Protectors

Chapter 8 - Everything You Need to Know

            I sat at a small table in the same back room that I read Jeremy's mind in. There was no one with me. My fingers tapped a quick beat on the table. Boredom had overcome me minutes ago. Lydia told me to come in and sit down. I obeyed. But I wouldn't have if I'd have known how long she'd keep me waiting. At the same time, I wasn't bored enough to leave the room and see why she was taking so long. No, I was much too comfortable - and lazy -  for that. The chair I sat on was cushioned and that was enough for me.

            The sound of the door opening startled me. I looked over, expecting Lydia. Instead, I saw Jeremy walking towards the table. My comfy chair didn't seem too inviting anymore. the last time I had talked to Jeremy, he screamed at me for invading his privacy. Although it had been a week and a half since then, I still didn't have the guts to talk to him about it, let alone apologize.

            He pulled a chair over with a loud screech across the floor. I winced at the noise. The silence was getting to me. I began to nervously tap my foot. He sat down, directly in front of me.

            Before I could even attempt to say sorry, a smile spread across his face. he leaned in as if he didn't want anyone to hear what he was going to say.

            "I heard you punched Griffin in the face," he laughed.

I smiled at the amusement in his voice.

            "Did he tell you?" I asked

Jeremy nodded, clearly pleased. He slapped a hand on the table in enjoyment.

            "That's my girl!"

I tried to suppress the grin that came at his words of approval.

            "How mad is he?" I asked curiously.

Jeremy smiled even bigger at that.

            "He's pissed. But I'm sure he'll get over it. You just proved that he isn't the only brash one in this joint. And trust me, Griffin's ego took a hard hit along with that sissy-boy face of his."            

            "Wait..." I paused, momentarily distracted, "does Lydia know?"

He let out another laugh.

            "No."

I sighed in relief.

            "But if she did," he said, "she'd laugh harder than I did when I found out,"

I laughed at that. Surprised as I was that Jeremy wasn't being cold to me, I enjoyed his light hearted joking.

            "I'm serious" he chuckled.

            I sat back in my chair, comfortable once again. It seemed as though the cold blood between us was forgotten. My arms folded across my chest accusingly.

            "Okay, I know you didn't come in here just to say that."

            He straightened up in the chair and nodded. Clearing his throat, he clasped his hands on the table with a mock seriousness.

            "Yes, of course," he said, "I'm here on official business."        

            I scrunched my face up.

            "Boring."

            He slumped down in his chair again, nodding.

            "I know!" the corner of his mouth twitched. It did that when he was joking, I noticed.

            "No, Lydia sent me here to fill you in on everything. She figured you would rather not talk to her considering the fact that you screamed at her last time."

            I winced. He made me sound like some sort of crazy monster that they were all afraid of. Although I had refused to talk to anyone in the house for a whole week, I wasn't insane... right?

            "You can't blame me! What if you were thrown into a new house and no one told you anything that was going on?"

             I could feel the anger rising up in me. I clenched my fists and tried to stay calm.

            "I know. I probably would have punched Griffin a lot sooner than you had."

            I smiled. Jeremy seemed to have sensed the irritation in my voice and knew exactly what to say to diffuse it.

            "Right?" I joked along with him.

            "Yea. But Em," his face turned serious. I liked the fact that he was comfortable enough with me to give me a nickname, "as much of a pain in the ass that he is, he's a damn good Protector. All I'm saying is that you should give him the benefit of the doubt every once in a while."

            We sat awkwardly for a minute before Jeremy couldn't take the silence any longer. He cleared his throat.

            "Well, I guess I should start at the day you came here." he began, "We had been watching you for a while. Don't look at me like that, we weren't stalking you... just keeping tabs. Then griffin told Lydia and I that we needed to bring you here. Don't ask me why... we still don't know. But he's your Protector so we trusted his judgment. Just like you should...  Anyway, we brought you back to the house and watched you closely. We knew that you were going to have panic attacks, we had just hoped they wouldn't come so soon."

            "How did you know?" I interrupted.

            "You had one the night your parents died. It's a side effect of powerful mind control. It usually happens when you try to remember something that's been erased from your memories. In fact, you had them a lot when you lived out there on your own. You just didn't realize it. It happened a lot in your sleep. But what I'm getting at here is..." he paused.

            An uncomfortable look spread across his face.

            "We're going to have to ask you to try and remember more..."

            I raised my eyebrows, not following him.

            "Okay...?"

            "You're going to have more of these attacks," he explained.

I shook my head.

            "No. It doesn't work that way-"

            He cut me off before I could explain.

            "I know it's too much to ask. And I personally voted against it, but we need more information on the men who killed your parents and you're the only way we can get that information."

            He was talking at what seemed like a hundred miles a minute.

            "Jeremy! I'm not saying no. I'm saying I can't."

            It was his turn to look confused.

            "I only remember things when I'm sleeping. I can't control when the memories come back to me. It's taken two years just to remember that my parents were even dead, let alone killed! I'm sorry, but I can't do anything for you."

            Jeremy looked defeated. His shoulders slumped and all of the sudden I wished that I could take back everything I said. I wished that I could do what he asked of me. I couldn't see him like this. Not when things had just become friendly between us...

            "I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this..." he mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose.

            "Come to what?" I asked.

            He avoided any eye contact with me whatsoever. His eyes flicked around the room like a nervous puppy.

            "Have I told you that Griffin can read minds?"