Vision of Sacrifices

by Vincent Morrone

  Payne was the first to greet me. It was a small kiss, but it still made me smile.

  “So,” Payne said. “I see you survived.”

  I cocked an eyebrow.

  “You were worried about her surviving?” Grandpa said as he leaned on his cane. “I was making my final peace.”

  One corner of Varick’s mouth had twitched up in a smile. “You have a gift for exaggeration, Gregory.”

  “Not in this case,” Grandpa responded. “I’d get down on my knees and kiss the ground if I thought I could get back up.”

  “C’mon,” Hunter said as she dribbled the ball. “She couldn’t have been that bad.”

  “Actually,” I said. “He’s being nice. I scared myself. Grandpa, I think I’ve had enough for one day.”

  “You and me both,” Grandpa said.

  “We were just about to go inside and have lunch,” Varick said. “Would you two like to join us?”

  I looked to Grandpa who glanced at his watch.

  “I can’t,” he said. “I thought this would be a quick first lesson, but it took her ten minutes to get out of the driveway. We’re having a meeting up at the lodge, and I have this sudden urge to make sure my will is up to date.”

  “Grandpa,” I complained. “Knock it off.”

  “Think I’m kidding?” he asked, as he moved around to the driver’s side. “You stay. Have fun. Have someone else drive you home.”

  Grandpa got in, put the car in reverse, and with a few backfires, the Buick was gone.

  “Guess I’m all yours,” I said.

  Payne smiled and kissed me. This time, it was long and slow. When it was over, the others had already gone inside.

  During lunch, we started talking about what everyone planned to do after high school. I really didn’t have any idea what I wanted. I didn’t have any marketable talent that didn’t involve my psychic abilities. For now, I had started to work for one of Varick’s many charities, mostly just answering phones and making copies, but it was a good job.

  We all knew what Hunter wanted to do. She wanted to go to college to study business, and then come back to work for one of her grandfather’s companies. It was something that I thought she’d be good at.

  Archer didn’t talk much about what he wanted, but that didn’t surprise me. He’d been quiet for most of lunch.

  Varick and Payne were in the middle of a conversation, and as they talked, I reached over, took Payne’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked at me and nodded. I knew he got my message.

  “Grandpa,” Payne said. “I’ve been wanting to tell you what I’d like to do after graduation.”

  Varick looked at Payne and smiled.

  “You’ve come to a decision?”

  “Yeah,” Payne said. “I actually want to go work for Sheriff Blackburn. I want to become a police officer.”

  Varick’s eyes darted down to where I held Payne’s hand. Quickly, he caught on.

  “You’ve talked to Bristol about this, I take it?”

  “Yeah,” Payne said. “I have. I know it’s not really traditional for McKnights to go into law enforcement, but I feel like it’s right for me. I want to protect people. I want to make a difference.”

  Varick reached forward and put his hand over mine and Payne’s. He gave us a reassuring squeeze.

  “Payne, the only thing I want for you, or for any of my grandchildren, is happiness. I think that you shall make an excellent officer of the law. And I’m sure Sheriff Blackburn looks forward to having you work for him.”

  Payne beamed.

  “Well, I haven’t spoken to him yet. I wanted to talk to you first. But I’m going to speak to him soon.”

  As Payne explained his reasoning to the group, I leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. After everything he’d been through, he wanted to help people who had become victims, and he also wanted to stop people like his father, who had victimized Payne and his mother in unspeakable ways for nearly all of their lives.

  As Payne talked, I couldn’t help but notice that Archer was more than just quiet. There was something going on behind his eyes. Archer was never what I would call bashful, but he seemed afraid to make eye contact with me. Whenever he didn’t think I was looking, he’d watch me.

  After lunch, I pulled Payne aside and asked him if he knew what it meant.

  “Archer is still trying to find his balance,” Payne said to me. “He was going through a lot even before Scarlett came along. Hunter said that he’s been avoiding you. I think you should talk to him.”

  So, later in the day when Archer said he was going to head out, I asked him if he could give me a ride home. It was the perfect opportunity to talk to him.

  As we got out to his car, he held out his keys to me, and gave them a little jingle.

  “You want to drive?”

  I shook my head. “No. I think I’ve had enough for today.”

  Archer unlocked his electric blue Ford Mustang Shelby convertible, and put the top down before we got in and drove away.

  The night breeze was refreshing as we traveled down the road. It was dusk, and the sun was slowly falling behind clouds that illuminated the sky in swirls of gold and blue. We turned onto Route 9A, and watched as mostly empty fields and the occasional trailer passed us by.

  Archer hadn’t said a word since we left his grandfather’s driveway, so I figured that meant it was up to me to break the silence.

  “Hey,” I said. “Did I do something that upset you?”

  I could see Archer tense. He gripped the steering wheel as if it was his life line and he was afraid he’d be swept out to sea.

  “No.” He forced a smile and managed to glance at me without actually looking into my eyes. “Of course you didn’t.”

  I started to sense Archer’s emotions. He wasn’t feeling angry.

  It was shame.

  “I know something’s wrong,” I told him. “I can feel it.”

  Archer finally glanced in my direction.

  “You can feel it?” he repeated. “Is that a part of...”

  “My abilities?” I finished for him. “Yes, it is. It’s not all the time, but once in a while, I can sense what someone is feeling. It’s all part of the wonder of being me.” I smiled and playfully held my hands up. “Look, I’m not trying to emotionally eavesdrop on you. I just can’t help it.”

  Archer’s brow furrowed and he frowned, his eyes now back on the road. “I know you’d never do something like that.”

  He was trying to look nonchalant, but it wasn’t working. His scowl deepened and he gripped the steering wheel tightly. I reached out to put my hand on his arm, wanting to reassure him.

  Instead, I got a vision flash.

  Archer was sitting on a couch, his posture slumped and his head down as an older man paced in front of him. This man looked like he could easily be Archer’s brother or uncle. There was a small suitcase sitting between them.

  “The car will be here any minute,” the man said as he paced. “You’re going to go to this clinic and do whatever it is you need to do to get your head on straight. But so help me, if I find out that you’ve betrayed our family again—”

  “I didn’t betray our family,” Archer snapped back, and looked up at the man with weary defiance. “Dad, I’d never do that.”

  Archer’s father didn’t seem impressed. “Don’t talk back to me. You know, Remington was strong. He stood up for the McKnights. He never revealed any secrets.”

  “Dad,” Archer said. “Remington’s—”

  “Shut up,” His father commanded. “I don’t need to be reminded that your older brother is dead. Did you forget about the fact that you’ve got a younger brother who practically whorships you?” Refusing to even look at Archer, the father paused for a moment in front of the fireplace. There was a roaring fire which illuminated the room, but did nothing to warm the relationship. “You’re his hero.”

  Archer scowled as he watched the flames dance. “He could do with having better heroes.”<
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  I couldn’t help but notice how the father didn’t disagree. “You’re putting your brother in danger. Is that what you want?” He paused, as if waiting for an answer, but Archer didn’t speak and father and son continued to watch the fire and not look at each other. “Thorne is now saying that we should be friends with the Blackburns.” The father began to pace again. “You cannot trust anyone with Blackburn blood in their veins.”

  Archer looked at his father for the first time. “You’re wrong. You can trust Bristol.”

  His father stopped pacing and turned to face his son, making eye contact. “Shut up,” his father said, jabbing a finger at his son. “I don’t know what it is about this Blackburn girl that’s made you trust her. First, you use your powers in front of her—”

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Archer said. “You heard Granddad. It was Uncle Jasper. He was possessing people. He used me to try and kill her.”

  With a roll of his eyes, Archer’s father sat down in a chair across the room. “I still can’t believe that Dad finally pulled the plug on old Jasper based on the ramblings of this Blackburn girl. But now you go and break down in front of her. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to get told that my own son nearly killed himself? And that the only reason why he didn’t do it was because a Blackburn talked him out of it?”

  “Maybe you would have been happier if she hadn’t.”

  With a long sigh, Archer’s father got up and walked over to him. He looked down at his son, putting his hand on Archer’s shoulder.

  “Of course I’m happy that you’re alive. I’m just worried about our family. You should be too. You need to set an example for Thorne, the way Remington did for you. And we need you. It’s not a coincidence that so many of the young McKnights your age are developing abilities. It used to be one out of every fifty of us. If the Blackburns make their move against us—”

  “They’re not making moves,” Archer met his father’s gaze.

  His father shook his head. “They will. I’m convinced that the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is because they’re still weak. But if they feel like they can press their advantage—”

  “What advantage?”

  “Archer, they know about your ability. They know how to fight you, and they’ve gotten rid of Blasé. They know about Payne, too. He’s useless these days. He’d probably side with them. And what do we know about them? I don’t suppose this girl decided to tell you about her abilities?”

  Archer got up from the couch and walked away from his father. He walked over to the roaring fireplace. His father stared at him. I could see the wheels turning in the older man’s mind.

  In one quick motion, he got up, walked towards Archer, grabbed his arm and swung him around.

  “Did she tell you?”

  Archer put on his best poker face.

  “Archer.” His father still had an iron grip around his son’s bicep. “Tell me. I’m your father. Did that girl tell you about her power?”

  Archer shook his head. “No.”

  I watched as they stared at each other for a moment. The only sound was the crackling of the fire.

  “Don’t lie to me,” his father warned.

  “I’m not,” Archer said.

  His father sighed, and released his son’s arm. Then he slapped Archer across the face.

  “Tell me.”

  Archer was silent. I could see the tears in his eyes, but he was holding them back. Father and son glared at each other for a long moment until a horn honked outside. Archer walked away, grabbed the suitcase that had been sitting on the floor, and headed for the door. His father was motionless.

  “I’ll tell you one thing I learned about Bristol.”

  His father’s eyes widened in anticipation.

  “What?”

  “She’s not weak,” Archer said. “She’s brave. She stood up to Blasé, when she knew about his ability too. She’ll fight anyone who tries to hurt someone she cares about. And she stopped me from hurting myself. If it comes down to it, I’ll do the same for her.”

  Archer left before his father could react.

  His father watched him go, but never bothered to say goodbye.

  Chapter Two

  Woof

  “Bristol?” Archer said. “Are you okay?”

  I shook myself back to reality and looked around. Archer had pulled over onto a small side road. He was holding my hand and staring at me with concern.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Just had a flash, is all.”

  “What?”

  He clearly didn’t understand.

  I took a deep breath, feeling suddenly claustrophobic in the confines of Archer’s car. “Can you stop? I need a little air.”

  He pulled over to the shoulder of the road, and I opened the door and got out.

  I stood by the hood of the car, breathing slowly as I went back over the vision. It had happened after Archer had tried to kill himself; which meant he had lied to his father. At that point, he’d known about my ability for months. He’d lied to his father to help me.

  Archer turned off the engine, got out, and walked to my side.

  “What can I do?”

  “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head.

  I could tell he wanted me to explain what had happened, although he wouldn’t ask. At this point, there was no reason not to give him the full picture.

  “Okay,” I said. “Here’s the deal. You already know that I can see ghosts. They appear to me from time to time. I also can sometimes feel what someone else is feeling. Emotionally or physically. I can’t control when it happens. I also get these visions. I see stuff. Sometimes it’s in the past. Other times it’s in the future.”

  “You can see the future?” Archer asked, incredulous.

  I shrugged.

  “Sometimes,” I said. “I see what may happen. But it doesn’t always come true. And I don’t always get enough detail to understand what I’m seeing, so I have to be careful with how I deal with those.”

  Archer nodded as he thought about what I was telling him. I could see him replay what had just happened in his head.

  “So you just had a vision?” He said. “Does that mean it was about me?”

  I nodded.

  “Was it something bad? Do I hurt somebody?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “It was a flash of the past.”

  His face went white.

  I expected him to pull away from me, calling me a freak and leave me on the side of the road. I wouldn’t blame him if I did. Who would want to be so close to me that a simple, casual touch could cause your intimate secrets to spill out for me to see.

  “I’m sorry.” I felt like those words couldn’t possibly convey my regret at what I’d done. I had just invaded Archer’s privacy. “I can’t control them. I didn’t mean to. It was something that happened with your father. Right before you left. He was asking about me.”

  I watched Archer recall the memory. I could feel his mortification at having me see such a moment. His face turned red and he averted his eyes.

  “I’m so sorry,” I told him. “I wasn’t being nosy. I swear. These things just happen.”

  Archer reached out to me, managing to make eye contact again. He placed his hands on mine and smiled. I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t terrified to touch me.

  “It’s okay. I want you to know that I didn’t tell him anything. Not then. Not since then. Not ever. I won’t betray you.”

  “I know,” I said. “I also know how hard that must have been. I saw you stand up to him for me. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. Thank you.”

  The small smile on Archer’s face vanished. He pulled back and walked away. I’d said something that had upset him. I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. The only noise was a dog barking somewhere in the distance.

  “Archer?” I said as I walked over to him.

  “Don’t do that,” He said. “Don’t thank me.”

  “What’s the matter?” />
  Archer turned to face me. He had that same look in his eyes from the vision. It reminded me of the day he had almost killed himself.

  “Those things I said to you that day; the day I nearly—you know—”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “I meant them,” he said. “Granddad told me that Scarlett had an ability. She was pushing my feelings. So maybe if it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have wanted to kill myself, but I was sorry. I had acted like such a jerk to Eric. And to Ian. To everyone. I don’t want you to think that it was just because of Scarlett. That my being sorry was all because of what she did to me.”

  “Hey,” I said. “I know that. I remember the day I told you guys that Eric was dead. I saw how shaken you were. I told you what he said to me. How you had been nice to him.”

  “Yeah,” Archer said. “You revealed your secret to me just so you could tell me about Eric forgiving me. If you hadn’t done that—”

  Archer broke off, remembering how close he’d come to using that gun to kill himself.

  “That day in the locker room. I had been trying to get up the nerve to apologize. And the look on Eric’s face when I did, it was just... relieved. I thought to myself how great that was. I thought it was so amazing of me to be nice for a few minutes and apologize for being such an immature brat. And then Blasé came in and started giving both of us a hard time, and you want to know what I did? I left.”

  It bothered me that weekend, but I just put it out of my mind. I convinced myself that one apology was good enough. I never thought Eric would kill himself.”

  I stayed quiet and waited for him. For a few moments, we just listened to bark of the dog grew closer.

  “When you came into school and told us that he was dead,” Archer continued, “I just couldn’t believe it. Here I was, thinking that I had been so wonderful, and it was nothing. And there was no way for me to make it better. Then you and Blasé went at it and you told him he was a coward. We were both cowards.”