Futuristic Eyris

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn listened quietly. This was the kind of story that was easier to tell without interruption. Her expression remained neutral.

"Different how?" she asked. She felt different. From everyone. All the time. But...her situation was, unique, right? Still, she could relate to the feeling. Like everyone else was part of club you wanted to join, but couldn't.

"I'm sorry. What he did..it wasn't right." Brooklyn rested her hand lightly on his arm as he continued. She hadn't been able to get a read on whether he liked to be touched, but felt she had to do something. She'd give him a hug if she thought he wouldn't mind. She could only imagine what it must have been like having someone constantly out for you. Especially when you're just a kid. What kind of adult does that? One such adult instantly came to mind, but she pushed the thought away. This wasn't her story.

"You lost me. What happened with the police chief?" Would he answer? It sounded like maybe he lost it and just couldn't stop hitting the guy, but she didn't want to make any assumptions. It should bother her more than it did. He could be dangerous. She was normally a really good judge of character and he hadn't set off any red flags for her. Plus, he was friends with James, who knew this story. There must be more to it.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade shuffled his feet and shrugged. He hadn’t actually intended to spout off all that information. It just kind of spilled out.

“Look... I didn’t mean to ramble,” he gave a sheepish smile. “I came after you to help you, not to get my own issues off my chest.” He quickly added. “Not that I don’t want to talk to you about it. I just don’t want to make this about me.”

If he answered, was she going to look at him different? Furthermore... why did he care so much? Usually he didn’t care that much about what people thought of him. He had learned not to care. It was simpler that way.

 

[free2bealways]

She dropped her hand off his arm. She wasn't sure what to say. She couldn't tell if that was his way of not answering or if meant what he said not wanting to make it all about him.

"You don't have to tell me anything either." she said.

Part of her felt like she needed to know the rest of that story, but she kept coming back to the part where she trusted James's judgement so maybe it didn't matter. Except...this was kind of a big issue. But James trusted him, right? And she trusted James. Maybe Glade would tell her the rest of the story sometime.

 

[Phsyco]

“It’s not that I don’t want to,” Glade said with a shrug. “It’s just... not... normal.” He figured it would be just as well that she found out now as opposed to later, though. “I’m... a telepath. I didn’t know when I was younger. My abilities scared people. So after that incident with the police chief... I suppressed my abilities. I don’t really use them anymore. Mostly. Only occasionally if I’m by myself and actually need to. When I got angry... I thought about the guy’s gun shooting him. Next thing I knew... I heard a gun shot.”

 

[free2bealways]

Not normal. Story of my life.

A telepath? Brooklyn knew, like everyone did, that some people had special abilities. It wasn't very common. Only a very tiny percentage, less than a tenth of a percent, of the population was affected. We're talking 1 in 1,000 maybe. But she'd never met anyone with abilities. At least, not that she knew of.

"It is normal. Sort of," she said. "I mean it's not like you're a genetic experiment or something. It's a gene mutation. So I guess that makes you more...advanced that the rest of us?" She smiled at him. "So...telepathy...does that mean you can read my mind?"

Her heart rate spiked. What if he already knows?

As she listened to his story, her mouth formed a little O. She couldn't imagine what it must have been like to just imagine something terrible, never really meaning it and it just...happened. She stretched out a hand toward him, but pulled it back.

 

[Phsyco]

“Yeah, well... you’re probably the only one who looks at it that way.”

He could see a look of concern on her face when she asked her next question.

“No. Well, I mean... maybe. But I don’t. Like I said, I’ve mostly kept my powers hidden and suppressed since I was a kid. I’m honestly not even sure what all I can do. I’d never read someone’s mind like that, though.”

He wondered what her story was now. She seemed to know quite a bit about this gene mutation and didn’t seem overly concerned about him having powers. Other than when the concept of him reading her mind came up.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn laughed. "Maybe, but who cares what other people think?"

Brooklyn's shoulders relaxed when he said he wasn't reading her mind. But it left her with more questions than answers. What exactly could he do? How do you just...hold something like that in?

"What can you do?" she asked, then added, "If you don't mind me asking."

 

[Phsyco]

“Uh... I really don’t know, to be honest.” He scrunched his face a bit. “I can make things float... and control inanimate objects. That’s mostly all I’ve ever done.”

He gave her an odd look.

“Why is it that you don’t seem very concerned about all this that I’m telling you? Most people freak and leave.”

 

[free2bealways]

"Oh...that's telekinesis," Brooklyn said. The rest of the tension eased out of her. She didn't really know how that kind of thing worked, but hopefully that meant he couldn't influence her mind. Hopefully.

Brooklyn wanted to say something like Let me get this straight. You can move stuff. Just by thinking about it. And you're hiding it? She wanted to smile and make a joke about using it for some stupid she didn't want to do, like get up and grab another cup of coffee. But there's a dark side to everything. There were so many other things she could imagine that would be awful if they actually came true. Having the power to make them true sounded like just as much of a curse as whatever was following her around.

"I don't know. I guess I just think it's cool. You're like a super hero or something." Brooklyn shrugged. "It's like that old saying 'With great power, comes great responsibility.' There's more than one way to look at it."

She didn't feel ready to share her secret. She had too many years of practice keeping it to herself, but she was starting to think that if there was one person who she could tell, one person who just might get it, it was Glade.

"Can I give you a hug?" she asked.

 

[Phsyco]

“Oh, right,” he chuckled. “I guess that would be telekinesis.”

He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck as she went on about how she thought it was cool. “Well... thank you. Really. I’ve never had anyone look at it like that. I mean, Talia and James accept me.”

He looked up in surprise when she suddenly asked if she could give him a hug. He wasn’t used to such things, but the truth was there had been lots of times he wished he could just sink into someone’s arms.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said, his ornery grin mixing with his shy expression. “If you’re hugging me to help me feel better, you have to let me give you a hug to help you feel better too.”

 

[free2bealways]

A smile broke out across Brooklyn's face. "Deal."

She swiftly moved toward him, wrapped her arms him and rested her head on his chest. His heart beat comfortingly in a steady rhythm and she closed her eyes for a moment.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade felt his whole body stiffen when she first hugged him, but once he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her he felt a release that he hadn’t felt in ages. It was like his body was releasing pent up emotions in tears of invisible tension.

Holding her in his arms just felt... right. He didn’t know why. Feeling her head resting on his chest, the subtle scent of her curly brown hair, and the feeling of his arms enveloping her.

“Thanks,” he nearly whispered. He hoped she was benefiting from a good long hug as much as he was.

He hugged her tightly for a long moment, until suddenly the thought of James re-entered his brain. They were not too far away from the apartment, and he honestly had lost track of time. For all he knew James could come walking around the corner any moment.

“Uh, hey,” he chuckled as he loosened his grip just slightly. “You remember that favor I asked of you earlier in the preserve? Mind of we extend that to this?”

 

[free2bealways]

He smelled good. She hadn't noticed that before. Wrapped up in his hug she felt safe for the first time all day. And she was definitely feeling better. It's weird how, even when nothing changes, knowing someone is there, getting wrapped in a hug, makes all the difference in the world.

Brooklyn pulled away from him. "I thought you said he knew about your...ability."

 

[Phsyco]

“Uh,” Glade chuckled. “I was actually meaning the hug.” He shrugged nervously. “He knows all about my abilities.”

He shuffled on his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Should he say more? Leave it at that? Or would he just fumble with his words?

There he was overthinking things again.

“And the preserve,” he quickly added, drawing out his next word with a sheepish grin. “A-n-d me taking you into the maintenance tunnels... and well... let’s just say we were shopping then took a bubble shuttle through the preserve... if that’s ok.”

 

[free2bealways]

"Oh." She laughed and waved her hand dismissively. "He won't care about that"

When Glade kept going, she added, "Okay, he might care about that. Especially with the plant almost eating me..."

She didn't really want to lie to James though. There was a difference for her between being not telling him what they'd been up to all day and her telling him something that hadn't happened. She already felt like she was lying to him the way it was. She missed him. How they shared everything and didn't keep secrets. She wished she could go back to that time.

"Yeah, I'm not saying that," she said. "If he asks, I'll say we went to the preserve. He'll make his own assumptions about how."

Her stomach growled and she realized how long it had been since they'd eaten. She looked down at the ring Zach had gotten her. It was a simple silver band wrapped around her middle finger with lacy green lines like vines. The fancy ones were more expensive than hers. She almost wished she'd left it behind, but she needed something. A hologram popped up above it, showing the time was roughly 4:30 pm.

"You hungry?" she asked. "Because I'm starving. Let's get lunch-dinner-lunner. Whatever you want to call it at this hour."

She smiled. She was feeling a bit like her old self now.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade nodded. “Fair enough.” She was probably right, but he hated leaving things to chance if he could help it. That being said, he had no control over what Brooklyn said, so he couldn’t help it.

He noticed the ring as she checked the time. Man... they must really be serious.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I could definitely use a bite to eat.” Typically he would suggest picking something up at a restaurant, but given the expensive ring on her finger maybe that wasn’t the best option.

“Should we head back to the apartment?”

 

[free2bealways]

"Sure!" Brooklyn grabbed his hand and bounced back toward his and James's building. Shadows were lengthening and the street was becoming increasingly crowded. Sunlight glinted off the windows.

She let go when they reached the building so she could follow him inside. She doubted James had had a chance to update her access.

"Hi Talia!" Brooklyn said as she walked through the door. "You ready for game night? We bought the snacks!" Brooklyn hesitated, then added, "What kinds of games do you play, anyway?" She looked from Talia to Glade.

 

[free2bealways]

James removed his interface and set it on the charging port as he did every Friday. He glanced around the room. There were five people usually sharing the office, each in their own little corner of the world, solving problems invisible to everyone else, but tonight, only Kasey and he were left. They each had their own windows to look out, but he rarely bothered with his. Charlie liked to spend a weird amount of time looking out them instead of whatever it was he was supposed to be working on.

James passed Kasey, who was staring blankly ahead. She was probably working on something through her interface for privacy.

"Night Silver!" Kasey called after him.

"Night Malone!" he called back.

He was surprised she'd noticed him. He was basically dead to the world when he was wrapped up in his interface. He was actually saving up for one to use at home. But the one he wanted was similar to what they used here, which made it very expensive and incredibly hard to come by. You couldn't beat the elegant, nearly invisible design though and imagine what he could do from anywhere.

His current home interface was functional, but a lot less cool. They were sort of like glasses you put over head, but it only covered one eye. It was cumbersome. It got in the way. And it was a lot less cool than the tech here. A lot less. You could also get contacts, rings, bracelets, pretty much anything you could wear could be turned into a microcomputer. He liked his glass because it was easy to take on and off, unlike the contacts and he wasn't a fan of jewelry.

He reached the main floor and continued on through a special tunnel that connected to the metro.

He was most interested in the earpieces. They were cutting edge. He'd only ever seen them at work. They were not available for general use and only available to some of the top security personnel at his company, like himself. The ones they had wrapped around the back of your ear, but he'd heard rumors they'd figured out how to make them so small, they could disappear inside your ear and no one would know you had it. They were cool. Work off this technology that transmitted audio and visuals to your brain and could interpret brain signals as well. It was the closest thing to having a computer inside your head. Now that'd be cool. But most people weren't as interested as he was in elective surgery that put a computer inside your brain so nobody was actually working on that research.

When he reach the right floor of his apartment building, he hesitated just out of range of the door sensors. Was Brooklyn still here? He'd added access to the building, apartment, and his room for her earlier, but he wondered now if maybe that had been a waste of time.

He stepped through the door.

"James!" Brooklyn called.

She catapulted herself at him and he smiled, wrapping her in a tight hug. He kissed her forehead.

"Miss me?" he teased.

"Always," she said. "You know I can never go five minutes without breathing your oxygen."

He laughed. That was laying it on a little thick.

She danced away from him, back toward the others. He sighed. It had been a long day, both personally and professionally and he couldn't decide if game night was too big a headache to bother with or exactly what he needed to relax.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade felt a little awkward holding her hand back to the building, but he wasn’t going to let that show. She was clearly just that kind of a person. Maybe, one day, he’d find someone like James had. He kind of hoped that if he did she would be a lot like Brooklyn.

When they got home Talia was already there.



Talia had looked up when they came in. “Hi!” She greeted Brooklyn with a wide smile. “Thanks! I’ve got the liquor and I’m working on some dip for the chips.” She looked at Glade. “You did get chips, right?”


“You’re home early,” Glade stated.

“Well, hello to you too,” Talia teased.

“Don’t take it personally,” Glade came back. “I was just hoping I’d get to eat before you got home.”

He could hear her sigh from her work in the kitchen.


“After more pie, weren’t you?” she guessed. “Oh, chips?”

“Yes, and yes.”

Talia set her cheese sauce to simmer and joined them as Brooklyn inquired about the games. She shrugged. “Whatever people want to play, really. Beer pong, Russian roulette, board games, card games.” She smiled and wrinkled her nose. “Most anything. Within reason. What are some of your favorite games? We’ll have to make sure we play some.”

Before Brooklyn could answer James walked in.

“Hey, James,” she greeted with wave, then looked at the time. “Man, it’s later than I thought.” She walked back to the kitchen to check her cheese sauce, glancing over her shoulder as she called back to James. “I heard you had some excitement at work today.”

 

[free2bealways]

"Hey, Talia," James replied. He waved back at her. His head snapped back toward her at her next comment. "How did you--oh. You're the PI they're bringing in?"

He was surprised no one had told him that, given his relationship to her.

"Well, it should be a lucrative contract for you. Congrats!" Part of his job was keeping a lot of secrets and that was another part of his job he was very good at.

"Talia was just asking me what I'd like to play and I was about to tell her one of my favorite games is Never Have I Ever." Brooklyn's smile was almost too big for her face.

"I'm not playing Never Have I Ever with you," James replied immediately. Absolutely not.

"Why not?" Brooklyn asked, eyes wide in faux innocence.

"I don't know. Maybe because I don't feel like spending the night in the bathroom?" He raised his eyebrows at her. It had been a night from hell, but to her credit, Brooklyn had never once left his side.

"We only played that one time!" she cried.

"Yes, and all of your statements specifically targeted me." He folded his arms over his chest. It had been so unfair. He hadn't even been able to retaliate. Partly because he didn't want to compromise her safety and partly because there wasn't a lot he'd done that she hadn't. She was the adventurous one. He was the practical one.

"I just wanted to see what you looked like drunk. You were being so weird about it," Brooklyn said, laughing.

"God forbid one of us keep a clear head that night." He rolled his eyes. I was trying to keep you safe. He'd rarely let his guard down at those parties. They hadn't gone to many. She disappeared shortly after they were old enough to be invited. He hadn't liked them anyway. He'd mainly gone along because she wanted to go. That was one of the few parts about her leaving that hadn't totally sucked.

"Fine. We don't have to play," Brooklyn said.

James noted her drop in tone and sighed. She was being ridiculous.

"Ooo. Let's play truth or dare!" she said.

"No," James said.

"Come on, you can't shoot all my ideas down! Besides, it'd be more fun to play something more interactive than a card game like Nertz. You don't talk. At all. Except when you're bragging about how you're finally going to win this one." She switched to a loud whisper. "When we both know you can't beat me."

She was lying. He won sometimes. Not as often as she did, but often enough to keep things interesting. At least Nertz was safer. He could decide for himself how much he was drinking.

"What's your favorite game, Glade? Talia?" Brooklyn asked.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade looked on with an interested expression. When Brooklyn asked him and Talia about their favorite games he walked over to James. The smile on his face would have told James that he wasn’t going to be any help at all.

“James... you know I love you like a brother... but now you guys have really got my curiosity up. I’m going to have to vote with Brooklyn on game options.”




Talia watched the interaction, but with a much more critical eye. James was still off. Something had been bothering him ever since Brooklyn showed up and she couldn’t figure out what.

“Hey,” she walked up beside James with her back to the others. “You doing alright?”

It wasn’t work. He had been like this the morning before the hack.

 

[free2bealways]

"Yes!" Brooklyn danced in a tight circle. "Prepare to see a side of James you never have before!"

That was exactly what he was afraid of. It wasn't that he was keeping secrets exactly. It was more that he liked his privacy. He'd been devastated when Brooklyn had disappeared and hadn't talked about his past in years. Now she was back and bringing all of it with her. He didn't know how to react. He'd had at least three worlds before the past, work and the present and he liked it that way.

Plus, and he wasn't sure he'd ever admit this out loud, but he'd been really hurt when she'd disappeared. They'd been best friends and he'd gotten nothing from her between the last time he'd seen her and yesterday. He couldn't imagine ever doing that to her.

Despite all that, he was still worried about her. He still didn't know what was up with her, what had been wrong with her yesterday. She was just pretending like everything was fine. He wasn't used to being on the outside with her. What if something was really wrong? What if she was in danger? How could he help if he didn't know?

Am I doing alright? He could have almost laughed at the question. As of yesterday, his life was upside-down and now there was this thing at work. But he didn't know what her question was referring to, whether she meant because of the work thing, in general or because Brooklyn was a sadist bent on destroying him.

"What do you mean?" His tone was low, voice soft enough that it was unlikely anyone else could hear him.

 

[Phsyco]

Talia game him a raised brow as if to say, “Nice try.”

“James... you’ve been out of sorts ever since yesterday morning. Before that really. Usually you’re the one up late, but we didn’t see you at all the other evening. Initially I assumed that was because-“ she tilted her head. “Anyways. You just have been acting yourself.”



Meanwhile Glade was just enjoying the thought of finding out some of James’ well-hidden secrets. Not in a malicious way, but in a friendly I’ve-got-to-give-my-friends-crap-now-and-then sort of way.

 

[free2bealways]

"I was with Brooklyn last night. It doesn't take a PI to make that connection." He winked at her. "If you're that worried, we can talk about it later." And by later, he definitely meant alone. Without Brooklyn or Glade.

At a normal volume, he said, "When's dinner ready?"

 

[Phsyco]

“Fair enough,” she conceded. “Just want to make sure everything is alright.”

She looked back at the other two. Glade was prying for details from Brooklyn about James’ drunk personality. She wasn’t sure if Brooklyn had really given him any.

“Glade and Brooklyn picked up snacks. I’ve got some cheese dip for the chips and some pinwheels,” she answered, turning back towards the kitchen to grab the food.

She heard Glade call after her. “You got whiskey, right?”

She scoffed playfully. “Yes, Glade.”

“You never gave your vote on the games,” he hollered back.

She brought out the first load of food and set it on the table. “Look... you three decide. Honestly, I’d be glad if we just brought the poker chips out. Just something everyone is going to enjoy, please.”