Post by silent.lullaby on Apr 28, 2009 23:26:34 GMT -5
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 12] Hey! I’m Adorable!
“I know a lot of things Claire,” Rick said still grinning smugly. “Not everything mind you, but more than the average person.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, two girls I didn’t know got out of the pool lanes and spoke quietly to one another as they dried off. “Just tell me how you found out? Your group had already gone through the course. You seen nothing.”
Rick shrugged, “I...” he paused as the girls walked by and swiped to leave. Once the door was closed behind them he continued. “Claire...” he paused and seemed to be struggling to find words. “Teens here are... twisted in some cases. ‘Unruly’ you know, cause of what they’ve seen, what they’ve done. Claire I can see the immediate future.”
My mouth opened and just hung there, he chuckled and pushed the bottom of my jaw up. “It’s cuter when you did that in person,” he said with a wink. “Anyways, I couldn’t tell anyone, I mean, who would believe me? Still it wasn’t like I didn’t see the benefits, I became big in underground gambling.” He stared out over the water we both kept swaying our feet back and forth. “My dad couldn’t understand why I kept coming home with so much money, figured I was dealing drugs. Of course if I told him I was gambling his money in a completely illegal gambling ring he’d still be furious. So he sent me here, to ‘help me get better,’” he said with air quotes.
“The future,” I murmured, it explained why he knew when the teacher was going to look up, why he knew I would nearly drown, why he knew I’d be here even though I nearly drown the night previous.
“Most people here have something like that, I’m sure of it. No one wants to admit it because it’s dangerous.” Rick said softly, “cause people who start using whatever they got start to get noticed, and once you get noticed... you disappear, or ‘go home’ or ‘get re-hab.’ No one really notices ‘cause we are all so separated.” He pushed back some of his long locks before continuing, “most of us have something that got us here, some people actually have legit normal problems. I think the majority though are different... hiding, or using our... ‘gifts’ is what got us here.”
Rick looked over at me, his eyes boring into me, “want to tell me what yours is?”
“I...” I sat stunned and then on instinct I lied, “I don’t have one.”
Rick sat silent for a moment, “really cause last night I saw you struggle in the water, against a force that wasn’t really there. It seemed like it was only real to you.”
I stood up quickly, but he was already on his feet blocking my way, apparently already knowing I was to get up. “Move!” I shouted at him.
He stared at me for a long moment, “as you wish,” he said sidestepping. I rushed past, but he grabbed my arm at the last second, “just be careful okay, I don’t care if you don’t want to tell me, but... they have ways of finding out, so if you want to hide it... hide it well.” He let go and I stood there staring at him for a long moment.
“I have to go,” I said, he mimicked me at the same time.
He smiled, “I know.”
I grabbed my clothing and quickly put them on, my body was pretty much dry except for my feet and hair now anyways. I swiped my card and escaped into fresh air. The late October air made me shiver and I crossed my arms over my chest wishing I had thought to bring a coat as I started to jog over to B-building.
Standing in the shower to get the lingering scent of chlorine off, I thought of Rick. Of what he had said, of what he could do, and that I believed him. How many other people had a ‘gift’ like Rick said? Did Nina or Robyn have a gift? What about Leon, Thayne and Scott? Those twins from class and their sleepy friend? What about the angry girl from Geography? Did Hiro or Hawkeye have any?
The timer went out before all the conditioner was rinsed out of my hair and I groaned. I wrapped a towel around my body and walked over to the sink dunking my head under and putting the water on. I kept fiddling with the nozzles till I got a nice warm get going. The rest of the shampoo was gone quickly and I threw my hair up in a second towel.
I walked to my room and pulled out my laptop and plugged it into the wall and opened Windows Media Player. Dying to Live Again by Hedley came on and played as I sauntered around in my towel finally bothering to take everything out of my suitcase, I hung up things in my closet, took out my folding close basket and threw the clothing that had been piling on the floor into it. The song switched over to Let You Down by Three Days Grace, I sang along, I had always liked the song despite it being little dark. “When you finally trust me, finally believe in me, I will, let you down, I’ll, let you down, I’ll, when you finally trust me, finally believe in me.”
I leaned into my now fully packed closet and shuffled through clothing. A lot of my stuff no longer seemed appropriate, more party and beauty attire, than function well at boot camp attire. I sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt that tied around at the back, it was fashionable and still functional.
Still looking in the mirror, I didn’t see Clairissa Keeds anymore, not the party child, not one of the most popular girls in school. I seen Claire, the girl who sees dead people, a drunk who got herself sent to boot camp.
Touching the puffiness under my eyes I realized fully how tired I looked. My shins were still cut up but didn’t need them to be bandaged anymore. My body looked weak and I sighed looking at the jeans laying out on my bed as I dropped the towel and threw on a sports bra and a pair of panties, glaring at the jeans and top I instead opted for a plain blue t-shirt and sweat pants. I needed to go to the gym, work out some. I obviously wasn’t strong enough for the obstacle course. I needed to do what Nina said, make the flames a little cooler.
I grabbed a hair elastic and my keycard and went over to my laptop closing it, the music played for a second longer before turning off. I picked my MP3 player off the dresser and headed out. It took me a while and having to ask a few people along the way to find the gym. It was huge and a little intimidating. I had never really worked out before... sounded a lot to me like physical labour.
Standing there nervous, I heard a great booming laugh that I immediately recognized as Thayne. I took a few more steps in. I found him on the second floor, spotting Scott who had a weighted bar over his chest panting. “You’re a dick Thayne!” Scott shouted huffing under the weight.
Thayne just laughed harder as he picked it up with one hand and put it back on the holder. I took a few more steps forward and kicked the side of something while I walked, weights shook and fell as I managed to knock over the bench they were sitting on. Thayne started laughing all over again. “Hey Claire!” Thayne said quickly righting the bench and picking up the heaviest of weights.
“Hey,” I responded rubbing my previously injured shin. I picked up some of the weights on the other side that looked smaller. Still they were quite heavy and I lifted them with both hands. Scott started lifting some of the medium weights with little problem and it wasn’t long before we had fixed it back to normal.
“So, you need a spotter?” Thayne asked with a grin.
I laughed, “yeah, the way you helped Scott out, not a chance!”
Thayne laughed, “aw come on, I wouldn’t do that to you!”
Scott rolled his eyes, “so you just do it to me!”
“Yeah well she’s cute.”
“Hey! I’m adorable,” Scott said with a laugh.
“Uh... okay,” Leon said coming in and dropping his duffle bag on the ground. “That may be true but I don’t think Thayne swings that way.” Leon chuckled and smiled at me. I grinned shyly back.
“Only go that way for you,” Thayne said putting a muscled arm over Leon’s shoulder with a laugh, clearly trying to make his friend as uncomfortable as possible.
Still Leon played along, making goo-goo eyes at Thayne, “oh you know I only have eyes for you too!”
Scott burst out laughing nearly doubling over, I couldn’t help but fall into hysterics, tears steaming down my face. I hadn’t laughed so hard since... actually I couldn’t think of a time. “I...can’t....BREATHE!” I shouted gasping through laughter. This made Scott’s fits worse and Thayne and Leon couldn’t help but join in.
I ended up on the floor trying to breathe, Scott hunched over a workout bench, Thayne and Leon using each other for support to keep standing. Seems here everything is more funny, is more amusing since this place was hell, there weren’t a lot of reasons to laugh. “Hey! If you guys aren’t going to be working, get the hell out!” One of the staff yelled.
Thayne helped me up easily yanking me up. I thanked him but ended up rubbing my aching shoulder afterwards. Thayne taught me how to lift properly the weights as he spotted me. Scott was on a treadmill across the room and Leon on a weight set to the side of me. Thayne pulled the weights off the bar and put on much smaller ones than what he’d been using with Scott.
I put my hands on the bar, “if this things going to hit my chest, you’re going to catch it right?” I asked looking up at Thayne, and I nearly blushed from this angle.
Thayne chuckled, “yes, geeze, I’d let it fall on Scott, I wouldn’t let it fall on girl, that’s just mean.”
“You’re dick Thayne,” Scott shouted from across the room.
“You’re just jealous!” Thayne shouted back.
Leon chuckled as he continued to pull the big arms of the scary looking weight machine in front of him. I stopped staring at Leon, and stared up at the bar in my fingers. I took a breath and pushed up getting it off the hanger, and Thayne automatically put his hand a inch or so below the bar just in case. He pulled it back seeing as it wasn’t going to crash on top of me. I brought it down which was a hell of a lot easier than pushing it up.
I continued a few reps before pushing it up with spaghetti arms, Thayne helped me get it in it’s holder and I let out a breath letting my arms fall limp to my side. “Good job,” Thayne praised, “now spot me.”
“Thayne!” I said sitting up, I watched him start switching my little weights for the biggest ones, and even adding a few more on after that, “I can’t spot you! Those weigh too much!”
Thayne laughed as I stood, “the staff gets all pissed if you don’t follow procedure, you think Scott or Leon could spot me either?” Thayne laid down and put his bulky hands on the rod. “Just stand there so I don’t get in shit, alright?”
“Fine,” I said standing behind the weights, knowing if it were to fall there would be nothing I could do.
Thayne lifted it, and I remembered being at that angle looking up at him, awkward. He didn’t seem to mind. Suddenly his arms went down quickly and my hand shot out before I could even think that there was no fucking way I could stop it. Thayne laughed as he pushed it up, “just making sure you were paying attention!”
“And trying to make my heart give out!”
“See, she agree’s, you are a dick!” Scott called out.
Thayne laughed, “mine’s bigger than yours!”
I couldn’t believe they were talking like this and a blush crept on my face. “Red is your colour,” Leon said with humour ringing in his voice as he walked past me and over to the rowing machine.
Thayne finished his set, and sat up smiling at me, “you don’t know much about this gym stuff do you?”
I ran my hand through my blonde curls, and frowned, “well, no.”
Thayne laughed, “well what do you want to try next, I know it all.”
“That looks easy enough,” I said pointing to the rowing machines as Leon pushed back again holding to a bar on a string.
“Alright, hop on,” Thayne said and I sat on the little moving platform beside Leon, Scott came over and took one as well and Thayne sat on the one on my other side. He set the machine up for me showing me quickly how to do it so I could do it on my own later.
It turned out to be harder than I thought it would be, still, all of us got into a rhythm together and we debated what we thought we might get for food tonight. Thayne was thinking pasta, Leon thought something with chicken, Scott was just praying it wasn’t this rice dish with cheese and broccoli, the way he described it made me hope that wasn’t it either. More students were starting to show up now, a few were on the weight machines, a couple more on the treadmill.
Scott went to shower, he had an assignment and he wanted to check out a few reference books before the library closed down for the night. Leon, Thayne and I finished off our workouts with a twenty minute run on the treadmill.
I got off and was exhausted. Everything ached... muscles I didn’t even know I had ached. They showed me the change rooms and I headed in, there was no one there in the girls change room and I was thankful. I had always been a little self conscious changing in highschool gym, I didn’t think it would change here.
Sweat had my shirt stuck to my skin and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, I peeled off the layer and threw it on the bench, eww. I started to take off my pants and I could smell my arm pits, “Uhk, working out sucks,” I muttered angrily as I put them in the pile. Fiddling with my bra the lights started to flicker. I sucked in a breath and looked around but saw no one. I reached up and got on my tip toes and tapped the florescent bulb it flickered then went back to solid light. I turned around and by my things the burning man sat there with a crooked grin as his body became engulfed in flames.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 13] Unlucky Me
I stared shocked as the flames licked the man’s flesh, it disturbed me greatly yet I couldn’t look away. “Go away!” I said angrily.
The man smiled and I noticed the flames weren’t only attached to him anymore, the wooden bench he was sitting on caught, my mostly cotton work out clothing went up quickly the room becoming quickly clouded with smoke. Suddenly I was aware this was no illusion.
I ran to the door but the flames flew across the walls and caught the door on fire. I screamed and jumped back as the drywall and the door started to burn. I coughed and got to the floor trying to keep as much smoke from entering my lungs as possible.
“All you had to do was send me on!” The man said.
“You still won’t go on you fucking bastard!” I shouted as I slid on the linoleum under the wall that separated the change room from the showers and crawled into the shower turning on the water quickly. “HELP!” I screamed out, I hoped that Rick was seeing my immediate future right now. I hoped that Leon or Thayne could hear me. I hoped the staff member would smell smoke and come an investigate. Still I wasn’t going to leave my fate in their hands.
“You bitch!” Flames licked the floor in front of me and I jumped out of the shower soaked and ran to the wall, the fire hissed as it licked my skin, I could feel the immense heat but for how fast I moved it didn’t burn me. The burning man laughed menacingly. Apparently he was enjoying himself. I continued screaming as I ran to the door I grabbed the knob and it seared my skin. I howled.
“Claire!” I heard Leon yell and bang on the door. The door that automatically locked, that opened for females only with their keycard. “Claire!” I could hear the machine rejecting his card over and over.
I heard Thayne shout as well, “what’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” I shouted back, “the walls just caught fire!”
“Move!” I heard female voices say, “here use my card!”
I heard the acceptance of the card and I looked back, the burning man was gone but the fire was all there, licking the walls, the smoke flooded out as the door opened. I ran out even in a soaked sports bra and panties. A little ashamed both were white and now see through. I ran instinctively into Leon’s protective arms.
“Everyone out!” I heard a staff member shout as Thayne stripped off his shirt and handed it to me kindly. I quickly put it on, he was so tall and muscular that the shirt was very loose and long on me. It was more of a mini dress than a shirt.
They helped me jog out, I was still coughing from the smoke I had inhaled which was making me a little lightheaded. Once outside I seen Rick, Hiro and Hawkeye just running up skidding to a stop in front of us. “You okay?” Rick asked.
I had a coughing fit before I could answer, “yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Hey!” I saw three females approach us, I recognized the twins Anna and Mary with their third JC. Anna was eying me with worry, Mary seemed disinterested in it all and JC looked like she could collapse from exhaustion. “You have my card,” Anna said holding out her hand.
“Oh,” Leon shoved his hand in his pocket and picked it out, “here, thanks.”
“No problem,” Anna replied, she put her hand on my shoulder gently, “are you okay? I mean, wasn’t it you who almost drown yesterday?”
“Yeah... unlucky me right?”
She chuckled, “it’s good to see you are okay thought. I mean, what kind of hex do you have on you to promote such horrible luck?”
“Oh I pissed off a hoodoo priestess before I came here,” I said with a shrug.
Anna laughed, “that’s funny.”
“Break it up!” A staff member shouted, and in the distance I cold hear sirens coming this way, apparently the fire was too much for the extinguishers.
“See you later,” Anna said with a quick wave, her sister and JC followed behind as they headed to study hall.
The guys started to walk me back to B-Building. I looked over to Rick, I couldn’t help it, what he said, maybe if I told him... “Rick.... do you have a balcony?”
Rick turned and stared for a moment, “no, Hawkeye arm wrestled me for that room.” As if to prove a point, Hawkeye flexed a few times with a chuckle. “Why do you ask?”
I looked over my shoulder, “I think we should all meet on the balconies tonight at seven.” All the guys started to look at each other, “it’s about something you said earlier...”
“I’ll be there,” Rick said glaring at Hawkeye. “We all will.”
“Our group will be there too,” Leon agreed.
“Claire!” I turned and seen Nina and Robyn running toward me. I stopped and waited for them to catch up.
They bombarded me with questions, “are you okay,” “did you get burnt,” “how does this always happen to you?”
“I’ll explain, tonight at seven.” I said as I continued to walk forward.
Nina and Robyn looked to each other wondering what the heck was going on. It didn’t take long for seven to roll around. I was dressed in black boot cut jeans and a sea green sweater. I left my door open and Nina and Robyn came onto my balcony soon after.
I seen Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro down the line a bit. “We have a better idea than shouting!” Hawkeye said loudly as he climbed on the railing and used the stone wall for balance hopping to the next balcony and continuing with the rest of the boys. Thayne, Leon and Scott all on the one next to me jumped over the same way despite my fearful protests.
In my room, a few sitting on the floor, some more on the bed and I sat on my dresser. “Rick you were right.”
Rick grinned, “I typically am.”
I shook my head, “Rick has a theory and in my case he was right... Rick thinks.”
“Let me tell it,” Rick interjected, “I think that people here are here because they have some... oddity that got them into some trouble. Something unique, different, abnormal. This acting out got us here.” Everyone started looking nervously at each other. “Like my boys know I can see people’s immediate future.”
“Bullshit,” Thayne and Rick said at the same time, “you can’t,” Thayne’s eyebrows drew together, “Rick’s a dick!” “This is impossible,” “stop that!” Rick continued to say things with Thayne. “Fine I believe you!”
Rick turned to me, “I seen a fire start with no origin today, care to explain?”
“The burning man,” I responded as all eyes were on me, “he’s been following me for a while, though it was the first time he was actually burning. Mostly he’s just burnt, extra crispy.” I shuddered, “I see the dead that don’t go on. If my mental awareness is down, like if I drink a lot, I can’t see them or hear them anymore. I kind of became an alcoholic and my dad thought it was for... different reasons, so he sent me here.”
“Is that... what got you in the pool?” Robyn asked timidly.
“He had my ankle, held me there till I couldn’t hold my breath anymore,” I admitted.
“And the fire...” Leon spoke softly.
“Started because the man just went up in flames. It was insane, I mean, he’s done some crazy shit before, but never tried to burn me alive.”
“Stuff like what?” Nina asked shyly.
“He... this one time in my room, he dropped my blinds, started to flicker the lights, then he appeared, keeps trying to send him on, to whatever comes after death... I don’t know how, I’ve told him that but he doesn’t believe me. This time though he started... controlling shadows. It was terrifying, the shadows actually could physically harm me, pick me up, knock me down.” I stayed silent for a moment remembering, with a shudder I continued, “when my dad came in the burning man disappeared, but I had knocked my head, had been shouting at nothing... of course with my history of alcohol abuse... he just a assumed and I couldn’t say anything to the contrary, I mean he’d have me locked in asylum, at least here I do have some kind of freedom.” I smiled, “a chance of parole.”
“That sucks,” Nina said her voice filled with sympathy.
“So now, anyone else want to share?” Rick asked looking around.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 14] Abnormal Abilities
I looked around the room, and for a long while people just stayed silent, looking to the other, wondering if they would speak up, or perhaps just someone to speak up first. Still I was a little surprised that no one was arguing with what I said, not disbelieving me, nor Rick.
“I can beat Rick at an arm wrestle,” Hawkeye said mockingly.
“That ain’t a superpower,” Thayne said followed by his booming laugh.
Rick simply rolled his eyes, “we aren’t looking for superpowers. We’re just sharing the abnormalities that got us here.”
“I’m the same as everyone else,” Robyn said crossing her arms over her chest.
“That girl that went missing not to long ago, or got taken away or whatever,” Thayne said breaking the silence that had fallen for a moment, “think she was... different?”
“Nearly positive of it, but I can’t watch everyone’s future so your guess at this point is as good as mine,” Rick said reluctantly. The room fell into a silence. Everyone wondering about the fate of the young girl.
I started thinking about all the things that had happened since I’d been here. I remembered the gym, the laughter that rang in the air, the sweat and pull of muscles. Thayne lifting a ridiculous amount of weight. “Thayne... do you... have... super strength?” I asked timidly.
Thayne laughed loudly, “I thought it was just from working out so often... but a few years ago I wanted to see how much weight I could lift. I just kept putting weights on the bench till I ran out of weights.”
“More than the average muscle man?” Robyn asked snidely.
“Ran out of weights at five hundred pounds, if I tested it here... well the staff might catch me,” Thayne said smiling up at Robyn. “And I’m quite sure you aren’t normal.”
“Well I am,” Robyn argued, her jaw jutting out her voice signifying that was the end of questioning her.
“You did take down those people when you first got here,” Nina said looking down at her hands as if feeling she was betraying Robyn, “with your stature, you shouldn’t have been able to.”
Robyn glared at the tiny Nina her jaw clenching so tightly I could hear her teeth grinding, “I said, I’m normal.”
“I’m not,” Hawkeye finally admitted sheepishly, even Rick seemed surprised. “I see things... way better than anyone should, like you know how people always say it’s like finding a needle in a haystack... I’m kind of good at that.”
“How good... is it?” Nina asked slowly moving her hands over her chest.
Hawkeye wiggled his eyebrows, “very good.”
“Pervert.”
“I can only see through about one layer of clothing and that’s if I’m trying, I’ve been working on walls... if they are thin enough...” Hawkeye let his voice drift away.
“Your still a perve,” Nina said sitting in such a way that she was nearly completely shielded from Hawkeye’s gaze, hiding behind Hiro.
“Hey I wouldn’t walk around using it, I mean I start seeing a bunch of chicks in class half dressed, I’d be walking around with a-“
“HAWK!” Rick shouted cutting him off, “do not finish that sentence, you aren’t helping the pervert thing.”
Scott who had been leaning quietly against the wall finally spoke, “I can see death.” Everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged, “I don’t see the grim reaper with cape and scythe,” he amended quickly. “I just... in their faces... its like...” Scott seemed to be troubled trying to find the right words, “it’s like they are melting.” He looked directly at me, “it was why I didn’t want to get close to you, first time I met you, you were... melting.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and it took a minute for me to realize it was me. “I’m dying.”
“Most people I see melting... they are gone in a few days. Like... two, three max. Dying of God knows what, there is nothing I can do, it’s not a superpower, it’s just... okay this might sound cruel, but I don’t get attached to people like that. Or if I already am I try to get away from them.”
“But not all people die right?”
“You haven’t, I mean, you stopped melting the day after I met you, then you were melting before you did the obstacle course, and melting in the gym, I mean, it was off an on with you apparently tied to that ghost. He seriously wants you dead.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, “I’m aware.
“Perhaps I should stay with you at nights,” Nina offered looking up at me, “sure I can’t see the ghost but it doesn’t seem to attack you unless you are alone.”
I thought about that, thus far it proved mostly true. In my room, in the tunnel, in the locker room... though he had shown himself when I was with Leon he didn’t try to harm me. Maybe there are some sort of supernatural laws that don’t permit it. I sat pondering when a few raps on the front door pulled me from my thoughts.
There was a sharp few raps on the door and Nina stood, “it’s probably a teacher doing rounds.” Everyone was up and jumping of balconies in seconds. Nina left my room, and Robyn went to her room. I heard Nina speaking politely to one of the teachers. I shut my door quietly thinking hard on all this new information.
I mean, Rick could see immediate futures, Hawkeye had some serious sight, Thayne can lift over five hundred pounds-no problem. How many other gifts were in our little group? How many were in the boot camp? Heck, how many teachers have them and know what they are looking for?
I got undressed and grabbed a pair of tiny plaid shorts and a baby blue tank top and put them on. In my pajamas I laid on my bed, thinking. Nina offered again that she spend the night with me, but I declined. I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life having to be with someone at all times.
I rolled to my side and continued thinking. Was Robyn lying about not having a power, she seemed pretty defensive. Nina kept the attention on other people when she was talking. The others seemed only to comment on other people, keeping their secret as they had for so long... if they had a secret at all.
Monday morning came early... really early. Like before my alarm clock. I sat up groggily rubbing my eyes and hearing light taps on my window. I had hear rocks being thrown at my window before, my admires in high school. Awaking to the similar sound had made me expect to be at home in my lovely canopy bed. But I wasn’t, reality was a harsh blow.
Thinking I was imagining the sound, or it had been in the dream I rolled over trying to get my last precious hour of sleep before having to get ready for another horrible day at Kennedy. Still the noise continued till my curiosity got the better of me. My bare feet hit the carpet and I peered through the side of the blinds to see Leon tapping one of his knuckles against the glass. He caught the movement of the blinds and looked over at me. Smiling.
I couldn’t help but smile back. I let the blind fall and turned to look in the mirror, I took a quick moment to push down some of my hair, brushing it with my fingers before pushing aside the curtain, unlocking and opening the glass door, “are you aware how early it is?” I asked him with a little annoyance creeping into my voice.
“Sorry,” he said softly. “I was just thinking about all the things you said. You seeing... the dead.”
My eyes narrowed, “yeah...”
“Well, I was kind of wondering... if I have anyone... you know...”
“With you?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
“Oh,” Leon ran his hand through his hair, and I realized he was in a pair of black drawstring pajamas and a t-shirt that showed his muscles.
“Sorry,” I said softly after a while, I tried to work up to flirting with him, but I couldn’t. My flirting skills that once rivalled my supernatural gift of seeing the dead was now gone here at this boot camp. That or impaired by someone like Leon. “I’m not use to anyone knowing about this curse. I’ve never seen any ghost that didn’t want something from me. Maybe even as someone who sees the dead, I’m broken.”
“It was wrong of me to ask,” Leon said after a moment, any disappointment in my answer had vanished to a smile, “also it was wrong of me to come to your room at this time in the morning. What the neighbours might think!”
I giggled, “the neighbours here don’t talk. Sometimes I wonder if they exist.”
“I should let you get back to sleep,” he said, I noticed he hadn’t taken his eyes off mine in the entire time he’d been here. “Sorry to have disrupted you.” He turned to leave when I instinctively grabbed his arm. “Leon... is there something... you can do?”
Leon looked down at my hand then to my face. I felt his hand over mine as he gently brushed me off, “no, nothing special. Get some sleep,” and then he was out the door quickly.
I scratched the back of my head. That certainly was weird. I tried to fall back to sleep, but I felt the urge to dissect Leon’s strange behaviour. Was there someone he was wishing was watching over him. Did he feel haunted by someone? I rolled over and mulled over these thoughts that made me feel more awake. So much so I could no longer stay in bed. I went over my morning routine ending with breakfast of Cheerio’s and a glass of chocolate milk. The first buzzer went off and was turned off again and I sat in the chair sipping on my chocolate-y drink.
When the second buzzer went off I quickly jumped up and grabbed my binder from the coffee table. Robyn and Nina both came up behind me and swiped their cards. The hallway was stuffy and uncomfortable as we were pushed by the people behind us toward the doors. I was knocked by someone and I tripped into Leon who was coming out of his door. I grabbed tightly to his shirt to keep up right. Thayne quickly grabbed my shoulder and put me back on my feet, I smiled up at him, “thanks.”
“No problem,” Thayne responded.
Leon said nothing and kept facing forward. I looked to Thayne who shrugged, apparently he was just as confused over his roommates behaviour as I was. I tried to strike up casual group conversation, but both Robyn and Leon stayed out of it. Eventually Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro pushed their way through the crowd to talk to us. Nina seemed keen on hiding behind Thayne’s massive build today to keep Hawkeye’s super sight at bay. Thayne seemed amused by this. Still I wondered about what gifts they could possess. I wondered why Leon had come to my room so early. I wondered about why he was acting this way. Why he would brush me off the way he did. I wasn’t use to being brushed off by anyone. The rejection of my touch stung me.
We exited B building and the air must have been below zero, I hugged my binder, my sweater did little to prevent the cold from covering my skin.
Today is Monday, I thought as we all walked to school. Monday was always my least favourite day of the week. Somehow, here, I knew it would be much worse.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 15] Panic Button
First up was an anger management course. Required anger management in school. Lovely. Maybe some of us would have paid attention if the teacher herself didn’t seem like she was annoyed to be there. Any wrong answer and her temper would flair.
I was called upon, and I had been paying attention, I’d even been taking notes. Still I blundered and got the answer incorrect. Which was why I had been standing on my hands for the past fifty seconds. I didn’t know how I managed, but I could see Nina in my peripheral vision, I could tell her eyes never left me. She seemed completely focussed.
When Nina was called on she jolted and fumbled to answer and I fell to the ground, my knees taking most of the impact. The teacher forgot about Nina and turned her stormy blue eyes on me. Her wild red hair almost seemed to shake with her anger. I looked up at her as she spoke through her teeth, “get back up on your hands, and hold it for two minutes!” Her hands were shaking with anger and I nearly thought she was going to strike me.
I got up to my feet and forced myself back up into a handstand, I felt wobbly and then unnaturally stable again. I looked over at Nina, once more here eyes were focussed on me. Was she doing this? Was she helping me? Or did she just pity me and want to see how I do?
Managing the two minutes this time around I got up and sat in my seat, my arms felt like spaghetti. I looked back at Nina, but she wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. She was staring down at her page writing notes quickly. The more I thought about it the more I was certain it was Nina who had somehow helped me out. I turned back to face the front and tried to pay attention. I didn’t want a repeat of the handstand trick.
Computers were next. I thought I might get the chance to send a email to Tori, and try to patch things up, maybe to Liam to apologise for my quick leave, to Cory to explain what was going on. I found my heart soaring only to plummet from a great height when I discovered none of the student computers had internet access.
Still I sat between Hawkeye, (who surprisingly I didn’t feel exposed in front of him I did believe that he didn’t really use his powers) and Anna, who was the nicer of the twins. She spoke quietly to me, she was much more social than Mary. While they looked a lot alike, it seemed that their personalities were quite opposite.
We worked away in DesignCAD and Excel spreadsheet. I finished the work for the day quickly, I had taken this class for an easy credit in grade eleven. I helped out Anna, Hawkeye seemed to be working quite proficiently himself.
Anna asked if she, Mary and J.C could eat lunch with us. I quickly smiled and agreed. I quite liked Anna. Walking to the lunch line Anna spoke animatedly with Hiro, Nina and Scott about how much she absolutely detested the anger management teacher. Hiro perfectly mimicked the low yet distinctly feminine tones of the temperamental red haired teacher. Nina giggled, “that is crazy, you captured her voice so perfectly.”
“You do sound like a chick man,” Scott agreed, which Hiro promptly flipped him off for saying.
Sitting down with our trays we all poked at the white noodle mix. “What in the hell is this?” Thayne muttered.
“Oh my God, I think it just moved on it’s own,” J.C exclaimed as she jumped from her seat causing everyone to laugh. She reached out with her plastic fork in hand and then stabbed the dish viciously. “It’s alright everyone, I think it is dead!”
Another row of laughter and Scott was the first one to take a bite, and we all stared at him to see his reaction. “They’ve served us worse,” he noted though he didn’t look pleased with his meal.
I couldn’t help but look over at Leon, he seemed distant as he poked at his meal with little interest, I didn’t see him take a bite, just stab at the noodle dish.
I tried it and gagged spitting it into my napkin, “oh that is awful!”
Mary agreed with my assessment, though Anna didn’t think it was that bad and ate her sister’s portion. J.C now content that her dinner was in fact not moving she ate it.
We dumped out garbage and ditched our trays while we headed to our next class. I fell back in pace so I could walk beside Leon, Scott was also at the back of the line as he studied notes from his book. “So what do we have next?” I asked looking over at Leon who was actively ignoring me.
I looked over to Scott who was looking at Leon, then to me. He frowned before responding, “we have art next.
Art class, suddenly my day was looking up. Then I found out it was all about art theory, about dead artists, about knowing how to paint but not painting, not sketching, not drawing. They were only interested in facts. I was sitting beside the sleepy girl J.C in this class. Like all other times I’d seen her in class her head was cushioned by her arms that were folded on the desk. She drooled slightly onto her sleeve and I wondered if I should wake her. I decided against it, her roommates didn’t wake her up, until the end of class. I wasn’t responsible for her.
I wrote notes as the teacher spoke in a monotone voice that left me bored and a little sleepy myself. I looked around the room, this was the first class where Nina and Robyn did not sit together. Nina was sitting beside a pretty brunette with strong features, Robyn was sitting beside a male with bad acne, wearing blue head to toe and was sketching quickly in his book.
Looking around the room I found Leon sitting beside Hiro on the other side of the room. Hiro was jotting notes quickly, while Leon seemed to find little more interesting that the ceiling tiles he was staring up at. I frowned, overnight his personality had changed. What was wrong with him? Had my answer not been the one he had wanted to hear? Was he disappointed?
My head ached with the possibilities and I rubbed my temples. How had things got screwy even here. This place was not what I expected. The people here were not what I expected. I gave up on writing notes finally realizing I didn’t care, besides I had learnt most of this in grade nine and ten art classes.
I rest my head on my folded arms and let my mind wander, it found it’s way home. Tori always smiling at me on sleep overs, we would always sit on my large comfy canopy bed, watch movies while pigging out on the junk food sitting between us. Dad coming home from work and hugging me, kissing me on top of my head before going off to make delicious dinners. Cory and I sitting together early Saturday mornings while watching cartoons together. Daniel walking me home from dance classes, since they were on the bad side of town. The bang and flash of the gunshots.
I vaguely remember screaming and my seat shot out as I jumped to my feet, I looked to the direction the deafening noise had been coming from but only found my classmates staring at me. I couldn’t breathe! Or maybe I was hyperventilating? I clutched my chest, the panic wasn’t gone. Had I taken my pills last night? Had I this morning?
“You okay,” A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped at the touch. I was surprised it was the wide set blue eyes of the J.C that caught mine. I must have screamed to have woken her from her slumber.
“I- I have to go,” I went for the door and the teacher was blocking it.
“Get back to your seat,” he instructed bluntly.
“No, I need out, I need out,” I said frantically still scratching at where the scar was on my chest. Scratching at it violently.
“Get back to your seat,” the teacher said more sternly.
“Get out of my way,” I shouted back and I felt the shadows. Suddenly Thayne was knocking the teacher out of the way and Rick and Hawkeye each took hold of one of my arms.
“Sorry sweet cheeks,” J.C said standing in front of me. She touched my forehead and I was out like a light.
When I came too, the florescent lights above me were blinding and I instinctively put my arm over my eyes. I groaned and rolled to my side and forcing myself up to a sitting position. I could hear somebody crying. Someone was screaming orders while another was screaming back in protest. “How are you feeling?” My sight was blurry but refocused quickly as I looked in to J.C’s eyes.
“Been better,” I admitted.
“But been worse?”
“Yeah,” I responded before I realized I must not have been out for long. I was sitting on the ground in the classroom. Thayne was blocking the door, Rick, Hiro, Leon and Robyn were shouting back at people who wanted to press the panic button which would put the school in lock down. I rubbed my temples I wanted to remember what happened, but it eluded me. I knew this feeling. The thoughts digging themselves deep in my mind so I don’t find them. I was already suppressing the dream, the shout out, though I was sure to hear about it later.
One of the kids dove for the panic button on the desk. Nina shot out a hand and he flew back in the opposite direction and hit the wall with a echoing thud. The class went silent. “Anyone else want to touch the panic button?” Nina questioned menacingly.
No one responded.
“I know a lot of things Claire,” Rick said still grinning smugly. “Not everything mind you, but more than the average person.”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered, two girls I didn’t know got out of the pool lanes and spoke quietly to one another as they dried off. “Just tell me how you found out? Your group had already gone through the course. You seen nothing.”
Rick shrugged, “I...” he paused as the girls walked by and swiped to leave. Once the door was closed behind them he continued. “Claire...” he paused and seemed to be struggling to find words. “Teens here are... twisted in some cases. ‘Unruly’ you know, cause of what they’ve seen, what they’ve done. Claire I can see the immediate future.”
My mouth opened and just hung there, he chuckled and pushed the bottom of my jaw up. “It’s cuter when you did that in person,” he said with a wink. “Anyways, I couldn’t tell anyone, I mean, who would believe me? Still it wasn’t like I didn’t see the benefits, I became big in underground gambling.” He stared out over the water we both kept swaying our feet back and forth. “My dad couldn’t understand why I kept coming home with so much money, figured I was dealing drugs. Of course if I told him I was gambling his money in a completely illegal gambling ring he’d still be furious. So he sent me here, to ‘help me get better,’” he said with air quotes.
“The future,” I murmured, it explained why he knew when the teacher was going to look up, why he knew I would nearly drown, why he knew I’d be here even though I nearly drown the night previous.
“Most people here have something like that, I’m sure of it. No one wants to admit it because it’s dangerous.” Rick said softly, “cause people who start using whatever they got start to get noticed, and once you get noticed... you disappear, or ‘go home’ or ‘get re-hab.’ No one really notices ‘cause we are all so separated.” He pushed back some of his long locks before continuing, “most of us have something that got us here, some people actually have legit normal problems. I think the majority though are different... hiding, or using our... ‘gifts’ is what got us here.”
Rick looked over at me, his eyes boring into me, “want to tell me what yours is?”
“I...” I sat stunned and then on instinct I lied, “I don’t have one.”
Rick sat silent for a moment, “really cause last night I saw you struggle in the water, against a force that wasn’t really there. It seemed like it was only real to you.”
I stood up quickly, but he was already on his feet blocking my way, apparently already knowing I was to get up. “Move!” I shouted at him.
He stared at me for a long moment, “as you wish,” he said sidestepping. I rushed past, but he grabbed my arm at the last second, “just be careful okay, I don’t care if you don’t want to tell me, but... they have ways of finding out, so if you want to hide it... hide it well.” He let go and I stood there staring at him for a long moment.
“I have to go,” I said, he mimicked me at the same time.
He smiled, “I know.”
I grabbed my clothing and quickly put them on, my body was pretty much dry except for my feet and hair now anyways. I swiped my card and escaped into fresh air. The late October air made me shiver and I crossed my arms over my chest wishing I had thought to bring a coat as I started to jog over to B-building.
Standing in the shower to get the lingering scent of chlorine off, I thought of Rick. Of what he had said, of what he could do, and that I believed him. How many other people had a ‘gift’ like Rick said? Did Nina or Robyn have a gift? What about Leon, Thayne and Scott? Those twins from class and their sleepy friend? What about the angry girl from Geography? Did Hiro or Hawkeye have any?
The timer went out before all the conditioner was rinsed out of my hair and I groaned. I wrapped a towel around my body and walked over to the sink dunking my head under and putting the water on. I kept fiddling with the nozzles till I got a nice warm get going. The rest of the shampoo was gone quickly and I threw my hair up in a second towel.
I walked to my room and pulled out my laptop and plugged it into the wall and opened Windows Media Player. Dying to Live Again by Hedley came on and played as I sauntered around in my towel finally bothering to take everything out of my suitcase, I hung up things in my closet, took out my folding close basket and threw the clothing that had been piling on the floor into it. The song switched over to Let You Down by Three Days Grace, I sang along, I had always liked the song despite it being little dark. “When you finally trust me, finally believe in me, I will, let you down, I’ll, let you down, I’ll, when you finally trust me, finally believe in me.”
I leaned into my now fully packed closet and shuffled through clothing. A lot of my stuff no longer seemed appropriate, more party and beauty attire, than function well at boot camp attire. I sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt that tied around at the back, it was fashionable and still functional.
Still looking in the mirror, I didn’t see Clairissa Keeds anymore, not the party child, not one of the most popular girls in school. I seen Claire, the girl who sees dead people, a drunk who got herself sent to boot camp.
Touching the puffiness under my eyes I realized fully how tired I looked. My shins were still cut up but didn’t need them to be bandaged anymore. My body looked weak and I sighed looking at the jeans laying out on my bed as I dropped the towel and threw on a sports bra and a pair of panties, glaring at the jeans and top I instead opted for a plain blue t-shirt and sweat pants. I needed to go to the gym, work out some. I obviously wasn’t strong enough for the obstacle course. I needed to do what Nina said, make the flames a little cooler.
I grabbed a hair elastic and my keycard and went over to my laptop closing it, the music played for a second longer before turning off. I picked my MP3 player off the dresser and headed out. It took me a while and having to ask a few people along the way to find the gym. It was huge and a little intimidating. I had never really worked out before... sounded a lot to me like physical labour.
Standing there nervous, I heard a great booming laugh that I immediately recognized as Thayne. I took a few more steps in. I found him on the second floor, spotting Scott who had a weighted bar over his chest panting. “You’re a dick Thayne!” Scott shouted huffing under the weight.
Thayne just laughed harder as he picked it up with one hand and put it back on the holder. I took a few more steps forward and kicked the side of something while I walked, weights shook and fell as I managed to knock over the bench they were sitting on. Thayne started laughing all over again. “Hey Claire!” Thayne said quickly righting the bench and picking up the heaviest of weights.
“Hey,” I responded rubbing my previously injured shin. I picked up some of the weights on the other side that looked smaller. Still they were quite heavy and I lifted them with both hands. Scott started lifting some of the medium weights with little problem and it wasn’t long before we had fixed it back to normal.
“So, you need a spotter?” Thayne asked with a grin.
I laughed, “yeah, the way you helped Scott out, not a chance!”
Thayne laughed, “aw come on, I wouldn’t do that to you!”
Scott rolled his eyes, “so you just do it to me!”
“Yeah well she’s cute.”
“Hey! I’m adorable,” Scott said with a laugh.
“Uh... okay,” Leon said coming in and dropping his duffle bag on the ground. “That may be true but I don’t think Thayne swings that way.” Leon chuckled and smiled at me. I grinned shyly back.
“Only go that way for you,” Thayne said putting a muscled arm over Leon’s shoulder with a laugh, clearly trying to make his friend as uncomfortable as possible.
Still Leon played along, making goo-goo eyes at Thayne, “oh you know I only have eyes for you too!”
Scott burst out laughing nearly doubling over, I couldn’t help but fall into hysterics, tears steaming down my face. I hadn’t laughed so hard since... actually I couldn’t think of a time. “I...can’t....BREATHE!” I shouted gasping through laughter. This made Scott’s fits worse and Thayne and Leon couldn’t help but join in.
I ended up on the floor trying to breathe, Scott hunched over a workout bench, Thayne and Leon using each other for support to keep standing. Seems here everything is more funny, is more amusing since this place was hell, there weren’t a lot of reasons to laugh. “Hey! If you guys aren’t going to be working, get the hell out!” One of the staff yelled.
Thayne helped me up easily yanking me up. I thanked him but ended up rubbing my aching shoulder afterwards. Thayne taught me how to lift properly the weights as he spotted me. Scott was on a treadmill across the room and Leon on a weight set to the side of me. Thayne pulled the weights off the bar and put on much smaller ones than what he’d been using with Scott.
I put my hands on the bar, “if this things going to hit my chest, you’re going to catch it right?” I asked looking up at Thayne, and I nearly blushed from this angle.
Thayne chuckled, “yes, geeze, I’d let it fall on Scott, I wouldn’t let it fall on girl, that’s just mean.”
“You’re dick Thayne,” Scott shouted from across the room.
“You’re just jealous!” Thayne shouted back.
Leon chuckled as he continued to pull the big arms of the scary looking weight machine in front of him. I stopped staring at Leon, and stared up at the bar in my fingers. I took a breath and pushed up getting it off the hanger, and Thayne automatically put his hand a inch or so below the bar just in case. He pulled it back seeing as it wasn’t going to crash on top of me. I brought it down which was a hell of a lot easier than pushing it up.
I continued a few reps before pushing it up with spaghetti arms, Thayne helped me get it in it’s holder and I let out a breath letting my arms fall limp to my side. “Good job,” Thayne praised, “now spot me.”
“Thayne!” I said sitting up, I watched him start switching my little weights for the biggest ones, and even adding a few more on after that, “I can’t spot you! Those weigh too much!”
Thayne laughed as I stood, “the staff gets all pissed if you don’t follow procedure, you think Scott or Leon could spot me either?” Thayne laid down and put his bulky hands on the rod. “Just stand there so I don’t get in shit, alright?”
“Fine,” I said standing behind the weights, knowing if it were to fall there would be nothing I could do.
Thayne lifted it, and I remembered being at that angle looking up at him, awkward. He didn’t seem to mind. Suddenly his arms went down quickly and my hand shot out before I could even think that there was no fucking way I could stop it. Thayne laughed as he pushed it up, “just making sure you were paying attention!”
“And trying to make my heart give out!”
“See, she agree’s, you are a dick!” Scott called out.
Thayne laughed, “mine’s bigger than yours!”
I couldn’t believe they were talking like this and a blush crept on my face. “Red is your colour,” Leon said with humour ringing in his voice as he walked past me and over to the rowing machine.
Thayne finished his set, and sat up smiling at me, “you don’t know much about this gym stuff do you?”
I ran my hand through my blonde curls, and frowned, “well, no.”
Thayne laughed, “well what do you want to try next, I know it all.”
“That looks easy enough,” I said pointing to the rowing machines as Leon pushed back again holding to a bar on a string.
“Alright, hop on,” Thayne said and I sat on the little moving platform beside Leon, Scott came over and took one as well and Thayne sat on the one on my other side. He set the machine up for me showing me quickly how to do it so I could do it on my own later.
It turned out to be harder than I thought it would be, still, all of us got into a rhythm together and we debated what we thought we might get for food tonight. Thayne was thinking pasta, Leon thought something with chicken, Scott was just praying it wasn’t this rice dish with cheese and broccoli, the way he described it made me hope that wasn’t it either. More students were starting to show up now, a few were on the weight machines, a couple more on the treadmill.
Scott went to shower, he had an assignment and he wanted to check out a few reference books before the library closed down for the night. Leon, Thayne and I finished off our workouts with a twenty minute run on the treadmill.
I got off and was exhausted. Everything ached... muscles I didn’t even know I had ached. They showed me the change rooms and I headed in, there was no one there in the girls change room and I was thankful. I had always been a little self conscious changing in highschool gym, I didn’t think it would change here.
Sweat had my shirt stuck to my skin and I wrinkled my nose in disgust, I peeled off the layer and threw it on the bench, eww. I started to take off my pants and I could smell my arm pits, “Uhk, working out sucks,” I muttered angrily as I put them in the pile. Fiddling with my bra the lights started to flicker. I sucked in a breath and looked around but saw no one. I reached up and got on my tip toes and tapped the florescent bulb it flickered then went back to solid light. I turned around and by my things the burning man sat there with a crooked grin as his body became engulfed in flames.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 13] Unlucky Me
I stared shocked as the flames licked the man’s flesh, it disturbed me greatly yet I couldn’t look away. “Go away!” I said angrily.
The man smiled and I noticed the flames weren’t only attached to him anymore, the wooden bench he was sitting on caught, my mostly cotton work out clothing went up quickly the room becoming quickly clouded with smoke. Suddenly I was aware this was no illusion.
I ran to the door but the flames flew across the walls and caught the door on fire. I screamed and jumped back as the drywall and the door started to burn. I coughed and got to the floor trying to keep as much smoke from entering my lungs as possible.
“All you had to do was send me on!” The man said.
“You still won’t go on you fucking bastard!” I shouted as I slid on the linoleum under the wall that separated the change room from the showers and crawled into the shower turning on the water quickly. “HELP!” I screamed out, I hoped that Rick was seeing my immediate future right now. I hoped that Leon or Thayne could hear me. I hoped the staff member would smell smoke and come an investigate. Still I wasn’t going to leave my fate in their hands.
“You bitch!” Flames licked the floor in front of me and I jumped out of the shower soaked and ran to the wall, the fire hissed as it licked my skin, I could feel the immense heat but for how fast I moved it didn’t burn me. The burning man laughed menacingly. Apparently he was enjoying himself. I continued screaming as I ran to the door I grabbed the knob and it seared my skin. I howled.
“Claire!” I heard Leon yell and bang on the door. The door that automatically locked, that opened for females only with their keycard. “Claire!” I could hear the machine rejecting his card over and over.
I heard Thayne shout as well, “what’s going on?”
“I don’t know!” I shouted back, “the walls just caught fire!”
“Move!” I heard female voices say, “here use my card!”
I heard the acceptance of the card and I looked back, the burning man was gone but the fire was all there, licking the walls, the smoke flooded out as the door opened. I ran out even in a soaked sports bra and panties. A little ashamed both were white and now see through. I ran instinctively into Leon’s protective arms.
“Everyone out!” I heard a staff member shout as Thayne stripped off his shirt and handed it to me kindly. I quickly put it on, he was so tall and muscular that the shirt was very loose and long on me. It was more of a mini dress than a shirt.
They helped me jog out, I was still coughing from the smoke I had inhaled which was making me a little lightheaded. Once outside I seen Rick, Hiro and Hawkeye just running up skidding to a stop in front of us. “You okay?” Rick asked.
I had a coughing fit before I could answer, “yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“Hey!” I saw three females approach us, I recognized the twins Anna and Mary with their third JC. Anna was eying me with worry, Mary seemed disinterested in it all and JC looked like she could collapse from exhaustion. “You have my card,” Anna said holding out her hand.
“Oh,” Leon shoved his hand in his pocket and picked it out, “here, thanks.”
“No problem,” Anna replied, she put her hand on my shoulder gently, “are you okay? I mean, wasn’t it you who almost drown yesterday?”
“Yeah... unlucky me right?”
She chuckled, “it’s good to see you are okay thought. I mean, what kind of hex do you have on you to promote such horrible luck?”
“Oh I pissed off a hoodoo priestess before I came here,” I said with a shrug.
Anna laughed, “that’s funny.”
“Break it up!” A staff member shouted, and in the distance I cold hear sirens coming this way, apparently the fire was too much for the extinguishers.
“See you later,” Anna said with a quick wave, her sister and JC followed behind as they headed to study hall.
The guys started to walk me back to B-Building. I looked over to Rick, I couldn’t help it, what he said, maybe if I told him... “Rick.... do you have a balcony?”
Rick turned and stared for a moment, “no, Hawkeye arm wrestled me for that room.” As if to prove a point, Hawkeye flexed a few times with a chuckle. “Why do you ask?”
I looked over my shoulder, “I think we should all meet on the balconies tonight at seven.” All the guys started to look at each other, “it’s about something you said earlier...”
“I’ll be there,” Rick said glaring at Hawkeye. “We all will.”
“Our group will be there too,” Leon agreed.
“Claire!” I turned and seen Nina and Robyn running toward me. I stopped and waited for them to catch up.
They bombarded me with questions, “are you okay,” “did you get burnt,” “how does this always happen to you?”
“I’ll explain, tonight at seven.” I said as I continued to walk forward.
Nina and Robyn looked to each other wondering what the heck was going on. It didn’t take long for seven to roll around. I was dressed in black boot cut jeans and a sea green sweater. I left my door open and Nina and Robyn came onto my balcony soon after.
I seen Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro down the line a bit. “We have a better idea than shouting!” Hawkeye said loudly as he climbed on the railing and used the stone wall for balance hopping to the next balcony and continuing with the rest of the boys. Thayne, Leon and Scott all on the one next to me jumped over the same way despite my fearful protests.
In my room, a few sitting on the floor, some more on the bed and I sat on my dresser. “Rick you were right.”
Rick grinned, “I typically am.”
I shook my head, “Rick has a theory and in my case he was right... Rick thinks.”
“Let me tell it,” Rick interjected, “I think that people here are here because they have some... oddity that got them into some trouble. Something unique, different, abnormal. This acting out got us here.” Everyone started looking nervously at each other. “Like my boys know I can see people’s immediate future.”
“Bullshit,” Thayne and Rick said at the same time, “you can’t,” Thayne’s eyebrows drew together, “Rick’s a dick!” “This is impossible,” “stop that!” Rick continued to say things with Thayne. “Fine I believe you!”
Rick turned to me, “I seen a fire start with no origin today, care to explain?”
“The burning man,” I responded as all eyes were on me, “he’s been following me for a while, though it was the first time he was actually burning. Mostly he’s just burnt, extra crispy.” I shuddered, “I see the dead that don’t go on. If my mental awareness is down, like if I drink a lot, I can’t see them or hear them anymore. I kind of became an alcoholic and my dad thought it was for... different reasons, so he sent me here.”
“Is that... what got you in the pool?” Robyn asked timidly.
“He had my ankle, held me there till I couldn’t hold my breath anymore,” I admitted.
“And the fire...” Leon spoke softly.
“Started because the man just went up in flames. It was insane, I mean, he’s done some crazy shit before, but never tried to burn me alive.”
“Stuff like what?” Nina asked shyly.
“He... this one time in my room, he dropped my blinds, started to flicker the lights, then he appeared, keeps trying to send him on, to whatever comes after death... I don’t know how, I’ve told him that but he doesn’t believe me. This time though he started... controlling shadows. It was terrifying, the shadows actually could physically harm me, pick me up, knock me down.” I stayed silent for a moment remembering, with a shudder I continued, “when my dad came in the burning man disappeared, but I had knocked my head, had been shouting at nothing... of course with my history of alcohol abuse... he just a assumed and I couldn’t say anything to the contrary, I mean he’d have me locked in asylum, at least here I do have some kind of freedom.” I smiled, “a chance of parole.”
“That sucks,” Nina said her voice filled with sympathy.
“So now, anyone else want to share?” Rick asked looking around.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 14] Abnormal Abilities
I looked around the room, and for a long while people just stayed silent, looking to the other, wondering if they would speak up, or perhaps just someone to speak up first. Still I was a little surprised that no one was arguing with what I said, not disbelieving me, nor Rick.
“I can beat Rick at an arm wrestle,” Hawkeye said mockingly.
“That ain’t a superpower,” Thayne said followed by his booming laugh.
Rick simply rolled his eyes, “we aren’t looking for superpowers. We’re just sharing the abnormalities that got us here.”
“I’m the same as everyone else,” Robyn said crossing her arms over her chest.
“That girl that went missing not to long ago, or got taken away or whatever,” Thayne said breaking the silence that had fallen for a moment, “think she was... different?”
“Nearly positive of it, but I can’t watch everyone’s future so your guess at this point is as good as mine,” Rick said reluctantly. The room fell into a silence. Everyone wondering about the fate of the young girl.
I started thinking about all the things that had happened since I’d been here. I remembered the gym, the laughter that rang in the air, the sweat and pull of muscles. Thayne lifting a ridiculous amount of weight. “Thayne... do you... have... super strength?” I asked timidly.
Thayne laughed loudly, “I thought it was just from working out so often... but a few years ago I wanted to see how much weight I could lift. I just kept putting weights on the bench till I ran out of weights.”
“More than the average muscle man?” Robyn asked snidely.
“Ran out of weights at five hundred pounds, if I tested it here... well the staff might catch me,” Thayne said smiling up at Robyn. “And I’m quite sure you aren’t normal.”
“Well I am,” Robyn argued, her jaw jutting out her voice signifying that was the end of questioning her.
“You did take down those people when you first got here,” Nina said looking down at her hands as if feeling she was betraying Robyn, “with your stature, you shouldn’t have been able to.”
Robyn glared at the tiny Nina her jaw clenching so tightly I could hear her teeth grinding, “I said, I’m normal.”
“I’m not,” Hawkeye finally admitted sheepishly, even Rick seemed surprised. “I see things... way better than anyone should, like you know how people always say it’s like finding a needle in a haystack... I’m kind of good at that.”
“How good... is it?” Nina asked slowly moving her hands over her chest.
Hawkeye wiggled his eyebrows, “very good.”
“Pervert.”
“I can only see through about one layer of clothing and that’s if I’m trying, I’ve been working on walls... if they are thin enough...” Hawkeye let his voice drift away.
“Your still a perve,” Nina said sitting in such a way that she was nearly completely shielded from Hawkeye’s gaze, hiding behind Hiro.
“Hey I wouldn’t walk around using it, I mean I start seeing a bunch of chicks in class half dressed, I’d be walking around with a-“
“HAWK!” Rick shouted cutting him off, “do not finish that sentence, you aren’t helping the pervert thing.”
Scott who had been leaning quietly against the wall finally spoke, “I can see death.” Everyone turned to look at him, he shrugged, “I don’t see the grim reaper with cape and scythe,” he amended quickly. “I just... in their faces... its like...” Scott seemed to be troubled trying to find the right words, “it’s like they are melting.” He looked directly at me, “it was why I didn’t want to get close to you, first time I met you, you were... melting.
I heard a sharp intake of breath and it took a minute for me to realize it was me. “I’m dying.”
“Most people I see melting... they are gone in a few days. Like... two, three max. Dying of God knows what, there is nothing I can do, it’s not a superpower, it’s just... okay this might sound cruel, but I don’t get attached to people like that. Or if I already am I try to get away from them.”
“But not all people die right?”
“You haven’t, I mean, you stopped melting the day after I met you, then you were melting before you did the obstacle course, and melting in the gym, I mean, it was off an on with you apparently tied to that ghost. He seriously wants you dead.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, “I’m aware.
“Perhaps I should stay with you at nights,” Nina offered looking up at me, “sure I can’t see the ghost but it doesn’t seem to attack you unless you are alone.”
I thought about that, thus far it proved mostly true. In my room, in the tunnel, in the locker room... though he had shown himself when I was with Leon he didn’t try to harm me. Maybe there are some sort of supernatural laws that don’t permit it. I sat pondering when a few raps on the front door pulled me from my thoughts.
There was a sharp few raps on the door and Nina stood, “it’s probably a teacher doing rounds.” Everyone was up and jumping of balconies in seconds. Nina left my room, and Robyn went to her room. I heard Nina speaking politely to one of the teachers. I shut my door quietly thinking hard on all this new information.
I mean, Rick could see immediate futures, Hawkeye had some serious sight, Thayne can lift over five hundred pounds-no problem. How many other gifts were in our little group? How many were in the boot camp? Heck, how many teachers have them and know what they are looking for?
I got undressed and grabbed a pair of tiny plaid shorts and a baby blue tank top and put them on. In my pajamas I laid on my bed, thinking. Nina offered again that she spend the night with me, but I declined. I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life having to be with someone at all times.
I rolled to my side and continued thinking. Was Robyn lying about not having a power, she seemed pretty defensive. Nina kept the attention on other people when she was talking. The others seemed only to comment on other people, keeping their secret as they had for so long... if they had a secret at all.
Monday morning came early... really early. Like before my alarm clock. I sat up groggily rubbing my eyes and hearing light taps on my window. I had hear rocks being thrown at my window before, my admires in high school. Awaking to the similar sound had made me expect to be at home in my lovely canopy bed. But I wasn’t, reality was a harsh blow.
Thinking I was imagining the sound, or it had been in the dream I rolled over trying to get my last precious hour of sleep before having to get ready for another horrible day at Kennedy. Still the noise continued till my curiosity got the better of me. My bare feet hit the carpet and I peered through the side of the blinds to see Leon tapping one of his knuckles against the glass. He caught the movement of the blinds and looked over at me. Smiling.
I couldn’t help but smile back. I let the blind fall and turned to look in the mirror, I took a quick moment to push down some of my hair, brushing it with my fingers before pushing aside the curtain, unlocking and opening the glass door, “are you aware how early it is?” I asked him with a little annoyance creeping into my voice.
“Sorry,” he said softly. “I was just thinking about all the things you said. You seeing... the dead.”
My eyes narrowed, “yeah...”
“Well, I was kind of wondering... if I have anyone... you know...”
“With you?”
“Yeah.”
“No.”
“Oh,” Leon ran his hand through his hair, and I realized he was in a pair of black drawstring pajamas and a t-shirt that showed his muscles.
“Sorry,” I said softly after a while, I tried to work up to flirting with him, but I couldn’t. My flirting skills that once rivalled my supernatural gift of seeing the dead was now gone here at this boot camp. That or impaired by someone like Leon. “I’m not use to anyone knowing about this curse. I’ve never seen any ghost that didn’t want something from me. Maybe even as someone who sees the dead, I’m broken.”
“It was wrong of me to ask,” Leon said after a moment, any disappointment in my answer had vanished to a smile, “also it was wrong of me to come to your room at this time in the morning. What the neighbours might think!”
I giggled, “the neighbours here don’t talk. Sometimes I wonder if they exist.”
“I should let you get back to sleep,” he said, I noticed he hadn’t taken his eyes off mine in the entire time he’d been here. “Sorry to have disrupted you.” He turned to leave when I instinctively grabbed his arm. “Leon... is there something... you can do?”
Leon looked down at my hand then to my face. I felt his hand over mine as he gently brushed me off, “no, nothing special. Get some sleep,” and then he was out the door quickly.
I scratched the back of my head. That certainly was weird. I tried to fall back to sleep, but I felt the urge to dissect Leon’s strange behaviour. Was there someone he was wishing was watching over him. Did he feel haunted by someone? I rolled over and mulled over these thoughts that made me feel more awake. So much so I could no longer stay in bed. I went over my morning routine ending with breakfast of Cheerio’s and a glass of chocolate milk. The first buzzer went off and was turned off again and I sat in the chair sipping on my chocolate-y drink.
When the second buzzer went off I quickly jumped up and grabbed my binder from the coffee table. Robyn and Nina both came up behind me and swiped their cards. The hallway was stuffy and uncomfortable as we were pushed by the people behind us toward the doors. I was knocked by someone and I tripped into Leon who was coming out of his door. I grabbed tightly to his shirt to keep up right. Thayne quickly grabbed my shoulder and put me back on my feet, I smiled up at him, “thanks.”
“No problem,” Thayne responded.
Leon said nothing and kept facing forward. I looked to Thayne who shrugged, apparently he was just as confused over his roommates behaviour as I was. I tried to strike up casual group conversation, but both Robyn and Leon stayed out of it. Eventually Hawkeye, Rick and Hiro pushed their way through the crowd to talk to us. Nina seemed keen on hiding behind Thayne’s massive build today to keep Hawkeye’s super sight at bay. Thayne seemed amused by this. Still I wondered about what gifts they could possess. I wondered why Leon had come to my room so early. I wondered about why he was acting this way. Why he would brush me off the way he did. I wasn’t use to being brushed off by anyone. The rejection of my touch stung me.
We exited B building and the air must have been below zero, I hugged my binder, my sweater did little to prevent the cold from covering my skin.
Today is Monday, I thought as we all walked to school. Monday was always my least favourite day of the week. Somehow, here, I knew it would be much worse.
Boot Camp For Terribly Twisted Teens [Chapter 15] Panic Button
First up was an anger management course. Required anger management in school. Lovely. Maybe some of us would have paid attention if the teacher herself didn’t seem like she was annoyed to be there. Any wrong answer and her temper would flair.
I was called upon, and I had been paying attention, I’d even been taking notes. Still I blundered and got the answer incorrect. Which was why I had been standing on my hands for the past fifty seconds. I didn’t know how I managed, but I could see Nina in my peripheral vision, I could tell her eyes never left me. She seemed completely focussed.
When Nina was called on she jolted and fumbled to answer and I fell to the ground, my knees taking most of the impact. The teacher forgot about Nina and turned her stormy blue eyes on me. Her wild red hair almost seemed to shake with her anger. I looked up at her as she spoke through her teeth, “get back up on your hands, and hold it for two minutes!” Her hands were shaking with anger and I nearly thought she was going to strike me.
I got up to my feet and forced myself back up into a handstand, I felt wobbly and then unnaturally stable again. I looked over at Nina, once more here eyes were focussed on me. Was she doing this? Was she helping me? Or did she just pity me and want to see how I do?
Managing the two minutes this time around I got up and sat in my seat, my arms felt like spaghetti. I looked back at Nina, but she wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. She was staring down at her page writing notes quickly. The more I thought about it the more I was certain it was Nina who had somehow helped me out. I turned back to face the front and tried to pay attention. I didn’t want a repeat of the handstand trick.
Computers were next. I thought I might get the chance to send a email to Tori, and try to patch things up, maybe to Liam to apologise for my quick leave, to Cory to explain what was going on. I found my heart soaring only to plummet from a great height when I discovered none of the student computers had internet access.
Still I sat between Hawkeye, (who surprisingly I didn’t feel exposed in front of him I did believe that he didn’t really use his powers) and Anna, who was the nicer of the twins. She spoke quietly to me, she was much more social than Mary. While they looked a lot alike, it seemed that their personalities were quite opposite.
We worked away in DesignCAD and Excel spreadsheet. I finished the work for the day quickly, I had taken this class for an easy credit in grade eleven. I helped out Anna, Hawkeye seemed to be working quite proficiently himself.
Anna asked if she, Mary and J.C could eat lunch with us. I quickly smiled and agreed. I quite liked Anna. Walking to the lunch line Anna spoke animatedly with Hiro, Nina and Scott about how much she absolutely detested the anger management teacher. Hiro perfectly mimicked the low yet distinctly feminine tones of the temperamental red haired teacher. Nina giggled, “that is crazy, you captured her voice so perfectly.”
“You do sound like a chick man,” Scott agreed, which Hiro promptly flipped him off for saying.
Sitting down with our trays we all poked at the white noodle mix. “What in the hell is this?” Thayne muttered.
“Oh my God, I think it just moved on it’s own,” J.C exclaimed as she jumped from her seat causing everyone to laugh. She reached out with her plastic fork in hand and then stabbed the dish viciously. “It’s alright everyone, I think it is dead!”
Another row of laughter and Scott was the first one to take a bite, and we all stared at him to see his reaction. “They’ve served us worse,” he noted though he didn’t look pleased with his meal.
I couldn’t help but look over at Leon, he seemed distant as he poked at his meal with little interest, I didn’t see him take a bite, just stab at the noodle dish.
I tried it and gagged spitting it into my napkin, “oh that is awful!”
Mary agreed with my assessment, though Anna didn’t think it was that bad and ate her sister’s portion. J.C now content that her dinner was in fact not moving she ate it.
We dumped out garbage and ditched our trays while we headed to our next class. I fell back in pace so I could walk beside Leon, Scott was also at the back of the line as he studied notes from his book. “So what do we have next?” I asked looking over at Leon who was actively ignoring me.
I looked over to Scott who was looking at Leon, then to me. He frowned before responding, “we have art next.
Art class, suddenly my day was looking up. Then I found out it was all about art theory, about dead artists, about knowing how to paint but not painting, not sketching, not drawing. They were only interested in facts. I was sitting beside the sleepy girl J.C in this class. Like all other times I’d seen her in class her head was cushioned by her arms that were folded on the desk. She drooled slightly onto her sleeve and I wondered if I should wake her. I decided against it, her roommates didn’t wake her up, until the end of class. I wasn’t responsible for her.
I wrote notes as the teacher spoke in a monotone voice that left me bored and a little sleepy myself. I looked around the room, this was the first class where Nina and Robyn did not sit together. Nina was sitting beside a pretty brunette with strong features, Robyn was sitting beside a male with bad acne, wearing blue head to toe and was sketching quickly in his book.
Looking around the room I found Leon sitting beside Hiro on the other side of the room. Hiro was jotting notes quickly, while Leon seemed to find little more interesting that the ceiling tiles he was staring up at. I frowned, overnight his personality had changed. What was wrong with him? Had my answer not been the one he had wanted to hear? Was he disappointed?
My head ached with the possibilities and I rubbed my temples. How had things got screwy even here. This place was not what I expected. The people here were not what I expected. I gave up on writing notes finally realizing I didn’t care, besides I had learnt most of this in grade nine and ten art classes.
I rest my head on my folded arms and let my mind wander, it found it’s way home. Tori always smiling at me on sleep overs, we would always sit on my large comfy canopy bed, watch movies while pigging out on the junk food sitting between us. Dad coming home from work and hugging me, kissing me on top of my head before going off to make delicious dinners. Cory and I sitting together early Saturday mornings while watching cartoons together. Daniel walking me home from dance classes, since they were on the bad side of town. The bang and flash of the gunshots.
I vaguely remember screaming and my seat shot out as I jumped to my feet, I looked to the direction the deafening noise had been coming from but only found my classmates staring at me. I couldn’t breathe! Or maybe I was hyperventilating? I clutched my chest, the panic wasn’t gone. Had I taken my pills last night? Had I this morning?
“You okay,” A hand landed on my shoulder and I jumped at the touch. I was surprised it was the wide set blue eyes of the J.C that caught mine. I must have screamed to have woken her from her slumber.
“I- I have to go,” I went for the door and the teacher was blocking it.
“Get back to your seat,” he instructed bluntly.
“No, I need out, I need out,” I said frantically still scratching at where the scar was on my chest. Scratching at it violently.
“Get back to your seat,” the teacher said more sternly.
“Get out of my way,” I shouted back and I felt the shadows. Suddenly Thayne was knocking the teacher out of the way and Rick and Hawkeye each took hold of one of my arms.
“Sorry sweet cheeks,” J.C said standing in front of me. She touched my forehead and I was out like a light.
When I came too, the florescent lights above me were blinding and I instinctively put my arm over my eyes. I groaned and rolled to my side and forcing myself up to a sitting position. I could hear somebody crying. Someone was screaming orders while another was screaming back in protest. “How are you feeling?” My sight was blurry but refocused quickly as I looked in to J.C’s eyes.
“Been better,” I admitted.
“But been worse?”
“Yeah,” I responded before I realized I must not have been out for long. I was sitting on the ground in the classroom. Thayne was blocking the door, Rick, Hiro, Leon and Robyn were shouting back at people who wanted to press the panic button which would put the school in lock down. I rubbed my temples I wanted to remember what happened, but it eluded me. I knew this feeling. The thoughts digging themselves deep in my mind so I don’t find them. I was already suppressing the dream, the shout out, though I was sure to hear about it later.
One of the kids dove for the panic button on the desk. Nina shot out a hand and he flew back in the opposite direction and hit the wall with a echoing thud. The class went silent. “Anyone else want to touch the panic button?” Nina questioned menacingly.
No one responded.