Training

by Sonya Lee

  Chapter 3

  My dad must have carried me to my bedroom after I fell asleep because when the nightmare woke me I was in my own bed, the last scream still vibrating down into my soul. My parents came rushing into my bedroom. My mom turned on the bedside lamp and my dad sat down on the bed next to me.

  "Agnes, did you have a nightmare?" asked my mother as my father cuddled me close.

  "Yes, the bad men came to get me, they took me away. They wanted to do to me what they did to Jason," I said quivering.

  My mother looked around the room and noticed the dirty footprints leading from the window towards my bed. "James look at the floor."

  My father looked down at the floor and noticed the footprints as well. He scanned my bedroom looking for telltale signs of disturbance, the only thing he noticed was that my bedroom window was open. This wasn't unusual, I always slept with the window open in the summertime. I didn't like the cold air from the air conditioning unit, I liked a natural breeze. "Mary close Agnes' window and lock it," he said standing up with me.

  My mother walked over to the window, closed and then locked it.

  “She’s freezing cold,” said my father picking me up and heading for the kitchen. My mother followed closely behind. When we made it to the kitchen my dad sat down with me on his lap. I was still shivering and felt that it would never stop. The nightmare was still so vivid in my mind. I kept playing it over and over again. My mom walked over to the refrigerator, pulled a carton of milk out and poured some into a pot that was on the stove. She turned the stove on and started warming the milk before turning and looking at me once again.

  "Agnes, you said something about some bad men. What bad men?" she asked.

  "The ones that hurt Jason," I said shaking even more.

  My mother looked at my father strangely and then my father asked me, "What happened when the bad men came to get you?"

  "I think they came through the window. I woke up because something was over my mouth and I couldn't breathe. The cloth smelled funny. They pulled me out of my bed and then I fell back to sleep. The sway of the car woke me up. I don’t know how long I rode in the trunk but it seemed like a long time. When the car stopped, they took me out of the trunk and I knew we were on the Jamison's farm. I recognized their farm because of the emblem on their barn door. They took me to the barn and threw me on a stack of hay.

  The two men began talking but I couldn't understand what they were saying, they weren’t speaking the way we do. After a while something was wrong because mole mouth started poking strong man in the chest. They started arguing really loudly. I thought they weren't paying me any attention so I tried to run but then strong man grabbed me. I kicked him in his private parts just like you taught me to do. He released me and fell to his knees holding himself.

  Mole mouth tried to grab me. I wanted him to slip and fall so he couldn't get me. As he stepped towards me, he lost his footing and fell hard on his butt. I ran to the door and got it open then I ran to the trees.

  I made it to the trees before either of them came out of the barn. Both barn doors came flying open as Mole mouth exited the barn first, strong man wasn't far behind him. Strong man was telling Mole mouth what to do. They searched each side of the barn before heading for the trees.

  Strong man decided to search the trees behind the barn and he sent Mole mouth to search the trees in front of the barn, which was where I was hiding. Mole mouth began his search away from my position but he slowly made his way down to where I was hiding. I was too scared to move. I was breathing extremely hard and had to use my hands to cover my mouth. Mole mouth was standing right in front of me.

  So many thoughts were running through my head but the main one was, mole mouth can't see me, I'm invisible, mole mouth can't see me, I'm invisible. I kept repeating this chant over and over in my head.

  Mole mouth looked down at the bushes where I was concealed. He moved them around and I looked him dead in his eyes but he didn't see me. He soon moved on to another section of the trees. They continued to look around for a little while more but they couldn't find me, so they ran back into the barn and started getting their stuff.

  I was still too scared to move, so I just sat there and watched them. Mole mouth grabbed the money Mrs. Hunt had paid them. Strong man told him to leave the money alone. They started arguing over the money. Strong man was trying to take it from Mole mouth.

  I started thinking about what they had done to Jason and I wanted something like that to happen to Strong man because he was worse than mole mouth. I pictured mole mouth hurting strong man like strong man had hurt Jason and then he did it.

  "What did he do?" asked my father.

  Strong man had finally wrestled the money bag away from Mole mouth. When strong man turned his back on Mole mouth, Mole mouth grabbed the gardening hoe and stuck him in his butt really hard. Strong man fell to the ground screaming. After Mole mouth stuck Strong man in the butt he just stood there like he didn't know what he had just done. Mole mouth was standing there with his mouth gaped open and a confused look on his face. Then he started apologizing to Strong man, telling him he didn't mean to do it.

  It took a long time before strong man stopped screaming. He had fallen to his knees when he was attacked by mole mouth from behind. He pulled the hoe out of his butt and turned around. He tried to sit on his butt, but the pain was too much. Mole mouth was still standing there with a dumb look on his face, he had finally stopped trying to apologize. He hung his head in shame.

  Strong man told mole mouth he was going to kill him and keep all the money for himself. Mole mouth must have believed him because he grabbed a pitchfork, which was next to him, and was about to stab Strong man with it. Mole mouth rushed towards Strong man. Strong man pulled out a gun and shot him in the head. But it was already too late for Strong man because Mole Mouth had reached his destination, he fell forward with the pitchfork in his hands and stabbed Strong Man in his chest.

  I didn’t want to see any more because there was so much blood so I made a silent wish that I was at home in my bed. I closed my eyes and opened them again but I could still see strong man and mole mouth in my head. That's when I started screaming and I closed my eyes again. When I opened them again, you were here," I said.

  "It's okay Agnes, everything is going to be okay," said my father in a soothing voice. In the cold light of the kitchen they could see me clearly. My clothing was dirty and caked with mud and straw, so were my hands and feet. There were scratches on my arms and legs as well. My parents looked at one another the way they often did, communicating on some level I wasn’t privy to at that time. My mother turned back to the stove to check on the milk, I could see her shaking from where I sat.

  My father sat me in a chair and walked over to my mother, he touched her shoulder and she settled down. He left the kitchen and when he returned he told my mother there was a bath waiting for me once I had drank the warm milk. He handed her a gun. She took it without questioning him.

  “What are you going to do?” my mother asked him.

  "I'm going to swing by the Jamison's to check things out. They're not due back for a week, so someone could have been hiding out there and we hadn't noticed," said my father. “I thought the police had already been out to the farm, but I guess they didn’t have probable cause to search it since Jason was found on our land.

  "Take the rifle with you to be on the safe side. If you happen to find something, what will you tell the police?" asked my mother.

  "I'll tell them the truth. I'm supposed to check up on things for the Jamison's while they're out of town. Since I found the little boy on our land near theirs, I decided to check their property and found something, if there is something to be found. Keep the phone and gun near you just in case," said my father.

  My dad left our house and headed over to the Jamison's farm. My mother and I sat at the kitchen table sipping warm milk whi
le she held me close. Some of the remnants of the dream were still in my mind and I shook every now and then when it popped into in my head. Today seemed like such a long day. I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was only midnight.

  As I sat there being held by my mother I wondered why my parents were so disturbed by the nightmare I had, so I decided to ask my mother.

  "Mom, why is dad going over to the Jamison's. It was just a nightmare and nightmares aren't real, right?" I asked.

  "Come on sweetheart, let’s get you cleaned up and we can talk about this,” she said walking with me to the bathroom. I got out of my dirty nightgown never once wondering how it had gotten that way.

  My mother began washing my back as she explained her thoughts to me. “Normally you would be right sweetheart, a nightmare is just that a nightmare but in your case a nightmare can be something totally different," said my mother.

  I was confused by my mother's words. How could a nightmare be anything but a bad dream. Dreams aren't real at least that's what I had been taught by my parents. I looked at my mother for a better explanation than the one she had given.

  "Agnes, there are a lot of things about our family that you aren't aware of and it's time we told you," she took a deep breath before she continued. "You have what your father and I like to call talents Agnes, just like your father and I have special talents.”

  “You mean like the way he’s able to draw someone that I was picturing in my head?” I asked.

  “Yes. That’s one of your father’s talents. You got a glimpse of your talents when Mrs. Hunt touched you and you could read her soul. You knew she was evil. You got a glimpse of another one of your talents when you touched Jason today and you saw his life flash before your eyes. When you touch someone you see their whole life in an instant that is another one of your talents."

  "Do I have more than two?" I asked in wonder.

  "Those are the only two that have shown up thus far. Your father and I, we are called very strong telepaths because of our ability to communicate with one another with our minds. I have the ability to soothe hurts and calm hearts. Your father can actually control people with a simple touch, he can read minds, as well as heal people and block out bad memories. We've kept you isolated from the world to protect you until you could understand and control your talents. We’d hoped you’d be older before we had to start training you. We wanted you to have a normal childhood," said my mother.

  "Are we like normal people? Are we human?" I asked thinking of all the superheroes I had read about and seen in movies.

  "Yes, sweetheart we're human, you’ve just evolved differently from the rest of mankind," said my mother.

  "Were you and dad born like this?" I asked.

  "No, we came about our talents differently than you. You were born with these talents and more, we just don't know to what extent your talents will grow. The one talent we knew you possessed surfaced when you were three years old.

  When you touch someone you can see their past. It's not only that you can see their past you know that person. You know everything about them when you touch them, every thought they have ever had, every feeling and every wish. When someone touches you, you can read their soul. You automatically know what kind of person they are and if you can trust them. That's why you knew that Mrs. Hunt was bad. You were able to see into her soul when she touched you. You are extremely empathetic to others feelings. The first glimpse into your talents was very traumatic for you.

  We moved here when you turned three after several incidents occurred. Your father healed your mind and made you forget what you had seen. We told you to wear gloves all the time because you had gotten a virus that attacked your immune system and the gloves would protect you from getting germs until your system got stronger. We originally planned on you attending school with other children and leading a normal life but when your talents appeared so abruptly we had to change those plans."

  The phone rang interrupting my mother's explanation of our past. She left the bathroom and managed to answer the phone on the third ring. I got out of the tub and quickly dried myself off and slipped on another nightgown. I didn’t hear my mother talking and I assumed she was listening to my father explain the situation at the Jamison farm.

  As I walked into the kitchen I heard my mother tell him that she had began to tell me about my past and he said he'd be home as soon as possible. She ended the conversation with my father and hung up the phone. She went and sat back at the kitchen table. I went to sit on her lap once again.

  My mother looked a little crestfallen so I placed my arms around her neck. She held me close and began to tell me what happened. "Agnes, your talents are stronger than we thought or could even imagine. Both Mole Mouth and Strong man are dead. The police are at the Jamison's house investigating what happened there. It appears that they were arguing and they killed one another," said my mother.

  “How did they die?” I asked.

  “The same way you described to your father and me,” she replied calmly.

  "Did I make them kill each other?" I asked.

  "Yes and no. If the ability to kill another human being wasn't already inside of them they couldn't be forced to kill someone, but if it is in their nature to kill, then they could be made to kill someone. The two men that hurt Jason have done this before and the little boys were never found, so that tells me they have killed before and this wasn't all your doing. But you already knew they had killed before because you read them when they touched you, didn't you?" said my mother.

  "Yes, I knew they were even worse than Mrs. Hunt. They were really evil," I said. Tears started running down my face. I was responsible for the death of another human being. How could I live with myself. I knew it was wrong to kill and I had killed two people tonight. Although in my heart I felt that the two people I had killed deserved to die horrible death's over and over again, I didn't have the right to be judge, jury and executioner. I hugged my mother close expecting the police to come and arrest me at any moment.

  My mother pulled me even closer and rubbed my back saying, "It's not your fault sweetheart. Your father and I didn't realize just how strong you were and how deeply you feel things. As telepathic empaths we try not to open ourselves up too much to another person's feelings, so I missed how deeply Jason's attack had affected you. I wasn't strong enough to heal the pain and calm you down," said my mother.

  My mother continued to soothe my soul as I cried myself to sleep that night. We never discussed how I saw myself with strong man and mole mouth, how I had gotten so dirty asleep in my bed, and how they seemed to die exactly as I had described. My parents continued to allow me to believe it was all a nightmare that I had which actually came true. I would be much older when these riddles were solved.

  The next morning we were watching Family Matters when the broadcast was interrupted by breaking news.

  "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an update on the abduction case of Jason Hunt. Jason Hunt was believed to be abducted from his backyard while his stepmother Katherine Hunt was in the house taking a shower. He was found yesterday on a farm outside of Richton Park, Il. by an eleven year old girl and her dog. He was badly injured but alive. The farmer and his family transported Jason to the Richton Park Hospital where he was reunited with his family. The two kidnappers were found dead on a property near where Jason Hunt was found. It appears that they killed one another in a fight.

  In a turn of events, Katharine Hunt was found in her stepson's hospital room trying to dose him with a lethal shot of ammonia mixed with pine sol. Mr. Hunt, her husband, returned to his son's room in time to catch her before she could inject the lethal dose into his system. The police are in the process of connecting Katharine Hunt to the kidnapping of her step-son Jason. They have also reopened Jason's case of hit and run for earlier this year. Here you can see Katherine Hunt being escorted from the hospital by Richton Park Police.

&nbs
p; We listened to the report with a growing sense of relief. Jason would be safe from his stepmother's machinations from now on. I looked at my father with new eyes this morning, the pain of having caused two deaths ebbing slowly from my being. I wasn't sorry that they had died, I was sorry that I had a hand in their deaths even if it was inadvertently. It turned out that my father was correct in knowing the police would be able to catch Katherine Hunt.

  "Dad, you were right. The police were able to catch her even though I didn't tell them what I knew," I said in wonder.

  "I told you the police would get her. You might be too young to understand this, but our talents need to remain hidden from other people. There are people who would try to use you to do harm to others or try to make money off of the talents that you have been given. That is not the purpose of our talents and until we learn that purpose we need to train you on how to control yours and how to protect yourself from discovery," said my father.

  "Will I ever be able to live a normal life and be around people?" I asked.

  "Yes, Agnes, the day will come when you'll be able to control your talents and block out people’s sorrows and life stories. Once you have your talents under control and we know the extent of them we can move back to a city," said my father.

  "Can we begin practicing now?" I asked excitedly.

  "No, first you need to eat breakfast because you’re going to need all the energy you can get to control your talents," said my father.