Anchor (Book 1)

Chapter Thirteen

I was awakened by a thudding sound coming from inside my head. I groaned, thinking I was beginning to develop a headache, but that changed soon when I heard it. 

Shh, you'll wake her up. I thought I heard a female say inside my head.

It was then followed by a lower, male voice.

Oops. He responded guiltily. Maybe she didn't hear anything.

She groaned! She definitely did! The female scolded him sharply.

Okay, two other people were definitely implanted in my head space.

Hey, who's there? I thought. It was now second nature to respond to these mysterious voices.

If there were in fact another set of voices in my head, I wasn't too scared about it. All my fear had been taken out on Melissa and maybe whoever these people were could help me find her.

Hi Natalie, I'm Carlotta.

And I'm Jannick. The male voice piped.

Together they screamed with enthusiasm, and we're your new anchors!!
Ow. I exclaimed pressing my fingers to my temples. Two apologies came flooding in after.

We tend to get a little too excited! The female voice exclaimed.

My confusion and and shock gradually faded and soon logic was in the top space of my brain.

Wait, my new anchors? Can you show yourselves? Please? I urged them nicely. It would be nice to speak to them face to face and to figure out what was happening.

No can do, sweetheart. You see, it's- The guy started.

I know, it's against the rules to reveal your identities to a boat, but you know what, you've already revealed yourselves by having a conversation in my head. So, come out and show yourselves already. Besides, Melissa already did it. I am not going to reveal your existence, I promise.
I softened my tone towards the tail end. I hadn't meant to be totally snarky, but if these people knew where Melissa had gone and could even take me to her or get her back somehow, I didn't want to waste any time talking about things I already knew.

"Melissa?"

That piqued their curiosity enough I guess. The guy and girl were now right in front of me. Like Melissa, they looked almost human except for a few technicalities. They too suspended themselves above the ground and had that distinct glow around their shapes. They both looked to be no older than nineteen and they sure looked an awful lot alike. They had the same hazel eyes and brunette hair. The girl wore her hair in pigtail braids and the guy had spikes about half the size of a pinky finger.

"Yes, Melissa. She was- er- is my sister." I replied, addressing their question. "She's one of you."

When I said this, I felt odd. I knew they were different from humans, but saying 'she's one of you' had a very ignorant connotation in my opinion.

"I thought you were sent by her or something." I elaborated, hoping the comment that seemed ignorant to me was perceived differently in their minds.

They shook their heads. "No, we don't know her. We were sent to you because we saw you were unclaimed."

Thankfully, they seemed unscathed by the remark and I continued to listen intently as they spoke. I was unclaimed now? So, I'd been right. Melissa had abandoned me.

"I guess she put you up for transfer." Carlotta said way too casually. "Anyway, we were both so excited because it's very hard for us to obtain boats or even keep them for long because most people don't appreciate TWO voices in their head, even when they don't know there are two people in their head. They just sort of freak out and wonder why their thinking is so scattered so it blows our cover. Jannick and I often have very different opinions on things and it tends to confuse boats. We do it to ourselves. We just can't seem to come to an agreement sometimes." She looked over at Jannick when she said this. He pooled unapologetic. I assumed that he was the one who frequently caused the difference of opinion between the two.

As hurt as I was, this didn't sound like Melissa at all. Even though all the facts pointed to an obvious transfer, I don't believe she would ever transfer me; she'd promised. Something else was definitely going on and I intended on figuring it out. For the time being though, I decided to get to know the two. After all, they would be getting to know my thoughts whether I wanted them to or not.

"So you guys travel together?" I asked, beginning with the most intriguing question first. From the little I knew about anchors, I was almost certain that they didn't usually travel in pairs.

"Yeah, we are a very rare case, which allows us to. We are twins that died at the very same time. It was kind of Romeo and Juliet situation." Jannick explained, "Carlotta became ill and because of it, started threatening to kill herself with a knife. She kept one by her bedside and refused to let anyone take it from her. We knew it was a matter of time someone would take their eyes off her for a split second and that would be all she needed. So, eventually, I decided to grab one too. I stayed by her bed each and every day anticipating it and when she finally committed the act, so did I. I just couldn't imagine my life without my sister in it."
Carlotta smiled warmly at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I still wish you hadn't done it. You had a lot to live for and you threw it away at my expense."
"We stick together, always." Jannick simply said, a look of complete sincerity forming in his voice in the way he said it.
It was so absolute, so undeniable

I didn't know what to think. I've never heard anything more passionate in my life. I sat there and let it sink in. Meanwhile, they both studied me like I was a specimen, trying to decipher my blank expression. Soon, it became too awkward and familiar so I politely turned my head. Luckily, their studying didn't persist.What made me so uncomfortable was I felt like my whole life was always under the surveillance and magnifying glass of the whole world. I never got a break. First, it happened when Austin left for the army. My whole neighborhood speculated for weeks about why he left. The theories ranged left and right, totally misreading Austin, understanding him all wrong. I'll tell you those theories made me want to punch a few people, mostly because they were made out of pure stupidity and almost always by strangers who didn't know Austin a day in their lives. Then, just when I thought it was all over, Melissa's death had people in and out of the door, offering condolences and assortments of food baskets. On a few occasions, my family was offered to be counseled, which would only make the magnifying lens bigger. I was glad we'd declined every offer. They sought counseling on their own terms after, away from public knowledge. After that, it was detectives poking into my business trying to find motives for the attack, and now, two anchors will have their eyes on every move I make.
So, I had to turn my head. I wasn't a specimen. I was a human being; a human being with feelings, dreams, and rights to privacy. I had no doubt that Jannick and Carlotta were good anchors; something in my gut told me that. However, I wasn't sure I liked the idea of being forced into having my brain infiltrated by two perfect strangers no matter how good they may be.