Jenn’s friend was several inches taller than she was with short dark brown hair. He didn’t seem all that attractive at first glance. He was slightly chubby and didn’t exhibit any athletic ability during the volleyball game. Christine also didn’t like how tall he was, or his scruffy short hair. She realized she was being far too critical and shook her head. None of that really mattered. The only true test of a person is how they treat others and Jenn was too smart to get involved with a bad person. Besides, Jenn could probably just… zap… somebody if she didn’t like them. Christine was quite sure Jenn could take care of herself.
One of the boys volunteered his spot and climbed out of the pool. He looked over to the young ladies lounging in the chairs, smiled, and sauntered over to them. He stood between the two of them, dripping wet, then bent down and shook his head so his long blonde hair sprayed them with drops of cold water. Both girls screamed, jumped out of their chairs, and ran a few feet away. They turned and each yelled at him for getting them wet. The boy laughed and started walking back to the pool, motioning for them to follow. The girls stood for a moment, looking at each other. One shrugged and started walking to the pool - and the boy. The other opened her mouth as if to say something but closed it without a word and followed them both into the pool.
Teenagers, thought Christine, how do they survive?
Christine turned her attention to Jenn, her new friend, and the volleyball game. Jenn was playing on the opposite side of her young boyfriend. They had eyes only for each other and walked up to the net a few times to talk and flirt. The ball volleyed several times before Jenn had a chance to hit it. She wasn’t particularly athletic, but could hit the ball quite well or use her abilities in very subtle ways. She made a show of having trouble, squealing as she hit the ball off the side of her hand. It flew over the net and hit her laughing boyfriend on the forehead. Christine saw right through the act, but the others seemed to buy it. They all started laughing and saying colorful things about the boy’s head. Jenn acted shocked that she hit him and swam over to make sure he wasn’t hurt. She looked him over for injures, then kissed the spot where the ball hit him. She hugged him close and told him how sorry she was. Christine looked on with a smirk. The girl was good… and corny.
The couple waded to the other side of the pool and remained close for the next several minutes. The boy never took his eyes off of Jenn. He looked at her with a knowing smile when she turned to watch the volleyball game for a few seconds. This boy was no dummy. He knew Jenn had hit the ball at him on purpose, but was wise enough to play along. A good choice on his part.
The scene shifted.
Everybody was out of the pool, gathered around in groups to eat, chat, and drink. Music boomed from a small set of speakers on one of the tables.
Jenn sat beside her boyfriend, enjoying what looked like a rather large double-stacked hamburger inside two buns with lettuce and tomatoes hanging off the edges. She had trouble fitting it into her mouth to chew, which amused the young man greatly. They both laughed as she tried to take a bite and one of the burger patties slid off onto her plate. The boy, in between bouts of laughter, suggested she try to cut the sandwich to make it easier.
Jenn scoffed at the suggestion. “I will not be defeated. I shall prevail and bring forth the complete demise of this cowardly stack of carbohydrate wrapped protein. See how it runs!”
She picked up the fallen patty and carefully placed it back between the buns. They both continued to laugh and make jokes as she tried to eat the huge meal. Christine smiled at the exchange. She thought of a few colorful lines to add to the banter, but frowned when she remembered it would do no good.
The scene shifted again.
The group was smaller now. It looked like about half remained. The near full moon was high in the sky, giving the area a soft while glow. The air had cooled some, but it was still warm enough to swim.
In the pool was the young man with the long blonde hair who sprayed the cold water on the two lounging young ladies with… one of the young ladies. Christine thought it was the first one who moved towards the pool to join him. The other girl didn’t seem to be anywhere she could see. The two were locked in a tight embrace and speaking quietly with each other pausing only to give each other light kisses followed by shy smiles. Christine raised an eyebrow at that- amazed at how quickly relationships could change.
Jenn and her boyfriend were in their own world, dancing by themselves in front of the speakers, which were playing a slow love ballad. Jenn’s head lay on the young man’s chest and her arms stretched up around his shoulders. Her eyes were closed, a pleased smile on her face. She seemed quite content. The young man stared down at her, eyes full of admiration. The two exchanged a romantic kiss. Christine could practically feel the love flowing between them.
She sat down with her feet in the pool and watched, feeling a sense of longing which she didn’t expect. She had no memories of anything before this day. Christine interpreted Jenn’s statements about her memories as her own mind not wanting to remember. The thought of it frightened her. What could possibly be so bad that her mind refused to think of it at all? She longed to know if there were good memories that would return with the bad. Had anything happened to her like what Jenn was experiencing right now? Everyone had some kind of love in their life, right? Christine sighed. She sincerely wished she had. She wasn’t jealous of Jenn, but she was jealous of the feelings Jenn was having right now. Jenn would have this memory forever. She felt a swell of pride for Jenn. She was in love and had found somebody who loved her back. Sadness overcame her just as quickly. She had no idea what love felt like.
The scene shifted again.
Jenn and her boyfriend were completely alone. Jenn was in the pool and he was making his way up the ladder to the diving board.
“Charles, come down from there! You’re not a very good swimmer. I don’t want to have to drag your drowning butt out of this pool,” Jenn cried.
Charles paused about half way up. “Just one dive! I’ve never done it. My dad never let us. I won’t do anything stupid. Just watch.”
“You always do something stupid. Please don’t do it. You’re making me nervous!”
Charles continued up the ladder, made it almost to the top, and stopped. He looked around the edge and rolled his eyes at Jenn.
“Charles, please! You have nothing to prove to me or anybody else.”
Charles waited another few seconds then looked up at the diving board - shaking his head. “Okay. Okay.” He sighed and stepped onto a lower rung. Just then his entire body jerked and spasmed. His eyes rolled back into his head and he began to shake violently. At first, his hands held tight to the ladder as they convulsed, but with the next spasm they unclenched and he tumbled backward then head-first toward the stone patio.
Jenn screamed. “CHARLES!”
She held her hands out as if she could catch him and everything went black for a fraction of a second. Christine wasn’t sure if she imaged it or not. A brilliant thin line of light appeared directly below where Charles was falling. Another appeared at the same time above the water where Jenn was. Around the lines, the world seemed to distort and pull in toward the lines like the edges of a whirlpool.
The moment Charles’ body hit the line below him, he reappeared in the air a few feet from Jenn. The second thin line disappeared as he fell into the water. Jenn swam frantically to him and heaved his head above the surface. Christine ran over to help before she realized how futile her gesture was. She was powerless here in Jenn’s memories.
Jenn pulled a still shaking and convulsing Charles over to the edge of the pool where she grasped, white-knuckled, onto the wall. She pulled him along the side towards the shallow end. By the time she got him up the sloping ramp to land, he lay still.
Jenn checked him over for an injury and made sure he was still breathing. He didn’t seem to be conscious, but Jenn looked satisfied he was going to survive.
Christine shivered as an unnatural cold wash
ed over her. Frost formed on the grass and some of the shallowest pool water turned to ice. Her breath turned to white clouds in the air. After a moment, she realized this was just a dream and her subconscious mind seemed to adjust and she no longer felt the cold. She let out a sigh and rubbed the remaining goosebumps from her arms.
Jenn laid on her back and put her hands over her face, sobbing. Her legs were still partially in the shallow water. She cried for a minute or two before Christine walked over and sat down beside her, careful not to touch her given Jenn’s warnings. Jenn pulled her hands from her face and looked over at Christine, tears running down her face and her wet hair tangled below her head on the dirty ground. Where Jenn’s body touched the frost-covered grass or ice, it melted instantly. Steam rose from her body in waves and Christine could feel the heat radiating from her.
“You did good,” was all Christine could think to say. “What happened? Why did it turn winter?”
Jenn sat up, wiped her face, and took a deep breath. “It’s a type of wormhole. In theory, it would allow anything or anybody to travel anywhere - given enough power - in the universe. It’s cold because I didn’t have enough energy stored in my body to create a stable wormhole - even one that small and short distance - so I converted, then redirected ambient heat, photons, electrons, neutrinos and just about every other kind of energy near us to create it. I can store an enormous amount of energy in my cells, but that was the first wormhole I’ve ever actually done. I panicked and grabbed whatever energy I could use.”
“Well, of course. Obviously, that’s what happened.” Christine said sarcastically. She looked over at Charles. “Is he okay? Why didn’t you just… lift him like you do with other things?”
“He has epilepsy. He’s been on medication, and it’s been working well. I’ve never seen him have an episode this bad. He’ll be fine, though.” She sighed and patted him on the chest, brow furrowed. “Why didn’t I just lift him? Simple. At this time, I hadn’t figured out how to lift anything large. I could do small and light objects, but that’s it. I had been working on the theories and calculating how to do the… let’s just call them portals… for some time and it was fresh in my mind. I knew I could do it, but I was afraid.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s going to be okay. I’m sorry this happened to you, Jenn.” She paused. Emotions always left her tongue tied. “He seems like a nice guy. I wasn’t too sure of him at first, but after a while I could tell he truly cares about you. He really loves you, Jenn.”
Jenn smiled. “That’s very kind of you to say. It means a lot. Thank you. I wish I could give you a hug right now, but, you know.” She shrugged. “The earlier parts of the evening are some of the best memories of my whole life. It was special.”
Christine cleared her throat and looked away. “So, can this trick of yours get us out of the mess at the facility? Can you teach me how to zoom us out of there to a nice restaurant somewhere at the beach?”
Jenn laughed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. It’s not only a psychological skill you’d have to learn, but you need certain physical attributes which you don’t have.” She held her hands out to stop Christine as she started to ask another question. “I can’t say anymore. I don’t want big and nasty to beat it out of you. Speaking of which - here he comes. I’m sorry in advance. Try not to scream.”
Christine’s laughter hung in the air as the scene was flooded with light and faded away.
She woke with every part of her body in searing pain.
Christine
Every muscle in Christine’s body clinched and spasmed. The pain was indescribable. Everything hurt. She had no control over her body. Her limbs twitched and convulsed. Her breath caught in her lungs. The only noises she made were involuntary grunts and sputters. Her tightly shut eyes wouldn’t open. The pain pulsed through her body without relief.
Through the pain, she could feel her hands bound and stretched above her head. She was suspended from something completely covering her forearms. The weight of her entire body pulled on her joints in each arm and shoulder. Her feet dangled but touched nothing as they flailed under her.
The pain tormented her body, but her mind was surprisingly alert. It was as if her brain dulled her ability to sense pain in order for her to process other things around her. The soldier wasn’t in view, but he had to be near. She gritted her teeth. Don’t scream, she thought, remembering Jenn’s words in the last dream.
Jenn’s memories were all sharp and clear in her mind now, as if Christine had lived them herself. They distracted her, allowing her to focus on the emotions she experienced for the first time. Pride, admiration, love; it resonated with her in a powerful way. Pain could not douse the fire of feelings.
She remained silent as the barrage of pain continued. Perhaps a minute had passed when it abruptly stopped. Her muscles relaxed and the pain subsided. Christine peeled her eyes open. As she expected, she was in the room where she discovered the fire and had the unfortunate run-in with the soldier. The pile of burned, mangled bodies rose up just below her feet, the acrid smell of singed flesh invading her nostrils. Sadness and anger flared in her stomach at the sight of the dead under her.
She hung from a steel beam that ran across the room. Each of her hands were enclosed in metallic oval-shaped devices covering her hands and a few inches below her wrists. Inside the enclosure, she could feel a small metal rod for each hand which she could hold onto to relieve the stress on her wrists. The enclosures were attached to a harness wrapped around the beam on the ceiling.
Something was attached to her upper chest, just above her heart. Tiny needles bit into her skin to keep the device in place. The shocking pain seemed to originate from it. When she looked down at it, a small display blinked back at her, showing her heart rate in a pulsing line. The indicator showed a fast heart rate, but steady. Her coat had been removed, but thankfully she was still otherwise fully clothed.
“Good afternoon.” The voice was deep and distorted, machine-like, as if it was being purposely distorted. Christine shuddered at the sound, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The soldier came into view from behind her. He held his gloved hands behind his back, walking in a slow circle around Christine and the pile of corpses. He was still armored from head to toe and his flat-faced helmet never turned as he walked. The weapons he carried seemed to mock Christine, taunting her with promises of pain and death. An air of arrogant confidence surrounded the soldier like an invisible wall. He was completely at ease in the insidious environment. Christine noted again, with an internal groan, how large the man was. Massively muscled and tall.
“Or is it evening or night?” he continued. “Maybe it’s morning. What do you think, Christine?”
She wasn’t surprised he knew her name after she saw her coat was missing. It was likely now on the pile below her.
Christine scoffed internally. She had no intention of answering. She ignored his question by looking around the room. It was the largest she had seen in the facility. The ceiling looked to be about 15 feet tall. There were three workstations set up in the center of the room divided by safety glass. Cables and wiring hung pell-mell from the ceiling and the machinery they were meant to connect to was knocked over. The back of the room had a row of cubicles which contained scattered papers and pulled out drawers. Computers, laptops, and tablets were gathered in a small pile beside the cubicles. The soldier was obviously looking for something and Christine had no idea if he found it.
Pain shot through her body again. Don’t scream. This time, it only lasted about ten seconds.
“Incorrect,” the soldier said. His voice, while distorted, carried no emotion. Indifference colored his every move and utterance. “Care to try again? Yes? Good. Please try harder this time.”
Christine continued to look around for a way to release herself. She’d barely lifted her head to examine her bonds when the pain came again. Don’t scream, don’t scream. The intensity rose and she gritted her teeth against the sound tryin
g to escape her throat.
“Incorrect,” the soldier said again, cutting the electric shock. Christine let out a breath. “You’re failing this test, Christine. It has but one question. Would you be so kind as to tell me what time of day it is? I’m ever so curious.”
She looked over at the man and rolled her eyes. He didn’t acknowledge the gesture, but continued his slow walk around her. She didn’t answer and after a few seconds the pain came again. Don’t scream. It was far more intense this time. Darkness gathered at the edges of her mind, but the soldier cut the current just before she lost consciousness. She took several deep breaths. Everything ached. Pain like that wouldn’t be tolerable for long.
“Incorrect.” He held a device up in front of him as if examining it in the air. Likely the remote for the torture device she wore. “That setting was two levels below that which would stop your heart and cause your organs to shut down. Could you find it within yourself to oblige my curiosity and tell me what time of day it is so as not to have to endure that pain again? Morning, afternoon, evening, or night?”
Christine’s mind raced. She was going to have to pick her battles here. There was no doubt that man would increase the pain settings until she died if she didn’t answer. She looked up to find a clock directly across from her on the wall. Kicking herself internally, she answered, “Evening.” Her mouth and throat were so dry, the word came out like a croak.
The Harmony Divide- Never Alone Page 5