Chapter 24
The fire-
Our study group had met outside by a few trees. It didn’t take long for our topic to get off subject, and soon everyone was talking about what super hero power they wanted.
“I would control people’s minds,” Dustin said.
“I would fly,” Nate said.
“I would stop time,” said Jerald
“I would make fire,” Steve said.
“What about you,” Dustin asked me. “What would you do, Alora?”
“Um, fly, I guess.”
I decided I already had super hero powers, for I could move things. The kids in the group continued to debate why the power they choose was better. Nathan was going on and on about what he would do if he could fly, which gave me an idea.
While they continued their pissing match, I reclined against a tree and looked like I might take a nap. Everyone ignored me which was what I wanted. I stretched my Zen forth and picked up Nathan and levitated him in the air. I found since he was heavier than anything I had experimented with, he used much more of my energy.
“Holy Toledo, Nate, you are flying! You are flying!” Jerald screamed.
“How are you doing that?” Steve asked equally as wired.
“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Nathan said in astonishment. I had him do aerial summersaults, spinning forward, then back. His brown hair flipping all around. The study group members stood, with their eyes locked onto Nate. He had an expression simultaneously of pure delight and utter fear. As I moved him around, I tried to keep him fairly close to the ground. I could feel my energy being sapped away. It took a lot to keep Nathan in the air.
“Can you go higher?”
“How fast can you go?”
“Pick me up, and fly with me,” were the things the others said to him.
“So cool,” I said as I stood up. Standing was hard to do, and I was tiring quickly. I borrowed a bit of Steve’s energy so I could keep Nate up for a little bit longer. Nate tried to control the direction of his levitation, but I kept control.
I was getting weak. It had taken almost everything I had to fly Nate around. I carefully dropped him to the ground. I figured since I had made his wish come true, he owed me, so I borrowed some of his energy to restore my own lost reserves. I still felt weak, so I borrowed a little from Steve, Dustin, and Jerald as well.
The boys gathered around Nate. “How did you do that?”
“Do it again.”
“Take me for a flight.”
Our group didn’t get any more studying in. When it was time, we went back to class. Word quickly spread across the campus about how Nate had flown, making him an instant celebrity. When kids asked me about it, I underplayed it.
“I am not sure he was really flying. I think it was an illusion the group had created,” I told people. As the rumor circulated, some were willing to believe it, but most did not. My name never got tied up in the event.
I was happy to have Dr. Moody back in class. When class dismissed, he invited me back in his office for dinner. There was lime chicken with goat cheese and pine nuts in the middle. He was introducing me to fine food. He said he always ate well. I could tell by his portly belly that he did. As he sat across from me, he had a twinkle in his eye. His aura was a golden orange.
“That was you, wasn’t it?” he said.
I blushed and looked away. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Making that boy fly. Tell me that had nothing to do with you.”
I continued to look at the flower. I sent my Zen to the flower and took it to Dr. Moody. He reached out and grabbed it.
“I must say, I am very impressed.”
“Thanks,” I said, finally looking at him in the eyes.
“But, I am also scared.”
“Are you scared of the unknown?” I asked.
“I am scared for your future.”
“I am sure my future is pretty bright,” I replied.
“No, no it is not. You must be careful, or you will have no future.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you to watch a movie. What do you have going the rest of the day?”
“Science engineering, break, then math.”
“You are going to miss science engineering. Is that alright?”
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to deviate from the agenda.”
“You’re not.”
“Well, then how am I going to do it?”
“I will tell them I detained you.”
“Will I get in trouble?”
“I won’t let you get in trouble,” he said.
He didn’t seem to be much in a hurry. I told him if we watched the movie while we ate, it would save time, but he didn’t want to. He said the movie was disturbing and it would spoil our fine dinner. After we ate, he cleaned up his desk. We went into his classroom where he put on a movie. I must admit it was a bit creepy sitting in the huge lecture hall alone with Dr. Moody.
I don’t know why, but I had been expecting an entertaining movie. It wasn’t. It wasn’t even a professional documentary of any type. It was an electronic journal, of sorts. It was created by a scientist. His focus was on a twelve year old girl. It was old, recorded many years before. He explained in scientific jargon which I fully understood, how the girl had the abilities of telekinetic. He took to calling the girl subject 341, depersonalizing her.
The camera focused on subject 341. She was in a small, cement room. She could levitate paper, and magnets, and playing cards. He tried to have her do bigger things, but at first, she couldn’t do it. Seeing her in the cement room made me wonder if I was ever subjected to the same type of experiments.
Each time he recorded her, she was able to lift bigger objects. By the end, she had been able to lift a chair for a short distance across the room. Although the movie had been painfully long, it had ended without any conclusion.
“I don’t see how it was disturbing,” I said.
“I’m sure it didn’t look disturbing, but the story behind the movie is this-Dr. Granger had found this girl. I believe she had been on a local news channel when someone had reported to them what she could do. Anyhow, this girl’s name was Candice Clemmings. I later researched as much about her as I could.
“Candice was a ward of the state. That means the state owned her in a sense. She didn’t have parents. In nineteen seventy four, she lived at an Orphanage in Chicago called Angel Guardian. The state was in the process of shutting down the orphanage. They had hundreds of kids to get rid of. When Dr. Granger came requesting Candice Clemmings, they easily released her custody to his university.”
“What university was it? This one?”
“Oh no, Harvard would never get itself involved in a scandal like that one.”
“What university was it then?”
“I am not going to say, for I am embarrassed by what they did, and I currently have several friends working there. I don’t want to tarnish their name.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t Harvard?” I asked.
“I promise on my mother’s grave,” he said sternly.
“So what happened? Why is this a bad story? It sounds like they rescued Candice. I am much like her. I liked it when I was rescued.”
“The fact you are like her scares me even more. I don’t think Candice had the same abilities you do. Somehow, she had broken into the science of telekinesis, but I think that is where her gifts started and stopped. Anyway, Dr. Granger subjected that poor child into tests, upon tests, upon tests. When he wasn’t testing her, he was forcing her to entertain colleagues with her telekinetic abilities.
“He drained the life out of this poor child. She never got a break, for he was going insane. He thought he had discovered something pretty amazing, and he wasn’t about to miss his opportunity for having his name written up in all the scientific journals.
“Candice Clemmings sl
owly lost the ability for telekinesis. I think he had overworked her. As he saw it slip away, he saw his dreams go with it. He wouldn’t let it happen, so he mixed up a cocktail of drugs and gave them to her. Her abilities sprouted during that time. Do you remember in the movie when she moved the chair? She had done that after he had given her all those drugs. He got greedy and kept giving her stronger doses. Her teeth quickly rotted and her hair fell out. In the end, it took her life.”
I felt sick. I really wished Dr. Moody hadn’t shared her story with me. “Why didn’t anyone stop him? Why was he allowed to do that to a kid?” I wanted to cry, dread filled me.
“I guess it was because Candice Clemmings didn’t have anyone to watch over her, to advocate for her. None of Dr. Granger’s colleagues knew the extent of what was going on. They all testified they thought subject 341’s mom was dropping her off at the university every now and then. They didn’t realize Dr. Granger had her locked in his lab, like a lab monkey.”
I was angry at Dr. Granger, and I was angry at Dr. Moody for telling me all this. “That is so disturbing. Why did you have to tell it to me?” I yelled. I felt sick.
“Because, Alora Funk, I don’t want to see you become the next Candice Clemmings.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I see this happening all over again. You are a ward of the state, aren’t you? You don’t have any parents or anyone who cares about you, watching over you.”
His words hurt.
“It’s already happening. The state let you come to Harvard for a month. One full month of no supervision. Have they checked in with you?”
I shook my head.
“No, I didn’t think so. We could have already zapped your brain by now. You are light years ahead of Candice Clemmings. You already have the heads of all the departments spinning with your abilities of recollection and recall. The last thing they need to know is how you can channel object’s energy and you can lift things with that energy.”
“They wouldn’t do anything to me. Things have changed a lot since the seventies,” I naively said.
“You really think so? Alora, my dear, this has already happened to you. You have already been the guinea pig to someone.”
“Who, you?” I asked.
“Oh, heavens no, not me. To the Russians, whoever they represented. You told me yourself you were locked in a cement room and was imprisoned by a drug induced coma. They didn’t do that to you because they wanted a vegetable in the basement. They were doing some sort of experimentation on you, you mark my word. This is very real, and the potential of you ending up like Candice Clemmings is very real.”
I felt horrible. I wanted to run and hide. I wanted to give back all my weird gifts and be like everyone else. I wanted to become lost in the hustle and bustle of the Sanibel family.
“What am I supposed to do?” I glumly asked.
“I don’t know, lay low I guess. Don’t appear to be so brilliant. Whatever you do, do not let anyone run experiments on you. They will start out small, ask if they can hook up an electrode to your brain to measure your neurological brain activity, but don’t let them. Once they start, there will be more tests, and they will keep going and never end. Just don’t allow them to test you.”
“But they test me all the time,” I said.
“How so?”
“I don’t know, like all the tests we do every Monday.”
Dr. Moody laughed. “No, those are fine. You can take academic tests on paper, but nothing else, do you promise?”
“I promise. I still don’t know what I am supposed to do.”
“I don’t know. Enjoy you are brilliant, and get yourself a nice career with it, but nothing else. Don’t be experimented upon, and don’t show off. If you start letting people know you can pick up objects with your own energy, they are going to lock you up against your will. I promise you that.”
“Can I always turn to you if I need to?” I asked.
“Of course you can,” he said, giving me a one armed, friendly hug from the side.
I went back to my dorm very depressed. I had been having fun with my new abilities, but now I didn’t want them, for they scared me. When I got into my room, I was pleased to find a letter on my bed. It was from the Petersons. I needed something to take my mind off my sorrow. With hope, I opened the letter.
Dear Alora
We had such a great time with you when
you were here. We want you to know
we have talked to Child Protective Services and they
have given us permission to adopt you
if that is what you want. We don’t
want to rush you into anything, but
we want you to know we love you
and want you to think about it.
…
Enclosed with the letter was a picture of us enjoying the Fourth of July festivities together.
I sat on the bed and stared at the picture. The Petersons would protect me against the scientists of the world. They wouldn’t let anyone experiment upon me. They would be my parents, and I could call them Mom and Dad forever.
…
Sharon was being particularly sour. She had received a letter in the mail from her family. They had enclosed five hundred dollars in it.
She was ranting and raving to herself, “I am not allowed to leave the campus. You guys should have known that. What good is this five hundred dollars, if not to torture me? I hate it here. I want to get out for a night, one night, is that too much to ask? Why are they so controlling? This is our lives, not theirs!”
I was lying in bed and she kept going on and on. I couldn’t take any more of it. I opened my Zen and was going to use it, but I held back for a moment. I wondered if it was wise to keep messing with other’s energy like I had been doing. I really had no idea what the physical effects on the body were. As I was weighing these things in my mind, Sharon bad mouthed me.
Since she must have thought I was asleep, she wasn’t careful with her words about me. She expressed her deep disdain in me and all my smartness. She said cutting remarks about what she thought the Russians really did to me. Then she picked up my letter from Peggy and read it out loud, mocking everything on it. I couldn’t take it anymore. As I was deciding if I should pretend to stay asleep, or if I should do something, she ripped my letter up then went back to her money. She picked it up and talked about how wealthy she was coming from Winchesters and how I was a lowly no-body. I couldn’t take anymore. Still pretending to be asleep, I sent my Zen to her. I was planning on taking her money, but I was so angry the heat from my energy ignited it instead, sending it up in flames.
She screamed as she dropped the flaming money on her bed. The fire spread over her homework and her quilt. She screamed again as she opened her water bottle and tried to put the flames out. The smoke billowed up to the fire alarm, and it went off as an ear piercing siren. The sprinkler heads popped out and the flood gates opened. I sat up in bed, as if I had woken up to the siren.
“What’s going on?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.
…
Our dorm was evacuated. The sprinklers put out the small fire before the firefighters even got there. The water had damaged our side of the dorms, displacing us and the other eight girls in the program. We were sent to another dorm. Since it was against policy to have any flammables or fire paraphernalia in the room, Sharon was suspended for arson.
I had to admit, I felt slightly bad and responsible for her punishment. The damage was going to be costly. They did promise Sharon if her parents covered the cost of the restoration then she would be allowed to return the following year.
I was moved into a new dorm room all by myself.
The next evening as I dined on lobster tail with Dr. Moody, he finally brought up the subject of the fire.
“Was that you?” he asked.
Why did he always think everything was me? I could
n’t look him in the eyes as I felt my cheeks flush.
“How was it me?”
“I read the reports. Sharon claimed the whole time the money had spontaneously combusted. There is not a person on the faculty who believes her, except maybe me, considering who her roommate was.”
“Who, me?”
“Did you know she is in a lot of trouble? Are you okay with her taking the brunt of what should be your punishment?”
“I didn’t mean to. Should I go and tell Dr. Van Hassel it was me?”
“NO! What’s done is done,” he snapped as he dipped a chunk of red lobster meat into a ceramic bowl of melted butter. I hadn’t eaten lobster before, so I mimicked his actions. My first bite blew me away. The rich, buttery goodness of the meat was astounding. I never knew food could taste so good. Dr. Moody had been introducing me to a line of fine food.
“Do you think her parents will pay for the damage?” I asked with my cheeks stuffed full of potatoes.
“They won’t be happy about it, but most of the kids in this summer camp have parents with pretty deep pockets. That Sharon kid was a bit of a tort, and I reckon she will come back more humble next year.”
We ate for a moment in silence.
“How did you do it?” Dr. Moody asked.
“Do what?”
“Start fire?”
“My energy got so hot it combusted.”
“Precisely what I thought happened. Can you do it again?”
“Is this an experiment?” I joked.
“You don’t have to do it if you are not comfortable.”
“Will you put it out before it sets the sprinkles off?” I asked. “I can’t be connected to two fires on the campus.”
“How about we go to my lab?” he said.
I followed him into the lab. He put a dry piece of parchment on a work table. “Go ahead,” he said.
I pulled my Zen out, and worked myself up until I felt it get really hot then I sent it to the parchment. The paper went up in flames. I felt powerful watching what I had done. Quickly, he covered it with a metal lid before too much smoke appeared.
“You are a rare treasure.”
I beamed.
Alora Funk- The Deliverance: Book 1 Page 25