Convergence II: Ella's Mystery

Chapter Eleven: Premonitions

The sliding door to the office opened again, and this time, only Ella walked through.

"Is he gone?" Nick sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, but that guy is a real piece of work."

"Yeah, he's gone." Turning away, Ella wiped away a single tear from under her eye.

"Good, I hate him."

"Me too."

Nick spun around in their chair. "So, what's the hypothesis?"

Ella took out the piece of paper with her parents' names on it, and ripped it in half. Setting down the side with Betty's name on the desk, she took the other side and ripped it into pieces. Then, she threw them down into the trash can. Papers were whipping on the wall from the wind, so Nick shut the window.

"Enough said," they chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "What happened?"

"He didn't know?" Ella asked incredulously. Her anger was apparent just from her voice, and she was pacing. "He didn't even know about my—about the—how does he think I even—???"

Nick's eyes followed her quick pacing, and they sat very still in their seat. "What did he do?"

"He didn't catch the wind thing!" Ella squeaked.

"He didn't catch the wind thing." Nick repeated. And then they realized. "...He didn't catch the wind thing..."

"He didn't even catch the fucking wind thing!"

"Is he that dense?" Nick muttered flatly. "I mean, I didn't think he was all up there in the first place, but..."

"He is SO dense." Ella huffed. "He acted... he acted so weird about it."

Nick noticed Ella stop pacing, like she was slowing down. "Weird how?"

She felt the tears rising again, so she swallowed them back down. "After he realized, he didn't even... it's like he forgot I was a person." Ella exhaled sharply, like the word itself was hard to say. "He called me a monster."

"Oh, my God, that fucking douche!" Nick's mouth was ajar, looking to the side at seemingly nothing. "He really said that?!"

"Yeah!" Ella's voice broke, hearing the sobs behind her voice. "Yeah, he really said that! And I wasn't upset because he said it, I was... I was just..."

"You were upset because someone said it in the first place."

Ella looked up for a moment, letting the silence hang. Her small voice returned momentarily. "Nick, in my whole entire life, through everyone who's learned about what I can do, I have never, ever heard a reaction like that. Especially not from someone who I actually tried to have a relationship with." She sat down, frantically talking. "People thought it was cool! Everyone in the orphanage thought it was cool, because we had kites, and they'd bring out their kites, and I'd bring mine, and everyone liked me there. But I wanted to do so much more with it, and then I read about you. Learning about you made me feel normal! I've been normal, I've been a party trick, I've been a hero, I've been popular, and I've been everyone's friend, but I have never been a monster." She plopped her head down on the desk, her voice muffled. "Until today."