“I usually change locations before I let twenty years pass by,” he answered. How would that affect her life Michelle quietly wondered to herself? But that thought scared her and she decided to ask him about more pleasant things.
“Will you explain to me how you did that last night, when you held my hand and I felt so…”
“Good?” Elliot laughed. “It’s ok for you to feel good, I hope you know that?”
“It’s just that it feels like I’m floating. I love it, it’s like nothing I ever felt before!” she blushed and looked out the window. “What else can you do that we can’t do?”
“Well, you’ve seen, or shall I say witnessed, that we can move so fast that human eyes cannot detect us. But it takes a lot of practice to get good at it. I can only do it for short distances and small amounts of time. It really drains every bit of energy out of me if I try and overdo it.” Elliot told her that it was those types of developed skills that set them apart from average humans. They were definitely physically stronger, but not immensely so. He guessed that their strength was that of maybe seven men combined.
Michelle liked sitting next to such a powerful man and slowly, without noticing it, her body slid in her seat so that she could be closer to Elliot. He was like a magnet to her. He told her that besides actual physical strength, and agility, their perceptions were heightened. That meant that their sight was superb and they were able to see in conditions that humans would perceive as either being too bright or too dark.
“I detect colors even at night,” he told her. “ When we choose to, we can fine tune our hearing and our sense of smell to equal if not surpass that of the night creatures. We’re able to lower and raise our body temperature to extremes, and we can live without oxygen for longer amounts of time.”
“You guys are amazing. I wish I could be like you,” she said dreamingly, and then immediately felt angry for being a weakling, a human. Elliot felt sad for Michelle. He’d had this same conversation before and it was always difficult for the other person. There was always the realization of the weakness and frailty of human life, and there was always a tinge of jealousy. He liked that Michelle was comfortable expressing her envy up front, otherwise it could sit there and fester underneath the surface until one day it would all come out and by then it would have changed into complete resentment.
“We feel pain. I am not made of steel. I have a heart and a pulse just like any other human,” he said as a way to relate to what Michelle was thinking. “And I do believe that I was very close to death once.”
“What do you mean? I thought you guys are immortal?” Michelle asked, alarmed.
“We are, in the sense that we don’t age and die, but there are instances in which we have been killed. The problem is that there aren’t enough of us to compile data about what it is that kills us. It’s not like we’re going to experiment on one another,” he chuckled. “But we do die if our heads are severed from our bodies,” Michelle winced at the thought, “and I’m pretty sure that fire with extreme heat is another way, because that’s what almost killed me.” Elliot told her that there were many times when his kind had been victim of various persecutions. And he had found himself at the stake not once but twice.
“It came in waves, and it sprouted in different places and at different times. Usually it followed some great plague or natural disaster, and because we survived, we and our families were naturally blamed.” From the look on his face it was obvious that Elliot was thinking about painful memories. He told Michelle that although he survived, some of his descendants were burned at the stake, especially during the dark ages when anyone who raised suspicion was accused of demonic possession or witchcraft.
“I myself was the victim of a similar torture; it was the worst thing I have ever felt. If I wasn’t found when I was I think I would have actually died.” What Elliot described to Michelle next sounded even worse than death. He was fighting in some war and word had gotten around that he was a daemon fighting in a plain soldier’s uniform. His enemies found a way to sneak poison into his camp, but when he didn’t die from the poison and instead just got drunk beyond belief, they used their superior numbers and the element of surprise to overpower him. By the time he sobered up he was gagged with his wrists wrapped backwards around stone pillars and held in place by the thickest metal chains.
“I couldn’t use my arms at all, and the iron chain they had me in was so thick that it might as well been solid plutonium. They had already set the place burning, and when my clothes caught on fire they melted into my skin. I’ve never felt so much pain in my life. And the whole time they were yelling at me to tell them which Marid I was, or which one sent me here. It was insanity mixed with insane pain.” Michelle winced in sympathy, her eyes glossy and her lips quaking.
“I don’t remember much besides the pain, but I do remember waking up in a mass grave surrounded by others who had suffered the same fate as I did. Only they were free; they were dead. I, on the other hand, had to lie there in complete and utter agony and wait for my body to heal itself, for my cells to regenerate. I have healed from stab wounds, bullet wounds, and numerous other injuries, but there is nothing, nothing on earth that is as painful as burning to death.” Elliot’s eyes were far away in the distant past. His jaw tightened with agitation and his entire body seemed taut with tension. Michelle wanted to protect him from those awful memories. She wanted to make them all go away and to make him feel better. She wanted to hold him or cradle him or do something. She felt so useless sitting there in the seat next to him as he described drowning in a sea of decomposing corpses including women and children. Without thinking it through, Michelle made a sudden movement to grab Elliot’s hand and held it tightly in hers. Whether it was for his benefit or hers, it didn’t really matter because it made Michelle feel better. Feeling his warm skin against hers was a validation that he was there with her alive and not suffering somewhere in the distant past. And what’s more, Elliot didn’t pull back from her. He tightened his grip around her fingers and kept driving while they held hands.
Elliot knew that what he had just told Michelle would shock her. It was one of the worst memories of his life and even though hundreds of years had passed, he still had nightmares about it. He looked at the sun up above and calculated that they were ahead of schedule. Michelle didn’t say anything about his turning onto a different route; her mind was also somewhere else. They drove up a steep mountain and eventually parked in a beautiful area with picnic tables facing the ocean down below. When Elliot opened the door for Michelle she didn’t say anything. Maybe she wasn’t strong enough to deal with his past, he thought to himself. And if that were the case he would have to release her and let her live her life away from the madness that he brought with him everywhere he went. He took Michelle’s hand and walked her over to the ridge. The magnificent Pacific Ocean down below was an awe-inspiring view. It was fresh and sunny and even the breeze had droplets of sea in it. That was Elliot. Elliot was the sea, coming and going, pulling and pushing, but remaining bound to the earth. “It’s beautiful up here, but what about Devin?” Michelle asked him.
“We’ve got time. I thought maybe this would cheer you up. There is something about water that always pacifies me. I’m sorry for telling you about that episode. It really is an awful story.” Michelle didn’t say anything for a while but eventually turned to look into Elliot’s eyes.
“How do you do it?”
“Do what?” he asked. Michelle returned her gaze to the horizon.
“I can hardly look at the news because of all the awful things that go on out there. It’s bad enough when natural disasters strike and I see all the suffering, but when I see what humans do to one another it makes me sick to my stomach. Even our country goes to war, and people die. It makes me feel ashamed to be a human. And to hear how we, they, have treated you… how come you don’t hate all humanity? You’ve seen more than anyone.” Michelle asked in frustration. Elliot shook his head and gently turned Michelle s
o she was facing him.
“Because I see daily acts of beauty done by regular human beings. Thousands of acts of generosity and kindness that will never be reported on the nightly news.” He wiped a tear away from her cheek. “When I told you about what happened, why did you grab my hand and hold it?” Michelle looked at him and then shifted her gaze shyly to the ground.
“I don’t know… I didn’t think about it. It just felt right. I guess I thought maybe you needed it?” Elliot gently raised Michelle’s face so she could look at him. She now had multiple tears running down her cheeks and she was embarrassed about them.
“It’s because of what you’ve done. No one will know about that split second moment when your heart naturally sought to comfort me. You’ll probably even forget about it yourself. Think about the millions of acts of kindness that take place every second somewhere out there. When they report the wars on the news they won’t show you the soldiers playing with orphans or helping people rebuild their homes. What you see is all sensationalism, and it’s meant to swerve the viewer’s mind politically. Turn that damned TV off, that’s what I say. We got along fine without it for thousands of years. Seek your news elsewhere, and you’ll find your way much closer to the truth. Do you understand now?” Michelle nodded and wiped her tears away with the bottom of her sleeve. She so wished he would take her in his arms and hold her. But instead he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards a small patch of vegetation. Trusting him, Michelle did not protest. Elliot crouched in front of a small bush with tiny leaves and flower buds. Placing his hand on the shrub, Elliot turned to look east at the sun and his eyes began glowing. Michelle looked at him curiously but he told her to look at the bush, not at him. A few seconds later, she saw each and every one of the little flower buds open up to reveal a violet bell shaped flower. It was a beautiful sight, and Michelle looked at Elliot with marvel. Next, Elliot pointed out to her a couple of small white butterflies fluttering around other flowers. He looked at them and motioned with his hands to indicate an invisible pathway for them from where they were to where he crouched. The butterflies circled around in the air a couple more times and then made their way to the newly opened flowers. Michelle’s mouth dropped wide open and her eyes, wide as they were, were smiling.
“It’s like magic,” she whispered.
Elliot smiled. “No not magic, Michelle. It’s nature and I just helped it along.” He took her hand and they walked back to the car.
“What makes a rainbow appear?” he asked, but didn’t let her answer. “Long time ago people thought it was magic, a gift from the Gods. We now understand through science that it’s pure white light separated by millions of water droplets acting like tiny prisms. Does that mean it’s any less awe-inspiring? Does it disqualify the rainbow as a gift from the Gods?”
On the way back down the mountain Elliot told Michelle about the railways and gravity cars that used to drive up and down that same exact road in the early 1900’s. He had lost a lot of money in the endeavor when fire destroyed the railways and the station saloon twice. But Michelle wasn’t paying attention to him. She was still stuck on the butterflies. “What?” he asked, smiling over at Michelle when he saw a most peculiar expression on her face.
“I want you to tell me everything. About how things work and everything you’ve done,” she said in a hungry voice.
“Whoa! Like a minute-by-minute report of the last five thousand years? Michelle, I don’t even remember half of it myself. And anyway why would you want to hear about such mundane things? My brain is filled with useless facts and memories that mean nothing to anyone anymore.”
“But they mean something to me,” Michelle interjected.
“Well, what should I start with and what should I omit or include?” Elliot asked, amused. Michelle thought for a while and asked him to tell her how his abilities worked. And Elliot told her that it was actually very simple if she understood the laws of chemistry, physics, and nature.
Elliot and his kind were by no means above the laws of nature. Their abilities worked within nature’s framework and were mostly tied to electromagnetism, Active-electro-perceptions and bio-electromagnetism. All these dealt with the interactions of atoms and protons.
“We can sense things from the magnetic energy they emit. This helped me greatly in my sailing skills because I was able to sense the earth’s magnetic field and that was very valuable for navigation.”
“Is that how you knew that I was hiding under that bush?” Michelle still felt embarrassed about that day she hid at Hekademos. Elliot told her that although he was angry at the time he actually found the whole incident rather amusing.
“Especially when you crawled out in your huge camouflage clothes.” Elliot laughed out loud and Michelle folded her arms in defiance and looked out the window. He grabbed her hand again. “I used Bio-electromagnetism to help your leg heal faster that day. That’s the fancy word for talking with cells.” Michelle was attentive again.
“Can you bring things back to life too? Like a God or something?” Elliot’s face went white when Michelle spoke those words. Did she know what he had done the whole time and just wasn’t letting on? But when he didn’t say anything and she nudged him, poking her finger into his shoulder, he realized that she didn’t. It was just a natural question to ask after everything he had just revealed to her.
“God creates. I create nothing. I just harness what was already put out there, and even that’s not always successful.”
They eventually took the freeway offramp to the airport parking structure. Michelle decided to stay in the car while Elliot went to meet Devin, but Elliot didn’t feel quite right leaving her in the garage.
“He could be tired or in a bad mood, and the last thing I would want would be to meet a new person if that’s how I felt,” Michelle explained. “At least this way he’ll get the heads-up that I’m here,” she added. Elliot was touched by Michelle’s thoughtfulness. And besides, she had a headache. She often got them after she cried and that morning was no exception. Without even asking, Elliot placed his hand over Michelle’s forehead and the headache began to subside. Michelle smiled at him half intoxicated and told him that she should keep him around just for that.
About half an hour later Elliot returned with Devin and Michelle hopped out of the car to be properly introduced. Devin was very proper and, like the rest of the guys, very beautiful. His skin was a luxurious shade of gold and caramel and his amber colored eyes were like those of a tiger, beautiful and picturesque. Michelle immediately tried to imagine him in royal Indian garb made of rich multi-colored fabrics. He looked every inch a prince, in her humble opinion. On the drive back, Devin told stories about his travels and about the people he met, and Michelle swallowed every word as if she was there herself tasting China’s great cuisine. But while Devin was talking, Michelle noticed that Elliot didn’t say much of anything. Perhaps he was tired from talking to her she thought, but then she remembered that he rarely tired at all. Could he have argued with Devin on their way back to the car? Maybe Devin was not all that pleased about Michelle being there? Whatever the reason, she kept all those thoughts to herself and kept smiling and asking polite questions. When Elliot dropped her off in front of Samantha’s and didn’t say much anything to her besides goodbye, she knew that there was something wrong and that she wasn’t just imagining it. Something had changed from when Elliot had left the car to when he returned and whatever it was, it was definitely serious.
Chapter 10
Michelle tried to fill in the gaps for Samantha as best she could. She chose her words carefully, avoiding anything that would arouse any suspicions about Elliot. It was a difficult task, considering that several months ago Michelle had sworn up and down that the guys at the new school weren’t human.
“Ok,” Samantha said, annoyed, “but how come you never bring him around or anything? I mean, he drops you off and picks you up in front of my house, and you never once thought about properly introducing us.” Michelle hadn’
t even considered sharing Elliot with her friends. Samantha was right. If Elliot were any other guy they would have probably already hung out together.
“So is he your boyfriend?” Samantha wanted to know, still annoyed. “Did you guys even kiss? Did he even tell you he likes you like that?” Michelle shook her head in defeat; Samantha was right. She was reading too much into things. “You’re not doing drugs together, are you?” Samantha demanded to know.
“What!” Michelle exploded in anger and gave Samantha a look that could kill. Samantha apologized and explained that she was only asking out of concern, since the guys at that Hekademos Center were troubled after all. Michelle was fuming; Samantha tried to calm her down.
“You know, I thought I was your best friend and you don’t even trust me to get a feel on this guy? I want to meet him Michelle, then I’ll stop asking all those questions.” An unsure and anxious Michelle bit her lower lip. She’d try to arrange something.
Unfortunately for Michelle, Elliot didn’t contact her the rest of the week and eventually even Samantha stopped asking about those ‘plans’ that Michelle had promised to arrange. Every day Michelle came home from school waiting to either run into him or at least get a note, but none of those scenarios materialized. By the weekend she was crushed all over again, and tried to figure out if she had offended him during their long conversation about his past. She started to seriously panic when she didn’t hear from him the next week either. And then she grew angry. If he thought she was being rude, the least he could do was let her know about it; say it to her face and not be a coward and run away from things.
On Thursday Francesca asked Michelle if she would be kind enough to drive her to church again for Sunday services. Something about somebody’s great granddaughter getting baptized. Sure she would, she told Francesca, it wasn’t like she had any plans for the weekend anyway. Michelle’s other consideration was that maybe she would see Rion there and she could ask him about Elliot. But when Sunday came around Michelle’s luck had not changed. Rion was not there. She scanned the pews and just about screamed when she didn’t spot him anywhere. After that she decided that she had no choice but to march over to the school and find out from Elliot himself what the heck was going on!
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