The Energy Between Us

Chapter 1

(This story is not by me.  My best friend wrote this and gave me permission to upload it. Hope you like it!)

Lina POV
I stumbled up the sand dunes, my vision blurring. Someone must have slipped some alcohol in my drink. But what? and who? I laughed, probably Hayley, she was always the daredevil of the group and wanted me so badly to be one as well. Maybe I should try being one, after all, she gets all the boys. I tried to remember if I had drank anything alcoholic, but I thought I stayed away from it.

     My sneakers hit the sand with a heavy thump as I make my way back to my car, away from the party behind me. I can hardly move my legs. I practically hear my mom chastising me when I get home. The thousands of ways I'd slip up and tell her where I was the past hour.  At a bonfire, on a beach, with alcohol, and only a handful of upperclassmen. Or at least that's where I had been.

     Now, I was making my way up the banks toward my car. Hoping none of the cool kids would see me walking away so early from my first party. Sophomore year starts tomorrow, 8:00 am sharp. Less than twelve hours away, I could feel it. I could feel everything.

    Everything has an energy to me, mostly people and some objects. It's like a sixth sense, being able to feel what people are like. You feel it deep in your bones, like a gut feeling. Some people don't understand, even when I tell them or try to explain. They always act like I'm crazy, so I just stopped telling people. Once, in seventh grade, I told Maddie her energy felt wilted and asked what was wrong. She called me a freak, and tortured me for the rest of the year. It wasn't until eighth grade I found out what her father had been doing to her mother. The first day her energy had started to fade and feel wilted was the day she found out.

     I started to understand that if someone's energy was hard to read, it meant they were in denial. And while some people could be read easily, others hid behind walls. When I was little I wondered why some people didn't have energy. It wasn't until I was older I realized it meant the world had taken everything unique and lovely away from them. They were husks of people. Even more dangerous than the people who's energy was wilted.

   My shoulders were getting heavier as I trudged along, and my mind foggy; but not in a way I had heard friends describe alcohol. This wasn't some light headed blunder, I was fighting my way to the parking lot, some hundred pound weight forcing me down. It didn't feel right, but then again, I had no idea what it should feel like.

     Someone was behind me, I was bleakly aware of their angry energy. And that someone was followed by another, brighter, someone. Everything in me got heavier and heavier as if dragged by an unseen weight, until I fell to my knees in the sand, unable to withstand the weight. Did I get drugged or something? My mind tried to think of ways to defend or fight back if something happened. But I couldn't, I couldn't do anything or think anything. I could only observe. The weight just got worse as the first person approached, making my head pound. Oh god, oh god, oh god. I mustered all the energy I could, and swiveled my head to see the approaching people.

     The second person was taller than the first, and around the same build. It was like I could feel who they were, but different than normal. Luckily my energy sense didn't fail me completely, and I could tell the first person was like an annoying gnat, I didn't want them near me. However, one swivel of their tiny head, and I saw the taller boy fall to his knees. What? None of this makes sense. The taller person picked themselves up and ran toward the other boy, who was still advancing toward a dazed me. And I was still on my knees, fighting the growing urge to lie down and let fate have me.

     But before the gnat boy got to me, the taller person attacked him from behind. A sideways tackle you could say, as the second person was struggling to remain upright as well.

     As the gnat boy's head hit the ground, my senses came flooding back. I jumped up from my knees, outright staring at the people behind me, both boys I could see now. The taller one lifted his eyes too mine, the green in them twinkling. I had never seen such vibrant eyes. I got lost in the color, and related it to a tropical rainforest. The energy he gave off was different than anything I've felt before, but familiar all the same. They stunned me for a minute, those eyes, before I dragged my attention away and toward my car. Safety. I felt the need to run and didn't fight it. I could feel the weight on my shoulders gradually coming back, and I was eager to escape it.

     None of this makes sense, you're a normal teenage girl at a normal party. Just trying to get by without underage drinking. Normal girl, normal party. Normal girl, normal party. 

     I repeated my mantra as I ran to my car, my feet finally agreeing with my thoughts of escaping.

    Not escaping, leaving. Normal girl, normal party. Normal girl, normal party.

     Honestly, it was the only thing keeping me sane at this point.

     I got to my car and pulled at the handle, forgetting I locked it. I fumbled with my jacket as I pulled my keys out, hands shaking. I unlocked my car and scrambled inside. I went to start the car and stopped, if I was drunk, I shouldn't be driving. But the weighted feeling was gone, so was I really drunk?

     I looked up to see green eyes running at my car, and behind him the gnat man's eyes shone red. I shivered and turned the key, forgetting all thoughts of drunk driving. How many times had my friend Emily talked about demons? Did she say something about their eyes being red? Or was that their skin?

     I quickly turned behind me to back up and ( totally disregarding all safety and the fact I only have my permit) I started to pull backward faster than I should in an attempt to get away. I paused to shift forward. The car door shook, someone was trying the handle. I was suddenly very grateful I locked it. They looked in the car, their eyes shone with fear, Their bright green eyes. Before I knew what I was doing, I unlocked the car. The door opened, and green eyes stepped in.

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