Louisiana 7 - Origins

The Boy Who Claimed The Mountian - Ross Selby [part1]

Main: The boy who claimed the mountain.

 [EARLIER-THAT SAME DAY]

*Inhaled deeply*

*Coughed*

*Coughed*

  My eyes slowly opened as I felt the constant nudging of my grandfathers cane at my neck.  Daunted, I glanced upward from the rocks as we made eye contact. 

“G-grandpa?”

“Ross Michael Selby!  What in the world are you doing outside on my rocks boy?  I thought you were packing?”

            “I was…”

Suddenly, my memory tumbled back to me.  The dock collapsed.  Oh my God.  I leaped onto my bare feet instantly, and then rushed down to the lake.

  “Where in blue-blazes are you skipping off to?  And where’s your shirt!?  You’ll catch a walking-ammonia!  Damn kids…” He yelped.

Was she still down there?  I raced over to the water’s edge and without hesitation I dove into the cool waters.  The murky water engulfed my body as I plunged deeper into the heart of the lake.  I was blind until the faint shimmer of what I thought was a foot peddle, caught my eye.  As I swam over toward the shimmer, my lungs gradually burned from the lack of air.  Ignoring the pain I pressed onward.  The deeper I swam the clearer the object became as I extended my arms.  Before I knew it I was at lakes bottom tugging at the settled and abandoned wheelchair.  Thank God she wasn’t down here but the question of her where-a-bouts created an even bigger mystery in my mind.  Posts from the dock lodged in the spokes pinned the chair to the bottom. I planted my feet in the soft sediment and began lifting just to be sure.  That’s when the sensation hit me.  The cool rush of air chilled my lungs like drops of water on a hot skillet.  I could feel the swaying of the trees and the subtle flickers of every acorn hanging in the branches above.  The tickle of tiny grains of sand swarmed my ankles as I peered down at my feet.  The sand was shifting up my legs like an army of crazed fire ants.  The sheer feeling of power consumed me as the chair drifted from my fingertips.  All my senses melted together in a symphony of sights.  I was connected to the flora around me-one with nature.  

Instantaneously, my mind was transported onto the city streets.  I could see everything as if I was there, but from a ground perspective.  I surveyed the area and that’s when I spotted her-the girl I watched fall into the lake.  She was with other people, many of which I recognized from school.  They were carrying what looked like old model electronics.   Oddly enough, she was also in another wheelchair and she seemed fine.  Where were they headed?  I glanced upward at the guy pushing her chair and I panicked.

That face…it’s the same face I saw before I was knocked over. 

I grabbed the wheelchair as the anger barricaded my emotions and hurled it clear out of the lake.  Then without thinking I leaped from the lakebed.  The raw amount of force I expelled sent me cutting through the water like a missile.  With an incredible surge of brute force I exploded from under the surface and crashed onto the ground.  I felt an overwhelming rush of power coursing through my veins.  It was as if the entire planet was under my thumb.  My grandpa was gone.  Possibly back into the house to do what he normally does around this time of day-watch Ellen.  I scooped up my shirt from the grass.  What was this intensity that I felt deep inside my bones that shook the very core of my existence?  How did I gain such incredible powers?  A better question may have been-how do I use them?  Was it connected to the water?  Or maybe it was my use of the lake over the years.  It had to be something.  I had a small theory but it needed to be tested.  Sinking my feet deeper into the soil and inhaling seemed to trigger the power so I started by repeating those actions.  Right on cue my body shifted into another state of being. I glanced down as my hands and chest and was blown away.  My body had instantly transformed into living soil.  I smiled as I closed my eyes and that’s when I saw them yet again.  I could see everything from nature’s perspective.  It felt like I had eyes everywhere.  I followed them around the back of someone’s home.  As I tracked them it would seem that I had stumbled upon a meeting of sorts.  Although I couldn’t hear, I could tell that something secretive was going on.  They pulled up to an old rusted shed.  After a few seconds the doors were opened and they gathered inside.  I waited a while before I let go of the vision.  Someone else was coming-the pizza man.  Just before the doors opened I was hit with a massive throbbing in my head that forced me to end the visions-for now.  There were so many questions.  The only thing I knew for certain was that they had answers.  I guess I won’t be packing after all.