Kidnapped

Visitors

My mom isn't as out of it like I had originally thought. When Ms. Lib clears her throat, she stands up straight and pushes her hair out of her face. "Well?" She asks, her voice sounding a little rough.
Ms. Lib walks into our house as if she does it all the time. "No word yet, Wendy." She sighs, which comes out a little strange. I'm still watching Jeremy, who was staring at our door with an unreadable look on his face. Here, in this vision, I seemed to have turned a flip in me that won't let me read my mom's mind, and now Ms. Lib and Jeremy.
A tired sigh leaves my mom and turns to look at her. "How?" Ms. Lib had walked over to our couch and sat down, and mom trailed behind her. Jeremy was left at the door. "How could they not find her?" Ms. Lib shrugs as mom sits next to her.
"I don't know--"
"She's been gone for far too long, Ellie! How...how can they not know where my baby went? How can they not know who took my baby?" Mom throws her hands up, exasperated. I take a step toward her. What is she talking about?
"Mom?" I mumbled, but of course no one hears me.
"I don't know," Ms. Lib-- Ellie says, watching my mom. "I don't know. They, the cops, don't know. But--"
"But what?!" Her shoulders drop and then: sobbing. "My daughter is missing. I don't need any buts. I need an answer. I need a why. I need a who." I catch my breath, my heart sinking. She's talking about me.
Jenny turns away from my mom. "Wendy, I'm telling you: we don't know. I'm sorry." I raise an eyebrow. Ms. Lib apologizing? I have never seen her apologize before.
Jeremy clears his throat behind me. "Mrs. Blake--"
"Ms. Blake," mom and I correct, turning to Jeremy, "Ms. Blake is fine."
Jeremy blinks, frowning. His eyes flicker around and I almost run to him. Can he hear me? He shrugs, but it's quick and unnoticeable unless you were looking for such a movement. "Ms. Blake," he corrects himself. "Your daughter is nowhere to be seen. Our officers have done their best-- still are doing their best. But Geneva is not here." I stare at Jeremy, trying to make sense of what he was saying. What'd he mean by 'Our officers'?
"I know that she's not here," mom replies with a catch in her voice. The catch in her voice pulls at me until I'm sitting on her other side, reaching for her, but going right through her once again. Ellie has not made eye contact with mom still. She stares, instead, at the wall to her left. The wall is filled with certificates of completion from school. Around them are photos of me and mom, enjoying a hike through the mountains last summer. "I know because I have been alone for far too long. It's been over two weeks. She wouldn't leave me alone for that long, officer. Gennie wouldn't, I'm telling you." Two weeks?
I glance over at Jeremy, the title bouncing around my head. Officer? That's when I notice his attire. He's wearing a cop uniform, the blue hat in his right hand. As I watch his left hand twitches once, twice, like he's squeezing something.
"Officer Clarkson," Ellie speaks, finally, looking over at him, "is doing the best he can for this case. He's a professional, Wendy, so please let him do his work." I frown. Ms. Lib is calling him an officer too? Jeremy was one of her students in study hall. She should recognize him. But then... if she recognized him, what is he doing here at my house? "His officers are the best in their profession too." She turns to mom. "We will get Geneva home, okay? We will."
Mom starts to sob into her hands, pulling her legs up on to the couch. It's something that I have never seen her do and this time my hand passes through her pretty fast. I glance up for a second and notice the look passed between Ellie and Jeremy. Ellie's eyebrows rise and puckers her mouth, while Jeremy's gaze turns downward.
"That's it!" I jump up and cross the room to the door. I point at Jeremy. "Who are you, really? And what was that look between you two?" He doesn't look up or react the way I wanted him to. Blast him into the street outside. The thought enters my head, and before I can rethink it over I close my eyes and pull my hand up. Within me I can feel the surges of power traveling up my hands. When I open my eyes again two things happen: My hands were glowing blue, which was something that I had never done, so without meaning to I blast at the doorframe, an inch above Jeremy's head. Secondly, Jeremy jumps, his eyes widen and find mine, and he drops the cop hat in his hand. We stare at each other for a total of six seconds, before answers fall into place. "You can see me!" I yell, pointing at Jeremy. "And hear me!" Jeremy's eyes only get wider. He steps back and I step forward. I know that he knows that I know he can see and hear me. I wave my hands around and the blue glow leaves a trail. "Don't act dumb, Jeremy." Behind me the air shifts a little and I turn just in time to see mom and Ellie freeze, as if they were characters in a tv show I had paused. Mom had her head lifted in our direction, tears still streaked across her face. Ellie's mouth was open as if she was about to ask a question out loud.
I twirl around to Jeremy, raising an accusing finger. "Stop this, right now. Unfreeze them."
Jeremy raises his hands in surrender and finally speaks. "It's not me." He stares at my glowing hands. "It's you. You're out of control." I glance up at where my blast hit. "That was an accident. I didn't mean to do it."
"That," Jeremy says, "wasn't just an accident, Geneva. You're messing up in real life. You are out of control."
"Real life?" I drop my hands. "You mean this isn't a--"
"It's not a vision, no," Jeremy finishes. "You are distorting reality. You need to wake up."
I frown at him. "Wake up? Why?"
Jeremy gives me an annoyed look, then seeming to think better of it, he drops the look. He bites his lip, his eyes roaming around the room before settling back on me. "If you don't wake up, bad things will happen and if these bad things start to happen, then you will be in even more danger." I blink at him. "Do you understand me?"
"So you're saying that I froze them," I point to my mom and Ellie, "but I'm also still sleeping? And that I'm hurting reality and close to hurting myself?"
Jeremy stops biting his lips to frown at me once again. "Just wake up, Geneva. So that we can find you." He mutters the last part, but I perk right up at it.
"Find me? We?" I step closer to him and a buzzing starts in my head. "Who is 'we' and why do you need to find me?" Jeremy tries to step back from me, but his back hits the doorframe.
After muttering a swear, Jeremy gives me a long and full glance. "I can't tell you that. I can't."
"Why not?" I dig. My body was starting to feel heavy suddenly, and it was becoming hard to keep my towering stance against Jeremy's. My shoulders drop, and I let out a tired sigh. "Why are you always so mysterious? W-why can't I..." I blink. "Why can't I read your mind anymore?" This is true, I realized as I tried to push into his mind. There's a fuzzy barrier around him that I can't move past.
We already established that. The whisper is faint, but it's my own voice.
Jeremy opens his mouth and then shuts it, his eyebrows furrowed. "We need to find you quick—
Then BAM. Something hits me in the side of the head and my world is once again dark.
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Emerson's POV
I thought about exploring this cave, to find a vantage point against those assholes. But Blake knocked out again. I didn't have to do anything this time. I turned around to glance at the makeshift door the freak had made to keep us safe or whatever, and when I turned back she was laying on ground, her breathing ragged. We were still under fire from the guys in white, but since they couldn't get in I dropped my gun and stared down at her. The cave held no real comfort with rocks lying everywhere. It wasn't a home to a gnome or Elf, I could easily tell. Or else I would have found something, whether it be food or cloth. Cloth. I needed cloth for something. I walk away from Blake's ragged breathing, and deeper into the cave.
I'm a few feet away when I pause. You can't leave her alone. Go back. The whisper is urgent. She's in danger. Go back. I turn around and look at her sleeping form. Go back!
Suddenly a scream pierces the air. As I watch, Blake raise up. No, not her. Her body is rising by itself. A blue glow lights up the cave. My instinct pushes me back towards the gun. I grab onto it just as I realize the blue glow is coming from Blake herself.
What the hell?
The glow reveals Blake's scrunched up face. "Listen, Freak," I say, the irritation making me glare at her floating body, "Whatever you're doing, you better stop it." Outside the gunfire had stopped, I notice. The second thing I notice is that Blake wasn't awake. Her face was scrunched and her mouth was open as if she were yelling at someone. Her arms were limp, slightly hovering over the ground. "Blake, answer me," I hiss, pointing my gun at her. She doesn't respond, floating in her frozen state.
My hands are tired from holding my gun up when Blake's body suddenly drops to the ground. There's a hiss and a groan as the blue glow fades from her. When the glow completely ebbs away, Blake lets out a content sigh.
Keeping my gun pointed at her sleeping form, I move closer to Blake. A few minutes pass before a sigh of my own escapes. Nothing had come out of her. Not yet. But the voices have started. That's for sure. Things will only get more difficult from now on.
Another sigh, and I put my gun away, mentally preparing myself for what comes next.
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I dream of him again. The guy who's face I can't see. I'm laying against something in a dark room, but I'm not comfortable. I can tell something is wrong. My right side. I can't feel my right side. On my left I can feel something, but it's not big. The panic starts to build in my throat. I let out a gasp that turns into hyperventilation. One after another gasp leaves my mouth drawing on the panic that was swallowing me up. I don't know how long it goes on for, but suddenly he's there. I notice the blue light first. It disturbs the dark space, pulling on my attention. Then there's physical contact on my right arm. I can feel and see the hand on top of mine. The touch leaves behind a cooling feel, instantly making me calm. His voice comes last, containing his tread mark annoyance, confusion, and mystery emotion. "Why do you do this to yourself?" The quiet question reaches my ears way too soon. "Do you have a death wish?"
I want to shake my head and explain, but I can't. Speech wasn't available to me yet.
"I need you to lay still for a while. Can you do that for me?" I do as he asks and lay still, although it wasn't that hard to do. I was tired. My body was tired. In fact I wanted to close my eyes and sleep for a while. My eyes droop as I think this, the space around me starting to fade to black. There was no pain for me to feel anymore. The numbness was comforting. I let my eyes close and tell myself just for a second.
"Hey!" The word is shouted in alarm. "Open your eyes!" My eyes open in surprise with my heart beating fast. I'm staring into wide blue eyes and I know it's the guy. But suddenly he pulls away and I'm forced to follow his shadow with my eyes."Keep them open. Do you hear me?" He comes back closer. "Do you hear me?" I can't speak or nod, since my head feels heavy, so I blink two times. He seems satisfied with my blinking and nods. "Okay, good. I need you to keep blinking." I hear the faint opening of a backpack.
So I blink and blink and blink on repeat while he does whatever he is doing. Every once in a while I get very close to closing my eyes for a "rest", but the guy is persistent. He shouts across the room at me to keep them open, as if he can hear my thoughts about giving up.
I don't know how long I blink on repeat when the smell suddenly comes. The smell.
No.
The panic starts. No. Please, no.
There are footsteps towards me. I want to twist away. I want to use my powers and blast the guy away from me. I want to cry. But I don't do any of those things. Instead I blink as the guy comes and crouches close to me. I blink as his unreadable eyes suddenly become readable. Finally, I blink twice as he mummers two words no one but my mother has gotten away with: "Trust me, Geneva". My name sounds strange coming out of his mouth, awkward even. His eyes narrow as he says it too, an action that seems oddly familiar to me. Only I have never seen this guy until he recently started appearing to me at night. Yet I blink twice again, lending him my trust.