THE EMPATH

UNDERSTANDING

"Is everything okay between you two? You seem distant and you haven't said a thing since you got here," Mum broke the one-hour silence that had befallen the room. We all had been seated there since we came back home from the hospital just exchanging these side looks that were a mixture of fear and confusion. "Yes hun, we are fine," he said looking at me for reinforcement as he knew all too well her old lady wouldn't buy his tiny explanation. "Yes, Mum we are fine just tired plus a bunch of weird stuff happened in the hospital and we are both shaken a little," I joined in just as she was about to show her discontentment and stopped her from saying what she was about to.

"A little? I just learned that my son can see ghosts and I just saw three of them myself and now I know that Alice has been hearing and seeing everything that has been happening around her. I wonder how he still thinks that shocks me just a little...I wonder what else he can do...I should probably change my thoughts just in case he can hear thoughts too," he had no idea just how right he was but I didn't plan on letting him know I could hear him think. "Okey boys, I am off to bed," she finally said and walked away. The two of us were left there staring at the hot dish in front of us not sure what our next moves were going to be. I was not hungry at all. I was way too scared that Dad would decide to tell Mum about me and that scared the hunger out of me. So far we hadn't discussed a thing as he was still recovering from one heck of a headache and I feared if I loaded him with more bizarre clap he was going to overheat or something. On his side, he was probably way too shocked to even think about food not to mention that he had a strict policy of no food after ten o'clock and it was already half past.

"Dad, I will explain everything as soon as you have gone through all that shock, but I need you to promise that you won't tell Mum," I said at last when I realized he was making a move to leave. "Are you kidding right now? where would I even start to tell her about what I saw? I am sure I wouldn't have believed any of it if you had told me," there was this look of guilt on his face and I wished I hadn't seen it. "I am sorry son, I had no idea what you have been going through. What are you planning to do about the information you have about the fire?" he asked and sat back on his chair only half-listening. "I haven't thought much about it yet but I know Bennie needs to close at least two files so that he and his boys can be free from the national government monitoring," My Dad was almost halfway through his first dream by the time I noticed and I had to let him go to bed.

I could feel that he was trying his best to be more understanding and he was feeling guilty that he had not noted that I was going through a lot earlier and he was willing to do something to change that but depriving himself of sleep wasn't the way to go. They were all gone and it was just me by the table alone. I was definitely hungry and my body demanded a lot so I poured myself a bowl of soup and a serving of vegetable rice. Now that I knew dad wasn't going to tell on me and my hunger had come striking back. I was also happy that Alice was fine in her soul state and I could finally talk to her and finally apologize. The night couldn't have possibly been better.

Thirty minutes and I was off to bed. I took a few minutes to think about my next move with the fire case but then I drifted off to sleep. I got up Saturday morning with a new insight and I just took breakfast and left for my final class with Robert. His eyes and ears seemed to be everywhere and he already knew everything that had happened so I didn't have to explain myself. As usual, I found him seated by the apple tree he had grafted outside his house. The healthy tree was just about to give its first fruits, and I couldn't wait to taste its fruit as payment for all the times Robert had made me water, talk, and even sing to it. He said that words had magic and maybe the tree was living proof of that. Normally, a grafted apple tree takes about a year to three for it to bear its first fruits but this took only eight months and some days.

"I can't help you with your question Victor, however, I can set you on the right path," he said even before I could ask him. "You already have an answer in your heart, what you are looking for is approval," how did he even know what I was about to ask? He had no powers whatsoever, at least not any I knew of but somehow he seemed to know everything. "Did you read my mind?" I asked even though I knew the answer. "Just go, do what you have to do, and remember, the test to see whether you have mastered my teaching will be next weekend. Eight sharp," he concluded. "There is no class today?" I asked and listened to his thoughts for a second. He knew I had other things to do and he understood. I wished my father would grow to become as understanding or even half as understanding as Robert was.

An hour later, I was at the hospital seated on a chair in Alice's room. "Yesterday was messed up," she said. "Yeah tell me about it," we both shared a light moment but soon we went to business. "So, you have a plan?" she asked. "Not really. All I know is that we need to help the police and we are gonna do so, we are going to need access to the files. Someone has to sneak in and get information from at least two case files and we will choose which one to solve. In the meantime, I still need to figure out how to relay the info I have about the fire without putting myself in line," she was listening so attentively. "Okey, I can get the details of the files but I am going to need some help," she said floating closer to me. "Can't you just pop over there or something?" I could tell that she thought my question was stupid the very moment I asked it. " Your cluelessness is almost touching. My soul is tied to my body because I am not dead yet. I can't leave the hospital. I have to stay close to my meat suit," I expected to see pain or at least a hint of it on her face but I was getting nothing. She seemed to be okay with what her life had been reduced to. "Then, if you die your soul will be free?" I asked. "Yes I will be free from my body but then I would have to move on sooner or later and I don't feel ready for that yet," I didn't get it completely but I felt like asking a question would sound foolish, however, she knew I had a question in mind and she went on to insist on asking it. "What if you just chose to not move on?" from the looks of it, she did think the question was stupid, instead, she seemed to have taken it super seriously. "I could stay, but then I would eventually turn to an angry spirit and haunt something or someone and I would rather not go there now," that was serious alright.

"I have a bad idea though...you need to get me out of here and take me close to the police station. I will do the rest," she smiled a little and that scared me. How the hell would I even go about stealing an unconscious girl from the hospitals with all the people around? "Your bad idea is impossible because I have no way to get you out of here and even if I did, I have no way to get you close to the police station," I said and was ready to move on to a different option that I didn't have yet. "I brought my mother's car, you can use it," it was Anne. I had been too busy figuring out a plan that I never even saw her walk into the room "Anne, how long have you been there?" I walked up to the door and locked up after confirming she was the only one around. "Long enough to know you are planning something dangerous and I won't let you do that alone. Also long enough to try and come up with the best way to tell you just how sorry I am that I didn't listen to you yesterday. I believe you now, I mean how can I not after I saw everything that happened yesterday...I mean I didn't see the ghosts but I saw what they did," she walked close to me and held my arm to apologize. "I told you she would be back. I am pretty sure she doesn't really believe you but she loves you enough to go along," Alice said and winked he ghostly eye. "Shut up...," I started in a low tone but stopped as soon as I saw Anne looking at me. "What is she telling you? Is she talking about me?" she asked looking around. "No, she is just saying hello," I told her and edged away from her a bit as Alice had brought her ghostly face close to mine and her cold look was startling.

"So, tell me about your crazy plan," Anne said and sat right next to Alice on the bed. "She is probably seating on my finger. Tell her to get her a*s off my bed...I may like her, but she is so not my friend," I was listening to her but I was sure I was not ready to tell Anne any of that so I just smiled. For the next few minutes, I told Anne about the plan and she was more than willing to help and she even had a suggestion. We had to let Dad in so that he could help us get Alice out of the hospital walls. I expected Dad to protest but he didn't. He was serious about being more understanding and he hadn't changed his mind overnight. Plans were laid to perfection and all we had to do was wait for Alice's Mum to visit her that afternoon so that she wouldn't find her missing. We all understood the parts we played in the plan and we were ready to go but before then, the police had questions about what had happened the previous day. Chizi had just found his long-awaited break and he couldn't wait to prove that the supernatural really existed. I however knew the interview wasn't going to favor him as no one was willing to acknowledge that they had seen something that couldn't be explained. The doctors had already come up with some logical explanation that would close that case even though it was not much of a case anyway. The news g**g was walking around questioning anyone they thought would help them understand what had happened and my Dad, Anne, and I knew better to stay away from them. I was glad there was an understanding between the two people who knew about me and I hoped it would stay that way.