Vast - Chapter Three

I'm Russell Hartley and I can read minds, involuntarily and uncontrollably. I discovered this after my parent's were murdered in front of me, and their killer - our homophobic neighbor Art - electrocuted me in the shower. When I woke in the hospital the thoughts of my Doctor revealed my parent's deaths to me, and after that the surface of everyone I came in contact with were as clear as if they had been spoken out loud. After finding out that many people blamed me for what happened to my parents, I broke down and accidentally revealed my secret to my best friend Natalie Waters. Now the question is, where do I go from here?

I sat across from Natalie at my Aunt Trudy's kitchen table, her eyes starring daggers through me. She had come over to deliver the homework I hadn't recieved in the two weeks I hadn't been in school, and became aggrivate when I suggested that maybe I didn't want to return "What the hell do you mean?" She asked.

"I am speaking english right? Just wanna make sure, because I believe I just said that I'm not sure if I want to go back to school." I told her, her eyes verifying just how pissed she was at this suggestion.

Nat shook her head "I just don't get why you would want to do something so stupid."

So I tried to explain it to her "I'm just not sure if I have the strength to deal with it all. I mean, I already have horrible selfesteem. Can you imagine what my self esteem will be like now that I can hear thoughts? And I definitly don't think I can handle all of that on top of everything that I've been going through since Mom and Dad died."

"And you think they would be okay with you just up and quitting school?" she asked, starting to raise her voice.

I looked down at the table "Don't." I said quietly.

"What?" Natalie asked.

I stood up, and slammed my hands on the table "I, SAID, DON'T!" I shook my head "YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW THEY WOULDN'T SUPPORT IT? OF COURSE THEY WOULDN'T! BUT THEIR SUPPORT OR LACK OF, WOULD BE BASED ON THE FACT THAT THEY WERE ALIVE, AND KNEW I CAN HEAR THE THOUGHTS OF EVERYONE I COME IN CONTACT WITH!"

Suddenly the door closed "HEY!" said Aunt Trudy, and we both looked over "What the hell is going on?" she asked her hands placed on her hips, hair up in a professional style ponytail, clothed in her usual black business attire "I could hear you as soon as I stepped out of the elevator." Her eyes shifted from me to Natalie, and back to me "Well?"

I turned to Natalie and said "Nat was just leaving."

She made a "Hmph." sound shaking her head in disappointment and stood "Yeah, I was." Slowly she walked over to the door, opened it, and walked out. But, before the door closed the thought "Uh-uh no!" blasted into my mind, and Nat stepped back in. What she was about to say drifted through my thoughts, and I knew I was in deep shit "By the way, Trudy?" Nat asked kindly.

"Yes Natalie?" Trudy turned to face her.

"Before I leave, I just wanted to let you know about Russell's big plans to quit school." Said Nat.

As she whipped toward me Aunt Trudy said "What!"

Natalie smirked at me "Well bye!" she said as the door closed.

After she left, Aunt Trudy and I had a conversation, which was actually just Aunt Trudy telling me quitting school was not an option, shoving my unfinished work at me, and telling me to go to my room and get started.

I guess that sometime between Math and Spanish, I had crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep, because next thing I knew Aunt Trudy was banging on my door "Russell! Come on! It's time to get up!"

"Okay!" I yelled back groggily. As I sat up my mind registered what day it was. Suddenly I felt nauseaus, my stomach feeling as if it had dropped to the floor, and I was so dizzy that I had to lay back down for a minute. "Calm down Russell. Calm down." I breathed in deep, struggling to pull air into my lungs "You're fine. Just calm down, everything is going to be fine." my mind whispered at me, but you pissed off Natalie, she won't be there for you to talk to. "I. Will. Be. Fine." I told myself, knowing this had to be done, Natalie was right, my parent's would have wanted me to go back to school. Knowing that, I lifted myself off of my bed, and quickly dressed in my favorite pair of black jeans, a brown t-shirt with the image of a timber wolf howling at the moon, and my black gym shoes.

I stuffed my books into my brown messenger bag, and pulled it over my shoulder. The nausea still sat in my stomach, and I didn't want to move, but I dragged my feet across the floor and out of my bedroom door "Hey Russell, you ready?" I nodded and she turned from me "God I feel so horrible. Should I being doing this to him? Maybe he needs more time?" I hated that she thought these things about herself, she wasn't doing anything to me besides being the kind of Gaurdian my parent's would have wanted me to have.

"Aunt Trudy?" I asked.

"Yeah?" she asked looking back at me.

I cleared my throat "Please don't feel bad okay? No amount of time would be enough, I have to go back. Nat was right, it's what they would have wanted."

She beamed a smile at me, and walked back to throw her arm around my shoulders "When did you become my therapist?" she asked with a laugh.

"Well I know the best." I said as we walked to the door.

"God I love this kid." She smiled, and then said "So do you want me to drop you off at school? It's either that or the bus, and I didn't think you would feel up to riding the bus today."

I nodded "Yeah a ride would be great." I told her as she grabbed her keys, and then we walked out of the door."

Aunt Trudy pulled up in the drop off circle of the school, and asked "Now you're sure about this? I mean, I know I said you have to, but if you're not going to be okay then you can wait a couple more days." She looked extremely worried "I'll take care of everything."

The buzz of hundreds of thoughts drifted from the school, already causing a horrible headache. I looked over at her "I'm going to be okay. I understand now." Opening my door I said "Love you Aunt Trudy."

"Love you too." Said Trudy as I climbed out of the car "I'll pick you up after school. Have a good day!"

"I'll try, Thank you!" I told her as I closed the car door, and she waved as she drove away from the curb.

I turned and started to walk towards the school, when suddenly my head felt like it was on fire, a wave of nauseating dizziness crashed into me. All of these voices screamed in my head, coming from the direction of the school. I grabbed my head and felt something warm start to run down my face. Raising my right hand to my face I realized that my nose was bleeding. Suddenly I felt something slam into me, and I was shoved forward. Images flashed in my mind of a guy who went to school with me. We were in a local gas station, he held a gun and yelled at the cashier telling him to fill the bag that was on the counter with any cash that was in the register, and suddenly the gun went off. Then I was back at the school and he was standing in front of me "What the hell's wrong with you Hartley? Jesus, watch where you're going."

"You hit him Derek, you dumb shit!" I heard Natalie yell from beside me "Just freaking go inside before I'm forced to beat a football players ass!" She said lurching towards him.

"You two are freaks!" He yelled as he started to walk to the school, keeping an eye on Natalie as he did.

"YEAH! KEEP WALKIN'!" Nat yelled as she took a few steps toward him and he started walking faster. She rushed back to my side "Are you okay?" She asked pulling my face up to look me in the eyes "Oh my God!" I started teetering on my feet "Come over here and sit on the bench." she said supporting me and leading me over to one of the benches that lined the walk way. "What's going on?" She asked.

Barely even able to shake my head I told her "I don’t know. It’s hard to concentrate." My head buzzed with the thought’s of every person in and around the school, clouding my thoughts.

She looked at my face trying to wipe the blood away with some tissues she pulled out of her backpack "Is it your mind reading?" I could only nod "Alright. Hold these to your nose, I have an idea." and I put my hand up to press the tissues to my nose. I listened as she shuffled around in her bag, unable to discern her thoughts from those of anyone else. Next thing I knew she shouted "Ah-ha!" and I felt her hands on the sides of my face "Look at me Russ." I lifted my face my vision blurred "Let me see." she said as she pressed something onto each of my temples, and suddenly all of the noise was gone "How's that?"

"The voices, they're, they're gone." I said as my vision began to clear and the pain faded away "How?" I asked as I wiped my nose free of blood.

Natalie held out her left hand and showed me two little bandaid like objects with small pieces of metal on one side of them "With these, I call them Neural Blockers. I've been working on them since you told me about your ability, and not being able to shut it off. Last night, after our fight, I went home and finished them."

"Wow thanks Nat." I said as I threw my arms around her.

"You can turn them off by pressing them at the same time, but if you let go of either one the blockers turn back on. They're made from a micro-electromagnet and," She began but I couldn't understand what she was going to say even if I hadn't just been hit with all of those thoughts.

So I interrupted her "Nat that's great, but something else happened."

"What?" She asked with a look of worry on her face.

I shook my head "I don't really know. When Derek slammed into me, I saw something."

Natalie looked confused "What do you mean you saw something?"

"Derek had a gun. He was pointing it at a cashier and screaming at him to give him the money from the register, then he shot him." I told her trying to remember exactly what I saw.

"Where were you?" Asked Natalie.

I thought for a minute "You know that gas station with the big blue flashing smiley face sign?" She nodded "That's it."

"Were you reading his mind?" her face was twisted in thought.

Shaking my head I told her "I don't think so. I haven't seen images before and I don't see why that would be so clear when I could barely concentrate to walk."

Natalie looked so confused "Then is it something else?"

Feeling frustrated I shook my head "I have no idea. Why can't everything just be normal? This shouldn't have happened. Mom and Dad would still be here if I was normal, if I wasn't,"

Natalie stopped me "Don't." she shook her head "Art was crazy. You have to stop blaming yourself, and start remembering that they wouldn't want you to be any different than you already are." I looked up at her "Now what do you think is going on? Is there anything else you can remember?" she started typing on her phone.

"Not really." I closed my eyes trying to remember what I had seen. A rush of static travelled up my body. Suddenly the same scene was flashing through my eyes, only this time I looked for smaller details. "Wait. There was a news report on the small tv that's bolted to the wall in the corner." suddenly I felt really weak and nauseaus. I opened my eyes, and looked over at Natalie.

She stared back and asked "What was the date?"

I thought back "I think it was today's."

Nodding she asked "And the time?"

"5:15 why? Do you know something?" I asked

"Yeah apparently my neural blockers don’t work on whatever the hell happened and I have to do some tweaking.” She rambled absent mindedly as she examined the neural blockers in her hand.

“Nat.” I said trying to pull her out of science mode.

“What?” She looked up with a questioning look on her face. “Oh. Sorry. Um, I think maybe you can do more than just read minds." Natalie said looking down at her phone again.

I sighed "Like what?"

"Precognition." she replied in a robot like tone.

After a few seconds it registered what that meant "Are you saying that I can see the future?" Nat just nodded "So then today at 5:15,"

"Derek's going to shoot someone." Natalie finished.