Empath: The Flawed Series Book One
Page 25
“Hello, Mrs. Marshall.”
Startled at the sound, she jumped and turned around. The first look on her face was that of frustration…of being interrupted? Or because she knew who it was?
But he was already passing the center of the room and near her chair when she met his eyes.
“Why, Nicholas, what a surprise!” Beneath folds of wrinkles, her eyes crinkled at the edges, decades’ worth of crow’s feet piled on top of each other. He squatted at her feet, and one of her bony hands landed on his shoulder as softly as a drifting leaf.
“How are you?”
“As good as ever. If they’d let me go home, I’d be a lot more comfortable, though. How are you, Nicholas?”
Several months back when he’d first met her, he’d introduced himself as just Nic, and she, condescending as ever, had wrongly inferred his actual name—and infuriatingly called him by the substitution ever since.
He frowned. “Oh, not good. Not good at all. My sister’s condition is much worse. They want to start treatments next week, but we don’t have the money.” The back story was for the sake of the staff, in case anyone passed her door while he was here.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Nicholas. Is there anything I can do?”
Most likely her vision was poor, so just to be doubly sure, he leaned closer to her, only about a foot from her face. He gazed into her pale eyes with a piercing stare, locking on her pupils. First a curious expression and then a glazed look came over her face.
“I need you to write me another check. Fifteen thousand.”
She answered dully, the fog still thick in her eyes. “Fifteen thousand.”
Nic brought her purse from beneath the nightstand and handed it to her, and she dug out the checkbook. While writing the check, she had to drop her gaze, but Nic made sure it wasn’t for more than half a minute. When she looked up, her eyes were still slightly unfocused. He grabbed the check from her without smiling. The act of politeness was only necessary until he could made eye contact. After that, the magic worked on its own.
He stood, eyes still on her, and slowly backed out of the room. Movement through the open door alerted him to a nurse passing in the hall. When he spoke, it was slightly louder than normal. “Goodbye, Mrs. Marshall. Have a good evening.”
Reaching her doorway, he shoved the check into his pocket and headed out into the corridor, nodding at the nurse as he walked by. “What a sweet lady,” he said with a smile, gesturing at Mrs. Marshall’s door.
The nurse stopped and smiled at him. “Yes, she is.”
“Sad about her episodes, though. Alzheimer’s can be really tough.”
The nurse started to nod when a hoarse yelling came from within the room. “Help! Somebody help me! I’ve been robbed.”
Nic shook his head with a sad smile, and the nurse turned for the old woman’s room. When she disappeared, he hurried out of the building. The fresh dough was burning a hole in his pocket. Now to spend it.
Want to read more of Outsider?
Click here to get Outsider (book #2) for free.
Also by Becca J. Campbell
The Flawed Series
Empath
Outsider
Protector
Pulled (A Flawed Short Story)
Constricted (A Flawed Short Story)
The Father Hunt (A Flawed Story)
Foreign Identity
Gateway to Reality
About the Author
An avid lover of stories that tiptoe the line between fantasy and reality, Becca J. Campbell looks for new angles on bridging the gap between the two. She holds a special place in her heart for any story involving superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her own creativity.
You can find her at BeccaJCampbell.com.