by B R Coelho
“Oh, I see you’ve brought Selena with you. Oh! My! God! That’s just perfect. Jean Grey’s costume. Let me get a picture of you.”, Octavia brings up her phone which looks gigantic in her tiny hands and begins snapping away. Most of the other kids already have their phones out taking videos.
“If you’re grown-ups, why are you stealing candy from little kids?”, Lauren backs Candy up, slamming her plastic stick threateningly. The kids whirl around to look at the new contender. Brie is still nervous twitching her head from side to side like a cornered squirrel. Don’t get involved. Don’t get involved. I keep repeating this mantra over and over again in my head. Because I know it’s going to lead to something bad.
“You want their candy back?”, one of the boys in the group says, holding a bag of candy threateningly.
“Here have some you freak.”, he hurls it at Cathy.
Cathy raises her arms to block the projectiles. Lauren dips her hands into her own pot and begins to throw them at the group in retaliation. We all join in.
“Food fight!”, somebody yells, as candy begins flying from one end of the street to another. I’m getting pelted left and right, as I too join in the fight. I have to admit, it’s pretty fun. The candy runs out pretty quickly and the group starts to chase us.
“Get them! Get those freaks.”, I hear a girls voice over the din. Was that Octavia. We’re outnumbered three to one, so the next logical step is to start sprinting. Whatever courage Cathy and Lauren had in the beginning is now diminished. We’re all sprinting away from the crowd. Brie is trying her best to maintain her speed but I can see her begin to tire out. She’s drifting further and further behind as she flails her arms, gasping and choking for breath. Cathy and Lauren are galloping along like sprinters, they’re a good 6 feet away from us and are pulling away gradually.
“We can lose them at the detour, come on guys.”, Cathy shouts. Brie looks like she’s about to collapse. She’s almost out of breath. Suddenly, she stops she can’t take it anymore. The mob catches up to her and begins to torment her. Jeering and laughing as they make fun of her. I stop and watch, hoping that they’ll eventually tire and just walk away. Octavia snatches Brie’s glasses from her face and begins to toss it around. Josh Norman grabs the glasses and puts them on.
“Quit it!”, I shout. This has gone on too long. Brie looks like she’s about to explode and start wailing. It’s taking too much of a toll on her. Two boys from the crowd approach me and start to make a grab for me. They’re dragging me toward the crowd. I can see Brie’s sweat and tear-stained face. She’s so out of breath she can’t even cry. Someone makes a grab for my necklace, it’s Josh again. I’m getting noticeably angry now, and I can feel my emotions taking over. I struggle with Josh holding on to the necklace. There is no way I’m going to let the necklace go that easily.
“Let go! Freak.”, someone yells as I feel a glob of spit land squarely on my cheek. That’s it! I’ve had enough. I can feel the electricity flow through my body once again. I can feel it surge up my spine and up my neck till it fills my brain. Then the muscle I had been training over the past couple of weeks tenses and contracts. The group is knocked back a couple of feet away from us, as if a howling blast of wind just blew through, knocking them all off their feet except Brie and I. The laughing stops. Everyone is dazed and confused and they get up. The necklace on my chest is beginning to glow in the dimming light. The locket which held the third eyes is now gleaming a bright violet. Making the area around me ominous and spooky.
“Se…Selena, your necklace…it…it’s glowing.”, Brie manages to choke, her jaw open in disbelief. I hear Cathy and Lauren’s footsteps behind me. They stop just short of our position as they witness the next thing. I lift Josh Norman with my mind and throw him ten feet across the road into a nearby ditch. The group of tormentors that had earlier been having a laugh stare in amazement, still not believing what is happening. I turn my attention on Octavia. Her usual self-assured smirk is gone from her face. I delight in the pure terror in her eyes as she looks at Josh and turns to stare at me.
“You wanted to know if I could read minds Octavia?”, I ask, menacingly walking toward the group. I can see the fear and horror written on all their faces. All their pretentious howling and jeering now replaced by murmurs and terrified expressions. I gestured with my hands, it was totally unnecessary, but I did it for the added effect. Like a magician waving his hands over a locked box to make an object disappear. I heave the seventy-pound girl more than six feet into the air, turning her upside down. Her neat and tightly bunned blonde hair is now a frazzle of chaos. She looks like a blonde octopus ragdoll flailing her arms in terror. Her cries are like music to my ears.
“Selena…no!”, Cathy shouts. I snap out of it. But, it’s too late. I’m trying to stop, but the power won’t turn off. It’s like an uncontrollable muscle spasm that won’t quit.
Chapter Seven
Octavia’s screams are deafening. As much as I despised her, I felt sorry for her. I wanted to scare her, but this was taking it a bit too far. Some of the other kids had already taken off in terror. Others stood there paralyzed with fear as they stared at Octavia floating in the sky. I shut my eyes and try to calm myself down. Calming down my emotions should help, but my obsessions are keeping me on edge. I needed to get away, just leave this place and go home. Home. That’s it. I think of Nana and the power instinctively switches off. Octavia lands on the ground with a plop. She starts screaming even harder.
I hadn’t noticed it but the grains of dirt, mud, grass, and road side trash, around me had also been levitating off the ground. Everything fell to the ground at once. Everyone stared. They looked at me as if I was an alien from another planet. I looked at Cathy, Lauren, Brie amid the cries coming from Josh Norman and Octavia Summers. They looked terrified. Oh no! I thought, what have I done.
“…she’s psychic I knew it…”
“…she’s a witch...”
“…I need to get out of here…”
“…I think I got it on my phone, people need to see this…”
Their thoughts came rushing in now. Just too much information all at once. Cathy in her bat-girl suit didn’t seem so courageous anymore, she looks like she just saw a ghost. Lauren in her tacky maleficent costume looks comical quivering with her staff. Brie is on the ground, supporting herself with arms out-stretched behind her, ogling me like I am the incarnation of the devil himself. Almost immediately, they all get up and begin to run.
“Guys…”, I begin to say, but my words fall on deaf ears. They’re terrified of me. I turn to face the group that had been tormenting us. They shrink back. All I see is fear plastered on their faces. What have I done? I overreacted that’s what I’d done. And now everyone was going to know about this. They had evidence. They took videos of me using my powers.
“…she’s got powers…”
“…she’s dangerous…”
“…freak…”
“…holy…”
“…she’s possessed…she’s evil…”
“…we need to get the hell out of here…”
“…I think she can read minds too, oh my god, what if she’s reading my mind right now…”
“…I need to call mom…”
Their thoughts are stinging me like a swarm of bees. I barely notice the violet glow of my locket. My only option at this point is to run, just get away from it all. Run home and forget this all happened. I begin running, run all the way past Cathy’s house. It’s really dark outside right now, and the light drizzle has turned into a torrential downpour. I can see my house just down the street coming into view.
I keep running, despite the burning in my lungs and the feeling of wetness soaking every inch of my body. Lifting one leg now feels like lifting your leg out of quicksand. My legs make that splish-splosh-splash sound as I trudge on. I don’t care at this point, I just want to get home. I get closer and closer and see colored lights. Red and blue. Did someone call the police on me? Did someone report
me, saying that I was a super-powered freak that needed to be locked up? I slow down to a walk and creep up slowly to the house, trying my best to keep myself from being seen.
I am hiding in someone else’s front yard. There’s a tree that keeps the rain at bay at least. I’m a hot mess. I’m totally soaked and drenched peering into the distance. I can see two police cars and an ambulance. Ambulance? Why would someone call an ambulance on me? Did they think I’d hurt my parents? Then I notice it. I notice a stretcher being rolled out of the house accompanied by two men wearing overcoats. Each of them held an umbrella that shielded the body of whoever was on it. I dart out of my hiding place and run closer to see who it is. Mom? Dad? Nana? My heart is beating right out of my chest and stops when the body’s face comes into view. Nana!
“Someone broke in to the house tonight.”, Mom says amid tears running down her face.
“Burglars. I thought this neighborhood was safe.”, Dad says, slamming his fist on the table in anger.
“Doctors say that Nana’s gonna be alright. She just fainted. They must have scared her to death.”, Dad continues, rubbing his left temple as he shut his eyes. He’s devastated by this.
“Where were you?”, Dad shouts at me, I’m taken aback by this.
“I…I was out…trick-or-treating with my friends. It’s Halloween night.”, I say surprised by the outburst.
“I’m sorry darling, so sorry…I’m just angry. I can’t believe someone would break into our house.” Dad says reaching out to hug me. He gives me a hug and quick kiss on my forehead.
“I’m glad you weren’t here to see that at least.” Mom says, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“What did they steal?”, I ask.
“That’s just it. They didn’t take a single thing. But they trashed the whole place as if they were looking for something.”, Dad says, rubbing his chin with thumb and index finger.
“Police say that they haven’t had a burglar in this corner of Arlington in a decade.”, Dad says, still mulling over the issue.
My home is trashed. Especially the kitchen. Pots, pans, and plates have been tossed around. Plates were broken. Even Nana’s room, which seemed to be the only room apart from the kitchen that was trashed. What did the burglars think that Nana was hiding? There’s a knock on the door. Dad opens it. It’s Jeanine from next door. She’s going to be watching me while Mom and Dad go to the hospital to be with Nana.
“Hello, Ron. Hi Martha. Oh, hi Selena…didn’t see you there.”, Jeanine says in her usual upbeat voice. Mom and Dad thank her for being able to take me in on such short notice. I plead with Mom and Dad that I really wanted to go and see Nana too. Wondering if she’s going to be okay.
“It’s alright honey, I’m sure she’s fine. She just fainted from the shock. The paramedic said she has a very weak heart. Plus, you’ve got school tomorrow, honey.”, Mom says grabbing her coat from the rack.
“Thank you so much Jeanine for this, I owe you one.”, Mom says.
I honestly wanted to go and check up on Nana, but more-so because I didn’t want to go to school tomorrow. Revealing my powers like I did today was not going to go without heavy repercussions. Should I just skip school tomorrow and pretend to be sick? This and many other questions keep rolling around in my head. People had proof, and there were a lot of eye witnesses in the school. I decided it would be best to go. Face my demons. I had texted Cathy and the crew earlier after the incident, none of them seemed to be responding. I try one more time. Nothing. Completely dark.
It’s tomorrow and I can feel that lump in my throat when my alarm goes off. I had a vivid nightmare that secret agents came in the middle of the night and abducted me. They took me to a secret facility where they performed tests on me. What am I going to do? I wish Nana was here. I also wanted to know who broke in to our place. They really did a number to the kitchen and Nana’s room. What were they looking for? These thoughts and dreams are what constituted most of my night. It’s safe to say I did not have a good night’s sleep that night.
Jeanine dropped me off at school. I’m here but I don’t see Cathy, Brie, or Lauren at the usual spot in the library. First period is math. I’m dreading going to class. As I approach the classroom, I realize that everyone is staring at me. I don’t have to read their minds to know that they know. Oh! Crap! They definitely know. Everyone is whispering and pointing. It’s as if I have some kind of contagious disease. I just want the ground to open up and swallow me whole. I make a beeline toward the class. Here goes nothing.
Octavia Summers and Josh Norman are absent too. Ms. Stange is giving me the stink eye, more-so than usual the whole time I’m in class. Most of the students stare and gawk at me like I’m some kind of specimen. I just wanted to run home and never return. My nightmare had finally become a reality. What was I going to do? Embrace the fact that now everyone knows about my abilities. Most importantly what would Alaghom Naom think of me now? Did I do the right thing trying to protect my friends with my power?
Just then I got a text. I was hoping it was Cathy, maybe Brie, or Lauren. It was Mom. Apparently, Nana was in some kind of coma and wasn’t going to be able to come home for some time. Coma? Now I really wanted to find out what happened. Is it possible for me to be able to mentally link up with Nana in a coma? I think about it for the whole period. It’s possible. I’m not at all sure, but I’m willing to try. I just wish this day would go on a lot faster than it is going. Just then, Ms. Stanger comes up to me and whispers that principal Toole would like to see me after class. Uh Oh!
After math class I head to the office nervous as heck. What are they going to do? Suspend me? Expel me? They can’t do that, not for using my powers. Something that is scientifically unprovable. No, I decide, that’s not going to happen. I open the door to Mr. Toole’s office. He’s sitting behind his chair looking somewhat solemn.
“Have a seat, Selena.”
I take a seat on the chair next to his table. Mr. Toole sighs heavily as he reads over some papers on his desk.
“It has come to my attention, that you were involved in a fight yesterday. Is this true?”, Mr. Toole asks lifting his eyes off the page.
“Yes, it’s true. But…”, I say.
“Selena, there are some very serious allegations that have been brought here against you. Ms. Octavia Summers is currently in the hospital with a broken leg. Mr. Josh Norman is also in hospital with a broken arm. There are some outlandish rumors going on out there from the witnesses who were there last night.”, Mr Toole cuts me off.
“I was trying to protect my friends, they were harassing us.”, I say to Mr. Toole.
“Selena, I understand that some students can be difficult, but resorting to this type of violence is inexcusable.”, Mr. Toole says.
“What exactly did you do to them?”, Mr. Toole asks, taking his glasses off.
“I pushed them away from us.”, I lie, hoping it’s enough to resolve his curiosity.
“Many people are saying that you did something…that I honestly think is quite improbable. That you lifted Ms. Octavia Summers into the air with your mind. Is this true Selena?”, he asks.
“Mr. Toole, I think the students are making up stories about me. How could I have lifted someone into the air with my mind. That’s not possible.”, I give the best solemn act I can.
“This is true. I agree that this all sounds preposterous. But then again I am under a lot of pressure from members of the board to ultimately strip you of your scholarship and expel you from the school.”, Mr. Toole says.
“However.”, he continues. “I think this whole matter is being overblown, especially because of Ms. Octavia Summer’s involvement. I think the best case would be to suspend you for two weeks.”, Mr. Toole finishes with a solemn bow of his head.
This was the best he could do for me. I was still in shock. Two weeks? What am I going to tell my parents now? This is totally getting out of hand. First, my nana is in a coma and then I get suspended for trying to defend my friends. I should have
never used my powers. There’s nothing I can come up with to defend myself. So I take it all in stride. Mr. Toole hands me a letter of suspension to give to my parents.
“Okay, Mr. Toole.”, I say hanging my head in defeat. This is it. My parents are going to be so disappointed in me. I walk out of the office and head straight for the library. I don’t want to be seen or heard from again for the rest of the day.
I sit by myself feeling glum and out of it for quite some time. I try reading, but all the words on the page look like obscure shapes and symbols. Nothing seems to be getting in. This is it. I think to myself over and over again. How am I going to explain all of this to my parents? Should I text them and let them know over the phone? I decide not to. Face to face would be a better way to do this. As I sit there pretending to read, I feel a tap on my shoulder.
I turn around to see Mrs. Sommeil, my history teacher. She has a stack of books in her hand and is smiling down at me. Her frazzled brown hair almost obscuring her brown flitting eyes.
“Hi Selena.”, she whispers, we’re in the quiet section of the library.
I smile and mouth a small hello to her. She sits down next to me. We’ve grown quite fond of each other over my love of history. Curiously enough, I had open on the table a copy of Meso-American Myth a History by Alan Reyes. I had been doing my own research on the different types of deities that existed in the Mayan mythologies. Very little had come up about the deity that I seemed to have received my powers from. There was simply a small statement about Alaghom Naom, saying she was the goddess of thought and the mind. There had to be something more to it.
“I heard about what happened yesterday.”, Mrs. Sommeil whispers again. She knew how much of a brat Octavia Summers and her posse could be. She was definitely showing me some support.
“Don’t take it too hard on yourself, doing the right thing doesn’t always pay immediately. But in the end, it does.”, she gives me a wink and a nod. I smile. It’s the best gesture anyone has shown me in school all day. Even my so-called friends had up and abandoned me. She leaves the library and goes about her day. I’m feeling a little more confident after that encounter.