Chronicles of the Unknowns: Genesis

Chapter 10

Photo: Jason

The past few days had been outright awkward. Myra would run and spar with Jason and me, but then she'd have to rush off to work leaving the two of us alone to continue to refine my control. After our little argument neither of us had apologized to one another and I felt like it was more than due time.

"Hey, Jason?" I said. I'd just taken a shower after our long morning and was coming back downstairs to grab a bite to eat. Jason was putting dishes away.

He glanced at me. That was all the acknowledgement I was going to get and that was about all he had been giving me these past couple of days. I wiped my palms on my pants and swallowed to help ease the sudden dryness in my throat.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about the way I acted towards you. I know that I should trust you more than I do, but I just couldn't have you being in my private thoughts in that situation. I needed space, and still do," I said.

Jason bent over to grab a few plates from the dishwasher and put them into the cabinet. I knew that probably deep down his feelings were hurt. He didn't like it that I didn't trust him enough with my thoughts even though the average person didn't know they trusted him with their most private possessions. Jason wasn't a snoop and I knew that. I just didn't know how he would react if he found out I was withholding information about Pa. I couldn't risk that. I didn't know when he was reading my mind - only when he was delving through my memories could I feel the tugging sensation. Sometimes I could watch the memories with him, other times I could see nothing at all. Who's to say he couldn't reduce the tugging sensation as well?

“If I wanted to hurt you or take advantage of your thoughts don't you think I would have by now? I know we didn't exactly start off on the right foot, but give it a break. I'm training you so that you can utilize your power to your full potential and you still think I'm not trustworthy,” he shook his head.

He was right. I just didn't want to tell him about Pa. I had no idea how he would react. That was something I didn't trust anybody with. In all honesty, I didn't even know if I could trust myself. At the same time I knew I couldn't keep him out of my head if we were going to get anywhere. I'm sure it took a lot of conscious effort on Jason's part to keep my thoughts out of his head. It took someone a lot of control and a great amount of power. He wouldn't stay out forever though. It would be better if I initiated it than have it forcefully thrust upon me.

“I-” I took a deep breath. I didn't really want to tell him.

“I can't keep you out of my thoughts. But there is something that I'm dealing with that I'd rather not have you or anybody else really know about. And before you ask, it regards my father, but that's all I really want to say about it,” it wasn't a lie, but I couldn't tell him about Pa's voicemails. Not yet.

“I can respect that. We can work around that. And I'm sorry for being an asshole about it,” he said.

“It's okay. I acted like one too,” I said relieved with his reaction.

Jason gave me a small smile. My lips twitched up slightly in return. All was forgiven.

“There's something that I want to talk to you about,” I said when he turned back to the sink.

He turned back around.

“This fall will be my senior year of high school. I'd like to graduate on time,” I began.

Jason eyed me carefully for a moment.

“I understand why you want to finish, but I'm not sure if that's exactly safe. You've exhibited an exceptional amount of control now, but we both know how challenging high school can be physically and emotionally. Especially now since any friends you make will be humans and you won't really be able to keep in touch with them.” he said.