not normal chapter 6

Chapter 61

Our new and improved lives 2

We got together the next day and practiced. We went to an excluded forest where no one could see us. We practiced all day. We aligned cans for Danielle to knock over. Put things really high up in trees for Melissa to get, and we took Stephanie to the mall to identify certain people’s feelings. There was nothing I could do except maybe meditate. What good that would have done. At first things went a little crazy. Danielle couldn’t hit one can and ended up knocking down a tree. Melissa always past her targets and Stephanie couldn’t tell which was which, but she wasn’t screaming anymore at painful thoughts. That was a very good thing. We kept practicing and practicing and eventually Danielle could hit some directly, Melissa got every one and Stephanie could give us some people’s emotions. Progress was all I wanted right now. Any kind of progress. We were going to need to have these powers down and completely under control if we were going to have to face demons of which McKinney spoke of. We then separated to practice on our own. Danielle with her cans, Melissa with her tree, Stephanie at the mall and I sat practicing spells from the book. I found a lot of these spells very interesting. A lot of spells were vanquishing spells for upper level demons. They could only be vanquished by a spell read by the heir quartet. I was really interesting. But what I was practicing was smaller spells. And I was having a blast. It also shows me how to write my own: 3

I say to you in a heart beat4

Foliage comes to my feet. Flowers grew5

Hopping little creature6

Proud and sure7

Small little legs8

Into four Frog into a deer9

Famished and craving10

Food in my belly11

Wanting what is nice12

And not what is smelly Grew apples on a tree13

I have never felt anything like such. Every spell I cast, I paid specific attention to. I could feel magic flow out of me. It was a great feeling I have never even imagined a feeling could feel. It’s like sitting on the beach, right at the edge where the wave crashes and you can feel the water overwhelm you all over your body, and then it is drained out of you so quickly and painlessly. It goes back into the ocean and although you don’t think anything has changed, it has. Then it comes back and it repeats itself. It’s almost as if it was never apart of you. 14

I continued to practice in the book for awhile, and then I figured I’d go meet up with Stephanie at the mall to see how she was doing. I road my bike all the way to the mall. It was so much more crowded then it was earlier. Everybody was probably Christmas shopping. After all, it was coming soon and fastly approaching. I entered the mall to find Stephanie sitting on a bench in the food-court. She had her hair tied back in a pony-tail and was peacefully reading a magazine, drinking a smoothie in the most calmly manor.15

“What are you doing??” I asked shocked. “You’re supposed to be practicing, remember?” She looked up from her magazine at me.16

“I was…” she started “But gave up”. She went back to reading her Cosmopolitan magazine.  17

“Ummmm…okay…” It was unbelievable. “May I ask why you gave up?” trying to get a desperate answer. She looked back up at me and gave me a smile and simply said “No you may not”. I looked at her like she was crazy. I thought we all had an understanding. Of all things this was the last thing I expected, especially from her. I just stood there watching her read her magazine and calmly sipped her smoothie. I grabbed her smoothie from her hand and threw it away in the trash can beside us.18

“Hey, I wasn’t done with that!” she had the nerve to say to me. I grabbed the magazine, rolled it up, and put it in my coat pocket. 19

“You are going to practice your power or you will never see your precious Cosmo ever again.” I threatened. She glared at me. Her face was all scrunched up and she looked very angry. I just stood there looking back at her, waiting for her to make the next move.20

“I don’t want to.” She said again.21

“Why?”22

“Because”23

“Because why?”24

“Because I don’t want to”25

“That’s a stupid reason.”26

“I don’t care.”27

“No you really don’t. You don’t care that the three of us are all counting on you to learn your power and you sit here and drink smoothies.”28

“I’m just not good at it. It’s only doing harm.” She said looking down.29

“What do you mean?” I said sitting beside her. She was picking at her nails, which she always did when she was scared or nervous to say something or letting herself be vulnerable. 30

“I tried…I really did, but nothing good came out of it. Whenever I open up to listen everybody pours through. It’s awful. It takes me forever to close the door again, but even then I can hear them pounding to get in.” she was on the verge of tears. I felt so bad for her. She didn’t ask for this burden and yet she must carry it. It wasn’t fair. It was a lot of emotion to take at a certain time; she was a very strong person to take on the sadness of everybody in a crowed mall. But I guess I’ve known that all along. It was strange, she was the same person but I saw her differently. She hadn’t changed, but had I? I knew I had to help her, it was…my job.31

“Okay get up…” I told her.32

“What? Why?” she was taken off guard.33

“We are going to get this down.” She smiled. She stood up and faced me. Somehow I think she knew I could help. I think they all knew.34

“Alright, whatever you normally do to let people in…do it now.” I told her. She gave me a scared look, but then closed her eyes and put her fingertips of her right hand to her temple. She scrunched up her face and gasped. I tried calming her to ease the pain that she felt. 35

“Are you ready Stephanie?” I asked. She said nothing.36

“I want you to focus on….” I looked around for some one, anyone. “Ummm….” Found ya! “HIM!” I said pointing to a man in a brown suit and carrying a briefcase. I turned Stephanie in his direction. She opened her eyes to see who it was and then closed them tightly again. 37

“Did I turn the oven off?” Stephanie muttered. “Did I feed max?” she said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but then it hit me…the man! She was speaking what he was thinking. Well, it was progress but she needs to keep it to herself. 38

“Take control, don’t lose yourself in this.” I told her. She was then quiet. She was very quiet. 39

“bunny, I’m late!” Stephanie yelled and then fell to her knees. I kneeled down to her, her pain had eased and she was sitting there. 40

“Are you okay?” I asked.41

“Yeah…great. Did you know that that man found four gray hairs today?” she asked me with a big smile on her face.  The man was heading this way towards the door. As he passed he steped on my foot. He looked back and gave a quick ‘I’m sorry’. But I didn’t care; I was more focused on something else. A premonition. The feeling was just as bad, freefalling from a building. I saw the man in the brown suit walk out the door of the mall and get hit by a car. I came back to reality. 42

“What’s the matter?” Stephanie asked. 43

“No time!” I said. The man was already out the door. I sprang up and dashed for the exit. I got outside and saw the car coming right as the man was crossing the street. I ran towards the man, dove, and knocked him out of the way as the car went speeding by. Stephanie just came outside and saw what happened. The man was face down on the pavement. I gave a signal to Stephanie to leave. She turned into a snake and slithered behind the bushes right before people started to gather. I did the same and ran into the parking lot to get my bike and ride home still amazed at what I had done.44

I came into the door of my basement to see Stephanie finishing the story to Melissa and Danielle. They all looked at me with smiles. I gave a half smile back. 45

“Wow, that’s pretty amazing.” Danielle said. I took off my shoes and sat down in a chair to join the conversation. 46

“Eh, it was nothing…” I said being modest. “Any of you would have done it” I said.47

“Uhhh, no…none of us would have seen it coming.” Melissa said. I gave her a sarcastic little laugh. We were all sitting in silence when we heard a knocking at the top of the stairs. 48

“Yes?” I yelled up.49

“Andrew, some one is here to see you.” my mother yelled back down. I was interested in knowing who could possibly be here for me…they were already here. 50

“Okay, send them down.” I said. We heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Who was it? I couldn’t have guessed. There was no one, but the answer surprised me. THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT, except he wasn’t in a suit anymore. He was in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.51

“Hey” he said. “Is a Stephanie Metz here?” she asked. We all looked shocked. 52

“Um…me.” She said hesitating. He looked at her and smiled.53

“Did you…umm…save my life today?” he asked her. She shook her head. We sat here in the uncomfortable silence for awhile until some one rude opened their big mouth. 54

“He did!” Danielle said pointing to me. He looked over at me and turned his head in confusion. 55

“You did?” he asked. I reluctantly nodded.56

“How did you know I lived here?” I asked. It was a very good question that I’m sure everyone was wondering.57

“Oh, I found this magazine after I was…tackled to the ground.” He said. It must have slipped out my pocket when I dove to save him. But that still didn’t answer my question. Then I thought Stephanie is the kind of freak that would put her name and address in her magazine.58

“Your mom said you were here.” He directed at Stephanie.  59

“So why are you here?” I asked. He turned back to me. 60

“I wanted to thank you.” He said with a smile. “I mean…you saved my life. How did you know I was going to get hit by a car?” he asked.61

“I have a sense for these types of things.” I told him with a smile. 62

“It was amazing…I can’t believe it.” He said still in shock. “I can’t believe you were on time, you split it by the second.” He said with a laugh.63

“Anyone would have done that same.” I told him, again being modest. He nodded his head in politeness. 64

“Well I’d better get going. Here’s your magazine.” He said tossing it on the table in front of us. “I do have another question for you though…” he paused as if to get my permission. 65

“Yeah…?” 66

“Why did you run away?” he asked with curiosity in his tone. “I mean…why not stay?” I looked at him and I thought about it. I was trying to think of a good answer to tell him.67

“To avoid publicity.” I said the first thing that came to my head. He nodded and headed for the stairs. 68

“What’s your name?” Melissa asked him before he left.69

“I’m Brian, Brian Tilling.” He said. “I just moved here with my wife and son. He’s actually about your age, 14, 15…something like that?” he asked. 70

“Yeah, around there.” I said. 71

“Okay, thanks again for…well you know.” He smiled and walked up stairs and we listened as he drove away in his car. 72

“Well, that was interesting.” I said. “Who’d a thought?” The others started talking about something else that must have happened in school, but I was busy thinking. Something about this didn’t seem right. How does a business-man, who doesn’t even have time to stop and give a proper apology, have time to have a full conversation ten minutes later?  73