Post by silent.lullaby on May 2, 2009 11:23:44 GMT -5
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 16] Nurse Nina
In the quiet classroom, there were whispers of the student body. A lot of ‘what the (which ever explicit they chose)’ some girls were huddled together crying. Some guys looked like they wanted to tear us limb from limb.
The knock on the door snapped my from my revive. Everyone looked but no one spoke. “Should we run?” Mary asked, she stood beside her sister, the twins standing tall behind J.C as if daring someone to go after their friend.
“No,” Anna decided after a moment, “they’d chase us.”
“Open the doors!”
“Should we attack them?” J.C asked quietly still looking at me since I was still quite wobbly, like my head weighed too much for the rest of my body.
“They’d probably shoot us,” Anna retorted.
Hiro’s voice lowered to that of an exact match to our unconscious teacher. “Everything is fine, what do you need. Why are you interrupting my class!”
“Mr. Leary? We heard some ruckus, are you sure everything is fine?”
“Some git fell when doing a handstand and knocked over a desk in a hasty stand up.”
“Um... okay.”
Suddenly the other person was gone. So, that was Hiro’s gift. “Why didn’t anyone holler?” I finally asked after a moment. I started to get to my feet, J.C and Robyn helping me.
“We aren’t that stupid,” someone said.
“We’d all probably disappear then,” another spoke softly.
“So now what do we do. When the teacher gets up...”
“So long as no one ever... ever speaks of this,” the guy with a mohawk said stepping forward. “I’ll make him forget the last five minutes. Everyone back to their seats.”
There were more whispers as people started to sit back down, pick up pens, pretend like nothing had happened. Mohawk boy looked to Thayne, “help me get him to his chair, he’ll just think he dosed off after giving us the assignment.” Once the teacher was in the chair mohawk boy touched his head then the teachers. “Start working.” Mohawk boy and Thayne ran back to their seats.
Seemed like there was more talent in B-5 than I thought. I looked around the classroom. No one was going for the panic button. Maybe because now they realized it could be them. Everyone seemed to realize how important it was to keep powers away from the teacher. None of us wanted to disappear.
Art passed quickly after all that drama. I had felt so worried, but now in the comfort of the hallway I breathed a calmed breath. “What the flying fuck was that,” Mary asked, grabbing my arm once we were outside, our group casually made a circle around us to keep anyone from seeing the drama unfolding.
“What was what?”
“That outburst! Why didn’t you just sit down! You jeopardized all of us!” She shouted at me.
I put my hand over her mouth before she could continue, “kind of like what you are doing now!”
She seemed calmer and I took my hand back. “Look, you could have exposed us all! Why were you... you’re bleeding,” however she was going to end the sentence had now floated away.
“Huh... what?”
“Right there,” she said pointing.
“You okay?” Hiro asked me.
“How the hell did you manage that?” Robyn asked starkly.
“You were scratching at that spot when you started your melt down.” Leon said, finally speaking to me even though he was looking down.
“I...I was?”
“You don’t even fucking remember it!” Mary complained in a harsh whisper.
“Let her be,” Anna said putting her hands over my shoulder, “are you alright?”
“Umm... yeah, I don’t think it’s deep.”
“Come on, I’ll get to play nurse again,” Nina said with a little laugh.
“I think this outburst should be explained,” Scott said after a moment. “Twenty minutes, Hawkeye’s room?”
“Fine,” I agreed despite my fear of jumping from balcony to balcony, I didn’t really want people in my room, noticing... oh... my pills.
“How do we get there?” Anna asked.
Hawkeye grinned, “jumping balconies.”
“Fuck my life,” Mary said leaving the circle and heading back to the B building.
“Don’t mind her, we will be there.”
J.C who was rubbing her eyes like she was exhausted, nodded, “yes we shall.”
Back in ‘home sweet home’ AKA B-5-4, I had my shirt off, and Nina was wiping down the scratches with a alcohol covered swab. I bit my lip to refrain from yelling at her. She was always so nice to take care of me. She had a serious maternal complex. Loveable Nina, she’d been taking care of me since I got here. “You held me up.”
“Huh?” She asked looking confused as she through out a cotton ball that was soaked with blood, she poured alcohol on another and pressed it against the wound. My own nurse Nina.
I hissed before speaking again, “I mean I can’t do a handstand. You held me up didn’t you?” Nina looked about to deny when I cut in, “I mean you can move things with your mind, like pushing that kid back.”
Nina sighed, “I can move air. I made the air around you... I don’t know how to describe it,” she said as she looked calm working on me. “I don’t know... thicker so it was nearly impossible for you to fall.”
“Till you lost concentration.”
“Till I loose concentration,” she agreed. “I can force air putting a weight behind it, that’s how I knocked that kid back.
“Can you levitate things?” I asked curiously.
“Uh... no... I don’t think so. Well maybe a table I could cause there is room under it, I could force that air to be heavier... but... mostly no.
“Hmm,” I watched as she wound gauze under my one armpit and over my opposite shoulder a few times before taping the gauze together.
“There, all done,” she said taking off the gloves. “What happened to you there?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were scared, under where you scratched... was a scar.”
I sighed, “I’ll explain tonight.”
“Thinking of it, you should probably get a shirt on and get ready to go,” she said glancing at her masculine watch.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I responded. I slid off the counter and she put away the first aid kit I walked into my room to find Leon on my bed.
“What the hell?”
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 17] Violated In The Best Way Possible
I had been striding around in my bra, after all it was only Nina and Robyn. Hell Nina had seen me completely naked. But this was a guy, in my room, and I was a blood stained sports bra and a pair of dark washed jeans with a few flecks of alcohol and blood mix.
“Shh,” he said, “a while ago... you asked what I can do.”
“Yeah, and then you ignored me for a few days.” I retorted angrily.
“I was trying to decide if I should tell you.”
“I told everyone what I could do!” I shout-whispered at him locking my door. Last thing I needed was to explain to Nina or Robyn why Leon was in my room. “I just trusted everyone, and you couldn’t even trust one.”
“You didn’t have much of a choice, you need all of us to know to be able to hid you’re gift,” Leon retorted edgily.
Glaring at him didn’t seem to have an effect on him, but it did make me feel better. “Why didn’t you just tell me then, tell everyone. We are in this together.”
“What if we aren’t?” Leon asked exasperated, “when we first met, you asked me how long I’ve been here.” He stood, his height intimidated me slightly but I crossed my arms over my chest. “Guess how long.”
“I don’t know, a few years.”
“Ten.”
“What?”
“They didn’t always only take teenagers here Claire. They use to take everyone, but mostly the gifts we assume they are looking for only come out once puberty hit. They didn’t want to take care kids anymore since it wasn’t of value to them, by then I was fourteen though so I was still stuck here.”
“Ten years,” I felt pity now deep with in, I felt my angry face slide away.
“Don’t give me that pity stuff Claire,” he sounded exasperated.
“I’m sor-I don’t know what,” I breathed out, my sentences sounded all wrong. “Why are you telling me this?”
“People will give you up to these people if you let them. That display in the classroom opened my eyes though, some people, when they are in the same boat, they will protect you if only to save their own skin.”
“Someone gave you up didn’t they?”
Leon’s smile was dark and quite frankly scared the crap out of me, “my own parents. They noticed I could do things differently. I developed my... ‘gifts’ early.” He air quoted the gifts with long slender fingers. “I never showed the people here though. Didn’t want to use them ever again. Accidents happen.”
“You used again?”
Leon shook his head, “I mean... the last time I used... something... tragic happened. I didn’t mean for it too...” the look on his face was completely tortured, anguish in it’s purest form.
Something few people could truly figure out. I could since I had seen my reflection in the glass of one of the shops, a police officer putting a blanket over my thin shaking shoulders. My face had looked like that, agony, anguish, torture. My father wasn’t there... he was with... I looked back to Leon unable to stand my own thoughts.
His mismatched eyes were staring at me, I could see there were tears being held back. His stare was incredibly powerful, our eyes were locked, I simply couldn’t look away. Suddenly my logic was gone, it was like my heart was now on autopilot and my brain took a break. I closed the space between Leon and I, I grabbed the back of his head pulling him down to me, standing on my tiptoes. His head bent to meet mine, our lips crashing together.
The longing I had for him from the first day we met. The intrigue, the mystery that he held. The way he made words fail me, the way my seductive side fell flat, he made all of my skills in flirting be forgotten. He made my brain slow and my heart pound.
He tasted like peppermint and chocolate, my tongue played with for a moment. I pressed against him, knocking him down onto my bed our kiss never breaking. His strong arms around me, one on my waist, the other entangled in my blonde curls.
Leon pulled away from my lips turning away from me, his hands grew a bit lax as I kissed his neck slowly. “This is wrong,” he muttered before grabbing my shoulders and pushing me up. I sat on the bed, shocked. He sat up and stared at me, his eyes locking on mine, I was completely unable to look away.
Suddenly I blushed, my brain started to work again. “I-I’m so sorry... I just... I...” I hid my face in my hands, I couldn’t believe I had just done that!
“Don’t be sorry, you couldn’t help it.”
“Way to be cocky.”
“Claire,” Leon’s hands grabbed onto my wrists. “You asked me what I can do, and I just did it.”
“What?”
Leon took a deep breath, “I... if I can get someone’s eye contact- which considering the mismatch is hard... people feel weird staring- but if I can... I can make them do whatever I want.” I peered through my fingers, I didn’t know wether to be angry of what he’d done, upset because it was over, or hopeful that he’d do it again. “Sometimes I can peer into their mind a little see what they are afraid of, and I can put in... illusions I guess, like if they are afraid of spiders,” I shuddered a little, “I can make them see spiders everywhere, make them feel them crawling all over their body.”
We sat on the bed quiet for a moment, “please, Claire, say you’ll forgive me. I know it was wrong.”
I looked at him for a moment through my fingers before I let my hands fall. I swallowed, I had pretty much just been violated in the best way possible. Looking at him, he looked nearly tortured again. I kissed him hard on the lips, this time my mind was still there going ‘what the heck are you doing!’ My heart raced this time, knowing it was really me doing it, not an imputed suggestion.
Leon pushed me back gently, “Claire...people... get hurt when I use my powers. That’s why I didn’t tell you, why I ignored you, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t feel so bad,” I admitted shyly sitting so close, our legs touching.
“Claire... I killed my little brother.” I stared blankly. “I was real young, just got my powers, just started to see the fears of other people’s minds. My little brother... he was always afraid of trains. Convinced he would be walking over the train tracks near our home and a train would hit him and he’d die. Cried himself to sleep about it.” Leon looked distant as he continued, “mom and dad were talking about taking him to a shrink.
“Anyways, we shared a room, we were wealthy, had a big home, but with Joshua’s fears, they wanted him to have his big brother there. We’d play together, we’d walk to the park and play there. I’d tease him nearly every day on our way to and from the park, about the train tracks, I jump across and say something stupid like, “oh there is a train coming!’ and he’d freak out.”
Leon took a break, wringing his fingers looking down at his hands. “One day we are on the way to the park... few days after I found out I could make people see things, made Joshua see a ghost, freaked and told mom our home was haunted... anyways I decided this time I’d make him see a train. Joshua never had problems meeting my eyes, they were... normal to him. He stared at me when I jumped across the tracks he was still all nervous. I made him hear the whistle, see the train, the smoke, and no matter where he moved in his head, he was still on the tracks.”
He looked to me finally, tears streaming down his face, “did you know you could be literally scared to death Claire?” His words came out so angrily, so tormented, “I literally scared him to death, he was a week from his sixth birthday.”
“Leon,” I whispered softly touching his arm.
“Oh brofer,” I screeched and shuffled in a great movement that launched me off the bed knocked my lamp off my night stand and landed hard on the floor. Leon looked startled and stood bending down beside me. Behind him, a little undefined, glowing a off white colour, was a child, messy soft brown hair, mismatched green and grey eyes, who I’d bet my life was Leon’s brother.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 18] Unlikely Visitor
“Fuck!” I whispered trying to get my breath back.
“Claire,” Leon sounded worried, “is it the burning man?”
I sat up a little calmer, “no... no it isn’t.”
Joshua was staring at his brother as he sat happily on the bed. Leon looked around the room and then back to me, “uh... want to tell me what the heck just happened then.”
“Seems like someone wanted to hear a story.”
“I like it when he talks about me,” Joshua said cheekily, his voice was happy, a large toothy smile upon his face, he was missing one of his front teeth though. “Sometimes I think he forgets about me.”
“What?” Leon said, “I don’t understand.”
“Joshua is sitting on my bed.”
“What...” Leon stood, “no way, you told me there was no one around me.”
“There wasn’t,” I responded.
“You’re lying.” Leon said suddenly, “just trying to cheer me up.”
“He has hair like yours, but it looks softer, lighter, his eyes are mismatched too but they are green and grey instead of your blue and brown. Looks like he’d only come up to my hips at most. Kinda short kiddo,” I said finally addressing the ghost child sitting on my bed as I sat up picking my lamp up and placing it back on the table.
“Holy shit,” Leon whispered.
“Mom said never to say that word, it’s bad.”
“Joshua is correcting your ‘bad words.’”
Leon let out a breath, “Josh, I’m so sorry! I-“ tears fell down Leon’s face.
“Tell him it’s okay.” Joshua said looking at me, “and that I do visit him. Tell him I’m okay. I always try to but he can’t hear me anymore. But you can right?”
“Yes, I can hear you.”
Leon looked to me, “what did he say.”
“He’s okay, that he does visit you,” I paraphrased.
Joshua looked distant, “Gamma’s calling. Tell him I forgive him too please.”
“I will,” I responded and the kid was gone.
“What, you will what?” Leon asked frantically.
I smiled, “he’s with his grandmother, and he told me to tell you that he forgives you.”
Leon looked about to start crying again when I heard my doorknob swivel, “what the hell, Claire why did you lock the door?” Robyn’s voice came from the other side of the door, of course it was time for the meet.
“See you later,” Leon said making his escape.
“Sorry,” I yelled, “I... I fell asleep, just a second.”
I heard mutters of complaints, but I quickly whipped off all my clothing and dressed in a pair or grey trousers with black stripes and a light weight black v-neck sweater. I unlocked my door and Nina and Robyn walked in, “about time,” Robyn muttered walking past me to the door.
“Sorry,” I muttered following them out of the room, Thayne, Leon and Scott were a few balconies ahead of us. I seen Mary, Anna and J.C coming from the opposite way to Hawkeye’s room.
As much as I feared heights I crossed the balconies quite easily. Hawkeye’s room had much the same set up as mine. The same semi-squished proportions, the bed in the corner, night stand, his dresser was a little smaller than mine, and his closet had doors that opened out while mine slid. His room was also painted in a fresh coat of eggshell, while mine was an off white and was peeling slightly.
I took a seat on the floor between Leon and Robyn. “So lets re-cap for the newbies,” Hawkeye said sitting on his dresser looking at Mary, Anna and J.C who were sitting together a little off from everyone else.
“I see through things or things at far distances, or really small things... look super sight. Rick can see peoples immediate futures, Hiro...you want to tell em?”
“Well I kind of demonstrated it earlier,” he said sheepishly, “I can mimic voices, accents, man or woman with little to no effort. If I want to exert a lot of energy I can also take peoples forms, but it’s super difficult.”
“That’s our batch,” Hawkeye ended and looked to Thayne.
“Super strength,” Thayne said oh-so-casually while flexing his muscles, “emo-boy over there,” Thayne said referring to Scott, “sees death.”
The three girls did a collective gasp and Scott shot Thayne a glare before turning to the girls. “It’s not what you think. I can just tell when people are going to die... a few days before. I don’t know how or anything, I just know.”
“How?” Anna asked in a frightened whisper.
“It’s on their faces,” Scott responded quietly.
“And you Leon?” Anna asked looking to him.
Leon looked to me for a second then around the room. Thayne and Scott seemed particularly interested. I really must have been the first and only one he told. “I...I’m going to have to keep it to myself... just a little longer.”
“I understand,” Anna said softly to him, “it’s hard... to admit you are different... especially in this kind of scenario.”
“If we are doing this sharing and caring thing he should have to tell us what he can do,” Mary argued.
“Let him off the hook,” Hawkeye said, “we all needed a lot of time, and someone else to admit what they could do first, give the guy a break, he’s been here forever.”
Leon glared up at Hawkeye who shrugged. “How long?” Anna asked.
Leon was silent for a long moment and I didn’t think he was going to tell her when he finally spoke, “a little over a decade.”
“Holy shit,” the twins spoke at once.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 19] How Many Years To Break A Teenager
“I couldn’t imagine,” J.C muttered quietly.
“So let him off the hook, that’s a long time to keep a secret,” Hawkeye said.
Anna looked to Hawkeye, “if you knew he was here for a long time, how long have you been here?”
“Six years.”
“Everyone else?” Anna asked.
“Seven,” Thayne said.
“Also seven,” Nina said quietly.
“Three,” Scott muttered.
“Little under five,” said Rick.
“Almost two years,” Hiro spoke softly.
“Came two days after Nina,” Robyn said finally.
“I’m the newb,” I spoke, “under two weeks...oh god... I haven’t even been here a month yet.” I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in so little time. How much I missed home. How long everyone else’s stay has been. How long mine could be.
“Mary and I have been here for just over four years,” Anna said softly.
“A year and a half,” J.C said sleepily as she leaned her head against Mary.
Everyone was silent for a moment, fathoming other years they may have to spend here. Finally Thayne spoke, “Robyn, you so can do something, I just know it.”
“I’m fucking normal,” she shouted hotheadedly.
“More like hormonal,” he said cheekily.
“You are a douche wad!” She shouted throwing a pillow from Hawkeye’s bed at him.
“I can pressurize air,” Nina said breaking up their verbal fight. “Give a weight to it... push it into objects... it’s difficult to explain.”
“Like what you did to that guy,” Mary asked.
“Yeah, like that,” Nina agreed.
“Mary and I can...” Anna looked to her twin who was glaring at her. Anna sighed and switched to a language I wasn’t familiar with. She and Mary seemed to argue for a few minutes.
“Don’t try to decipher it,” J.C said since she could tell it was what everyone in the room was trying so desperately to do. “One of those made up twin languages they’ve had since they were three. Just give up, I did a long time ago.”
While they were arguing Rick looked to J.C, “and what can you do.”
“I bet you already know.”
“Only from what you’ve displayed, you haven’t decided to tell us yet so I can’t see it.”
J.C smiled, “I’m like the worlds best sleeping potion, I just need skin to skin contact and I can put anyone out.”
“Is that why you are always sleeping?” I asked shyly.
J.C shrugged, “I don’t think so. I’ve had my days and nights reversed since I was a baby, parents always tried to fix my sleeping schedule, but they couldn’t. My internal time clock is busted,” she commented with a yawn. “I’ll get fully awake soon-ish, I start feeling awake at about seven and then go to bed in the morning around five.
“Huh,” was my answer.
“Fine!” Mary said finally, still in anger, “fucking fine, tell them.”
“Oh Mary, get your damned temper under control.”
“Oh how about screwing off. No one is going to believe you.”
Anna crossed her arms, “that isn’t fair, they will so, they are like us.”
Mary laughed, a dry humourless laugh, “we are not like them.”
“Do you want to tell them what you can do?” In answer to Anna’s kind question, her sister flipped her off. Anna sighed, we all knew she was use to this kind of behaviour but it still seemed to wear her thin. “I can wake the dead... not like bring people back to life,” she corrected before people got to excited. “We lived beside a graveyard when we were kids... one day I was fourteen trying to get a tan, it was nice for early June.” Anna paused for a minute before continuing, “some pervert was walking by... we lived in this pretty deserted place, it was the weekend and our parents were gone. He started taking pictures of us in our bikini’s.
“I was so mad, so infuriated. And suddenly I heard wood breaking, I heard ground being moved... I smelt death. Zombies, I guess you would call them. They don’t eat brains... they go after flesh, they don’t eat it... it’s like they want it as part of their skin... their bones...” Anna looked a little tormented as she continued. “They ripped him to bits... when my infuriation gave way to fear they fell powerless. I fucking raise the dead.”
Everyone was shocked into silence.
“She’s lying,” Mary said after a moment completely exasperated, “that’s what I can do,” she turned to her sister, “crafty bitch.”
Anna grinned, “I can split myself apart, like... duplicates, but the more I split the less I can concentrate and then you get duplicates just kind of standing there... besides that Mary and I can speak to each other no matter the distance through our minds... still when you start nodding or thinking with your hands, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do... which is why we still use our made up languages from childhood.”
Suddenly the attention was on me, “guess I have some explaining to do.”
“Fucking right you do,” Mary said with a smile, it was the most at ease I’d ever seen her.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 20] Claire’s Past
I had yet to speak yet, but my palms were getting sweaty. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe, my body simply didn’t want to remember how at this moment. Everyone’s eyes on me. I decided to start with the parts I had already told, I looked to Anna, Mary and J.C, “I can see the dead, spirits. At the obstacle course where I almost drowned, and the gym when it started to burn...” I swallowed before continuing, “there has been a ghost that has been... tormenting me for the past little while, wants me to send him on but I don’t know how, and trying to kill me since I won’t.”
Anna shook her head in pity, Mary just listened intently, and J.C seemed fully awake for the first time sine I had met her. Mary spoke so kindly this time that at first I had thought it had been Anna, “and in the classroom today, what was that about.”
Now everyone was leaning in to hear the story better. I wiped my sweaty palms against my trousers I took a few breaths that didn’t really help and just decided to talk, get it over with.
“It was late in the spring time, I took night dance classes. I loved to dance ever since I was a child... I would dance with my mother.” Now there was an entirely different set of painful memories, “I saved up money from my paper route to pay for the classes, but there was one more rule if I were to take them... Dad insisted I couldn’t walk the fifteen minute walk home, I had to have someone meet me there no matter how uncool it maybe.”
I hugged myself trying to keep my self together as I spoke, Leon’s arm went over my shoulder comfortingly, I looked to him and then nodded, I had to get this out. Maybe my dad was right, I had needed to talk about this, for a very long time.
“I agreed, I wanted to take the classes so badly,” to feel close to my mother again, I shook off the thought. “I had been taking them for a few weeks at this point, secretly I was glad that my father or my big brother Daniel would walk me home every night. Some of the gangs had turf around there, and sometimes there would be men that would whistle at me, or say something that gave me the chills. They didn’t do it often, I think that was because I was with my dad or my brother.”
Silent tears started running down my face this time, “Daniel had come this time, dad was watching my little brother since he was sick with the flu. There were more people out on the street than normal, all of them looked mean, looked angry. I remember Daniel grabbed my hand and pulled me along faster. A few guys stalked in front of us... asked Daniel where he was going with me. Told Daniel I was their type.”
My breaths became laboured as tears fell, “I’d never heard him swear before, but he told them to fuck right off.” I felt a comforting squeeze of Leon’s hands on my shoulders. I looked over at him and he gave me a little nod to continue. I nodded back, “Daniel and him verbally fought over me, Daniel told them I wasn’t going with any of them. So the guy said ‘she ain’t coming with us... she ain’t going with no one,’” Gooseflesh rose on my skin and my body shuddered with sobs, my words weren’t coming out properly as hard as I tried, my voice still shook.
“One of them pulled gun, I didn’t really see it all that well, just... just a silver flash. Daniel just... he moved so fast. He shouldn’t have been able to move that fast.” I took another gasp of air as I continued, “guns are loud... I’d only heard one on t.v, these are much louder...I heard Daniel gasp and his weight was over me, he had shielded me. I heard police sirens, they were patrolling and heard the shot. He was bleeding, the men ran, Daniel was on the ground, I shook him, but his eyes were rolling back. The policeman tried to pry me away... I wouldn’t let go till the policeman told me that they needed to get him ready for the ambulance or he could get worse.”
I sobbed for a few minutes straight, Hawkeye now sat beside Leon and passed me a box of Kleenex, which I was thankful, my nose was running and I had been snorting it back noisily throughout the story. After a few minutes of calming down a bit I found I could continue.
“The police officer gave me a blanket, I remember, I was standing alone, my father was by Daniel as they were preparing to move him. The police officer took me to the second ambulance since he suspected I would go into shock.” I touched my scar on my chest, nearly a star shape. “Since it was so dark, the policeman hadn’t noticed, but once by the ambulance the paramedics immediately noticed the bullet just inside my chest... I don’t remember ever feeling it till they pointed it out.”
“I dreamt of it... today in class. I heard the gunshot... I couldn’t breath again, like Daniel’s weight was on me... I don’t know what happened.”
Everyone was silent for a minute and finally Scott spoke, “I guess I’ll ask what everyone is thinking... did... did Daniel...make it?”
“The doctor’s saved him... but he never woke up. He’s been in a coma for nearly half a year.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nina said, her voice filled with sympathy.
“It’s why I’m in here. Not because I see the dead... though it is a part of it. I started drinking to deal with my big brother getting shot because of... me,” I felt so much pain emotionally that I started to physically feel it to. I absentmindedly scratched at the gauze where underneath held my scar.
A hand stopped me before I harmed myself, “don’t be stupid, any good big brother would do that.”
I looked over to Leon, of course he knew about big brothers, he was one. I looked to him... but his hands were one on my far shoulder the other on my arm. I swallowed and looked up. There was Daniel, holding my hands in his. Tears fell before I consciously knew I was truly upset. “No, no, no,” I put my head in my hands and begun rocking myself like I had on that night, “no, no, no, this isn’t happening, you aren’t real!”
“Is it the burning man?” Anna asked looking around the room as everyone was.
“Don’t cry, it’s okay,” I looked up again slowly. My brother had a light smile on his face, his eyes a few shades darker than mine, his hair a dark brown like Cory’s, like my fathers once was. He touched my face lightly, “don’t blame yourself, Clary, I’m your big brother. I’m suppose to take care of you.”
Everyone was staring at me, through my invisible-to-them brother. “Dan-iel... you... you aren’t... you,” I started weeping again, “you can’t be dead, you can’t be, if your condition changed, dad would have... he would have found a way to get a hold of me.”
Leon rubbed my back, no one knew what to do, what to say.
“I... I don’t think I’m dead,” Daniel said after a moment. I looked up at him with wide hopeful eyes. “I’ve kind of been wandering like this for a while. Like I went with you when you went to the ambulance, I was with you, watching over you.”
“Why... why didn’t I see you then?”
Daniel shrugged, “you know how many spirits don’t move on?” I just stared blankly, “a lot okay, you only get the ones that want you to see them.”
“And you didn’t want me to see you?”
“At first I didn’t know what to do, then I didn’t want to scare you, then I wanted to talk to you so bad but didn’t want to scare you... and then, uhh would you tell him to get your hands off you, I mean I seen that young lady!”
“Seen what!?” My voice pitched.
“Come on, I’m going to haunt the hell out of that boy,” Daniel was now glaring at Leon.
“You leave him alone.”
“Leave who alone?” All the males said at once.
I could muster a glare at my brother as I would have if he were here in body and soul. “Daniel... you aren’t dead right?”
“As far as I know... no.”
“Okay... for now... I can deal with that.”
“Good,” Daniel said with a little grin, “cause I have no idea how to get back to my body.”
“Why didn’t you just hop back in when the Doctor’s restarted your heart?” I asked fearfully.
Daniel thought about this for a moment rubbing his chin, “I suppose because I was in the other ambulance with you.”
“You idiot,” I said with a small smile.
“I had to know you were alright.”
“The bullet went right through you and into me. You were way worse off than me.”
Everyone was only getting one side and I figured later I would have to explain.
“Clary, you’re my baby sister, I had to know you’d be alright.”
“Danny!”
“It’s okay, I’m just tired, takes a lot of energy to show a person your spirit, even if they have the third eye,” he said with a smile and I felt fuzzy where he kissed the top of my head, “stay safe, I’ll be watching over, I promise.” Then he was gone.
I wiped my eyes again, and took a great breath. Seeing my big brother made my heart swell. I had to get out of here. Help Daniel get his spirit back in his body! I had to try!
“So... uh...don’t mean to be rude or anything...” Hawkeye said kinda looking around, “but uh... what the heck just happened?”
“I’ll second that,” Mary added.
I started retelling the conversation filling them in on Daniel’s parts.
In the quiet classroom, there were whispers of the student body. A lot of ‘what the (which ever explicit they chose)’ some girls were huddled together crying. Some guys looked like they wanted to tear us limb from limb.
The knock on the door snapped my from my revive. Everyone looked but no one spoke. “Should we run?” Mary asked, she stood beside her sister, the twins standing tall behind J.C as if daring someone to go after their friend.
“No,” Anna decided after a moment, “they’d chase us.”
“Open the doors!”
“Should we attack them?” J.C asked quietly still looking at me since I was still quite wobbly, like my head weighed too much for the rest of my body.
“They’d probably shoot us,” Anna retorted.
Hiro’s voice lowered to that of an exact match to our unconscious teacher. “Everything is fine, what do you need. Why are you interrupting my class!”
“Mr. Leary? We heard some ruckus, are you sure everything is fine?”
“Some git fell when doing a handstand and knocked over a desk in a hasty stand up.”
“Um... okay.”
Suddenly the other person was gone. So, that was Hiro’s gift. “Why didn’t anyone holler?” I finally asked after a moment. I started to get to my feet, J.C and Robyn helping me.
“We aren’t that stupid,” someone said.
“We’d all probably disappear then,” another spoke softly.
“So now what do we do. When the teacher gets up...”
“So long as no one ever... ever speaks of this,” the guy with a mohawk said stepping forward. “I’ll make him forget the last five minutes. Everyone back to their seats.”
There were more whispers as people started to sit back down, pick up pens, pretend like nothing had happened. Mohawk boy looked to Thayne, “help me get him to his chair, he’ll just think he dosed off after giving us the assignment.” Once the teacher was in the chair mohawk boy touched his head then the teachers. “Start working.” Mohawk boy and Thayne ran back to their seats.
Seemed like there was more talent in B-5 than I thought. I looked around the classroom. No one was going for the panic button. Maybe because now they realized it could be them. Everyone seemed to realize how important it was to keep powers away from the teacher. None of us wanted to disappear.
Art passed quickly after all that drama. I had felt so worried, but now in the comfort of the hallway I breathed a calmed breath. “What the flying fuck was that,” Mary asked, grabbing my arm once we were outside, our group casually made a circle around us to keep anyone from seeing the drama unfolding.
“What was what?”
“That outburst! Why didn’t you just sit down! You jeopardized all of us!” She shouted at me.
I put my hand over her mouth before she could continue, “kind of like what you are doing now!”
She seemed calmer and I took my hand back. “Look, you could have exposed us all! Why were you... you’re bleeding,” however she was going to end the sentence had now floated away.
“Huh... what?”
“Right there,” she said pointing.
“You okay?” Hiro asked me.
“How the hell did you manage that?” Robyn asked starkly.
“You were scratching at that spot when you started your melt down.” Leon said, finally speaking to me even though he was looking down.
“I...I was?”
“You don’t even fucking remember it!” Mary complained in a harsh whisper.
“Let her be,” Anna said putting her hands over my shoulder, “are you alright?”
“Umm... yeah, I don’t think it’s deep.”
“Come on, I’ll get to play nurse again,” Nina said with a little laugh.
“I think this outburst should be explained,” Scott said after a moment. “Twenty minutes, Hawkeye’s room?”
“Fine,” I agreed despite my fear of jumping from balcony to balcony, I didn’t really want people in my room, noticing... oh... my pills.
“How do we get there?” Anna asked.
Hawkeye grinned, “jumping balconies.”
“Fuck my life,” Mary said leaving the circle and heading back to the B building.
“Don’t mind her, we will be there.”
J.C who was rubbing her eyes like she was exhausted, nodded, “yes we shall.”
Back in ‘home sweet home’ AKA B-5-4, I had my shirt off, and Nina was wiping down the scratches with a alcohol covered swab. I bit my lip to refrain from yelling at her. She was always so nice to take care of me. She had a serious maternal complex. Loveable Nina, she’d been taking care of me since I got here. “You held me up.”
“Huh?” She asked looking confused as she through out a cotton ball that was soaked with blood, she poured alcohol on another and pressed it against the wound. My own nurse Nina.
I hissed before speaking again, “I mean I can’t do a handstand. You held me up didn’t you?” Nina looked about to deny when I cut in, “I mean you can move things with your mind, like pushing that kid back.”
Nina sighed, “I can move air. I made the air around you... I don’t know how to describe it,” she said as she looked calm working on me. “I don’t know... thicker so it was nearly impossible for you to fall.”
“Till you lost concentration.”
“Till I loose concentration,” she agreed. “I can force air putting a weight behind it, that’s how I knocked that kid back.
“Can you levitate things?” I asked curiously.
“Uh... no... I don’t think so. Well maybe a table I could cause there is room under it, I could force that air to be heavier... but... mostly no.
“Hmm,” I watched as she wound gauze under my one armpit and over my opposite shoulder a few times before taping the gauze together.
“There, all done,” she said taking off the gloves. “What happened to you there?”
“What do you mean?”
“You were scared, under where you scratched... was a scar.”
I sighed, “I’ll explain tonight.”
“Thinking of it, you should probably get a shirt on and get ready to go,” she said glancing at her masculine watch.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I responded. I slid off the counter and she put away the first aid kit I walked into my room to find Leon on my bed.
“What the hell?”
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 17] Violated In The Best Way Possible
I had been striding around in my bra, after all it was only Nina and Robyn. Hell Nina had seen me completely naked. But this was a guy, in my room, and I was a blood stained sports bra and a pair of dark washed jeans with a few flecks of alcohol and blood mix.
“Shh,” he said, “a while ago... you asked what I can do.”
“Yeah, and then you ignored me for a few days.” I retorted angrily.
“I was trying to decide if I should tell you.”
“I told everyone what I could do!” I shout-whispered at him locking my door. Last thing I needed was to explain to Nina or Robyn why Leon was in my room. “I just trusted everyone, and you couldn’t even trust one.”
“You didn’t have much of a choice, you need all of us to know to be able to hid you’re gift,” Leon retorted edgily.
Glaring at him didn’t seem to have an effect on him, but it did make me feel better. “Why didn’t you just tell me then, tell everyone. We are in this together.”
“What if we aren’t?” Leon asked exasperated, “when we first met, you asked me how long I’ve been here.” He stood, his height intimidated me slightly but I crossed my arms over my chest. “Guess how long.”
“I don’t know, a few years.”
“Ten.”
“What?”
“They didn’t always only take teenagers here Claire. They use to take everyone, but mostly the gifts we assume they are looking for only come out once puberty hit. They didn’t want to take care kids anymore since it wasn’t of value to them, by then I was fourteen though so I was still stuck here.”
“Ten years,” I felt pity now deep with in, I felt my angry face slide away.
“Don’t give me that pity stuff Claire,” he sounded exasperated.
“I’m sor-I don’t know what,” I breathed out, my sentences sounded all wrong. “Why are you telling me this?”
“People will give you up to these people if you let them. That display in the classroom opened my eyes though, some people, when they are in the same boat, they will protect you if only to save their own skin.”
“Someone gave you up didn’t they?”
Leon’s smile was dark and quite frankly scared the crap out of me, “my own parents. They noticed I could do things differently. I developed my... ‘gifts’ early.” He air quoted the gifts with long slender fingers. “I never showed the people here though. Didn’t want to use them ever again. Accidents happen.”
“You used again?”
Leon shook his head, “I mean... the last time I used... something... tragic happened. I didn’t mean for it too...” the look on his face was completely tortured, anguish in it’s purest form.
Something few people could truly figure out. I could since I had seen my reflection in the glass of one of the shops, a police officer putting a blanket over my thin shaking shoulders. My face had looked like that, agony, anguish, torture. My father wasn’t there... he was with... I looked back to Leon unable to stand my own thoughts.
His mismatched eyes were staring at me, I could see there were tears being held back. His stare was incredibly powerful, our eyes were locked, I simply couldn’t look away. Suddenly my logic was gone, it was like my heart was now on autopilot and my brain took a break. I closed the space between Leon and I, I grabbed the back of his head pulling him down to me, standing on my tiptoes. His head bent to meet mine, our lips crashing together.
The longing I had for him from the first day we met. The intrigue, the mystery that he held. The way he made words fail me, the way my seductive side fell flat, he made all of my skills in flirting be forgotten. He made my brain slow and my heart pound.
He tasted like peppermint and chocolate, my tongue played with for a moment. I pressed against him, knocking him down onto my bed our kiss never breaking. His strong arms around me, one on my waist, the other entangled in my blonde curls.
Leon pulled away from my lips turning away from me, his hands grew a bit lax as I kissed his neck slowly. “This is wrong,” he muttered before grabbing my shoulders and pushing me up. I sat on the bed, shocked. He sat up and stared at me, his eyes locking on mine, I was completely unable to look away.
Suddenly I blushed, my brain started to work again. “I-I’m so sorry... I just... I...” I hid my face in my hands, I couldn’t believe I had just done that!
“Don’t be sorry, you couldn’t help it.”
“Way to be cocky.”
“Claire,” Leon’s hands grabbed onto my wrists. “You asked me what I can do, and I just did it.”
“What?”
Leon took a deep breath, “I... if I can get someone’s eye contact- which considering the mismatch is hard... people feel weird staring- but if I can... I can make them do whatever I want.” I peered through my fingers, I didn’t know wether to be angry of what he’d done, upset because it was over, or hopeful that he’d do it again. “Sometimes I can peer into their mind a little see what they are afraid of, and I can put in... illusions I guess, like if they are afraid of spiders,” I shuddered a little, “I can make them see spiders everywhere, make them feel them crawling all over their body.”
We sat on the bed quiet for a moment, “please, Claire, say you’ll forgive me. I know it was wrong.”
I looked at him for a moment through my fingers before I let my hands fall. I swallowed, I had pretty much just been violated in the best way possible. Looking at him, he looked nearly tortured again. I kissed him hard on the lips, this time my mind was still there going ‘what the heck are you doing!’ My heart raced this time, knowing it was really me doing it, not an imputed suggestion.
Leon pushed me back gently, “Claire...people... get hurt when I use my powers. That’s why I didn’t tell you, why I ignored you, I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t feel so bad,” I admitted shyly sitting so close, our legs touching.
“Claire... I killed my little brother.” I stared blankly. “I was real young, just got my powers, just started to see the fears of other people’s minds. My little brother... he was always afraid of trains. Convinced he would be walking over the train tracks near our home and a train would hit him and he’d die. Cried himself to sleep about it.” Leon looked distant as he continued, “mom and dad were talking about taking him to a shrink.
“Anyways, we shared a room, we were wealthy, had a big home, but with Joshua’s fears, they wanted him to have his big brother there. We’d play together, we’d walk to the park and play there. I’d tease him nearly every day on our way to and from the park, about the train tracks, I jump across and say something stupid like, “oh there is a train coming!’ and he’d freak out.”
Leon took a break, wringing his fingers looking down at his hands. “One day we are on the way to the park... few days after I found out I could make people see things, made Joshua see a ghost, freaked and told mom our home was haunted... anyways I decided this time I’d make him see a train. Joshua never had problems meeting my eyes, they were... normal to him. He stared at me when I jumped across the tracks he was still all nervous. I made him hear the whistle, see the train, the smoke, and no matter where he moved in his head, he was still on the tracks.”
He looked to me finally, tears streaming down his face, “did you know you could be literally scared to death Claire?” His words came out so angrily, so tormented, “I literally scared him to death, he was a week from his sixth birthday.”
“Leon,” I whispered softly touching his arm.
“Oh brofer,” I screeched and shuffled in a great movement that launched me off the bed knocked my lamp off my night stand and landed hard on the floor. Leon looked startled and stood bending down beside me. Behind him, a little undefined, glowing a off white colour, was a child, messy soft brown hair, mismatched green and grey eyes, who I’d bet my life was Leon’s brother.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 18] Unlikely Visitor
“Fuck!” I whispered trying to get my breath back.
“Claire,” Leon sounded worried, “is it the burning man?”
I sat up a little calmer, “no... no it isn’t.”
Joshua was staring at his brother as he sat happily on the bed. Leon looked around the room and then back to me, “uh... want to tell me what the heck just happened then.”
“Seems like someone wanted to hear a story.”
“I like it when he talks about me,” Joshua said cheekily, his voice was happy, a large toothy smile upon his face, he was missing one of his front teeth though. “Sometimes I think he forgets about me.”
“What?” Leon said, “I don’t understand.”
“Joshua is sitting on my bed.”
“What...” Leon stood, “no way, you told me there was no one around me.”
“There wasn’t,” I responded.
“You’re lying.” Leon said suddenly, “just trying to cheer me up.”
“He has hair like yours, but it looks softer, lighter, his eyes are mismatched too but they are green and grey instead of your blue and brown. Looks like he’d only come up to my hips at most. Kinda short kiddo,” I said finally addressing the ghost child sitting on my bed as I sat up picking my lamp up and placing it back on the table.
“Holy shit,” Leon whispered.
“Mom said never to say that word, it’s bad.”
“Joshua is correcting your ‘bad words.’”
Leon let out a breath, “Josh, I’m so sorry! I-“ tears fell down Leon’s face.
“Tell him it’s okay.” Joshua said looking at me, “and that I do visit him. Tell him I’m okay. I always try to but he can’t hear me anymore. But you can right?”
“Yes, I can hear you.”
Leon looked to me, “what did he say.”
“He’s okay, that he does visit you,” I paraphrased.
Joshua looked distant, “Gamma’s calling. Tell him I forgive him too please.”
“I will,” I responded and the kid was gone.
“What, you will what?” Leon asked frantically.
I smiled, “he’s with his grandmother, and he told me to tell you that he forgives you.”
Leon looked about to start crying again when I heard my doorknob swivel, “what the hell, Claire why did you lock the door?” Robyn’s voice came from the other side of the door, of course it was time for the meet.
“See you later,” Leon said making his escape.
“Sorry,” I yelled, “I... I fell asleep, just a second.”
I heard mutters of complaints, but I quickly whipped off all my clothing and dressed in a pair or grey trousers with black stripes and a light weight black v-neck sweater. I unlocked my door and Nina and Robyn walked in, “about time,” Robyn muttered walking past me to the door.
“Sorry,” I muttered following them out of the room, Thayne, Leon and Scott were a few balconies ahead of us. I seen Mary, Anna and J.C coming from the opposite way to Hawkeye’s room.
As much as I feared heights I crossed the balconies quite easily. Hawkeye’s room had much the same set up as mine. The same semi-squished proportions, the bed in the corner, night stand, his dresser was a little smaller than mine, and his closet had doors that opened out while mine slid. His room was also painted in a fresh coat of eggshell, while mine was an off white and was peeling slightly.
I took a seat on the floor between Leon and Robyn. “So lets re-cap for the newbies,” Hawkeye said sitting on his dresser looking at Mary, Anna and J.C who were sitting together a little off from everyone else.
“I see through things or things at far distances, or really small things... look super sight. Rick can see peoples immediate futures, Hiro...you want to tell em?”
“Well I kind of demonstrated it earlier,” he said sheepishly, “I can mimic voices, accents, man or woman with little to no effort. If I want to exert a lot of energy I can also take peoples forms, but it’s super difficult.”
“That’s our batch,” Hawkeye ended and looked to Thayne.
“Super strength,” Thayne said oh-so-casually while flexing his muscles, “emo-boy over there,” Thayne said referring to Scott, “sees death.”
The three girls did a collective gasp and Scott shot Thayne a glare before turning to the girls. “It’s not what you think. I can just tell when people are going to die... a few days before. I don’t know how or anything, I just know.”
“How?” Anna asked in a frightened whisper.
“It’s on their faces,” Scott responded quietly.
“And you Leon?” Anna asked looking to him.
Leon looked to me for a second then around the room. Thayne and Scott seemed particularly interested. I really must have been the first and only one he told. “I...I’m going to have to keep it to myself... just a little longer.”
“I understand,” Anna said softly to him, “it’s hard... to admit you are different... especially in this kind of scenario.”
“If we are doing this sharing and caring thing he should have to tell us what he can do,” Mary argued.
“Let him off the hook,” Hawkeye said, “we all needed a lot of time, and someone else to admit what they could do first, give the guy a break, he’s been here forever.”
Leon glared up at Hawkeye who shrugged. “How long?” Anna asked.
Leon was silent for a long moment and I didn’t think he was going to tell her when he finally spoke, “a little over a decade.”
“Holy shit,” the twins spoke at once.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 19] How Many Years To Break A Teenager
“I couldn’t imagine,” J.C muttered quietly.
“So let him off the hook, that’s a long time to keep a secret,” Hawkeye said.
Anna looked to Hawkeye, “if you knew he was here for a long time, how long have you been here?”
“Six years.”
“Everyone else?” Anna asked.
“Seven,” Thayne said.
“Also seven,” Nina said quietly.
“Three,” Scott muttered.
“Little under five,” said Rick.
“Almost two years,” Hiro spoke softly.
“Came two days after Nina,” Robyn said finally.
“I’m the newb,” I spoke, “under two weeks...oh god... I haven’t even been here a month yet.” I couldn’t believe how much my life had changed in so little time. How much I missed home. How long everyone else’s stay has been. How long mine could be.
“Mary and I have been here for just over four years,” Anna said softly.
“A year and a half,” J.C said sleepily as she leaned her head against Mary.
Everyone was silent for a moment, fathoming other years they may have to spend here. Finally Thayne spoke, “Robyn, you so can do something, I just know it.”
“I’m fucking normal,” she shouted hotheadedly.
“More like hormonal,” he said cheekily.
“You are a douche wad!” She shouted throwing a pillow from Hawkeye’s bed at him.
“I can pressurize air,” Nina said breaking up their verbal fight. “Give a weight to it... push it into objects... it’s difficult to explain.”
“Like what you did to that guy,” Mary asked.
“Yeah, like that,” Nina agreed.
“Mary and I can...” Anna looked to her twin who was glaring at her. Anna sighed and switched to a language I wasn’t familiar with. She and Mary seemed to argue for a few minutes.
“Don’t try to decipher it,” J.C said since she could tell it was what everyone in the room was trying so desperately to do. “One of those made up twin languages they’ve had since they were three. Just give up, I did a long time ago.”
While they were arguing Rick looked to J.C, “and what can you do.”
“I bet you already know.”
“Only from what you’ve displayed, you haven’t decided to tell us yet so I can’t see it.”
J.C smiled, “I’m like the worlds best sleeping potion, I just need skin to skin contact and I can put anyone out.”
“Is that why you are always sleeping?” I asked shyly.
J.C shrugged, “I don’t think so. I’ve had my days and nights reversed since I was a baby, parents always tried to fix my sleeping schedule, but they couldn’t. My internal time clock is busted,” she commented with a yawn. “I’ll get fully awake soon-ish, I start feeling awake at about seven and then go to bed in the morning around five.
“Huh,” was my answer.
“Fine!” Mary said finally, still in anger, “fucking fine, tell them.”
“Oh Mary, get your damned temper under control.”
“Oh how about screwing off. No one is going to believe you.”
Anna crossed her arms, “that isn’t fair, they will so, they are like us.”
Mary laughed, a dry humourless laugh, “we are not like them.”
“Do you want to tell them what you can do?” In answer to Anna’s kind question, her sister flipped her off. Anna sighed, we all knew she was use to this kind of behaviour but it still seemed to wear her thin. “I can wake the dead... not like bring people back to life,” she corrected before people got to excited. “We lived beside a graveyard when we were kids... one day I was fourteen trying to get a tan, it was nice for early June.” Anna paused for a minute before continuing, “some pervert was walking by... we lived in this pretty deserted place, it was the weekend and our parents were gone. He started taking pictures of us in our bikini’s.
“I was so mad, so infuriated. And suddenly I heard wood breaking, I heard ground being moved... I smelt death. Zombies, I guess you would call them. They don’t eat brains... they go after flesh, they don’t eat it... it’s like they want it as part of their skin... their bones...” Anna looked a little tormented as she continued. “They ripped him to bits... when my infuriation gave way to fear they fell powerless. I fucking raise the dead.”
Everyone was shocked into silence.
“She’s lying,” Mary said after a moment completely exasperated, “that’s what I can do,” she turned to her sister, “crafty bitch.”
Anna grinned, “I can split myself apart, like... duplicates, but the more I split the less I can concentrate and then you get duplicates just kind of standing there... besides that Mary and I can speak to each other no matter the distance through our minds... still when you start nodding or thinking with your hands, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do... which is why we still use our made up languages from childhood.”
Suddenly the attention was on me, “guess I have some explaining to do.”
“Fucking right you do,” Mary said with a smile, it was the most at ease I’d ever seen her.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 20] Claire’s Past
I had yet to speak yet, but my palms were getting sweaty. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe, my body simply didn’t want to remember how at this moment. Everyone’s eyes on me. I decided to start with the parts I had already told, I looked to Anna, Mary and J.C, “I can see the dead, spirits. At the obstacle course where I almost drowned, and the gym when it started to burn...” I swallowed before continuing, “there has been a ghost that has been... tormenting me for the past little while, wants me to send him on but I don’t know how, and trying to kill me since I won’t.”
Anna shook her head in pity, Mary just listened intently, and J.C seemed fully awake for the first time sine I had met her. Mary spoke so kindly this time that at first I had thought it had been Anna, “and in the classroom today, what was that about.”
Now everyone was leaning in to hear the story better. I wiped my sweaty palms against my trousers I took a few breaths that didn’t really help and just decided to talk, get it over with.
“It was late in the spring time, I took night dance classes. I loved to dance ever since I was a child... I would dance with my mother.” Now there was an entirely different set of painful memories, “I saved up money from my paper route to pay for the classes, but there was one more rule if I were to take them... Dad insisted I couldn’t walk the fifteen minute walk home, I had to have someone meet me there no matter how uncool it maybe.”
I hugged myself trying to keep my self together as I spoke, Leon’s arm went over my shoulder comfortingly, I looked to him and then nodded, I had to get this out. Maybe my dad was right, I had needed to talk about this, for a very long time.
“I agreed, I wanted to take the classes so badly,” to feel close to my mother again, I shook off the thought. “I had been taking them for a few weeks at this point, secretly I was glad that my father or my big brother Daniel would walk me home every night. Some of the gangs had turf around there, and sometimes there would be men that would whistle at me, or say something that gave me the chills. They didn’t do it often, I think that was because I was with my dad or my brother.”
Silent tears started running down my face this time, “Daniel had come this time, dad was watching my little brother since he was sick with the flu. There were more people out on the street than normal, all of them looked mean, looked angry. I remember Daniel grabbed my hand and pulled me along faster. A few guys stalked in front of us... asked Daniel where he was going with me. Told Daniel I was their type.”
My breaths became laboured as tears fell, “I’d never heard him swear before, but he told them to fuck right off.” I felt a comforting squeeze of Leon’s hands on my shoulders. I looked over at him and he gave me a little nod to continue. I nodded back, “Daniel and him verbally fought over me, Daniel told them I wasn’t going with any of them. So the guy said ‘she ain’t coming with us... she ain’t going with no one,’” Gooseflesh rose on my skin and my body shuddered with sobs, my words weren’t coming out properly as hard as I tried, my voice still shook.
“One of them pulled gun, I didn’t really see it all that well, just... just a silver flash. Daniel just... he moved so fast. He shouldn’t have been able to move that fast.” I took another gasp of air as I continued, “guns are loud... I’d only heard one on t.v, these are much louder...I heard Daniel gasp and his weight was over me, he had shielded me. I heard police sirens, they were patrolling and heard the shot. He was bleeding, the men ran, Daniel was on the ground, I shook him, but his eyes were rolling back. The policeman tried to pry me away... I wouldn’t let go till the policeman told me that they needed to get him ready for the ambulance or he could get worse.”
I sobbed for a few minutes straight, Hawkeye now sat beside Leon and passed me a box of Kleenex, which I was thankful, my nose was running and I had been snorting it back noisily throughout the story. After a few minutes of calming down a bit I found I could continue.
“The police officer gave me a blanket, I remember, I was standing alone, my father was by Daniel as they were preparing to move him. The police officer took me to the second ambulance since he suspected I would go into shock.” I touched my scar on my chest, nearly a star shape. “Since it was so dark, the policeman hadn’t noticed, but once by the ambulance the paramedics immediately noticed the bullet just inside my chest... I don’t remember ever feeling it till they pointed it out.”
“I dreamt of it... today in class. I heard the gunshot... I couldn’t breath again, like Daniel’s weight was on me... I don’t know what happened.”
Everyone was silent for a minute and finally Scott spoke, “I guess I’ll ask what everyone is thinking... did... did Daniel...make it?”
“The doctor’s saved him... but he never woke up. He’s been in a coma for nearly half a year.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nina said, her voice filled with sympathy.
“It’s why I’m in here. Not because I see the dead... though it is a part of it. I started drinking to deal with my big brother getting shot because of... me,” I felt so much pain emotionally that I started to physically feel it to. I absentmindedly scratched at the gauze where underneath held my scar.
A hand stopped me before I harmed myself, “don’t be stupid, any good big brother would do that.”
I looked over to Leon, of course he knew about big brothers, he was one. I looked to him... but his hands were one on my far shoulder the other on my arm. I swallowed and looked up. There was Daniel, holding my hands in his. Tears fell before I consciously knew I was truly upset. “No, no, no,” I put my head in my hands and begun rocking myself like I had on that night, “no, no, no, this isn’t happening, you aren’t real!”
“Is it the burning man?” Anna asked looking around the room as everyone was.
“Don’t cry, it’s okay,” I looked up again slowly. My brother had a light smile on his face, his eyes a few shades darker than mine, his hair a dark brown like Cory’s, like my fathers once was. He touched my face lightly, “don’t blame yourself, Clary, I’m your big brother. I’m suppose to take care of you.”
Everyone was staring at me, through my invisible-to-them brother. “Dan-iel... you... you aren’t... you,” I started weeping again, “you can’t be dead, you can’t be, if your condition changed, dad would have... he would have found a way to get a hold of me.”
Leon rubbed my back, no one knew what to do, what to say.
“I... I don’t think I’m dead,” Daniel said after a moment. I looked up at him with wide hopeful eyes. “I’ve kind of been wandering like this for a while. Like I went with you when you went to the ambulance, I was with you, watching over you.”
“Why... why didn’t I see you then?”
Daniel shrugged, “you know how many spirits don’t move on?” I just stared blankly, “a lot okay, you only get the ones that want you to see them.”
“And you didn’t want me to see you?”
“At first I didn’t know what to do, then I didn’t want to scare you, then I wanted to talk to you so bad but didn’t want to scare you... and then, uhh would you tell him to get your hands off you, I mean I seen that young lady!”
“Seen what!?” My voice pitched.
“Come on, I’m going to haunt the hell out of that boy,” Daniel was now glaring at Leon.
“You leave him alone.”
“Leave who alone?” All the males said at once.
I could muster a glare at my brother as I would have if he were here in body and soul. “Daniel... you aren’t dead right?”
“As far as I know... no.”
“Okay... for now... I can deal with that.”
“Good,” Daniel said with a little grin, “cause I have no idea how to get back to my body.”
“Why didn’t you just hop back in when the Doctor’s restarted your heart?” I asked fearfully.
Daniel thought about this for a moment rubbing his chin, “I suppose because I was in the other ambulance with you.”
“You idiot,” I said with a small smile.
“I had to know you were alright.”
“The bullet went right through you and into me. You were way worse off than me.”
Everyone was only getting one side and I figured later I would have to explain.
“Clary, you’re my baby sister, I had to know you’d be alright.”
“Danny!”
“It’s okay, I’m just tired, takes a lot of energy to show a person your spirit, even if they have the third eye,” he said with a smile and I felt fuzzy where he kissed the top of my head, “stay safe, I’ll be watching over, I promise.” Then he was gone.
I wiped my eyes again, and took a great breath. Seeing my big brother made my heart swell. I had to get out of here. Help Daniel get his spirit back in his body! I had to try!
“So... uh...don’t mean to be rude or anything...” Hawkeye said kinda looking around, “but uh... what the heck just happened?”
“I’ll second that,” Mary added.
I started retelling the conversation filling them in on Daniel’s parts.