“There’s not much to tell,” Cole said. “I sensed her on the way to school and called the cops, but my aunt wouldn’t wait around to see what happened. I’ll have to look it up. Might be online later.”
“Yeah, go to the computer lab during lunch. I can see the headline already, ‘Anonymous hero saves the day.’”
“Hope so.” Cole’s eye caught Amy entering the room. “I’ll let you know if I find anything later.”
“Definitely. And hey, congratulations.” She flashed a bright smile.
“Thanks,” Cole said, his own smile fading upon seeing Amy, and he hurried back to his desk.
“Hey,” he said to her as he sat down.
“Hey,” she replied without looking at him.
“I wanted to let you know I found out how to use my abilities to find missing people. I found the first one today.”
“That's great,” she said tonelessly. “Glad to hear you're using your time to rid yourself of those demons.”
Cole was suddenly very hot. “I'm working on that, I promise. I'm making progress.”
“Sure sounds like it.”
Cole was shamed into silence and said nothing more for the rest of homeroom. Unable to make eye contact with Amy, he hurried from the room as soon as the period was over.
During lunchtime, instead of staying in the cafeteria, he grabbed some food and went to the computer lab, which students were allowed to use during their lunch period. He googled Marie Lopez, but came up with nothing except the announcement of her going missing. Instead of returning to the cafeteria, he decided to spend the rest of lunch in the computer lab. Even if Amy wasn't happy for him, he was proud of what he had accomplished and would not let her take that away from him. He was allowed to be happy about saving someone. He deserved this.
Near the end of the period, he decided to try searching again. This time, a brief article popped up that had been posted five minutes earlier. Excited, Cole opened it and skimmed the article too fast to actually absorb any of what it said. Taking a deep breath, his pulse racing, he went back to the beginning and read a little slower.
Thanks to an anonymous tip, Marie Lopez, missing since last week, has been found today, unharmed, at the house of her friend, Sandra Anderson. Investigation is still underway as to the exact circumstances, but there is speculation that Marie was there of her own volition, and may, in fact, have been hiding from her husband. The individuals involved are currently being questioned and we will bring you an update when the case has been resolved. No charges have been filed.
Cole sat back, his expression blank, unsure of how to take this information. He told himself that he had done the right thing to locate a missing person, and yet he was not so certain. Without more information into the circumstances, he had no idea what could have been happening. Mom, you there? Did you know about this?
What? Oh, no, Honey, all I did was locate her. I didn't see anything that was going on there, but don't worry about it, you did the right thing.
I guess so. I should get to class. Cole trudged through the halls to his next class, his mind a blurry haze. No matter what I do, I end up causing more harm than good. Can I ever help someone?
Meredith was too distracted to respond. Earlier that day, when Cole was in homeroom, she had taken a chance and entered Amy’s consciousness. The instant she was inside, she knew something was terribly wrong. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but the environment felt more hostile than she had expected. The voices in there were not passive observers, but seemed somehow more sinister. She had looked around for someone to talk to, but did not have to look long before she found herself surrounded.
You don’t belong in here, one of them had spoken. Leave before you get hurt.
I just want to know what’s happening.
Nothing is happening. Now leave. The circle tightened.
Okay, okay, I don’t want any trouble. I’ll go. The circle parted and she fled, out of Amy and back to Cole.
She had found nothing concrete, and was conflicted as to what to do. On the one hand, she worried about them taking up residence wherever they pleased, as well as what their intentions were. On the other hand, the more she thought about it, the more a part of her wanted to let them be. Her primary concern was for Cole, and they did not seem to be bothering him anymore. Perhaps it would be better if they were inside of Amy rather than Cole. She had sympathy for Amy, since Cole cared for her, but it was the lesser of two evils.
But, then again, perhaps she should question that weak voice some more.
In Cole's next class with Michelle, she came up to him before the period started and whispered, “Can you say something to me? You know, silently?”
School is boring and our teacher is an idiot.
Michelle shook her head and smiled. “So cool. You should mess with our teacher during class. How funny would that be?” When Cole hesitated, she quickly added, “No, no, you're right. That's a slippery slope. Would be funny, though. I'll just imagine it. Hey, we should hang out again. Don't worry, I won't make you mess with my brother.”
Cole raced to keep up with her train of thought. “Yeah, all right, when?”
“Maybe tonight or tomorrow? You've been coming to me a lot so I can come to you this time. We could do a little more review work and then I was thinking, maybe, we could go out on a hunt for a new person?”
“Oh, uh, I guess so. If you really want to walk around aimlessly.”
Michelle nodded. “I do.” She opened her mouth to say more but was interrupted by the teacher signaling for silence. “'Til later,” she said as she returned to her seat.
Now that Cole had a chance to think, he hoped he had not said something he would have to take back. In the midst of the conversation he had agreed to look for a missing person, but he did not know whether he wanted to do that again. As he dwelt on it, though, he became convinced that he should not give up so easily. He may, in fact, have helped the situation with Marie Lopez, and even if he did not, it was no reason to abandon the countless others that he could help. By the end of class, he had decided; it was worth it.
When class was over, Michelle resumed their conversation from where they had left off. “Have you chosen another person to look for?”
“Not yet, no.”
“Can we do that together? Would you mind?”
“I guess not. Sure, I'll wait.”
“Thanks. I hope I'm not being annoying. I'm just really excited, which I think you can understand.”
“No worries, you're not annoying,” Cole said, laughing.
“Awesome, awesome, can't wait. Listen to me babbling like a little kid. This is embarrassing. Did you ever find out what happened with the person you found?”
Cole cringed. “The police think she, uh, was hiding from her husband at her friend's house.”
“Ohh.” Michelle made a face. “Well, hopefully it all works out for them. It's not like that could have lasted forever anyway. Maybe the next rescue will be more heroic sounding. Okay, I'm going to head to class in that direction and I'll catch you after school to make plans. Bye!”
The end of the day rolled around, and Michelle found him outside. She had calmed since their earlier conversation, but there was a clear level of excitement bubbling below the surface. They made plans for that evening and parted ways.
When dinnertime came, Cole found himself nervous about Michelle coming over. He was now the host and he wanted to be as hospitable as she had been. The two times that she had been there he had not been himself, one time because of distraction, and the other time literally not himself when he had given control of his mind and body to the voices. Now that he was thinking more clearly, he remembered that the first time he had come to her house, she had a plate of snacks, and he began to wonder if he should have prepared something like that. He was also ashamed of his lack of a real bedroom; ever since he had moved in with Beth he had slept in the library. This was not to mention that Beth, though better than she used to be, could stil
l be unpredictable.
He took a breath, calming the stream of random worries that coursed through him. Logically, he knew it would be fine, and he repeated that to himself as he gave her a call to tell her he was ready for her to come over. While he waited, he straightened up his room, as well as the living room, noticing for the first time how messy it all was.
At last, the doorbell rang and Cole raced for the door, then caught himself and walked the rest of the way slowly. Michelle was standing there, and when Cole opened the door, she waved to her mother who was sitting in the car. At the signal, her mother drove away.
“Hey, c'mon in,” Cole said, thinking that he sounded weird for some reason.
“Hey, it's great to be back here.”
“Long time no see,” Beth said from across the room. “I don't think we ever actually had a chance to talk.”
Cole whipped around, startled.
Upon seeing Beth, Michelle dropped her gaze to the floor. “Hi, it's nice to see you again,” she said softly.
“Now I remember why. Have fun you two,” Beth said and left.
Cole led Michelle to the library. “Don't worry about her. She's, well, Aunt Beth. I hope that wasn't too awkward. I forgot you're shy.”
Michelle shot him a fake death glare.
“Sorry, sorry, you must be sensitive about that. I didn't mean anything by it.”
“I'm not the biggest fan of people reminding me of my flaws. Can we get searching for people? I couldn't wait to get started.”
“Oh, the only computer is in my aunt's room. I'll go ask if that's okay.”
“It's in her room? Is that going to be awkward?”
“It'll be fine. Wait here.”
Cole found Beth in her bedroom reading. She lowered the book as she heard him approach. “Having a problem already?” she said.
“No, we were wondering if we could use your computer? Please?”
“Yes, Master, anytime, Master,” she said, getting up from her chair with her book and withdrawing from the room.
“Thank you,” Cole called after her, and went to fetch Michelle.
She followed him meekly to Beth's room and hesitated at the doorway. “You're sure this is fine?”
“Absolutely. Come on.” He pulled up two chairs to the computer and flicked it on. Once it was booted up, he navigated to the page on which he had found the last missing person, and began to read the descriptions. There were only a few people missing in a large vicinity of his town. “How about this one?” he asked, pointing to a young boy of six who had been missing for two weeks and lived only a few miles away.
“That poor boy. I hope he's all right,” Michelle said. “Seems like a good start. Can you search for more than one at a time?”
“Huh, I never thought about that.” Turning inward, he said, Mom, did you catch that? When there was no response for a few seconds, he said, “Yeah, I don't see why not.”
“Okay, how about that one,” Michelle said, pointing to a girl of eight. “She lives a little far but she's the only other one in the area. Might as well look for her too.”
“Sure. Do you wanna get started?”
Michelle let out an exasperated sigh. “I really, really do but I guess we should get the tutoring out of the way so that we don't have that hanging over us.”
“Okay, I guess we should.” Cole was almost relieved by this as he was in no rush to go wandering aimlessly with Michelle, which was bound to become uncomfortable fast. He had little hope of actually finding either person, especially with his mother not responding, and he had no idea what to talk about.
They reconvened in the library where Cole and Michelle spread out their books. “You seem to be catching on pretty quick,” Michelle said. “This may be one of our last sessions. I'm sure you can't wait to be done, but I have to admit, I kinda like teaching you.”
“It was a hell of a lot better than learning it in school. I hope you know how much I appreciate you taking the time to teach me.”
“Of course. And I appreciate you sharing your secret with me. Now let's do this.” She opened her textbook and began to go through some examples. An hour later she had completed the unit and shut the book with an emphatic thud. “Awesome, now let's get out there and find us a missing person.” She left her books where they lay and beckoned Cole to follow her out of the room.
Cole called to his aunt that they were going out for a while. They stepped outside into the twilight, taking a couple lungfuls of the fresh air.
“Which way do you think?” Michelle said. “I feel like we should go toward one of their houses, but I'm not sure which direction that is from here.”
“Um, let's go this way,” Cole said, starting to the left.
Michelle followed his lead and together they began to stroll down the block.
Mom, are you back yet? Cole thought. Still no response. Great, well now there's a zero percent chance of finding anyone. “Hey, Michelle,” he said. “You know it's very unlikely we're going to find either one of them, right?”
“Yeah, I know that. You don't have to say it out loud and be a buzz kill,” she said playfully. “Man, I wish I had a car. We could cover so much more territory.”
“Yeah.”
They continued along for a couple of blocks without a word. The temperature began to drop and Cole shoved his hands in his pockets to keep warm. He shot a number of glances over at Michelle, feeling as if he should say something, but unsure as to what that could be.
“Is there anything else you can do?” Michelle spoke up suddenly.
“Huh? Like what?”
“Oh, sorry, I was lost in thought and forgot you can't read minds. I should give you some context. Have you tried figuring out if you can do something besides telepathy? Wait, can you read minds?”
Cole laughed nervously. “No, I can't read your mind. Otherwise I wouldn't have been caught off guard. It's safe.”
“That would have been pretty cool but also pretty scary. No offense, but I don't want you in my head hearing all my thoughts. Some are private. Anyway, so there's nothing else that you've been figuring out that you can do?”
I can kill things with my mind and I hear voices, including my dead mother. “No, nothing else that I know of,” Cole said.
“That's okay, I didn't mean to put down your awesome powers. I was just curious.”
They continued to meander, enjoying the brisk evening air. It was nearly dark and the streetlights were coming on. “I'm glad we've been hanging out,” Cole said. “It's nice having you around. You're good company.”
“I like hanging out too.” She paused. “And hey, on the bright side, we've covered this area so that narrows your search. To, you know, everywhere else.” She chuckled. “Even if you don't find anyone, it's relaxing. Relaxing with a touch of excitement since you may get lucky at any second.”
“That's a cool way to look at it. Now I'm more motivated than ever to wander aimlessly.”
Michelle grinned. “That's the spirit.”
They walked for another hour, alternating between idle chitchat and peaceful silence. Cole enjoyed their conversations, and found that even during the quiet times, he no longer felt awkward. His fears of going on this manhunt had turned out to be unfounded. Michelle's company was welcome, even if they were doing nothing more than wandering the streets.
“I guess I should call it a night,” Michelle said at last, glancing at her cellphone.
“I guess so,” Cole said. “That’s too bad, I was enjoying this.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Wanna do it again soon?” Cole said, leading the way back to Beth’s house. “We can be a crime-fighting duo.”
“I definitely do. But…” She bit her lip. “I have plans the next couple nights with Arthur. But soon, definitely.” She placed a call to her house and told them she was ready to be picked up. They returned to Beth’s house and waited on the porch for her father to arrive, chatting idly about teachers and classes and upcoming tests. When her
father pulled in front of the house, she gave him a quick hug and was gone.
Cole trudged back into the house, a feeling of loss and confusion mixed up inside of him, and went into the library to sort out what was causing these emotions. He sat alone in the library, seeing Amy’s face alternating with Michelle’s, but no matter which he concentrated on, he was filled with sadness. Frustrated, he shook his head and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
* * *
No, I can't do it. I can't.
This is not a choice. You will do it. If you don't, we'll kill one of your foster parents. It will have the same result for us, so we'll be happy. Would you prefer it that way? Which one, Jenny or Sam? Your choice.
Amy gripped her pillow tighter, fighting the growing urge to smash every fragile object in her room. Can it at least be somebody who's already dying?
We don't care who it is.
Damn you all to hell. She stood and left her room to go find her foster parents who were sitting in the living room watching television. “I'm sorry to interrupt,” she said. “Do you think you could take me to see my father?”
Mrs. Williams sprang to her feet. “Yes, of course. I can drive you.”
The drive to the hospital was a silent ride. Amy stared straight ahead, fighting to keep her breathing under control and failing to notice Mrs. Williams' discomfort. I can't believe you're going to make me go through with this. I'm a nice person. I never hurt anyone. I can't wait until you all burn in hell.
Relax, a voice replied. It will be easier than you think. Just this one little thing and then we won't ask any more of you. Promise.
Sure you won't. It was all so surreal that she her brain was at a loss as to what she should be feeling. She couldn't even imagine what she was about to do.
They arrived at the hospital where Amy asked Mrs. Williams to stay in the waiting area while she went to see her father. He was lying there as he had been for the past year, inert, hooked up to a machine, looking as if asleep but never waking up.
Voices in the Night (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 3) Page 12