Stealing Perfection

Chapter 18

Kat won't look at me. 

Her eyes stay glued to the floor, and occasionally raise to Lance when he speaks. I jump to the conclusion that she is afraid of me at the start of the conversation, and I know I am right. I hold the ice that Kat got me to my throbbing head, but it does little to mask the pain.  

"If you can read emotions, it might be useful if you are to be in the presence of enemies," Kat says, eyes still trained on the ground. 

"I guess.." I whisper. "It makes me feel like a freak, though." 

I watch her shoulders shrug, and a wave of irritation hits me.

"Especially when you can't even look at me," I tell her. Her head lifts a little to me, then lowers again.

"You're too powerful," she says. 

"So you can't look at me?" I ask. She sits without replying, and I know she is conflicted on what to say and do. 

"If I'm too powerful, why don't you get rid of me?" I ask, and her eyes finally lock with mine. "I could hurt someone. You can't risk that." 

"Please. If you leave, he's gone too," she says, and gestures at Lance. "And that would be like handing you over to the officials; I'm not an idiot." I won't let her break our eye contact, so I force her eyes to hold it. She pulls away, though, and looks at the floor again. 

I am suddenly so frustrated, and urgency seeps through my anger to make her, make her look at me.  My fingers turn white from clenching the edge of the table so hard. My breath begins to speed up, and I can feel the control leaving my body. 

My nails dig into the wooden table and the wood splits underneath them. The pride fills my body, knowing that I have the power to make Kat look at me. I use it.

"Look at me!" I shriek at her, and her head unwillingly snaps up. She lets out a cry of pain and drops to the ground. My head clouds with visions of torture and pain, and I smile at the sight of her below me. 

"Stop, Stop!" Her body shakes, and her eyes are still looking at me wildly. She tries to move her head, but struggles and fails. I laugh. 

"Nixon, what the hell are you doing?!" Lance demands, walking towards me. I keep my body turned toward Kat, and hold up my arm to Lance. I hear a gasp, and the footsteps stop. 

"No one ever listens to me, so now we'll have it my way," I say, words chillingly low. 

"Wha-" Kat begins, voice horrified.

"Shut the hell up!" I stare at her long enough until her mouth closes. 

"Don't let her take you over!" Lance shouts at me, and I turn to face him.

"Who-?!"

"Your- Your biggest fear," he says, and shakes his head. "You fear yourself, your worst thoughts are consuming you. Nixon, don't let her win." 

His voice is so calm and level that it sends me into confusion. Then, I get furious at him and walk over to his still body.

"I'm not afraid of you," he says confidently. 

"You should be," I whisper, my eyes narrowed at him. A thought fills me, and I soon remember that I forgot about Kat, I left her there. My eyes flick to the spot on the ground where she was earlier, but no one is there.

A sharp prick of a needle hits me in the arm, and I fall to my knees. 

 I force my eyes open and look around the room in a panic. My heart thumps so hard that I get the urge to puke, but it decreases as I breathe in and out slowly. I can feel handcuffs digging into my wrists and the sharp sting as my wrists bleed in my lap.