The Touch

Part II

The following week was torture to get through. Summer gave her the ability to leave the house for hours, which was ultimately better than the months where she was homeschooled and imprisoned all day. But she still had to put up with her family in the morning. She could only ask to leave when she received her breakfast, when everyone else was awake eating theirs. Her cousins who were indoctrinated to demonize her, would torment her, knowing very well Moira could do nothing to them. When her aunt finally let her go, it was never without a set of guidelines Moira was expected to always follow.

"Do you understand? You going outside is an endangerment to my family, if you lose it and kill someone, we suffer. Got that?"

"Yes, Aunt Jackie."

"Now answer me. If someone is bothering you, you...?"

"I won't touch them."

"If they are threatening your life?"

"I won't touch them."

"If they are physically beating the living shit out of you?"

"No touching."

"Even if he rapes you?" Aunt Jackie's squinted her piercing blue eyes.

Moira looked down. "Not. A single. Thing."

Her aunt smiled. "Good girl. Run along now. Oh, but come back soon, I'm making my casserole tonight!"

Since Corbin could only make time on the weekends, Moira either spent her time at the library or at a cafe. She got some looks for wearing gloves on this scorching day but she paid no mind to it. She had her nose in a book Corbin instructed her to finish months ago but never did. It was on meditation and other techniques. She was at the cafe, munching on a slice of pound cake while sipping on an iced mocha. She took her gloves off for convenience. It was no risk, considering no one wanted to so much look at her. Well, almost no one.

A new barista, another teenager like her, probably trying to make a quick buck over the summer, kept fumbling about and frankly wasn't doing a good job. And it all seem to stem from his strange concentration on Moira. She had always noticed this, she could see him staring out of the corners of her eye. He was somewhat interesting to her, with ear tunnels creating see through lobes and his black hair streaked with red. Other than that, Moira really didn't care for this guy or his constant spying. She cleaned up and left with her books.

As she was waiting for the light to tell her to cross, she heard heavy footsteps running towards her. She saw it was that one barista. Instinctively, she turned around to see who he was really running to but no one was there. Before she could look back, he was already there and tapped his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, (*huff*) uh, you forgot these." He held up Moira's gloves.

Moira was terrified. For what exactly, she didn't know. The fact that another human being went out of their way to find her was just as scary as the fact she forgot her one shield to her destructive powers.

"I think it's a pretty cool statement. Black gloves look cool and you don't see 'em too often. I mean, you don't wear them because it's cold out right?" He laughed and Moira could see the warmness of his smile, with some piercings to go with. She looked down at his chest and saw a name tag that said "Todd".

He must've followed her eyes, since he continued, "Oh, I'm Todd by the way. Nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand for a shake. Moira knew she couldn't shake his hands while her were bare, but also knew she didn't have time or the logic backing to put on a glove first. Her only option was to run. But the most unexpected thing happened too fast.

Todd, in an unknowingly bold movement, grabbed Moira's open hand and shook it himself. Moira braced herself for the worse to come. Eyes closed she tried to tell herself that it was all going to resolve it self soon. But the wave of fear, panic, and guilt took over. She couldn't hear anything her brain tried to tell her. But then she heard-