BECOMING SUPRA

Chapter 19.2

                                                                                       RAË

I started frequenting the center early mornings, before the first bell of the day. My motivation: fine tuning my extra-sensory perception so I could demonstrate for Bose.

Losing the Deathonator Finals had slowed me down a tad. When I attempted to connect with theta, I got a replay of the day at Arthur Ashe Stadium. I couldn't perform the levitation with accuracy, in fact, if Bose hadn't helped out, those eggs would have fallen and cracked open. I had catching up to do. Practice I must. Demonstrations were coming up.

I entered the glass chamber and floated up, I blackened my cubicle and shut my eyes. Like a satin handkerchief disappearing into a magician's palm, I withdrew into the center of calm. A blank slate, a white tunnel delivered me to the yoke of my mind. In that focal point, I slipped into a gamma state, brainwaves sweeping my cranium at 40 rotations per second, rewiring my brain at an incredible velocity.

After the hour was up, I pushed the button, allowing light to flood into my cubicle. I turned and saw Æsh levitating but with his eyes open.

Speed walking my way back to school, I found my creative flow, catching the momentum, I started conceiving on the go. The ground in front of me became a blur, my three-dimensional surroundings collapsed, wherever my vision rested became an easel to construct on. I was thick in the middle of writing my virtual game.

Leaping through a tangle of nets, the avatar landed on sedentary boats stacked together like packed mackerel; she ran till the end of the line and was about to dive into the ocean when a boomerang slit open the sky and hit her on the back of the head.

A vibration pulled me out of my drift. At first, I sensed a barely there scent just on the periphery of my olfactory margins, but then more prominently. My focus wavered, I broke away from my construct and looked up. It was Æsh, walking shoulder to shoulder with me. I looked out front to catch the remaining threads of my creation but it had evaporated into thin air. The colors, the images and the adrenalin rush of the chase - all lost with Æsh's nearing presence.

He was staring at me, unabashedly. His eyes boring into mine, like ... like he was waiting for an explanation. I turned away, searching my memory but I drew a blank.

Frustration billowed in me like a ballooning fishing net.

I wanted to sell the developmental rights of my game before graduating. It was an ambitious undertaking, I was confident I could do it. But in order to achieve what I wanted I had to sidestep Æsh. His gaze, his constant seeking of me, was becoming more and more frequent.

As the day continued, I realized it wasn't just Æsh, I found others at school staring at me. I was met by pairs of glaring eyes, some watching me with curiosity, some with judgement. Their gaze shattered my creative trance, I felt like a specimen being studied under a microscope lens.

By recess, I was pacing the tennis courts, waiting for Neel. Maybe he had an explanation. But as usual he was late. I spotted him afar and impatiently waved him in.

"What's the urgency?" he asked, nearing me.

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Everybody's staring at me."

"And," he coughed, "that's unusual?"

"Yes, it is Neel! I'm being watched! It's unnecessary. It's disturbing. And I don't like it."

"It's your own doing."

"What did I do?"

"Oh! That's how you're going to play it, is it? Feigning amnesia again?"