The Fortress

Chapter 9 - Telepathy

A CUP OF warm coffee lifted Sarah's spirits that morning even though she wasn't a fan of caffeine. Her eyes felt heavy and she felt drained, she wondered why. She had a nightmare that had her gasping the moment she woke up. She had seen herself in a forest, stuck to a tree like she was tied to it but there was no visible rope used in holding her back to the tree. She struggled so hard and screamed, but, her body wouldn't just come off the tree. It felt like someone else was in control of her body making sure she couldn't move an inch from the tree. She saw Ian and the bearded man from her transition few days ago approaching her. "You finally found me". Ian had said smirking in her dream before she woke up. The dream felt so real and she didn't know what to think. She couldn't say if it was an ordinary dream or it meant something. At this point, she had no idea what her next step should be. There was no possible way of finding Ian without a clue or something that could transit her to wherever he was. After taking her last gulp of coffee, she decided to go back to sleep thinking that sleeping for few hours, would help her regain her energy and improve her thinking faculty.

Her bed creaked as she landed on it. As she started dozing, she heard a voice calling her name. At first, she taught she was just imagining things but the voice was persistent and kept calling her name. She opened her eyes in terror. She looked around her house to see if anyone had barged in but there was no one.

"I know you can hear me?" The voice said affirmatively.

She flinched and turn around, there was no one in the room except her. She grabbed her head and her eyes widened in terror. "Am I hearing things?" She asked obviously confused and terrified.

"No, you are not," the voice replied.

"What are you? where are you?" She yelled and posed in a defensive manner as if whatever was speaking to her would come out of nowhere and attack her.

"I'm someone like you and I'm in your head."

"In my head?" She flinched and her eyes widened in terror again.

"How are you in my head?" She asked.

"The same way you can drift from one time frame to another," the voice replied.

"How'd you know that?" She asked totally shocked that someone knew her secret. Her heart begun to pound.

"Relax, I'm in your head and I know everything."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want to help you. I know who you are looking for and how you feel."

"How am I supposed to trust you? How do I know this is not just an illusion or my mind making things up?"

"I told you about your transition, no one knows about that, I told you about who you are trying to find and I know you are behind the blog on extraordinaries. You don't have to worry, all your secrets are safe with me."

"Okay, how do you want to help me?" she asked more calmly but enthusiastically.

"Put you where you really belong," the voice replied her.

"Where I belong?"

"Yes. You don't belong here, you belong with people who possess similar abilities like you do."

"Ooh, good. Tell me where I can find them," She replied feeling relieved as she sat on her bed.

"I don't need to tell you, you will figure it out. Just go to your door. The rest is up to you."

"My door?" She waited for a reply.

"Are you there?" she asked again but there was still no reply. She scooted over to the living room and reached for the door knob anxiously opening the door slowly. She peeked, flitting her head left and right before opening the door widely. There was absolutely no one in sight. As she turned back to close her door, her eyes caught a glimpse of something white. She turned back sharply and looked at the pavement beneath her door and saw a white card box on the floor. She picked it up hastily and scanned her environment one more time before slamming the door behind her. She examined the box closely before taking off the lid. It was a pepperoni. She slid the lid over the box again and closed her eyes. Whoever must have dropped it there had an intention, she thought.

She saw Ian riding scooter, he was dressed as a delivery man but he wasn't coming from any pizza restaurant, he came from a forest. This visions first came in fragments before she finally transitted to the forst. She looked at the tall trees and dried leaves scattered all over the grounds and wondered why Ian would choose a jungle outside of the city as an hideout, she returned back to reality. A smile crept to her face as she had realized the next step to take.

Jared was all dressed and ready for the day when he heard a knock on the door. "That must be Alex," he whispered to himself and opened the door, it was actually Alex.

"Good morning master Alex," Jared said grinning.

"Morning Jared. Was expecting you to still be curled up on the sheets under the duvet that's why I decided to knock on your door a little bit earlier than the usual time," Alex replied his eyes fixed on Jared.

"I had a nightmare so I woke a little earlier than the normal time. As you can see I'm all dressed up."

"Yes, I can see. Maybe you should keep having nightmares so you can keep waking up early," Alex replied Jokingly and Jared chuckled.

"I wanted to tell you that i'm taking full responsibility for you. You don't have to go to any classes for training or knowledge. I've taken permission and I will be the one fully responsible for all your training and learning," Alex said and tried to read the expression Jared's face would convey.

After what Jared heard the night before, he didn't know how to feel about the news but he was glad Alex vouched for him. "Uhm....that's.. nice I guess," he stuttered.

"Yes, it should be. Go and have your breakfast, our first class for the day commences at 7:15." Before Alex could leave, Jared hopped on him giving him a hug.

"Thank you Alex," He mumbled.

"Boy, you sure like hugs a lot," Alex said amidst patting his back.

"One more time Jared," Alex said with his eyes closed and his leg folded while sitting on the mat he had spread on the lawn for he and Jared to meditate.

Jared sighed and closed his eyes, he wasn't fully concentrating as he was not interested in meditation and wanted to move to the next lesson.

"Now take in a deep breath slowly," Alex took in a deep breath. "And let it out slowly." He did and Jared repeated after him but hurriedly and his face exhibited lack of interest.

"Jared do you realize that for your meditation is very important. Without meditating, you can't gain full access and control over your abilities." Alex said as he opened his eyes. He could see disinterest in Jared's eyes.

"It's so boring."

"It's not, it's the key to unlocking all your abilities. If only you know what you are capable of," Alex huffed.

"Get up," Alex gestured to Jared as he stood.

"You see Jamie over there?" He asked.

Jared could obviously see Jamie and the rest of the higher class of extraordinaries engaging in Martial arts. "Yes, I can."

"Good, tell him hi."

"Hi! Ja..".

"No! not that way," Alex interrupted raising his voice higher than Jared's voice which drew attention to them as everyone on various sides of the lawn turned to face them for few seconds before going on with their various activities.

"Sorry," Alex apologised for the distraction, waving his hand. "I didn't mean that way, I meant you should make him hear you in his head without you speaking out," Alex said with his teeth clenched as he turned to face Jared.

"How is that even possible?" Jared asked with confusion protruding his face.

"Listen Jared, just the same way you are able to pick sounds and voices of people and things you want to hear, you need to be able to say things to people. That way, you can communicate effectively with anyone,"

"But, how do I go about it?"

"I can't tell you how but just imagine you are in his mind and envision communicating with him. You must be focused, it's very much needed."

"Okay," Jared replied and closed his eyes and did just as Alex had told him to do.

"Hi! Jamie. Can you hear me," Jared said in his head without his mouth moving or opening.

"I think he heard you," he is looking this way right now." Alex sounded excited.

"Try listening to him at the same time. Even if he doesn't speak out, you should be able to hear him."

Jared opened his eyes, he saw Jamie waving at him.

"Can you hear me Jamie?" He tried again. "Say something if you can, you don't have to say it out, I'm listening," Jared paused for few seconds. He opened his eyes again and looked towards the direction of Jamie, Jamie looked back and waved again.

"I think he is speaking but I can't hear him," Jared said flitting his gaze to Alex who seemed silent for a long time.

"You will definitely figure it soon, just don't stop meditating even in my absence". Alex said patting Jared's shoulder. "One more thing. Don't intrude people's privacy with your abilities, don't eavesdrop on people, your abilities are not for fun."

Jared nodded.

"Let's go on a break, I need to do somethings in the lab," Alex said and hurriedly headed to the building.

Jamie rushed over to Jared immediately he witnessed Alex leave him and rush into the building.

"Did you speak to me few minutes ago? Like you are a telepath?" Jamie asked the moment he felt close enough to be heard by Jared.

"You heard me?" Jared asked with excitement swelling over his face.

"Of course I did." Jamie grinned.

"I don't think you heard me."

"I didn't, but it's nice you heard me."

"Your abilities are cool bro, so dope". Jamie remarked nudging Jared. "How'd you feel about it?"

"I feel great for real. Like I already learnt how to shut out the several sounds and listen to the ones I want to listen to and now I'm discovering myself as a telepath. I feel so great about this," Jared spouted.

"Way to go Jared. You should be grateful to Alex. If you had been taking regular classes, trust me, you wouldn't have made this much progress within few days," Jamie said as they both headed to the lyceum.

"Yeah. Do you think Mrs Bradley have a son?" Jared asked, deviating from what they were originally talking about.

"What?" Jamie stared at him amidst walking.

"Why'd you think of that?" He asked throwing his face back to its original position".

"Was just curious. I mean everyone in this institution are teenagers except for the adults who take classes and train us. Definitely, we have so many adults that also discovered their abilities. How come they didn't discover this place or probably they discovered but were denied admission," Jared said.

"Where's all this coming from? What's your point exactly? And how does what you just said relate with her having children or not?" Jamie asked a bit of confusion in his tone.

"I was just thinking, nothing serious about it," Jared replied realizing Jamie wouldn't be able to see from his point of view.

He just couldn't trust anybody yet to open up about what he heard, saw or really felt.