New Sight

by Jo Schneider

  A cry filled the hallway. This one started out as a sob, and then escalated into a full-blown, blood-curdling scream. Lys’s heart turned to ice in her chest.

  “Is that Brady?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “I hope not,” Kamau whispered. He stepped closer, and this time Lys didn’t step away. She would risk him wanting to braid her intestines together just so she could have someone real standing next to her. Unless he turned out to be a hallucination.

  “Maybe we should go back upstairs,” he said.

  “No.” Lys shook her head. “We have to help him.” The words came unbidden. She would much rather run to the end of the hall and up the stairs than go after the apparition in the basement. But she couldn’t get the image of Brady’s terrified face out of her mind.

  Another scream came, this one louder than the first. If any of Lys’s blood still flowed, it froze in that instant. However, a warmth came from inside of her. From depths she hadn’t accessed in years.

  She’d always had a protective streak in her. She never got busted for ditching class or writing on the bathroom walls. No, she got in trouble for being overprotective. Back in junior high, a kid in her gym class had pushed down one of the overweight girls. He and his buddies kept shoving her and laughing as the girl struggled to get back up. Lys had become so mad that she began to shake all over. Her vision blurred and she screamed at the boys to leave the girl alone. She still didn’t remember what happened after that. She must have attacked the boys, because the gym teacher had to come over and pull Lys off the leader of the pack.

  She hadn’t considered it before, but the knee jerk reaction to help her friends rivaled the insistence of the Need. Not as frightening, but just as persistent.

  “You saw Brady come down here?” she asked Kamau.

  He hesitated. “I did not see him, but I heard him leave and followed him down the stairs.”

  “Come on,” she said, grabbing Kamau by the arm. “Let’s go get him.” It was stupid. Bordering on insane really, but she didn’t see any other course of action. She had to find Brady. Kamau had the flashlight, so she was determined to drag him along, too. Besides, she didn’t want to go alone. And a tiny part of her didn’t want him lurking in the dark behind her.

  “Go get him?” Kamau asked.

  Now that she had backup, Lys felt better about being loud. “Brady!” she cried. “Where are you?”

  Her voice drove through the air, bouncing off the walls and shooting down the hallway.

  A moan answered her. It came from their left.

  “Lys, maybe we should . . .” Kamau started.

  Lys ignored him. She kept a hold of his arm and took them down the next hall toward the sound of what she hoped was Brady.

  The beam from Kamau’s flashlight bobbed up and down as they moved, almost at a run now.

  The same gray haze as she’d experienced upstairs blurred her vision, and Lys gripped Kamau’s arm tighter for support. She could see herself out of the corner of her eye, like she was looking from Kamau’s vantage point.

  She shook her head, tossing the strange vision away, and kept running. They got to the corner and turned. She saw the “U” shape of missing linoleum on the floor.

  “Come on,” she said, leading them to the doorway. “He’s in here.”

  And she was right. Brady crouched on his hands and knees, shaking.

  “Brady!” she said, rushing forward.

  “Wait.” Kamau’s hand shot out, holding her back.

  “But—”

  “Look at him,” he said.

  The flashlight beam cut through the settling dust. Lys got the reflection of it right in her eye as Kamau shined it across the mirror behind Brady. A crack ran the length of the glass, and a spread of shards lay on the floor. Blood trailed from the mirror to Brady’s hands. Lys followed the spot of light as it moved up to Brady’s head. Sweat dripped from his hair, and his whole body shook.

  “Brady?” Kamau said, gently pushing past Lys and into the room.

  Brady flinched at the sound of his name, moving away like a frightened dog.

  “Brady,” Kamau repeated. “Can you hear me? Do you understand what I’m saying?” He stepped forward, holding his hand out behind him to keep Lys from coming any closer.

  Lys couldn’t see around Kamau, but she heard Brady whimper as well as the scraping of glass shards on the linoleum floor.

  The light around her faded, once again replaced by the gray haze. She could see the hallway, and her perspective followed the footprints in the dust with its eyes. Up ahead a glow came from one of the rooms.

  She shook her head. Hallucinating again? Is this what happened to the others when Kenny freaked out? Seeing things that weren’t there, remembering things that hadn’t happened?

  “Brady,” Kamau said again, moving closer to Brady and squatting down next to him. “Can you hear me?”

  “Get away,” Brady said, pleading in his tone. Lys knew that tone, she knew those words.

  “Get back,” she said, going after Kamau and pulling him up.

  He turned on her, a questioning look in his eyes.

  For a moment she was mesmerized by his dark, deep eyes. They’d seen things she never had. Why couldn’t she see them, too?

  Another scream from Brady brought her out of it. The sound cut through the silent room, severing Lys from herself for a moment.

  “We need to find a counselor,” Kamau said.

  “Help me,” Brady whimpered, gasping for air after screaming. He writhed on the floor, curling up into a ball. “Please.”

  “What’s that?” Kamau asked, looking behind Lys.

  She whipped her head around. Behind her, at the end of another hallway, floated the sneering, glowing head of a wolf as big as a table. It snapped its jaws and slowly came toward them.

  “We have to get out of here!” she said, going to Brady and trying to pull him to his feet.

  Kamau stood transfixed, watching the light come toward him.

  “Help me!” Lys said. All of the ghost hunting shows she’d ever watched late at night were coming back to her. They’d never seen anything like this!

  Kamau finally turned and came to help her. Brady twitched and moaned, but it didn’t sound like pain. Lys’s thoughts turned back to the Need, and how she felt after she took the eyes from the frog. Pure ecstasy.

  She almost dropped Brady and ran for it, but Kamau grabbed his other arm—the one with a deep gash in it from the mirror—and hauled the smaller boy to his feet.

  “This way,” Kamau said, pulling them both out the door and away from the advancing wolf head.

  “Is there an exit down here?” Lys asked, glancing back over her shoulder. The glowing apparition glided at them.

  “There’s an exit sign,” Kamau said, pointing his flashlight ahead.

  Sure enough, a steel door stood at the end of the hall, and above it, an exit sign.

  “Uh, that door is locked,” Lys said, noticing the security bar and stout lock.

  “I can open it,” Brady said in a hoarse voice. Lys barely recognized it as human.

  The light behind them grew brighter as they moved. Lys and Kamau dragged Brady between them. He couldn’t get his feet under him. How did he plan to open the door?

  Unfortunately, they had no other direction to choose from. Everything else along the corridor led into rooms. She couldn’t see any other hallways or turns to take. It was either the exit door or go back and face the apparition behind them.

  Kamau brought them to a halt. He studied the lock, like maybe he could pick it, but before he could do anything, Brady let go of Lys and flung himself at the door, hands first.

  The door crumpled like newspaper, caving in around his hands and folding almost in half. Brady shook his arms, like he was trying to get his sleeves down, and the door flew outside into the night. He fell to his knees, looking at his hands in wonder.

  Lys glanced back. The light around the approaching head grew steadily bright
er.

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said, stepping forward, not taking her eye off the thing behind them.

  Brady nodded and stumbled to his feet. They followed him out the door. Three concrete steps led up. Lys misjudged the first one and tripped, hitting her elbow and scraping both hands.

  “Come on,” Kamau said, practically picking her up and setting her back on her feet. Once they reached the top, Brady went to the left. Kamau flipped off the flashlight.

  “No!” she said quickly. “Go this way.” She pointed. Not far from their position she could see the path that went around the hospital.“Why?” Brady asked, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

  “The path is right over here,” Lys said, pushing past him.

  “Lys,” Kamau said, reaching out and taking her hand to stop her. “How can you tell?”

  She looked back. He looked concerned.

  “I can see it,” she said, tugging him along. “We can get back to the front doors if we follow it.”

  “You can see it?” Brady slurred, sounding drunk.

  “Yes,” Lys said. They had to get back inside and tell Mr. Mason what had happened.

  The two boys followed Lys. Kamau kept a hold of her hand—Lys didn’t mind.

  Twigs dotted the path, and Lys wished again that she had put her shoes on. Come to think of it, why did the boys think to put shoes on?

  Her thoughts hurtled ahead, and Lys couldn’t clear her mind of insane questions. How had Brady just ripped through a metal door?

  “Guys,” Brady said, “I don’t feel so good.”

  “Here,” she said, reaching out with her other hand for Brady’s. “Just follow me.”

  Where Kamau’s hand felt warm in hers, Brady’s was ice cold. The moment their fingers touched Lys felt a shock, and she jumped back.

  Kamau must have felt it, too, because he pulled her away from Brady, placing her behind him.

  Her hand remained cold where Brady’s fingers had brushed it. The chill began to spread up her hand and wrist toward her shoulder. She shook her arm, trying to get the tingling sensation to go away.

  “What was that?” she asked Brady.

  He didn’t answer; instead he looked intently at his hands. Turning them face down, his fingers began to twitch like they were moving across an imaginary keyboard. “This is so weird.”

  “I think we should get around to the front of the hospital,” Kamau said.

  Lys wholeheartedly agreed. “Yeah, come on.” She looked back toward the crumpled door. There was no light coming after them—no ghostly form. Had she been hallucinating? What about Kamau? He obviously saw something that scared him enough to run.

  “Someone’s coming,” Brady said.

  Lys turned her head. She couldn’t see through the thick trees. Anything could be hiding in the shadows.

  “Let’s get back inside,” Kamau said. This time he pulled Lys by the hand.

  She started to follow him, but stopped when Brady didn’t move. Her heart beat insistently in her chest—something felt wrong.

  “Brady,” she said, “let’s go back.”

  Brady sank to his knees, placing the palms of his hands on the ground. “I can feel everything.”

  Lys glanced at Kamau, who watched Brady with a frown.

  “What do you mean?” Lys asked.

  “I can feel it all,” he said, rubbing his hands along the dirt path. He turned to look at Lys. “It’s wicked!” The excitement in his voice caught Lys off guard. Instead of sounding haggard, his voice grew strong and deeper than Lys remembered. And he sounded like he’d just learned that he didn’t have to go back to school for a month.

  “You’ve got to try this!” Brady said.

  Kamau still had a hold of her hand. He tugged her back as he flipped on the flashlight and shined it at Brady.

  Brady knelt on the ground, with both hands still pressed against the dirt. His whole body shook, but Lys hardly noticed. She only cared about his eyes. They were black. Not just the pupils or even the irises. His entire eyeball looked as if it was covered in black oil. The surface swirled, calling to Lys.

  Those eyes! That’s what she really wanted. The Need broke free of its prison, engulfing reason like an ocean wave. Whatever barrier the tonic had erected washed away in an instant. Lys felt herself lunge forward. If she had those eyes, she would be satisfied.

  “No!” Kamau wrapped his arms around her, pinning her hands to her sides.

  Lys struggled. She didn’t care about Kamau even though his face lay only inches away. She wanted Brady’s eyes, and she wanted them now.

  “Lys!” Kamau said. “Stop it! Control it.”

  The command went unheeded. Lys kicked and wriggled, trying to get free. “Let me go!” she yelled.

  “No.” He held her fast. “Get a hold of yourself.” The beam from the flashlight waved around, hitting trees, the ground, and finally Brady again.

  The Need pulsed inside of her, forcing her to fight Kamau’s vice grip, but she couldn’t break free. All Lys wanted was Brady’s eyes. If she could get them, the Need would go away. It would be satisfied. At least she thought it would be satisfied.

  Kamau grunted. “Brady, you need to listen to me. You need to control it. You need to harness the energy and control it. Move it where you want it. Don’t let it consume you.” There was a highly compelling quality to his instructions.

  Brady stood, tilted his head to the side and then walked to the nearest tree. He placed his hand on it. The trunk, thicker than Lys’s whole body, exploded into splinters. Kamau moved back as the tree wobbled and fell away from them.

  A shock wave ran through Lys. It felt like a line of people had dragged their feet across the carpet and then touched a screw. The electricity went through Kamau and into her. The wall went back up around the Need. She stopped struggling.

  Before the tree hit the ground, Brady picked up a rock the size of a softball. He crushed it in his hand like it was a potato chip, crumbs pouring out from between his fingers.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Lys asked. Was it the drug or something worse?

  “Do not let him touch you,” Kamau said, releasing her.

  Kamau tried talking to Brady again. “You can control it,” he urged. “It does not have to control you.”

  Seeing Brady, Lys knew he couldn’t be in control. Of course, in a second she might not be either.

  Lys saw a dark shadow moving toward them. “Someone’s coming,” she said.

  “Don’t get too close to him!” Mark’s voice shouted through the trees. Lys could see his outline running at them, darting between trees and bushes.

  Brady turned at the sound of the voice. “You don’t understand,” he said. “This is incredible. I had no idea how much . . .” Then he doubled over, going back to his knees. The ground crumpled in on itself where he landed. He tried to stand, but stumbled and fell again. This time the dirt exploded around him. Lys felt rock shards hit her face as she turned away.

  “Brady!” Mark commanded. “You have to control it! Do not go into it.” He ran past Lys and Kamau, heading straight for Brady.

  Lys didn’t understand. Control it? Go into it? Kamau had just said the same thing. Were they talking about the drug? What did Kamau know about it? What wasn’t he telling her?

  The ground around them started to shake, and small cracks appeared at their feet. Brady, still on his hands and knees, let out a primal scream—Lys had never heard anything like it. The sound lanced through her body like glass, shattering her link to reality.

  Just before Mark got to Brady, someone in black stepped in front of him. Lys heard a twang, and Mark fell to the ground. More figures dressed in black came at them through the trees.

  People started to yell, and Lys felt Kamau take her arm and attempt to pull her away. Lys tried to move, but couldn’t. The world fractured in front of her eyes.

  Suddenly she could see everything. She could see from her own eyes, she could see herself from Kamau’s eyes.
She could see all of them from above, she could see more figures in black and she could see the crumpled doorway behind them. She was flying, she was running, she was standing and she was dying.

  Chapter 7

  Fuzzy gray surrounded Lys. She quickly decided she liked the black better. At least with the black she knew what to expect. The gray gave her hope that the light might come. It hurt to hope. What would she hope for? Half-remembered scenes replayed in her mind.

  “Get a net on him. This kid is going to kill us all. Cut that girl off before she goes crazy, too. Where is Mason? We’ll have to take them back to the city . . .”

  She thought she remembered being chased through the forest by people in black, but the memory wouldn’t solidify. Other voices asked her if she was using, but Lys couldn’t see the faces that went with them. Instead she saw outlines and shadows hidden in the fuzzy gray.

  She tried to get the images in her mind in some sort of order; the hospital, dreaming, the ghost, running, falling—Brady!

  That thought jolted her awake. Her eye opened. She expected to see stars, with trees overhead and dirt beneath her. Instead a sterile, white ceiling lit by a fluorescent light greeted her.

  Lys turned her head. White surrounded her—white walls, white ceiling, and white floor. She propped herself up on her elbows, even the sheets, blankets and box frame under the bed were white.

  Her head swam with the effort of lifting it, so Lys lay back down. Was she in some new part of the hospital? The sequence of events from the night before still lacked clarity. Another dream? Lys hoped so, but she didn’t think so.

  The door to the room had bars on it. A cell? How did she get in an all-white prison cell? She glanced around slowly, taking in the bed, a toilet, a sink, and about three feet square of free space right in front of the door. The bed touched three of the four walls. Why was she in prison? Surely Mr. Mason wouldn’t toss her in here for going after Brady. Especially since he hadn’t even given her a chance to explain.

  Her new clothes consisted of a shirt and a pair of pants—both white and resembling scrubs more than anything else. Thin, white slippers covered her feet.