Empathy

Chapter Seventeen

An hour or so later, I was still lying in my bed. I was unsure of what the time was, but I knew it was late.

I clutched my body pillow to my slim body. I curled around the soft, gray fluff as I sat quietly on my bed, relishing in the dark and quiet surrounding me and my mind.

Everyone knew now. Everyone knew, I thought. Gripping tighter, I smashed my head into the pillow. They know I'm a monster.

How am I supposed to go to school now that my Empathy is out and about and completely out of control?

"I can't ever show my face in Ambrose High again," I bemoaned to my lonely, teenage room.

A knock at my door sounded, echoing throughout my room, making the sound louder.

"Go away, Mom. I don't want to hear it," I called from my spot on my bed.I really had no intention of talking to my mother right now. Or anyone. Ever again for as long as I lived. I felt horrible for hurting the people there. I hated myself for hurting Aiden, but I can't do anything about it now. What's done is done. The oak door opened.

"Actually, it's not Mom," my sister's voice rang out as she entered my room for the first time in a long time.

I snorted, "What are you doing in my room, Gemma? I don't want to see anyone." My sister gave me a concerned look, perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowing the exact same way that Mom's did whenever she was worried.

Gemma walked over from the door to my bed. I sat up, still clutching the body pillow to me like a protective shield. Gesturing with her hand, she asked, "Can I sit, Marvy?" She used the old nickname she came up for me when we were little kids. I didn't respond in an affirmative, opting instead to turn my head away from one of the many sources of my problems these days.

I felt the bed dip a little, confirming that Gemma sat down on my mattress. "You know, you could have told me you were able to do that. I would have been able to help you out," she said, placing her hand on my thigh.

I looked at her hand for a second before raising my eyes to her face. "What was I supposed to say Gemma? What could I say? You don't understand at all what I can do! I hurt the boy I care about more than anything else and now everyone thinks I'm a freak! Enlighten me, Gemma, what in God's name was I supposed to say?"

"Well," Gemma breathed. "For starters, you could have told me that you developed into an Empath."

I was about to continue my rant, ready to berate her for everything wrong in my life. I stopped, processing her words carefully in my mind. What?

"What?" I spoke, my voice quiet. "What do you mean by that?"

She rubbed her palms on her leggings. A drop of sweat ran down her temple. She was nervous. And she had every right to be. "Vel, you didn't think I wouldn't be able to tell an Empath from a regular person, did you?" she asked like it was so simple, so obvious.

"Gemma," I said, irritation coating my voice. "Cut the bullshit. How do you know about being an Empath?"

My sister gulped. "Where do I begin?" she asked, more to herself than to me.

"Start at the beginning," I snapped at her.

"Okay, fine. Don't be such as smartass," Gemma breathed. She shifted her weight, tapping her chin in deep thought. "Well, I guess it all started when I had my accident, where I almost died in the Summer of 2012."

The Summer of 2012, Lake Superior. I completely forgot about that. It was such a horrifying event that I blocked it out of my mind for over five years. Before Gemma and I were cold as ice to each other, we were close, extremely close for being sisters. But one event changed everything. Mom, Dad, Gemma, and I went up North for three weeks in June of 2012, just for some fun. While we were there, Mom and Dad decided that all of us would swim in Lake Superior and it was fun, at first, but it didn't last long. Gemma and I were near a rock that overlooked the giant lake and it was a long way down. But Gemma and I didn't care, we were young and stupid and children. All we cared about was us having fun. However, we got too close to the edge and I don't remember a lot that happened, but I do believe that I pushed my sister off the rocks and into the lake. It took me a while to figure out that Gemma was drowning and drowning fast.