The Clairvoyant

Seven | 82 days, 17th hour

“So you have nothing else to tell me?”

I gave Dr. Joelle a curt nod, and then he placed his prescription tablet down on his glass table. “Well actually doctor, there's something I'm worrying about. After falling, is it possible to suffer from a massive headache?”

“Are you having headaches?”

“I had it,” I remember the time we were in the Plaza. “Just once though.”

“When was this?”

“Yesterday,”

He takes his pen in hand and begins writing on his papers again. “Anything else you want to tell me before you leave?” He says, eyes still glued to the prescription tablet he's writing on. I can't really understand it since it all looks like a bunch of scribbles.

“Um, can I start fighting again?” I show him my wrist – the one where he told me last week was sprained. “Because, a lot of people are challenging me again – and I haven't really had much exercises since my accident.”

Dr. Joelle looks at me as if I were crazy, but he clears his throat instead and says, “I'd advise you to never fight again, but then again I wouldn't really be able to stop you even if I wanted to, no? Just take care of yourself.”

“Can I ask another question?”

“Anything,”

I fiddle the knot of my jacket. “What can you say about telepathy?”

“You mean, something like telepathy or clairvoyance?” He asks me without hesitation. Dr. Joelle got up from his seat and places the prescription on one of his numerous shelves. He then takes out really thick book this time. “Why ask?”

“Just for my report at school.” I lie.

He nods his head then takes a look into the book. “Well, for now, telepathy has yet to be explained. You see, the human brain is a precious delicate part of the body, and the only given information we have about telepathy is through numerous cables that they would insert in the brain.”

“Insert?”

“They try to test it out on different people, but they've only gotten as far as reading little sparks of databases.” Being a doctor, I know he's trying his best to explain it to a minor like me. “It's like having a flash drive in your hand, and you're storing data in it, but it's so slow that in a year you only get around 10KB done.”

“Just 10KB?” I echo, frowning. “So then it's not really explained how its done?”

“That is, if they ever do get past moving the files.” He grins. It's funny how Dr. Joelle uses the terms of computers and flash drives to interpret the real meaning he wants to tell me, but one way or another, I can get a grasp of what he wants to explain.

Dr. Joelle gestures for me to follow and so I hope off the seat. “So then, what about people who can do telepathy? Is that possible? Are there people who can actually do those stuff, because, that would be totally awesome.”

“It really would be awesome,” He agrees with a kind smile. “I'd try to get samples of brain waves from that person if they really could do telepathy. I believe it's got something to do with the dopamine, and cerebral cortex.”

“I don't really understand what you're saying...” I try not to bite my lips.

The doctor taps his chin in a cute way, something I notice that Vincent does – he must've gotten the habit from Dr. Joelle since they're apparently 'best friends'. “Cerebral cortex It's the largest part of the brain, and is responsible for thinking and learning the five senses, as well as a bunch of other things.”

“And the domin-?”

He chuckles a bit. “It's dopamine. It's something that regulates movement and thought.”

And that must be connected one way or another to how Cain shuts me out.

“Well, I guess this is where we part,” Dr. Joelle suddenly says, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I don't think you need another checkup, but if you ever get that headache again – don't hesitate to look for me at all. Vincent has my number.”

“I'll remember that,” I nod and we separate ways. I'm strutting down the hallway on the way to the car when my phone rings and I pick it up without checking out who it is. It's Ian. “I'm on the way to the car. Are you still there?”

“Yeah about that, is it okay if you wait a bit? A friend of mine saw me, so we hung out a bit at the convenience store – and then he kind of got sick so I'm taking care of him.” Ian mutters, and I can hear the sound of puking on his background.

I nod unknowingly, and reply, “It's fine, I'll just grab something to eat. You want anything?”

“Nah, I'm good. I just ate a while ago.”

We say good bye and I put the phone back in my pocket. I see the car not too far away, but turn the other way since I don't have the car keys with me. I'm with Ian today since Chey had something to do – and Vincent has work the whole day.

Despite being together in the morning, Cain had to attend a party with his usual school friends. Of course I'm not invited to one of those things but he tried to take me along anyways. I told him I couldn't, had something to do, which was a flat out lie of course.

Now I'm in a small store, grabbing something to eat and a bit of napkins since Chey's having her red days at the moment. I pay at the counter, sit down on the seats outside, then just stare off into space as I listen to the murmurs around me.

I'm thankful there isn't that much people around; I can't really handle the idea of having another headache again in public. Later on however, while I was typing a reply to Ian who was on the way back – I saw a group of guys around a single girl.

I was already on the way back to the hospital parking area when I spotted them. They were obviously ganging up on a girl around my age – but I couldn't really see her face at the moment. Being the i***t I am though, I faced up to them.

“Hey, need any help?”

Their beady black eyes file onto mine, and they tell me to back off, to go away. The girl's there, frightened, her back already flat on the brick wall behind her. “We were just asking our friend to hang out with us,” One of the guys smile a malicious grin.

“Dude, that excuse is way overused.” I laugh, shaking my head. And then suddenly I'm throwing a punch at the nearest guy. He topples backward maybe from the shock of my punch, and I grab hold of the frightened girl's hand and we run for it.

She's running slow, so I have to quicken my pace, and just a few feet away from us is the gang. They're shouting profane words at me, about how I was a b***h for punching that guy or whatever, and when we're in an alley, it's unluckily a dead end.

The girl starts shaking from terror, she keeps rambling on and on about how she shouldn't have left the house or something. “I may be a girl,” I tell her, eyeing a flight of hanging stairs at the right. I run to it and help her on first. “But I'm also a delinquent.”

The word 'delinquent' catches her ears and she lets go of the rail. I hold onto her, tell her to get up since I can see the gang, then we're up the stairs as quicker than they can come. Of course they spot me, and we get up quicker, and by the time I realize it we're already on the roof of the building.

“This way,” I breathe the word out, pulling her hand. She's not complaining anymore but just following me the whole time. I check the door, but it's closed, I check other places to escape but there's only a balcony just below.

I curse a word.

“Stella, right?” The girl says and I only nod. “Thank you, but they really were my friends.”

“Friends don't gang up on another girl,” I point out to her, then jump down onto the balcony and look at the door. Luckily it's opened and I tell her to follow. “So how come you hang out with those guys? They may look cool, but hey, they seem like such jerks to me.”

She enters the dark room with me, and I don't know what I just stepped on but I continue running deeper into the building. She's following me the whole time, until we enter another door and I realize we're in the fire exit.

“It was my fault, and I was prepared to fight them on – but then I realized that I seriously couldn't handle them all by myself.” She explains, running down the stairs as quick as possible. “And then I saw you, and thought maybe you'd help me fight them off.”

“Sorry,” I apologize, running down to the end of the stairs and entering another door just in time as I hear the guys upstairs running amok. “I sprained my wrist over a week ago, and my doctor tells me to stop fighting. So I wouldn't really be of help even if we did fight.”

“So that's why we're running?” She questions me, surprisingly opening the window the right which I did not see at first. “Here, I've been here before. Can you jump from balcony to balcony?” She asks, revealing that the window was actually another balcony practically close to another balcony.

I leap a heartbeat jump, and land safely on the other side, but only scarce enough that I rolled down. She jumps a perfect landing, and we're entering the building once more. Then, by chance, it’s actually a library and she skids into the shelves.

“I'm sorry I got you into this,” The girl apologizes.

But I twirl around in place as I'm catching my breath, and then I give her a hearty smile. “It's fine – I haven't had exercise lately so this is good, one way or another. But damn my knuckles hurt. He's got one hard jaw if you ask me.”

The girl cracks up a laugh, a hearty one actually. “I bet he did. Hey, you really don't know me?”

“Uh, did I fight with you before?” I ask her, copying her movements as she takes a book and pretends to read it. It was upside down, and I tried really hard to not laugh at that. “I'm sorry. I don't really remember the people I've fought with.”

“No, but – you'll see.” She dismisses our conversation because the guys have just entered the library too from the balcony. They're running around the place, looking at places where we could have gone off to, and when they don't spot us in the corners, they turn to leave.

“That's it?” I ask, frowning. “And I was just having fun too.”

“We could do that again,” The girl laughs, giving me a smile. “I'm Audrey.”

She stretches her hand out to me, and I take it in my hand. She's looking at me with her curiously magenta tinted eyes, and her short red hair also makes her stand out a bit. Audrey's giving me a wide girly smile, a smile that would make others smile as well.

“Stella,” I give it a firm grip. “Oh yeah, you know me.”

“I think a lot of people do,” Audrey chuckles, placing the book back into the shelf. “I'm sorry, but I have to go back. You're not with Cain today?” She asks me, a Cheshire grin forming on her lips, revealing two cute dimples on her face.

“Wait, you know Cain? You're a student at Memorial?” I ask her as we exit the library.

Audrey only gives me a cunning smile, then tilts her head to the side. “You'll see?” She beckons me, then waves her hand and runs away. I stare at her figure disappear into the crowd, and then I realize something as if being hit by a bat.

I'm in a crowd, I shudder, walking back to the hospital. People were walking side by side, others were in groups. I didn't look at anyone in the eye and only kept my eyes glued to the ground. Pebbles, rocks, whatever I saw they were the same.

Until I bumped into someone on the way.

“Stella?” Ian's voice reaches my ear and he's the guy I'd bumped into, his expression showing worry and relief. “Where've you been? You were gone for a long time, and you wouldn't answer your phone. What's wrong? You're pale.”

“I'm just not used to being in a crowd,” I mutter, biting my lips and holding onto his sleeve.

Ian smile's brightly, surprising me. “I'm here for you, let's go home now.” He takes my hand into his and he makes the way back. “So where did you go? You said you were going to eat, right? Why're you at the library then?”

“I was being chased after,” I reply nonchalantly.

And then we stopped. “Chased? You were in another fight?” His voice is high, but his hand won't let mine go. “Are you okay? You're not hurt are you? You really should stop fighting, you know, Stella. God, how can you be so rash?”

“If I didn't do that, a girl would have been hurt,” I point out, now sighting the car. We walk towards it, steadfast. I laugh. “Besides, can we get something to eat? I'm starving. I'll tell you my little epic heroism if you treat me to food.”

“Epic heroism huh,” Ian mutters, getting into the car. “What should we get?”

“McDonalds?”

“Again?”

“It's your treat,” I shrug, buckling myself into the seat. “So are you ready to listen to my story?” Ian nods and starts the car. I breath in slowly. “Let's begin at how I saw this gang huddling around this pretty red head near the convenience store.”

“Okay, and then what?”

“Then I told them it wasn't funny,” I recall their expressions. Their taunts. Their snide remarks. “Then I punched this guy.” The car lurches into a heart sickening stop. Ian has this horrified look on his face. “It's fine. I'm fine. It's not like I killed the guy.”

“It's not funny! Why'd you punch him?” He screams.

“So I could run away with the girl,” I grin at him despite his sour expression. “And you know what happened? I did get away with her to the point where we jumped through balconies and windows, railings and walls. It was really fun.”

“Fun?” Ian repeats, his expression pale. He must be paler than I've been.

I nod giddily. “It's been such a long time since I fought.”

“Stella,” Ian sighs out my name, shaking his head. “I'll never really understand your definition of fun. It's practically going to injure you one day. But okay, so who's that girl you saved? She did at least tell you her name right?”

“Yeah, Audrey.”

“Audrey?” Ian echoes the name, and I'm surprised he knows. “Audrey was being ganged up? Doesn't she usually hang out with the same crowd as Chey hangs out with?” He asks me, his eyebrows scuffling tightly together.

I ponder for a minute. Audrey didn't seem like that type. “Are you sure we're thinking of the same girl, because she didn't really seem like those screaming fan girl types, with the expensive jewelry and colored coated nails.”

“Well, I don't know,” Mutters my brother, his hands turning the leather wheel into the driveway of McDonalds. “I'm pretty sure I've heard the name Audrey before, but whatever, Eau Claire's too big for just one Audrey after all.”

“Yeah,” I agree, bobbing my head up and down. “Yeah, but I mean, I can't really imagine that Audrey to be in the same crowd as the ones Chey usually hang out to. Just imagining it already.... It's just simply preposterous!”

Ian snorts, his elbows hitting the glass window. There's a line on the driveway so we're waiting for our turn. He looks at me, his face forming a knowing smile. “Yeah, that reminds me of this one girl I know who occasionally pretends to be Chey.”

I agree with a nod, then it dawns in me on who he's talking about. “Hey! That's not funny!”

“Ha! You should have seen your face. But hey, you'd be lying if you deny pretending to be Chey sometimes, right? So you might be the same as this Audrey too.” Ian finishes, a smile creeping up his face. “So what do you wanna order? Kiddie meal?”

I hit him on the shoulder, my eyes glaring at him. “What a way to ruin a conversation.”

“Yeah, I know.” Ian agrees, laughing his head off. “One kiddie meal please.”

“Ian!”

My brother laughs again. “Just kidding,”