by J. J. Melvin
I pushed the blankets off, sat up, put my clothes on, and finished packing. We were about to leave when I remembered the book. I reached behind my pillow when no one was looking, pulled it out, and packed it neatly in my duffel bag.
“Mom, have I always had that birthmark on my neck?”
“Yes, you know you have. You were born with it. Why?”
“Does anyone else that you know, like a relative, have the same birthmark?”
“No, Erika. Why all the questions about your birthmark? It’s a birthmark, who cares? No one can see it. Your hair covers it.”
I wondered how common my birthmark was, and thought about how weird it was to see one identical to mine on Liam Malloy.
“Erika, enough about your birthmark. I want to leave. We still have to go past the hundreds of reporters outside. I want to go before more come.” My mom was hurriedly searching the room for any belongings I might leave behind.
Until now, I hadn’t thought about the reporters, the rest of the town, the questions they must have, the questions the parents of the dead must have. I didn’t want to leave the hospital. Nurse Michelle brought a wheelchair to escort me out. I wanted to walk, but she explained it was hospital policy. I reluctantly sat in the wheelchair. Nurse Michelle pushed me to the elevator then down the same long white hall that just a few days earlier had been filled with the screams and cries of the families destroyed by Trevor and Robert.
Did those families hate me? Did they really believe I could be involved?
As soon as the hospital doors opened, flashes went off instantaneously. People were pushing and yelling out questions. My mom hadn’t been exaggerating. There had to be hundreds of reporters out there.
Kai began to cry. My mom picked him up.
Alyssa screamed, “Get back! I swear, if anyone steps on my new shoes…”
We were surrounded. Nurse Michelle could no longer push the wheelchair. I tried to shield my face with my arms. Police and security guards helped to move the crowds back so we could get by.
Reporters yelled. One asked me how it felt to be a hero, another wanted to know if I knew Robert and Trevor well. A third reporter asked me to address the people who felt I was involved. I raised my hands in an X-formation to shield my eyes from the blinding flashes when a microphone was shoved under my arms and in my face. A blonde female reporter yelled over the sea of noise, “How do you feel about knowing that only three people died, and that you probably single-handedly saved dozens?”
The crowd quieted when I spoke, “Three?”
Then the questions started again…
The car was parked just feet from the exit in the loading zone right in front of the hospital, but it seemed to take us hours to get there. We finally got to the car and I got in. I sat in the front, my brother and sister in the back.
Three… That was the first time I’d heard how many people died. Three people…Did I know any of them?
Three... I felt faint.
I put my head against the window. I placed my hands over my ears. I could still hear all the questions. The windows were up and the doors were shut, but I could still hear every single reporter as if they were sitting right beside me.
There was a reporter standing in front of the car. He wouldn’t stop taking pictures and he wouldn’t get out of the way, even after my mom revved the engine.
My heart accelerated, my temples were pulsating, my head throbbed, and then the noise stopped. It was silent. I stared at the reporter, wanting him to move, wanting to run him over.
“Mom!” Alyssa shouted as the car leapt forward, barely missing the reporter as he jumped and rolled on the black pavement.
“Whoa, I don’t know what happened! I must have put my foot on the gas too hard.”
“Mom, Mom, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” I placed my hand on my mom’s extended arm as she clutched the steering wheel tightly.
“Erika, what are you talking about?” my mom asked, looking at me like I was crazy.
Kai started to cry again. My mom placed her foot on the gas. The car made a screeching sound as we sped out of the hospital parking lot.
“Mom, do you think that the reporter we almost hit is ok?” I strained my neck looking behind us, trying to catch a glimpse of the man I was sure I almost killed.
“He’s fine, Erika. I saw him get up in my rearview mirror.”
“Serves him right for blocking our car anyways.” Alyssa ran her fingers through her hair, flipping it to the other side.
My mom pleaded with my brother, “Kai, please stop crying, please! This is just great. Now we are the focus of the whole world.”
“I think it’s pretty cool – and anyways, if I remember, so did you when you were talking about buying a new house.”
Judging by the lack of response from my mother, I don’t think she heard Alyssa’s final mutterings.
“I think it’s kind of scary,” Kai sniffled from his booster seat.
For the rest of the ride I just stared out the window wondering. Was it me? Did I make the car lurch forward? Did I make the car almost hit the reporter? I felt like I was losing my grasp on reality.
Chapter 6
HOME SWEET HOME
We pulled into our apartment complex and carefully parked in one of our assigned spaces under the carport. It was torture watching my mom park. Ever since she scraped the car on one of the poles that divided the spaces, she always made Alyssa or me get out to signal her in. This time it was my sister who acted as her guide. Right as my mom was putting the final touches on her parking, reporters appeared out of nowhere. Alyssa jumped back in the car, and before we knew it we were surrounded again.
Kai cried as my mom screamed at the reporters to leave us alone. I could feel I was blacking out again; I felt disoriented. I just wanted to get away. I opened the car door and started to run. The next thing I knew I was at Riverton Park, which was about three miles from my home. I was spinning on the merry-go-round. How did I get here? In my spinning blur I could see a figure standing, watching me. I slowed my spinning by placing my foot in the sand until I came to a stop.
“Hey stranger!” A beautiful smiling face greeted me. It was Liam. He was wearing a light beige paperboy hat. He walked over and sat by me on the floor of the merry-go-round.
“You okay?” he asked kindly.
“What are you doing here, are you following me?”
“Well yeah, kind of. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You run pretty fast, you know; it was hard keeping up.”
“I ran all the way here?”
“Um, yeeesss. How’d you think you got here?”
“I don’t know, sometimes I have these blackouts. The last thing I remember is the crowd of reporters in front of my house.”
“Hhhmmm, interesting,” Liam said as he looked at me, perplexed.
“Liam, I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you following me and what do you want?”
Even though I felt exhilarated and excited to see Liam again, I wanted answers. Who was Liam Malloy? Why was he here and why did I feel the way I felt when I was around him? With all the different ways he made me feel, uncomfortable was not one of them. Liam was a stranger, and I knew my stranger danger alarms should be going off. After all, he was stalking me. But none of the expected feelings of being pursued by a stranger were present.
“It’s hard to explain, Erika. Maybe I should let Mr. Blithe explain it to you.”
“Liam, I’d like you to explain it to me.” I stared into his electric blue eyes, knowing somehow that he held answers to questions that I’d had my whole life.
“Well, have you had a chance to read the book?” Liam looked pensively at me.
“No, I’ve been a little busy—you know, with all the reporters and the police thinking I’m part of a homicidal trio and all.”
“If it means anything to you, Erika, I know you weren’t involved. The police will realize it soon too, don’t worry.”
“Easy for you to say, but you can’t
be sure of that.”
“Well actually, I can. Erika, I know this is going to sound, well… impossible, but I can see the future. We—you and I—have capabilities, powers. I think when you use yours, you refer to them as your blackout times. Erika, you ran here in less than 3 seconds.”
It took me a moment to comprehend what Liam was telling me, until I realized that I had done it again, fell for another psychotic guy. What he was saying was impossible! I lived more than 3 miles away, people do not run a mile a second.
“Are you really trying to tell me that I—that we—have super powers?”
“Well… yes, our birthmarks give us these… abilities.”
I thought this guy had some reasonable answers to the mysteries in my life. Instead, I am confronted with the fact that I have an uncanny ability to attract freaks.
“Liam, I have to go. Please don’t contact me again.” I got up to leave, but Liam grabbed my hand gently.
“Erika, what about your strength? How do you explain how strong you are, or the fact that you can read minds?”
I shook my hand free. Liam simply let go. Liam didn’t seem dangerous, but then again, neither had Robert. Even though I didn’t want to leave I knew I had to. I had to get away, away from another mistake. I was doing it again—falling for another insane person.
Liam screamed after me as I started to run back to my house, “Erika, do yourself a favor and read the book! You’re in danger!”
You’re in danger were the last words I heard before my vision started to blur. Everything got big, then small, pulsating noise filled my ears, and then… nothing.
The next thing I knew I was standing in front of my apartment stairs. How did I get here? The blackouts were happening more and more. They were always triggered when I was scared or overwhelmed.
I walked up the stairs to our four-bedroom apartment. It was unusual to be able to find a four-bedroom since most apartments only went up to 3, but my mom had searched high and low. After my mom’s last relationship ended, our house went into foreclosure, and an apartment was all we could afford. But she was intent on making sure we all had separate rooms. They were small, but separate. She always tried to give us the best. She hated living in an apartment and wanted so badly to be able to buy a house again.
I walked in. I could smell that my mom had been cooking, the familiar aroma of my favorite pot roast filled the house. My mom immediately met me at the door.
“Erika, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”
“Mom, she’s only been gone for like 15 minutes, calm down,” Alyssa shouted from the couch.
“I was only gone for 15 minutes?”
“I guess, or maybe closer to ten. Mom wanted to call the cops after two.” Alyssa got up from the couch and rolled her eyes.
Ten minutes. There’s no way. Riverton Park is three miles away: three miles there, and three miles back. How was I only gone for ten minutes?
I walked past the living room where Kai’s grey and white cat, Schmuggles, slept. At least Schmuggles left me alone. The cat didn’t even look up as I walked by; he couldn’t care less, which was how I liked things.
As I walked past the kitchen, I could feel the warm heat of the oven permeating through my body and the smell of cloves making my mouth water. It was nice to be home. I walked down the hall, passing Kai’s room on the left, and my mom’s across from him on the right. My mom’s room was filled with flowers and balloons. I wondered why she would put them all in her room if they were for me. I got my answer when I opened my bedroom door. My bedroom, along with Alyssa’s, was at the end of the hall. It was filled with balloons, cards, teddy bears… there wasn’t any more room for even one single flower. It was obvious that a lot of people believed I was not involved in the shooting. I closed my door, cleared an area off my bed, and laid down, staring up at the ceiling.
My thoughts turned to Liam. I knew it was crazy for me to entertain what he was saying. But things in my life didn’t make sense. Can he see the future? It’s not impossible, I can hear people’s thoughts. In the hospital he knew that Detective Nixon was approaching. He also said something that didn’t make sense, that he ‘couldn’t see my past or my future’. What did that mean?
He didn’t tell me who he was or what he really wanted, but then again… I didn’t really give him a chance. I guess I did that often, leave when I was uncomfortable. I wanted to know more about him. It was easy to say he was crazy or believe that what he was saying was impossible, but I had so many more questions for him.
Why did he seem so familiar? His voice, his face… I knew there was no way I had ever met him before. I definitely would have remembered a guy who looked like that. And the birthmark… what did it all mean? I thought about every inch of his face, how his left cheek dimpled when he smiled, his long brown almost auburn sideburns, and the way he got little wrinkles around his eyes when he spoke intensely.
Why was he saying I was in danger?
I got up and grabbed my duffel bag. I grabbed the fragile book and read the title out loud: “The Four Points.”
Chapter 7
THE FOUR POINTS
As I turned the delicate pages of the old book, the first page reiterated the book’s title, The Four Points.
I read about diamonds and their unique place in the story of civilization. I was brought into a world of magic, myth, superstition, legend, and supernatural belief. From the earliest of times, the diamond was well-regarded as a magical intermediary between man and the unseen forces of nature that governed his fate. The diamond's awe-inspiring strength and durability came to signify valor and virility, invincibility and good fortune. Its unearthly light symbolized a higher power and spiritual illumination.
The first diamond was discovered in India. From these early times, the diamond was embedded into the very soul of India, its myths and legends woven into the fabric of Hindu culture. Hindus believed that diamonds were created when lightning bolts struck rocks. Astrologically, diamonds were associated with sacred moonlight. They were worn in battle as a symbol of courage and virtue, to instill the wearer with magical strength, and more practically, to deflect weapon blows. The book included translated passages from a sixth-century A.D. Indian text, called the Ratna Pariksha, it described the protective powers of the diamond in detail, asserting that the presence of a diamond means that dangers will recede, and that the diamond will protect against serpents, fire, poison, sickness, thieves, floods, and evil spirits.
It is said that in India, where the first known diamonds were discovered, a great evil fell upon the Hindu people. A cave of diamonds was discovered, diamonds so powerful they gave their holder the power to heal the sick and wounded; to read other’s minds and take control of their actions; they gave the power of sight, to see into the future; and the power to control earth, wind, rain, and fire. This legend told of the good Hindu people that guarded this cave. They knew that if the diamonds fell into the wrong hands, evil would befall their lands. One day two strangers named Erebus and Akeldama arrived to the Hindu land after hearing stories about the secret cave of diamonds. The young Hindu queen, Adhira, fell in love with Erebus. She betrayed her husband and her people. She was seduced by the strange visitor, misled by the man whom she thought she loved. He tricked the queen into showing him the location of the secret cave. When the queen showed Erebus and Akeldama the cave of diamonds, they used the diamonds’ powers to kill her and everyone who protected the sacred cave. Only four people escaped from the slaughter. These four were shamans, spell-makers, magic-men. They created a diamond shape around the two murdering foreigners, casting a spell to trap their souls and powers into the diamond for all eternity. Since the diamonds’ powers had been used for evil, some of the diamonds in the cave had turned black, and were said to hold the dark black souls of the strangers. The white diamonds that remained held the powers of good. These diamonds shone brighter than ever, signifying the Hindus’ triumph over evil. It is said that every century since, one hundred human D
iamonds are born; this number signifies the number of people that guarded the first cave of diamonds. These people all share a common trait; a diamond-shaped birthmark. Out of the hundred born, only four possess the supernatural powers of the diamond. These four chosen ones are called Points. The four people chosen are said to be inherently good and deserving of these powers, people who will never use their powers for evil. These powers are the same powers the original shamans were ordained with after becoming the victors of the battle between good and evil. These four are the chosen gatekeepers of good.
I stopped reading and touched my neck. I could never see my birthmark without looking at my reflection in two mirrors, but I knew it was there. I closed the book. Sitting dumbfounded, I wondered, could any of this be real? I sat there contemplating the things that I was able to do that didn’t make sense.
My mom came in with a plate of dinner, giving me a reprieve from my swirling thoughts. I tried to eat, but I didn’t have much of an appetite. I lazily laid on my side, playing with the plate in front of me on my bed. My mom came back about a half an hour later to gather my dish.
“Erika,” my mom said in the gentlest tone she could muster. She sat down near the foot of my bed and got right down to business. She was always one to get straight to the point. “The parents of the kids that died want to talk to you.”
“Please Mom, no. Mom, I can’t. I didn’t even see what happened to their kids. I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to them.”
“Erika, I know it’s hard, but these people are hurting; they need you to help them. I’ve also set up some interviews for you. The world is eager to know what happened. They want to hear from the hero of Riverton.”
“Mom, seriously, I can’t do this! I don’t want to do interviews. I will meet with the families, but no interviews. I am not a hero.”
