Jaden Baker

by Courtney Kirchoff

  And come it did, quicker than he anticipated, and sooner, clearly, than Dalton would have liked. Leading up to it, Dalton forced Jaden to practice and keep practicing, though he was already an expert. He went along with it anyway, entertained by Dalton’s panic.

  After a while, Jaden couldn’t ignore his own nerves. This was more than a presentation, his life depended on it. He had to think and react instantly and break out of here before anyone could stop him. He didn’t know how to work the doors, but perhaps learning them was not important. Maybe he would be moved to another location, and the doors would be different.

  The day before the presentation, Dalton came into Jaden’s cell carrying a box. He sat on the edge of Jaden’s bed. Jaden stood with his arms crossed, curious about why Dalton was here, and why he acted so casually.

  “I want to thank you, Jaden,” he said with what sounded like sincerity. “I know this hasn’t been easy for you. It hasn’t even been fair. You’ve given me your best and allowed me to take part in the miracle. So thank you.”

  Jaden couldn’t speak.

  Something was going to happen after the presentation. Dalton had an idea, but wasn’t sharing. Jaden would’ve jumped on the panic train, but Dalton didn’t act worried. It didn’t matter anyway, Jaden wouldn’t be here after tomorrow.

  Dalton set the box on the bed. “They’re clothes for tomorrow. You don’t want to be dressed like that in front of so many people.”

  For the past who knows how many years, Jaden had worn the exact same thing: loose fitting gray scrubs and socks. The clothes in the box were for the real world. Dark blue jeans, a cream colored turtleneck sweater, brown hiking boots. The turtleneck interested him the most. Dalton wanted to hide the collar. The people coming to the presentation didn’t know about it.

  Jaden was told to get ready after finishing his lunch. Martin wore a button up black shirt with the symbol of Jaden’s tattoo embroidered over his left breast. Interesting.

  He felt like vomiting. His hands shook as he pulled on his jeans. He noticed how weird they felt on his legs, rough and stiff. With the sweater on, Jaden examined himself in the mirror: he looked nearly normal, save his ghostly skin and eyes wide with fright.

  “Come on, kid,” Martin said. He, too, was nervous.

  Jaden came out of the room, clomping in his new shoes. They were heavy and bulky.

  Outside in the hallway were all of Jaden’s handlers: Casey, Martin, Patrick, Douglas, William, and Alan. All wore the same black uniforms with the upside down black and white pyramid on the breasts.

  Dalton wore a dark gray suit with a blazing white shirt and diagonal blue striped tie. He fiddled with it and examined his watch, which he’d never worn before.

  “We gotta go,” he said. “Everyone follow me. Casey, Patrick and William, you walk behind me, and you three walk behind him. Jaden, how you feeling?” he asked, smiling.

  Apprehensive but alive.

  “Fine,” Jaden said. “Nervous,” he added truthfully.

  “You’ll be great. Just do as I say and everything will be all right. Okay everyone, let’s go.”

  Jaden was excited to see the exit. He’d only ever been in three rooms. They walked down the main hallway and it came to a corner, another hall to the left and a door to the right.

  “Okay,” Dalton said. “So, Patrick when you get the go ahead, Martin and Douglas will bring Jaden through the other door. Alan and Casey, you’ll wait at this entrance and William and Patrick will head to the other entrance. Clear?”

  All six of them nodded. Jaden was confused. They weren’t leaving?

  Dalton typed in the door code, shielding it from Jaden’s view, and walked through the door. It clanked behind him, leaving Jaden with the six handlers and nothing to say. He wondered what Dalton was doing, or what he was supposed to do once he got wherever.

  Martin showed the first sign of nerves. He tapped his toe and rubbed the stubble on his face. Patrick also got a little itchy. Douglas yawned. Alan stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone and avoiding Jaden’s eyes.

  After ten minutes or so, Patrick’s radio scratched on. “Bring him in.”

  “Right, this is it,” Martin said. Patrick came over to Jaden’s other side, but Casey put up a hand to stop them. He licked his lips and put out his hand to Jaden.

  “Good luck, man,” he said.

  Surprised, Jaden shook it.

  William followed, extending his hand. Then Patrick, Douglas, and Martin.

  “Yeah, good luck, kid,” Martin said.

  Alan was last. His lip twitched. He put out his hand, and when Jaden grabbed it, Alan clasped it with his other hand.

  “Knock ‘em dead, Jaden.” He rejoined Casey. Patrick and William left for the other entrance and Martin put his arm around Jaden’s shoulders and led him back down the hall toward his room.

  Jaden clenched his fist and looked back at Alan as he was led away. Alan winked.

  His heart hammered for the first time in a long time. He shoved his hand into his pocket, careful not to pull up the scrap of paper Alan had palmed to him, as he drew out his hand.

  Martin entered the code and the door opened. The three of them stepped into an entryway similar to the one at Jaden’s cell. Another door was here. Martin typed a code, and the door clanked open like the first. He walked through and Jaden followed.

  An auditorium greeted him: tall, wide, and expansive, with five rows of people sitting tiered from the floor to the ceiling; the rows curved so everyone had a view.

  There had to be two hundred people here, many more than Jaden had expected. There were men and women in the rows, white people and black, Asians, Indians, and all races in between. Some were old, some young, and most in the middle. They blurred together into one giant organism.

  It was overwhelming. They overloaded his brain and clouded his mind. There were so many people here, he didn’t know how to...sort the data. It was like he’d been tossed into a pool of squirming fish. He felt them moving, their tails beating against his skin. All stared at him in fascination.

  “Jaden,” Dalton said, half turning to face him. “Are you ready?” he asked.

  Jaden swallowed and stared into Dalton’s eyes.

  “You’ll do fine. Just focus on what I tell you. Pretend these people aren’t here.”

  But they were here. Hundreds of them. All staring and pressing in on him, suffocating his mind.

  “Do you need a minute?” Dalton asked.

  Jaden’s legs shook and, had Martin not grabbed his arm, he would’ve fallen—and this floor was not padded.

  Dalton faced his audience. “We’re a little nervous,” he smiled.

  They laughed politely, and due to their numbers, loudly.

  Dalton gave Jaden a paper cup filled with water. Jaden took it and drank, his hand trembling. Then Dalton put his hands on Jaden’s shoulders and bent his knees so he could be eye level with him. “You can do this,” he whispered. “You’re very talented. I know you can do this. Try to ignore them and you’ll be fine.”

  This is your way out of here, said a comforting voice in the back of Jaden’s mind.

  Jaden shut his eyes and breathed steadily, doing his best to block out the people here without killing them. He breathed in, then out. In and out. In and out.

  You can do this. You have to do this.

  He opened his eyes and nodded at Dalton. “Okay,” he whispered.

  Dalton gently shook Jaden’s shoulders then released him and faced the crowd. “We’re going to start with a few basics,” he said in a booming voice. “Just to get him warmed up. Jaden’s never been in front of so many people.” Dalton took four tennis balls from a box under a table Jaden hadn’t noticed before. Dalton tossed the balls to four random people in the rows of seats. Martin pushed Jaden forward so he stood next to Dalton.

  “Focus on the tennis balls,” Dalton said to him, smiling. “Got it?”

  Jaden tried not to look into the faces of the crowd. His mind searched for the
balls and found them. He nodded at Dalton. He was ready.

  “On the count of three I’m going to ask you to throw the balls back. Normally they’d bounce on the floor. Jaden will catch them and line them in a row right about here,” he said, drawing an invisible line in front of his face.

  “One,” he said, and the crowd leaned forward. Jaden felt for the balls.

  “Two,” Dalton said, grinning, confident, sure.

  “Three.” Four balls were tossed by four different people, yet each ball fell toward the center. They were the only things in the auditorium with arching, predictable trajectories, and were distinguishable from the living, moving crowd.

  Jaden caught all four. They stopped in midair, lining themselves in a row, spaced six inches apart, on the imaginary line Dalton had drawn seconds before.

  The crowd’s energy changed instantly. Lungs released air, hearts quickened, hands clapped, and an audible “ooooooh” filled the chamber. Everyone applauded with an abrasive smacking.

  Jaden stepped back, still making sure the balls were unaffected.

  Dalton noticed Jaden’s change of demeanor and raised his hands to calm the crowd. “Thank you,” he said. “But if you could please hold your applause until the end of the presentation.”

  He patted Jaden’s back and grinned again. “Good job. Now, do you think you can create an atomic structure with those?” he whispered.

  Jaden stared at the four balls in a hovering row. He left one there, and sent the other three in orbit around it, one circling vertically, one horizontally, and one diagonally. Dalton grabbed a fifth ball then threw it into the air. Jaden sent it in the opposite diagonal orbit of the other. The center ball acted the nucleus, while the balls in orbit were the electrons. At first they moved slowly, then gained speed. Jaden ensured each stayed in its path; they did not collide with each other, and never broke out of his artificial center of gravity.

  The crowd was delighted. Jaden noticed smiling faces.

  Jaden took a breath. He could do this. As long as he focused on his task, the crowd did not bother or affect him.

  “Now,” Dalton said, “I need five volunteers to catch them.” He pointed at five people who raised their right hands.

  “Good. Jaden, if you’d please toss the balls into their outstretched hands.”

  The tennis ball atom exploded—the balls smacked into the open hands of Dalton’s designated catchers with pinpoint accuracy. Again, he saw how ecstatic the crowd was. He took the brief lull in time to analyze it. All had been stripped of their normal everyday objects, like watches or pocket pens.

  Jaden scanned the room. The staff guarded the doors, the one Jaden had come through, and another set of double doors with handles, up a flight of stairs. Each of the guards had a holstered weapon hidden in the smalls of their backs. Tranquilizer guns.

  “And now for my next trick,” Dalton joked. A few people laughed.

  Jaden ignored the way Dalton was stealing his credit and tried finding the collar remote. With so many people here, it was hard to find the small object. He knew Dalton didn’t have it. Dalton gesticulated and grinned like a buffoon to the crowd, enjoying the attention, so he did not have his thumb on the button. Which meant someone else did. It would be someone with their hand in a pocket.

  Dalton set a glass punch bowl on the table and filled it with water from a jug.

  “While some of what Psychokinesis can do may be a little theatrical, it’s very powerful and works on the molecular level. Jaden here can work with the molecules in this bowl of water and create steam or turn it to ice.” He turned to Jaden. “Steam first.”

  Jaden focused on the water, imagining the slow and tiny molecules. Then he imagined them bouncing excitedly. They blurred in his mind, and when he checked the water, he saw steam rising, the water inside at a rolling boil.

  “That’s spectacular!” someone yelled.

  Jaden looked at the man, who stared back at him. “How does he do that?”

  The man was old, lanky and had big ears. He spoke in a high voice.

  Dalton beamed. “We’ll get to that, I promise.”

  There was a grumbling in the crowd. Apparently they’d grown tired of the demonstration and wanted to know how it was done.

  “But he’s so young,” the man said again. “How old is he, Dr. Dalton?”

  Jaden listened.

  “He’s thirteen,” Dalton answered and the crowd nodded impressively but stirred with more questions.

  The room’s silence was only his imagination.

  Thirteen. He was thirteen. He had been here, locked underground under Dalton’s rule, for four years. A third of his life.

  “I can see you’re ready for answers. Let’s just demonstrate one more thing, and Jaden will leave and we can move to the next part of the presentation.” He turned to Jaden, who looked at him with his best attempt at nonchalance. “Freeze the water.”

  Jaden nodded.

  The water froze instantly in the bowl and the crowd applauded.

  Four years. And not one more day.

  Jaden’s mind searched frantically for the remote. Finally he found it. A woman held it. A woman he recognized. Dr. Claire the orthodontist, her soft curly hair falling on her shoulders. She corrected his teeth over the past few years. Over the past four years, as it turned out. Now her job was to hold the button. The remote was secured to her hand in some kind of device with snaps.

  As Dalton soaked in the applause from his admiring crowd, Jaden knew his window of opportunity had opened. He would have to get the remote from her, but her fingers were gripped tightly around it in addition to it being strapped to her. He would have to either kill her or knock her unconscious. He didn’t want to kill her. Something stopped him.

  He needed to put her in a chokehold, to temporarily stop the blood from reaching her brain, causing her to pass out. Alan taught him how to accomplish this, it was just a matter of performing it remotely. Once she fainted, Jaden had to grab the remote, kill Dalton, and neutralize the security team with their tranquilizer guns.

  Dalton’s life was about to end. At least he was going out on top.

  Then a desperate thought came to him.

  Molly.

  Dalton was Molly’s father. What if she loved him? What if he’d been wrong about her and she didn’t think him an asshole, what if she adored him? What Jaden saw was an arrogant, yet devoted man. What if he was a good father to her? If Jaden killed him, she wouldn’t have a dad anymore. How different would Jaden’s life be if his real father was around to protect him? He couldn’t take Molly’s father from her. And Dr. Claire. What if she was Molly’s friend, or worse, her mother? Jaden wouldn’t orphan Molly. He couldn’t do that to her.

  Jaden saw the bowl of ice on the table. In his glee, Dalton forgot to tell Jaden to melt the ice. Here was his weapon. He’d hit Dalton in the head, knock him out.

  The clapping settled. He had to do it now.

  Claire had one hand on her lap, the other in a jacket pocket. He found her carotid artery in her neck, at least he thought that’s what it was. He wasn’t sure. Behind his back, Jaden pinched his fingers together. Claire put her free hand to her neck and Jaden looked away from her. Before she suspected Jaden had done something, she lost consciousness.

  Deep breath.

  Jaden lunged, grabbed the bowl with his hands and threw it at Dalton’s head. Using PK to guide his aim, he hit his mark exactly and Dalton presumably fell to the floor, Jaden hadn’t watched long enough to confirm. He dove under the table and reached with his mind for the tranquilizer guns held by the guards.

  They flew into his two open hands. The ones he couldn’t hold, he allowed to drop. Jaden emerged from under the table and shot two security guards. The guns held one dart each.

  The people in the audience scrambled for the doors, screaming.

  Jaden thought he’d have to fight off or kill the remaining guards. Surprisingly, they joined the crowd trying to squeeze through the doors.

 
Jaden plunged into the crowd for Claire; they avoided him like he had some kind of disease. He seized Claire’s hand and unbuckled the strap, removing the remote, shoving it in his back pocket.

  Now was the time to hit the doors.

  The crowd bottlenecked—it was more important for Jaden to get through. They could wait their turn, seeing as how none of them were willing to help. Jaden ran at the doors, shoving people out of the way, some of them with his hands, but most with his mind. They flew like paper dolls confronting an industrial fan. The doors blasted open without his touch and he ran through.

  Patrick and William were on the other side pointing guns at him. They flew back with such force he may have broken their backs when they hit the opposite wall. Jaden didn’t stick around to see. He didn’t care.

  He ran to a door, only to be confronted with a keypad.

  Shit. He couldn’t figure out the doors.

  Alan’s note!

  Jaden jammed his hand in his pocket and drew out the paper, opening it with nervous fingers. The first thing he saw was a set of numbers. The code.

  Jaden pounded the numbers into the keypad and the door slid open. He ran through. Now he was back in his facility, no one was there to stop him. He raced down the hallway to the end. The test rooms were to his left, and a door at his right. It was deadly quiet, no one followed him. Jaden had never been through this door before, but guessed and hoped it was an exit.

  Jaden punched the code into the second keypad and the door slid open.

  He was confronted not with a clear exit but a two paneled door with a triangular button on the wall. He pushed the button and the panels slid into each other to reveal a small elevator.

  Jaden ran inside, the doors closed.

  This was it, he was sure. His heart raced. He was escaping, it was finally over.

  There was an up button, and he pushed it. But the elevator didn’t move.

  ENTER CODE flashed on a small monitor.

  Instead of a numeric keypad, it was alphabetical. Jaden didn’t have time to guess Dalton’s secret password, and he craned his neck to look at the ceiling of the elevator. He’d have to bust through and climb the shaft. As he looked for something to help him up (there was nothing) his eyes came back to the alphabetic keypad. The L was faded. Inspired, Jaden punched in a guess: M-O-L-L-Y