Ascent

by M. C. Zappitello

  "It was hard to separate you two from the day you met," Dr. Stuart recalled. "When your parents brought you for intake, you were so withdrawn that I was concerned we wouldn't be able to complete your evaluation. You would have to answer questions and, at first, you weren't willing to say a word.

  "I was thinking about involving Will because he generally has a calming influence on people. But, before I had a chance to decide, he came on his own.

  "I will never forget it. He was seven at the time. He knocked politely on my office door, and I invited him to come in. He walked right over to you, and you held out your hand for him as he reached for yours. The look on your parents' face was remarkable." He chuckled. "They couldn't believe it. You had never done anything remotely like that your entire life, they said.

  "Will announced to us that you were scared, but that you trusted him, and you needed him to stay with you. You just nodded your head. When your parents and I consented, you didn't just smile. Your whole little being lit up. He stayed with you, holding your hand, during the entire process."

  I guess some things don't change, do they? I asked, squeezing the hand that was holding mine. He answered by lifting my hand to his lips and kissing it.

  "Am I interrupting?" Dr. Stuart's question sounded very familiar to me all of sudden. In fact, I realized I had been expecting him to ask precisely that.

  "No, you aren't," I replied. "You've asked us that a lot, haven't you?"

  "Yes. A lot. Are you reading me, or guessing, or remembering?"

  "I felt like you were going to say it before you actually did. It didn’t really seem like reading. I think it was at least mostly remembering."

  "That makes sense. You have access to all your memories again, but it will probably take some stimulus to trigger a conscious awareness of at least some of them. I've never actually known of anyone who has gone so long with the kind of hypnotic instruction I gave you, so I’m afraid we'll just have to see how it goes.

  "It will help for you to expect some emotional ups and downs. We'll go over some self-calming techniques the first time we meet, but I want you to call me any time you start feeling like you can't handle it―whatever it is. Will you do that?"

  That sounded reasonable. "Yes."

  "Good." He continued, "Some memories might come back all at once. Others, in bits and pieces. I would like you to make some notes about any that particularly affect you, and bring them with you each time we meet. Be sure to include how they affect you. Writing about experiences and feelings can be very effective in processing and resolving them.

  "Excuse me for just a minute," he said, getting up and going to the bookcase behind his desk.

  I was remembering something right then, but not from my lost past. Is that what you were doing the other day? The day I told you I didn't sing? I asked Will.

  "Yes."

  Dr. Stuart was back and offered me a bound volume of lined paper, with a brown cover. "I have this extra journal if you would like to use it."

  "Thank you." I took it and thumbed through the clean, unused pages, wondering what might be written on them in the future. "I've never kept a diary or anything before. I guess there hasn't been much I've wanted to remember."

  Dr. Stuart nodded. "I truly hope that changes for you now.”

  He continued, “Memories may also come back in the form of dreams. You could keep the journal by your bed and make some quick notes when you wake up from a dream. Then bring the journal with you when we meet. We can fill in any gaps together, and talk about whatever else comes up. It will help move things along faster if you do.

  "Are you willing to do that?"

  Why not? Anything to get finished as quickly as possible. I wasn't forgetting that this was one of the goals to be accomplished before Will and I could marry and "enjoy each other completely," as he put it. "Yes."

  "Good." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Where was I? Oh, yes. So you were accepted as a student, and your family moved to be near Paladin. All of the students participated in classes focused on developing life skills and on their individual psychic abilities. So, as we meet now, we'll be reviewing what you worked on before. For the moment, I'll just summarize by saying that you made good progress with, first, developing effective techniques for coping with the world as you experienced it; and, second, developing your abilities.

  "Now, I’m sure you want to know what happened to land you here without your parents or your memory."

  "Yes." And no. How intense was my reaction going to be this time? Better be less so than earlier . . . .

  "A couple of years or so after you came to the school, Dr. Wilson―the former med school professor I mentioned earlier who was the Executive Director at Paladin Associates―hired a man named Gary Barnett to oversee the business side of the company. He had his MBA from a prestigious school, and was quite personable.

  "To make an involved story short, he had only been there a few months when it was discovered that he had been getting into the client files. He was trying to bribe some of the clients' parents to allow him to use their children's abilities for various money making schemes―all unethical and illegal, of course. But, he knew there would be no way to trace their―or his―involvement and he would probably never even be incriminated, let alone convicted of anything.

  "Needless to say, he was fired. Dr. Wilson retained an executive protection specialist―Ben Hudson―to check Barnett out more thoroughly so we would know exactly what we were dealing with. In the course of investigating him, it was discovered that he had a serious problem with gambling and was heavily in debt. Ben also found out that he was in debt to, shall we say, the wrong people. Apparently, those people―or, rather, that organization―had instructed Barnett to get inside information at Paladin for the sole purpose of recruiting people to assist them in expanding their illegal activities.

  "Barnett had been particularly interested in you as one of the most obviously gifted students. And some of your budding abilities could have proven to be quite lucrative for him." What could those be? I wasn't sure I even wanted to know. The "abilities" I already knew of seemed like more than enough to handle at the moment. So I didn't ask.

  "He was apparently under a lot of pressure from the organization to come up with something, and became so desperate that he went from bribing your parents to threatening them. He told them that if they didn't cooperate, he would simply take you.

  "But he was always careful to stay in the gray area as far as the law and evidence were concerned. We all spoke to the police on several occasions, reporting everything we knew, but they couldn't do anything. There was simply no hard evidence, let alone anything that conclusively incriminated Barnett.

  "Then, accidents started happening―the brakes went out on your dad's car, there was a gas leak in the house, and so on. It seemed clear that Barnett's, um, associates had decided to take matters into their own hands, and were using professionals to scare your parents into cooperating, or to kill them and get them out of the way. But, again, there was no clear indication of tampering and nothing the police could do.

  "We were all afraid for your family, but your parents were mostly concerned for you. They were afraid that you would be kidnapped, or that you would get hurt with them. They were convinced that they had to act, and act immediately, to save you and themselves. They asked me to help, and I recommended we get Ben involved because of his experience in that kind of thing. He came up with a plan that would keep all of you safe, though you would have to be separated from them for a while.

  "The plan was for your parents to go to Mexico. Your father was born there and knew the country well. Also, he was licensed as an attorney there, and he had friends in government who would help him and your mother create new identities and a new life. But it would have been too dangerous for all of you if they had tried to take you with them out of the country. We knew Barnett's associates had the connections to detain all of you should you try to cross the border together. Then you would simply be t
aken from them, and it would be over.

  "On the other hand, if they left the country without you, they would probably be left alone. Your parents gave us legal guardianship over you before they left the country. Then you were to go to them later, when it was safe. But you would have to disappear for a time, your true identity erased.

  "You were so young, we couldn't take a chance that you might unwittingly provide information that would lead to your discovery. So, I hypnotized you and created a block on all your memories. Everything, that is, except your first name, age and birthday. We hoped that a block of that kind would provide a kind of psychoemotional protection for you. You would still sense people―their thoughts and emotions―and struggle with some anxiety issues. But, knowing you, it was almost certain that you would not reveal your abilities, let alone pursue developing them. And that would help ensure your anonymity and, therefore, your safety.

  "Ben brought you to the police station here, and told you to walk over and sit on the steps. Then he watched to make sure you were found by an officer. You were, almost immediately. Ben followed your case, and kept us informed. He checked out Mark and Gina himself when you were placed with them, and assured us that you were in a stable, loving home."

  At this point, he stopped. I had been so involved in what he was saying that I hadn't before realized that he was noticeably upset. He cleared his throat. "And you should remember from then up to now. Do you?"

  "I don't remember the first few days very well, but after that I do." So someone named Ben brought me here. And Dr. Stuart had been involved, even blocking my memories.

  As if reading my mind, "Cassie, that was one of the hardest things I have ever done. If your life hadn't been in danger, if we could have come up with any alternative at all, we would have taken it. But the authorities couldn't help us, and Barnett's cohorts were lethal.

  "I hope someday you will forgive me for the part I played in all this." It was obvious to me―internally and externally―that he truly meant every word.

  "Right now, I think I'm just glad to know that I wasn't so horrible that my parents dumped me and ran. That's what I've been thinking all this time." I smiled slightly. "I can't promise I won't get upset at you later, though."

  Dr. Stuart also managed a small smile. "I couldn’t blame you for it, and that may well happen once you've had a chance to think about it more." He took a deep breath. "If you do, please let me know. You have every right to tell me exactly how you feel, however angry or upset you may be. Deal?"

  "Deal." But we weren't finished. "Will said you think my parents are alive somewhere?" I asked anxiously.

  "They were going to find a way to stay in touch with us, but we never heard from them. Ben―who has been working for us since then―guessed that they knew they were being watched, and couldn't contact us without giving themselves away. He has gone to Mexico and looked for them several times, but didn't get any leads until recently. He's down there now following up, but progress is slow. He has to be very careful. We're hoping to hear from him within the next week or two.

  "We were watched for a long time. I was surprised at how tenacious Barnett's people were. But they seemed to gradually back off. And, finally, after a few years, it seemed like they had stopped entirely. We asked Ben to check it out, and he confirmed that they were apparently gone. He concluded that they had realized it wouldn't do them any good, and gave up on us leading them to you. But he said they might do periodic checks for a while longer. They had already invested so much that they would want to see if they couldn't get something out of it. So, it wouldn't be safe to come get you yet. He strongly recommended waiting a full ten years. He couldn't see anyone hanging on that long, and he knew we didn't want anything bad happening to you because we hadn't waited long enough.

  "I want you to know that, during all that time we had to wait, he was keeping an eye on you. In fact, he has checked on you frequently ever since he left you at the police station―making sure you were still safe and loved (it wasn't hard to tell that with Mark and Gina)―and reporting back to us.

  "So we waited. Some of us more impatiently than others," he looked at Will. "Cassie, in all the years I have worked with the psychicly gifted, I have never known of a stronger connection between two people than the one between you and Will," Dr. Stuart said. It was then that I noticed the tenderness of his expression. "It was painful to watch him struggle every day to be happy and productive after you were gone. Even during the separation, he was so in tune with you that he was able to discern what city you were in when we hadn’t even told him what state." Until right then, I hadn't conceived of the notion that Will, or anyone else, could perform such a feat telepathically. Could I learn to do that?

  "And, Cassie, that was always the objective: To come and get you." He looked indulgently at his son, then continued, "In fact, after Ben gave us the go ahead, and especially after I accepted the position here, I almost had to hogtie Will a few times to prevent him from taking off on his own. But Ben cautioned us that we still had to be careful, no matter how safe things appeared to be. We had to make it all look completely natural―looking for a new position in a different place because I wanted a change after so many years at Paladin Associates, that kind of thing. So Will had to stay with us. As it happened, it only took a few weeks from when Ben gave us the go ahead to actually get things arranged and move here.

  "You probably realize now that last Saturday when he ran into you at the park was no accident." I glanced at Will, who was right then looking rather sheepish. "Will and I arrived last month, in time for him to start the fall semester at the University. He sensed you so strongly, I was afraid he would implode if he didn't at least get to see you from a distance. And he was pretty upset about missing your birthday, again. So he did some . . . I guess you could call it reconnaissance, until Mrs. Stuart and Melinda got here last week, and he came up with a plausible explanation for contacting you. Then on Saturday, he was apparently able to make a reasonably casual reappearance in your life."

  My eyes turned to Will quizzically.

  "I picked up on you at Sam's house, then followed you to the park. Talking to you about the high school and Melinda seemed to make sense," Will offered.

  "You were stalking me?"

  "Well, I don't care for the negative connotation. But, essentially―yes."

  "I think I like that," I concluded brightly. Not only was I thrilled at Will's obvious and powerful affinity for me, but also the possibility that I, too, might be able to hone my skill to some level far beyond what I had ever imagined possible. Will seemed to appreciate my positive take on the whole thing, because he quickly pulled me to him long enough to deposit a kiss on my cheek.

  "Can you tell that I love you?" he queried.

  "Yup."

  "Good."

  "Cassie," Dr. Stuart interjected, "you need to think seriously about what you are going to tell Mark and Gina―now and later. I understand that you may not want them to know about your unusual abilities at the moment, but I would like to encourage you to at least tell them about what happened at the game Friday night." He gave me a knowing look. "I really don't think they will be surprised."

  To tell the truth, I wouldn't, either. I liked to think I was keeping the worst of it from them, but I had sensed enough ongoing concern from them that I never really believed that they couldn't see my struggles. "I think you're right."

  "I would strongly encourage you to tell them as much as possible as soon as possible. At this point, with your permission, I would like to tell them something along these lines: I will share with them that you have some life skill challenges―similar, in fact, to some challenges Will has had to learn to deal with. I will offer our help on an informal basis. If you and Will and I could meet once a week for a few weeks on, say, Saturday or Sunday, I believe you will be able to learn some things that will alleviate the stress you’ve been experiencing. We will work on strategies and applying them. So, the primary purpose of our meetings will be to fo
llow up on how you are doing in applying those strategies, then making changes or refinements as necessary.

  “In fact, if you want to share some of the techniques with Mark and Gina, they might be able to help you and even benefit themselves. I would like to go over this again with all three of you together, preferably tomorrow. Are you okay with that?”

  “Yes.” At least I would be after I knew for sure that they were okay with our plan.

  “As to the development of your psychic abilities, I think it would be best for you and Will to work that out between the two of you. He’s much more experienced and, therefore, better qualified than I am to help you with that.” That part in particular sounded exceptionally good to me.

  "What you do think? Is this what you want to do?"

  Get rid of the fear and panic, not to mention the constant strain of trying to handle the overwhelming influx of human goings-on day after day after day? Is this what I wanted? That was, indeed, a no brainer.

  "Yes. It is what I want to do." I looked at Will, who had been watching me closely. "I'm so tired of living this way."

  He stroked my hair. "You don't have to any more," he assured me. And I believed him, wholeheartedly.

  .Chapter Twelve

  It had been a very long day. Actually, a very long couple of days. No―an extremely long week. But I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

  Even now, when I could barely keep my eyes open―undoubtedly because I hadn't slept for the last thirty-six hours or so (except for the brief nap in Will’s arms in the afternoon)―I still just wanted to be with Will. And I couldn't quite fathom how it could not be even ten o'clock yet. It felt like a lifetime since I had arrived at the Stuart’s after lunch. In a way, it had been.

  "Dad, isn't there another movie you rented for tonight?" was Will's not so subtle attempt at extending the evening. I sensed that his mom's conversation with Gina had included assurances that we would not be left unsupervised, especially when everyone else was in bed. He must have also picked up on that.