Who am I?

Zoe's story

I had trouble sleeping. As much as I tossed and turned, I just couldn't shut my mind off and sleep. It didn't matter I wasn't tired anyway. I decided at around 6 am it was time to give up. The others were out cold but I got up quietly; it would be good to get some fresh air and buy breakfast for everyone as a nice surprise I honestly felt guilty for hitting Anthony the day before.

I threw on my sweater and crept out the door. The air was cold and the sun was just beginning to rise. My breath clouded in the air; I smiled because in this moment I felt normal. I walked down the stairs and spotted a Tims down the road. They had pretty good breakfast stuff; anything would be a nice change from Jason's mom's fruit preserves.

When I got into the Tims I realized my major fault in the plan: nobody could see me. I groaned and smacked myself on the head. How could I have forgotten? They couldn't even hear me, there was no way I could order food. Frowning I got in line I would have to at least try. Maybe I'd luck out and get someone gifted who could see my aura.

When I got to the front the man looked past me. "Can I help who's next?" he called to the person behind me. I shuddered as I felt the person step through me; it was a disgusting feeling. Grudgingly, I shoved my hands in my pockets and  started to walk back to the motel.

I felt like someone was watching me. I stopped and looked around but there was nothing there. You're being paranoid. I told myself, it's just a lack of sleep nobody's there. My heart calmed down until I heard a noise in the bushes. Then the intense panicky feeling started crawling its way down my throat.

It wasn't as strong this time, I wasn't completely freaking out but the need to get away was strong. I started to run and the feeling got less and less the faster I went. My legs were aching and I could hardly breathe but I couldn't stop.

The parking lot was in view. I was almost home free! I ran up further pushed on by the sight of the motel but I had to stop and take a breather. I was sooo out of shape; I made a silent resolution to start running whenever we were done with this trip. I gasped for breath with my hands on my knees but when I looked up I could see some kids standing outside the car in the distance.

That was weird. I squinted and could see they were taking boxes out of the trunk. Oh god they were robbing us! I started running again as fast as I could and yelled "HEY!" at the top of my voice The kids looked up but there were hoods over their heads so i couldn't see their faces. 

"THATS OUR STUFF YOU CAN"T TAKE THAT!" I yelled and waved my arms. By the time I got up to the parking lot, they were already scurrying away. I yelled some colourful language and tore off after them. They were just ahead  of me and turned the corner. I was right on their tails and... Poof.

I turned the corner and they were gone. They must have gotten ahead in the second that I couldn't see them. I cursed and kicked the wall. They stole our stuff and I could have stopped them if I wasn't so FREAKING INVISIBLE.

Tears stung my eyes and shame heated my cheeks. "DAMN THIS!" I screamed at the sky. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?!" it wasn't fair it felt like the universe was just dishing out struggle after struggle to me. I wasn't perfect and sure I made mistakes but surely I didn't do anything to deserve this. Or did I? I wouldn't even know because I couldn't remember! I sighed and dropped to the ground putting my hands over my eyes.

I just needed some time to compose myself before heading back to the room and facing the consequences of what I failed to stop. So I let the tears fall and honestly, it felt good to let it out. "Caleb?" A soft voice called out beside me. It was Zoe of course it would be Zoe.

I scrambled up wiping my eyes quickly, throwing up my hood and putting on a smile as if it would fool her. I focused on happy thoughts hoping she wouldn't tell the difference. Letting my sadness out by myself was one thing.. but sharing it with others was another. Something I wasn't used to or comfortable with.

Embarassment heated my cheeks."Hey Zoe just went out for a walk." I laughed injecting a lightness into my tone. "Are you alright?" she asked raising her eyebrow. "For a second I thought you were crying." I laughed but it came out forced "Me? Nahh." She looked cocerned and put a hand out to me. I flinched and she looked hurt. 

She sat down and I settled down next to her. "I'm sorry about your memory Caleb. It was wrong of me to take it away no matter what the reason." she said sounding on the verge of tears. I put my arm around her in a comforting way. "I know.. I'm sorry for being a jerk about it." 

She smiled sadly. "I could make you feel better if I knew what was wrong." she said and I cursed myself. I let my guard down. "FIne." I said and told her. Her eyes widened but she was understanding. She patted my arm and sent a flood of comforting emotions through me.

"I trust you Caleb. There's something about you that's calming and I think I would like to tell you something."  This was kind of surprising. "What is it?" I asked. "It's what really happened with my aunt." She said with sadness in her eyes.

"My mom isn't dead...She was an empath like me, she was just worse at controlling the fallout. It's rough being an empath when you give emotions to people, it's not simple it leaves you drained and unstable for a bit. That's why we can't go around helping people all the time."

"My mom didn't understand that, she was just so full of love that she started helping people out everyday and it just grew from there. It started out with small changes to her personality then. She was more absent minded and distant but her helping people only incresased to helping more than once a day and that was when the most radical changes happened. She spent most of her time in her room and would just yell at me if I brought her food or tried to talk to her."

"I guess one day when I was at school she had a complete breakdown and threatened the mailman with a knife. They locked her up in a 'Care Centre' and she's been there ever since. She doesn't say a word though. Not since that day, she doesn't even speak." Her voice cracked painfully at the end of that sentence. 

I put my arm around her shoulder and she toook a deep breath. "Anyway, the state shipped me off to live with my aunt because my Dad couldn't handle the responsibility of raising me on his own. At first it was great, my aunt was just a normal person, she wasn't gifted or anything and it was so refreshing to have a break form that life. She knew about the gifted though, I mean mom was her sister and our family was more or less completely gifted so it was even better because she understood what I was going through."

"The first few weeks were fantastic. Then, Aunt Rosetta started to drink it was usually just a glass of wine after supper but it just got more and more to the point where I would come home from school an find her passed out on the couch with an empty half litre of vodka." 

"It wasn't just the drinking though. It was when she drank that she got really angry. She started out by calling me names and yelling at me and telling me my mum got what was coming to her, calling me a freak of nature  stuff like that. It was hard for me cause I could feel her bitterness and rage and I tried to help but I didn't know how to control my gift so often times I'd end up accidentally knocking her out or stealing an emotional memory."

"She noticed afterwards what I had done and started getting physical but always hitting me where I could cover it up. I had enough one day and after a year I ran away. " She smiled. "I never felt so free on the road." I put my arm around her. "Thank you for sharing that with me." I said. 

She got up and outstretched a hand to me and helped me up. "Thanks for listening. You're the first person after Avery and Jason that I've told. I think I might tell my mom when all of this is done... would you come with me?" I squeezed her shoulder. "We all will."

I sighed turning the corner and glancing at the car. It was time to wake up the guys and face the music.