by Yvi Valentin
I grabbed my keys. “Thanks, so when you said you needed to tell me something that day…were you going to give me answers?”
“If you hadn’t gotten taken away, I was going to tell you everything and hope you would come with me to start training.”
“So what do we do now?” My heart was beating fast at the thought of what might happen next.
“Now, we relax and catch up with an old friend,” Andy began, “tomorrow, we’ll continue your training and ask my mom about why you’re getting your memory back so fast.”
“You’re already remembering things?” I could feel the excitement build up within Brian.
“Yeah, I’ve had a few memories flash through my mind so far,” I answered.
“Not to mention that she’s already able to read minds and make an energy ball.” Andy was bragging about me. It was obvious it was one of his favorite things to do and I was perfectly fine with that.
“Nice job kiddo,” Brian said, impressed by my achievements.
“Thanks, maybe I should have mentioned this before, but I noticed I’ve been seeing more things lately.”
“What kind of things?” Andy and Brian asked in unison.
“The same things from before, but I see them more often,” I began, “the auras, faces, shadows, lines, balls of light and static…I’m still seeing it all. I don’t think anything else has been added to that list.” I thought about it for a moment. “I noticed I’ve been more emotional lately, it usually seems to be for no reason and lately it seems like I’m being touched on the arm by something unseen.”
“I don’t get how you’re getting your abilities back so fast.” Andy seemed completely stunned by my words and I wasn’t sure why.
“She was meditating a lot before all of this began,” Brian pointed out.
Andy took my hands in his as he spoke. “That explains it. It seems like you couldn’t wait to get back to your old life.”
“Yeah, that was it,” I laughed. “Do you still think you need to ask your mom about it?”
“Nope, mystery solved.” I could feel Andy’s smile as he gave me a kiss and I couldn’t help but smile too.
We continued to catch up with Brian and had a fun night filled with laughter. The next day we woke up and ate a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon to fuel us for what was sure to be a long day of training. It wasn’t long before we were back in the clearing preparing for the next abilities I was going to attempt.
“You have to remember that being relaxed is important to be able to do anything you’re going to learn,” Andy explained. “You seem to have that part down already.”
“Okay,” I said. “So how do I make one of those fireballs or the other ones like you do? Is it basically the same way I made the energy ball except I focus on the element I want to form in my hand?”
“That’s exactly it,” Brian answered.
“Are you sure you didn’t teach her anything before?” Andy asked jokingly.
“I didn’t teach her a thing.”
I ignored the two and focused on my energy. I decided to make a fireball first. I tried to feel the heat of a fire flowing out of my hand, forming into a ball. It wasn’t long before I heard Brian and Andy gasp. I knew my efforts had been successful. I opened my eyes to see a ball of fire swirling in my hand.
“That was amazing,” Andy exclaimed. “I can’t believe you still have the fireball in your hand. You’re getting back to normal very fast, Aimee, I’m so proud of you!”
“Thanks. How do I change it to a different element?”
“You mean you don’t have all the answers?” Andy teased.
“You focus on a different element with the fireball still in your hand and it’ll change,” Brian explained.
“Thanks.”
I focused on the fireball and changed the heat to refreshing water. Another gasp escaped from the two and I decided to ignore them and change the water ball into electricity. I focused on the prickling and crackling feeling of electricity and imagined it flowing through my hand to form a swirling ball. I felt the change from water to lightning. It was so powerful, I wasn’t sure I could handle it for much longer before I remembered I needed to ground myself. I focused on the energy flowing through my body and pushed some of it into the earth. I instantly felt much better.
“How did you know to do that?” Andy was completely astonished.
“I did a lot of research about meditation before all of this craziness started and grounding came up in some of my research.” I let the lightning ball dissolve into the air and looked at the stunned faces of Andy and Brian. “What’s next?”
“Let’s try throwing one of these balls,” Brian said. “You should probably use the water ball for this one since we’re in a forest.”
“So I start by making a water ball,” I said while forming one in my hand. “Now what?”
“I don’t think I’m going to get used to how fast this is all coming back to you,” Andy laughed. “Now you use your energy to push the ball away from your body, to wherever you want it to go.”
I tried to think of where I wanted the water ball to go, but all I could think of was hitting Andy and Brian with one. I sustained the swirling ball of water in my right hand while creating a new one in my left. I built up my energy and held out my hands as I concentrated on pushing the water balls to my targets. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds before I saw Brian and Andy standing there soaking wet. I burst into laughter. They both created water balls and I tried to run out of the way before I got hit. We all stood there in soaked clothes and laughed uncontrollably.
“You’re good,” Andy began.
“But did you really have to aim at us?” Brian interrupted.
“I didn’t know where else to aim,” I laughed. “You have to admit, it was kind of funny.” I decided to make a ball of wind to throw at Andy and Brian hoping it would dry them off. I formed a ball in each hand and seconds later, the two of them were dry.
“Now you’re just showing off.” I knew I had really impressed Andy.
“Just a little. Do I have to stay like this or are you going to help?” Andy formed a ball of air and threw it at me. The wind felt nice in my hair and in a flash, I was dry. “Thank you.”
“What’s left to teach her?” Brian asked.
“She’s already done more than we had planned for her today. Plus she’s showing off like she always used to…what’s next?”
“Shielding?” I asked. “Is that a thing?”
“How did you know about that?” I had a feeling Andy was going to be shocked throughout the entire training process.
“I told you before, I did research before all of this started.”
“Evan must not have done a good job at erasing your memory. I don’t have any other reason for why you’re picking up on everything so fast,” Andy said.
“Is that really a bad thing? I’ll be able to fight in the war sooner.”
“That is true,” Brian noted.
“Alright, let’s work on shielding. First you need to think about what you want to shield yourself from. Physical attacks and negative energies are the two most common shields.”
“Aren’t there emotional shields?” I asked.
“Oh, right, I forgot about those,” Andy said. “I don’t use them often. But how did you know about them?”
“Research.”
“We should start with the physical attack shield, because it’ll be easier to tell if it’s working and how strong it is.” I got the feeling Brian just wanted to get this over with.
“How do I do that?”
“Keep the thought of shielding yourself from physical attacks in your mind,” Andy explained. “While you do that, take in more energy and picture it surrounding your entire body.” I felt myself take in more energy from my surroundings as I kept in mind what I wanted the shield to do. I felt the energy swirling around my entire body. It seemed so easy that I wondered if I had to do anything else. “Now that you have th
e energy around your body, you need to let it go. It will stay where you want it to.” I let go of the energy and felt it hovering over me.
“Now we have to throw stuff at her to make sure it actually worked.”
“Like you ever needed a reason to throw stuff at me, Brian.”
Brian was all too eager in picking up a stick and prepared himself to throw it at me. He aimed it right at my head, but it bounced off the shield a foot in front of my face. He then picked up a rock and threw it towards my shoulder.
“Ouch!” I yelled. “Did you have to throw it that hard?”
“Well, yeah, I had to see how strong your shield is.”
“Just concentrate like you did to make the shield, and add energy to it to make it stronger,” Andy explained. I did what he told me and hoped it would keep the rocks out. Brian picked up another rock and threw it at me, it bounced off the shield. “This is great Aimee, let’s go home now, I think we’ve made great progress today.”
Months of training passed and I learned how to make a shield against negative energy, fight, sharpen my aura seeing and mind reading skills, despite his resistance, I forced Andy to teach me how to shield certain thoughts from being read, move objects with my mind and I even had visions of the future. I became very skilled at all of those things. It was like I never forgot how to do any of it. The only thing left was to get all of my memories back. I remembered a lot of things from my past, but I still felt like there were many holes in my memory. One thing I knew for sure…I was ready to fight in the war.
Chapter 8
“Aimee! Aimee!” Andy yelled as he shook me. “Aimee, wake up!” I shot up in the bed and gasped for air. Andy held me in his arms as I tried to calm down. “What happened? You were kicking and screaming in your sleep.”
“There was a woman. She had bright orange eyes and what looked like a row of shark teeth in her mouth.” Tears streamed down my face.
“That’s Gina, she works closely with Evan. What happened?”
“She had me pinned down on a bed…with a needle in her hand. She told me I was never going to see you again. Just before you woke me up, Evan walked through the door.” Andy tightened his grip on me as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I just hope nothing remotely close to that ever happens.”
“I won’t let that happen. Can you give me as much detail as possible? It’s important to find out what Evan might be planning next.”
“It looked like I was in some sort of facility. There were bars on the windows and I was on was a cot. I was wearing a hospital gown. It was night time, and Gina was dressed as a nurse and I’m pretty sure Evan was dressed as a doctor. That’s all I saw.”
“It may have been a mental institution. Evan has been known to do that. I think he’s going to try to erase your memory again.” I could hear the fear in Andy’s voice. He didn’t want this to happen any more than I did.
“Oh great,” I complained. “Why can’t he just leave me alone?”
“He’s in love with you that’s why,” he said bluntly. “We all do crazy things for love.”
“What is Gina? I’ve never seen anything like that before and what are we going to do about this? It’s only a matter of time before Evan tracks me down again.”
“I’m not sure what she is but I know humans don’t see her like we do. And we’re going to keep living our lives, start figuring out how to end this war and fight if we have to. We’ll worry about Evan if he gets close.”Andy was trying to stay calm but he was just as scared as I was…I could feel it.
“Why are we only going to worry about it if something happens? By then, it’s going to be too late to do anything. Evan will have me kidnapped and my memory erased and replaced. You will never see me again Andy, is that what you want?” I was yelling, in a full panic. I didn’t want any of it to happen, but I had a feeling it was going to.
“We’ll come up with a plan to make sure your vision never happens. But for now, let’s get out of bed and start our day.”
“I’d rather stay in bed for a while,” I said as I lied back down.
Andy took my hand and positioned himself on the bed next to me. “This is why I love you.”
“Because I would rather stay in bed all day?”
“No smart ass. But that is part of it. I love how you always speak your mind and refuse to let anyone get in the way of what you think is right.”
“Well I love you too.” I gave Andy a kiss and we stayed in bed for a while longer, enjoying the moment we had together, the calm before the storm.
“Alright,” he said after what seemed like a few minutes which really was a few hours. “Time to be productive, I told my mom we would go see her. She said she figured out a way to get the rest of your memories back.”
“That’s great! Why didn’t you tell me before? I would have gotten out of bed for that!” It was exciting news. All I wanted was to remember everything from before Evan had wiped the slate clean.
“You were so upset before and I thought a few more hours in bed would help you feel better.”
“Well it did help.”
“Good, now get ready for lunch at my mom’s house.”
I got out of bed and walked over to my closet, pulled on a pair of red jeans and a white t-shirt with a pair of black flats. I put my hair into my signature braid, put some makeup on and went downstairs to meet Andy.
“Is there anything I need to bring with me for today?”
“Just yourself, beautiful,” he said as we headed towards the car.
We pulled up to the house of Dr. Rachael Robins, which seemed more like a mansion to me. I had gotten to know her better over the months I spent getting readjusted to my new life. I felt bad for thinking she was going to hurt me in the beginning, but she was very understanding about everything.
“Hi,” she said, giving both Andy and I a hug.
“Hi mom.”
“Hi Rachael, how are you?”
“I’m doing fine, thank you. Lunch is ready and on the table.” I could tell she was excited but I wasn’t sure if it was because she liked having company or if it was because of the reason Andy and I were here.
“Great, I’m starving!” Andy said. “What’s for lunch?”
“I made burgers,” she answered.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Anything sounds good to you, Andy,” I teased.
“So, should we get down to business?” Rachael asked after we all finished eating.
“Yes,” Andy and I replied in unison.
“Aimee, come sit down and make sure you’re comfortable.” I made sure to do exactly what Rachael said. “Close your eyes and relax.” I closed my eyes and took deep breaths as if I were about to meditate. “No matter what happens, I want you to make sure you stay relaxed.” She placed a hand on my head. “Andy I need you to place a hand on Aimee’s head too.” He did the same. “Andy, you’re going to have to think about every memory you have of Aimee and place it into her head.” It wasn’t long before I saw images flash through my mind like a movie played in fast forward.
I saw the moment Andy and I met. It looked like we were in a completely different decade, possibly the 1920s. We were both in an art museum in Chicago looking at an exhibit of ancient Egyptian art when Andy decided to try to teach me something about ancient Egyptian culture. He had no idea that I already knew a thing or two about it but a conversation ensued and there was an instant connection.
I saw our wedding, I had no idea we were married. Andy never wore a ring and he never gave me one. I wondered why and at the same time, felt bad for not remembering. I saw flashes of battles fought and won. I never realized I was such a good fighter. I saw glimpses of the world I belonged to. There were spirits, angels or star children in their true form, dragons and so many other creatures. It seemed to me that this world was nothing more than outer space. There were stars and asteroids everywhere, creatures flying around, landing on the nearest object to socialize and civilizations on whole other planets. It was bre
athtaking. I relived parts of my life as so many more memories passed through my head.
I woke up with Andy and Rachael hovering over me. “It worked. I remember so much more than I did before. Thank you.”
“It was no problem at all,” Rachael smiled.
“We better get going mom. I’ll let you know when we get home.”
“Alright, be safe,” she said as she gave us both a hug.
“Bye, Rachael. And thanks again for everything.”
We pulled up to our house and noticed the front door was slightly open. My heart dropped. My only thought was that it was Evan, or at least someone who was working for him and Andy had the same thought. I wondered if it was a good idea to go inside. Someone could have been in there, waiting to get their hands on me.
“You stay in the car. I’ll go in to make sure the coast is clear.”
“You’re not leaving me alone out here. What if there’s someone waiting for me?” I too scared to be left alone.
“You’re right. Then you should stay right behind me. I want there to be constant contact, so if someone tries to take you away, I’ll know.”
“Okay.” Andy let me out of the car and grabbed my hand. We walked into the house slowly and saw nothing out of place. “It doesn’t look...”
Andy put a finger to my lips before I could finish my sentence. “Evan could have bugged the place. We’re going to have to leave. Grab the essentials and we’ll leave right away.” His voice rang in my head.
I nodded and we went straight to the bedroom and hastily grabbed everything we needed for our move. It couldn’t have been more than an hour before we had all of our stuff packed and ready to go. Andy checked the suitcases and all of our belongings for any bugs, which he found and placed in one of the emptied drawers. Once all of the bugs were taken off of our stuff and everything was packed, we put it in the car and started driving.
“We’re going to go to a parking garage where we have another car waiting for us. Just in case they bugged the car after we got home.”
“But if they bugged this car, won’t they be able to hear us right now?” I panicked.