Change

by J. A. Smith

  “This is a big room, are you sure it’s mine and not my Dad’s?” I said looking around a bit intimidated by the sheer size of it. Derek laughed.

  “No this one is yours, Uncle Mikes is at the end of the other hall” he said placing my bags on the floor.

  I heard laughter coming from outside. Walking to the window I saw that the noise was coming from Derek’s older brothers that were at the edge of the clearing in the back yard.

  Jason was twenty six a tall and big framed, blonde and had no shirt or shoes on. My thoughts centered on, “he’s as big as Derek”. Then I saw Albert who wasn’t quite as tall as his older brothers, he had red hair that caught the sun light and made him appear older then Jason but Albert was only twenty four if I remembered right. Dean was twenty two and had long black hair and such a deep tan he could pass for a Native American.

  I closed my eyes and told myself these beautiful men were family and the thoughts I had were unacceptable.

  Derek left so I could unpack. After putting away my clothes and placing my personal items in the bathroom, I opened my backpack, and started looking over my homework. I wondered if maybe my Dad had told the school I wouldn’t be there for a week, because there seemed to be more homework in here than I thought remembered bringing.

  I started to do my math first to get it out of the way. I hated trigonometry, I was not bad at it, but I hated it all the same. I had straight A’s in all of my classes much to my dad’s approval. As I finished up my math I heard a knock on my door.

  “Come in” I chimed, as my dad walked in.

  “Lana why are you being antisocial?” he gave me that look and crossed his arms, which was his signature to tell me he was unhappy about my behavior.

  “Just doing my homework” I defended my good girl behavior, waving the pad of paper in the air.

  “Well take a break and come down stairs, there are some people I would like you to meet” he said. I closed my books begrudgingly and went down stairs with my dad.

  The living room entrance was at the bottom of the stairs and when I reached about midway down the stairs I saw a man and woman sitting on the large couch across the room. I didn’t recognize them. They had no family resemblance to my dad or Uncles. Dad seemed tense as he took my hand. He turned to me; this a bad sign or a warning?

  “Lana this is your Mother’s brother Bill and his wife Tanya” he said motioning the couple over to meet me. I was in total shock, I thought maybe I was dreaming since my dad would not have kept their existence from me for all this time, I started to get mad and tried to remember my temper.

  “This is why we’re here!” I yelled ripping my hand from his grip. I was hurt. I wanted to know and remember my mom so badly how could he keep these people that were the closest link I could have had. She had living relatives! I had living parts of mom besides me!

  “No, this is not why we are here, I told you this was a family gathering” he said looking at me. Bill started to chuckle. I looked at him and in a flash of memory, I remembered the only picture of my mom that my Dad still had. My mother was blonde, and had blue eyes like the man in front of me. Shock held me tight and I did not know what to say to them. I wanted to run away. I wanted to hit them with a barrage of questions that would leave me exasperated and breathless. Why had they stayed away from me? I settled on just looking dumbfound and staring in disbelief.

  “You don’t have to say anything to us” Bill said. I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts and slow down my thinking when he vocalized what I was just thinking.

  “It’s nice to finally meet you” I said as I released my hand out of the fist I had been forming without realizing it and extended it. I was proud of my resolve and self-control. When Bill touched my hand my whole body felt like it tingled. I let go and stared at him. It felt like I had just been shocked.

  “Owe “I said looking at him accusingly, and then at my hand as if it was a foreign betrayal I felt. Reasoning tried to kick in; maybe he dragged his feet on the carpet and we had a static situation going on. Like when you’re a kid and I would put on my new slippers, drag my feet on the carpet and chase my Dad around the house.

  “Sorry Lana I didn’t mean to hurt you” Bill said in an unusually calm voice.

  “That’s ok I guess, just try not to drag your feet anymore?” Tanya tried to stifle a snicker, but started to laugh as if I was the only one not getting a joke. A joke, I hadn’t heard.

  “So what brings you here now?” I asked crossing my arms looking at the two skeptically.

  “Your father told us we should be here for tonight’s festivities, and we have wanted to meet you ever since you were born, so of course we jumped at the invitation to come.” I looked at my dad with seething anger to almost an intolerable level when my temper got the best of me.

  “You knew about them my whole life and didn’t let me meet them till now! You kept us apart?” I accused dad I was flooded by more questions and hurt. But this point all my cousins and my Uncle Allen had ventured into the living room to watch the display and I was more than ready to make a spectacle of this.

  “Lana there is much that you don’t understand yet, but one day you will understand and thank me” dad said in a calm voice. I was heated, to heated to let this go on a promise that “one-day-I’ll-be-a-grown-up” type of reasoning.

  “I don’t understand and I don’t care why you thought this was ok! It was cruel!” I yelled tears of hurt, anger and confusion blurring my sight.

  “You kept this from me and now you want me to just be ok with this? Ok with not knowing anything or at least very little about my mom’s family; my family? What is wrong with you?” I screamed and ran back to my room. I was through talking maybe when I calmed down enough I would be able to have a conversation with my new uncle and aunt but not right now. I was way to mad at my dad and right now I did not care what they thought of me. My whole body felt weird since the shock I got, my head started to hurt even, so I laid down and took some aspirin and fell asleep. Derek woke me up three hours later.

  “Lana” he whispered “Hey Lana?” trying to shake me into consciousness.

  “Wha-a-t?” I said groggily,

  “Hey, um… we are going to have a bonfire when the sun goes down and you should come down stairs at least for the food. There are ribs, steak and please just come down and visit with your mom’s family while there here. Come on” he coaxed taking my hand pulling me up to sitting.

  When he touched me my head started to pound again.

  “OWE” I yelled as I held on to my head trying to keep it from popping off my shoulders.

  “You ok”? Derek asked.

  “No, I don’t think so, I have a horrible head ache”.

  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea” I thought I heard Derek say.

  “What isn’t such a good idea?” I said while searching for the bathroom through blinding pain for a cup of water wondering if maybe I was dehydrated.

  “Huh?” Derek said.

  “What isn’t such a good idea?” I repeated between gulps.

  “Lana, I didn’t say anything” he said smiling.

  “Oh sorry” I said “I thought I heard you say it was a bad idea or something, must have been my imagination.”

  “Well… Come on.” he said looking a little cautious. This family is weird I thought.

  With the past conversation put out of my mind, I went down stairs and my mouth started watering at the smell of food. My stomach reacted according by growling. I grabbed a plate of food and sat at the table next to Bill and Tanya who seemed to stare at me. Great they are still pissed at me. I don’t blame them but they have to see my view too.

  “What?” I said after I couldn’t handle the staring anymore, “am I sitting to close?”

  “Nothing, Lana it’s just that… well dear, how are you feeling? You do
n’t look so good” Bill inquired.

  “I feel fine except for this headache I have “I said still trying to rub the ache out of my temples that was subsiding slowly. Bill and Tanya looked at each other. I started eating again. “Do you think she knows?” I heard Bill ask Tanya.

  “Knows what?” I said wiping the rib sauce from my face with a napkin.

  “Excuse me?” he said looking at me with wide eyes.

  “You just asked Tanya if I know, and I am asking you, know what?” I said trying not to pitch a fit or raise the alarm that suddenly took hold of the dinner table.

  Bill and Tanya did some more staring at each other and they looked surprised.

  “Lana how long have you had this headache?” Bill asked me.

  “Since you shocked me” I said getting frustrated. What the hell were all the secrets about? Bill stood up leaned over the table positioning himself right in my face.

  “Can you hear me?” he said without moving his mouth. I jumped up out of my chair.

  “How did you do that?” I asked stunned. “Are you like a ventriloquist or something?” I said trying to catch my racing heart, my dad came over to me and stared with a surprised look on his face.

  “She is very much like her mother” Bill said still staring at me without moving his mouth at all.

  “HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” I screamed at Bill. My dad took my arm and looked at me.

  “Lana can you hear me?” my dad said, again without moving his mouth and I knew my dad couldn’t do a ventriloquist act, I would have known about that by now right?. I felt dizzy and the room began to spin and turn darker shades of purple then black. I almost hit the floor before my dad caught me. I closed my eyes and then it was like a wave of conversations in my head “OWE” I screamed holding onto my temples again.

  “Don’t fight it” Bill said taking my hand away from my head. I looked at him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked trying very hard not to cry or run away.

  “Lana, there are a few things you don’t know about your mother and father” he informed me, but this time he really was “talking”. I wasn’t ready for this conversation I just wanted my head to stop hurting. “Your head will stop hurting once you give in” Bill said to me. I hadn’t said anything about that I had thought it though and I jumped up from the couch.

  “You… You read what I was thinking just now” I said in an uneasy tone. Pointing at him I circled around to the back of the couch trying to put some distance between myself and good old Uncle Bill.

  “Like I said there are things you don’t know about your mother” Bill said standing up to walk towards me. “Well turn it off now”! I yelled backing up further. He started to chuckle a little.

  “I can’t turn it off, but I can teach you how to use it. And how to shield others from entering your mind” he said looking at me.

  “Shield” I shrieked looking around the room, was anyone else hearing this ludicrously? Am I still asleep? That’s it! This must be a dream; No wait, dreams wouldn’t really hurt. I felt like everyone was screaming at me without talking. In order to be heard I would have to shout. I swirled around because I just heard Derek “think” about how sexy I look. “DEREK!” I yelled, “I am your cousin and that is really gross” I shouted. Derek looked embarrassed and my dad shot a look to him that made Derek run out the back door.

  “Can everyone leave the room please, I need to help Lana, show her how to use her telepathy in order to contain the pain in her head before it becomes truly madding” Bill instructed.

  “Will she be Okay? “Dad was concerned.

  “She will be fine, I promise, but we have to get this under control before the sun goes down so time is of the essence” Bill warned my dad in a hushed voice. Then my dad started thinking about something to do with animals I looked at him with a surprised look and then it was like he shut a door, Tanya took my hand.

  “It is very rude to go searching people that don’t want to be searched” she instructed me like a mother corrects a child, I would assume.

  “Telepathy?” I questioned but somewhere inside it felt like a revelation. I wouldn’t have to worry about tests every again. Leave it to me to find an angle. Everyone left the room and went outside, Bill held onto my hand but it did not send any current this time.

  “You can’t cheat on tests Lana” he said out loud smiling.

  “Why not?”I asked still getting use to the idea that my thoughts were no longer private.

  “Because that is cheating and cheating is wrong” he teased me. I tried to listen to him but it was like he wouldn’t answer a door when I knocked. He pressed his fingers to his temples. I was trying really hard to hear his thoughts.

  “Lana please stop!” he almost screamed bent over in pain, I cleared my head and moment later he let go of his head.

  “Your mind is very powerful for one just starting out” he said looking at me.

  “I hurt you?” I asked trying to figure all this out astonished at my new found gift.

  “Yes you did; I know how to shield very well, your mother was better than I at it, although she never hurt me like that Lana”.

  “I am so sorry” I said sincerely.

  “It’s ok, I understand that you are still learning”. He sat me on the couch and took my hand. He was up for the punishment I would surely, although unwilling dish out. I heard his thoughts like reading a book. The information flowed with ease into my own thoughts. It was as loud as before now. He must be able to control the volume.

  “Now close your eyes and concentrate. Try to block out my thoughts Lana” he said in almost a trance voice. I closed my eyes and did what I was told until voices seemed to fade away and I heard nothing at all, sweet silence. Then I opened my eyes waiting for his approval.

  “Very good” he said after a minute. I was still trying to come to turns with this, blocking and being able to give people headaches, new family; it was all too much to take in. How does this work? Could I give other people headaches if they couldn’t hear me?

  “Now try to read my thought again Lana” He interrupted my mental babbling. I found this easy I just let out a breath and stopped concentrating. He was thinking of the color of my eyes. He liked them. I smiled at the compliment.

  “I like them to” I sarcastically replied.

  “Very good, Now when we go outside I need you to concentrate hard because there are a lot of people out there, it can sometimes be hard to block out a crowd” he told me.

  “Ok “I said standing up. I was excited, I wanted to see if I could do it plus; I wanted to know if anyone else heard my thoughts. This could prove to be a valuable asset if I had the advantage of hearing their thoughts. As well as I needed to know who to shield my thoughts around.

  Tanya took my hand and led me outside. As soon as I came out, the conversations were loud and sounded garbled together. I took a step back when I got close to Uncle Allen because his thoughts were really snarled, kind of like an inhuman growl.

  “Don’t be afraid” Bill said in my ear. I closed my eyes, I tried to it block out by imagining a tall block of steel, until I heard nothing. Then I opened my eyes and smiled brightly at my accomplishment.

  “Wow this is so cool” I said out loud and jumped clapping my hands together like an excited child on Christmas morning.

  “Yes it is but you have to be careful, if others find out what you can do you will be in danger”. Bill thought to me guess I had a few cracks in my shielding if he got through them so quickly. He eventually led me into the back yard where the rest of the family was. There were fallen trees that had been fashioned into benches. It was getting chilly as I approached the fire to sit down next to my dad, who was on a log closest to the bonfire.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked looking at the flames.

  “You weren’t ready yet
”.

  “Why am I ready now then dad?” He hesitated and I almost tried to sneak in to his mind to find out what he was thinking. I remembered what Tanya had told me, since my dad hated rudeness I waited for him to speak.

  “Lana, Your Uncle Tyler will be coming here soon and he is bringing one of Derek’s friends. Please be on your best behavior” he said as he stood up completely ignoring my question all together. I wanted to know what the hell was going on. So I stood up and brought down my shields staring at my dad’s retreating silhouette.

  His thoughts were really hard to read.

  It was kind of like Uncle Allen’s, it sounded to me like a lot of growling and hissing. I went and grabbed my dad by his arm and looked up at him. I tried hard to read his thoughts. I sensed he had more to tell me, but not right now. He was trying hard to keep me out. I caught a small glimpse of a massive orange cat with stripes. I slowly let loose of my dad’s sleeve confused.

  “Dad, why are you so hard to read?” I asked. He looked down at me with anger across his face. He held firmly onto my shoulders

  “Lana, stay out of my head, I mean it. I will tell you soon, but for right now, stay out!” He sent shivers down my spine when his voice rumbled. Bill came over and took me from my dad’s grasp.

  “She is still learning Mike” Bill said defending me.

  “She needs to learn quicker” my dad said almost in a growl. I felt tears starting to gather in the corners of my eyes. My dad only yelled at me when I had done something bad. I sucked up my tears and shielded myself once more, this was going to be the longest week ever. I watched the flames of the fire. The yellow, red, and orange mesmerized me. I was lost in a hurricane of my questions and possibilities. In the distance I heard a van drive up in the front yard. I was a little surprised I could hear that far away. I didn’t turn away from the fire. I didn’t bring down my shields. I just sat there and waited.