by CC Solomon
“Why do you do this?”
Reggie frowned. “I used to be a cop. Nothing I learned from that job helped saved the people I cared about. For half the things that I’ve seen, bullets don’t even work. Regular humans are practically defenseless. I’m not used to that. This serum gives me a fighting chance.” The bartender returned with our drinks. Reggie signed what looked like an inventory sheet. Guess that’s how they kept track of who owed what since money was only good for burning nowadays.
He passed me my drink. “Look, Amina, right?” I nodded. “You seem nice. And I’m guessing maybe you never hurt anyone. I hope for your sake, things work out for you, and you find your place in this new world. But for tonight, just try to have a good time. You deserve it.”
He placed a hand on my lower back, and I stiffened.
“Relax,” he whispered in my ear. “I won’t hurt you. Let’s just have some fun.”
Geez, guys were still creeps, even in this new and scary world.
“Amina,” a familiar voice came from my left. David. Shit. “Very surprised to see you here.”
I didn’t turn towards him.
“David,” Reggie stated in a tense tone. His eyes grew cold.
“Reggie.” David’s voice sounded tight, as well.
There was tension here. Interesting.
David looked to me. “What are you up to?”
I took a sip of my drink. “Just having a good time.” I turned to face the bar, keeping David in my peripheral vision.
“Jealous?” Reggie asked. I think I hated him less than David now.
David looked over to Reggie and then me, before grabbing a bottle of champagne the bartender handed to him. We couldn’t get nachos, but we had all of the alcohol we could ever want. New, scary world just wasn’t fair.
“Hardly. But I am going to borrow the lovely Amina for a moment. I’ll return her to you.” David threw out his hand to me.
I looked to Reggie, who scrunched his face and turned away. Guess it was clear who had the power here.
I didn’t take David’s hand and instead turned to fully face him. “Where are we going?”
“Someplace we can talk and get to know each other better.”
My stomach tightened. This would not be good, but something told me I didn’t have a choice in the matter. “Let me tell my friend where I’m going, so she doesn’t worry. Please.”
David waved his hand. “Fine, be quick.”
I walked over to Chelsea, who was still caught up in the rapture of love with Oliver.
I tapped her on the shoulder. “Chelsea, I have to go for a bit.”
Chelsea reluctantly pulled herself away from Oliver. “Why?” She asked, a look of surprise on her face.
“David’s making me leave. He wants to talk,” I replied, not hiding my annoyance.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe I can get Oliver to talk to him. Does he think you did something wrong? We can cover for you.”
“Thanks, honey, but I don’t think it’s going to be that simple.”
Chelsea looked over to David with a glare. “I don’t feel good about this, Amina.”
“I don’t either, but what choice do I have?”
Tears began to form in her eyes, and she blinked rapidly. I wasn’t that nervous about leaving with David a minute ago, but now I was getting near panic, based on Chelsea’s reaction.
“I’m sorry, Amina,” she said. “This is my fault, I shouldn’t have told you to come out.”
I shook my head. She didn’t know this would happen, she just wanted me to have fun. I couldn’t blame her, although the petty in me tried. “This isn’t your fault. I’m going to be fine. If you don’t see me in an hour, find my brother.”
She gave an eager nod before leaning towards my ear. “If he tries anything, bite his penis.”
I frowned. “I really don’t want to.”
“Just…fight, do what you have to. Let him know you won’t be used. If he thinks he can once, he’ll do it all the time.”
I nodded and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll fight,” I replied before turning and leaving.
David led me to what appeared to be an office a couple rooms down from the cafe/bar.
He offered me a seat, pointing to chairs in front of a large mahogany desk near the wall opposite the door.
“Why do we need to talk?” I asked, remaining standing.
David walked over to the desk and poured the champagne into two glasses. He offered me a glass, and I shook my glass of vodka at him. He shrugged and put the other glass down on the desk.
“You aren’t like some of the others. You’re tougher. You’re more powerful. If you hadn’t used your power against my people when they interacted with you, you’d probably wouldn’t even have been caught. You don’t look like a monster,” he explained.
“They pulled guns out on us. I’m not the monster.”
David made a smug smile before gulping down his glass. “You have a defective gene that showed up when all hell broke loose. You were lucky that it didn’t turn you into a four-legged creature.”
I’d heard him say this before, so I was now desensitized to his words. “I’m not inferior. I’m more advanced if anything. And you are scared and jealous of us. That’s why you’re doing this.”
He nodded, thoughtfully. “I had a sister. We were twins, actually. I was the oldest by eleven minutes. Her name was Danielle. When the change happened, she was six months pregnant. Her husband was stuck overseas in the military. Air Force.” He picked up the second glass of champagne, having finished the first. “We met what I now realize was a fairy. It was a he. No more than eighteen years old. He had these weird orange eyes. I’d never seen a human with eyes that color. He tried to take some groceries from my sister. We’d been struggling to find food, and she had prenatal stuff in the bag. It was several months after everything changed, and we were still trying to find our way. So, this thing comes up and even after my sister offered to share, he still attacked. I had a gun and shot it, but it deflected the bullet somehow.”
David scrunched his face and I tried to focus on the story, ignoring his use of “it” to describe the boy because I knew where this was going. “Next thing I know, it zaps my sister. Electrocutes her or something. These sparks flew out of its hands and surrounded my sister. She screamed. And burned. Have you ever smelled burnt flesh?” He didn’t wait for me to answer, his cold eyes now uncharacteristically pained. “She cried blood. I kept shooting it. But nothing worked. Then it ran. Didn’t even take the groceries. My sister and her baby died on the street, in agonizing pain.” His eyes watered, and he turned to wipe tears away. “So, yes, you are a defect. You are monsters, even when you don’t look like it. This place is helping to keep you from killing innocent humans and helping us to stop others like you.”
It didn’t seem the time to tell him that this could and did happen with regular humans. There was no monopoly on good people. Those with gifts and without gifts were all free to be good or evil.
“I’m sorry to hear about your sister. What happened wasn’t right. But we all aren’t monsters. Many of us help people.”
David turned towards me, eyes dry. He smiled, but, as usual, it failed to reach his eyes. “You really believe that, don’t you?” He walked towards me, and I backed up to the closed door.
“We can help you. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can work together. We all want the same thing. To survive. Peacefully.” Reasoning seemed silly. David was so far gone into his hurt and anger, but I felt why not make the best last-ditch effort I could? He had never reached out to me in any meaningful way before, and this was probably as much as I would get from him.
David stopped inches from me. I looked down at his right hand, which was now shaking. “I know of a way you can help me,” he said in a low, thick voice. He then grabbed my face and kissed me forcefully. I pushed against him, but he only held me tighter. I punched
his shoulder but that only seemed to encourage him. Finally, I kneed him in the groin, dropping my glass. He keeled over, and I reached for the doorknob, but he recovered all too quickly and knocked my hand away.
I knew it was the serum that made him so strong, but it was fight or flight for me now. I had no intentions on being his plaything.
I grabbed the doorknob again and he back-handed me, knocking me out of sorts. I fell to my knees, face in pain, and momentarily stunned.
Amina! A familiar male voice boomed in my head. Are you okay?
“What is this?” I murmured.
Don’t be alarmed. It’s Phillip. I’m telepathic. I felt you might be in danger.
“Who? How’d you know?”
David turned from me and locked the door. I crawled away and rested my back against the nearest wall, my mind screaming.
“Look, I’m sorry I had to hit you, but you did strike first,” David said, turning back to me. “I just wanted a kiss.”
“Go to hell, you piece of shit.”
He grinned wider. “I don’t want to take it, so just submit.”
Amina, you can fight him. You’re strong enough.
I was going mad, hearing voices in my head. However, I didn’t have time to focus on that. I needed to use my powers, but the drugs were still in my system, and I only had enough magic to lift a piece of paper in the air. Somehow, I felt a paper cut wouldn’t faze him.
“Say, yes.” He knelt in front of me and moved closer. He spread my legs apart, and I kicked and tried to resist but failed. He moved between my thighs and grabbed my hands, forcing them above my head and pressing my wrists against the wall in a tight grip.
Fight back, find something to bash your attacker in the head with. Use your powers. The stranger named Phillip persisted in my head.
“I can’t,” I muttered.
You can! You are strong. Try!
I prayed to God as I searched the room for a weapon. I couldn’t have this happen to me.
“This life could be better for you if you would just accept things as they are now. The blood from you with the serum base is beyond anything I’ve ever felt. And I can’t seem to get you out of my head. I don’t want to hurt you, Amina. But I can’t let you go.” David’s hands shook again, jerking my hands and arms.
My eyes rested on the bottle of champagne on top of the desk.
“I’d rather die than have sex with you.” I spat.
David moved back a fraction, frowning. “If this were any other time, you wouldn’t turn me down.”
“You aren’t my type.” I struggled under his grasp and kept looking at the bottle, willing it to move.
It shook.
David grabbed my jaw and roughly turned my face to him. My left hand was now free. “I’m everybody’s type,” he stated and then kissed me again. I bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, my mind still on the bottle. David drew back and looked at me, a crazed smile on his face as he licked his lip. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw the bottle slide towards me. David squinted his eyes and began to turn his head, but I scratched his face with my free hand. He cried out a curse and slapped me across the face with his open hand. I expected the blow this time and stood against the pain. My concentration didn’t falter, and the bottle slid off the desk and floated in the air towards me. I willed it to smash against David’s head.
David turned all too late as the bottle crashed into his skull, knocking him sideways. He let go of my other hand. I quickly scrambled away from him ad got up. I raced to the door, unlocked it, and ran out.
I ran down the hallway, unsure of where I was going. I could hear footsteps behind me, but I didn’t turn around, afraid to lose speed. The runner was fast and I still had on my heels. I stumbled but regained my footing before hitting the ground. I made a quick right to another wing of the hallway past a gift shop. Still, the feet behind me kept up with my running until I felt the person only inches away.
Someone grabbed the back of my dress and yanked me to the ground. My right knee crashed against the tile floor, and I tumbled, slamming my back against the wall. David appeared over me, a needle in his hand, and before I could fight, he stuck it in my arm. In seconds, I felt like I was floating underwater, and then things went very dark.
Chapter 4
When I woke up, the light from the sun was shining right in my face again, and so were Charles and Chelsea with looks of worry.
I frowned and turned away. “Were you looking at me this whole time?” I asked, my voice dry and cracked.
Charles sucked his teeth. “No. I’m not a psycho. I saw you stirring, so I figured you were waking up.”
Chelsea leaned in and wrapped me in a hug so tight I thought I would suffocate. I tapped her on the shoulder. “I can’t breathe,” I mumbled into her chest.
She let me go, and I noticed her eyes were filled with tears. “I should have gone in your place,” she cried.
“So, he could do this to you? What good would that do?”
“You’re kind of bruised up. He do that to your cheek?” Charles asked, eyes frowning.
I scrunched my cheek and winced at the dull ache. “I’m a little worse for the wear, but I’ll be okay.”
We heard footsteps outside, and Charles jumped off the edge of the bed. He looked out the door and then came back in. “We can’t stay long.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Two days,” Chelsea said, tearfully.
“Shit.”
“They aren’t letting you have visitors, but Joanie got us in. Why’d you even go?” Charles asked.
I shrugged. “I thought I could learn something more about this place to help me get out.”
“Did you?”
I shook my head, glad there wasn’t the usual grogginess I felt after being doped up. Curious. “Just more about the people. Not everyone is what I thought.”
Charles grabbed my hand, an odd gesture for him. He looked down at my fingers and shook his head. “I hate to ask this, Mina, but did he…” his voice trailed off in a nervous whisper.
I widened my eyes. “He tried. But I was able to use a bit of my powers and stop him. At least stop him from doing anything while I was conscious. But I don’t think he did anything when I was out. He was very adamant about wanting my permission, even if it was fake.”
Chelsea let out a deep sigh.
“I’m going to gut him,” Charles said, looking up with an uncharacteristically rage-filled face. He didn’t have the boyish face at that moment that I’d gotten so used to. We were practically twins, but he was taller and leaner. In that instant, however, he looked more like my father with his eyes so serious.
“Then, you’d get killed, and you’re all I have left, so you can’t die.”
“They’re monsters.”
I nodded.
“Sam is dead. They drained him,” Charles informed me.
I shook my head and sighed. “David said they were helping us. I’m sure Sam had a better chance on his own than being treated like cattle here. Or anyone having to give up their bodies in order to get some extra treats.”
Jared stuck his head in. “We gotta go,” he said. “Glad you’re okay, Mina. Keep fighting.” He raised a fist in the air.
I smiled at him.
Charles bent over and gave me a tight hug, and Chelsea swooped in for another air depleting embrace.
They left, and I spent the next several days in lock up with only visits from Joanie bringing me food. I kept replaying the attack and trying to determine how I’d gotten a burst of magic. The magic was still there, to a lesser degree, brimming at the surface.
How?
And how did I hear Phillip’s voice in my head? Was I finally going crazy here? I tried to picture him in my mind and conjure him up, but I was unsuccessful. Maybe I was really going crazy.
“Phillip?” I called out loud in my room on day six of solitary confinement.
I was splayed out on th
e floor, staring up at the ceiling.
No response.
“Well, maybe you aren’t real. Maybe I’m getting schizophrenia or multiple personalities. You’re one of my personalities, then. So, to the Phillip side of me, thank you for saving me.”
Yep, this is how insanity started.
No need to thank me, Amina, said the male voice in my head.
“Well, technically I’m thanking myself since you’re just one of my personalities.”
Come again?
“You’re a part of my undiagnosed dissociative identity disorder.”
Is that what you think?
I heard him laugh in my head. “What’s so funny?”
I realize this world can make us go crazy, but I’m not an imaginary person. I’m very real. My powers allow me to connect to you for some reason. I don’t have the ability to do it on command. At least not now. And I can’t say when I first could do it. Probably within the past several months. But I felt you when you were in danger.
“You’re real?”
Yes, although I guess you won’t believe me until you see me. Look, Amina, you aren’t going to make it much longer if you stay there. I’ll try to help you the best that I can. Send you energy. You aren’t going to get out if you don’t have your powers. I was able to send you some strength when you were attacked. I’ll keep doing that.
“How?”
I don’t know, but from now on, you can’t act like you’re powerless when you’re in danger. You aren’t. But try to save your strength for when you are absolutely sure you are ready to leave. Which has to be soon.
“How soon?”
There was a long pause.
“Phillip?”
Sorry, Amina. I have to go. Get out soon! I really want to meet you in person, Amina.
“But where are you? Why are you helping me?”
I waited several minutes for a response but got nothing. I wasn’t certain I really wasn’t going crazy. However, maybe I was sane, and maybe there was some Good Samaritan paranormal person out there who had run into me in his mind and just wanted to help. Maybe we’d spoken in a past dream like he claimed, and I had told him my story. He wasn’t the only one who wanted to meet. A stranger was telepathically communicating with me from who knows where and somehow able to transfer power to me. Yeah, I had to meet him. Or just confirm that I wasn’t finally letting this new world drive me crazy.
