THE EMPATH

ECHO

"It's Vicky, right? I have a feeling that I can trust you, the other cops, not so much. Would you please lock the door and make sure there are no cameras in this room?" Bob said. The doctors had earlier told us that Bob could experience these psychotic breakdowns and episodes as his brain was working overtime trying to recover the memories. One of them had hinted to me that what he was having at that moment could have been one of those episodes but now that I was in his room listening to his thoughts, I knew he wasn't. He just had these fragments of incomplete memories whirling in there and all he needed was a way to organize them and his memories would be back. I knew for sure that I could help him with that, but I was not sure about it. If I helped him, that would mean that he would remember, if he remembered, he then would have all the details to connect the dots and know that I was the killer he and the force had been looking for. Anyways, I looked around just to make him feel assured as I already knew there were no cameras or bugs in the place. Nobody feared big Bob except maybe people made of donuts. Nobody considered him a threat and that meant no one would bother spying on him especially then that his two years' worth of memories were gone. "All clear here Bob, I think we are safe to talk," I answered after checking the place out for a believable amount of time. "Okay, come closer," I walked over and sat next to him on the bed and he sat down ready to tell. I watched him struggle with his huge stomach and aching head and at some point, I had to pitch in and help.

"Have you ever felt like you know something huge but you can't quite remember what? well, I have been having that feeling for the last few hours. Then I remembered something about an hour ago and that was the reason why I called you. You are a good guy, I know that now. I also know that I am supposed to help you, but Raff says you have to help me remember first. Do you think you can do that?" the mention of the name Raff got me shivering for a moment and I could feel the goosebumps forming all over me. "Raff? Which Raff?" I found myself asking and looking around just to be sure there were only the two of us in the room. The only Raff I knew was a dead protector and I did not expect him to be in contact with humans. "I don't know for sure, you know my brain is all mixed up so I can't quite remember stuff right but I remember he came by this morning after you left. He told me to reduce sugar intake and some other crap about how I really should get my weight in check band he added that you could help me remember. He, however, said that you don't trust easily and he asked me to give you a reason to trust me and that is why I am offering to help you with whatever you need provided you will be willing to help me. I feel like I am going crazy man," I listened to his thoughts again and I could tell that he meant every single thing he said. There was a heated argument in my head but in the end, I decided to help him. After all, I had about half an hour to spare before breaking into the d**g company. "Okay, I will help you, but I will need you to promise that you will keep the events of the last three months a secret, or I will be forced to..." I had to stop halfway since there was a cop walking in the hallway outside and I could feel him trying to listen to our conversation, from what I heard in his thoughts, he was not one of the good guys either.

I called on my guardian after a long while of letting him do his crap. He was the only one who could actually help Bob, he, however, needed me since he had no physical form and he was embedded into my soul and that made us inseparable. I thought he would protest but to my surprise, he seemed cool with the idea. He also thought that I needed a partner If I was to survive my crazy mission and he thought Bob was the perfect partner. After a ten minutes journey inside Bob's head, I finally found a way to organize his memories in a way that he could link access them, my guardian also made sure to heal his brain and all the other internal injuries he had acquired so that he would wake up completely healed and ready to go. The ride in his head was one thing I wouldn't forget any time soon and I had a feeling that some of his memories had been attached to me. "Okay Bob, in about an hour, your brain will have successfully organized all the memories and you will remember things you wish you didn't. You will probably feel compelled to do something about some of them and in particular, one that relates to me. Remember you promised not to tell, I expect you to keep that promise or bad things will happen to you and we, don't want that to happen as you are of much value to us alive," that was the last note I implanted into his thoughts before leaving his brain. He would remember it as if it was something I had told him and I hoped it was enough since I could not stick around.

My cab app went off and I had to leave. If there was something that made me hate my job even more than I feared it, was the fact that I had to take cabs all the time and it was boring and not to mention dangerous because I left a trail wherever I went. I had to exit the cab a mile away from the company and walk all the way there. I wished flying or teleportation was one of my abilities as it would have made things so much easier for me. By the time I reached the back fence, it was already midnight and I was an hour late which meant I had to work extra first. That meant I had much higher chances of making stupid mistakes and I hated the very thought of that. The fence was electric, but the ghosts could deal with that. They could never go into the building, but they could at least mess with the fence and I requested them to do so. I promise the two, Alice and Oscar that that was the last favor I would ask of them and they were free to go as soon as I got to the other side of the fence. I hated that I had to say goodbye especially then that we had grown to be the triple trouble group. The three of us were invisible and them leaving the group, meant no backups, no reinforcements, and even worse, it meant that I was once again lonely. I had to stand on the other side and watch them disappear and stand there longer hoping they would somehow change their minds and come back.

After I was fully on board with the fact that that was the end for us, I made my way toward the building ninja-style, only stopping a few yards away to take out the map in my backpack. I felt the chillwave working its way up my spine and I felt like turning back but I didn't. There was no better time than then and I knew if I chickened out, I would never find the courage to go back there. Climbing up walls was never my thing and heights were my sworn enemies. The very thought of being anywhere much higher than my height doubled which was roughly 11Ft and some inches gave me a gushing feeling that would send both number one and two out at the same time. As I started the climb, I said a short prayer and promised myself that I would not look down. If I were Okay with heights, the climb would have only lasted for a minute but given it was me, it took three whole minutes. My guardian just kept singing mock songs in my head that only made the situation worse and by the time I made it to the second floor's back slab, I was already one hour and five minutes behind schedule. I had a feeling that the night ahead was going to be long and I would probably wish I had turned back. All in all, I was in and ready to get started.

"I was following Raff"s echo as he could not get into the building but he could somehow speak to my guardian who in turn echoed the words to me backward and I had to work with the confused words to understand. My brain was working overtime and it was kind of hard to keep track of every single move I made. My night vision was the only thing that worked right and it was the only thing I could rely on. Every other sense in my body completely was overwhelmed. I made it to the elevator without being noticed and I managed to find the hidden button that would take me to the secret lair which was quite a distance underground. The place was so much bigger than Raff had explained and finding a single book in such a huge space was looking for a needle in a haystack. My first thought was that the book would be kept someplace secure so I went around looking for a vault or anything that resembled a vault. I took a quick check on my watch and it was already two o'clock in the morning. I was running out of time and low on patience but out of what I could only term as pure luck, I heard someone coming my way so I pushed and went into the nearest door I could find. I realized almost immediately that the room was some sort of an archive and the book I was looking for was right where I was hiding. Without even stopping to think before taking the next move, I picked up the book and was ready to run when the alarms went off. Of course, no one would just keep such an important book in an open space like that without considering its security. It was too late for me and I could not leave the book. After all, it was the only reason I was there in the first place. My only course of action was to take to my heels and hopefully make it to the elevator before the place was filled with security and that I succeeded to do. However, the moment the elevator opened up on the first floor, there were like five guns pointed at me. The only thing that saved me was an illusion that made them see an empty elevator. That took a lot of energy from me and before long, it failed. I had only managed to get past them but there was quite a distance between me and the nearest window.

I could have ren through the front door but the chances that I could make it to the gate were slim. The only way I stood a chance was if I jumped through the window and fell on the backside of the building. Given the fact that the windows were locking due to the alarms, I had no time to think about the distance from the window to the ground nor did I have the time to work out a landing strategy. I just ran and jumped without thinking and I only knew it was all a bad idea when I landed on my side and I felt and heard the sound of my hand breaking. That was followed by a moment of paralyzing pain and lightheadedness as I tried to get up. I knew right about then that I was screwed. There was no point in trying to run again since I could already feel myself dropping to the ground. The last thing I did was throw the book and backpack towards the fence and prayed that no one would go looking there. A stupid idea but I didn't have a better one and I could not let them catch me with the book in my hands. The last thing I saw was a torch coming my way and everything went dark. I could still hear Raff's echo in my head reminding me that I was the last hope and that giving up was not a protector's portion. He was encouraging me to get up and keep going but I had neither the strength nor the will so I ignored him.

While I was out, Raff and my guardian created what seemed like a scary but vivid dream of what would happen to the world if all the protectors and creatures of light died and the destroyers and the other creatures of the dark took over the shadow worlds control. Contrary to what I would have thought, there was actually a future, but in that future. However, in that future, the humans were nothing more than slaves and food to the creatures of the dark. The creatures made humans worship them as if they were gods and whoever didn't, suffered a fate worse than death. The world was green and beautiful without human pollution but it also felt hollow and empty. The humans were what made the world breathe with all their emotions and little acts of kindness. The creatures of night just knew the basic things which were to eat, sleep, reproduce and repeat the process. They had neither feelings nor emotions of any kind. It sure was a world I wouldn't want to live in and I knew I had to do anything and everything I possibly could to make sure that world never came to be. I knew it was too late for me to wake up and run but I could wake up and try fighting for my freedom. I subconsciously held my breath so as to awaken my guardian's healing power and it worked. I got up ready to fight but taking a single look around, I found myself completely numb and frozen so all I ended up with were two wide-open eyes, a dropped jaw, and a mind full of questions. "What...Where...How..." I opened my mouth to talk but it was like I had forgotten how to. In the end, I slowly closed it and just sat there waiting for my mind to process what I was seeing.