LS: The Beginning (5 page)

Chapter Four

The Strange Connection

Later that night, I was reading for a
Mechanics106
assignment in the study.
The room didn’t have a door; its entrance was concealed by one of the walls in my room. Stacey had to teach me the routine I needed to create a secret passage to the room.
It seemed like Dexter’s lab, but without the shelves of books. 

I did all my heavy reading and ice practices there. Only on few occasions I read on
the desk in my room, which was more of a relaxing spot.

“
This isn't right. It's meant to be like this
,” a voice said in my head.

“
What's the problem?
”

“
Is this for real? You must be kidding me! How's it possible that I can hear your voice
?” she asked telepathically.

“
I think it's called telepathy, or at least Wikipedia says so,
” I answered.

“
I know what it’s called, but why me? And also why do I keep hearing other people’s thoughts?
”

Lisa and I were experiencing similar symptoms, and the mere thought of this sent chills up my arms and down my spine. I felt so relieved knowing I was not alone.

“
So you can hear people's thoughts as well. That's interesting. Can you create ice from your bare hands?
” I asked.

“
Can you do that?
”

I wasn’t sure whether to disclose this huge secret I’d kept for a
few hours but then I wasn’t good at keeping secrets. The urge to share my new life wouldn't let me hold onto this secret any longer.

“
Yeah, I can,
” I admitted.

"Oh wow, impressive. Strangely, I noticed of recent that fire emerges from my bare hands – but
this information is only for your head
,” she said.

We both laughed at her figure of speech. Though her
beauty captivated me, her sense of humor intrigued beyond
recognition.

“
Do you need any help with the Mechanics assignment?
” I asked.

“
No, thank you. I’ve got it covered,
” she replied

Shortly, we rounded up our internal discussion. The bad thing about the
conversation was it strained my brain cells – and probably hers – leaving me mentally fatigued as though I'd been doing a calculus assignment for days. I'd always thought it was only lovemaking that
made one so weak. Mentally, that is. I was so weak after our internal conversation that I ended up
sleeping over my MacBook.

I woke up feeling so frail. All I could hear was the growling in my
stomach. I motioned straight to the
kitchen and prepared rice with barbeque sauce, coleslaw and two pieces
of chicken. Just the taste of the rice and barbeque
sauce would conquer the hunger. However, the strangest thing
occurred as my tongue touched the hot, soft feeling of the rice: it had
no taste. It felt like my taste buds were malfunctioning.

I nodded in skepticism over whether it was another strange symptom or if I'd lost my appetite. I
quickly ran to Stacey’s room and knocked on her door. She was on the
phone with Susan; the enthusiasm in her voice showed she was having a pleasant conversation.

She got off the phone and said, “Come in.”

“Guess what just happened?” I quizzed.

She grinned.

“I'm not good at guessing, but … No, I don't have any clue.”

“Don't get all excited. It's not a good thing,” I said.

Her lips straightened from the initial smile she wore upon my entering her room.

“What's the problem?” she said.

“Please, come taste my dinner,”

She smiled. “Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you. Though, some men cook really well.”

“What?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Even my father cooks very well.”

“I mean seriously, what?” I asked. “Just come along and see for yourself.”

We went to the kitchen and she took a full tablespoon of the rice, swallowed it and smiled – which was definitely a bad sign.

“It’s delicious,” she commented and then took a second spoon to conclude her experiment. “Not bad. I guess it’s in the genes”

I had to taste the rice again, thinking it was my appetite that made it tasteless earlier on. Again, I glowered as
I swallowed the spoon of rice. There was no change; it was still tasteless to me.

“You know what? You can eat it if you want. I've lost my appetite,” I grumbled.

“Aw, what's the problem?” she asked.

“Nothing, I'll probably eat something later.”

I was hesitant to share with Stacey what was going on with me but I
felt she needed to know. Furthermore, as a housemate she was bound to find
out sooner or later. After she finished dinner in her room, she came downstairs and sat down on the white couch in the living room.
I moved from where I was seated and sat with her on the couch.

I couldn't look right into her eyes, so I settled for the flat screen ahead.

“Stacey, something’s wrong with me," I said.

“Is this about the food?” she asked, leaning toward me in a sympathetic
manner.

I wished I could tell her otherwise but I couldn’t. The sooner I told her, the better.

“Yeah, it has something to do
with the food incident.” I sat straight and faced my feet, moving my
hands through my long hair. “Since I shook Lisa’s hand, I have been feeling different and it doesn’t have anything to do with liking her,” I stated.

“So what’s the problem?” she asked as her eyes appraised me.

I breathed out ice vapors to illustrate the answer to her question. Still, she still couldn’t comprehend.

“Are you cold? Should I increase the heating?”

I sighed. A huge part of me wanted to admit it and leave the topic but I needed to tell her what was going on with me. As I said earlier, I wasn’t good with keeping secrets.

Silence filled the room for some minutes as we sat down in the living room. I took my time in reading every single thought Stacey had and I discovered she was worried about my situation. In her head, she was thinking:
What in the world could this be?
Not to worry, you’ll soon find out.

“I can produce ice from my bare hands,” I whispered.

She asked me to repeat my statement, which I did. She laughed.

“You're kidding, right?”

“I wish I was,” I replied.

I gave her a serious look and exhaled vapor from my mouth. After a long second of disconnection, her lips lined up and then she spoke in a low tone. “Please can you show me?”

I stood up and asked her to close her eyes. She glanced at me with a funny look but eventually complied. Then I waved my palms opposite each other and an icy ball popped out. I told her to open her eyes. There wasn’t any need to read her mind; the immediate shift of her eyebrows showed she thought it was a trick.

I grimaced.

“All right, this time leave your eyes
open.”

I showed her my right palm and used my left fingers to make a tall
building by elongating the invisible small house on my right palm. This time, her eyes were bulging out of their sockets. Her lips parted and her hands trembled. She edged forward, taking the ice building I had created from my right hand.

“Wow! This is amazing. How did this happen? Are you some sort of alien?” She paused. “Do you plan on telling my mom?”

“No, I told you because you live with me
and I don’t want to keep secrets from you.” She interrupted with a subtle smile which I tried my best to ignore. “It will be uncomfortable for you to see me doing unusual
thing. Please, could this be our little secret?” I said.

She chuckled and as she repeated, “Little?” allowing me to see the irony in my
statement. Hearing that, I frowned but before I could say a word, she said, “I’ll do my very best to keep your
little
secret.”

“There's more. I can read minds.” At that moment,
she didn’t close her mouth until I continued. “Everyone’s, except
Lisa’s.”

“How does Lisa fit into all this?” she asked.

“I wish I knew. I really do. Everything began the day we shook hands.”

“Have you spoken to her about this?”

I nodded. “Apparently, she has been going through a lot herself. She denies any knowledge of my situation.”

Though a lot had changed about me, I could still feel the cold air as
it circulated every atom of my body.
I folded my arms over my chest.

“Let’s do a small confirmation test,” Stacey said.

“Okay, if you wish.”

“The test goes like this: you'll have to tell me what I’m thinking,” she
said, putting her right forefinger on her lips and making a
humming
sound.

“Trust me, you won't want to be in my shoes right now,” I said

She retracted.

“Wow! Now, that’s awesome.”

“I know,” I proudly replied. “By the way, why does Julie want to see me?”

As I asked, she looked at me with a tinge of disappointment.
Was I
wrong to ask?
I thought.

“So you don’t know when a girl likes you?” she said.

I stifled a chuckle.

“She likes me?”

“Yeah, she does. She has been head over heels since the first time you guys met. Frankly, I’m getting sick of it. I mean, she always mentions your name when we’re together.” Stacey said.

“Oh, that’s weird. I'm not ready to be in a relationship, especially with this current situation.” I stood up. “I'll be in my bedro
bedrrrrrrrrr
om if you need me," I said as I strolled out of the room.

What an honor to have a beautiful girl like Julie develop feelings for
an average looking guy like me. It hardly occurred. I wish it could be easy to focus on liking her back, but the situation I was facing was confusing. Already, I was developing a strange emotional and physical
feeling toward Lisa, and no girl had ever made me feel that way. She was the last thing I thought of before hitting the sheets and the first thing that popped into my head when I awoke the next morning.