Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (32 page)

Michael’s head was fuzzy. The pain had lessened
for sure, but his lower mouth was numb, like the feeling of
Novocain after a cavity filling. The floor was cold and dusty, and
his body ached. With a groan, he pushed himself up into a sitting
position, wiping the drool off his mouth with one hand while he
picked up his cowboy hat with the other. He shook his head and
stood up on uneasy, jittering legs.

Kazou was already back on his feet, and Sarah
sat on the floor cradling her knees to her chest, weeping. Paro and
Melissa were still near Jack, with the kid’s head resting on
Melissa’s lap. Sometime during the whole ordeal, all of the lights
and electricity had gone out of the building, and despite the small
windows around the terminal, it was still pretty dark on the lower
floor.

Groans and murmurs came from around the room as
the nineteen recon officers regained consciousness. Some wept upon
awakening, while others picked up their guns, remained silent, and
pulled themselves together then returned to work.

There was so much confusion that it almost
hurt. Even if an omniscient being were standing by, one capable of
correctly answering any question in the world, Michael would still
be confused by its answers because he wouldn’t know what to
ask.

Pull it together.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Michael
was surprised to find that his biggest worry wasn’t about what had
happened, but instead he was more concerned with what he’d said to
Sarah. He’d been so sure he was going to die, so certain that his
life would be coming to an end. He had almost confessed
…

Michael stretched his muscles and sighed. He
loved women. Everyone knew that, and he’d never kept it a secret.
He didn’t discriminate, either. He loved big women, small women,
White, Black, Hispanic, young, old, all of them—it didn’t matter.
But above them all, he loved Sarah. Michael loved her so much that
every time he looked at her he felt a desperate longing and a deep
pain in his chest. Sarah was the second member to join Paro’s team
after him. She was perfect in every way. So kind, so caring, and
her smile shone brighter than a star’s. But for some reason, he
could never get the courage to tell her how he felt, which was the
strangest thing. Michael confessed his love to a dozen women a
week, most of them perfect strangers. But with her, he couldn’t do
it, because for Michael, rejection by Sarah would be
unbearable.

Within five minutes, everyone was back on their
feet. The officers once again had weapons in hand. They shot dirty
looks at the unconscious Jack Harris and kept their distance.
Michael shook his head in disbelief. People would’ve started dying
in just another few seconds if Melissa hadn’t intervened. Lives
would have been lost.

The sight of Paro worried Michael. He stood as
still as a statue, with his eyes closed. He appeared to be deep in
thought, and the fact that he had nothing to say worried everyone,
be it Psych or recon officer. Paro was the one everyone looked to
when they needed to know what to do. He was their team-leader, and
he also held the Psych rank of Captain.

“
Sarah,” Michael said, “we should go
check on the Andy-kid.”

 
Sarah’s eyebrows rose and she
looked around as if startled. “Ah … ah yes.”

Kazou followed Michael and Sarah to the back of
the train terminal, where Andy was lying prone with his eyes still
open, but clearly either dead or unconscious. Sarah knelt down and
wiped trickles of blood from his eyes, mouth and nose.

The entire situation was awkward and
uncomfortable. No one was speaking about what had happened, and
Michael didn’t think anyone would dare to. Paro didn’t help things
by remaining silent, either.

“
This isn’t good,” Sarah said. She
cupped the boy’s face.

“
Is he dead?” Michael tried his best
to keep panic and worry out of his voice. After all, the boy was a
murderer. He’d slaughtered an entire family. If he died, it
wouldn’t be the end of the world, but if it turned out that Jack
was the one who’d killed him, then things would become quite a bit
more complicated. Somehow Michael knew that Jack wouldn’t recover
from the grief of causing someone’s death.

“
I know what you’re thinking,” Sarah
said, “and not because I’m a Path. For Jack’s sake, we can’t let
Andy die. But Michael, I’m not going to lie to you … this doesn’t
look good. I don’t know if I can save him. He needs a very powerful
Telepath to undo some of this damage. And even then, I think some
of it might be permanent. But as of right now, he’s
comatose.”

Michael’s heart ached for Sarah. He could tell
by the way her legs shook that she was trying her best not to break
down again. She was such a caring and considerate soul.

Kazou coughed into his hand, and Michael turned
to face him. “Let’s not pretend what just happened, didn’t.” He
closed his eyes and breathed deeply. It was always him that brought
up the most painful thoughts, and Michael didn’t envy him the job.
“We need to talk about this. Pretending we’re not below ground in a
broken train terminal with a dead body and a comatose child isn’t
going to get us anywhere.” Kazou’s words stung Michael, but they
were the truth.

Michael sighed. “I just don’t know anymore. I
don’t know if any of this is real. Heck, I don’t know if
I’m
even real anymore, fellas. What I just saw, whatever that was. I
just … I don’t even have the words to explain it. What words, what
sentences can I put together to describe how messed up this is, ya
know? I don’t even know why I’m babbling right now. What Jack just
did has shaken my entire world. Nothing makes sense
anymore.”

“
I know how you feel,” Kazou said,
his voice but a whisper.

Michael rubbed his eyes and looked at Sarah.
“Didn’t you tell me once that most Telepaths could only do this
kind of stuff in a dream or something? I don’t know much about you
Paths, but I always thought that illusions—even if done by the most
powerful Telepaths—could only be seen by the person they’re being
used on and that even then it’s very limited.”

Sarah nodded. “That’s what I thought. When I
was much younger and studying my affinity, three of the most
powerful Telepaths created an illusion together, one that everyone
in the study group was able to see. For just one second, the
briefest moment in time, they made a three-leaved clover look like
it was a four-leaf clover, and that was considered an incredible
feat, because together, three of our strongest were able to make
something that more than one person could see while awake. And even
then it was only for the briefest of moments, like the time it
takes the light to fade when you turn off a
light-switch.”

Michael was exhausted, tired, and confused. He
looked over to Jack and sighed. “Then how, Sarah? How in the hell
did what just happened, well, happen?”

Sarah trembled, clearly on the verge of tears.
Her voice cracked as she spoke. “I don’t know, Michael. I just
don’t know. I wondered at first if the illusion itself was an
illusion. But that makes no sense. I guess the only explanation is
that Jack is just that powerful.”

Kazou visibly shook. A look of fierce sadness
entered his eyes, as he too seemed ready to weep. “You two know
what we must do then, yes?”

Sarah looked at Michael with a blank face, and
then back at Kazou. What was he talking about?

“
We have to report him,” Kazou said.
“Right now.”

Sarah’s mouth gaped, and Michael leaned in
closer. Was he mishearing?

“
The hell did you just say, Kazou?”
Michael demanded. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t just hear
that.”

“
Well you did. I’m sorry that you
like the kid. I do too. But he’s a monster.”

Michael stepped forward and pointed a
threatening finger at his team-member. “Are you nuts? Did you
seriously just suggest we
report
one of our own? Have you
totally, utterly, and completely lost yer mind!”

“
Don’t look at me like I’m some kind
of animal, Michael. You saw what Jack did.”

“
And?”

“
What do you mean,
‘and’?”

“
I mean, and so what? Okay, so Jack
is stronger than we thought. What’s your point?”

Kazou was never one to raise his voice or show
much emotion, but now he squinted his eyes and put ferocity into
his shout.

“And no one in this world should
be allowed to exist with that much power!”

Michael clenched his teeth and lost his cool.
“What gives you the right to say who gets to exist, Kazou? Who the
hell do you think you are?”

“
Look around you, fool! This
kid almost sent all of us to the grave. He is a monster, a demon. I
don’t want to see him ever again!”

That was the last straw. Drawing power into
himself, Michael ripped free a bolted-down wooden-bench in the
distance and flung it full speed towards Kazou, who responded by
slamming his fist into it, shattering it on impact. The bench
exploded and sent woodchips scattering.

“
You wanna go, buddy!” Michael
yelled. “I’m right here, brute. That’s right. You’re nothing but a
brute.”

The recon officers remained frozen. They all
turned to watch the two prepare to brawl. They normally tried to
stay out of matters concerning Psych teams, especially internal
conflicts.

Kazou puckered his lips and snarled. “You do
not
get to call me a brute, Kinetic-scum! I’ll break your
face and spit on the pieces.”

“Enough!
” Paro shouted. His eyes snapped open and he positioned
himself between the two of them. “Kazou, it is not, and will
never
be your decision who I report. If you ever again
attempt to supersede my authority, I’ll show you a world of pain
that even you won’t be able to handle.”

Michael grinned while he watched Paro scold
Kazou. He stuck out his tongue at the buff Reinforcer, but he
regretted it immediately. Paro whirled around and grabbed Michael
by his shirt, forcing Michael to meet his wrathful gaze. Paro
didn’t look happy, and he was terrifying when he got like this.
Michael gulped.

“And you!”
he growled. “Do not ever let me hear you call one of my
Reinforcers a ‘brute’ again, do you understand me? If I ever hear
you refer to either Kazou or Melissa with that word, I’ll
personally allow them to teach you how that derogatory term got
started.
Do you understand me?
”

Michael bit his lip to stop it from quivering.
He nodded without making a sound. Paro released his shirt. “Good.
Now, pack up, sedate the Harris-kid, and get back to H.Q. I don’t
want him waking up any time in the near future, not until I figure
out what in the hell just happened.”

The recon officers were already watching the
fight, so they didn’t need to be told separately. They starting
packing up and making preparations to leave. Michael joined Kazou
and Sarah while they assisted in moving Andy and Jack.

He felt bad about using the
’
B-word
’ against Kazou,
but he was outraged. There was so much to figure out, so much
confusion. Things had gotten way out of control.

“
I’m sorry, Kazou. I know how much
Reinforcers hate that word.”

“
It’s alright. It’s not the first
time we’ve clashed. I’m just glad we were stopped before things got
too far out of hand.”

Jack Harris,
Michael thought while he
climbed up the stairs to exit the terminal.
Nothing has been
the same since you entered our lives.

The smell of freshly baked brownies wafted
through the air, and the kitchen was warmed by the hot oven. Alana
nodded in approval—everything was coming along great. Jack was
going to love them. She closed the oven door and flipped off the
internal light.

Through the corner of her eyes, she spotted the
old cat-shaped clock sitting snugly on top of the wall by the
kitchen entrance. She frowned.

Jack should really be getting home around
now
.

She forced the thoughts from her mind. There
was no sense in getting paranoid over nothing. She was happy her
boy was a Telekinetic like his momma. There was so much she was
going to (forcefully) make him learn. The thought made her grin.
She loved Jack more than anything in the world, but he was simply
too fun to mess with.