Psy-chik

~7~

After 30 minutes that seemed more like 30 hours, Usif finally pulled into a large driveway with about 4 other parked cars- expensive cars, might I add. My mouth fell open at the large brick house that stood in front of me. There had to be about 15 or more windows surrounding the whole thing. The grass was neatly cut, gardens on either side of the house. Standing before the mansion was a petite middle aged woman. She sported silver gray hair, thick glasses that sat low on her nose, and a warm, welcoming smile.
"That's my aunt." Usif smiled, parking the car.
I followed Usif as he walked towards her.
"Usif!" His aunt called out shakily. She seemed older than 50, but then again, our ability can be stressful. My mother was aging terribly, though she still has those same youthful blue eyes. So did his aunt. She had the same lively light brown eyes as Usif. I cringed at the thought of me aging like they did. My mother told me that I have a natural baby face, meaning I'd pretty much look 10 my entire life. I shook away the thought, realizing how much I missed my mother. "Why, hello!" Aunt Carol greeted me, welcoming me into her home. I smiled and stepped into the house. It was even larger on the inside, and even more gorgeous. I couldn't help but wonder what this lady did for a living.
"I was a surgeon." She blurted out. It took me a minute to realize that she was answering the question I'd thought of. I blushed, suddenly embarrassed. Geez, I really need to learn how to block my thoughts! "I-I'm sorry." I whispered.
"Don't you dare apologize! She chuckled. "Now, what are you two doing here?" She turned to Usif.
"We need to get in contact with... the others." He said slowly.
"My mother disappeared two days ago." I added.
"Hm..." Aunt Carol looked genuinely concerned. "What's her name?"

"Stephanie. Stephanie Harris."

"Stephanie! Oh dear lord, not Steph!" She exclaimed, causing me to jump. "Sorry for frightening you, it's just... I know her very well." A saddened expression formed across her face. I didn't ask how she knew my mom, from the look on her face she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"So, will you help us find her?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course. The question is, are you prepared for the journey of finding her?"

*

I sat next to Usif on his aunt's comfy gray couch, watching as she scrambled around a big box, looking for something. "Aha!" She exclaimed, pulling out a huge book of some sort. "This," she slammed the dusty brown book on the table. "Is where I keep track of all of the mind readers."
"Usif told me there were more, but there's that many?" I said in awe. What if I'd been surrounded by other readers this entire time? If so, why wouldn't I have heard their thoughts? I'm pretty sure their thoughts would have exposed them. I know mine damn sure would.
"There are only a couple thousand. Which may a lot to you, but definitely not a lot compared to the general population of the entire world." She chuckled.
Me and Usif glanced at each other, both in shock.
"You see, the first mind readers originated from Minnesota city. A lot of readers have spread out, to avoid being captured. Though, there's still quite a lot of readers who still live here. In fact, I have quite a few friends with our ability!"

"Not to mention the ones that live here." Usif added.

"You have readers living here? Isn't that a bit risky?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Well yes, but I got them off my tail a long time ago, dear." She winked.

"You said a lot of readers spread out to avoid being caught." I said slowly. "My mom moved us a lot too. Does that mean they... knew about us?" I asked nervously.
Carol sighed, her eyes dropping to the ground. "It's not unlikely." She shook her head. "As you probably already know, there was once a man- Usif's father, who would stop crimes before they happened. He became quite famous and even became a prime suspect in a lot of cases, but once he finally told the government about his ability, they covered it all up, saying it was all an act. They then kidnapped him and sent him to a secret lab, where they ran tests on him."

"Everyone thought he was in jail..." Usid muttered.

"W-what did they... Test on? How, I mean? Nobody really knows how we got these abilities." I stammered.

"I'm not sure." Carol furrowed her eyebrows. "But I was told that they went as far as forcing him to reproduce. They took his sperm and inserted it into multiple women, to see if the child would have the same abilities. Some did, some didn't. The kids who had those abilities stayed in the lab, but most were killed."

Usif rested his face in his hands. "I must have tons of siblings... It sucks I can't- I couldn't be there for them."
I sighed, resting a hand on his shoulder. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could the people in charge of protecting this country do this? My mom could be in that lab right now, getting poked and prodded, and maybe soon... Dead, and I was determined to find her- alive.
"How do they even find us?" I asked.

"It's mostly a matter of relativity." Usif blurted. "Remember what I told you in the car?"
I nodded. "A lot of us mind readers are related, being that we all originated from the one person who had the ability." Said Carol.

Me and Usif shot each other a look. I felt my cheeks begin to turn red. "Do you think we're related?" He thought. I shrugged.
"I said most of the time." Carol smirked. I've gotten dna tests to test the blood of other readers. Some of us were related, others weren't. Leading me to believe that there could've been more readers other than just that one. It's all very confusing, not knowing for sure where you came from."

"I agree." Usif snorted.

"But one things certain- we're not safe." She looked at us sternly, opening the book. This is basically a family tree. If I figured this out, the scientists probably had no problem doing the same. When they find out the children of the mind readers they've already caught, they hunt them down."

I felt chills go up my spine. That made so much sense! That's why we don't have much family! My mother never talked about her parents. She would always get emotional, saying they were simply "no longer in the picture." What if they were captured? Murdered by those scientists? What if that's why we were constantly on the move? The scientists already knew about my mother and her ability. It was just a matter of them finding her, and it looks like they succeeded.

"Most of the time, us mind readers are either born without parents, who stayed trapped in the lab, or they simply... disappear one day. Usually, if your parents have been captured, their death will be faked." Carol said, her lips in a thin line.

"What do you mean by that?" Usif asked.

"A government agent will usually show up at your door and tell some- excuse my language, bullshit story about how your parent, or parents died. Whether it be a car accident, a shooting... a freak accident."

"That's terrible!" I exclaimed, standing up. "Why didn't she tell me about this? What if it's too late?"
A tear fell from my eye.
Carol looked at me with sympathy. "It's definitely not, hun. But if you're gonna find her, you're gonna wanna move fast."

"Can we be excused for a minute, aunt Carol?" Usif asked.

"Take your time." She smiled softly.

Usif grabbed my hand and led me into a nearby bathroom. "I know this is hard, but we have time. If all of this is true, there could be hundreds of mind readers being held hostage in this lab right now. Your mom only went missing two days ago. I'm pretty sure she's fine." He assured me, wiping my tear stained cheeks. I hadn't even realized I'd still been crying.
"If we're going to find your mom, we have to be strong. My aunt has done this before, but since she's older now, we're on our own. We need to get as much information from her as possible; then we'll gear up, and then we'll save her. Sound good?" He gave me that heart warming, gorgeous smile. I instantly felt better. The effect he had on me was perplexing. I nodded. "Sounds good."
I thought about my life back home, everything I took for granted. Even the fake friends and dumb teenage parties. Even high school. If I didn't return, if I ended up trapped in that lab for the rest of my life, at least I got to experience those things. Other readers weren't so lucky. "Let's go." I said firmly.
"Good girl." Usif smiled, kissing my forehead. "We got this."