Future's Past

Chapter 3: A New Beginning

I was not expecting my alarm to go off.  I didn't set a time.  These were my first thoughts.

 It was Monday morning and I wasn't expecting anything that occurred when I woke up from a fitful sleep.

I kept my eyes closed when the alarm went off. I didn't feel like moving quite yet. I was still half asleep. After a few minutes, I opened my eyes. A face appeared right in front of mine.

"Yo,"he said, the corners of his mouth turning up into a familiar lopsided grin. James.

I  moaned. "What are you doing here?" I said this as I rolled underneath the blankets. They were yanked off of me. 

"If you don't hurry up, we're gonna be late!"

"Late for what?"

"Your new beginning, of course."

"What do you mean? And how did you get in here?"

"You'll find out. As for how I got in here, I climbed through the window." He grinned at me.

I threw my pillow at him." Fine. I'll get ready." I had a bad feeling about this.

My intuition turned out to be right. School. I hadn't been since I was thirteen. However, I had plenty of time to spare so I had read all of the educational books that I could find. As much as I loved learning, people frightened me. The only reason is because of the fact that I can see into their mind as well as their future. I didn't want to hurt people more than I already had.

But then again, I might as well give it a shot. It might be a good way to practice blocking it out. I looked over at James. He was the only person that I could not read. I wondered why but I was too afraid to ask what made him so different. Still, I was glad that there was someone whose mind my seeing eyes could not penetrate.

James handed me my schedule. "In order to keep an eye on you, we managed to get you into most of my classes, so you should be fine. I know you can do it. Please, at least try. You deserve to be happy, don't you?"

I looked down at my schedule and remembered those long years of reading pages in the dark and savoring every page. I missed the thrill of learning something. I missed it.

"I'll try," I whispered.

"Good," He smiled again. He did that a lot. How was it so easy for him to smile?

My first class was History, and I found out something strange.  Everyone avoided James.  I wanted to ask him but, again, I was too afraid to ask the person in question. It was fun, though I had a little bit of trouble because the subject they were learning was new to me. And I couldn't stop worrying about James. He was far too nice not to have any friends. And I still avoid people. Old habits die hard, I guess. I'm not quite ready yet.

After class, James pulled me aside. "You noticed, right?" He said quietly.

"Yeah." I didn't say anymore, waiting for him to tell me or not. The question hovered in the air between us.

"Well, two years ago, I was bullied. I lost my temper and threw him against a wall. Luckily, he didn't break anything. Not only that, but he saw my eyes change. Everyone's avoided me ever since. especially the bully. But I regret what I did. I wish they would forget the past. I let my personal life get in the way."

I was quiet. His problem reminded me so much of my own. Except I chose to be alone. For everyone's sake. They deserved a chance to change their fate. If I saw it through these eyes of mine, That chance would forever be taken away from them. I couldn't tell him to do something about it, not if I wasn't.