Chapter Ten: I saw it coming.

CHAPTER 10

I saw it coming

When I got back to the cabin then sun was just starting to come up. Patrick and Ethan were talking about the fight when I exploded through the door.

"Hey" I said trying to catch my breath

"Hey" Ethan said quiety while avoiding eye contact

"I told him you would explain what happened" Patrick said whilst nodding towards Ethan.

"I don't know what to tell him" I said as I turned around to avoid the situation

I heard a thud. Patrick always literally put his foot down when he was trying to make a point to me if he was serious.

"Yes you do." a shrill voice said from behind me

"Hey who is tha-"

BANG. BANG. BANG. Three cracks sounded off in the room so loud I could feel the vibrations in my chest. I turned around and saw Patrick facedown on the floor and Ethan sitting against the wall with blood oozing out of three holes in his torso. I was face to face with Dominic Ricci. In his right hand pointed directly in my gut was a black handgun still hot from the previous shots.

With a final BANG I woke up in my bunk soaked in either sweat or urine. Slightly embarassed and flustered I got dressed before anybody else woke up. Viktor walked through the door shortly after we had all woken up and led us all to the chow hall for breakfest. Each of us sat down at a table with Viktor with our food and began eating quietly

"So, other than the fight, you guys having a good time?" Viktor asked

Each of us nodded leaving the subject without a word. I continued to eat, quietly avoiding eye contact partly out of embarassment but mostly because I was still afraid. Since I had left the cabin I couldnt stop thinking that around every corner and behind every door Dominic Ricci would be waiting for me. I kept trying to convince myself that the fears were irrational but they weren't because when he showed up it was unnanounced and I had no control over anything once he was infront of me. I fealt Patrick nudge me

"You ok?" he whispered

"I'm fine" I lied

"Bullshit" he said with a smile

"Just had a pretty bad nightmare" I said

"Whenever you want to tell me what your really worried about, I'll be here" he whispered before asking Ethan if he wanted to swim later.

Ethan agreed so the three of us ran back to the cabin before everyone else got done with breakfast. By the time I got to the bunkhouse Ethan and Patrick were already undressing. I was about to take off my shirt when Patrick pulled me aside.

"I told him you would explain what happened." Patrick said as he took off his boxers and pulled his swimming trunks up.

"I don't know what to tell him" I said as I turned around to start undressing

I heard something crash to the floor and I assumed Ethan had pulled his bag off of his bunk and because of it's weight it fell to the floor. Wait. This happened before.

"Yes you do" a shril voice said from behind me.

"Hey, who is tha-"

Just like in my dream the previous night three cracks sounded off in the room leaving a ringing in my ears that I had never felt before. By the time I turned around Patrick was facedown on the floor unconsious and Ethan had a shocked look on his face as blood oozed from his chest. Dominic Ricci had a black pistol in his right hand jabbed directly into my gut and I could feel the heat from the previous shots.

"You can't say you didn't see this coming" he said with a wink.

With a final bang everything went silent. It felt like a bomb had gone off inside of my chest followed by a jackhammer like vibration. The impact of shot sent me reeling backwards three to five feet before I fell to the ground. Despite the intense burning in my gut I threw my hand out towards Dominic but to no avail. The bunks to the right of Dominic were thrown with a tremendous force against the back wall creating a sound almost as loud as the gunshot. I watched Dominic Ricci gingerly walk out the door before I blacked out.

Chapter Nine: I wouldn't be Caught Dead

CHAPTER 9

I WOULDN'T BE CAUGHT DEAD

I spent an hour thinking about what had happened. Every time I used my ability it seemed as if it got stronger. I was invincible. I could bring someone to their knees in pain, move things with my mind, talk to people without physically being there and as far as I was concerned, I hadn't even reached my full potential. I had learned not to be afraid of the consequences because there was nothing anybody could do to me when I had an ability so powerful. It was nearly morning when Viktor opened the door to the cabin and said

"Tim, get dressed and meet me at the counsoler's cabin. We need to talk."

The door closed with a soft click and I rolled out of bed.

"What's going on?" I heard whispered from Patrick's bunk

"I have to go see the counselors about the fight" I said as I slid out of bed and hit the floor with a thud.

"I'm coming with you" he said innocently as he struggled out from under his white sheets and climbed down off of his bunk.

He stood across from me in the strip of moonlight that shone through the door wearing tube socks and white boxers while trying to pull a red shirt over his body in the small amount of light.

"Pat, I don't know what's gonna' happen in there. I think it would be better if you stayed here until I figure out what's going on."

"I'm going" he said adamatly.

We got dressed silently in the dark, cool cabin not knowing what to expect.

The path to the counselor's cabin was dead. The normally whimsical green pines that enveloped the happy path had turned into black outlines of skeletal trees against a moon lit sky. A thick layer of fog eerily hung over the ground of the path making it impossible to see the bare earth underneath. It was hard to understand how anyone could think of this graveyard as a happy dirt path. We walked swiftly, solemnly and silently to our destination and had no intention of stopping. As we approached the counselor's cabin we could hear talking coming from the inside. I opened the door and stepped through. The inside of the counselor's cabin was setup the same way the campers cabins were. The female counselors were on the left side of the cabin, the male counselors were on the right. One of the female counselors had music playing but turned it off when she saw me walk in. Each of the counselors sat up in their beds and got quiet.

"Hi." I said softly

"Hey Tim" they said one by one

"Ok Tim, here's the deal" Viktor said as he stood up "your story checked out, and since you and Patrick didn't start the fight you aren't in any trouble. However we need to know this isn't going to happen again and we also want you to apologize to Adam.

"Alright, I will" I said

"And Patrick, no one can get Allen to even talk about what happened and he requested to go home. We want you to apologize aswell."

"Ok, how's Ethan holding up?" Patrick asked

"His nose got broke and he's pretty embarssed. He really needs you guys to be there as friends for a while." Viktor responded.

"Can I go see him?" Patrick insisted

"Yeah, he's in the nurse's office right next door. Why don't you go get him and you two can meet up with Tim back at the cabin."

Patrick left the cabin and Viktor walked me outside. Viktor bent over so his mouth was right next to my ear.

"There's no way you could have pushed Adam hard enough to break his arm as bad as it is. I don't care what happened in there but I'll tell you two things. For one, if you have something that you need to tell me about I won't call the police and I won't tell your parents but I need to know if there's something I can do. The other is you will NOT hurt anyone else in my cabin do I make myself clear?" he whispered intensely.

"Yes, I understand" I said

"Good. Goodnight Tim." he said loudly and went back in the cabin.

I walked off of the front porch of the cabin and made my way back into the darkness.

The only thing worse than walking along that dreary dirt path in the middle of the night was walking it alone. I started to psych myself out and turned every noise and every movement into a nightmarish creature trying to kill me. As I was walking I noticed something moving at my pace on my right side in the woods, but it's image was distorted by the fog. I stopped and turned to try and get a better look and saw nothing. Turned behind me, saw nothing and again to my left and saw nothing. I knew I was just being paranoid and took one step forward and bumped right into a tall pale man in a black pinstripe suit.

"Your that cop!" I screamed

"Cop?" he said

"Private Johnson" I said confidently

"Oh, Private Johnson... He was a good man" he said as he pulled the shiny metal nametag out of his jacket's inside pocket. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that uniform. However, Johnson was... He was caught dead in that uniform... I caught him... I caught him dead in that uniform... I killed him." He finally said smiling.

"You, you killed him?" I said shocked

"Your such a bright boy Timmothy." he said as he threw the nametag at me.

"What the fuck!" I yelled as I stepped back

"Such foul language for such a bright boy" he scolded "I expected more from you Timmothy" he said as he stepped forward

"Stay away from me you freak. I'll kill you!" I screamed

"No need for derogatory terms Timothy, I'm Dominic Ricci." he said with a bow

I lifted my right hand and pointed it at his knees, he fell forward with a soft thud.

"I'm Tim. Not "Timothy" not "boy" just Tim. Now what do you want." I said hand still oustretched toward him

"Nothing Timothy, not yet." he said as he got up and brushed himself off. "Auf wiedersehen!" he yelled and disapeered back into the fog.

I ran all the way back to the cabin, scared out of my mind and more confused than I had ever been. All I cared about was being away from Mr. Ricci.

Chapter Eight: Start Spreadin' the News

CHAPTER 8

START SPREADIN' THE NEWS

School was finally coming to a close for the year and I couldn't have been more excited. Every summer Patrick and I went to "Camp Northwood" and it was awesome to feel like we were on our own even if it was only a couple of months. On the last day of school I eagerly packed what I would need into Mrs. Fox's van and set my sights towards freedom. The ride to get to Camp Northwood was seven hours, so Patrick and I slept the entire time. When I woke up the van was stopped on a gravel path and Mrs. Fox was getting directions from a teenager in a bright orange vest to the dining hall. I shook Patrick a few times to get him up before he slapped my hands and told me he was awake. The procedure at Camp Northwood was the same every year, on the first morning all the parents and kids eat breakfest together, the counsellars sing a song about Camp Northwood, and then they send the kids to the cabins until lunchtime. Patrick and I really didn't even like camp all that much, but the opprotunity to be away from parents for such a long time didn't come around very often, so we jumped on it when it did. Our cabin was one big room with two sets of bunk beds on either side with a screen door for an entrance. The camp was designed to make kids want to go out and do activities instead of just lounging around the cabin all day and it seemed to work very well. Patrick and I were the first ones to step inside the cabin and meet our counsellar. Viktor was a tall, muscular teenager with brown curly hair that came down to his shoulders. He was sitting inside the cabin playing some music on his acoustic guitar when we walked in.

"Hey guys, what are your names?"

"I'm Tim and he's Patrick" I said pointing behind me

"Right on. Where you from?" he said, still strumming away at his guitar

"Ohio" Patrick mumbled while putting his sheets on one of the top bunk beds.

Viktor acklowleged Patrick's answer with a nod and pulled a pair of white earbuds from his pocket and shoved them in his ears. I got all of my things set up on the top bunk adjacent to Patrick's before a short, pale, red haired boy stepped through the open screen door of the cabin.

"Hi" he said softly as he set his green duffle bag on the bed beneath mine.

Viktor temporarily removed his earbuds to ask the boy the same questions he asked Patrick and I. He said his name was Ethan and that he was from Chicago. Patrick and I had never been to a big city like that before so we passed the time and made small talk about what life was like in Chicago. The answers Ethan gave us were allways short and to the point and he never dared ask a question in return, so it was difficult to pull any useful information out of the conversation. However we did find out that Ethan was 12 and his parents were both lawyers and were very busy all the time. After about an hour of talking to Ethan three identical boys came tramping in, pushing and shoving eachother all the way. They were the Smith triplets. One was Allen, he was the loud one, the next was Adam, he was the tough one, and the third was Alex, he was the mean one. They were from somewhere in Pennsylvania, but Patrick and I really didn't care to talk to any of them. Once we were all in the cabin and had our stuff set up Viktor stood up and cleared his throat before saying.

"Alright dudes, here's the deal. If your all cool to me, I'll be cool to you. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do but you atleast have to be near the rest of us when we go somewhere. If you have to go to the bathroom it's right out the door and to the left. At night you all need to be in your beds at 8:00, I don't care if you sleep or not, but atleast keep it quiet enough so other people can sleep. Those are the only "rules" I have so let's go get some lunch then we'll see what we want to do for the rest of the day."

The walk from the cabins to the cafeteria was quiet and relaxing. The ten cabins that housed the other campers were arranged in a circle around two brick bath houses that were constantly lit up and operational. North of the cabins was the main entrance to the camp, to the east was a large gravel parking lot, to the south were two large fields used for various activities and to the west was a long dirt path that led to the cafeteria and other buildings like the nurse's office and the counsellars cabins. The dirt path that led to the cafeteria was cannopied by the strong branches of tall green pines on either side. We silently walked along the path while Viktor followed behind so he could see all of us. The cannopied dirt path opened up to a small clearing just big enough to hold the "Chow Hall."

The cafeteria was a white, rectangular, metal building that stood out sorely among the green backround. The bulding's facade held a large circular wooden sign that had the words "Chow Hall" burned into it in uniform capital letters. Lunch at Camp Northwood consisted of three parts. First, the counsellars would get up in front of all of the campers and sing a song or tell a story. Then, the campers were dismissed table by table to go get their food and eat. Finally, the counsellars would get up again and explain what activities were available for the day before letting us leave. All throughout lunch the Smith triplets made it a point to make fun of Ethan.

Ethan was a very nervous looking boy whos eyes always seemed to dart around the room like a gazelle watching out for a lion. The experience was very awkward for Patrick and I because even though we fealt bad for Ethan, the bullying wasn't terrible enough to make either of us take action against the triplets. After lunch Patrick and I spent most of our day at the pool meeting people and playing pool tag with Ethan. As we got to know Ethan better he seemed to relax and started having fun. We talked about different T.V shows, video games, school, girls and it became clear that Ethan was really grateful to have a few people he could confide in. From that moment on Ethan, Patrick and I became inseperable. With damp towels draped over our shoulders we made our way back to the cabin while the sun disappeared behind a pink and orange horizon.

Ethan, Patick and I were the first people back to the bunkhouse. After we took off our swimming trunks and put on fresh clothes we laid our towels over the railing outside the front door and sat in a circle on the floor with a deck of cards. By the time the Smith triplets got back to the cabin the three of us were all laughing and having a good time playing a game of go fish. Alex walked by, stopped for a minute and then kicked the deck of cards sending them in all directions.

"What's your problem?" Ethan yelled.

"Shut up faggot." Alex said as he walked away.

"Asshole..." Ethan said under his breath as he turned around to pick up the cards.

"What did you say?" Alex screamed as he ran towards Ethan

When Ethan turned around and saw Alex was right there he swung his fist and hit Alex on the left side of his jaw. Ethan threw an awesome punch that sent Alex to the ground crying, but unfortunatly he was outnumbered. In no time Adam had jumped on Ethan's back and wrestled him to the ground. Ethan's arms were pinned under Adam's legs and Adam had punched Ethan in the face four or five times before Patrick tried to pry Adam off of Ethan. Allen, who had just been watching the fight, grabbed Patrick's left shoulder and pulled it so they were face to face. Allen reared back to punch Patrick when my hand instinctivly shot out. With fingers outstretched the feeling started and Allen dropped to the floor writhing in pain and screaming for his life before he could hit Patrick. I moved my arm in line with Adam who was still on top of Ethan and made a pushing motion that threw Adam off of Ethan and across the cabin where he made contact with the unforgiving wooden wall. Ethan was lying on his back, face covered in blood, Adam was sitting against the back wall cradling his arm trying to hold back tears, and Alex was trying to help Allen out of his pain induced dilerium when Viktor walked in.

"Fuck!" he said as he stammered through the entry way

Viktor pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and called the nurse to come get Ethan,

Adam and Allen. Alex couldn't stop staring at me in complete shock. His face kept the same expression despite the tears still trickeling down his cheeks. Allen was still screaming on the floor as if someone had cut his arm off. It was cruel to let him continue suffering so I went into the feeling, thought about making the pain stop and with a snap of my fingers it did. When the pain stopped Allen's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he immediatly blacked out from shock. Viktor helped load each of the boys on to the nurse's modified golf cart and we watched as she took them back to her office. Viktor had never before seemed intimidating or scary to me, but the way his expression had changed after he was done helping the nurse was terrifying. He slowly walked to the back of the cabin and got four folding chairs. Viktor set three of the chairs up in a row and the fourth directly across from the other three.

"All of you, sit." he said calmly, pointing at three chairs in a row.

We each took a seat quickly and quietly, each of us afraid of what Viktor was going to do.

"I've seen a lot of fights before; I've even been in a few myself and I have never seen someone in as much pain as Allen was tonight." he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and with shaky hands took one from of the pack and lit it. "I'm going to ask each of you what happened, don't lie to me and don't interrupt whoever's talking. Tim, you can start."

I said "Ethan hit Alex and then Alex fell. Allen pinned Ethan so Patrick hit him and Allen overeacted and started screaming. Adam tried to hit Patrick because Patrick hit Allen so I pushed Adam against the wall, I think I broke his arm. Sorry."

"Patrick, tell me what happened." Viktor said after taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Tim explained what happened." Patrick said softly

"Alex?" Viktor said

"Yeah, what Tim said." Alex whimpered.

"Alright guys" Viktor said cheerfully as he put the cigarette out on the jeans covering his knee. He got up and turned out the lights before leaving for the nurse's office.

"If you tell anyone what really happened, I'll make you wish you were Allen." I whispered to Alex

"I won't" he said.

After that the three of us climbed in our bunks and tried to fall asleep to the noises of counsellars talking about what had happened.

Chapter Seven: Flying Under the Radar

I woke up early the next morning in the same place I had fallen asleep on Patrick's basement floor. I lazily turned my head and saw Patrick. He had one hand behind his head, the other half in his pants, legs crossed and his mouth was wide open. I started to chuckle a bit at the sight and lied there for about five minutes just watching him snore. The smell of pancakes started lingering carelessly in the air, and patrick woke up like a dog, sniffing the air as if trying to find the source. "Morning sunshine" I said mockingly "Morning" he repeated as he rubbed his eyes. It seemed as if last night had never happened, Patrick didn't say a word about it and I was in no hurry to open up and talk about the army man. We hurried upstairs and sat at the table across from each other while Mrs. Fox made us breakfest. She stood completely silent after serving us. Unknowing and nieve, Patrick and I began eating without paying any attention to her. "Boys I need to talk to you both about something" "What" patrick said with his mouth full, spitting little bits of pancake on to the table "Do either of you know a boy named DeeJay Jenkins?" Patrick and I exchanged a cold glance at eachother. I knew I could trust him to not give me up, but at the same time I knew he hated to lie. Mrs. Fox would have known I was in detention with him at the time, and would be wondering why I hadn't told her about his hand. "Yeah I know him, didn't he hurt his hand yesterday?" I said before taking another fork full of food. "It's a little more serious than that Timmy. The doctors couldn't reatach three of the fingers on his right hand, and had to operate to remove pieces of wood from his chest. He's really lucky to be alive" she said sincerley. An awkward silence filled the room, I wasn't quite sure what she wanted me to say. We sat quietly before Mrs. Fox told us there would be guidence counselers at the school on monday if we needed to talk, but until then she would have a spare ear if we needed it. She kissed Patrick on the head and slowly walked out of the room. Patrick took a deep breath once she left and shot me a smile then we headed back down to our basement home. Since we weren't doing anything and didn't have plans for the day Patrick got us some paper and sprawled out on the floor with several pencils of different sizes and colors and started to draw. Patrick was a really amazing artist, atleast at the time I thought he was. He had the uncanny ability to draw things that had already happened with scary accuracy. He was no Picasso but he got the point across. I was no good at drawing so I decided to try my hand at oragami. I started to make one of those little paper frogs that jump when you press down on the top part when I noticed Patrick staring at me. "Hi there?" I questioned "What are you doing" he asked "Making a frog" I replied "Really Tim" he asked dissapointedly "I'm bored, what do you want me to do?" I asked "No, not like that. I don't care if you make a frog or whatever, but you're really using your hands?" he said He had a point, I needed practice and paper was the easiest thing I could practice on. The feeling started and I found it was disgustingly easy to move paper after having lifted the army man. I also noticed that I was able to start the feeling without having to meditate first, I only had to think about the feeling and it started. I began moving the paper with ease and found it was more dificult to fold an object than it was to simply move one. Not only was it difficult to fold an object but it was even harder to specify the point in which I wanted the object to fold. After the first three or four frogs turning out like crap I decided to give it a break for a while and sat back in the cool leather chair just staring at the wall in front of me. I turned my head to see Patrick pointing a video camera at me. "Can I help you?" I joked "Oh this is great, this is going right on the internet." Patrick remarked "Whatever" I said and reclined back as I put my arms behind my head. The rest of the time I spent at Patrick's house was great, we just sat around in our boxers and watched T.V or played video games or played with action figures. It was a classic elementary school sleepover and there would be many more like it. Unfortunatly school wouldn't wait for boys to play and was the cruel but nessecary part of my childhood. Boondock Elementary School was one of my least favorite places in the world, but in retrospect it was actually a really nice school. Looking back, all of my problems were with students and if I would have asked a teacher for help I probably would have really enjoyed it. The actual school was shaped like a giant upper-case letter "T" the horizontal part of the "T" was the gymnasium / auditorium, and the vertical part was one big hallway with classrooms on alternating sides in asscending order from kindergarten to fourth grade. Patrick and I were in fourth grade at the time and it seemed like we were complete outcasts. We weren't weird, we just each seemed to be content with having eachother as friends and didn't need anyone else. However, the crazy concept of people putting themselves through hell so they don't have to be alone is what drives the world as we know it. The lesson here is that people at any age want to be known and will naturally follow people who are popular. It isn't nessecarily a bad thing if you are the person following the popular one, but when your the popular one and you think people like you for who you are, it's horrible when the truth comes back in your face. Fotunately for me I wouldn't have to worry about that lesson for the time being because nobody followed me or would go through hell to be around me, but that was alright because I had Patrick and he had me. The following Monday when Patrick and I showed up for math class Mrs. Hal was nowhere to be seen. It was about noon when the principal walked in, he whispered something to our substitute teacher and then asked me to follow him to his office. Our principal was a gray haired, ex navy-seal who seemed out of place at an elementary school, but loved children dearly. At 6' 10" and 350 pounds of muscle he was looked on by the students as a gental giant becuase of his caring nature and soft voice. I followed him down the long hallway and into his office which was adjacent to the kindergarten classroom. He opened the door and behind his desk stood a tall, short haired, skinny man in a police uniform. His shiny metal nametag had the word "JOHNSON" etched in it. The uniform seemed like it had just been cleaned because the yellow chevron showing his ranking as a private in the police department stood out against the navy blue backround. His uniform even seemed out place, as if it was too large for the pale heap of flesh and bone it was obscuring. "Private Johnson is going to ask you a few questions Mr. Banks, I'll be right outside when you are finished" the principal said before closing the door. The police officer stood for a long time staring at the door smiling as if he was waiting to be interupted in complete silence. Finally he licked his lips and whispered "Good morning Timothy." "It's just Tim" I said "This is no time for lying" he said as he sat down at Mr. Palinski's desk. He opened each one of the drawers in front of him as if he was looking for something before leaning back in the leather desk chair. He started whistling a tune and twirling a pen over each one of his knuckels and seemed to have gotten lost in his own world before I got up enough nerve to ask "Is there something you want to ask me?" "Who me? No, no no, Timothy, you're free to go!" I got up slowly half-expecting the policeman to tell me to sit back down and then hurridly opened the door and had half of my body in the hallway before I heard him say "Timmothy, please close the door. It would be very rude not to." I closed the door and then rushed straight past Mr. Palinski, down the long, cold hallway and into the safety of the math classroom.

Chapter Six: The Fox Talks

After detention Patrick invited me over to his house to spend the weekend. He lived just down the street from me so my mom agreed to let me go. Patrick had a nice house that sat quietly on the outskirts of Tradius. His house was about the same size as my house but it had a certain system to it which I really enjoyed. After saying my goodbyes and recieving the standard "be on your best behavior" lecture, I left for the Fox's house. The first step out of my front door revealed a scene beautiful enough to be featured on the cover of a post card. Tradius was a small town, but not in the cliche "everyone knows your name" sense. Our town was made of small, well built, family owned buildings and as long as you didn't draw attention to yourself, you would be accepted. I stopped for a moment infront of Patrick's house. The house's facade featured a concrete porch and two stone pillars that loyally held the rest of the house in place. The curvy, black driveway led around the side of the brick building to a garage, which led into the house's basement. The sun was just setting by the time I stepped through the threshold of the old house's front door. I was immediatly greeted by Patrick's mom and dad. I really liked to be around Mr. Fox. It seemed like he was almost never home, so when he was the entire family took on a certain happiness that was very contagious. I thought about what happened during math class that day with Patrick and I couldn't wait until I had opprotunity to speak with him privately about it. That would have to wait though because as soon as we got to his house, his mom had dinner on the table and the interigation began. How was your day, what did you do, where did you go, what are you guys doing tonight, did you read this artical in the paper, Patrick did you take up the trash, do you like what we had for dinner, did you get enough to eat, did you bring everything your going to need for this weekend, and so many more questions! It was 8:30 before Patrick and I were able to escape his parents and make it to the safe haevan that was his basement. There were two big leather chairs, a big T.V, all kinds of action figures, and baseball decorations lined the walls. We ran down the stairs and plopped down in the chairs. Patrick started with "How did you do that thing in class today?" then I told him everything, the feeling, the communication with Stephanie, how the feeling worked, I had never talked to anyone about the meditation before because I was afraid of what people would think about me, but Patrick sat and listened to the entire story. "So have you been able to move anything yet?"he asked. I told him what happened during detention and how horrible I felt about it.

"Tim, your my best friend, and I'm not trying to be an ass here, but I don't how I can believe that, you have to admit, you sound like a crazy person!" he said

"I don't know how to prove it to you, last time I tried to move something, somebody got hurt, I just don't know if I'm willing to take that chance again. I'd feel terrible if I did something that even accidently hurt you."

Patrick thought for a long time time. Atleast it seemed like a long time, in all actuality it was probably only a couple of minutes, but I was so anxious to hear what he had to say time slowed down for me. He was sitting perfectly still with a confused look on his face. Still wearing the blue "Life is Good" T-shirt and blue jeans he had on in school that day. Usually Patrick's only weakness was that he talked too much, but at this point he seemed at a loss for words. After what seemed an eternity his expression changed.

"I've got it!" he exclaimed.

"What?" I said

"You said that during that feeling, you can feel everything that's in the room with you right?"

I responded in the affirmative and he told me close my eyes. Patrick's idea was brilliant, he scoured his house top to bottom and found 5 different metal figures that were around the same size. He had a star, a bird, a ball, a cube, and an old pewter army man. I would put myself in a trans, he would hold up one of the objects, I would tell him it was without looking and that would prove that I could do what I said I could do. After a few hours of playing that game he seemed convinced. I was really happy to finally have someone that I could talk to about what was happening to me. The clock struck midnight and we found ourself sitting on the blue carpeting in his basement playing with action figures.

"You gonna have to learn to move stuff eventually" he blurted out

"What, why?" I inquired

"Come on, its obvious, your like a superhero or something! You have to learn how to move stuff if your ever going to do anyone any good."

He got up and went to his bedroom. When he came back he was holding a stack of old X-Men comics.

"See this guy? He moves stuff with his mind and people love him!" he said exciditly.

"Well there's not really a manuel for doing this Patrick. I mean I have no idea where I could even start! I know I would have to be having the feeling to be able to move anything, I just don't know what I have to do once I start."

Patrick set his action figure down next to him. He looked around himself for a moment before picking up the pewter army man.

"Try to move this" he said calmly

"Are you nuts? Do you like having that hand?" I asked.

"It's different Tim, you hated DeeJay but you and me are friends. When you explained that feeling to me you told me how it changes based on your mood. Right now we're completely calm, we're in a safe place, what could go wrong?"

I was completely dumbfounded. I couldn't believe Patrick actually wanted me to try this again. Not only that he wanted me to try, but that he trusted me enough to put his own life on the line to prove that I could do anything. I started to sweat. I didn't want to do this and I tried to think of any reason possible that I shouldn't, but I knew Patrick would combat any awnser I gave him other than yes. The feeling already started. It was just Patrick and I in a colorless room. I could feel that Patrick's heart was racing as fast as mine was. I had no problem feeling the army man resting gently on Patrick's open palm but moving it was entirely different. The army man stood about an inch tall, but to me it was a mountain. Trying to move the army man felt like pushing as hard as I could against a wall. It was physically exhausting, I found I was actually breaking a sweat by thinking so hard. Just when I thought I couldn't push the figure any harder, something finally gave in. Patrick's jaw dropped and I could feel the goosebumps start from the back of his neck and move their way down his spine. Levitating a few cenimeters above his hand, the army man was floating, unsupported and heavier than anything I had ever lifted. After a few seconds, I set the figure back down then blacked out.

Chapter Five: Movers and Shakers

Before I delve into what happened during my meditation that night I feel obligated to tell you that the following events led me down a long, dangerous road. Please keep in mind while you are reading, I don't consider myself to be a "bad guy" I was only ten years old when this happened. Infact I'm still not sure what I could have done differently to prevent me from being here in the first place.

I went downstairs and got a shower because I found it helpful to have as few distractions as possible. Still wet and naked I started my meditation the same as always, sitting perfectly still, legs crossed, palms turned upwards and took a deep breath. By this point in time I was able to put myself in a very deep trans just by following those simple steps. However tonight something was different. While normally after I start "the feeling" I can only feel what is in the room with me, this time I could still feel the new girl, as if she was laying down right next to me. She was still beautiful as ever, she was wearing white pajamas with little monkeys dancing around holding bananas. I could see her, I could feel her, I could even smell her, it was as real as seeing her in real life, only she couldn't see me. It looked like she was asleep, lying perfectly still on my bed. I reached my hand out and brushed her hair out of her face, she cutely sighed and rolled over in bed. I considered my options carefully before deciding to talk to her. "Hi there" I said. She screamed and got up, "How did you get in my room?" she yelled "Where are you?" she screamed. I had no idea what to do, I was scared out of my mind so I immediatly stopped meditating and crawled under the covers in my bed. I hate to admit this, but after I got over the fear, I felt better than ever. I had just achieved the impossible, I could do anything through meditation if I put my mind to it. If I could communicate with someone just by using my mind, the book from the library might not be fake after all! I quickly ran across my room and found the book, turned it to the chapter about telekinesis and read as fast as I could. I spent all night following the directions in the book but I simply couldnt get even smallest thing to move.I decided it would be for the best if I stopped trying for the moment and just got some sleep. I dreamt about her, I thought of how beautiful she was, then I thought of her screaming and how terrified she must be of me. The next morning at school the new girl followed me into the boys bathroom.

"How the hell did you get in my room last night." I thought for a moment before responding

"I wasn't in your room, I dont even know you!"

She slowly walked towards me and shoved me to the wall with her arm against my chest, I knew I was starting to fall into the feeling but I tried to fight off the urge.

"My name is Stephanie Trixie, If you ever come near me ever again, I will kill you, do you understand me?"

"Yes" I responding with a cracking voice

"I said do you understand me?" she screamed while pushing me even harder against the wall. At this point I was almost unable to breathe because of the pressure on my chest

"Yes, yes I understand you, yes, yes, yes!" I gasped.

"Good, it's been a pleasure Tim, hope I never see you again." she released me and I fell to the ground gasping for air. Breathing heavily I watched her as she walked away, I knew I had to make her mine.

I got up, brushed myself off and headed to math class. On the way to class I thought about her, how could a girl be effecting me this much? I couldn't understand why I liked her so much, she hated me, thought I was a stalker, and threatened to kill me! I walked down the hall and made the right into the classroom when Mrs. Hal sqawked

"Mr. Banks, your late!"

"Sorry Mrs. Hal, I was in the bathroom."

"Don't bother Mr. Banks, you can explain yourself in detention!"

I walked agrily back to my seat next to Patrick and sat down. Mrs. Hal was a very serious woman. She was about 5' 6", but always seemed much larger because of the way she presented herself. I knew she had kids of her own, but I couldn't imagine what they would be like. I did try to keep an open mind though, everyone has their own flaws. Throughout the class I wasn't really paying attention because math didn't interest me, instead I decided to try my luck at telekinesis again. I quickly found out that when I focused on something I really enjoyed or someone I really liked, it was much easier to put myself in a trans. I figured since Patrick was right there, I would just focus on him to put myself into trans and start the feeling. Patrick at the time looked just like me. A little bit chubby, about 4' 3", we had the same short brown hair, wore the same types of clothes, people often mistook as for brothers, and we may as well have been.

This is another very valuable lesson: having even just one friend, is one of the most powerful things in the world. I understand that when your on the outside looking in (or in my case the inside looking out) life seems a lot easier to comprehend. Just take my advice, if you have a best friend, do everything in your power to keep that person around.

When the feeling started I could feel Patrick taking notes, every pencil stroke in slow motion, every noise he was making, all the way down to his heart beat. I remembered how I had been able to communicate with Stephanie telepathically, so I should be able to do the same with Patrick. Focusing on him, I was able for the first time to actually move my physical body, open my eyes and see the real world, as well as the "feeling" world around me. I knew I could talk to him if I focused hard enough. I thought the word "Patrick" in my head over and over and over again as loud as my brain would think, until just when I almost gave up I decided to try one more time, as soft as I could I thought the words "Can you hear me?" he responded outloud with "Why wouldn't I?" and as he turned his head, he saw I wasn't moving my lips.

"That's awesome! How are you doing that!" he yelled.

"Mr. Fox if you don't quiet down this instant you will be serving detention with Mr.Banks after school!" crooned Mrs. Hal.

Immediatly after school I went straight to the detention room so I wouldn't get in any more trouble than I already was. When I arrived I saw him, DeeJay was sitting in the front row already doing homework. I hated him, anger built up inside me, if I wasn't afraid of him I probably would have tried to fight him; but I knew he would win. I decided it would be best if I tried to remain unnoticed. The feeling started again, but this time it changed. This was no longer a feeling of passion, or of happiness, it was a feeling of anger. I focused as hard as I could on his pencil, hoping to make him break the tip or maybe make him screw up whatever he was writing about, anything to make him as angry as I was. I was so engulfed in the feeling that I hadn't even noticed the other people that had come into the room since I had been there, including the teacher and several other students. Mr. Sweet (the supervisior for detention that day) was taking atendence of people who were supposed to be in detention. As my last name rolled off of his tounge two events happened similtaniously.The first event was a loud crack, like when a jet breaks the sound barrier, followed by small peieces of wooden shrapnel flying at dangerous speeds in all directions. Having no idea what happened, I immediatly dropped to the floor and covered my ears, when I looked up DeeJay was looking, gapjawed at his own mangled hand. Blood started to stream down his arm while Mr. Sweet rushed to aid the wounded boy. Mr.Sweet was type of person that seemed to know an awful lot, but never showed it. He stood about six feet tall and was a fat, but muscular man. It seemed to me that everytime I saw Mr. Sweet he was sweating, but he always smelled like he had just gotten a shower. I wouldn't know until later in my life that this man served in the U.S Army for 10 years as a fied medic. Apparently his experience in the feild served him well. He tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the mess of flesh and bone that currently resided were DeeJay's hand used to be.

"Detention is dismissed, everybody out now!"

Everyone quickly rushed out of the room but I still couldn't believe what happened. I was in awe and shock at the same time. I didn't mean to hurt him, I didn't hate him as much as I thought. I broke down, I couldn't take the guilt, I was just a kid and everything was happening way too fast. I slid down the wall outside of the detention room and sulked there for ten minutes before EMTs started showing up and I knew I had to leave.

Chapter Four: The Girl Next Door

Patrick had seen the new girl aswell and had the same "observations" I had. We ended up talking about girls in general and Patrick kept going on and on about how he wanted a girlfriend. I didn't really see the point back then, as far as I was concerned they couldn't do anything for me, they didn't like the same things I did, and most of them thought I was weird.

"Alright listen, if I got a girlfriend people would stop treating me like such an ass all the time you know? I don't want to be "that guy" but-"

"Either of you boys want to buy a school newspaper?"

It was her, and as soon as I saw her it happened again. Everything went colorless, the entire cafeteria went completely still. I could feel her soft warm skin, her supple lips, her soft hair, everything around me became part of me, and I became everything around me. And just as fast as it came it was gone.

"Well do you want one or not?" she said with a smile.

"Uhh, yeah... Of course!" I laughed stupidly and handed her a crinkled up dollar bill

"Thanks a lot!" she said as she walked away.

"Bye, I mean, see you... later!" and forced a weak smile.

"Dude that was pathetic" Patrick chimed in with a laugh

"Shut-up!" I moaned and hit him in the arm.

I thought about her non stop from that moment in lunch until I fell asleep that night. I thought about what she was doing, what she was wearing, where she was, how she was, and for that matter, who she was! I still had no idea what her name was but I think at that point in time I would have taken a bullet for her. That night while I was thinking about her was the first time my meditation had ever brought me anything truly useful, in the form of a blessing and a curse.