Our Days

Chapter 9

Then it hit me. The one person that could understand me. Him.

Hello Claire, you called.

I need your help. I don't know what to do! James leaving and my parents don't understand.

Claire, I was lucky, very luck. But my great great grandmother wasn't she ran away from home when she was 12 and people attempted to burn her at the stake many times. Claire, this is the least of our worries. Since you started at age 18 I don't think you could pass the charm down. You don't have enough power.

NO! Th-There has to be a way!

I think I found a loophole but I don't know if you're ready.

I'm ready.

Okay, if you learn as many powers as you can in the next two weeks, you could learn teleportation and invisibility. I'm sorry but that's it. They are the easiest ones to learn but you would need someone to learn invisibility.

I can do that tomorrow. How do I teleport?

You need to focus on a place on the ground and think of yourself getting there. For now you should look were you're going, but once you get the hang of it you don't have to.

Okay.

I tried many times with no effect. I never moved.

Try one more time, I know you ca-

He must have run out of energy to talk to me. I decided to follow his advice. I focused on a space about two feet in front of me imagined me there. I felt weightless for a split second. Then, I was on the ground again. I was standing in the exact spot I had focused on. I did it! I tried again on the spot I had come from. Focus. Imagine. Weightlessness. Land. I did it about five times. I was getting the hang of it so I decided to try it without looking. I thought of the place two feet away. Imagined. Weightlessness. Land. I did that too. If I can go two feet I wonder how much farther I could go.

I went to the door and listened to see if anyone was there I didn't hear anyone so I focused on a place in the library outside the door. Imagined. Weightlessness. Land. I was in the library. I did it. I went through a wall! I was bursting with energy and I guess that made me more confident because I thought I was ready to go all the way to my room. My room was up two flights of stairs but I still tried. I thought of the middle of my room. Imagined. Weightlessness. Nothing I didn't touch the floor. Floor I collapsed in a heap on the floor. The second I had hit the floor my legs had given out and I fell.

I was not going to do that for a while. Not until I was ready. I teleported around my room for about an hour. It was about lunch time and I was tired and hungry. I checked my phone and saw that James had called me while I was hopping around my room. I called him back.

"Hey, Claire. Did you want to go out for lunch?"

"I thought you had to pack?"

"My parents gave me some time to go eat. I was thinking we could go together."

"Yeah, give me five minutes and I'll meet you at Carries dinner. I'll text you when I get there."

"Cool, see you then. Damsel."

"Bye."

I was so excited to see him, but scared at the same time. We would see each other once after this then never again. I didn't have time for this I have to get ready. My mom was in the house so I quickly got ready, it was way easier with telekinesis, and left hoping my mom wouldn't see me. She probably did, but I don't care.

"Hey." I said giving James a hug and a kiss. "Let's go find a place to sit." He said putting his arm around my shoulder. "Can we sit in the back? I have something to tell you." I asked. "Sure." He said giving me a quizzical look. We sat at one of the tables in the back and a few minutes later the waitress came to take our order. After she left I said quietly, "I learned a new power." "Really?" He said getting closer so we could whisper, "what is it?" I answered, "Teleportation. I'm not very good at it, but I've been practicing all morning." "Wow, that's crazy." He said shocked. "You know what's crazier, I can learn Invisibility, but I need someone with me to do it. Can we tomorrow?" I asked. "Of course!" He answered, "I would love our last hour together helping you learn a new power!" "Thanks" I said. A while later the waitress brought our food and I told him about the predicament with my parents. We split the check and left. "I really wish we could hang out today." I said putting my head on his shoulder as we walked to my car. "Me too." He said opening my car door for me. I kissed him goodbye and drove away. He went to his car to go home.

I stayed in my room the rest of the day. At around 3:00 PM my mom came up the stairs to tell me she was leaving to go shopping and she'd be back in about an hour. Since I was home alone, my great grandmother was upstairs sleeping, I took the time to search the kitchen for food so I didn't have to leave my room for a while. It didn't take long with telekinesis. I was in the living room when I heard my grandfather come home. Every Saturday he went to the retirement home to talk to his old friends. Since he was the closest thing to an ally at the time I let him sit next to me and watch TV with me.

I wanted to ask him about the charm. I was scared he would be like my parents but I did it anyway. "Do you know what the Hollins Charm is?" I said refusing to make eye contact with him. "They finally tell you." He said in a tone that made me certain that he was on my side. "Not them, a vision did." I said. "That's what I thought. What do you know?" He asked trying to get me to look at him. "Telekinesis, teleportation, and hopefully invisibility soon." I answered still looking straight forward. He nodded, "How long have you known?" I chuckled, "I learned Thursday." "I thought you'd be a fast learner." He said, "The boy know?" I answered, "Of course, I tell him everything." We sat in silence for a little while. I finally looked at him and said, "They don't want me to have these powers and they tried to stop me from having them. W-Why would they do that?" He answered, "I don't know honey, I tried to tell them to let you chose but they refused to let you live your life. Honey, they think it's a curse." "You could say that again" I said to him remembering my conversation with my mother. "Honey, they think it's a curse." He said again. I smiled. Even with all the problems in my life he can still make me smile.

I heard the door to the house open. It was my mom. I whispered to my grandpa, "I wasn't here." Then I teleported to one of the stools in the kitchen. I landed it perfectly. I'm getting better at this I said to myself. I left threw the back door to go to the chicken pen. I checked their food and saw that it was empty, so I filled it. I left a note on the gate saying that I feed the chickens.

I saw my grandmother sitting on the bench by our "Lake". I sat next to her and asked her about the charm, "What do you think about the charm?" She answered, "Honey, you should be able to do what you want. You can do what you want and whatever you choose I'll support you." "Thanks. I wish my parents were like that." I said. "They'll come around." She said. "Well, dad will be home soon and I don't want to be caught talking to anyone about the charm. I'm going to my room." I said and stood up. "One thing before you go," She said, "Don't, I repeat Do Not, for any reason tell your sister. She will use it against you." "Thanks." I said and left.

An hour later I was watching TV in my room when I heard someone downstairs. My TV was right next to the stairs so I turned the TV off and went to my computer desk on the other side of the room. They walked up the stairs and said, "Honey..." It was my dad. "Go away." I said not wanting to argue with him. "Claire," He started, "I understand that you're angry but, you have-"I cut him of saying, "I said go away. I don't want to talk to you." trying to look busy on my computer. "Okay." He said, "Super is in an hour so..." "Just have grandma bring it to me. I have projects to work on" I said trying to get out of being with the whole family. "Okay honey." He said and left.

When my grandma brought my food she said, "Claire, you can't just hide from them for the rest of your life. That isn't how family works." I said, "When I graduate I'm moving away. I'm not staying in this house. I can't. I'm giving you and grandpa the land and moving away. I'll take half of the money so you can pay for the land with the other half." She didn't agree to that so she said, "No, you can take at least 75% of the money. We've been saving a lot with the garden and chickens. I think we can survive off 3 million instead of 5." I didn't want to argue so I said, "Okay grandma." and she left.