It's Okay to be Different

33

'Just please, try to control yourself next time. And don't say there won't be a next time. Because there will. This is high school. People do dumb shit.' Mitch half scolds and half jokes.

'Like me...' I trail off and I feel Mitch tense up beside me. 'I'm sorry. I know you're sensitive about what happened to me. I shouldn't have said that.'

'It's...' He takes an audible breath. 'It's fine. I am a bit stressed about something though.'

I furrow my eyebrows and actually turn my head to look at him. 'What is it?'

He neets my gaze and looks down for a moment before looking at me again. 'Why didn't your power work, Scott? There are multiple scenarios that could have made it occur or could be caused because of it.' Oh shit. I completely forgot that it even happened.

I disconnect my thoughts with Mitch and just stare at the front board for what seems like an eternity. It's not even like I'm thinking about anything. My mind is just wandering in a million different directions and I'm not sure which thought to latch on to. So I sit there, tuning out the teacher's lecture and the quiet hum of the air conditioning. The only sound audible to me is the millions of thoughts in my head. Mitch and I don't speak for the rest of the class period.

When the bell rings, I get up and walk with Mitch to the next class but I'm too bewildered to speak at all. Even to the teacher when we walk in. I hear her scoff about 'kids these days being so rude' but I ignore it and go to my seat, directly next to Mitch.

'Mitchie... tell me about these... scenarios you mentioned.' I say nervously. I don't want to think of the worst possibility, even though I have no clue what it could he.

I hear Mitch sigh next to me before I hear his voice in my head. 'It could be something harmless. It could just have been a falter in your system and everything is fine now. But it could just as equally be something much worse. Have you heard of Senile Dementia?'

'No.' I simply answer because I don't . I know what Dementia is but not Senile Dementia.

'Do you know what Alzheimer's is?' Now that I do know. I nod my head because we're making eye contact anyway. He looks away and continues. 'For vampires, we don't lose our memories... we lose our abilities. So you could have that. The worst thing that this could be, though...' He shivers.

'What is it Mitchie?'

'I know this is going to sound super cliché...'

'Please just spit it out.' He's stays silent. His teeth latch onto his bottom lip and he looks really worried.  Almost two minutes later and he still hasn't said a word. 'Mitchie tell me!'

It must have come across a bit more pushy than I meant because he jumps and his eyes meet mine.  He looks like a deer in headlights, his bottom lip trembling in fear. 'You could be possessed.'

I pause before answering. What the actual fuck? 'Who the hell would possess little old me?' I try to lighten the mood but Mitch shoots me a daring look. One that screams "I'll kill you if you ever do that again."

'I'm going to hate saying this but he's the only one I can think of.'

'Who, Mitchie?' He starts chewing on his lip again before he answers.

'Alex... We never put his soul to rest.'

Oh shit.