Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (25 page)

“
So, after I left your house on
Monday, I went home to meet Melissa for tutoring, right? And
then—”

“
Hey guys,” Melissa said, appearing
from literally out of nowhere. She gave Jack a pat on the back.
“What’cha talking about?”

Adam and Jack answered at the same
time.

“
History,” Adam said.

“
Naruto,” Jack said.

“
The history of Naruto, he means,”
Adam corrected.

“
That the one with the
ninjas?”

The three walked together down the narrow
staircase, pushing open a door leading to yet another set. The
lunchroom was located in the basement, a wise choice on the part of
the school. During the end of the school year, when summer was
rearing its head, it was the only place that didn’t feel like the
center of an oven—the one spot to escape the boiling temperatures
of the upper floors. Melissa followed Jack and Adam into the
lunchroom.

“
Let’s get on line,” Jack
said.

Adam squinted at him. “On line? Have you been
spending time in New York or something? It’s, ‘Get in
line.’”

Jack frowned at Officer Grammar. The three of
them got
on
line behind the already long train of students
waiting for food. Melissa, as she had been doing since the
beginning of the day, was still snapping her head from left to
right, scanning the room for any sign of trouble. Jack was starting
to think she was taking things too seriously.

The line moved at a crawl while Adam and
Melissa made nonsensical small talk. Jack wasn’t in the mood to
have any conversations other than the one he’d been about to have
with Adam. If he could just lose Melissa for a few minutes, he’d be
able to tell Adam everything, and his friend would know what to
do—he always did. Sometimes Jack wondered if Adam was even human.
His intelligence was something to fear.

“
What’ll it be?” the lunch lady
asked.

Adam gave Jack a look of warning. “Don’t
start.”

Jack tried his best to make a good choice, he
really did, but he was getting fed up with the lackluster culinary
options. It was almost cruel that the school expected the students
to eat this stuff.

Jack smiled. “Janice, is there literally
nothing else on the menu today?”

The woman looked ready to rip the hair out of
her head. “Harris, the few days you were absent were the best days
I’ve had in years. Just pick something, would ya? You’re holding up
the line again.”

“
Well, it’s not my fault,” Jack
argued. “I have to pick between a circular piece of re-heated
‘pizza’ and a peanut butter sandwich. Oh, and the pizza never
tastes like real pizza.”

“
Your point? Don’t blame me for
that, Harris. I don’t make this stuff.”

“
Well maybe that’s the problem. What
kind of lunch-lady doesn’t make lunch, Janice? You’ve lost your
passion for this business. Chef Ramsay would not stand for
this.”

“
Just pick something already,
Harris!”

Jack walked away with his mediocre lunch,
followed closely by Adam and Melissa. The lunchroom was probably
the largest room in the school, with wide white tables and vending
machines in every corner. The three took a seat in the back, at one
of the few tables that still had any room. Too many people had
lunch fifth period, so it was no surprise that every day it was
crowded.

“
So, Melissa. You and Jack seem to
have become good friends lately, anything going on
there?”

Jack almost spit out the first bite of his
food. Was Adam nuts? Was he trying to embarrass Jack into Oblivion?
Or Skyrim?

“
That’s our business. Wouldn’t you
just love to find out?”

She didn’t say no!
Jack thought
triumphantly.
Well, she didn’t say yes, either. I’ll have to
pull out all the moves on her when I take her on that date she owes
me.

Thinking of which, Jack had quite a few
possibilities in mind. There was the arcade, bowling, the movies,
and plenty of other good choices. He couldn’t wait to have Melissa
all to himself for a day. And to think, all he had to do was punch
her in the face. After all the years that Jack had been struggling
with women, in the end, all it took was to try and knock one
out.

“
I’ll be right back,” Jack said. He
picked up his lunch and crossed to the table at the opposite end of
the room. He sat down and dropped his plate on the table, then
tried to have a chat with its sole occupant.

“
You again,” the boy across from
Jack said, “I’m fine being alone, you know?”

“
No, you’re not, Andy. We’re
friends, aren’t we? Come sit with us over at our table. There’s
plenty of room, and it has be lonely sitting here all by yourself
every day.”

Andy looked even more bitter than usual. His
face was withered and held a pale sickness. There were bags under
his eyes, as if red from hours of crying. He looked tired, beaten,
and worn. It really bothered Jack.

There’s gotta be something I can
do.

“
Andy, cheer up. Want me to come
over today?”

“
Do I even have a choice?” he
groaned. “You stop by whenever you feel like it, and my mom just
lets you in without asking me.”

Jack laughed. “I’ll bring over some anime, and
we’ll have fun. Hey, is something wrong? I mean like, seriously
wrong? You really don’t look well.”

Andy looked into Jack’s eyes. He had been
glancing around the room, but now his gaze fell fully upon
Jack.

“
What is a life worth?” The question
came out of nowhere. Jack had no idea how to answer it.

“
What is my life worth, Jack? What
makes me have a right to live?”

“
Ah … well, because you’re you,
Andy. What other reason is there?”

For the slightest of moments, Andy smiled. It
was replaced soon after with a sullen look.

“
I knew you’d have an answer like
that. Hey, do you think we could talk later? In private, I mean.
There’s something I really need to talk to you about. It’s not easy
for me to say.”

“
Umm, sure, whatever … I mean, yeah,
of course.”

“
After lunch, meet me in the third
floor bathroom. Make sure you come alone. And Jack,” he whispered,
“try to keep an open mind.”

Paro was deep in thought. His elbows rested on
the glass table in their planning room. He had promised Melissa
they would be within half a mile at all times, and yet he was still
here working. He needed to finish up and get back.

He tried to find some connection, some
reasoning behind the killings. He had seen their faces, both of
them. It was only for a brief moment, but between Melissa’s
descriptions and his own view of the two, he had a pretty good
picture. Yet, he still didn’t have the slightest idea of who or
what he was dealing with. There was a knock on the door.

“
Come in,” Paro yelled behind
him.

Paro jumped out of his seat when he saw the
tears in Sarah’s eyes. She was clutching a small white paper and
trembling. Paro had never seen her this upset before. Even
with all that they had seen, Paro had never witnessed such a look
of pure anguish on her face. Small strands of her black hair were
moist from contact with her sobbing eyes. They were red, and the
way she craned her neck told Paro that she was having trouble
looking at him.

Paro forced himself to contain his growing
alarm. But what was wrong? He glided over and gently lifted up her
head, making her meet his gaze. “Sarah, please, calm down. Tell me
what’s wrong.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but released her
words between pants and sobs. “It-It-It’s Jack, Paro.”

Paro held his breath, fear beginning to creep
into his bones. Had something happened? He had assumed they would
be fine alone until at least the end of the school day. Were they
attacked in the middle of class? Paro forced the thoughts from his
mind, ripping them from his brain.

“
Did something happen?” Paro asked,
forcing his voice to remain calm.

“
No,” she said. She buried her face
into his shoulder. His shirt became moist with her tears. “But he’s
a good person. I only knew him for a little while but I liked him.
He’s innocent and kind. I don’t want them to take him away! He’ll
never see the light of day again. It’s not fair!”

“
Calm down. Please, Sarah. I have no
idea what you’re talking about. Who is taking Jack away? Why would
they?”

“
Paro,” she sobbed, unfolding the
small piece of paper. “He’s an Unrestricted.”

Paro tried to control the turmoil he felt
within his heart, the flurry of unrelenting emotions. How could
this happen? Of all the people in the world to befall this tragedy,
why did it have to be the Harris-kid?

No one spoke, least of all Michael. He wasn’t
his normal self. There was no crooked grin to be found on his face,
no sly, amused look or overly relaxed posture. He didn’t even wear
that ridiculous cowboy hat of his. No, he simply sat with his eyes
to the floor, filled with a look of regret.

Someone needed to break the silence, but Paro
didn’t want that to be him. They all knew what had to be done, but
none wanted the responsibility. Jack Harris was like no other
person in the world, and Paro could not bear to think of what
needed to come next.

“
Someone has to say it,” Kazou said.
Paro could sense relief in his team-members that someone had broken
the silence. “I like the Harris-kid,” he continued, “but we don’t
get to make the rules, none of us do. He has to be sent away. Right
now we have a responsibility. This case, these murders, we have to
put all of it aside. An Unrestricted takes priority over all other
things, and right now there’s one walking free.”

Paro had never seen Michael angry. He had seen
him annoyed, frustrated, and agitated, but as a light fixture was
torn free from the wall and sent crashing to the floor, Paro didn’t
need anything else to go on to know that Michael was
pissed.

“
How could this have happened?” he
shouted. “I thought he was a Telekinetic. He acted like one, and he
had the abilities of one—there must be a mistake, Paro! We need to
redo the test.”

What Paro said next was borderline treason, but
the law be damned. “None of you are supposed to know anything about
Unrestricteds, except for the fact that we exist. But I have come
to trust all of you with more than just my life, which is something
that when I was younger I never would have dreamed possible. Now,
you all already know that Psychs are born with an affinity, every
last one of us. For most, it’s like our heart—there is just one,
and it defines us. But for people like Jack and I, it is like a
favored hand. Jack has a natural affinity for Telekinesis, much
like a person who is right-handed. But that doesn’t mean he’s
limited to it.”

“
We can’t do this,” Sarah said.
“This is wrong. All of this is just wrong, and you know it.” Sarah
did not look Paro in the eyes while she spoke. “Jack Harris is a
sweet boy. Think of what his life will be like if we send him away
and make him live in one of those awful facilities for the rest of
his life.”