THE EMPATH

THE ACT

Parties were never my thing and I stayed as far away from them, all the energies and pretense was mostly too much for me to hang around. My friends on the other hand were party animals and that was the reason why they talked me into attending a party that was planed by one of our classmates. It was the final year of highschool and amidst all the finals pressures, there were teenagers with a twisted notion that the hard part of life was over. Joram was one of those. Apart from being the school's football captain and president, the gorgeous guy was also good looking and he could have all the girls hang around him if he wanted. It was a good thing he wasn't a bury even though he was not that friendly either. His ego was over the roof while his grades were somewhere about average but still, every girl wanted him to be her boyfriend.

Ever since my luck had changed, Joram pretended to like me and even offered me a position as a striker in the football team but I turned him down. He however lived to think we were friends and I wasn't willing to prove otherwise. I was among the first people to receive an invitation to his party and I had planned to say no to that too but Tom and Alice stopped me. It was going to be our first ever boys-girls unsupervised party and they wouldn't miss it if the world was in flames. The sneaking out at the middle of the night was the worst part of it but I did it anyway and I had to walk in the dark for the fear of someone noticing me. I met up with my two friends at Alice's as we had agreed and together we walked almost a kilometer to Joram's house.

We were the last ones there and the others were already having fun. The drinks were a little bit spiked and only someone like me would notice. The music was loud enough to burst ones ears but no one seemed to notice. The girls seemed happy with the decorations while the boys seemed satisfied with the inappropriately dressed girls. Most of them were probably eighteen but being in highschool meant they were restricted from doing whatever they wished. As expected, all the beautiful girls hang around the young football god while the others were all around hanging with that guy or gossiping in a group. The first thing I caught was the raw sense of desires that came from most of them then of course there was jealousy, anger and love. I had no business nor the will to be there and planed on sneaking out and going home as soon as I talked to a few people who would prove I was there. I did that as quickly as could since I didn't want Tom and Alice to know my plans.

However, as soon as I walked out of the door, I had this migraine that almost sent me to the ground. In a few seconds it was gone and I made it as if to walk away but it hit me again, that time round it was stronger and it actually sent me to the ground. A sense of drowning then followed and I couldn't breath. For a while I was just lying there feeling helpless and feeling like I was only a heartbeat away from biting the dust. I saw flashes of memories, non of which were mine. At that point I realized someone else was in trouble and I found the strength to get up and run around the house to backyard and witnessed what i could only think was another one of stupid games. A bunch of my classmates were looking at something while laughing themselves crazy. I walked closer and what I saw almost sent my heart to a stand still. Alice and Tom were in the pool drowning and instead of helping, the others just stood there and watched in amusement. I jumped into the pool and reached for Alice who seemed lifeless by the time I got her out, Joram had already joined in and helped Tom out.

Together we used the lessons we had learned from the fast aid classes as we awaited for the ambulance. The party soon turned into a crime scene and there were officers all over questioning us one after the other. I was way too confused and cold to even say anything sensible. My only friends were fighting for their lives somewhere on the way to a hospital and I was just seated there feeling helpless and useless at the same time. I had a feeling that the two never went into the pool of their own volition, someone probably forced them or pushed them and the only thing I wanted to know then was who they were and why they did that. Going all violent wouldn't help so I just sat there and decided to put into test a few lessons I had learned from Robert and my guardian. My powers had grown to a point where with enough focus, I could hear people's thoughts. It was a bit hard to concentrate but I did it eventually, not out of patience or inner peace as my guardian had taught me however, I used the hate and pretense from the crowd, something my guardian had warned me to do more times than I could count. That was actually the beginning of my becoming this thing people see me as today.

By the time I got home in the morning, I found two angry folks waiting for me outside and I had to explain myself for a whole hour. I was grounded for the whole year but I had the permission to go down to the hospital and visit my friends which I did almost right away. By the time I got down there, I was way too nervous and I even forgot to open the door, I just bumped into it and the huge collision got everyone looking at me weirdly. I felt something was wrong even before I could talk to the receptionist. Apparently, we had gotten to Tom way too late and he never even made it to the hospital. Alice on the other hand was still alive but her brain was damaged, the doctors were still trying to determine how much but she was still unconscious. Suddenly a huge wave of pain and guilt swept over my soul like a cold chill. I had no idea what to do so I just stood there with my hand over my mouth. Tears just flowed down my face and they wouldn't stop. My parents had by then learned what had happened and they followed me to the hospital. I was still standing there, frozen and in tears but not actually crying out loud. They had to drag me to the car as I was by then way to heaven for them to carry. For a while, my soul left my body as there was way too much pain. I wished I could just run away to one of those shadow worlds that my guardian had taught me to navigate and completely forget about the recent events.

The drive back home was quiet and it felt like forever. It was the most guilty thirty minutes of life. I blamed me for walking away from my friends, if only I had put my selfishness away for a little while, I would have seen them leave through the back door and followed them. I would have been out on time to help them. Tom would still be alive and Alice would be awake. There was heavy judging in my soul and guess what? I lost. I sank into grief and started sobbing out loudly. My mother reached out from the front seat and held my arm, she was still a little bit mad about the sneaking out thing but right about then, she felt for me. At home, everyone talked about the two unfortunate victims, local news were doing the same and it was hard hearing it so I isolated myself for a week until it was Tom's funeral day.

Every morning I woke up from what I wished was a bad dream but would remember sooner or later. The thought of Tom being in the morgue haunted me. I had tried to walk the spirit world so I could find him but I was way too angry to channel the right energy, hell I was even too angry to listen to my guardian who kept telling me how my current acts would tilt my life forever. Alice was still in a vegetative state and the doctors feared it would be forever. A single act had ruined not just the year, but the rest of my life as well.

Friday came by and as expected, I got up and got myself ready for the funeral ceremony. I didn't want to go but I had to. The morning was a little bit chill and dull. My parents seemed more banged up than me and that sort of hurt me even the more. My mother drove while my dad sat with me at the backseat. The denial phase of grief was over and now I felt completely bereft. Alice couldn't even be there to witness our only friend's funeral. The whole thing went on while I was phased out still trying to walk the spirit world. That time I knew that if I failed, there was a good chance I would never see Tom again and it gave me the kind of motivation that I needed. As it turned out, Tom had not yet walked behind the veil, he was actually seated on his coffin staring at everyone. It took a while for him to notice me but he eventually did and he was more of scared than glad to see me.

"Please don't tell me you killed yourself dude," he said a little bit concerned. I explained myself and his face lightened up a little. "Okey, what are you planning to do about the monster?," he asked. "What monster?," I asked as I had no clue as to what he was talking about. "Alvin, the new guy, he was the one who killed me Vicky, he made us voluntarily walk in the water with some sort mind control crap. The others wanted to help but he told them to relax and enjoy the show. I also remember him whispering into my ear that the reason why he did that to us was you. He is not what he pretends to be," he concluded. Suddenly the guilt I felt multiplied infinitely before turning into anger of some sort. I was so caught up in grief that I never followed up on whatever had really happened that night, I just agreed with the police reports that it was an accident.

Now, I knew Alvin only by name and by the fact that he was the new freaky guy. He always chose to be alone and his favorite thing to do was draw some really ugly and creepy pictures in his sketch book. Everyone stayed away from him and that included me. The guy wasn't bad looking, neither was he dumb when it came to studies but for some reason, he reminded of me from few years ago. We had even tried to be friends with him as well thought we knew what he was going through but the dude didn't want our friendship and he made that pretty clear so we stayed away. The thought of him being a killer never closed my mind and it was hard to process.

"Hey, you need to get back there, your dad seems to be calling you and my guess is he doesn't know you can do this voodoo crap," their was never a dull moment with Tom, not even in his death. The smile on his face made me feel bad but he was sure as hell not moved an inch. "Come on, everyone has to go out somehow someday, it was my turn, and its okey. I will still be here, and you could come visit, its not like you have lost me forever you know, just look after Alice she is the one who will be needing your help, and hey, enough with the guilt trip. It was not your fault," he said just as I was going back into my body. The grief eased but the anger inside me raised. I could see Alvin a few seats away from where I was seated, he was looking at me. I tried to listen into his thoughts but the weird guy seemed to be thinking nothing, how that was possible, I had no idea. What I knew for sure was he was going to tell me what he was and why he killed Tom. That was my plan for the weekend.

Finally the crying was over moment after the coffin was lowered into the fresh grave. People had switched from crying and sobbing to hugging and catching up. I hang back for a while and watched them walk away one after the other until it was just me and the funeral service guys who were retrieving their equipments. I thought about how funny life was, one moment everyone is in deep grief, then the next they all walk away leaving the dead guy all alone and they don't give a crap about it. I smiled to myself for a second. I knew Tom was thinking the same thing, probably even talking about it out loud but I couldn't hear him.

"Hey, sorry for your loss," I knew that voice, it was Alvin. I turned towards him slowly until I was looking at him directly. "Thanks," was the only word that came out of my mouth despite the millions of them in my head. He came closer and stood next to me looking down at the coffee colored coffin six feet in the ground. "Its a shame, Tom had a full life ahead of him," he finally said. I had more than one answers to give but I chose silence. The last thing I wanted was to tip him off. I had to play it cool. "So, you were by the pool that day, did you see what happened?," I asked hoping to detect his lies. "In fact, I tried to stop them from going into the pool but the two were way too competitive to listen to me. I heard them talk of a bet. The winner was supposed to be the first across the pool," he said. I could feel his heart rate rising a little, the only indication that he was lying. "Oooh, but the two knew how to swim, how the hell did they drown?," that was meant to be more of an inside thought than a question but thank goodness I asked it. Alvin's mind opened up and I heard everything he had going in there. He was still worried that Alice would live to tell the story and he planned to go down to the hospital and finish the job. That was about when I realized I had to do something. It was time for the act.