Elysian Fields (*ON HOLD*)

4- Explanation

This chapter is a little slow, but there is a whole lot of action and lots of new characters coming up!

******************************

For a second I didn’t believe Cailin. I was tempted to ask him what number I was thinking of, but it seemed childish. If I hadn’t discovered that I had these “powers” myself, I wouldn’t believe him for one second, but anything seemed possible now.

Another thought came to my head as I sat there with their eyes boring into me. On the car trip here I couldn’t help but notice how nice Cailin’s thighs were. They were so tan and muscular… and he knew what I was thinking all along. I could feel my face turning red, but he just laughed.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered, leaning over to me.

“If you could read my mind I’d be embarrassed too.”

This just made me blush harder.

“Why don’t you keep explaining?” I said, trying to escape my thoughts.

It was after a long pause that Cailin had gathered his thoughts and started to speak, “I guess I’ll start by telling you about my power. It’s not as simple as you may think. Yes, I can hear the thoughts of anyone around me, but if I’m in a crowded place it’s hard to concentrate on just one person, so I usually end up blocking the whole thing out.

And I can’t read all thoughts… I mean, there are two different ‘layers’ to your mind- The conscious and the subconscious. The subconscious deals with all your basic thoughts. Most thoughts are subconscious. Your feelings too. But your conscious thoughts are things that you say in your head…a thought that doesn’t happen naturally but you still think it in words. For example, sometimes people talk to themselves- planning things out, solving problems, singing a song in their head. These are all conscious. These are the thoughts I cannot hear. So if someone is thinking something with their head but not their heart, or brain…I don’t read it. Do you get what I mean?”

My expression must have been blank, but somewhere in my mind I understood what he was talking about, so he continued.

“As I was saying, it all started yesterday. When you came into this shop I could hear your mind buzzing, practically shouting to me. When you bought that book it just confirmed my theories. I watched you from the window as you read when a man appeared.” He waited sympathetically as I tried to contain my emotions.

“There was nothing I could do to stop the inevitable; everyone has a different experience with finding out their powers.”

I processed what he had said. ‘Everyone has a different experience with finding out their powers’. So there are more like us?

“Yes, there are hundreds. Talman isn’t an exception.”

I gasped at the thought. Across the table from me sat Talman, calm and wise. Could he read my mind too? Cailin answered my question without me verbalising it. I am never going to get used to this…

“No, he can’t read your mind” He said, chuckling. He motioned to Talman to continue enlightening me.

“My ability,” He started, I noted his choice of words, ability, not power.

“Isn’t something I can explain.”

I waited for some sort of clue, but to no avail.

“That’s it? You’re not going to tell me?” I asked.

He just smiled knowingly.

I enquired after the others who had powers, wondering if I had met someone without knowing.

“I have probably met about fifteen. Talman knows many more. I’m acquainted with some of them-”My cousin Amelie, and some of her friends- Lyle, Kenji, Wiresse, Jarret and Bonnie” The list of names went on. He described how he knew them and their abilities but my fatigue was overpowering. A few names stood out.

Lyle, a young boy of six or seven years. Cailin called his ability ‘ecosone’- a word I’d never heard before. It meant he was at one with nature. He could camouflage with trees to the point of invisibility. He had a connection with animals that no one could understand, and a certain control over the wind and earthly elements.

I noticed the name Wiresse, because Talman flinched when Cailin said her name. She has extremely enhanced studious abilities. Sounds like a lame ability to me, but she had received many awards for her studies.

The rest of the names were a blur, and Cailin could see I was tired so he insisted on driving me home.

We didn’t speak on the trip home, not that I needed too. Sometimes I would think something, then Cailin would reply out loud. He noticed that it disturbed me though, so he stopped after a while.

When we arrived I shyly started to make my way out of the car when a black square fell out of the car. Cailin’s wallet. As I picked it up I saw a picture of a girl in the clear plastic sleeve. She was stunning, Korean or Japanese, with long black hair and piercing black eyes. She wasn’t smiling, but her eyes seemed alight, happy.

As I examined the picture Cailin grabbed it off me.

“Who’s that girl?” I asked.

He started to blush slightly as he told me it was none of my business. I felt something inside me as he tried to conceal his feelings. Was she his girlfriend? I buried my emotions deep down inside, not wanting to face them. Was I jealous?

I quickly bid farewell and ran inside as I remembered Cailin could hear what I was thinking. 

I was almost at my door when I heard my name.

“Alaine!”

It was Clarence.

Great, I really didn’t need to talk to him right now.

“Hey!” I said, faking a smile.

“You made it home!” he started. I realised my mother must have checked if he knew where I was last night. “What happened, you look terrible!”

“Long story…I’d better go find my mum. I’ll tell you about it on the way to school on Monday!” I said, already thinking up a fake story to tell him.

The man from Arecoste ran through my dreams. Screaming, dying, shouting. The lightning shooting out of my palm.

When I awoke I was certain the whole thing had been a dream.

But it wasn’t.

I could still shoot lighting out of my body.

I was still a murderer.