Separate Links

Chapter 6

The next morning, Felicity woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. She looked about herself, the remembered the reason her computer was laying next to her, along with a notebook that had several pages newly filled. She struggled to a sitting position and began to read through the notes. 

In some places, her handwriting was illegible, so she had to go back and rewrite the paragraphs. Finally, after about an hour and a half, she decided that she was ready. She had to go buy some things first, though. Sighing, she stood, gathered her list, purse, and keys, then headed out the door. 

    Chapter Five

                                                    Aster

This whole situation was just adding onto Aster’s stress. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. The other day, his mom had found charges on his dad’s phone for dating services, so Aster had been taken with his mother to some hotel for the night. Well, at least that had been the plan until a few hours later his mother had decided to go back. His father was drunk… of course. So he got another beating. This time, his mom even helped. He felt so helpless as he cried in his room, helpless because that seemed to be all he was able to do. 

He finally managed to call Felicity and talked to her until the tears subsided. Then he curled up on his bed and fell into a troubled sleep. 

When he awoke, he felt as if something were off more than it usually was. He felt alert, and his skin tingled as he tried to probe his mind for any sign of his psychic family. Nothing. Dead silence. Aster shook himself and got dressed. Then he snuck out of the house and headed to Sabrina’s house. 

Sabrina had pretty blond hair, pale silver eyes, and snow white skin.  She wasn’t slender, but wasn’t obese. She was pretty, and Aster enjoyed her company. She didn’t go to the same school, but had been one of his friends for many years, and the only secret he kept from her was the fact that his friends and himself  were psychics.

He pulled into the driveway of the nondescript eggshell colored house, and put his truck in park. Then he jogged up the stairs and rapped on the dark red door. She opened it and smiled warmly at him. 

“Aster! I didn‘t know you were coming over,” she said, her whole face practically shining. 

“I just had to get out of the house for a bit. Hope you don‘t mind,”  he said, stepping through the thresh-hold and into the house. 

“Of course not! You know I love it when you come over,” she said leading him down the hall to her room. The way she had said ‘love’ made his stomach slightly turn, but he ignored it. 

“I‘ve been thinking about you a lot lately,” he heard her say. She sat on her bed while he took the chair in the corner. 

“So, um what do you want to d-” he was cut off when Sabrina threw herself off the bed at him and crashed her lips against his. He tried to restrain her, but didn’t want to hurt her, so he couldn’t do quite enough to keep her lips from reaching his. She moved her hands to his pants and he felt the zipper start to go down. When she moved off him slightly to remove her shirt, he sprang from the chair.

“Sabrina! What in the world are you doing?! Put your clothes back on!” he said, zipping his pants. He turned away so she could put her shirt back on, but also to hide his blush from her. He’d had no idea that she felt that way about him. 

All those times she said ‘I love you’, she must have really meant. Not as brotherly love, but as honest to goodness love, love. But I mean, look at her. She looks so hurt, so vulnerable. And she’s just throwing herself at me. I really need to have a talk with her. See if I can get her straightened out, he thought as he turned back toward her. She had tears swimming in her eyes and a blush on her face. Her eyes showed her hurt, and she had her arms wrapped around her torso as if she were trying to hold herself together. Aster held his arms open to her and she hugged him and sobbed. 

“Hey, Bri? You ok?” he murmured once her sobs had quieted.

“I…I just…I‘ve slowly started to fall in love with you. I thought you felt the same way. You were always….always so kind to me. You understand me, and I feel like I can tell you anything, I just…” she broke again and he held her.

“I just want to be your friend. I don‘t have those feelings….I don’t think. We‘ll just take it one step at a time and see how things go from here, ok?” he whispered, looking into her pain-filled eyes.

She nodded slowly and let the tears fall once more, though a small smile played on her lips.

Camden

He stood, leaning, on the back of Dahlia’s car, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. It was Friday afternoon, and he did not want to stand around in the school parking lot all day. He was meeting Felicity at the football game later, and he still had to go to the gym, do homework, and study for a test in communications. 

Lia, hurry your butt up, he thought, looking around the parking lot for some sign of approach by almost bleach-blond hair. Finally, he saw her. He reached out with his mind and manipulated her thoughts, causing her to sprint toward him…or, whatever you call how she runs. 

When she reached him, she was breathing a little hard, and glaring at him.

“I would have gotten here sooner, thank you. I didn’t need you to make me run,” she snarled, reaching a hand up to fix her hair and pull her shirt up.Yeah, well unlike you, I have a lot to do. Now, what is it you wanted me for?” Camden replied, slightly enjoying annoying the girl who had come to be like his sister. She glared up at him again, but replied,

“Oh bite me….wait, never mind. You might actually do it. Anyway, I wanted to ask a favor of you. You know how we talked about Rowan,” she spat his name like venom, “going to meet Charice over at the mall tomorrow?”

“Yeah, so? What favor?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I want you to follow him… I mean them. Try to get into his head and see what they want from him. If they try to take him from us,” by the time she had finished speaking, her voice was so low that Camden could barely hear her. 

 “I guess I can…I don’t think I have any plans with Felicity tomorrow or anything, so…yeah, I‘ll go.”

“Thanks,” she gave him a little smile of gratitude as she climbed into her car and shut the door. “Oh, and Cam? Don’t tell Felicity. She could get some crazy idea stuck in her head. And I really don’t want that.”

“Uh…sure I guess?” he replied slowly. He watched her back out of the parking place and drive out of the school parking lot, then glanced at his watch. 

Ah, crap, he thought, I’m going to be late again. Wonderful. And now I have to plan some way to follow Rowan. Just gets better and better doesn’t it? Oh well, at least I get to see Li-li tonight. She’ll make me feel better.