Purple | Cole Stewart -VERSION DISCONTINUED

Chapter Five: New Meetings

I started to lose track of how many months I had been following this pattern. Bike, then camp for no more than a few days, then bike some more, then camps some more, and only change the pattern to pick up more supplies at abandoned stores.

This may seem surprising to some people, but there isn’t a lot to do when you’re alone in the woods. After I got used to my pattern, my biggest enemy became boredom. I had a few books that I kept with me, but I had read them so many times that they were no longer entertaining.
So I found a new way to entertain myself: training. I was already building up a good amount of strength from biking everyday, so physically I was probably the strongest I’d ever been, even with the shitty diet I was on. 
My focus was on training to use my ‘abilities’. That meant lifting rocks, lighting branches on fire, and whatever else I could think of to help myself.
I found that my ‘blue’ abilities were much easier to use. All I had to do was picture the object I was trying to move going from one place to another. I wouldn’t say I was exactly accurate, but I could probably defend myself pretty well If I needed to. 
But the fire- it scared me. I could start it, that was easy. controlling it and stopping it from expanding was an entirely different story. I spent very little time on it because of that fear.
But other than that, my life was pretty monotonous. I had no plan, and no friends.
Everything changed the day I met Liam.
I was biking along the side of a rural road the way I always did, looking behind me every few seconds in case I needed to swerve into the tree line and hide from a car. I was at a disadvantage on that road- it curved a lot, so I would have almost no warning if a vehicle did approach me.
And that was exactly what happened. An old, rusted car came barreling around the curve ahead of me. I barely managed to swerve off of the road, falling off of my bike and rolling into the ditch.
I heard a car door slam shut, and a spike of fear planted itself in my chest. This could be it.
“Hey! Are you okay?” yelled the cars driver.
I was surprised at how young the guy sounded. He had a warm southern accent that made me not want to run.
But obviously that wasn’t a great option. I scrambled onto my hands and knees as fast as I could, whipping my head around to look for my bike, and my backpack that was tied to it. This could be very bad.
“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise,” he said. I risked a glance in his direction to see him standing a safe distance away with his hands out in front of him. 
My bike was behind him.
I stood up slowly, matching his energy. “Hi. I’m Liam, what’s your name?” hearing his voice again gave me another opportunity to wonder about his age. Was it possible that he was psi? Like me?
My throat was dry as I tried to answer. “C- Carter.” Liam smiled at my answer.
“It’s nice to meet you Carter. Are you- um, I don’t really know how to ask this- are you psi?”
I nodded slowly, still on edge. I was prepared to fight if he decided to make a move towards me. But he didn’t. He just smiled again, moving his hands down from their defensive position.
“I am too. It’s okay, I don’t want to hurt you.” I studied his face for a moment, trying to  figure out if he was lying. He looked… sincere.
I decided to take a chance. I brought my hands back down to my sides, but stuck one out for a handshake, not knowing how else to show that I wasn’t going to run away.
He stepped towards me slowly, probably still worried I might run, and shook my hand.
“It's uh, nice to meet you.” jesus christ. I couldn’t even remember the last time I spoke to another person.
“Nice to meet you too. This may seem a bit forward, but would you maybe want to come with me? There’s safety in numbers, and I could definitely get you where you want to go a lot faster than that bike can,”
To say I was taken aback by his offer was an understatement. He wanted my help? Is that what he was trying to say? I couldn’t find the right words to respond, so I just nodded, afraid he would rescind his offer if I took too long to respond.
Liam's eyes lit up at my answer. “Really? Great? Where are you headed? Or are you not headed anywhere in particular?”
“I’m not really headed anywhere. So um, wherever you’re going is good, I think,”
Liam nodded. “Awesome. Well, we’ve probably been here long enough, so if you wanna grab your stuff I can throw it in the trunk?”
I nodded and walked around him to where my bike was laying in the grass. “So I should probably leave the bike, right?” I asked, my voice breaking. It seemed dumb, but this bike had done a lot for me over the past year. I was sad to see it go, but glad I had found a possible friend.
“Uh, yeah. I don’t think it would fit in the car. Sorry.”
I shook my head, brushing off his apology. “It's fine,” I sniffled. “I’m just a little attached I think,”
I wasn’t looking towards him, but for some reason I just knew that Liam had nodded in response.
I detached my backpack from the bike and set it to the side before pulling the bike up and wheeling it past the treeline, where it wouldn’t be seen. Somewhere in the back of my mind I hoped that maybe I would be able to come back here someday and reclaim it.

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