern most stretch of shops.

  My initial thought was that he was going to jump, and I looked about at everyone in a hurried manner, I reached out to people who passed by, but only came up with air in my grasp.

  Suddenly gripped by the hand of panic, I couldn’t find my voice to scream out for help, so I continued to reach for others in a desperate attempt to get someone else to notice the man on the roof.

  When I realized that I truly was invisible to those around me, I looked up at the man again in a mixed flurry of emotions that included helplessness and sorrow.

  An instant calming sensation came over me, and I could feel the muscles in my body relax, my heart slowed to a normal, non-panicked beat, and I let out a pent up breath that had anyone taken notice of me, would have thought I had been punched in the stomach.

  This time I paid closer attention to him. Although I couldn’t make out any details about his appearance or identity, I could see that he had no intentions of jumping. He simply stood there, looking over all of us. Standing guard as if he was a sentinel sent from a higher power.

  I was transfixed by him. Mesmerized by the lack of detail, and held in place by the bold contrast of the silhouette of his body against the blue sky.

  Peeling my gaze away from him I scanned the square again, giving in to the increasingly nagging feeling that I was actually looking for something.

  I was intently staring at the cracks in the bricks that made up the ground, drinking in the fine details of the red patchwork when the wave of panic washed over me once again. My throat tightened around a scream and I lurched forward clumsily as if I had no control over my own body anymore. My arms were outstretched and my hands clawed at the air and the people around me.

  The shoppers continued to ignore me and the fear escalated into downright terror, I could feel my pores push out droplets of sweat from exertion as my heart frantically threw itself against the constraints of my rib cage. A small whimper escaped the stranglehold that fear had on my throat, and desperate again, I looked back up at the rooftop.

  The moment my gaze met the inky blackness of the rooftop man’s body, my terror melted away like ice cream on a hot day. Blinking in bewilderment, I stole my gaze from him and planted it on the store front below where he stood. Moments later the panic trickled back into me, and I flicked my gaze back up to the rooftop dweller where it once again receded.

  I was no sooner forming the thoughts in my head when he spoke.

  I can manipulate more than the elevator.

  I awoke with such a start and momentum behind it that I was actually standing when I finally realized that I was back in the elevator, my hands clinging to the handrail behind me with such ferocity that my fingers ached.

  I was panting as my lungs tried to suck up all the air available within the wooden prison. Feeling faint, I released my grip on the rail and slid back down to the floor.

  His voice had sounded so close again, even in my dreams. It was like he had been standing right next to me in that square.

  I didn’t mean to frighten you.

  His voice was softer this time, more apologetic, and less tapping on my ear drums with his booming tone than he had been in the dream.

  I tried to ignore the fact that was presented with his statement. But it was useless.

  “Apparently I can’t even escape you in my dreams.”

  I gave you the dream.

  “I don’t like the implications of that Jeremy.”

  I am sorry.

  “It’s okay.”

  Our quick little chatter made me smile despite the strange feeling of being violated.

  “So you can read my mind now?” I questioned him, halfway joking, but halfway serious.

  No.

  His response made me sigh with relief.

  It is only another form of communication that I have. To speak to you without speaking.

  I nibbled on my bottom lip as I mulled this over. Jeremy was quite the enigma.

  “I don’t like this new form of communication.” I hoped that this wouldn’t offend him.

  I am sorry. I will refrain from communicating this way in the future.

  “Thank you,” I paused, remembering the words he had spoken in my dream and the strange roller coaster experience with emotions, as well as hours ago with the display of control over the monitor, “So what else can you control?”

  I had mixed feelings about hearing the reply to this, since he had yet to give me an answer to this question that didn’t instill fear within me, and cause the hair to stand up on the back of my neck. It seemed that our relationship was growing into something a little more than threatening. And I felt that I needed to know what else of me he could command without my knowledge of it happening. Friends or not.

  But then there was a part of me that pushed against the need to know with a feverish determination. This was also the part of me that still refused to believe Jeremy even existed, but yet couldn’t come up with a solution for his voice and actions.

  Many things.

  “You’re being…mysterious again.” I commented.

  I can control emotions.

  I couldn’t see him to roll my eyes at him, so instead I rolled my eyes at the opposite wall of where I was sitting. I felt certain that he could see it, and that alone made me feel a little better.

  “We can all control our emotions.”

  I do not think you understand. I can control YOUR emotions.

  I thought about this for a moment, reflecting back on my dream and the crazy tidal waves of panic and calmness that kept crashing over me.

  Afraid that he actually might, I still said, “Prove it.”

  No sooner had I finished my sentence when it happened. The feeling of happiness that enveloped me was unlike anything I had ever felt before. It lifted my spirits to a height that was dizzying. Unable to suppress the smile that spread across my face, I looked down at the ground expecting to see that I was floating because that’s how good I felt.

  I was elated. Overjoyed. Ecstatic. It was all I could do to control myself and not scream with pure unadulterated glee because I felt like I was going to explode and send glitter, sunshine, puppies, and kittens in every direction.

  Then as quickly as it happened, the heightened emotion stopped.

  He certainly proved it.

  I cleared my throat and wiped my hands on my skirt. My palms were sweatless, but I needed to fidget with something. I felt like I was on th
e brink of discovering something miraculous, peering over the edge into a realm that resembled nothing on this earth that I was familiar with.

  And I wasn’t scared. If anything I was excited, and my curiosity was growing with every second that I spent in this elevator with Jeremy. He was a mixed bag of other worldly antics, and I was experiencing them first hand.

  “That was amazing.” I said somewhat breathless.

  Jeremy was quiet.

  “Can you do that to everyone?” I don’t know why I had to know the answer to this question.

  Yes.

  “That’s amazing,” I paused and looked down at the palm of my hands imagining if I had that kind of power, “You’re amazing.”

  Jeremy was quiet again. This time long enough for me to look away from my hands and glance about the elevator, once again still searching for the man behind the voice.

  I was on my feet before my brain could comprehend the source of the new, strange, but oddly familiar sound. It came from above, on the ceiling of the elevator, and was jarring enough that it actually resulted in the slightest bounce of my wooden and metal cage.

  Quieter, intermittent and slightly muffled, tapping sounds continued above me and the elevator jounced around in response. A slight sway started and I planted my feet a little wider apart from each other to help compensate for it.

  It took me a moment to figure out what was causing the noise, but when my mind finally put the pieces together and I realized what it was, my heart all but stopped.

  Footsteps.