The Boy in the Gray Hoodie

39...

39...

"This way," I said, still holding onto Pam's hand. She stumbled after me but quickly caught up as I ran toward the other end of the building.

The main floor was just an open space, with no furniture or equipment of any kind, so there was nothing in our way as we ran across the room toward a large doorway that led to a stairwell. On the left side of the stairs was a door marked with a 'do not enter' sign in bold red letters.

"Stairs?" Pam grunted. "Why not take the elevator?"

Without answering her, I ran passed the stairs and to the left, pushing the door open and stepping into a wide hallway with grated metal floor tiles. There were red lights flashing in this hallway as well as the one in the basement. The door at the end was locked, as we had expected.

I could feel that we were getting closer with every step I took towards the door. It wasn't so much Roy's heartbeat now as his very existence that guided me forward. I knew he was there, somewhere on the other side of that door, and that he was waiting for me—hoping that I would find him.

"I think he's in there," I said excitedly.

The door was made of a solid, thick material that seemed stronger than the door in the basement. I wasn't sure that I could break it down, no matter how angry I became.

"Use the thingy," Aunt Pam urged, poking at the black box next to the door. I bent down to retrieve the nametag from my shoe, but it was gone.

"Crap." I hissed.

"Crap? What does crap mean? Where's the thingy?"

"I lost it." I stated, brushing my hair from my face.

"What do you mean you lost it?" she shook her head incredulously.

"I lost the thingy!" I snapped, throwing up my hands.

"Well, how do we get the door open without it?" Pam demanded.

"The same way I did it before." I tried to sound confident, but failed.

Pam stepped in front of the door. "Roy could be on the other side, he might get hurt," she said. "We need the thingy. It's safer."

"I don't have the thingy!"

"Well then find the thingy with your mind powers!"

"It doesn't work like that!" I snapped. At least, I didn't think it worked like that.

"Ugh!" Aunt Pam shoved herself away from the door and moved behind me. "I guess we don't have a choice. Go on. Break it down."

Sending her a quick glare, I turned my attention on the door. I wished I could take it down as easily as that. But I had to get mad again. And this time, I had to make sure the door didn't go flying across the room in case Roy really was in there on the other side.

Then it hit me. If I could pull the door back toward me, instead of trying to push it forward to the other side, I wouldn't have to worry about Roy getting hurt. But I still had to pick one thing. One thing that made me angry enough to get the door open, but not so angry that it came flying into us.

Taking a deep breath, I focused my thoughts on one particular incident.

The night that I hid in the closet.

I saw Roy on the bed, right after James injected him with a drug strong enough to knock him out and make him hallucinate. Roy started to dream, although even when I was inside of his head I hadn't been able to see what he was dreaming about. But whatever it was, it was bad enough to draw out his powers and make him levitate.