Colours In Blackness - A New Life

by Tammy Dunning

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

   

   

  Tara is standing at her door, holding it open, waiting for me. I run across the hall and into her room.

  Tara grabs me, and looks into my swollen eyes. “OhmyGod! Are you ok? Can you see? You had another vision... Tell me what you saw, while I get you a cold washcloth for your eyes. Lay down.”

  I flop down on her bed. It's still warm from Tara's body heat. I must have woken her up with my text. “I saw Mabel. At least, I'm pretty sure it was Mabel, since I don't really know what she looks like."

  Tara puts the cold, damp washcloth on my eyes, and even though it feels so good, I pull it off. Tara runs over to a cabinet and flings open the door. She pulls out her photo album, and starts flipping through it.

  I keep on explaining. "That's what was written on the chart, the same chart that we already read. Her exact words to me were, 'You will be there. Be careful. You can't escape once you're here'. And she pointed to the room next to hers. I asked her who was keeping her there, and she said 'He didn't know any better and now there's no choice. It's in the medicine'. Then she went to sleep.”

  Tara flips a page around so that the picture is facing me. "Is this who you saw?" I nod my head, ‘yes’. "Then that was Mabel alright. I saw her yesterday too. She looked so skinny and sick." She motions for me to put the cool cloth back on my eyes. I do just that, I don't want to suffer the wrath of Tara.

  I continue explaining, “I went to the room she pointed to, and it was me in the bed. I was crying. I looked... paralyzed. I asked myself how we got there, and she said 'in a vision'. Then she said 'help us. Combine for the truth and justice'. Then she started crying alligator tears. What do you think it all means?”

  “I think it means that we better hurry up and figure all this stuff out. We'd better fill everybody in, and fast. I'll text everyone and get them here a.s.a.p.” Tara starts typing away on her phone.

  “Ok, I'm going to run back to my room, and get dressed real quick. I'll be back in five minutes.” I rush back across the hall into my room, and get dressed as quickly as possible. No time for a shower this morning; just brush my teeth and throw my hair in a ponytail, then sprint back to Tara's room. Even though I'm rushing, I can't help but think about last night with Laden.

  Just as I reach her door, Sherri is running down the hall with her book bag, trying to ponytail her out-of-control hair at the same time. I hold the door for her and let it go behind us. Before it has a chance to close, Todd comes strutting in like he owns the place.

  “Ok, we're only waiting on Reilly and Jessy. Everyone just grab a seat, anywhere.” Tara says as she’s coming out of her bathroom. She’s dressed now, with her hair also in a ponytail. She's handing out little bottles of apple juice, taking out an extra two bottles for the still missing guys.

  Just as she sits down, Reilly and Jessy come through the door, laughing about something. They plop down on the floor, and accept the bottles of juice from Tara. Everyone is really quiet, tired-looking and silent.

  I guess I'm supposed to be explaining everything, because everyone's staring at me. It's either that they're waiting for me to talk, or they're staring at my haunting eyes.

  Tara saves the day and starts telling everyone what's happened, and how it all started. “Ok, last night I went back to Laura's room, and I purposely drifted. I went through the ‘Restricted’ door. When I drifted past the nurses’ station and a shitload of files, I saw someone lying in a bed.” She looks over at Reilly and says, “I saw Mabel.”

  Nobody says anything. They just look at Tara, confused. Even Reilly looks unsure of what she just said but a little angry too.

  “Mabel's here?” Is all Reilly says.

  Tara starts to choke up, so I go on to explain, “Yeah, she's in there. She's not able to move on her own; we don’t know why. But Mabel did see Tara. Doc Turner has something to do with all this. Tara saw him telling her about me, saying that he has a new girl that will have so much power because she's a natural and that she's very special. If she only knew what she was capable of. She doesn't know how powerful she is yet. If he is talking about me, then he's right, I don't know the extent of my abilities.”

  I pause for a moment. Nobody says anything until Todd breaks the silence. “Why can’t Mabel move? Is she drugged up?”

  “We don’t know.” I continue telling them what I do know. “When Tara came back she brought Mabel's chart with her... somehow."

  Tara adds, "Yeah it was so cool... anyways, we both read the chart and something popped out at us. Was everyone here in the care of Doc Turner their whole lives? Like from the day of your birth?”

  Everyone nods ‘yes’, just like Tara and I thought. I say, “We were all cared for by him. He has something to do with this, but we don't know what, not yet anyway.”

  I'm trying to figure out an excuse as to why Laden was in my room and took the chart. It has to be good, because Tara is going to question why he came back after she left. I haven’t told her yet. No time like the present!

  “Tara, after you left last night, Laden came back to check on my eyes.” Now everyone's looking at me with one of those 'sure-he-did' kinds of looks. I can't help but look at Todd, he's hurt. I can see it in his eyes. He knows that I betrayed him, no matter how much I try to lie. It's written all over my face, not only from the blushing, but because I'm a terrible liar.

  I have to get over this part of the story, and tell everyone the rest of it. “He saw Mabel's chart on my desk. He freaked out. He told me to tell you all not to let any staff find out that we know something's wrong here. He was kind of scared. He said that now that he knows about us knowing, he might be in danger too. Anyway, he took her chart, hid it under his shirt, and said he was going to try to sneak it back there.”

  Sherri suddenly gasps and points at me. At first I have no idea why she's doing that, but then realize… she must have just read me. I remember that she said she's learning how to read people without even touching them. I’m pretty she just read me. I shake my head ‘no’ at her with a look saying, 'please-do-not-say-anything-about-it'! She doesn't, thankfully.

   

  Note to self: Thank Sherri for not blabbing!

   

  Everyone is curiously looking at Sherri, waiting for her to tell them something interesting that she just read from me, but look disappointed when she doesn’t.

  Todd is still looking at me with his pain ridden face. Unlike the others, he really doesn’t want to hear what Sherri has to say.

  He says, “So he knows something then. Did you ask him to tell you everything? Did he tell you, or was he too preoccupied doing something, or should I say someone?” Everyone can hear the anger in Todd's voice.

  “I asked, but he wouldn't say anything. I'm going to drill him about it next time I see him.” I look at Todd, who looks like he's about to cry. I think I broke his heart. Damn!

  Todd smirks, "Are you sure that he's not going to drill you?"

  I shake my head ‘no’. Now is not the time to deal with Todd's jealousy, I have to continue. “After he left, I went to sleep. I had a vision.” I went on to explain my vision, every detail of it.

  Sherri sits up on her knees. I fear what she might say about Laden and me. “So what you’re saying is that we have to figure out why they're keeping her there, and why they're lying about it. And why she can't leave. They must be keeping her prisoner for some reason. We have to get her out of there.” Good, she didn't spill it.

  Jessy put his hand on Sherri's shoulder to try and calm her down, but Sherri jerks away; she doesn't like to be touched because it causes forced readings. Jessy looks apologetic, then says, “We will, don't worry. We’ll take one step at a time. We can't obviously go rushing in there. What scares me most is that you saw yourself there. We have to prevent that from happening; at all costs. Having one friend there is bad enough, but two...” He shakes his head.

  Reilly adds, “Yeah, and we have to stick together, no matter what. Like Laura
says in the vision, ‘Combine for the truth and justice'. It must mean that if we somehow combine our abilities, we can straighten all this out. We just have to figure out how to do that, and get my Mabel back to me.”

  Tara's looking like she doesn't really want to say what has to be said. “Laura, you're going to have to find out what Laden knows. He knows more than he's saying. Maybe he'll open up to you.” She glances up at Todd, whose eyes are now filling up with tears, and her look changes to confusion.

  Todd quickly stands up, and walks into Tara's bathroom and shuts the door.

  “What's up with Todd?” Jessy looks at me, then at Tara.

  Tara, quick to answer, says, “I think he's sweet on Laura.”

  “I know that! So what if he is?” Jessy takes a second, then flips his eyes up at me. He says, in one octave higher than his normal voice. “You, and Laden? Are you two... really? How long has this been going on?”

  Everyone looks at me, then the bathroom door where Todd just went. Reilly bursts out laughing, and says, “You, and Todd too? Wow girl, you've been busy. And here I thought you were vanilla.”

  With that statement, I know exactly what everyone is thinking... SLUT!

  Sherri comes to my defense, “Her being with Todd is Todd's fault. He really likes Laura; he actually respects her, maybe even loves her. He did control her some, though. From what I saw, they only kissed, but it was sexy as hell. Wow, I'm getting all turned on, just viewing all this makin' out. Laden on the other hand, is drawn to you for some reason. He can't stay away from you, no matter how hard he tries. It's out of his control. Almost like a fat kid is drawn to a candy bar. He can't help it. He truly, full on loves you, girl. Ride it out, girl or ride him, whatever.” Everyone laughs, except for Todd, who just rejoined us.

  Reilly says, “Ok, let's stop torturing Todd. So now we just have to wait for Laura to get some information. Meanwhile, we all have to keep our eyes and ears open. Just be careful that nobody realizes what we're doing.”

  Todd starts walking towards the door, and swings it open. “If we're done here, I'd like to go have breakfast before classes start.”

  That was our cue to leave. Todd's had enough, so we pack up and head down to eat.

  I shake my head, raise and lower my shoulders several times, which makes me look nervous. It's not far from the truth. I can't think of an answer to give him, except the truth, and I don't think it's any of their business.

  I ask, "Um, please don't tell anyone outside of this room, ok? He can get into a lot of trouble, maybe even lose his career, and I will probably get kicked out of here too."

  Sherri looks at me. “Now I’m sorry that I don't read you more often. I try not to read you guys, but while in Rome...” She’s quiet for a few seconds then says, “Wow... damn. They’re hookin’ up, but they haven't gone all the way. Still, mm mm mmm, he is smokin' hot, and that man knows what he's doing. He has real talent. Not selfish at all.”

  I just know that she read me and saw things that have happened between Laden and I, including last night. My face must be as red as my eyes. She's still looking at me grinning like a fool. I can't help but give a nervous giggle.

  Tara snickers, "I can't believe you didn't tell me. How did you keep that a secret; and for how long? That's why he was in your room. It wasn't for the damn towels. Well, I gotta admit, Sherri's right, he is smokin' hot!” Tara looks almost proud of me. She's a strange girl. In a whisper that only I can hear, and pointing toward Todd, she asks, "So what's happened with him? Anything good and juicy? You’d better spill it girl!"

  I whisper back so that no one can hear me, "Just… later, ok?"

  Todd, with his eyes a little glossy and red, gains his composure. “So what's the next step then?”

  Jessy says, “Laura is going to have to use her connection with Laden to get information. Do you think he'll tell you anything?”

  “Um, I don't know. He seemed really scared about something; like if he told me anything, he could get into trouble. I'll try my best.” I can feel Todd glaring at me. My heart starts pounding, and my body temperature rises really fast. Sweat is building on my forehead. “Todd, stop it! I'm sorry!” I feel like such a shmuck. Even though I deserve whatever he does to me; he stops anyway.