A Different Kind

by Lauryn April

  Logan nodded. “Well, it’s worth a shot, and we don’t really have a whole lot of other options.”

  “What about the pictures we took; did you show them to your mom?” I’d forwarded the photos I’d taken on my phone to Logan the other day.

  Logan sighed. “Yeah, I don’t think they’re going to be much help. I’ll tell you about it later. This Frank guy though, when can we meet him, after class?”

  I shook my head. “I really need to go to cheer practice. If I miss two days in a row, Mrs. Davis will be on the phone with my mom, and the last thing I need right now is her doing something stupid like trying to ground me and taking away my car keys.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jo said. “Nikki and the guys have band practice after class.”

  “Tomorrow then?” Logan asked.

  I nodded.

  “Yeah, tomorrow works,” Jo said. “I’ll call Nikki and set it up.”

  When the lunch hour ended I wanted to ask Logan about the pictures we’d taken, but he dashed off before I had the chance. I’d really been hoping we’d gotten something even semi-useful, but maybe we hadn’t. Or maybe his mom couldn’t read that much of the Greys’ language after all. Regardless, I was disappointed.

  Jo and I made it to cheer practice early that day. We tried not to talk about aliens or any of the things I’d told Jo the night before. I think she sensed I was getting more and more worried about how this all would end. Still, she couldn’t help but ask a few questions. I was in the middle of telling her about how Logan could move and bend metal with his mind. I was showing her the ring he made me, when the locker room door opened. Hailey, Melissa, and two other girls stepped in. They were laughing but stopped when they saw me. Their giggles picked up again and they disappeared behind a row of lockers to change.

  Jo and I looked at one another.

  “What was that about?” she asked.

  “Not a clue.” I figured it was just gossip about how much time I’d been spending with Logan and ignored it.

  Practice began like normal. Mrs. Davis got us started with stretches. Occasionally Hailey would glance at me, and I heard her and Melissa whispering at one point. But it wasn’t until after we started to get into position to run through one of our regular routines that things got interesting. Hailey bumped into me. Full on shoulder to shoulder contact.

  I spun, glaring at her.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said sarcastically.

  I was about to say something, but Mrs. Davis gave us instructions then, so I did my best to ignore Hailey’s behavior.

  We went through a routine we’d done a thousand times before. This was a warm up. We all knew every step, which is why I know when Hailey stepped on my foot that she did it on purpose. I lost my balance. I fell to the ground, landing face down on the blue mat. Pushing myself back onto my feet, I glared at Hailey. She was giggling and so was Melissa, along with a few other girls. Jo moved to stand behind me. Then Mrs. Davis blew her whistle.

  “Alright, ladies, let’s get it together. Five minute break, then I expect you to all be on task.”

  The girls dispersed, but none left the gym. They looked on as Hailey and I faced one another. Neither she nor I moved. Jo stayed behind me and Melissa’s curly blond ponytail bounced as she walked behind Hailey, backing her up.

  “What is your deal?” I asked.

  “My deal is you,” Hailey said.

  “And what the hell did I do to you?”

  Hailey rolled her eyes. “Like you don’t know what you did?”

  “Maybe you should tell us ‘cause…we don’t,” Jo said.

  Hailey huffed, crossing her arms. “You’re totally changing. You’ve been uninvolved in anything the squad’s been doing, and I was trying to be understanding when you ditched out on the Homecoming after party, but then you started to miss practice, and today you didn’t sit by us at lunch. You haven’t called me in forever–”

  “I’m so sorry you feel ignored, Hailey,” I said in my bitchiest tone. “I’ve been busy.”

  “Oh, this is about way more than that. You know, I really believed you when you said you and Jared were over. I even felt bad for you. I never thought you’d–”

  “That I’d what?” My anger was boiling.

  “That you’d hit on him at the Homecoming dance, and now you and Logan have this thing, and God, poor Ian. He really liked you, you know.”

  “What?”

  “Hailey, that doesn’t even make sense,” Jo said.

  Hailey shrugged and brushed her dark hair behind her shoulders, knocking her dangly earrings – stupid things to wear to cheer practice. My gaze shifted to focus on Melissa behind her. She squirmed under my gaze.

  “That’s what Jared told me happened when the two of you were outside, at the dance,” Melissa said. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “He said you followed him when he went out to get some air. That you told him you wanted to get back with him. He said you tried to kiss him.”

  “What? He tried to kiss me.”

  Hailey rolled her eyes. “He also told her that the two of you never slept together, and that you just made that up to make him look bad when he broke up with you.”

  My eyes narrowed on her. “I broke up with him because he cheated on me.” My fingers curled at my sides, nails digging into the palms of my skin. I wanted so badly to slap her and knock those stupid silver dangling earrings right out of her head. I held back, but then her earrings started to sway. They rotated in fast spirals, moving so quickly even Hailey noticed. She reached up to grab them. They stilled, but suddenly I thought of Logan and how he could make metal objects move with his mind. Could I have moved her earrings with my mind, or was I imagining things?

  “Whatever, Payton, you lied about losing your virginity. That’s kind of a big deal. How am I supposed to believe anything you say now?”

  I ignored Hailey and shifted my gaze to Melissa. “Jared is a jerk, Meli, and he lies about everything. You can do better than him – trust me. I was outside with Jo because she left the dance early. Jared followed me out and tried to kiss me. That’s why Logan punched him. Remember how he had a bloody nose?”

  Melissa looked unsure, as if she knew my story made sense, but was too wrapped up in Jared’s web to believe me. Hailey, however, was fully prepared to be my brand new arch nemesis, and it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d had video evidence.

  “Or maybe you’ve been fooling around with the little loser and he got jealous seeing you macking all over your ex, and that’s why he punched him.”

  Rage. I felt pure rage. Suddenly Hailey’s earrings were spinning again. This time I knew I made it happen, but that wasn’t all. Behind Hailey a metal rolling cart filled with basketballs started to shake.

  “Payton,” Jo said, but I didn’t know how to make it stop.

  Hailey, Melissa, and the rest of the gym, including Mrs. Davis, turned to stare at the cart. Watching it shake, I became extremely nervous. I worried they would all know I was making it move. The more anxious I became, the more the cart and orange balls inside it shook. Jo was looking at me, but I didn’t know what to do. Then, with a loud bang, the cart tipped over and all the basketballs rolled out, bouncing across the floor.

  In the confusion caused by the cart tipping over, Jo and I slipped out of the gym. I cursed under my breath, and we briskly walked down the hall.

  “Did you do that?” she asked.

  Our sneakers squeaked on the tile floor.

  “I think so.”

  I hoped the locker room would be my safe haven, a place for me to hide, but the second I entered, the locker doors started to shake. Their metal locks clanked against them.

  “Payton, stop it,” Jo said with a tremble to her voice.

  “I can’t.” My voice was shaky. “I don’t know how.”

  We grabbed our things, not bothering to change, and left. On our way out of the school locks lifted from the hallway lockers, and one of the grey metal doors flew open. Luckily, we we
re alone in the hallway and walked out the side door before anyone could see us. When we reached the parking lot I worried I’d make the cars rattle. When they didn’t so much as shimmy, I assumed they were too heavy to move with my mind.

  We made it home without any serious incident. The loose change in my cup holder floated for some time, a sight that seriously freaked Jo out, but that was it.

  I pulled into my driveway and parked. Jo and I sat there for a moment, the change still floating. Nickels, dimes, and a quarter twisted in the air. Jo’s eyes met mine and we got out of the car. I didn’t have to explain where I was going. Jo knew. Together we walked across the street to Logan’s. Just before I stepped onto his front step I noticed the same black sedan I’d been seeing lately parked on the side of the road. Again, I reminded myself that one of my neighbors probably got a new car. Still, something about that vehicle creeped me out. Maybe it was the tinted windows? What soccer mom drives around with tinted windows? Or maybe it was that it always seemed to be outside, regardless of the time of day, and it was never in front of any particular house. Whatever the reason, it gave me a bad feeling. But I had more important things to worry about.

  The doorknocker rattled as we reached the front step. I rang the doorbell. The few minutes we waited for Logan to answer, I spent nervously tapping my fingers against the sides of my legs. The door swung open and I pushed my way inside before Logan even had a chance to say hello. Jo followed. Logan shut the door behind us.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I spun around, but I didn’t have to answer.

  Coins lifted from a small glass bowl in the entryway. They floated in the space between us. I watched Logan’s eyes widen through the frames of his glasses while pennies orbited around me.

  “How do I make it stop?” I asked.

  His lips parted, a speechless expression gracing his face. He shook his head. “When did this start?”

  “Cheer practice,” Jo said. “Hailey made her mad and Payton practically twisted the earrings right out of her head. Then she knocked over this metal cart.”

  “Did anyone know you did it?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Telekinesis isn’t real; at least that’s what most people think. I can’t imagine anyone thinking I did it.” I watched a penny do a flip in the air. “But if stuff keeps going all zero gravity around me, people are going to figure it out eventually.”

  “Right, well, you just…I don’t know, you just stop.”

  “I tried that. It didn’t work.”

  Logan sighed. “Okay, okay, let’s go sit down.”

  Jo and I followed Logan into his living room, a trail of pennies floated behind me.

  “All of this stuff is tied to your emotions,” he said, sitting down on the oversized tan couch. I sat down in an armchair across from him. “This started when you got mad at Hailey, right? You just have to relax.”

  I sighed. “I’m not mad anymore though.”

  “But you’re not relaxed.”

  “No, I’m nervous as all hell, and freaking out.”

  Logan’s lips thinned, and his eyebrows rose as if to say ”exactly my point.”

  I sighed again, trying to calm down. I folded my hands in my lap and closed my eyes. I felt Logan’s hands cover mine. He gave me a comforting squeeze. I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. If Logan could control it, so could I.

  I let the world fall away. My mind drifted. I thought about the Homecoming game and being at the top of a human pyramid. I remembered crossing my arms over my chest and taking a breath before letting myself fall. I could feel the whoosh of air around me as I dropped. I remembered those few seconds of weightlessness before my teammates caught me – those few seconds of freedom.

  There was a pattering of clanks. When I opened my eyes the coins had fallen to the ground.

  I smiled.

  “There, see, you got it.” Logan smiled back.

  “I don’t know about got it, but it’s better.”

  His eyes never left my face. For a moment we stared at one another, and I felt this happy quiver run through me.

  Jo cleared her throat. Logan and I both turned to see her sitting on the armrest of the couch. Logan let go of my hands.

  “Okay,” she said. “So…is this going to keep happening? Cause that was kind of freaky.”

  Logan looked at me. “No. If it starts to happen, just calm down and stop thinking about making things float.”

  I nodded.

  “What I don’t get,” Jo said, “is why aren’t there more reports of people doing stuff like that if the…aliens abduct people all the time?”

  Logan shrugged. “As far as I know telekinesis is a power not everyone develops. Not sure why. I would guess the ones who do get it probably do make metal stuff move every now and then, but they don’t know they’re doing it so it stops. Payton saw Hailey’s earrings floating and knew she was doing it, and then being angry and nervous made her think about making other things move – so they did.”

  “Kay, so just don’t think about it. That’s kind of the theme of my life right now. I can do that.” Even I could hear the bitter edge to my voice.

  Logan cast me an apologetic look. “It’ll be okay.”

  Somehow those few words did ease my anxiety.

  “I called Nikki earlier,” Jo said. “It’s cool if we all meet up tomorrow. She sounded a little surprised when I said we wanted to see Frank, but I didn’t want to tell her much over the phone.”

  Logan nodded.

  “What about those pictures?” I asked. I didn’t want Frank to be our only hope. “Did you show them to your mom?”

  Logan frowned. “Yeah, but she wouldn’t help me. Look, you have to understand, Payton, my mom likes you. She doesn’t want any of this to happen to you, but she’s more worried about me. She’s afraid that when they…come back for you, that we’re going to be hanging out or something, or maybe I’ll try to stop them and get taken too. Actually,” Logan sighed, “she told me that I’m not supposed to see you anymore.”

  My heart dropped like a stone plopping, unskipped, into a lake.

  “Don’t worry. I don’t care what she says. I told you we’d figure something out and we will.”

  That night I couldn’t sleep. The same nightmare played on repeat in my mind. I was running through the forest. All the trees were on fire. I’d emerge from the woods to find myself in Logan’s backyard. I‘d run toward his house, but, before I could reach the back door, a bright light would appear. I’d find myself frozen in place. The light scaled the side of his house, illuminating the white rose bushes that climbed a trellis beneath Logan’s bedroom window. The light poured through his window, and within it Logan would emerge. Listlessly, he’d float through the light and into the dark sky. I’d scream.

  Then I’d wake. When I’d finally calm down enough to fall back asleep the dream would start again. After the third time I sat up.

  The metal-framed photo on my night stand of Jo, Hailey, and me hovered in the air. My cheerleading medals lifted away from where they hung on the wall. I took a deep breath, and they fell back into their rightful places.

  Beside me Jo was hogging the covers and sound asleep. I got out of bed. My mind didn’t want to rest so I went downstairs into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. As I sat at the kitchen table, images of my dream flashed through my mind. As my nerves grew I could hear the silverware shaking in the drawers. I shut my eyes and breathed deeply; the rattling slowed but didn’t stop.

  Across the room I saw the green flashing light of my cell phone. I’d plugged it in to charge while Jo and I had worked on homework in the kitchen. I thought about how Logan had calmed me down earlier. I thought about how his number was in my phone. The silverware continued to shake in the drawers. I got up and grabbed my phone. I called Logan with complete disregard to the late hour.

  I think part of me just needed to hear his voice because as soon as he answered with a sleepy hello, the silverware stopped rattling.

>   “Everything okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I just couldn’t sleep. I had a bad dream.”

  Logan sighed. “About them?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I have them too sometimes. I was too young when we came here to really remember ever seeing them in person, but somehow they still end up in my nightmares. You wanna talk about your dream?”

  I thought for a moment. “Not really, no.”

  Logan was silent, but I pictured him nodding in understanding.

  “What do you think about skydiving?” he asked.

  “Huh?”

  “Skydiving, what do you think about it?”

  “I don’t really, I guess,” I replied with a laugh. “Why?”

  “Before I fell asleep I was watching this show on it. I’ve never been, but it looked fun.”

  I smiled. “Logan, are you trying to distract me from my creepy nightmare with random conversation?”

  “Is it working?”

  I laughed again. “Yeah, I guess so…and I think I’d like skydiving.”

  We were up for the next hour talking about all sorts of things. Logan told me he liked to draw, and I told him I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body. We talked about traveling too. Logan couldn’t wait to go to college and get out of the state. He really had gotten into Stanford, but he felt bad leaving his mom all alone, so he’d applied to a few schools in state as well. Our conversation was random, and it kept my mind off anything alien related for a little while. Eventually I made my way back up to my room and fell asleep with ease.

  CHAPTER

  21

  Frank’s bedroom was painted black. An X-files poster hung over his bed. On another wall a cork board hung, covered with sketches and notes that were slowly climbing onto the wall like a creeping vine. His sole window was covered with tinfoil, making his desk and ceiling lamps the only sources of light in the room, and a large metal filing cabinet towered beside his desk, covered in gold magnets.