Cloak of Echoes

by CK Dawn

Gorgeous and unattainable! Emma scoffed to herself, and probably some type of werewolf or bloodsucker with her luck. Being of average height with hazel eyes so dark they might as well be brown and mousy brown hair she never knew what to do with, Emma had always felt invisible, especially to boys. Even without her freakish empathic abilities she knew she was a bit odd, or quirky as her only friend Mel liked to say. She had never felt like she really fit in with other teenagers, either, and no one in school ever paid any attention to her. So why should this beautiful specimen be any different? And then, it happened. As Mrs. Blake said the boy’s name he looked directly at Emma and smiled.

  “Class, this is Mattox Daniels.”

  Mattox’s blue eyes locked with hers. His smile seemed so genuine that she couldn’t believe it. Emma’s heart got stuck in her throat as she tried to swallow. She tried to smile back but failed. The moment passed and he looked away. Then Mattox took a seat all the way in the back of the classroom far from her own.

  I was in his line of sight, that’s all, she convinced herself. Besides the void in space he created there was something odd about the boy. Emma couldn’t explain it, but somehow she knew he was different from the thing in the alley. She hadn’t felt any emotions from him and yet she felt connected to him. Is he even really here? She looked behind her and Mattox smiled at her again, still not giving off any emotions. Emma’s heartbeat quickened and his smile grew wider with every beat of her heart. She quickly turned back around, but not before Patrick the steroid-contemplating jock chuckled from beside her.

  “Keep dreaming, Emma Dilemma,” Patrick scoffed. “You’d have a better chance with me, freak,” his football buddies laughed along with him.

  Emma didn’t respond. Instead she stoically looked straight ahead and tried to become invisible. Well, Mattox is definitely real alright.

  Emma walked down the hall to her next class fully aware of the void in space that followed behind her. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder and could have sworn that Mattox turned away just before she made eye contact with him. She took a detour and made a sharp left turn ducking into the girl’s bathroom.

  What the hell is going on? She shook her head thinking that maybe the encounter in the alley had done something to short circuit her already crazy wiring. He can’t just NOT be there. Emma found herself both irritated and intrigued by Mattox. She was curious about her reaction to him, how she couldn’t actually get an empathic feel from him. The only thing more powerful than her curiosity, however, was her self-doubt in the face of his ridiculous good looks. Emma couldn’t help but instinctively push out her senses to fix on his location. She was certain she felt him pass the bathroom doors and enter her next class. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! Two girls came out of a stall whispering and looking at Emma as they left the bathroom in a cloud of giggles. They were probably wondering why she was just standing against the tile wall like a freak staring into space instead of at least looking in the mirror, or gossiping about Janet’s period as they had been. Emma walked to the sink and threw some cold water on her face preparing for another hour with the curiosity that was Mattox Daniels. So focused on Mr. Mystery, Emma hadn’t noticed this particular distraction had been drowning out a lot of the other constant and intrusive emotions swirling within her perception.

  “Mr. Daniels, I don’t know how S.B. Devere Academy is run, but here at Jefferson High students are actually expected to participate in class.” Mr. Grey mumbled something about private schools and paltry public funds under his breath before turning back to his cracked and faded chalkboard.

  Mattox put away the very expensive looking device that Emma didn’t think was a phone or an iPad and gave Mr. Grey a halfhearted apologetic shrug.

  “My man, Ox,” one of the jocks whispered obviously impressed by the gadget.

  “You mean fox,” a varsity cheerleader chimed in probably hoping for a ride in the equally expensive car Emma assumed he had. Or the cheerleader was simply looking to ride him.

  Some of the other students turned to look at him with reverence. And with that, Mattox’s fate was sealed. He was officially dubbed a cool.

  Emma’s other morning classes had been uneventful and unoccupied by the curious Mr. Mattox Daniels. She was somewhat relieved, but his absence served to pique her interest even more.

  Emma looked at her tray of food made up of entirely beige contents and took a seat. Lunchtime was unbearable. So many people, so many emotions. Emma sat at the farthest bench in the outside courtyard that she could find, but it still wasn’t far enough from all the tumultuous teen static.

  “Hi. Mind if I sit here?” A voice asked Emma as she hid underneath her hood. Without even looking up she knew it was Mattox that had asked the question and he still wasn’t giving off any emotions.

  “Sorry, it’s taken.” said Emma, fidgeting with the fork on her tray. She wasn’t quite sure why she wasn’t up for his company, but she knew she was still trying to get a handle of the new tumult of her own emotions. Even a small conversation with him might cause her to explode. Emma looked up in time to see his smile replaced by a deflated look of rejection as he looked at her empty table.

  “Oh, um. Well, maybe next time then.” Mattox seemed to deflate a little as he walked off to find another empty picnic table. His table only remained empty momentarily as a swarm of students descended. He was immediately surrounded as the cool clique tried to induct him into their group. Emma watched as they called him names like Ox and Mad Max, slapping him on the back as they sat down to join him. Emma snickered sarcastically to herself. Well, they could always use another handsome brooding guy to join their ranks. Mattox didn’t join in their banter though. He looked straight at Emma and gave her a mischievous smile that said ‘game on.’

  Her view of Mattox was abruptly blocked by a mess of bushy blonde hair and thick, wide rimmed glasses. “Who was that?” her friend Mel asked sitting down across from her.

  “New guy.”

  “New hotness you mean. Didn’t I see him at our table?” Mel asked, taking a huge bite of her chicken salad sandwich.

  “Just lost, I guess.” Emma said, pushing the tan food around her tray. “Or maybe he thinks my name is Charity Case, not Emma.”

  “Ha ha, you’re so beyond help, hasn’t anybody told him that yet?” Mel said sarcastically as she glanced at Mattox again.

  Emma rolled her eyes but had to giggle.

  “Well, kidnap him next time would ya? I mean, seriously, Me-ow!” Mel giggled back.

  Mel was easy for Emma to be around and not get bombarded with emotions. She, too, had lost a parent and kept her emotions locked up tight, choosing to be fun and carefree instead. Mel’s father had died of a heart attack last year and she and her mom had moved from Dallas to New York right after his funeral.

  The rest of Emma’s day went as usual and there were no more Mattox sightings, but it seemed that she would be sharing her first two classes with him for the remainder of the year. She almost forgot about lunchtime, too, and had to giggle to herself that someone like Mattox had even approached her. She felt a little guilty for telling him her entire table was taken when in reality it was only ever her and Mel that sat there.

  Ten minutes left before school let out and she could finally return to her cocoon of solitude. Emma looked out the window and saw the remnants of the sun fading behind a thick blanket of grey clouds. Rain? Just great. Considering she had left her money at home, a cab ride was out and the short cut through the alley was definitely out. Emma rolled her eyes at the prospect of a cold rain drenched walk home. Perfect.

  2

  Rain Numbing

  Her chattering teeth almost overpowered the music blaring in her ears. Emma was soaked and freezing, but she was also smiling from ear to ear. She found the downpour exhilarating. Somehow the heavy rain was acting like a shield against all the emotions that plagued her daily life. She would take a nice hot shower instead of her normal bath when she got home to see if she could replicate the glorious ef
fect.

  All of a sudden a cab pulled up to the curb and its back window rolled down. Emma pulled her earbuds out and was ecstatic to learn the rain’s effect was still intact even without the aid of her music.

  “If you want, I know a seat that’s not taken.” Mattox smiled at his own joke and gestured to the empty seat beside him.

  In that moment, Emma felt so normal. Suddenly finding herself without a care in the world, she decided to play along and run a little experiment in the process. “It’s just a light drizzle,” she laughed, enjoying the liquid curtain that surrounded her. “I’m sure it will clear up any minute now.” The rain was coming down in sheets and even Mattox was getting pretty wet from inside the cab.

  “Come on, Emma. I’ll even have the cab drop me off first so you don’t think I’m stalking you to find out where you live.” He opened the door and scooted to the far side.

  How does he know my name? She hadn’t even thought about him stalking her for real. Was he? No, now she was just being silly, still giddy from the break in the emotional assault she was always under.

  “Get in here already, would you? My treat.”

  That sealed the deal for Emma. Also, she didn’t want to get hypothermia, so she dove into the cab. The rain’s shielding effect was holding even from inside the cab, as if it were a bubble of steel and glass protecting her from the outside world. Hmm, well that’s interesting, she thought as the driver’s emotions surfaced. Apparently since the cabbie was shielded from the rain along with her, her empathic abilities still worked on him. He was mentally preoccupied with a medical exam he was studying for. Emma wondered if walking down the street in the rain under an umbrella with someone would have the same effect as a vehicle. Her heart did a little skip as she thought about who she would want with her under that umbrella as she looked at Mattox. Being so isolated enabled Emma to focus completely on Mattox and his ever present lack of emotionally occupied space. “So where to?” She beamed, concentrating on his facial expressions, tone, and responses. It was refreshing to feel normal again.

  “Seriously? I was kidding about dropping me off first. In this rain it’d be about a thirty minute cab ride one-way.”

  “Seriously?” She thought about it for a minute, “Okay.”

  Mattox looked into her eyes as if he were trying to figure her out. “Well, okay then,” he smiled and turned to the cabby, “Madison Avenue and East Seventy-Fifth Street please.”

  “You got it.” The driver was happy for the long fare and the time to study mentally.

  Emma’s eyes got big. “Do you live in a castle or something?”

  “Or something,” Mattox shrugged.

  “What on earth are you doing at Jefferson?” she asked trying to get any emotion from him.

  “Would you believe I’m on a secret mission?” he teased.

  “You’d be surprised what I believe, but from you? No, I don’t believe it.”

  Mattox laughed. “Fair enough.”

  Emma looked out the cab window not knowing what to say. She hadn’t realized how heavily she relied on knowing someone’s emotions until now. Her torture device had become her crutch.

  “Do you need to call your dad, let him know what you’re doing?” Mattox reached in his pocket and held out his phone.

  Emma tried to hide the fact that his question sent a chill down her spine. She thought perhaps it was a lucky guess that he suggested her dad and not, say, her mom or her parents. Emma decided to play coy. She would be on guard, but she just had to find out what the deal was with this guy.

  “And, what am I doing?” she teased.

  “Stalking me?” he teased back.

  “Ha, you wish.”

  “Maybe,” he smiled and put his phone away. “So tell me something about yourself.”

  “No. You first,” she stated, not meaning to sound so defensive.

  “Well, I started at a new school today, I found lunchtime quite amusing since my attempt to make a new friend was thwarted, apparently by a lunch table occupied by dozens of invisible people,” he chuckled.

  Emma rolled her eyes and changed the subject, still embarrassed by how she had treated Mattox at lunch. “No, I mean tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Okay,” he thought about it for a minute. “I have a younger brother named Malcolm and a cat named Amelia.”

  “Ooh, so mysterious,” she still wasn’t getting any emotions from him. “I wouldn’t peg you for a cat man.”

  “Amelia is my brother’s really,” he smiled at her again. “Mystery, huh? Isn’t that what most typical girls want?”

  “I’m not typical,” she didn’t know what else to say, but she was also trying to get him to expose his emotions somehow.

  “I know you’re not,” he looked out the window for a while like he was contemplating something. “I think it’s your turn. Tell me something I don’t already know about you?”

  Emma was taken aback by his comment and decided to try and shock him into exposing some emotion. “I have an unopened letter from my dead mother.”

  “Oh?” He didn’t seem surprised. “What are you waiting for?” His tone wasn’t unkind, but still she couldn’t get a read on his emotions.

  Emma shrugged not wanting to explain the reason. She looked out the window for a long time while the buildings got taller and more expensive. Everyone’s emotions were still dulled by the rain and she started to feel an unusual tug towards the area of Manhattan they were headed. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was definitely a pulling sensation, almost like a yearning. Emma wondered if it had always been there, hidden just below the surface by the other feelings that always overwhelmed her.

  “I’m sorry about your mom,” Mattox finally said, seeming to watch her reaction to their surroundings.

  In the distance a beautiful building came into view directly across from Central Park. “You live in the Vaughn?”

  “You’ve heard of it?”

  She nodded, not remembering exactly how she knew the building’s name or what it looked like, “Pretty fancy.”

  “It’s home.”

  “It’s a palace!”

  “Would you like to see it?”

  His question gave her pause. Emma struggled with conflicting emotions. She was leery of this mystery guy but so terribly intrigued by him at the same time. Her stranger danger seemed to be on the fritz in the presence of Mattox. Could he be working with the shadow creature somehow? She thought. Emma visibly shivered this time, but tried to turn it into a convincing head shake.

  “Maybe next time.”

  “Well, the invitation is open, anytime,” he smiled.

  “Thanks,” she scrunched her eyebrows together. “How young is your brother? Why doesn’t he go to Jefferson?”

  “Ah, now there’s your mystery,” he laughed. Mattox instructed the driver to take Emma wherever she wanted to go, tipped enough for three rides home, and got out of the cab. “Thank you, oh gallant knight, for the safe escort to my humble castle.” Mattox teased her through the open window.

  “Ha ha, you think you’re clever,” Emma prodded.

  “Oh, if you only knew.” Mattox bowed at the waist, “Until the morrow at school, Lady Emma.”

  She laughed. “So which is it? Am I a lady or a knight?” she asked sarcastically.

  “Who says you can’t be both?” he smiled.

  “Um, every book I’ve ever read and every movie I’ve ever seen?” she replied.

  “Humph. Funny, you don’t seem like the type.”

  “The type of what?” she asked.

  “The type of girl that would let anyone define her.” Mattox looked down at her and smiled. “Don’t let anyone tell you who you can or can’t be.” He was so sincere it almost frightened her. “Goodnight, Emma the Fair and Brave,” and with that he tapped the roof of the cab and the driver drove away.

  The tugging feeling was still there, almost as though it wanted her to go back to the Vaughn, but now Emma wasn’t sure where exactly it wa
s coming from. Was it coming from the building itself, or was the pull coming from the boy that was still standing on the curb watching her leave?

  Mattox must have been running late to lunch. Out of curiosity Emma turned towards the school and searched for his presence. She tried to convince herself that it was merely an experiment and had nothing to do with her attraction to him. She searched the farthest corners of the school to no avail.

  “Let me guess, it’s taken?” Emma jumped at the laughing voice behind made. Mattox was outside the school grounds leaning on the metal bars surrounding Jefferson High.

  “If you know the answer why do you keep asking?” she said, trying to slow her heart rate.

  “Glutton for punishment, I guess,” Mattox gave her a sly smile.

  “What are you doing out there?” Emma asked.

  “Sorry, that’s need to know.”

  “And I don’t?” she quipped.

  “See, you’re not just a pretty face,” he smiled sincerely.

  Emma blushed. Does he really think I’m pretty?

  “Have you read your mother’s letter yet?”

  For a moment his question caught Emma off guard. Her posture stiffened as she responded, “Sorry, that’s need to know.”

  “That’s a no,” he stated, but his tone wasn’t unkind. “So, same time next week then? I’ll ask if your entire table is taken, you’ll say yes...” he teased.

  Emma couldn’t help the giggle that erupted out of her belly and for that brief moment everyone’s emotions around her ceased to exist almost naturally.

  “Ah, there she is,” Mattox stated.

  “Wha- what do you mean?” Emma asked.

  “Nice to finally meet you, Emma Kincaid.” He gave her another sly smile before walking down the street. “Talk to you Monday!”

  Emma shouted after him, “Why are you so interested in that letter?” He didn’t turn around or give any indication he had heard. She figured he was too far away to hear, but still had to ask the question. Some of the students around Emma stared at her, she felt their dismay, but she didn’t care. Who is this guy?