Then she thought of Jeanne. Everyone else she asked gave her very little information. But Charlie was still hopeful. She knew it was a long-shot and dared herself to ask the therapist about her as they walked. "Ms. Worthington, did you know Jeanne? Did she go through this same process?"
There was a moment’s hesitation from the guidance counselor, but it disappeared as soon as it had come. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I didn't meet Jeanne."
Charlie stopped in her tracks. "Doesn't every student go through you first?"
"Yes, but I’ve only been her a short time. I did not handle Jeanne's stage one training."
"Oh," was all Charlie can say.
Natalia continued, "I heard rumors, though. I haven't seen Jeanne's file, but people say you resemble her so much."
"That's why I've been trying to find out about her." Charlie admitted, "Ever since I found out I was adopted, my desire to meet her keeps getting stronger."
"You're adopted?" Natalia repeated. Charlie didn't mean to disclose the information and quickly regretted it. She nodded.
Natalia walked over to one of the benches and took a seat, motioning Charlie to follow her. "You know, I was adopted too," Natalia unexpectedly confessed. Wide-eyed, Charlie faced the woman. She scrutinized her expression for any trace of deception but couldn't find any. "I'm not just saying that to sympathize with you," added Natalia.
"Oh," Charlie said again, for lack of anything else to say.
Natalia continued, "I also had a brother. I was adopted by this sweet old couple, but they didn’t take my brother, who was just a toddler back then."
Drawn to her story, Charlie interjected, "But were you able to keep in touch with him?”
Natalia shook her head, and her sadness was apparent. "No. When I received word about him, he was already dead."
"I'm so sorry," Charlie said. Natalia’s story reminded her of the circumstances leading to her adoption. The ache in her chest returned. Charlie felt fortunate she still had a chance to unite with her lost sibling.
Natalia’s story led to a change of heart for Charlie, convincing her to share her story. "I only found out recently my folks aren’t my biological parents. When Hilary told me about Jeanne, I asked my parents and they told me I was adopted. They assured me of their love and acceptance of my twin. Finding Jeanne is my first objective."
Charlie sighed in relief, like a heavy object was lifted off her chest. It felt odd opening up to someone she’d just met hours ago, but unloading her story to Natalia made her feel better.
“That’s good,” Natalia said in her gentle voice. “You shouldn’t let your chance to be with your family slip away.” Natalia stood up and smoothed her hair behind her ear. "Thank you, Charlie. You should go back now; rest before facing your schoolmates at dinner. I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll use the Simulation Room where there are no guards to interrupt our exercises." And with that, Natalia bid Charlie goodbye and headed back to the main building.
Charlie watched the woman walk away. Who would understand the burden Natalia carried underneath with her admirable poise and confidence?
The next day, Natalia introduced the Simulation Room to Charlie. It was completely sound-proof with its white jagged walls. The silence disturbed Charlie in more ways than the infrasound exposure did, creating in her enough tension that she did not need the fear-inducing sounds anymore. I am definitely more at ease here knowing Ms. Worthington is with me, thought Charlie.
She spent three days with Natalia in the quiet room, mostly to practice her telekinesis while being exposed to certain distractions, and a few times to expose her to binaural beats and infrasound. Natalia warned how the therapy could affect her brain adversely when overexposed. Nonetheless, Charlie still noticed the few times Natalia asked if she was trying to block the sound waves. Charlie didn’t think much of the comments, and just focused on the exercises.
On the third room in the Simulation Room, Natalia whispered to her from behind, "Steady now."
Charlie didn’t look up, her eyes glued to the thin needle standing atop the table on its sharp tip. The needle jerked slightly, but Charlie maintained focus, biting her lip as she did so. Slowly, she got used to the exercises, as well as the headgear Natalia made sure she always wore during their training.
“4, 3, 2, 1.” Natalia announced. “Well done, Charlie. You can stop now.”
Charlie released her breath while the needle tinkled as it landed on the table.
Natalia walked around the table and took her seat in front of Charlie before swiftly encoding her notes. Then she opened the same box and took out the Bluetooth earpiece. “Are you ready?” She asked Charlie.
Charlie took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”
“Fear is only an emotion, not a threat,” Natalia reminded Charlie as she pressed the keyboard and began the test.
Inside the soundproof room, the effects of the therapy heightened for Charlie but she held her head high and took on the challenges. Charlie expressed concerned for Natalia in the event of another episode without the protection of the guards, but Natalia maintained her confidence in Charlie. The student squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the effects to begin. Her fists were balled on her lap and her jaw was set. Seconds passed before she opened her eyes to meet Natalia’s confused look. She pressed on her laptop once more, and asked, “What happened?”
“What happened?” Charlie repeated.
An odd look showed on the woman’s face. Natalia checked her laptop, then her watch, and asked, “Were you trying to fight it again, Charlie?”
She shrugged, “I’m not sure.”
“Huh.” Natalie said. She leaned against the table and stared into Charlie’s eyes in a way that made the younger one curious. Finally, Natalia leaned back, reminding Charlie not to fight the test. Then she pressed the laptop again.
Fight it? Charlie wondered. Charlie was skeptical about fighting something so powerful that directly affected her brain. She closed her eyes and relaxed her extremities. For a few moments, she found solace inside her own mind. Charlie forced all thoughts out of her mind, by letting the word “Black” fill it. Soon, she felt the cold spread from her fingers up towards her arm. The sensation made her wrist twitch. Her chest tightened, her heart stammered loudly. Her mind went blank but fear pervaded her being. She inhaled steadily, but heaved each time she exhaled.
There is no threat. Charlie opened her eyes and saw the needle shaking violently against the table. Charlie shut her eyes and forced herself to focus. There is no threat. She opened her eyes again and willed the needle to stand. It hovered over the table, quivering as she coerced it to move to an upright position. Her cheeks were cold, her eyes stung.
Natalia watched her, unmoving despite the risk. Getting a better look at her watch, Natalia lifted her wrist and began to count silently.
A high pitch sound pierced Charlie’s ears, seemingly from the back of her mind. Images danced around in her head, and she dreaded hurting Natalia should she fail to concentrate. There is no threat. She kept reminding herself to focus on keeping the needle steady atop the table. Charlie barely heard Natalia start the countdown. A stabbing pain pierced her head, but she bit her lip harder trying to ignore it. “10… 9… 8… 7…” Natalia’s words were a blur. “6… 5… 4… 3…” Just a bit more, Charlie encouraged herself. “2… 1.”
Much like the controlled test, the needle fell on the table as Charlie regained her breathing. This time, she inhaled and exhaled slowly, holding on to the table’s edge for stable support.
“Congratulations, Charlie. You passed Stage One,” Natalia proudly announced. Charlie gave her an exasperated smile, looking up at the woman who helped her overcome the traumatic tests.
I passed! A new hope brewed inside her.
“Thank you, Ms. Worthington!” Charlie lifted herself up.
Natalia embraced her tightly. “Charlie, please call me Natalia.”
“I’m not sure if it’s okay for a student to call her instructor by her first name.
”
“Well, I promise not to reprimand you about that. I’m not that much older than you anyway,” Natalia winked at her and Charlie giggled. “From now on, I will not be handling you during your trainings. But if you need a sounding board or a listening ear, you can always come to me.”
“Thank you, Natalia,” Charlie bid the woman goodbye and ran out of the building to meet Hilary and tell her the good news.
Dinner with the students guaranteed noise with clinking utensils on plates and chatter bouncing off the cafeteria walls. Charlie tried to shut out the cacophony while she searched for Hilary in the crowd. The smaller girl waved at Charlie to join her at the table.
“So, how was it?” Hilary asked.
“I passed!” Charlie exclaimed a little louder than she intended.
Hilary stood on her toes to reach up and give her a hug. “Congratulations, Charlie! I knew you could do it!”
Another voice interjected in their celebration, “About time.”
The two turned from their seats to see Madison eyeing them from the neighboring table. The blonde guy who lifted the table with two fingers on Charlie’s first day had his arm rested at the back of Madison’s chair. She gave Charlie a false sympathetic look. “Sweetheart, the Skills Assessment Test is in two days and you just passed your first test. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.”
Charlie’s cheeks reddened. With the difficulties she encountered with Stage One, she’d completely forgotten about the Skills Assessment Test. Realizing she only had two more days to prepare, the chances of gaining a high mark seemed markedly low.
Addressing Charlie, the blonde boy spoke this time, “Talked to the guards earlier, by the way.” Hilary whispered to Charlie that his name was Bradley. His deep voice boomed over the other males in the cafeteria. “You actually panicked at the sight of a Taser? Did you think it was a gun with flat square bullets?” He laughed as Madison joined him.
Charlie intended to ignore Bradley and avoid a confrontation or scene, but Hilary had something else in mind. Fire erupted from Bradley's plate, causing the two blondes to jerk back in panic. Madison looked around, then held her hand over the plate. Frost erupted from her palm and extinguished the flame. But this didn’t stop Bradley from lashing out in anger. He marched towards Hilary with fists balled up, yelling at her, “You just ruined my dinner!”
Students shuffled away from the commotion, keeping a safe distance but stayed to watch the fight.
“Well, you ruined our celebration first. Serves you right!” Hilary rose from her seat, ready to face Bradley head on. The latter charged at her like a bull going after the red flag. A spark emitted from the hem of Bradley’s shirt that caused flames to erupt. Perturbed rather than afraid, Bradley slapped a hand on the flames to snuff it out, but ended up pulling the shirt over his head. He stomped on his shirt repeatedly until the fire died down. He glared at Hilary, and clad only in his undershirt that revealed his bulging muscled arms and chest, Bradley looked like the beast he was. “You’re gonna pay for that!” He charged towards the two but Charlie halted him.
Frozen by Charlie’s mind, Bradley struggled to lift his foot from the floor. “Let me go, you freak!” he ordered Charlie, but she ignored him.
She tugged at Hilary’s arm, “Come on, let’s go.”
But Hilary didn’t budge. Her lips pursed as she watched Bradley attempt to break loose from the invisible bear trap. Charlie pulled on Hilary so hard that the girl lost her balance. “Let’s go,” Charlie repeated. This time, Hilary let Charlie take her away from the scene.
“Cowards!” They heard Bradley shout over as they shut the doors behind them.
“Why did you stop me? I could have taken him down. There’s a reason I’m at the top of our class, you know,” Hilary chastised Charlie as they made their way to the dormitory.
“I know you can, but you didn’t have to,” Charlie said.
“Didn’t he make you angry?” Hilary asked.
“He did,” Charlie admitted. “And I’ll tell you I wanted to knock both his and Madison’s heads together. But sometimes it’s better to ignore things and not let anger take control.”
Hilary eyed Charlie quizzically. She sighed. “You’re really not like Jeanne. She would have led the attack if she were here.” Hilary grinned at her, and it set off Charlie’s interest in her twin’s personality yet again. “Anyway, congratulations again, Charlie. You’re one step closer to her.”
One step closer, Charlie assured herself, a smile creeping up her face.
CHAPTER 7: The Invisible Tether
After the heated events of yesterday, Charlie couldn't help but think of home. Carl constantly reminded her to be the better person when it came to misunderstandings. Charlie had been bullied in middle school but never once told on her detractors, not because she feared retaliation, but because she genuinely believed people could change. And if people changed without any coercion or force, they became better people.
Charlie lay on her back, staring at the solitary bulb in her room and pondering what her mother would do. Sarah was compassionate and would never hurt anyone, regardless of the situation. But when it came to Charlie, Sarah’s sweet demeanor became that of a mother tiger. All claws.
"You tell me if someone hurts you, okay?" Sarah would say. Charlie would nod in agreement, but her mother needed more convincing. "I need you to promise." Charlie raised her right hand and vowed to always tell her mother everything.
Now all she wanted was to cut up some vegetables while her mother prepared stew, singing their hearts out and hearing Carl groan from the living room; anything that would allow her to feel at home again.
There was a knock on Charlie's door. It was the guy from the cafeteria who she thought was cute. He stood by her door bearing gifts and a comforting smile.
"You weren’t at breakfast today. I thought you'd be hungry by now so I brought you these." On his hands was a tray with rice, meat of an unknown origin, a banana, and a carton of milk.
Charlie was awed by the gesture. She smiled back, in spite of all her recent troubles. "Thank you so much." Her words hung in the air as she resisted saying his name. “What’s your name again?” she muttered sheepishly, pretending not to know.
"No worries and the name is Otto, at your service. No pun intended," he replied. He executed a small salute and turned to leave, then looked at Charlie again. "Don't let it get to you."
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked.
"Unexpected things happen. Don't sweat it."
"I’ll try. It takes some getting used to."
Otto moved to hug her but patted Charlie's shoulder instead. "You'll pull through. Don't worry."
Just as Charlie closed the door behind her there was another knock. Thinking it was Otto again, she prepared her smile and turned the knob.
"Did you forg- Oh." It wasn't Otto at the door. It was Bradley.
"Miss A wants you in her office now," Bradley declared.
"Did she say why?"
"No. Just go to her office," an annoyed Bradley replied. Without another word, he walked away.
Stomach in knots, Charlie prepared for the worst. Amanda must have found out that Hilary's outburst was because of me, she thought. I hope Hilary's not in trouble. On her way down, she knocked on Hilary’s door to check on her but no one answered. Charlie assumed her friend might still be resting so she hurried on to Amanda’s office.
When Amanda opened the door, Charlie immediately blurted out: "It's not Hilary's fault. It was mine and I'm sorry."
Amanda looked surprised. "I don't understand. What are you talking about, Charlie?"
Now it was Charlie turn to be surprised but she pushed on. "About yesterday, I swear Hilary was just defending me, it was my fault. Not hers. Please don't punish her, punish me instead."
"I still do not comprehend, Charlie," Amanda said.
"Isn't that why you called me to your office?"
Amanda ushered Charlie in. "No. But now I'm intrigued. What happened yesterday?"
&
nbsp; "Just a simple hormonal outburst. You know how teens can be," a voice came from behind Charlie. She turned and found Ms. Worthington. She continued: "Nothing to be worried about, Ms. Pitt."
Amanda looked unconvinced but let it pass. "Ms. Worthington, what brings you to my office?"
"I was just about to give you the results of my evaluation. I'd like you to review them," she answered.
"Thank you. Please leave them on my desk and be on your way. Charlie and I have something to talk about."
She did as he was told but smiled warmly at Charlie before leaving.
Amanda didn't waste time. "Charlie, I brought you here because your parents left you a message."
Charlie face brightened. "Oh my goodness, thank you!"
Amanda extended her hand to give her a mobile phone. "We don't allow cellphones inside the premises, at least for students. However, I gave them my personal number in case of an emergency. They left you a voicemail and asked me to relay it to you."
Worried now that something was wrong, Charlie placed the phone against her ear and listened. Sarah's voice, ingrained in her memory, brought a smile to Charlie’s face.
“Hi, Princess. It's Mom. I hope you're doing okay there. I know you'll do well in school. What worries me is how you're dealing with the other kids. I don't know how they are. Are they nice to you?”
Mom must be a mind reader, Charlie thought.
“What about your sister? Have you met her? I love you, Charlie. Your father loves you, too. We love you very much. We're looking forward to your return, Princess.”
Charlie recalled resenting her mother treating her like a twelve-year old. Now she found solace in it. Hearing her mother’s voice wrapped her in a blanket of comfort. That her parents loved her very much helped her keep going. Charlie didn't know it would be this disheartening trying to find her sister. However, the thought of working harder at ANDREI motivated her to reach Jeanne’s level and be with her.
Charlie handed the phone back to Amanda. "Thank you very much, Ms. Pitt. Thank you."
Amanda nodded. "You're welcome, Charlie. You may now leave my office. I will inform you when your parents leave you another message."
The Unlocked (Charlie Hartley Series Book 1) Page 9