Empathy

Chapter Nineteen

My eyes widened in shock. Shit, I thought. I thought this room was empty.

"Who's there?" the voice asked again, weak and sad. I turned to find out who the voice belonged to and was sad to see that it was a young boy, no older than eleven or twelve. His mousy brown hair was matted with sweat and grimy. His skin was pale and it illuminated in the dimness of the hospital room. I could make out bandages on his forearms, the red of his blood seeping through the white material like it nothing.

Pain flared behind my eyes like it never did before. There was a fiery feeling in the pit of my stomach. Agony tore through me like a blade slicing through a piece of flimsy paper. I clutched my head again, groaning in pain.

"Mom?" the boy asked. He sounded so weak and scared.

"No," I replied, my own voice sad and scared.

"Who are you?" he asked when I stepped out of the doorway, letting him get a full view of me.

I removed my hands from my head, the pain just bearable now. "I'm Marvel. And you are?"

"Jacob," the boy answered.

"Jacob," I repeated, testing his name out on my lips. "Nice to meet you."

"Why are you in my room?" he asked. He clutched his bedsheets.

I stepped closer to him. "I just needed somewhere to quiet my thoughts," I told him. Looking directly into bright, forest green eyes, I asked, "May I sit, Jacob?" He nodded, making room for me on the moveable mattress. I sat down and looked at my lap.

"Do you have voices in your head, too?" he asked me, the bright eyes so full of emotion.

"Something like that," I breathed out. I glanced down to his arms. "Did the voices in your head tell you to do that to yourself, Jacob?" The boy's eyes opened wide in fear, looking down at her arms. He quickly moved them underneath his blankets.

"You... you believe that the voices told me to do this?" he asked meekly.

I nodded. "I do. I know more than you think."

I got a closer look at him. He reminded me of Mickey. Someone who was frail, broken, and hurting, yet so strong and passionate. He may have been a young boy, but I could see the lifetime of pain young Jacob had to go through, all alone, with no one to understand him. Just like Mickey. I continued, "My uncle has voices in his head, too. They make him do things to himself, they make him hurt so much. But he's getting better, because someone finally helped him." I grinned at him sweetly.

A watery smile broke the tight line of his lips, showing me white teeth. Relief flooded through me. "No one has ever believed me. My parents thought I was crazy and had me put in here." He got his arms out of the sheets. "Thank you!" he cried, wrapping his tiny, bandaged arms around me, a total stranger.

A wave of emotions transferred from the both of us. I gasped a tiny breath. Warmth, melting chocolate, and butterflies all rolled around in my stomach. The pain in my head vanished completely, leaving nothing left to hurt. I wrapped my arms around him, bringing him closer to me. He fit perfectly in my arms. "Don't worry, Jacob, I promise I understand exactly how you feel."

After hugging Jacob to me for what felt like an eternity, I left his room and stood in the mental health ward. I leaned against a wall next to the counter for the nurses.

"You just needed to learn that your gift isn't a burden," a woman said from the far right of me. I turned to the woman who spoke.

Nonni.

"You knew all along what Gemma and I were, didn't you?" I asked her. "Because you're an Empath as well?"

Nonni smiled, her top lip quirking to the side a little. "What gave me away?" she asked.

I got up from the wall. I looked straight at her. "Gemma told me that Empaths can't read other Empaths or who they are meant to be with. I just wanted to know why you didn't tell me all those months ago. You must have known what I had become," I informed.

Nonni chuckled and then said, "No, dear, you didn't just become an Empath. You were always one, you just needed a little push to get you to realize what you were capable of."

"What?" I asked as she walked over to stand next to me.

"You always had this ability. You were always able to tell what others were feeling and how to help them. That's part of the reason your parents, your father specifically, named you "Marvel". You were meant for bigger things."

That's what Dad was trying to get at all those months ago. When I asked him why he named me, he gave me a very specific answer. He was trying to get at that my name was much more than being their miracle.

Dad knew.

"Being an Empath is a genetic mutation in our family. The more creative and imaginative a person is, their Empathy grows into something more unique, creating telekinesis. Your mother and uncle developed the power when they were young, but it faded as soon as they reached the age of five. It also happens when a traumatic event occurs in an Empath's life, causing their abilities to be very powerful and unstable. But the more you use it and learn to accept that it isn't a burden, the more stable the Empath is."

"What happened to Gemma all those years ago and Dad dying," I said. Nonni nodded.

"Indeed. Now come on, your loved ones are very worried about you. Plus, Aiden is now out of surgery," my grandmother notified, taking me by the shoulders.

"Wait," I told her. I got out of her gentle grip. "How did you get here and why are you here"
"Gemma called me. She told me all about the party last night and what happened. That, and I came to Maverick. I wanted to see for myself how he was doing. Your sister also informed me that Maverick had tried to kill himself a week ago or so. I thought it was time to understand him."

"Why'd it take you so long to finally see Mickey's pain? He needed you guys and you just abandoned him," I said, my voice nothing more than a whisper.

"Dear, whenever we feel too much, our abilities get out of hand. I had to keep away for awhile. I knew Maverick was hurting, but I couldn't face it. I couldn't comprehend why my child was in so much pain. These kinds of things happen. Now." She wrapped her arm around me again, this time at the waist. "Let's get you to your loved one. Aiden should be awake by now."