Mind Games

Chapter 5

My alarm clock goes off. I jump being awaken from a deep sleep. I cuff my ears and search for the button to turn off my alarm clock. I cant stop thinking about the dream I just had. It had to mean something. I didn't know what though. I sit in an upright position and look at my phone. 5 missed calls from Lexi and 4 from James. What was going on. I dial James' number and the phone begins to ring. "Dude we were calling you all night. What happened to you last night?" James said, eager on the phone and relief in his voice that I called him. "I thought something happened to you." "I fell asleep, sorry. I have a lot on my mind right now. Meet me at the shack though. I have to talk to you right now." I say. "Alright Ill be there in a few minutes. James said. He sounded confused. I hung up the phone and get out of bed. I still cant stop thinking about the dream. Why was I having all these dreams? What did they all mean? I got dressed and headed downstairs.

I opened the fridge and grabbed the orange juice and poured myself a glass. My dad enters the room, he just woke up. "Morning son." He says. "Morning dad. How did you sleep?" I ask him. "Worked in the office all night on a few things for work. I fell asleep in there last night." He yawned and stretched. "What were you working on?" I asked curiously. "Just the same old. Found nothing." He said. I leave it at that. "Well I'm going to meet up with James at the shack." I said. "Alright. Sounds good. I'm going to take a shower and get back to work." He said. "Have fun and stay out of trouble." He gave me a pat on the back. "Will do." I chugged the rest of my orange juice and put my glass in the sink. I walk into the living room and find my brother sitting on the chair. I didn't see him at first, "What was going on in your room last night?" He spoke, I jumped a little startled by his sudden appearance. He was sneaky. "What are you talking about, Lucas?" I said, rolling my eyes. He was nosy too. "I heard you yelling at someone. Was it Lexi? Then I heard a big boom, you didn't do that thing you do did you?" He looked at me closely leaning forward a little. "Goodbye, Lucas." I rolled my eyes and walked towards the front door. I head out the door, bracing myself for the mile walk to the shack. The shack is a diner. Its not the prettiest of restaurants but its a second home for most teenagers in town. Its somewhere you can go to hangout and get a couple of root beers and some nachos. You can play video games there, and air hockey. Its the life of the party on a Friday night when there is no where else to go. Its open 24/7.

I spot James in a booth nearby and take a seat across from him. Hes got his hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. "Rough night?" I ask. "You don't even know man. I was so wasted last night I couldn't even stand." his voice was raspy as if he lost his voice from the night before. "Lexi was in her room for most of the night. Katie had to get everyone out for her. She said you had a meltdown last night when she went over there. Said something weird happened. You didn't lose control did you?" James was the only person aside from my father and brother that knew about my gift. He thought it was the coolest thing ever and I trusted him with my secret. I looked at him for a long minute with a loss for words. "Dude are you trying to reveal yourself to the world?" He said. "I didn't mean to. She got my blood going and I lost control." I said in defense. "I thought she was the only person that kept you in control." He emphasized on the last few words that came out of his mouth. "Yeah well I don't know what happened." I said sinking in the booth. I put my hands in my sweater pockets. My leg began to shake nervously. "What did you do? Because shes pretty freaked out." He said leaning forward. "I don't know. I threw my hand forward and did some weird force field shit. A glass broke too, I don't know what happened." I said. "What are you, Luke Skywalker?" He laughed. "She didn't tell anyone else did she?" I asked seriously. "I don't know. I think she told Katie what happened but that's it. But pretty sure they don't have a clue to what it could be." James said in assurance. "All I know is I cant see her anymore. I don't know what happened but I was always in control around her and now I'm not. She made me so mad last night I couldn't control it." I said. James was confused. "What did she say to you?" He asked. Those words were brought back to my attention. 'I loved you so much, it hurt to love you' "Can you explain to me how it can hurt to love someone?" I asked. James looked at me with a puzzled face. "Last night when she came over, she told me that she loved me so much, it hurt to love me. What does that mean?" I asked. I needed answers. It didn't make any sense. "Have you ever loved someone so much that when you're not around them you cant breath, cant eat. All you think about is that one person that makes you happy? When you're with them time stands still and the world around you doesn't matter. That's what she meant when she said it hurts to love you. She cant stand being apart from you." Sometimes James sounded too smart for his own good. Like he was a romance novelist stuck in a 16 year old's body. "Yeah, Lexi." I laughed. "well there you go. Dude I have never seen two people so in love like you and Lexi were. That's why when you broke up I was in shock." He said. He leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his coffee. I was silent. Maybe he was right. But the fact that Lexi broke up with him didn't make sense. I was tired of thinking about it. I was getting frustrated

again. I had to get out of there. I had to go home, I wanted to go home and fall asleep and dream again and figure out what all those dreams meant.

Its dark. I can hear the faint sound of water dripping onto the floor. Its so cold, I'm shivering. I open my eyes but its too dark to see anything. I sit up and lean up against the wall behind me and let out a scream as I try and put pressure on my arm. "Cole. You're awake. Thank god." A voice says. Its a girl. Katrina. She crawls over to me and hugs me tight, trying not to touch my shoulder. Excruciating pain shoots up my arm, sending the whole right part of my body to throb. "Where are we?" I ask Katrina. My eyes are starting to adjust. I can see the outline of Katrina's face. "They took us to their lab. They locked us in here. Said they would come for one of us when they were ready. They said you weren't healing because it was a special bullet designed for seekers. I'm scare Cole, we have to get out of her." Katrina began to cry. I did the best I could to calm her down, but I was in so much pain. "Hey, we're going to be okay. We've been in worse situations haven't we? We're going to be fine, I'm going to get us out of here I promise." I touched her face. Suddenly, the doors opened and two men walked in. They approached us and I tried my best to sit up, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. They messed with the lock on the cell doors and opened them, metal clanking as they did so. One of the men walked over to me and bent down on his knees. I looked him straight in the eyes, anger rushing through my veins. "Not so tough now are you?" The man laughs. "What do you want with us?" I ask, the tension in my voice rising. "First off let me introduce myself. My name is Dyson, I'm a scientist. What you have, we want. You have become very useful throughout the years. We have been watching you, following you, observing you. Cole, you've grown more powerful throughout the years and now we need you." Dyson said, in a serious voice. "For what? What do you need me for?" I sneered at him. "War. To take over the world and make it a better place." Dyson said, as if in higher position. "To kill innocent people. To destroy peoples hometowns to build your war base. I think I'll pass." I said. I looked over at Katrina. She was scared, I could see it in her eyes. Dyson nodded at the other man who took that as initiative to go for Katrina. He started to pull Katrina's and pull her up onto her feet. Katrina was fighting the man swatting at his arms as he tried grabbing her. "No, please. Don't do this. Cole please, I'm scared. Please do something." She cried out to me. I couldn't stand watching this any longer. "Please, don't take her. Take me. Leave her out of this, let her go. I'll do anything you want just please." I gave in, I couldn't let them take her, I promised her everything was going to be OK and I failed her. Dyson raised his hand telling the man to stop. The man let go of Katrina and Katrina quickly came up to me hugging me, almost as if it made her feel safer. "I can't experiment on you when your weak. The test won't work in your state of condition." Dyson said. "I'm fine. It wont affect your testing. I'll heal, its just taking longer than usual." I said, I needed to buy time. "That bullet Fitzgerald shot you with was not ordinary bullet. It was designed for seekers. There is a chemical inside the bullet that slows down the seekers healing process. You'll heal eventually, just not as fast as you would normally. Enough time to get what we need." Dyson explained. "I said I'm fine." The tension present in my voice. I struggled to stand up onto my feet, but I did it. I stood there facing Dyson directly in the eyes. "Are we going to get this over with or not." I said in short breaths. Dyson didn't say anything, the room was silent. He looked over at Katrina who was sitting on the ground looking up at me. Dyson glanced at the other man, and then back at me. I could see his jaw flexing as if he had just been defeated. "Not yet. I want to make sure the testing is in progress before we go ahead and dissect your brain. I'll be back sooner than later, for now just sit tight." Dyson turned around and opened the cell door. It clanked as it opened and closed. I can hear him lock the cell and head back through the main doors. I stood there, angry. I knew that if I didn't give them what they wanted they would just force Katrina to, and If I did they would leave her alone hopefully, but it wasn't for certain. All I knew was that I had to protect her in anyway possible. I felt a hand interlock with mine. It was Katrina, coming up from behind me. She placed her other hand on my other shoulder. "We have to get out of here." Katrina said. "Before it's too late." I didn't say anything, I just looked at her in agreement.