Yes...I am lazy with updates. Yes...I know it has been two months. Shush. I've been busy and unmotivated and didn't know where I was going with this story. Well actually...I knew exactly where I was going I just hadn't figured out how I was getting there yet. To cut the long story short...Big update! Two whole parts long...and yes I know a "part" is an arbitrary segment designator that has thus far varied from 500 words to 3000 words but I feel this contains enough stuff to think about for 2 parts. Plus it ends on a cliffhanger so if you have to wait 2 more months for another installment you can be on edge. It's like Battlestar Galactica but nowhere near as cool...Oh yeah...update!
“You’re not going to like this.”
Chloe put a notebook down in front of me.
“What this time?” I sighed. There had been too much bad news lately.
“I’ve been dreaming like you said. This time I at least had the foresight to have a pen handy for when I woke up...this is the results.”
I looked down at the page in front of me.
“This is the results from your maths homework. You really need to work on your trig.”
Chloe snatched the book away from me.
“Quiet you. Or we’ll start bringing up history assignments. Cosimo de Medici was a cat? Really?”
Chloe flipped through her book and put it down in front of me. The page was covered in writing, which was pretty shaky and not always the right way up. It was also unique in that it made absolutely no sense at all. There were barely words, let alone sentences.
“I was scribbling.” Chloe explained. “And some of it seemed to come out better when the book was sideways.”
“What’s happening?” Dane slumped onto the seat next to me. “Ooh one of those puzzles.”
“I wrote down my dreams.” Chloe said.
“Sometimes even sideways” I added.
Dane shrugged. “Whatever works.” He peered closer to the page. “I’ve solved it. Hurry up Jacob.”
“Solved it?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s like one of those word find things. Where the letters are all jumbled and the answers are in the mixed up letters.”
“I don’t think that’s what this is...” I started.
“Let me see.” Chloe took the book off me. “Got it!”
“You wrote this! Shouldn’t you know what you were writing?”
“It was a moment of vision, I’m clearly much more of a genius than I know. Now hurry up and solve it.”
The downside to this is that I’m hopeless at puzzles. So rather than sit at the table for twenty minutes with Chloe and Dane giggling I put the book aside. This was quite difficult, since one of my pet hates is people knowing things that I don’t and being able to gloat about them. And of course both Chloe and Dane were radiating gloat. I would have sulked if it wasn’t going to give them even more satisfaction.
“Okay. Moving on to a place where I’m not embarrassed. Dane, did Sarah give you any help?”
“Not really. You know I’m really beginning to doubt whether she actually did any research into the whole Wicca thing before she decided she could cast spells. Apparently what we do is not possible without long hard hours of communing with spirits...and I don’t think she even meant the alcohol kind...in addition to being born on the right day and finding some kind of magical artefact.”
“In other words, a load of crap. From Sarah. What a surprise. Next you’ll tell me that Mr Harding is handing out candy to people and that my ex boyfriend isn’t trying to kill us secretly.” Chloe said snidely.
“Well at least the Neil incident managed to pass by fairly quickly. I mean, the cops were here for what, a day? How do you think Ellis managed that?” I asked Dane.
“I asked her. She said they thought it was likely someone just dumped his body here, so the police weren’t suspecting students or anything. She didn’t mention anything else about the night though, us-wise I mean. Just that her and Harding were in a meeting and heard noises and came to find the body.”
“At least that gets us off the hook. Not that we did anything...if only it got Chris and Nathan on the hook..”
“Like it’s going to be that easy.” Chloe said. “I don’t think the police have any way of convicting people who can slice people open with their minds. Or throw them against lockers. I think right now we’re relying on us to figure out a way to stop them. And by us a mean Emily...cause...the three of us aren’t exactly going to be doing a lot in a fight with them apart from bleeding.”
“Oh shit.” I said, looking at my watch. “I was going to meet Emily about ten mins ago.”
“Jacob, you’re supposed to be my boyfriend, and you’re going to spend your lunch break with another woman? Should I be getting jealous?” Chloe said, not being even remotely jealous, but enjoying the thought of pushing my buttons.
I kissed her on the forehead. “Shut up woman and get back into the kitchen so I have something to eat when I get back.”
Dane just sat back and laughed. With no response to that I headed off to meet Emily in one of the empty classrooms.
***********
Emily had managed to convince one of the science teachers she had work to do during her lunchbreak, which meant that she had free reign of a lab full off all kinds of things that freeze and go boom. Probably not the safest place to be playing with fire in the literal way...but it gave us a good, relatively private venue to test her limits.
“I think I’m taking too long.” Emily said. She had perfected freezing water, but her latest goal was to try and freeze things that weren’t completely moisture. Her latest target was a chair.
“I don’t think freezing plastic chairs is something that can be done quickly.” I said, sitting with a stopwatch in my hand. That had been Emily’s idea.
I watched as a coat of ice slowly began to form around the top of the chair. The legs were already frozen. The stopwatch was up to about three minutes though, which I didn’t need to point out wasn’t going to be useful. I also didn’t have the heart to point out that being able to freeze a chair in any period of time is probably not going to be a priority when we’re being thrown against lockers and having bits of us cut off.
“That took too long.” She said, as she was done. She put her hand back on the chair and the ice melted into a puddle on the ground.
“At least you melted it quickly?” I tried to sound encouraging.
“It’s not hard. Once I stop freezing it, things go back to normal. I just need to give it a push and it goes back a bit faster.”
“How is melting things going anyway?”
“I would show you but I don’t think I’m allowed to break any more chairs.” She pointed to a small stack of chairs at the back of the classroom that looked slightly melted and deformed. “Still can’t set anything on fire though. I really didn’t think fire would be so hard...”
“Well you cool things down and heat them up...you just need to find things that will burst into flame when they get hot enough. Or just...have a spark and transfer the heat over...and whoosh...flames. You can always control the fire without starting it right?”
“Yeah but when I went all out of control...with the burning and the freezing...that was real fire, and that was without any effort at all on my part. Shouldn’t it be easy now?”
I looked at her for a few minutes, thinking things over to myself. “Okay no, there is no way I can say this without sounding clichéd. Power is easy, control is hard. You could probably set everything on fire if you wanted...the only downside is...you would be setting everything on fire...probably even yourself. What you can do right now...that’s you, 100% Emily with no emotional outbursts or people running away screaming.”
“It’s not going to be enough in a fight though...is it?” She asked.
“Not by a longshot.” I said, with a straight face. I scared her far more than I had meant to with that statement.
The lights in the room flickered. Behind Emily I could see..something. It looked like the shadow I had seen the night we had found Neil.
“Jacob? Are you okay.” Emily asked, waving her hand in front of my face.
“Yeah I’m okay...just...flickery lights...and I think there’s someone else in here.”
“Umm..the lights haven’t changed. And it’s just us here.” She said, looking around.
“No, I can feel someone else behind you.” I pushed her aside gently and started walking towards
the shadow.
“Jacob...that’s a wall.”
The shadow looked exactly like that...a shadow cast by the light. The only problem was, there was no person casting it. I stood next to it and looked as hard as I could, but my eyes couldn’t see anything except the shadow that wasn’t there. But my mind could see something else there. A bundle of feelings that should have been a person but wasn’t.
“Woah.” Emily said. “Is that...an extra shadow? Why is there a shadow and no person?”
I reached my hand out. Knowing it was a bad idea but at the same time drawn by a terrible sense of curiosity to find out what was going on. As soon as I hit where the person should have been, emotions started pouring in. And it was different to normal emotions. Normally, I feel things, and they’re just feelings as though I was feeling them, but they were coming from somewhere else. This time they were almost pictures, as though someone was sending me all these emotions just so I could tell what they were feeling without having to feel it myself.
They were confused, and trying to be calm because they knew if they weren’t something would happen.
“Is someone there?” I asked the space. “Are you a person? Did you make yourself invisible or something? We’re not going to hurt you...we can help you.”
“Oh god, invisible people. That’s all we need.” Emily said, slumping into a chair. “Woah, Jacob. We have more company.”
She pointed to another shadow of a person that didn’t exist that was across the room from both of us. She got up and walked towards it. I felt panic from the person in front of me, they were worried by the other person.
“Emily be careful...” I said.
“It’s fine. Invisible people can’t be too bad.”
And in tradition of famous last words, the invisible person became visible. It was a girl, about the same age as the rest of us. She was different though, a little bit more greyed out than is natural in a person. Then I felt the heat.
“Laura...I’m not going to lose!” She said.
“Emily look out!” I cried out, as flames shot from the girl in the direction of Emily.
Luckily, Emily was fast enough. The air around her began to shimmer with cold. The fire that made it to her went around her, but didn’t set anything on fire.
“Okay that could have hurt. Not polite.” Emily said, closing her eyes.
I felt emotions fading, as the invisible person standing next to me simply...vanished. I would have cared more but I was too preoccupied with Emily’s attempt to beat back the flames, which was going much more successfully than I had thought was possible.
“Jacob...I think I might need a hand here. Because trying to freeze things while I’m pissed off at this girl is hard.”
I moved to help but was distracted when the door, which by all rights should have been locked, burst open, and Nathan and Matt walked in.
“Woah.” Was all Matt could manage as he saw the fire coming from the scary little grey girl and the cool air surrounding Emily.
“Guys, this is a bad time to try to kill us. Can you get in line.” I said, trying to distract them from Emily, who really didn’t need to be flung across the room at that point in time.
“Jacob..we’re not here for you.” Nathan said.
“That great. Unfortunately Emily is a bit busy, so you’ll have to..” My speech of making a stand was interrupted as Nathan flung his arm and I was thrown against the nearest wall. Ouch.
“Tobias.” The scary grey girl said as she looked at Nathan. “I should have known you and Laura were my opposition.”
The fire aimed at Emily promptly stopped, and the girl raised a hand. The coolness Emily was focusing on the girl turned into ice, and flung at Nathan’s face. Nathan managed to stop a lot of the tiny icicles aimed at him, but tiny scratches appeared across his cheeks where he failed. The girl made a run for the door, which was still open.
“Don’t let that bitch get away.” Emily shouted.
The girl didn’t get far. As she reached the doorway she slammed into something, almost as though the door was still closed. I felt a sense of satisfaction and looked over to see Matt looking pretty impressed with himself. I guess that answers the question of whether Matt had a power or not.
The girl stood up to turn around, only to run into another wall. For a minute or so she tried to run in different directions, only to find the walls she was running into getting closer together. I felt sick to the stomach as I watched, and felt Matt’s joy as he trapped the girl. Even though she had tried to burn me to a crisp, I didn’t want to wish the squishyness that seemed inevitable to her to happen to anyone.
The squish didn’t happen though, as the walls got to a certain point...the girl simply...vanished. It was just as quickly as she had appeared, and really quite strange.
“Did you get her?” Nathan asked Matt.
“She’s contained again.” Matt said.
“Okay you guys are really going to explain what just happened.”
“Oh shut up.” Nathan said, raising a hand in Emily’s direction.
Before anything could happen though, there was a sizzling noise and he looked at his hand. Even from where I stood I could see the burns appearing.
“No.” Emily said. “I do not appreciate people trying to throw me against things. Or burn me. Or making invisible walls.” She held out her hand in front of her and stepped forward, a sheet of ice slowly began to form in front of her. Good to know invisible barriers still get affected by temperature.
“We were just doing our job.” Matt said. “Like you should have been.”
“Like I should have been?” I asked.
“Not you. You’re not even supposed to be involved in any of this.” Nathan said. “She’s supposed to be stopping them. Until we stop her anyway.”
“What the hell?” Emily asked.
“Oh god. Clearly you missed the rules at the start of the game.” Nathan said. “I would have thought Chloe would have told you by now.”
He and Matt turned to walk away. Emily stepped forward, the ice in front of her shattered.
“Don’t push your luck. Chris isn’t even with us. Go talk to my know-it-all ex.” Nathan said snidely. Dear god I wanted to punch him.
“What exactly do we ask her?” I said.
“Clearly you missed our little friend talking about Laura? She always does....that might be a good place to start” Nathan closed the door behind him.
Emily sat down, exhausted. I sat down at the desk with our books in front of him.
“You were awesome.” I said.
“That was exhausting. Please tell me I’m not going to have to fight like that often?”
“I would love to. But...you burned him without touching him?”
“I was angry. And the air was warm from little Carrie over there. I’m not counting on being able to do it again.”
“Okay, well next time you can get thrown against a wall. At least it’s making me fairly bruise-resistant.”
“Once we’re not exhausted from things trying to kill us, should we go talk to Chloe.”
“Probably.” I said, putting my head onto the table, using the book in front of me as a pillow.
It’s amazing how with word puzzles, when you stop trying you find the answers. I had been looking at Chloe’s writings while I had watched Emily work, hoping to solve the puzzle that Dane and Chloe had figured out so quickly. And I had. In the jumble of letters there was one word, which was even repeated a few times just to hammer in the fact that I fail at word puzzles.
Laura Ellis.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids - Part 14
"Would you stop treating this like a game!" Were the first words I heard when I started to come to.
"Would you stop pretending you are above all of this!" Came after, from Emily I think.
"Would you two stop fighting!" Came from Kara.
"Would you stop interfering!" Chloe added into the fight.
"Would you all stop yelling so loud. I'm trying to sleep." I groaned from the floor.
"This is real now." Emily said. "Someone is dead and we can't do anything about it. The police will find the body, and who knows what they're going to come up with, but I don't think the police are going to be able to convict a guy who can slit people's wrists for them."
"I still don't believe Chris could do that." Kara said. "Like I know he's changed, but he would never hurt a fly back when I was dating him."
"Yes but Dane changed him." Lisa added. "He messed with his head and look what kind of monster he's turned into."
"Hey! I didn't mess with Nathan's head, and he was throwing people around the room like they were ragdolls" Dane said back, with a much more indoor voice than the shouting going on.
"Okay definitely awake now, can we stop trying to break my head though?" I said from the couch I was lying on. Everyone was still too busy pointedly yelling at each other to notice.
"Yes but let's face it, Nathan was an asshole since he broke up with me." Chloe said. "But our powers didn't do this, clearly Chris and Nathan got powers somehow and decided they're going to hurt people with them. It's not our fault."
"It's not, and we are probably the only people who can stop them." Emily agreed.
"And how many people will get hurt in the mean time? That kid in the locker bay is dead, and if you want to get into a fistfight with powers I'd imagine I'm going to have to try and heal more than a few cuts and bruises." Lisa said.
"Plus what can you do? Kill them? If you want to be just as bad as they are you can go for it." Kara added.
"I can take out all the walls in their minds...put them in a mental institution for the rest of ever." Dane tried to add helpfully.
"Yes because that worked so well with Chris! You've probably made him worse after what you did." Lisa yelled.
"Plus, people with no control over their minds and the kind of abilities they have? Not such a good option." Emily said.
"So what do we do about it then?" Chloe asked.
"We find another way." I said from the couch. This time loud enough so that people could hear me.
"Jacob! You're alive." Chloe rushed over to hug me.
"I'm guessing you're the one I have to thank for the lack of bloody cuts on my arms?" I asked Lisa.
"You might be an idiot. But I'm not going to let you die." Lisa said. "I think you've bitten off more than you can chew with these guys though."
"We'll just have to get some bigger teeth then." I said.
"How? I mean...we can only fight them in certain ways and most of them are pretty bloody." Kara asked. "From what you guys have said Chris isn't exactly going to respond to being asked nicely to stop hurting people."
"This might be an odd question. But wouldn't people have noticed Nathan and Chris by now?" Dane said. "I mean, with Emily and myself, when we first got our powers we did some pretty big things, and it was only because of you guys we didn't get noticed. They're powers are a lot more...well...obvious. I mean how can you practice cutting people open with your mind or throwing people around without someone noticing, especially if you don't have control over it?"
"Could they have had their powers since birth, like you guys?" Emily pointed to Chloe and I. "I mean, you guys have never had any issues because you like...grew up with your powers."
"I'd have known if Chris could do something like that." Kara said.
"And I'd have known about Nathan. This is new." Chloe agreed.
"So we're still kinda back at...what do we do?" I said.
"What can we do?" Lisa said. "I mean no offence Jacob, but you just got your ass handed to you. You have a neat little power and all, but in a fight they're just going to walk all over you. Chloe and I wouldn't fare much better."
"I can take them." Emily said. "Well...once I can get freeze them from a distance...I think."
"Not the most encouraging of options." Lisa said, rolling her eyes.
"What about Matt?" Kara said. We all just looked at her. We'd been too busy worrying about Chris and Nathan to care about him. "I mean...you guys said he was there. What was he doing?"
Emily, Chloe and I looked at each other.
"No idea." I said
"Standing around?" Chloe suggested.
"Watching?" Emily added.
"So you don't think he could be hiding some kind of power too?" Kara suggested. "I mean, our group appears to be pretty lousy with the superpowers, why wouldn't he have something too?"
"Would make sense." I said, sitting up properly as opposed to leaning on Chloe's shoulder. "I think they said something about him holding people off. Like someone was coming."
"Harding and Ellis." Dane said. We all just looked at him. "I was watching...I hung around for a little bit after you guys left."
"So the police will be involved by the morning." Lisa said grimly. "That could get messy fast."
We all just sat back and thought about the idea.
"Okay so here's my thoughts." I said. "We sit tight. If Harding and Ellis saw anything we'll know...since we'll have cops onto us. That can be okay though, since Chris and Nathan will be dealing with the same thing, and even if they get past the police, Harding and Ellis will be watching them so they can't get up to too much chaos. We need options though."
"Like what?" Lisa questioned.
"I don't know." I looked at her. "Look, if you say God gave us these powers, or the Devil or whoever. It's for a reason. They're not going to put us in a fight we can't win. We need to know more though." Everyone nodded.
"I'll talk to Sarah." Dane said. "She's into that whole magic thing, she might know something about our powers."
"Okay good starting point. But be subtle. She pisses me off enough without her knowing I can read emotions. I don't want her to start thinking she can talk to me."
"Or me." Chloe added.
"Speaking of you Chloe. I need dreams. I know it's not always easy but we need to know what's happening next, who Nathan and Chris will be talking to, anyone who might be helping them. Everyone else, we just need info. Anyone else who might have a power we need to know about. They went after Neil because he had a power, no idea what he could do but that's beside the point, I don't want there to be any other targets for Chris and Nathan we can't at least try to protect. Who knows, there might even be someone who can stop them."
"So that's the plan? We do nothing?" Dane said.
"We can't do much else." I said. "I want you to work on your power though. No hurting people, but something that might stop them if push comes to shove. Same for you Emily. We want to be able to stop them before they cut us to ribbons or throw us against lockers."
"Jacob, what if we come up with nothing?" Chloe asked.
"We deal with that if we have to." I said. "Until then, we do what we can and most importantly, stay out of their way as best we can."
"Just hope they stay out of yours Jaocb." Lisa said. "One day I'm going to be around to save you."
"Well if you pray that that day doesn't come anytime soon it would be appreciated." I said to her.
"Would you stop pretending you are above all of this!" Came after, from Emily I think.
"Would you two stop fighting!" Came from Kara.
"Would you stop interfering!" Chloe added into the fight.
"Would you all stop yelling so loud. I'm trying to sleep." I groaned from the floor.
"This is real now." Emily said. "Someone is dead and we can't do anything about it. The police will find the body, and who knows what they're going to come up with, but I don't think the police are going to be able to convict a guy who can slit people's wrists for them."
"I still don't believe Chris could do that." Kara said. "Like I know he's changed, but he would never hurt a fly back when I was dating him."
"Yes but Dane changed him." Lisa added. "He messed with his head and look what kind of monster he's turned into."
"Hey! I didn't mess with Nathan's head, and he was throwing people around the room like they were ragdolls" Dane said back, with a much more indoor voice than the shouting going on.
"Okay definitely awake now, can we stop trying to break my head though?" I said from the couch I was lying on. Everyone was still too busy pointedly yelling at each other to notice.
"Yes but let's face it, Nathan was an asshole since he broke up with me." Chloe said. "But our powers didn't do this, clearly Chris and Nathan got powers somehow and decided they're going to hurt people with them. It's not our fault."
"It's not, and we are probably the only people who can stop them." Emily agreed.
"And how many people will get hurt in the mean time? That kid in the locker bay is dead, and if you want to get into a fistfight with powers I'd imagine I'm going to have to try and heal more than a few cuts and bruises." Lisa said.
"Plus what can you do? Kill them? If you want to be just as bad as they are you can go for it." Kara added.
"I can take out all the walls in their minds...put them in a mental institution for the rest of ever." Dane tried to add helpfully.
"Yes because that worked so well with Chris! You've probably made him worse after what you did." Lisa yelled.
"Plus, people with no control over their minds and the kind of abilities they have? Not such a good option." Emily said.
"So what do we do about it then?" Chloe asked.
"We find another way." I said from the couch. This time loud enough so that people could hear me.
"Jacob! You're alive." Chloe rushed over to hug me.
"I'm guessing you're the one I have to thank for the lack of bloody cuts on my arms?" I asked Lisa.
"You might be an idiot. But I'm not going to let you die." Lisa said. "I think you've bitten off more than you can chew with these guys though."
"We'll just have to get some bigger teeth then." I said.
"How? I mean...we can only fight them in certain ways and most of them are pretty bloody." Kara asked. "From what you guys have said Chris isn't exactly going to respond to being asked nicely to stop hurting people."
"This might be an odd question. But wouldn't people have noticed Nathan and Chris by now?" Dane said. "I mean, with Emily and myself, when we first got our powers we did some pretty big things, and it was only because of you guys we didn't get noticed. They're powers are a lot more...well...obvious. I mean how can you practice cutting people open with your mind or throwing people around without someone noticing, especially if you don't have control over it?"
"Could they have had their powers since birth, like you guys?" Emily pointed to Chloe and I. "I mean, you guys have never had any issues because you like...grew up with your powers."
"I'd have known if Chris could do something like that." Kara said.
"And I'd have known about Nathan. This is new." Chloe agreed.
"So we're still kinda back at...what do we do?" I said.
"What can we do?" Lisa said. "I mean no offence Jacob, but you just got your ass handed to you. You have a neat little power and all, but in a fight they're just going to walk all over you. Chloe and I wouldn't fare much better."
"I can take them." Emily said. "Well...once I can get freeze them from a distance...I think."
"Not the most encouraging of options." Lisa said, rolling her eyes.
"What about Matt?" Kara said. We all just looked at her. We'd been too busy worrying about Chris and Nathan to care about him. "I mean...you guys said he was there. What was he doing?"
Emily, Chloe and I looked at each other.
"No idea." I said
"Standing around?" Chloe suggested.
"Watching?" Emily added.
"So you don't think he could be hiding some kind of power too?" Kara suggested. "I mean, our group appears to be pretty lousy with the superpowers, why wouldn't he have something too?"
"Would make sense." I said, sitting up properly as opposed to leaning on Chloe's shoulder. "I think they said something about him holding people off. Like someone was coming."
"Harding and Ellis." Dane said. We all just looked at him. "I was watching...I hung around for a little bit after you guys left."
"So the police will be involved by the morning." Lisa said grimly. "That could get messy fast."
We all just sat back and thought about the idea.
"Okay so here's my thoughts." I said. "We sit tight. If Harding and Ellis saw anything we'll know...since we'll have cops onto us. That can be okay though, since Chris and Nathan will be dealing with the same thing, and even if they get past the police, Harding and Ellis will be watching them so they can't get up to too much chaos. We need options though."
"Like what?" Lisa questioned.
"I don't know." I looked at her. "Look, if you say God gave us these powers, or the Devil or whoever. It's for a reason. They're not going to put us in a fight we can't win. We need to know more though." Everyone nodded.
"I'll talk to Sarah." Dane said. "She's into that whole magic thing, she might know something about our powers."
"Okay good starting point. But be subtle. She pisses me off enough without her knowing I can read emotions. I don't want her to start thinking she can talk to me."
"Or me." Chloe added.
"Speaking of you Chloe. I need dreams. I know it's not always easy but we need to know what's happening next, who Nathan and Chris will be talking to, anyone who might be helping them. Everyone else, we just need info. Anyone else who might have a power we need to know about. They went after Neil because he had a power, no idea what he could do but that's beside the point, I don't want there to be any other targets for Chris and Nathan we can't at least try to protect. Who knows, there might even be someone who can stop them."
"So that's the plan? We do nothing?" Dane said.
"We can't do much else." I said. "I want you to work on your power though. No hurting people, but something that might stop them if push comes to shove. Same for you Emily. We want to be able to stop them before they cut us to ribbons or throw us against lockers."
"Jacob, what if we come up with nothing?" Chloe asked.
"We deal with that if we have to." I said. "Until then, we do what we can and most importantly, stay out of their way as best we can."
"Just hope they stay out of yours Jaocb." Lisa said. "One day I'm going to be around to save you."
"Well if you pray that that day doesn't come anytime soon it would be appreciated." I said to her.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids Pt13
Before I could even get back on my feet I was lifted off the ground and sent slamming across the locker bay again. My ears rang from the impact, but this time I was facing the entrance. Chris stood there, his eyes wide with excitement, and next to him stood Nathan and Matt. Nathan was filled with the same hyperactive emotions as Chris, a mix of excitment and fear and anger. Matt seemed just...afraid. Of getting caught, of something going wrong. None of the excitement that the others felt but equally as strong.
"You look a bit beat up Jacob." Chris said, stepping towards me.
I raised my hands as fists in a vague attempt at self defence. Behind Chris, Nathan waved a hand and my wrists were pinned to the locker behind me. Chris wasn't the only one who had gotten a power in the last few months.
"But I suppose you always had to poke around, and you always had to get hurt because of it. And here you are, wandering onto a crime scene and sticking your nose out were it doesn't belong. Do that too much and your nose will get broken." Chris pressed his hand against my chest.
I screamed. I'm man enough to admit that I screamed. Because when Chris touched me, my nose broke. It's not a pleasant experience, and definitely not one I would reccommend to anyon else, and however Chris was doing it, I'm sure he was making it as painfully as he could.
"So you see you guys thought you were cool. With Chloe seeing the future and Dane messing with people's heads, and even Lisa being able to heal people. That was helpful, since she tried to put my head back together all nice and pretty like. But...and here's the bit that works for me...and not so much for you. She missed a spot. Somewhere along the way I got a power too. And like all good laws of opposites...Lisa can heal any wound." Pain shot through my body...I looked at my wrists and saw cuts beginning to appear along them. "And I can make any wound."
"They're coming." Nathan shouted from across the room.
"I'm busy here Nate." Chris said, taking his hands off me for a moment. "Making a perfect murder/suicide scene requires a bit of finesse. Get Matt to hold them off for bit so I can have some peace."
"Why...did you?" I tried to make out through the pain.
"Why what? Did I kill Neil? Am I killing you?" Chris said, pacing in front of me. "Well it's a long story...but you were there for all the bits that involved you. And Neil here...he was a bit too special to hang around. I mean didn't you hear? The shaman wants blood."
"That's so lame." Came a voice from across the locker room. Chris and I turned to see Chloe and Emily standing there.
"Oh god." Chris said. "Matt! Can't you do anything right!!"
"I'm a bit busy here." Matt shouted from the edge of the locker bay.
"Yes well we have company and it would be rude to leave them here with nothing to do." Chris shouted back.
"I'll play with our guests." Nathan walked over so that he was facing Chloe. I felt the pressure on my wrists relax. "Chloe...long time no see. I like the new look."
Chloe was terrified, and not very good at hiding it either. I think because she saw what was coming. Nathan waved an arm and she was flung out of my line of sight.
"Now forgive me if I don't know you name yet." Chris said, as he advanced towards Emily. "It's just that this is a very tense time and introductions take so long."
He reached out to touch Emily, and she reacted by grabbing his arm. The air around it wavered a bit and then froze. Emily withdrew her hand as Chris' arm sagged until the weight of the ice.
"I'm Emily. Nice to meet you though." She smiled and pushed Chris to the side. As he fell he smacked his head against a locker, which disoriented him for long enough for Emily to get to me. I was able to move again, but for some reason I was finding it hard to do so. In fact, even looking around made me kinda woozy. I took a step forward and almost fell.
"Okay Jacob. No walking for you without some help. Which is a pity, because I think we need to be running before we get our collective asses kicked." Emily started to walk me away.
"They're through!" Matt yelled as he ran through the locker bay to the exit that Chloe and Emily had come through. Who 'they' were I never got to find out, as Emily and I stumbled outside and quickly moved to behind a building. I never saw what happened to Nathan and Matt, but Chris was left slumped on the ground with a very wet arm near Neil's body.
"Oh god! Jacob!" Chloe said, utterly panicked at my state. Which wasn't suprising as I looked down at my arms which were now covered by bloody. That explained the woozy.
"Okay we need to get Jacob somewhere safe. Like your house Chloe. And we need to call Lisa." Emily was oddly taking charge. The confidence she had when she had yelled at Lisa was back.
The words began to get a bit woozy, but I felt another person arrive who was just as scared and panicked as Chloe was. Dane. I took a second to wonder where he had been during the fight, and whether Lisa would actually stop me from dying...and nefore I was able to finish the thought...I embraced what was becoming a habit and passed out...
"You look a bit beat up Jacob." Chris said, stepping towards me.
I raised my hands as fists in a vague attempt at self defence. Behind Chris, Nathan waved a hand and my wrists were pinned to the locker behind me. Chris wasn't the only one who had gotten a power in the last few months.
"But I suppose you always had to poke around, and you always had to get hurt because of it. And here you are, wandering onto a crime scene and sticking your nose out were it doesn't belong. Do that too much and your nose will get broken." Chris pressed his hand against my chest.
I screamed. I'm man enough to admit that I screamed. Because when Chris touched me, my nose broke. It's not a pleasant experience, and definitely not one I would reccommend to anyon else, and however Chris was doing it, I'm sure he was making it as painfully as he could.
"So you see you guys thought you were cool. With Chloe seeing the future and Dane messing with people's heads, and even Lisa being able to heal people. That was helpful, since she tried to put my head back together all nice and pretty like. But...and here's the bit that works for me...and not so much for you. She missed a spot. Somewhere along the way I got a power too. And like all good laws of opposites...Lisa can heal any wound." Pain shot through my body...I looked at my wrists and saw cuts beginning to appear along them. "And I can make any wound."
"They're coming." Nathan shouted from across the room.
"I'm busy here Nate." Chris said, taking his hands off me for a moment. "Making a perfect murder/suicide scene requires a bit of finesse. Get Matt to hold them off for bit so I can have some peace."
"Why...did you?" I tried to make out through the pain.
"Why what? Did I kill Neil? Am I killing you?" Chris said, pacing in front of me. "Well it's a long story...but you were there for all the bits that involved you. And Neil here...he was a bit too special to hang around. I mean didn't you hear? The shaman wants blood."
"That's so lame." Came a voice from across the locker room. Chris and I turned to see Chloe and Emily standing there.
"Oh god." Chris said. "Matt! Can't you do anything right!!"
"I'm a bit busy here." Matt shouted from the edge of the locker bay.
"Yes well we have company and it would be rude to leave them here with nothing to do." Chris shouted back.
"I'll play with our guests." Nathan walked over so that he was facing Chloe. I felt the pressure on my wrists relax. "Chloe...long time no see. I like the new look."
Chloe was terrified, and not very good at hiding it either. I think because she saw what was coming. Nathan waved an arm and she was flung out of my line of sight.
"Now forgive me if I don't know you name yet." Chris said, as he advanced towards Emily. "It's just that this is a very tense time and introductions take so long."
He reached out to touch Emily, and she reacted by grabbing his arm. The air around it wavered a bit and then froze. Emily withdrew her hand as Chris' arm sagged until the weight of the ice.
"I'm Emily. Nice to meet you though." She smiled and pushed Chris to the side. As he fell he smacked his head against a locker, which disoriented him for long enough for Emily to get to me. I was able to move again, but for some reason I was finding it hard to do so. In fact, even looking around made me kinda woozy. I took a step forward and almost fell.
"Okay Jacob. No walking for you without some help. Which is a pity, because I think we need to be running before we get our collective asses kicked." Emily started to walk me away.
"They're through!" Matt yelled as he ran through the locker bay to the exit that Chloe and Emily had come through. Who 'they' were I never got to find out, as Emily and I stumbled outside and quickly moved to behind a building. I never saw what happened to Nathan and Matt, but Chris was left slumped on the ground with a very wet arm near Neil's body.
"Oh god! Jacob!" Chloe said, utterly panicked at my state. Which wasn't suprising as I looked down at my arms which were now covered by bloody. That explained the woozy.
"Okay we need to get Jacob somewhere safe. Like your house Chloe. And we need to call Lisa." Emily was oddly taking charge. The confidence she had when she had yelled at Lisa was back.
The words began to get a bit woozy, but I felt another person arrive who was just as scared and panicked as Chloe was. Dane. I took a second to wonder where he had been during the fight, and whether Lisa would actually stop me from dying...and nefore I was able to finish the thought...I embraced what was becoming a habit and passed out...
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids - pt12
Three Months Earlier
"I don't care what kind of intentions you have, you do not mess with my head." I said, outraged.
"How else am I supposed to get your friends to like me? You're all so closed off! The only reason you even want me around is because it makes you feel like less of a freak." Dane spat back, and reached out to touch me again. I took a step back.
"Don't touch me! I know what that means. You have poked around inside my friends heads enough...I can tell when you're doing it to me! I spend my entire life separating what I'm feeling from how other people are feeling, I can do it with you as well."
"So what? You just want me to go back to being a loner? You show me I can do things and then you tell me not to use them when I can help myself?" Dane sat down.
We were in Chloe's kitchen. She had gone upstairs to spare Dane her involvement in the argument that was taking place. I would have tried to sit down myself, but I was too involved in my own indignant rage to care about trying to relax.
"These people can be your friends, but the best way to make friends is not to try and bend them to your will. That is not going to help you, and that is definitely not going to make us respect you for it."
"I can make you respect me for it..." Dane grumbled.
"No you can not!" I could feel my own anger building up and mixing with all the emotion Dane was feeling. It was giving me a terrible high but also a feeling that I could lash out at Dane. I tried to calm myself. "We are not your toys, and if you want to people to respect it you can do it by being helpful, not by just messing with us."
Dane just hung his head. I think by now I had communicated how angry I was.
"Now you will fix everything you have done to people like Kara and Lisa, you will make an effort to be nice to them and win their friendship the old fashioned way, and if you even so much as try something like this again....well I will think of something suitably threatening at the time."
I stormed out of the room. I wasn't sure how much notice Dane would take of my rant. I did actually like him on some level, even if he was weird, but at the same time I knew that was how I felt, not just how he was making me feel. The idea of him stopping people hating him or encouraging them to like him was....disturbing in a way. Not something I was comfortable with.
I walked into Chloe's room to find her on the bed with Nathan. Normally, this would lead to be awkwardly walking back out of the room, but they were both just as angry as I was feeling. Anger is not the most pleasant emotion at the best of times, so being in a house full of anger is not my idea of a picnic.
"It's done Chloe." Nathan said. "I think it's best we both just...move on and deal with trying to have some sort of friendship."
"You can't break up with me!" Chloe shouted. Jumping to her feet to face Nathan.
"Why? Because you didn't see it coming? Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to date you? You yell at me before I do things, or have entire arguments with me where I don't even get to say anything! I can't deal with it! Mel is nice...and normal..."
"You want normal! I'll give you a girl who reacts to her boyfriend cheating normally!" Chloe grabbed her pillow and threw it at him. Nathan braced himself. "I will throw a girly tantrum" She grabbed a soft toy Nathan had bought her and threw it out her window. "I will break things" She threw a photo of them on the ground. "And in general, I will be a bitch. Now get the fuck of out my house and I never want to see you again...."
Nathan turned to leave and saw me, and the look on my face.
"She's all yours to have now dude." He said to me as he walked out. I almost chased him down and punched him in the face. Instead I went to Chloe.
"Why?" Was all she said to me. I didn't even bother with responses, I just hugged her. "It's all falling apart. Nathan has left me, Dane is messing with our heads, Chris is going to try to kill us... I don't know if I can deal with this anymore Jacob...I keep seeing things coming but all these other things sneak up on me and I'm not ready for them."
"It's okay...we can get through it all. One thing at a time." I tried to sound reassuring. I wasn't confident in what I was saying though.
Despite the fact that Chloe and I could do some cool things, at the end of the day, we were normal people if it comes down to a fight. I couldn't follow my threat through with Dane, because frankly, I had no way of stopping him. What was I going to do? Read his emotions to death?
"How? Even if Dane listens to you, and Nathan realises he's a tool for getting with Mel, how will that help us? You haven't seen what Chris becomes....he's...a monster. He will be able to do things that we can't and you know that we can't stop him."
"We will find a way. We're far too cool for the world to let us die. Okay?"
"Anybody home?" Came a call from downstairs. It was Lisa's voice.
The downside to Chloe's house being empty most of the time, was that it was a place for everyone to go when they had nothing better to do. Lisa had decided she had nothing better to do, and it was a safe bet to guess that Chris and Kara were with her.
"Should we just make ourselves at home on the couch and wait for you guys to get dressed?" Chris called from downstairs.
"Nathan isn't here." I yelled out in reply.
"And your point is?" Kara replied. She clearly knew all to well my feelings for Chloe.
I stood up to go downstairs to greet them and saw Dane, standing in the doorway. People really need to check the door before they have arguments. I also saw the look in Dane's eyes - he had heard everything, and was all of a sudden very determined.
"Oh god...he's headed for Chris." Chloe said from the floor. She had noticed him too.
"Shit..." I said, and ran from the room.
Dane might have been little, but he could run, before I even got to the door, I heard screams from downstairs. I wasn't even sure whose they were. It might have been everyone's. My head exploded as I made it down the stairs to the lounge room.
Dane sat on the floor at one end of the room, looking exhausted. Chris sat at the other...his eyes closed. Kara and Lisa just watched in horror. Then Kara jumped forward with a kick to Chris' stomach.
"What did you do?!"
"I...stopped him.." Dane said.
"Stopped him from doing what? Relaxing on the couch?" Lisa had stood up and focused her attention on Dane too.
"Chloe said...he was going to turn into a monster...be able to do bad things...I stopped him."
"I don't care what Chloe said you undo whatever you did. You're the only monster right now. Chloe told us what you did...messing with our heads."
"Dane...what did you do?" I said, walked over to the scene.
"I...found all the doors in his head. Everything that had something locked away behind it. I opened them all."
"You did what?!" Kara screamed.
"Oh god.." Lisa sat down in horror.
"Okay. Dane...not cool. Fix it. Now." I said.
"I can't. I don't think I can even move right now." Dane panted.
"Good." Kara kicked him in his stomach.
From across the room, Chris groaned. I didn't even need to look at him to tell that his head was an absolute mess. Even standing near him hurt in all kinds of new ways, I wasn't going to be able to do anything to help him.
"Okay Lisa...can you try to heal him?" I said, thinking as fast as I could.
"Umm...his problem is mental, not physical. I have never even tried mental healing before." Lisa protested.
"Jacob, this could go bad.." Kara joined in the disagreement.
"We don't have any other option. I can feel what's happening to me. We need to do something and we need to do it now or there isn't going to be a Chris left to help. So stop arguing and we can make this not be the end of the world..."
"I don't like this..." Lisa said.
"He's right." Kara said. "Lisa...I'm sorry. But I need you to do what you can. I love him. I can't have him be broken..."
"Okay..." Lisa took a deep breath and moved towards Chris.
"I don't care what kind of intentions you have, you do not mess with my head." I said, outraged.
"How else am I supposed to get your friends to like me? You're all so closed off! The only reason you even want me around is because it makes you feel like less of a freak." Dane spat back, and reached out to touch me again. I took a step back.
"Don't touch me! I know what that means. You have poked around inside my friends heads enough...I can tell when you're doing it to me! I spend my entire life separating what I'm feeling from how other people are feeling, I can do it with you as well."
"So what? You just want me to go back to being a loner? You show me I can do things and then you tell me not to use them when I can help myself?" Dane sat down.
We were in Chloe's kitchen. She had gone upstairs to spare Dane her involvement in the argument that was taking place. I would have tried to sit down myself, but I was too involved in my own indignant rage to care about trying to relax.
"These people can be your friends, but the best way to make friends is not to try and bend them to your will. That is not going to help you, and that is definitely not going to make us respect you for it."
"I can make you respect me for it..." Dane grumbled.
"No you can not!" I could feel my own anger building up and mixing with all the emotion Dane was feeling. It was giving me a terrible high but also a feeling that I could lash out at Dane. I tried to calm myself. "We are not your toys, and if you want to people to respect it you can do it by being helpful, not by just messing with us."
Dane just hung his head. I think by now I had communicated how angry I was.
"Now you will fix everything you have done to people like Kara and Lisa, you will make an effort to be nice to them and win their friendship the old fashioned way, and if you even so much as try something like this again....well I will think of something suitably threatening at the time."
I stormed out of the room. I wasn't sure how much notice Dane would take of my rant. I did actually like him on some level, even if he was weird, but at the same time I knew that was how I felt, not just how he was making me feel. The idea of him stopping people hating him or encouraging them to like him was....disturbing in a way. Not something I was comfortable with.
I walked into Chloe's room to find her on the bed with Nathan. Normally, this would lead to be awkwardly walking back out of the room, but they were both just as angry as I was feeling. Anger is not the most pleasant emotion at the best of times, so being in a house full of anger is not my idea of a picnic.
"It's done Chloe." Nathan said. "I think it's best we both just...move on and deal with trying to have some sort of friendship."
"You can't break up with me!" Chloe shouted. Jumping to her feet to face Nathan.
"Why? Because you didn't see it coming? Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to date you? You yell at me before I do things, or have entire arguments with me where I don't even get to say anything! I can't deal with it! Mel is nice...and normal..."
"You want normal! I'll give you a girl who reacts to her boyfriend cheating normally!" Chloe grabbed her pillow and threw it at him. Nathan braced himself. "I will throw a girly tantrum" She grabbed a soft toy Nathan had bought her and threw it out her window. "I will break things" She threw a photo of them on the ground. "And in general, I will be a bitch. Now get the fuck of out my house and I never want to see you again...."
Nathan turned to leave and saw me, and the look on my face.
"She's all yours to have now dude." He said to me as he walked out. I almost chased him down and punched him in the face. Instead I went to Chloe.
"Why?" Was all she said to me. I didn't even bother with responses, I just hugged her. "It's all falling apart. Nathan has left me, Dane is messing with our heads, Chris is going to try to kill us... I don't know if I can deal with this anymore Jacob...I keep seeing things coming but all these other things sneak up on me and I'm not ready for them."
"It's okay...we can get through it all. One thing at a time." I tried to sound reassuring. I wasn't confident in what I was saying though.
Despite the fact that Chloe and I could do some cool things, at the end of the day, we were normal people if it comes down to a fight. I couldn't follow my threat through with Dane, because frankly, I had no way of stopping him. What was I going to do? Read his emotions to death?
"How? Even if Dane listens to you, and Nathan realises he's a tool for getting with Mel, how will that help us? You haven't seen what Chris becomes....he's...a monster. He will be able to do things that we can't and you know that we can't stop him."
"We will find a way. We're far too cool for the world to let us die. Okay?"
"Anybody home?" Came a call from downstairs. It was Lisa's voice.
The downside to Chloe's house being empty most of the time, was that it was a place for everyone to go when they had nothing better to do. Lisa had decided she had nothing better to do, and it was a safe bet to guess that Chris and Kara were with her.
"Should we just make ourselves at home on the couch and wait for you guys to get dressed?" Chris called from downstairs.
"Nathan isn't here." I yelled out in reply.
"And your point is?" Kara replied. She clearly knew all to well my feelings for Chloe.
I stood up to go downstairs to greet them and saw Dane, standing in the doorway. People really need to check the door before they have arguments. I also saw the look in Dane's eyes - he had heard everything, and was all of a sudden very determined.
"Oh god...he's headed for Chris." Chloe said from the floor. She had noticed him too.
"Shit..." I said, and ran from the room.
Dane might have been little, but he could run, before I even got to the door, I heard screams from downstairs. I wasn't even sure whose they were. It might have been everyone's. My head exploded as I made it down the stairs to the lounge room.
Dane sat on the floor at one end of the room, looking exhausted. Chris sat at the other...his eyes closed. Kara and Lisa just watched in horror. Then Kara jumped forward with a kick to Chris' stomach.
"What did you do?!"
"I...stopped him.." Dane said.
"Stopped him from doing what? Relaxing on the couch?" Lisa had stood up and focused her attention on Dane too.
"Chloe said...he was going to turn into a monster...be able to do bad things...I stopped him."
"I don't care what Chloe said you undo whatever you did. You're the only monster right now. Chloe told us what you did...messing with our heads."
"Dane...what did you do?" I said, walked over to the scene.
"I...found all the doors in his head. Everything that had something locked away behind it. I opened them all."
"You did what?!" Kara screamed.
"Oh god.." Lisa sat down in horror.
"Okay. Dane...not cool. Fix it. Now." I said.
"I can't. I don't think I can even move right now." Dane panted.
"Good." Kara kicked him in his stomach.
From across the room, Chris groaned. I didn't even need to look at him to tell that his head was an absolute mess. Even standing near him hurt in all kinds of new ways, I wasn't going to be able to do anything to help him.
"Okay Lisa...can you try to heal him?" I said, thinking as fast as I could.
"Umm...his problem is mental, not physical. I have never even tried mental healing before." Lisa protested.
"Jacob, this could go bad.." Kara joined in the disagreement.
"We don't have any other option. I can feel what's happening to me. We need to do something and we need to do it now or there isn't going to be a Chris left to help. So stop arguing and we can make this not be the end of the world..."
"I don't like this..." Lisa said.
"He's right." Kara said. "Lisa...I'm sorry. But I need you to do what you can. I love him. I can't have him be broken..."
"Okay..." Lisa took a deep breath and moved towards Chris.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids - Part 11
The four of us had taken to staying after school. Teachers didn't mind, we were old enough to be left in a study room unsupervised, and I am yet to meet a teacher that is discouraging people to study in their own free time. The fact that we didn't actually do any studying was irrelevant.
Emily sat on the table, a candle sitting in front of her.
"I can't do it." She said. "I can make it warm, I can even start to melt the wax." She gestured to the dribbles of wax running down the candle. "But can I make the thing catch on fire? Nope!"
"Maybe you should touch it? That helps with everyone else's power." Dane suggested from his position by the window. He was watching the sun fade into the distance.
"I don't think touching will help when the point is to make something catch on fire." I added, from the other side of the room where I was looking down at the teacher's offices. All the teachers were gone except for Mr Harding, and unsuprisingly, Ms Ellis, who was almost always at school later than us, and would usher us out on her way home if we hadn't already left.
Ms Ellis had always supported us hanging around at school, and so despite Mr Harding's protests, we were allowed to spend some time in one of the free study rooms provided we didn't burn it down. That would have been okay except for what we were trying with Emily...
"Maybe I don't need to heat things." Emily said. She reached over and picked up a cup of water and took a drink. "I can freeze things okay." The cup and the water inside turned to ice.
"That is pretty cool." Chloe said. "Maybe..."
Chloe kept talking, but I had stopped paying attention. There was something else across the school. The room opposite us was dark, but there was a shadow of a person clearly outlined in the window. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, whether I was just seeing an odd shadow being cast. Then I felt the panic and the pain.
It was more intense than anything I had ever felt from another person, it was stronger and more overwhelming and before I knew it, I was running.
"Jacob!" Chloe shouted a second before I started to move, but it was pointless, my feet were moving whether I wanted to or not.
The time between noticing the shadow and being at the door to the room I saw it in passed like a blur. Our school isn't small, so it must have taken a few minutes to make it over there, but time was behaving oddly. I flicked the light switch, but there was no response. The lights stayed dark and the shadow stood by the window.
I tried to speak, to say something comforting, since helping the thing would hopefully quieten the screaming in my head, but I couldn't think of anything to say. All there was was pain, and confusion, and I could barely think, let alone come up with something insightful.
"It's different." Came a voice, from what I assumed was the shadow. But it felt like it was more in my head than an actual sound. "Everything is different from the other side..."
"The other side?"
"I know you...you're Jacob." The shadow continued, like it had something it needed to say and wasn't going to waste time answering questions. "You're not supposed to be involved. But you were supposed to find me."
The confusion was gone, the panic was gone. I felt calm, an eerie kind of calm you don't expect.
"I could do things. Strange, wonderful things and I didn't even know how. I was supposed to find Dane, and Emily, and then there would be three. That's how she said it was going to happen. That's why I was here tonight. But they found me first...and now...I think things are different."
"Who found you? What could you do?" The questions came out before I realised that I wasn't actually communicating so much as listening to something, like it was pre-recorded.
"Something is playing a game with people's lives Jacob. They didn't count on you though - you and Chloe weren't a part of their plan. I just hope you can stop them..."
"Okay I'm sick of this cryptic nonsense. Who are you." I walked forward and put a hand on the shoulder of the person. It was straight through, something which I know shouldn't have suprised me but did anyway.
I stopped running again. I don't even remember starting to run, but I was now at the locker bays. I didn't even know you could get to the locker bays at night. Slumped in front of me was a body. Covered in cuts that were thin but looked deep...almost like his body had been slowly ripped apart. His name had been Neil...I think that was all I knew about him except that he was quiet, and I wish now I'd seen enough to know what had happened.
Chloe had been right though...a body in the locker room.
"Well..well...well. If it isn't Jacob coming to snoop about." Came a voice from behind me. Not the kind of voice I wanted to hear either.
"Bit late for you to be at school isn't it?" I replied.
"Things to do, teachers to see. I don't think we'd ever stayed back late like you and your wondergang do."
"Things change." I shrugged, still not wanting to turn around.
"They certainly do." Came a second voice.
I felt myself fly off my feet and slam into a locker. The pain rang through my head. But now I felt the need to turn around before my nose started to bleed and I couldn't manage some kind of heroic face.
"Learned some new tricks have we Chris?"
Emily sat on the table, a candle sitting in front of her.
"I can't do it." She said. "I can make it warm, I can even start to melt the wax." She gestured to the dribbles of wax running down the candle. "But can I make the thing catch on fire? Nope!"
"Maybe you should touch it? That helps with everyone else's power." Dane suggested from his position by the window. He was watching the sun fade into the distance.
"I don't think touching will help when the point is to make something catch on fire." I added, from the other side of the room where I was looking down at the teacher's offices. All the teachers were gone except for Mr Harding, and unsuprisingly, Ms Ellis, who was almost always at school later than us, and would usher us out on her way home if we hadn't already left.
Ms Ellis had always supported us hanging around at school, and so despite Mr Harding's protests, we were allowed to spend some time in one of the free study rooms provided we didn't burn it down. That would have been okay except for what we were trying with Emily...
"Maybe I don't need to heat things." Emily said. She reached over and picked up a cup of water and took a drink. "I can freeze things okay." The cup and the water inside turned to ice.
"That is pretty cool." Chloe said. "Maybe..."
Chloe kept talking, but I had stopped paying attention. There was something else across the school. The room opposite us was dark, but there was a shadow of a person clearly outlined in the window. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it, whether I was just seeing an odd shadow being cast. Then I felt the panic and the pain.
It was more intense than anything I had ever felt from another person, it was stronger and more overwhelming and before I knew it, I was running.
"Jacob!" Chloe shouted a second before I started to move, but it was pointless, my feet were moving whether I wanted to or not.
The time between noticing the shadow and being at the door to the room I saw it in passed like a blur. Our school isn't small, so it must have taken a few minutes to make it over there, but time was behaving oddly. I flicked the light switch, but there was no response. The lights stayed dark and the shadow stood by the window.
I tried to speak, to say something comforting, since helping the thing would hopefully quieten the screaming in my head, but I couldn't think of anything to say. All there was was pain, and confusion, and I could barely think, let alone come up with something insightful.
"It's different." Came a voice, from what I assumed was the shadow. But it felt like it was more in my head than an actual sound. "Everything is different from the other side..."
"The other side?"
"I know you...you're Jacob." The shadow continued, like it had something it needed to say and wasn't going to waste time answering questions. "You're not supposed to be involved. But you were supposed to find me."
The confusion was gone, the panic was gone. I felt calm, an eerie kind of calm you don't expect.
"I could do things. Strange, wonderful things and I didn't even know how. I was supposed to find Dane, and Emily, and then there would be three. That's how she said it was going to happen. That's why I was here tonight. But they found me first...and now...I think things are different."
"Who found you? What could you do?" The questions came out before I realised that I wasn't actually communicating so much as listening to something, like it was pre-recorded.
"Something is playing a game with people's lives Jacob. They didn't count on you though - you and Chloe weren't a part of their plan. I just hope you can stop them..."
"Okay I'm sick of this cryptic nonsense. Who are you." I walked forward and put a hand on the shoulder of the person. It was straight through, something which I know shouldn't have suprised me but did anyway.
I stopped running again. I don't even remember starting to run, but I was now at the locker bays. I didn't even know you could get to the locker bays at night. Slumped in front of me was a body. Covered in cuts that were thin but looked deep...almost like his body had been slowly ripped apart. His name had been Neil...I think that was all I knew about him except that he was quiet, and I wish now I'd seen enough to know what had happened.
Chloe had been right though...a body in the locker room.
"Well..well...well. If it isn't Jacob coming to snoop about." Came a voice from behind me. Not the kind of voice I wanted to hear either.
"Bit late for you to be at school isn't it?" I replied.
"Things to do, teachers to see. I don't think we'd ever stayed back late like you and your wondergang do."
"Things change." I shrugged, still not wanting to turn around.
"They certainly do." Came a second voice.
I felt myself fly off my feet and slam into a locker. The pain rang through my head. But now I felt the need to turn around before my nose started to bleed and I couldn't manage some kind of heroic face.
"Learned some new tricks have we Chris?"
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids - Double Dating
It is an age-old ritual among people that when the process of pairing off begins...a double date must occur. It had happened with Chloe, Nathan, Kara and Chris - which was an awkward enough experience for me when I wasn't involved. Going on a double date is a different experience in itself.
Especially when it means you have to spend time with someone like Sarah. Chloe didn't like her, I wanted to be able to exchange my power for Emily's so I could set her on fire, and for some inexplicable reason Dane actually liked her. I didn't even pretend to understand his reasoning for that, so I stood by my theory that the only reason that he was dating her was because not a single other girl had asked him out in his 12 years of schooling.
"I really think our school needs to teach more religious acceptance." Sarah was telling us over dinner, standing on her soapbox for what felt like the fourth time of the evening.
"I agree." Dane agreed. Again.
"I mean I know we're a religious school, but teaching religious education from a solely Chrisitian viewpoint closes off so many avenues of religious discussion."
Chloe and I sat there silently, glad that our food gave us a chance to fill our mouths rather than have to reply. We had already tried arguing, discussing, and even agreeing, only to be told we were wrong every time. I was almost ready to become a born-again Christian and go to church with Lisa every Sunday just because that would put me as against Sarah as was humanly possible.
As the discussion of religion made its way back to with burnings and persecution, I took my leave and fled to the toilets. I took as long as I could, and then walked out to head back to the table, only to find Chloe.
"Can we kill her?" she said. The scary thing was she was almost serious. "Like I know I said we should do this to be supportive because Dane has a girl who finds him attractive and stuff. But dude...any boy who ends up with her needs his head examined."
"Is now the part of the conversation where I say that I told you so? Or do I have to wait a bit longer for that."
"Okay gloating will not help. It will make me feel bad, you'll then have to feel my badness and then we'll both be even more miserable. We need an escape plan."
"Ooh...we can do that thing...where we get someone to call us and pretend they're having an emergency and we have to leave."
"I think you need to organise that beforehand. Plus, I don't think that has ever worked, even on bad tv shows."
"We could just run away? Or see a movie...they're quiet and so we won't have to listen to her talking for a good hour or so."
"I think she would talk through the movie." Chloe looked nervously back to our table, where Sarah was looking at us while she talked...and Dane was watching her and nodding. It was a scary sight. I felt like Sarah was going to shoot laser beams at us. "Okay. We are two very clever, highly psychic individuals here. We can figure out how to bluff our way out of a double date that can only end in mass murder."
"I agree, but I think in the mean time we need to like...go back over. Before Sarah sends her winged monkeys after us or something."
We walked back over to the table, Chloe whistling the Wicked Witch of the West tune from Wizard of Oz until we were within earshot of Sarah...
About ten minutes later, we left the restraunt, with the intention of fleeing to a movie, where Chloe and I could at least try to block out the whinging of Sarah by distracting ourselves with cinema. As we walked from one place to another, we spotted Emily walking along in the other direction. Chloe and I quickly bounded over to her, leaving a confused couple behind us.
"Emily!" Chloe said excitedly.
"Save us!" I said in the same tone of voice.
"..huh?" came Emily's confused reply.
"Long story short, we are on a double date with Dane and Sarah..." I started.
"...who we both now want to murder in a slow painful fashion..." Chloe added
"...and we need to escape in a way that is at least vaguely subtle..."
"...so if you could help us we would love you forever..."
"...and Chloe will buy you a pony.."
"...I will?" Chloe looked at me.
"Well it's an added incentive...and I certainly can't afford a pony." I shrugged.
"Good point...so can you help Emily?"
Emily was still confused. Possibly because Chloe and I had said quite a lot very quickly, and without making much sense.
"We'll take that as a yes...I'll be back." Chloe said, and bounded off.
"Did someone give you guys red cordial again?" Emily asked me. "Cuz I've heard stories about what that can do to you..."
"No. Chloe had rasberry soft drink but I think it's less of a sugar high and more of a 'oh-god-we-might-get-to-escape-Sarah' high."
"Ahh. Important difference. What's so bad about her anyway? She seems to like Dane, and she is nice..." Emily asked.
"She is nice. In the way that she is never wrong about anything. And I still don't understand why she even wants Dane....he is so out of her league."
"Or you're just less happy you and Chloe are no longer the flavour of the month couple?" Emily tried a level of insight that was quite good for someone without psychic powers.
"...maybe." I said quietly.
"Okay. We are able to escape this date." Chloe squealed with joy as she came back. "Sarah is going away. We are hanging with Emily if she doesn't mind...okay good we are hanging with Emily. I think somewhere nice and quiet like a park is a good idea."
Especially when it means you have to spend time with someone like Sarah. Chloe didn't like her, I wanted to be able to exchange my power for Emily's so I could set her on fire, and for some inexplicable reason Dane actually liked her. I didn't even pretend to understand his reasoning for that, so I stood by my theory that the only reason that he was dating her was because not a single other girl had asked him out in his 12 years of schooling.
"I really think our school needs to teach more religious acceptance." Sarah was telling us over dinner, standing on her soapbox for what felt like the fourth time of the evening.
"I agree." Dane agreed. Again.
"I mean I know we're a religious school, but teaching religious education from a solely Chrisitian viewpoint closes off so many avenues of religious discussion."
Chloe and I sat there silently, glad that our food gave us a chance to fill our mouths rather than have to reply. We had already tried arguing, discussing, and even agreeing, only to be told we were wrong every time. I was almost ready to become a born-again Christian and go to church with Lisa every Sunday just because that would put me as against Sarah as was humanly possible.
As the discussion of religion made its way back to with burnings and persecution, I took my leave and fled to the toilets. I took as long as I could, and then walked out to head back to the table, only to find Chloe.
"Can we kill her?" she said. The scary thing was she was almost serious. "Like I know I said we should do this to be supportive because Dane has a girl who finds him attractive and stuff. But dude...any boy who ends up with her needs his head examined."
"Is now the part of the conversation where I say that I told you so? Or do I have to wait a bit longer for that."
"Okay gloating will not help. It will make me feel bad, you'll then have to feel my badness and then we'll both be even more miserable. We need an escape plan."
"Ooh...we can do that thing...where we get someone to call us and pretend they're having an emergency and we have to leave."
"I think you need to organise that beforehand. Plus, I don't think that has ever worked, even on bad tv shows."
"We could just run away? Or see a movie...they're quiet and so we won't have to listen to her talking for a good hour or so."
"I think she would talk through the movie." Chloe looked nervously back to our table, where Sarah was looking at us while she talked...and Dane was watching her and nodding. It was a scary sight. I felt like Sarah was going to shoot laser beams at us. "Okay. We are two very clever, highly psychic individuals here. We can figure out how to bluff our way out of a double date that can only end in mass murder."
"I agree, but I think in the mean time we need to like...go back over. Before Sarah sends her winged monkeys after us or something."
We walked back over to the table, Chloe whistling the Wicked Witch of the West tune from Wizard of Oz until we were within earshot of Sarah...
About ten minutes later, we left the restraunt, with the intention of fleeing to a movie, where Chloe and I could at least try to block out the whinging of Sarah by distracting ourselves with cinema. As we walked from one place to another, we spotted Emily walking along in the other direction. Chloe and I quickly bounded over to her, leaving a confused couple behind us.
"Emily!" Chloe said excitedly.
"Save us!" I said in the same tone of voice.
"..huh?" came Emily's confused reply.
"Long story short, we are on a double date with Dane and Sarah..." I started.
"...who we both now want to murder in a slow painful fashion..." Chloe added
"...and we need to escape in a way that is at least vaguely subtle..."
"...so if you could help us we would love you forever..."
"...and Chloe will buy you a pony.."
"...I will?" Chloe looked at me.
"Well it's an added incentive...and I certainly can't afford a pony." I shrugged.
"Good point...so can you help Emily?"
Emily was still confused. Possibly because Chloe and I had said quite a lot very quickly, and without making much sense.
"We'll take that as a yes...I'll be back." Chloe said, and bounded off.
"Did someone give you guys red cordial again?" Emily asked me. "Cuz I've heard stories about what that can do to you..."
"No. Chloe had rasberry soft drink but I think it's less of a sugar high and more of a 'oh-god-we-might-get-to-escape-Sarah' high."
"Ahh. Important difference. What's so bad about her anyway? She seems to like Dane, and she is nice..." Emily asked.
"She is nice. In the way that she is never wrong about anything. And I still don't understand why she even wants Dane....he is so out of her league."
"Or you're just less happy you and Chloe are no longer the flavour of the month couple?" Emily tried a level of insight that was quite good for someone without psychic powers.
"...maybe." I said quietly.
"Okay. We are able to escape this date." Chloe squealed with joy as she came back. "Sarah is going away. We are hanging with Emily if she doesn't mind...okay good we are hanging with Emily. I think somewhere nice and quiet like a park is a good idea."
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Psychic Schoolkids pt9 - Dreams
4 months earlier
Things had changed.
They hadn't entirely changed for the bad, but our little group of four nerdy guys had transformed into this big group. There were girls, and there were couples, and there was Dane.
Dane's addition to our group was met with mixed emotions. The psychics - myself, Chloe and Lisa - were happy to have another one of us in our midst. The rest of the group, particularly Chris and Nathan, were less that happy about Dane hanging out with us.
"I don't know why Jacob, but he gives me the creeps." Chris said to me.
We were sitting on the back lawn of Chloe's house. Her parents had gone away and in high school tradition there was a party. Or as we had called it to our slightly naive parents, a "sleepover". This gave not only the impression that the girls would be pillowfighting in their underwear, but also that there would be no booze or adult content. Our poor parents.
"I know that vibe too. But the guy needs some friends." I tried to stick up for Dane, but found it a little bit hard. Although a guy with powers was fun, Dane and I had very little in common apart from that.
"Why do those friends have to be us? I mean I know Chloe and Lisa think he's the new black, but the guy's a total loser, and he looks at me weird. And people always seem to act weirdly after they've spent some time with him. Like Kara was totally against him at first, and then after a couple of minutes with him she decided she was neutral on the subject."
Great, that had the smell of Dane using his power all over it. I made a mental note to slap him across the back of the head when I got back inside.
"Okay I agree, that's odd. But I mean, Chloe's not exactly normal either, nor am I for that matter."
"Yeah but you guys are just good at reading people. I mean we're all so predictable to Chloe she knows what we're about to say half the time, but you know Kara, she's stubborn as anything. Like remember when her and I went on a double date with Natahn and Chloe? Twenty minutes to pick a movie just cuz Kara wouldn't budge, and I'd imagine she's just as bad when it comes to people."
"I think you're over-reacting." I tried to appear rational and not angry. "I mean you can just avoid the guy if he creeps you out."
"I try but he's always hanging out with us these days. I don't know why you and Chloe even started talking to him anyway. Pity is best reserved for getting people laid on new years."
"We...had our reason. Chloe seemed to think he was cool, and as you said, she's good at telling what people are gonna do."
"Well let's hope she knows what Dane's gonna do. I hope he doesn't go stalker on us all...or worse. Serial killer. I don't think Kara would still want to date me if I was in bite size pieces."
"Boys. You're sitting out here all alone." Kara said as she walked out the door accompanied by Chloe. The pair of them plopped down on the grass next to us.
"And without a drink!" Chloe handed us both beers.
"So how's my boy doing tonight?" Kara rubbed a hand up Chris' arm. "Apart from being cold! You're not gonna get any hugs tonight unless you warm up."
"I thought you would help warm me up..." Chris said, leaning in to start making out with Kara.
Chloe and I briefly gave each other a look. "And on that note I think I see something inside we should look at."
"Yes." I agreed. "Like a blank wall that is in no way sickeningly coupley."
"Don't let us keep you." Chris said as he came up for air.
"Oh trust me you won't." Chloe said. "Just don't go screwing on my lawn."
Chloe and I walked inside.
"Nathan has gone to bed." Chloe said to me as we walked inside. "He's so weak. Reckons he had a bad night's sleep last night. He was home all night!"
"Well you did decide to date the laziest boy on the planet, I don't know what you expected there." I shrugged and smiled.
"Don't push it boyo, or I'll get all depressed and make you have to feel it all."
"Oh I'm threatened." I said in my best impressed/scared voice. "Besides, it's probably better he's gone to bed, with Matt gone and the wonder couple distracted outside, that just leaves us four psychics to have some fun."
"That was the reason for this get together. And yes, I have the book!"
We walked into the lounge room where Lisa and Dane had been chatting.
"I'm still not sure about this." She said to us as we walked in. "It seems very...devil-worshippy. I'm pretty sure God frowns upon it."
"God frowns upon reading minds and seeing the future, so Jacob and I are already screwed there. Might as well push the envelope a bit.."
"Umm..what exactly are we doing?" Dane said.
"Jacob, you explain, you'll actually let them ask the questions. I'll go get some stuff." Chloe bounded upstairs.
"Okay, well Chloe has been reading. Stop and marvel at the concept for a second."
"I head that!" Chloe yelled from behind me as she walked away.
"She's been reading about dreams, and how people can see the future in their dreams."
"Can't Chloe already see the future though? Isn't that the point?" Dane asked.
"She can only see a few seconds in. It's enough to help her out short term...but doesn't give us a lot in the long term."
"Which is exactly how it's supposed to be. Noone should have the power to see that far." Lisa interjected.
"Her theory is we try this...meditation thing. It's supposed to help clear her mind and let her see further, and at the same time it should help clear our minds too and...boost our powers a little." I explained, ignoring Lisa as best I could.
"Umm...I'm pretty sure I can heal anything right now, so why am I here?" Lisa yawned and sat back on the couch.
"Because it's supposed to work better with four people, and I figure for the first time at least, we want to be as efficient as possible." Chloe returned into the room with a CD, a piece and a candle.
"Okay I have meditative music...a point of focus." She lit the candle and put it on the floor. "And a circle." She drew a big circle on the floor with the chalk.
"Do I really have to stay up for this or can I go to bed? I'm tired." Lisa said.
"I'm pretty wiped too. And...staring at a candle doesn't seem like fun." Dane said.
I looked at Chloe, she gave me a look too.
"Fine. Go. Be boring. Just don't interrupt us and keep the wonder couple away." Chloe fumed. "I think we can make this work as a pairs thing. Unless you wanna flake on me too?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Plus the more we can find out about...certain people....the better I think."
Chloe looked at the closed door then moved in to whisper. "You mean Dane?"...she then paused for a few seconds, meaning I didn't have to reply. "I agree. Nice, but creepy. Even the power is a bit creepy."
"Plus I think he's using it...on us even."
"Lisa and Kara have been a lot friendlier to him lately...like their annoyance at him is blocked off...it'd make sense."
"Exactly. So let's do this and find out what's in store."
A few minutes later the music was playing, soft waterfall sounds were filling the room, and the only light in the room came from our tiny candle. It was almost romantic. I even felt Chloe feeling the same way, which was re-assuring in a weird kind of way.
"Okay so the theory is...we link hands, focus on the sound and the candle...and..listen to what's going on in our heads. In your case pay attention to feelings...both yours and everyone's around...and for me whatever's about to happen. Then once we've meditated...we sleep, and that's when our powers awaken a bit..."
"Are you sure about this?" I checked one last time.
"Well it's from a Wiccan book. There isn't exactly a lot in any library on psychics like us so I had to adapt it a bit...but the theory is sound. Now shush, hold my hands like a big boy and we'll get started."
We sat down inside the chalk circle and held hands. I could feel Chloe focus on the flame and everything else inside her...and I tried to do the same. The problem was that I as I tried to focus on what Chloe was feeling, I ended up just focusing on other aspects of Chloe. So I changed my focus so try and feel what the other residents of the house were feeling. Unfortunately, there was this strong sexual tension coming from outside which was even more distracting.
So I sat there like a good little boy, totally unable to focus on anything but knowing that Chloe's mind was completely tuned in to what was going on. I also wondered why I had to be there, or whether Chloe had just wanted someone else there for company so she didn't feel awkward sitting in a dark room staring at a candle. Again, definitely not the calm, meditative thoughts I was supposed to be feeling.
About fifteen minutes later, which is an enternity in candle-staring time...the music stopped and Chloe snapped out of her trance.
"Okay bedtime! Just let me clean up the chalk."
Since Nathan had taken Chloe's bed, and Kara and Chris were sharing Chloe's parents' bed on the condition they didn't have sex in it, that left Dane, Lisa, Chloe and myself on the lounge room floor on various mattresses and sleeping bags. I was in between Chloe and Dane, with the slim frame of Chloe on one side contrasting with the warm bulk of Dane. I felt a bit less angry at Dane for messing with our heads, which a part of me almost thought could have been Dane messing with my head too, but I think I was always a bit hesitant to get angry at Dane. After all, he was new to the psychic thing, and was playing with his power in the safest way he could...but still...not so fun.
I slept rather restlessly, I think in part due to sleeping next to Chloe. She was dreaming, and feeling instense emotions as she did. I was feeling everything she was and it was creeping me out a little bit, so I could only imagine how she felt. In the end I had to get up and go for a walk just to have my head be my own for a bit...
Things had changed.
They hadn't entirely changed for the bad, but our little group of four nerdy guys had transformed into this big group. There were girls, and there were couples, and there was Dane.
Dane's addition to our group was met with mixed emotions. The psychics - myself, Chloe and Lisa - were happy to have another one of us in our midst. The rest of the group, particularly Chris and Nathan, were less that happy about Dane hanging out with us.
"I don't know why Jacob, but he gives me the creeps." Chris said to me.
We were sitting on the back lawn of Chloe's house. Her parents had gone away and in high school tradition there was a party. Or as we had called it to our slightly naive parents, a "sleepover". This gave not only the impression that the girls would be pillowfighting in their underwear, but also that there would be no booze or adult content. Our poor parents.
"I know that vibe too. But the guy needs some friends." I tried to stick up for Dane, but found it a little bit hard. Although a guy with powers was fun, Dane and I had very little in common apart from that.
"Why do those friends have to be us? I mean I know Chloe and Lisa think he's the new black, but the guy's a total loser, and he looks at me weird. And people always seem to act weirdly after they've spent some time with him. Like Kara was totally against him at first, and then after a couple of minutes with him she decided she was neutral on the subject."
Great, that had the smell of Dane using his power all over it. I made a mental note to slap him across the back of the head when I got back inside.
"Okay I agree, that's odd. But I mean, Chloe's not exactly normal either, nor am I for that matter."
"Yeah but you guys are just good at reading people. I mean we're all so predictable to Chloe she knows what we're about to say half the time, but you know Kara, she's stubborn as anything. Like remember when her and I went on a double date with Natahn and Chloe? Twenty minutes to pick a movie just cuz Kara wouldn't budge, and I'd imagine she's just as bad when it comes to people."
"I think you're over-reacting." I tried to appear rational and not angry. "I mean you can just avoid the guy if he creeps you out."
"I try but he's always hanging out with us these days. I don't know why you and Chloe even started talking to him anyway. Pity is best reserved for getting people laid on new years."
"We...had our reason. Chloe seemed to think he was cool, and as you said, she's good at telling what people are gonna do."
"Well let's hope she knows what Dane's gonna do. I hope he doesn't go stalker on us all...or worse. Serial killer. I don't think Kara would still want to date me if I was in bite size pieces."
"Boys. You're sitting out here all alone." Kara said as she walked out the door accompanied by Chloe. The pair of them plopped down on the grass next to us.
"And without a drink!" Chloe handed us both beers.
"So how's my boy doing tonight?" Kara rubbed a hand up Chris' arm. "Apart from being cold! You're not gonna get any hugs tonight unless you warm up."
"I thought you would help warm me up..." Chris said, leaning in to start making out with Kara.
Chloe and I briefly gave each other a look. "And on that note I think I see something inside we should look at."
"Yes." I agreed. "Like a blank wall that is in no way sickeningly coupley."
"Don't let us keep you." Chris said as he came up for air.
"Oh trust me you won't." Chloe said. "Just don't go screwing on my lawn."
Chloe and I walked inside.
"Nathan has gone to bed." Chloe said to me as we walked inside. "He's so weak. Reckons he had a bad night's sleep last night. He was home all night!"
"Well you did decide to date the laziest boy on the planet, I don't know what you expected there." I shrugged and smiled.
"Don't push it boyo, or I'll get all depressed and make you have to feel it all."
"Oh I'm threatened." I said in my best impressed/scared voice. "Besides, it's probably better he's gone to bed, with Matt gone and the wonder couple distracted outside, that just leaves us four psychics to have some fun."
"That was the reason for this get together. And yes, I have the book!"
We walked into the lounge room where Lisa and Dane had been chatting.
"I'm still not sure about this." She said to us as we walked in. "It seems very...devil-worshippy. I'm pretty sure God frowns upon it."
"God frowns upon reading minds and seeing the future, so Jacob and I are already screwed there. Might as well push the envelope a bit.."
"Umm..what exactly are we doing?" Dane said.
"Jacob, you explain, you'll actually let them ask the questions. I'll go get some stuff." Chloe bounded upstairs.
"Okay, well Chloe has been reading. Stop and marvel at the concept for a second."
"I head that!" Chloe yelled from behind me as she walked away.
"She's been reading about dreams, and how people can see the future in their dreams."
"Can't Chloe already see the future though? Isn't that the point?" Dane asked.
"She can only see a few seconds in. It's enough to help her out short term...but doesn't give us a lot in the long term."
"Which is exactly how it's supposed to be. Noone should have the power to see that far." Lisa interjected.
"Her theory is we try this...meditation thing. It's supposed to help clear her mind and let her see further, and at the same time it should help clear our minds too and...boost our powers a little." I explained, ignoring Lisa as best I could.
"Umm...I'm pretty sure I can heal anything right now, so why am I here?" Lisa yawned and sat back on the couch.
"Because it's supposed to work better with four people, and I figure for the first time at least, we want to be as efficient as possible." Chloe returned into the room with a CD, a piece and a candle.
"Okay I have meditative music...a point of focus." She lit the candle and put it on the floor. "And a circle." She drew a big circle on the floor with the chalk.
"Do I really have to stay up for this or can I go to bed? I'm tired." Lisa said.
"I'm pretty wiped too. And...staring at a candle doesn't seem like fun." Dane said.
I looked at Chloe, she gave me a look too.
"Fine. Go. Be boring. Just don't interrupt us and keep the wonder couple away." Chloe fumed. "I think we can make this work as a pairs thing. Unless you wanna flake on me too?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Plus the more we can find out about...certain people....the better I think."
Chloe looked at the closed door then moved in to whisper. "You mean Dane?"...she then paused for a few seconds, meaning I didn't have to reply. "I agree. Nice, but creepy. Even the power is a bit creepy."
"Plus I think he's using it...on us even."
"Lisa and Kara have been a lot friendlier to him lately...like their annoyance at him is blocked off...it'd make sense."
"Exactly. So let's do this and find out what's in store."
A few minutes later the music was playing, soft waterfall sounds were filling the room, and the only light in the room came from our tiny candle. It was almost romantic. I even felt Chloe feeling the same way, which was re-assuring in a weird kind of way.
"Okay so the theory is...we link hands, focus on the sound and the candle...and..listen to what's going on in our heads. In your case pay attention to feelings...both yours and everyone's around...and for me whatever's about to happen. Then once we've meditated...we sleep, and that's when our powers awaken a bit..."
"Are you sure about this?" I checked one last time.
"Well it's from a Wiccan book. There isn't exactly a lot in any library on psychics like us so I had to adapt it a bit...but the theory is sound. Now shush, hold my hands like a big boy and we'll get started."
We sat down inside the chalk circle and held hands. I could feel Chloe focus on the flame and everything else inside her...and I tried to do the same. The problem was that I as I tried to focus on what Chloe was feeling, I ended up just focusing on other aspects of Chloe. So I changed my focus so try and feel what the other residents of the house were feeling. Unfortunately, there was this strong sexual tension coming from outside which was even more distracting.
So I sat there like a good little boy, totally unable to focus on anything but knowing that Chloe's mind was completely tuned in to what was going on. I also wondered why I had to be there, or whether Chloe had just wanted someone else there for company so she didn't feel awkward sitting in a dark room staring at a candle. Again, definitely not the calm, meditative thoughts I was supposed to be feeling.
About fifteen minutes later, which is an enternity in candle-staring time...the music stopped and Chloe snapped out of her trance.
"Okay bedtime! Just let me clean up the chalk."
Since Nathan had taken Chloe's bed, and Kara and Chris were sharing Chloe's parents' bed on the condition they didn't have sex in it, that left Dane, Lisa, Chloe and myself on the lounge room floor on various mattresses and sleeping bags. I was in between Chloe and Dane, with the slim frame of Chloe on one side contrasting with the warm bulk of Dane. I felt a bit less angry at Dane for messing with our heads, which a part of me almost thought could have been Dane messing with my head too, but I think I was always a bit hesitant to get angry at Dane. After all, he was new to the psychic thing, and was playing with his power in the safest way he could...but still...not so fun.
I slept rather restlessly, I think in part due to sleeping next to Chloe. She was dreaming, and feeling instense emotions as she did. I was feeling everything she was and it was creeping me out a little bit, so I could only imagine how she felt. In the end I had to get up and go for a walk just to have my head be my own for a bit...
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