The Empath: 3

Sorry in advance....I worked a lot this week...

~~DJ

P.S.  I really don't know how fellow writers are able to write while under the influence of phlegm invading their whole body.  Because I can tell you writing is the LAST thing I want to do when I'm sick.



To catch up, here are the links to the following chapters:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

THE EMPATH

THREE

****

Friday, February 16^th, 2007

The one thing that Mary likes the best are the pep rallies, which was her only decision not to quit the cheer team to begin with.  Well that, and the fact that her best friend, Tomoko, convinced her not to.  Mary thought back to the conversation they had a few months back when she was coming into her powers.

"Mary," Tomoko Tenshi said.  "I don't know what's been going on with you, and I get family secrets.  Trust me, I have tons of them that I can never speak of."

"I know, Toko" Mary replied.  "Toko" was Mary's nickname for Tomoko.  "I guess that's one of the many reasons we're such great friends."

"I will always think of you as more of a sister, you must know that."

Mary nodded her head.  "I do."

"Then listen to me when I tell you it's not the end of the world.  You need to cheer because it will look great on your college applications.  You don't want them asking you such questions as to why you quit a club--even if it is for a good reason."

Mary realized then, Tomoko was right about cheering, in more ways than one.

High school sport games are the only time when Mary feels the happiest.  The good-feeling emotions out weigh the bad emotions at a game.  It seems like everyone puts away their petty problems whenever there's a game.  That's how Mary feels, anyway.

This week turned out to be a pretty good week for Mary.  She was worried about having a partner for her project because she didn't want feelings to be involved.  By feelings, she didn't want to have to go through the emotions of feeling what others are feeling.  Luckily for Mary, she was given the perfect partner.

Jeremiah is the only boy in school she can't get a reading off of.  She doesn't know why she can't feel his feelings, and she doesn't care.  The only thing she knows is she's happy around him, much like she's happy at pep rallies and games.  She's mostly happy because she doesn't have to get into the mixed emotions like how she gets around her fellow peers at school.  For her, it can be exhausting.

Some people unknowingly tend to feed off the energy of happy people.  Maybe they do realize this.  Mary knows, but even though she knows, she would like to think there is still some unknown innocence to the world.  It doesn't matter now, she thinks to herself.  She shrugs off the little thoughts and heads to her car.  Unbeknownst to her, someone is already waiting for her by her car.  Only, it's not just anyone; it's Jeremiah.

Well, at least she thinks it's him.  It's hard to tell when you're about a hundred-feet away from your car.  She's guessing it's him because she can see his pale complexion shining bright despite the street light in the parking lot being so dim.

She stops for a minute to look around, but everyone is gone now.  The parking lot is completely empty.  They must have all gone to get pizza, she thinks to herself.  She should have paid better attention to everyone leaving, but as soon as the game ended, her headphones were back in her ears.  Imaginary is the song that's playing right now.

She turns off her MP3 player, pulls her buds out of her ears, and heads to her car where she suddenly realizes it's not Jeremiah waiting for her, but her best friend.  Or at least he was her best friend until she developed her abilities.  Billy "Brave" Jackson is his name.  Everyone calls him Brave; they really don't know to call him by any other name.  Brave is the quarterback for the school's team.  He's the typical high-school jock, with typical high-school movie based looks.

Brave has dirty-blonde hair and light green eyes.  He has a golden tone to his skin, thanks to weekly trips to the tanning salon.  Mary should have noticed sooner that Brave was waiting for her, or at least she should have felt something from him.  As she walks closer to him, she feels his energy; he's drunk.

She wasn't paying close enough attention before, but she is now.  This past week, Mary's been working on a project with Jeremiah.  The more she got to know him, the more she decided she likes him.  He's not like the other boys at school.

Besides her not being able to read his feelings, Jeremiah seems relaxed; almost as if he feels comfortable in his own skin.  He knows how to take a serious situation and make light out of it.  She liked getting to know him, and she thought for sure he was the one waiting for her by her car, not Brave.  She's trying to recall her conversation with him after they turned in their project.

****

The bell rang, and the class left.  Mary started walking down the hall when Jeremiah called out to her.

As he caught up to her he asked, "What are you doing after school today?"

"Tonight's a big game," she replied.  "I have to practice, and then it's game time.  The game is home tonight."

"Oh," he answered.

"What?"  Mary began.  "Have you never gone to a game before?"

He looked away, sucked in a deep breath, and said in a voice from a nineteen-fifties tough guy movie, "It's not really my thing, you know?"

She nodded.  If anything, she understood not wanting to be there.  And yet, how could she explain that it's one of her very few places to be that makes her happy?  The first would be in her room, the second at a game, cheering on the team, and now her new place, hanging around Jeremiah.

She gave herself a mental shake and spoke.  "Well the game starts at seven, and usually lets out around ten, ten-thirty.  Everyone's going for pizza, but I'm just going home."

"So crowds aren't really your thing either, huh?"  He teased her.

"There's a lot you don't know," she found herself say.

The second bell rang, and she suddenly felt relieved.  Mary had only started talking to Jeremiah earlier that week.  There's plenty of time before telling the truth of what she is.

"I'll see you tonight?" she asked rhetorically as she hurried off to her next class.

****

Mary realizes the street light can make anyone look pale.  As tan as Brave is, he looks very pallid.  It's only her eyes deceiving her.  She didn't sense Brave near because she was too far away, and sometimes being drunk can block frequencies of feelings.  Well, sometimes it can, but not in Brave's case.

Brave is completely inebriated.  She also senses he feels hurt, but by what, she doesn't know.  Maybe something happened between him and Char.  Ever since they became a couple, Mary hasn't heard anything from Brave anymore.  The last time she had heard anything was when Char called to have Mary pick up her and Brave from a party because they were too intoxicated.

It's hard to sense feelings over the phone, and Mary is not exactly a mind reader to know the full extent of someone's evil plans.  However, when Mary arrived at the party to pick up a drunk Chartreuse, she found her in a room with Brave.  Whatever doubts Mary had of a future with her and Brave were, they were all rectified the moment she saw them two together.  Mary sensed jealousy coming from Char, but she never once suspected that anyone would think Mary and Brave were a couple.

Like Char, Brave too, arrived in Mary's life during freshman year of high school.  Mary befriended both Char and Brave.

Brave was caring of Mary, up until a few weeks ago, and then he became distant.  Tonight is the first time Mary has run into him.  He got all his classes changed and she doesn't know why.  She only suspects that he wants nothing to do with her; their friendship is officially over for reasons unknown.  All of this stumps Mary.  Why is Brave here now?

She thinks carefully of what to say to Brave.  To tell the truth, she feels anything she says to him will set him off.  She approaches her car and decides to stand there.  She figures to wait for him to say something.

She can feel he has something he wants to say, but she really doesn't really know what she'll say to him.  All Mary wants to do is go home, and watch a movie in the basement of her house.  And she really wishes Brave will just go home and sleep it off.  Since developing her powers, she doesn't want to have any conversations with anyone but Toko, and perhaps, Jeremiah.

Mary gives herself a mental shake when she notices Brave's mood change.  He suddenly feels sleepy, which is better than him feeling inquisitive the way he did a moment before.  She watches on as he shakes his head and walks away.  Hopefully he's heading home.  With a sigh of relief, she unlocks her car.  Just before she opens the car door, she feels a pair of eyes fixated on her.  She turns around to find Jeremiah standing before her.

****

Earlier that day after the second bell rang, Jeremiah noticed Mary's best friend, Brave, staring at him.  He could read every thought going on in Brave's head, well almost every thought in his head.  Jeremiah could hear his thoughts so far as worry, and how he needs to be alone with Mary to talk to her in private.

She's never alone, Brave thought.

While Jeremiah could understand what Brave was thinking, he couldn't understand why he needed her alone.  It was times like these Jeremiah wished he had Mary's empathy.  For some reason, Brave's head is mostly empty; in other words, it's like his brain's on a different frequency than the rest of the other people he can read minds from.

To be on the safe side, Jeremiah decided there on out to keep an eye on Brave, and protect Mary at any cost.  He doesn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her, but he can understand jealousy from others.

Mary is so kind and caring, and she has this magnetic personality to her, it would be hard to let someone like her slip through their fingers.  She seems to have a way of getting people to flock to her, Jeremiah thought to himself.  But it can't be the way she smells either--not that she ever smelled bad.

Today she smelled like Vanilla.  On Monday, she smelled like lilac.  Tuesday was strawberry; Wednesday was Jasmine.  Yesterday, she smelled like cinnamon.  But her scent didn't matter to him.  Jeremiah still had the urge to protect her anyway.

He knew Brave was going to show up and try to talk to Mary alone, but he still doesn't know what kind of being Brave is.  He couldn't tell if his intentions were good or bad, so he went to the game anyway, hiding in the shadows.  It was then at the parking lot when he realized he had nothing to worry about.

He saw Brave standing by Mary's car, completely inebriated, and not saying a word to her.  However, he didn't expect Brave to walk away the way he did.  After reading Mary's thoughts on how she wished Brave would go home and sleep, Jeremiah realized her powers were growing stronger by the day.

****

"How much did you see?"  Mary asks.

"Not much," Jeremiah lies.  "I was meaning to get here earlier, but I had some chores to do and--"

"It's alright," Mary interrupts.  "I'm glad you're here."

"You are?"  His eyes lift up in surprise.  He didn't even get a thought from her that even remotely showed gratitude in any way.  Maybe she's learning how to shield herself more.

Mary surprised herself by saying that to him.  She barely knows him.  Why would she say that?  She gives herself a mental shake.

"Do you like watching old movies?"  She asks in hopes to change the subject without him expecting an answer from her.

"I love them," he answers candidly.

"Really?"  She looks at him shocked.  No one liked watching old movies the way she did.  Not even her best friend, Tomoko.  "Are you the kind that's only into monster movies?"

"Au contraire," he replies.  "I like everything.  Even silent films."

Mary's face lights up like a candle upon hearing his words.

"Well, there is a television in my basement," she slowly says.  "I have this movie from nineteen-seventy-four called Young Frankenstein.  Have you ever seen it?"

"It only a classic," he says.

"Would you like to come over and watch the movie with me?"

"Wouldn't your parents be upset?  It is pretty late."

"My parents and brother probably already left for the lake house.  So, what do you say?"

"Sounds good," he answers.  He caught himself just in time.  He almost said, "It's a date," but luckily for him, he changed his words.

Jeremiah hopped into the car with Mary, and they headed to her house to watch the movie.

****

Mary has the popcorn and drinks handy for their movie-watching night.  She likes the light-hearted movies that doesn't make her think or feel empathy.  Even though there aren't any funny or happy movies that doesn't have a sad moment in it, but that's how the writers work.  They want people to know there has to be some kind of reality to all of it, even if it's a movie about unicorns.

While she still feels something watching the movies, she feels better watching the funny comedies.  She wonders though if sometimes she feels the original emotions of what the actors were feeling at times.  She shrugs it all off as she hears the following dialogue:

Igor: Dr. Frankenstein...
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: "Fronkensteen."
Igor: You're putting me on.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No, it's pronounced "Fronkensteen."
Igor: Do you also say "Froaderick"?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: No... "Frederick."
Igor: Well, why isn't it "Froaderick Fronkensteen"?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: It isn't; it's "Frederick Fronkensteen."
Igor: I see.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: You must be Igor.
[He pronounces it ee-gor]
Igor: No, it's pronounced "eye-gor."
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: But they told me it was "ee-gor."
Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren't they?


Mary's giggling so much, she hadn't given notice to Jeremiah staring at her.  She finally looks up and sees him.  Staring into his blue eyes, she knows he has stories to tell.  She suddenly goes from smiling, to feeling a lump in her throat.  She breaks the stare by clearing her throat as if indicating she needs a drink of water from eating all the popcorn.

She reaches down to grab a bottle of water, she opens the cap, and takes a few sips.  When she's done, she puts the cap back on and places it back down on the ground.  When she goes to sit back to watch the movie, she notices Jeremiah is watching the movie again.

Perhaps she thought there was a moment between the two of them, but she could be wrong.  Whenever it comes to matters of her own heart, she doesn't seem to have the best judgement.  Only time will tell where the two of them end up.











































The Empath, Chapter Three