See Me

by Michelle Lee

  Ronnie pulled out his phone frantically looking up the song as he heard a gasp from Airiella, then, “That’s just mean.” He looked up at that and saw her shaking her head no, looking somewhat pale. Both him and Smitty were looking up the song as Airiella said, “Not now.” Pause. “Why? Because it will just hurt you.” She paused again then they heard her faintly say, “Yes I know the song, it’s one of my favorites.” Clearly, she was talking to Winnie. Ronnie read the lyrics and hit the mute button himself and swore.

  “Now that we are fully back in high school and doing song dedications via text message, what the fuck?” Ronnie jumped up and started pacing.

  “He’s on his way here,” Smitty said quietly.

  “Shit, he’s going to eat this poor girl alive,” Ronnie said, worried now.

  “He won’t be able to get to her,” Smitty replied as the conference room doors opened. “She will be tied up for a while.”

  Ronnie smelled rain again, then Smitty’s phone started playing the song from Jax. The haunting lyrics sending a wave of pain through the room as the message sunk in. All he could say was, “Shit.”

  Three men walked into the room, each as nondescript as the next in their same hairstyles, same colored boring suits and plain ties. None of them pulling off the look they were going for, and I struggled not to laugh at their attempt. They didn’t need to try so hard, but I was kind of glad they were as nervous as I was.

  “My name is Airiella Raven,” I stood up and held out my hand at the flustered men. Maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as I thought, as I shook their hands, immediately forgetting their names. Then again, maybe it would be if I couldn’t even remember their names.

  “So why don’t we tell you about the job?” Suit guy number one said. “We are producers for the hit TV show Shadow Seekers, and we are looking for a strong empath that has the ability to diffuse situations. Preferably before they get out of hand,” he added as an afterthought.

  I nodded and suit guy number two piped in. “We are looking for not only strong empath abilities, but strong character as well since these will be intense and possibly emotional situations.” I nodded again, content to let them explain what I already knew.

  Suit guy number three spoke up then. “All we really had time to do was run a background check on you, which is of course clean.” Of course it was. I nodded once more. “Why don’t you tell us about yourself?” He stammered out. Why were they so nervous?

  “Sure, what areas would you like to touch on?” I asked in my professional voice. They all blushed and shifted around. I had no idea what was going on and was feeling awkward by this point.

  “Um, how about your empath skills?” Suit guy number two suggested.

  “Of course,” I replied, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “For as long as I can remember I’ve had the ability to know what people are feeling and through the years have honed my skills to where not only can I feel their emotions, I can read the signs and energy of areas, objects and even animals. When things are bad for some people and I feel they need help, I pull the troubling emotions from them, allowing them clearer perspective to help them get through it,” I explained.

  “Can you clarify that?” Number three asked.

  “Which part?” I responded.

  “Uh, well, I’m not sure,” he said getting more flustered. I did the only thing I could think of. I opened my senses, and felt around his emotions, grabbing the nervous energy, and embarrassment. I pulled them from him and fed calm energy back into its place. His face changed in amazement and he exclaimed, “Wow! That was incredible.” The other two looking at him in utter confusion.

  “Better?” I asked kindly. Quickly I started putting my walls back up as I felt curiosity pushing at me from different angles.

  “I’m sold,” was all he could say. The other two just staring at him, not understanding. “She took away the nervousness I had,” he said weakly, failing to mention I took his embarrassment too. Though I still didn’t get why he was feeling embarrassed. Number one and two turned their surprised gazes on me.

  “Honestly, I have no idea what to ask right now,” number one admitted. Winnie started howling with laughter.

  Holding back a smile I suggested, “How about I ask you some questions?” They all nodded in relief and pulled out pens to write down my questions. This was the weirdest interview I’d ever had.

  “Salary, schedule, location, benefits are the basics,” I started.

  “Wait, before we get to that I have a few more questions,” number three said, getting brave. “How do we know you aren’t using some form of mental manipulation?”

  Damn, that was a reasonable question, and now it was starting to feel more like an interview. “Well, I guess that would have to be a leap of faith, or belief using logical reasoning and deductions. Aside from the fact that I can’t read minds, and don’t know your thoughts. In order to manipulate you to get my desired effect I’d need to know that. I simply took your energy that was causing you trouble, and fed you back my own calm. You were aware I was doing it, and you remember everything, and none of your own personal beliefs were changed I am assuming. I have learned valuable people skills over the years, but simply put, I didn’t need to use any empath abilities to know what you were feeling. Anyone paying attention could have figured it out.”

  “How so?” Number one asked, curious.

  “First when you three walked in, there was an air of confidence about you. As I stood up, you all became noticeably stiffer in posture, had facial expression changes and you appeared flustered and suddenly unsure. As we sat down you all exuded copious amounts of nervous energy, your voices had intonation changes, and your body language changed frequently. Deductive reason told me, something caught you off guard and made you uneasy. Two of you started to get beads of sweat on your upper lip, and the other started flushing. I have no idea as to the reason for any of those emotions or changes. I do know that when vocal tones match facial expressions and body language, they often mirror emotions. Using more deductive reasoning I can make educated guesses to your thoughts, but that’s all it is, just a guess. I’m not a fan of mind games and have zero desire to play them. Does that answer your question?” I tried explaining.

  “Does taking emotions from others have an effect on you?” Number two questioned.

  “Yes. The stronger the emotion, the more it will affect me. I am essentially taking that emotion into myself and giving you my good ones in return,” I responded carefully.

  “What do you do after that?” Number one asked.

  “It depends on the strength of the emotions. Sometimes I don’t need to do anything for a week, other times it could be a matter of hours. For me personally, I need to be in nature, or an area that has a natural earth energy, like a ley line, or a vortex, and I release what’s in me, and recharge with the pure energy of the earth so to speak.”

  “How are you under pressure?” Number three broke in.

  Smiling, I said, “You tell me.” Which got a chuckle out of them. I knew where they were headed with this, so I continued. “I’ve been through a lot in my life, just like everyone else has. Imagine growing up knowing what everyone around you feels all the time. Now imagine going to school and knowing things others didn’t know, like when someone is depressed, or having violent thoughts. Being honest and wanting to help, I always asked if they needed anything. Kids can be cruel when they see something different and don’t understand. Imagine knowing your boss doesn’t like you, or knowing you are getting fired. Social outcast became the norm and my circle of friends stayed tight. I play my cards close to my chest and don’t offer up a lot of personal information unless I feel it will help the situation, or someone in a similar situation that I faced along the way. Pressure for me is not a big deal.”

  Number two jumped in again, “You say you’ve been through a lot. Often times on an investigation you will run into things that can trigger strong emotions, or you learn the history of a person or location that
may be a trigger for you. So what kind of things have you gone through in life?”

  “You are borderline getting too personal there,” I responded gently. “I understand why you are asking, but please know, I don’t share very much with others. I will give you a broad answer without details, but I can safely say that in tense situations, or volatile ones, I remain calm. The freak-out happens after everything is done and I’m alone. I’ve personally dealt with violence, abuse, rape, relationships with people who have addictions, cancer, divorce, betrayal, infidelities, abandonment and mental illness. Most of those situations have touched many people I know, it doesn’t single me out. Everyone is, or has been broken in some way, that’s how I get through to them.”

  Flustered, Number three asked, “How did you get through?”

  “Well, I overthought every little detail, researched, tore apart the situation until I drove myself crazy looking for where I went wrong and how I could fix it until somewhere along the way I figured out the lesson I was supposed to learn and learned it. I would take the lesson and apply it to the situation and understand where I could improve so as not to repeat it. I wasn’t always successful, but I’ve learned many valuable lessons and am constantly working to improve myself. Yes, life leaves permanent scars, but it’s still beautiful. I am my own worst enemy and am harder on myself than anyone else could possibly be. Work in progress,” I said pointing to myself.

  “You are quite remarkable,” Number two said, impressed.

  “I disagree, I believe everyone is remarkable, people just tend to not look for it in others,” I argued.

  “We have a council of people with abilities that we have applicants test with to learn their ability range before we offer any jobs and have you meet the team,” Number one stated.

  I interrupted, “I know two of them are behind that glass door,” I pointed. “I felt them the moment I walked in the room as they had no mental barriers in place to lock away emotions.”

  “How did you learn about this position?” Number three asked. “It hadn’t even been posted yet when we received your voicemail.

  “This might require a leap of faith on your part. A ghost told me. Before you ask, I’m not a medium, she is the first and only ghost I’ve ever seen or talked to, and me applying for this job was helping her, so I did.”

  “I see,” three said, his eyes searching my face. I shrugged. At that moment, three’s phone started blaring the Ghostbusters theme song. They all three looked at me in amazement.

  “That wasn’t me, I’m guessing she was saying hello or something, she is not currently visible,” I said, choking on a laugh that was threatening to explode.

  “Ah, yes, well...as I was saying,” Number one continued, slightly rattled, “You will need to meet with the council over the next two days and test with them and after that we talk offers.”

  “Okay, sounds good. Thank you for your time. Can you recommend a hotel for me?”

  “Oh, we made arrangements for you already. The council will meet you back here at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. Some are still in route, I apologize. We have a driver at your disposal,” one slid a card across the table to me. “Call that number to arrange a ride in the morning or to take you where you need to go this evening if you need to get out. He’s currently waiting in the garage for you and will take you to the hotel.”

  “We will speak to you soon Ms. Raven, it was a pleasure to meet you,” two said. The others nodding. “I’ll escort you to the garage, if you’ll follow me,” he motioned towards the door. I stood, waved at the wall where Smitty and Ronnie hid and left. Winnie trailing after me.

  “Thank you again,” I told one and three as we parted ways.

  As I got into the waiting car and left, I asked the driver if there was some where close to the hotel I could pick up some extra clothes at, not realizing this was going to be a multi-day interview, I only had what I was wearing.

  Winnie rode next to Airiella quietly, going over everything in her mind. Jax was on his way, and he knew she was in communication with members of his team now. Airiella blew the producers out of the water and dropped some info bombshells for them all to ponder. It wasn’t anything Winnie didn’t already know from her trip in Airy’s head. But to hear her say some of the things in her own guarded words was different. Winnie felt for her. Though she was also laughing hysterically about the way the producers reacted to her. They felt the angel presence as soon as they walked in the room and when Airy started talking the one guy got a boner.

  Winnie couldn’t help it, she thought it was hilarious. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Ronnie being attracted to her. She wasn’t against it, but it made her sad because she never got her chance with him. Then she started thinking about the song Jax replied with and that hole inside her opened a bit more. Winnie completely understood why Airiella said it was one of her favorite songs, but when she applied it to her and her relationship with Jax, it hurt.

  She needed to focus now, wrap her mind around how to help Airy with the council tomorrow, because for sure they would feel her, and she wasn’t sure that was a good idea yet. Maybe it was, she didn’t know. She was also trying to figure out the premonition she had during that storm, it was such a jumble in her head right now that it just wasn’t making sense. Almost like it was spoken in a different language. All in due time, she figured.

  Chapter Eleven

  Smitty sat there a few minutes after everyone left the conference room trying to absorb everything that was just said. “Thoughts?” he asked Ronnie.

  “Too many to sort through, and so many more questions,” he replied, still awestruck. “We going to leave her alone tonight, or are we going to try to talk to her on our own?”

  “My gut says we talk to her, but I’m not sure where they booked her at,” Smitty said.

  “My guess is the same place they always put us, they don’t vary much.” Ronnie paused. “She’s been through a lot.”

  “You think?” Smitty said, his eyes wide. “She’s got a lot of strength to her though, I could feel it through the wall. This might sound crazy, but I think I could feel her.”

  “Not crazy, I know I could feel her.” Ronnie turned to look at Smitty. “She didn’t exhibit any of the nerves that typically happen during an interview, she remained calm, but the producers sure didn’t. Wonder what that was about?”

  Smitty smiled smugly, “Well Dave had a boner.”

  Ronnie laughed, “Guess her voice affected more than just us.”

  “Yeah, we weren’t even in the room with her or my guess is we would have been the same way they were,” Smitty admitted. “She has a draw to her.”

  “Yep, makes you want to be close,” Ronnie said thickly.

  “Easy cowboy,” Smitty joked. “Let’s find out if she’s checked in yet,” he suggested, grabbing his phone and calling the hotel. “Yes, hi, has Airiella Raven checked in yet?” Smitty snuck a glance over at Ronnie. “No? Okay, thanks. When she does can you please tell her to keep her dinner schedule open? Thank you.”

  “Should we bring something to her hotel room then?” Ronnie wondered. “Or should we take her out?”

  “I’d say public place would be safer, but we’d be able to ask more questions in a private setting,” Smitty argued with himself. “If we bring her food, we could inadvertently pick something she doesn’t like. What about the restaurant in the hotel? We are staying there too, right? Dinner and then we could go back and talk.”

  “Perfect. Hopefully before Jax gets here,” Ronnie worried.

  “Aedan texted and said they fly out tomorrow morning. She should be with the council then.” Smitty’s eyes went out of focus for a moment, “Hey did you feel what she did to Dave by any chance?”

  “Yeah, she did exactly what she said she did, I could feel the nervousness just disappear, and she didn’t even change expressions,” Ronnie marveled. “Useful skill to have.”

  “You heard her describer her life, I don’t think she found it useful,” Smitty rec
alled her words.

  “I’m like ninety-five percent sure I’m in love with her,” Ronnie said, smitten.

  “Okay lover boy lets head out,” Smitty said, offering a hand up. As Ronnie stood, Smitty had to fight himself not to respond that he felt the same way about the mysterious Airiella, which confused the hell out of him.

  Jax paced his room at Aedan’s house in a mad fury, his feet falling heavy on the floor. Winnie. A message from Winnie to let her go. Well, and the other one that told him he was haunted, which he already figured out. Everyone knew that by now. After all these years he finally gets a message from her and it’s two songs.

  He’d been stuck on the letting her go one, that one threw him off. He kept trying to pick apart the other one looking for her message in there, but it wasn’t jumping out at him. He was a little ashamed at himself for responding with the song he did, but it was a knee jerk reaction, and spot on as well. He wanted to be in Denver now, not leaving in the morning.

  Frustration was close to boiling over. He kept getting this feeling like things were out of his control now and nothing was going to change that. Like he just had to sit there and watch his life play out in front of him. He couldn’t even get a hold of his reactions, most of which were being driven by whatever was inside him.

  He completely understood why Ronnie had left without telling him, and he harbored no ill will against him for it. Jax had become unpredictable and somewhat unstable. Not a good way to meet someone that was supposed to help you. The feeling in him wouldn’t stop pulling at him though that he needed to be there now. He was half tempted to get in the car and drive there, but he knew that would be the wrong decision. Instead he paced.