THE EMPATH

JUST LIKE A MINI HEIST

Alice's Mum was always punctual, on the weekends she made sure she was by her bedside at three o'clock and she would stay with her for two hours. During that time, she would read for her, pray for her and just have a one-sided conversation that she believed her daughter could hear. She could then go ahead and clean her up, give her the best comfort, and then she would say her goodbyes. That day she even brought her a cute white teddy to keep her company while her mother was away.

"I hate seeing her like that you know. I wish I could somehow communicate with her," Alice said after her Mum was gone. Of course, there was a way she could talk to her, that was through me, but then I would have to explain everything to one more person and you know what they say about a secret. I didn't want to bring that up. I couldn't want people to know I was different and I was fighting really hard to keep it hidden. "Okey Alice, I also wished I had a unicorn named Willy who could shoot health from his horn when on my fifth birthday but there I was...I don't have to tell you the rest of the story. We can't always have what we want, you of all people know that. Now, it is time for our move. Are you ready?" I was not trying to comfort her or anything, I was just trying to get her to concentrate on the one important thing at the moment.

She was ready and so were Dad and Anne. A brief reminder and we all took our positions. I was the one to begin by taking Alice outside like I always did so that everyone would think she was out basking with me. That was easy as I was already used to it. No one even seemed to take notice of me. Once outside, Anne would show up, in a hospital robe and we would swap the two for a bit. All she needed to do was sit there and act unaware. Dad would then take Alice to Anne's car and I would drive off with her because Dad could not leave the hospital yet. The plan worked perfectly and before I knew it, we were out there parked near the police station and Alice had already started on her task. This part was however a little bit scary as a police officer would pass by every few minutes and I had to dive under the seats. If I was to be caught in a closed parked car with an unconscious girl in the backseat still in her hospital robe, I was sure I could never get myself out of trouble and the girl wouldn't be there to explain that we had an agreement.

"I've got it, let's get out of here before they come this way," Alice said and I just started off the car and drove away just as the floating files were making their way through the back window. "How did you even...you know what, I don't wanna know," I just wasn't ready to hear what she had to say as I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it. Our perfect plan wasn't so perfect after all and we didn't know it yet but things had just gotten really bad. If I was to honestly say, for sure, this was just about when my life started to turn upside down. The drive back to the hospital was fast and short, I found Dad waiting for me and from the looks of it, he was nervous. I hid the files under my sweater and Dad took Alice back to where Anne was still seated and later to her room where we all gathered to look at the files.

I had thought the cases would be simple and straightforward but I was wrong. There was something about the two cases that seemed to connect them and the thought of what it could have been given me chills. "Vicky! Vicky! you are shaking, what's wrong?" Dad called a few times before I could hear him. That was because I was hearing a roaring voice from the files and I could tell it was not new to me. "The files, I think the police never found the missing kid in this one because he was killed, and this girl in the second one, she may be alive but not for long," I said still looking at the files as if one of them could like magically acquire a mouth and bite me. "And how do you know all that?" Anne asked. "Well, the sort of talked to me," my answer was not satisfying but at the moment the two knew no better.

We sat there for a while as they awaited me to tell them where we were headed next but I didn't have an answer yet. Thirty minutes later, Dad had to go back to work and Anne had to go home and they all left. I would stay with Alice until Dad's shift was over so that we could go home together. Alice didn't seem cheerful for the rest of the evening and I asked her what was wrong endless times but she never gave me a straight answer. She kept telling me that she was having a really bad feeling that she couldn't explain. Finally, it was eight o'clock and time to go home. I sat next to Dad as he drove and the journey home started. The silence in the car was great and so was the tension. "We can't go home like this again," he said at last and I knew what he meant. We couldn't go to Mum again with our gloomy faces again because she would know something was long for sure. "Well, we wait until we get to the gate and you will start a conversation," I said.

"Why me? What am I even supposed to be saying? Looking back now I realize that I was not there in your childhood to make fun memories, I was always out there looking for a cure to a disease that had no name. Then you became a teenager and everything changed. You healed, you became this strong, handsome lad that I always wanted you to be and you had other friends. better friends who understood you in a way I could never have. Now I know you are this special young man who wants to help heal the world's pain and I feel like I did nothing to help make you son. I have never been there for you," his face got even more gloomy and I could tell his tears were just a blink away. I have never seen him cry and I was so not ready to either.

"No Dad, you can't look at it like that. For all I know, you have always been there, trying to make your son's life better that you didn't choose to go looking for a better, much healthier one, instead, you climbed every mountain and crossed every possible ocean to find a cure for the one you had. To me, only a hero can do that and that's who you are to me Dad," the cute talk made him feel better but it reminded me of how many nights I had stayed up past my bedtime waiting for him to come but he never showed. I remembered the fights they had with Mum over his long working hours and the fact that he was never there for her. Back then I was too young to understand but now I knew. It was selfish of him to try and fix me instead of loving me for who I was, but now I understood that he was not just doing it for himself but rather he was doing it for me, and for Mum as well as for himself.

"Think of it this way, today we just made our first crazy memory," I said with a smile and I watched as his face slowly formed into a smile as well. "You mean the small heist we pulled? You know that was not okay right?" the smile grew broader and his face eventually lit up. "Yes, Dad it was just like a small heist," we laughed out loud just as we were entering the house. "Ooh, mind telling me what all that happiness is all about so I could join in?" I could tell she felt good to finally see us do father-son stuff that did not involve silence and questions and her happiness made me happy as well. "It's a boy's thing hun, you wouldn't understand if we explained," he gave her a kiss on the cheek and I tapped her on the shoulder teasingly and we walked right to the dining table. "I am starving mother," I said and lifted a clean plate from the table and turned it upside down to show there was nothing in it, again, I was just teasing and she knew it. "See, not even a drop of water," she smiled and walked to the kitchen as my dad stared at her like he had just seen her for the first time.

Soon we were all enjoying a hot meal happily and we felt like a family again. "Mum, you forgot the grace, again." Ever since we started taking dinner together, Mum had grown too comfortable and happy that she had relaxed on some things and I didn't think it was okay. However, I believed she deserved some downtime as I knew she had done her very best so far. She said a low tone sorry and made me promise to remind her before our next meal. That night, I was the first one to leave the table as my guardian had requested so I said a quick goodnight and promised to get up early and go to church then I was on my way to my room.

"Hey you didn't have to be that rude you know," I said once I was under the blankets. "I was not rude but yet again, I don't have to justify myself to you," he said again with his rude deep voice. By now I was getting used to him though it wasn't that easy to not feel like he was less of a friend. "What is it that you have to tell me then?" I was feeling a bit impatient. For all the time I had known him, he only ever showed up to warn me about something or to caution me about another. Whenever it was a warning, I ended up not heeding his warnings and bad things happened. Whenever it was a caution, something bad was bound to happen whether I tried to heed the caution or not.

"As you well know, your training is over and yesterday you passed my final test. However, the end of your training doesn't mean things will get better, in fact, I am here to tell you that your first task just started. You are about to go through some of the most trying times and this may change your life forever. You will have full access to your abilities and that will mean more pain, more ghosts, and more enemies. This Victor, this is the ultimate test of whether you will become a protector or a destroyer like your friend Alvin. Trend with caution and remember, I am only a call away," he concluded and went silent. Suddenly, I was having a really bad feeling that I could not explain. Deep down I knew there was more to what he had said and the only way I could understand them was to go through them. The crap just got real and I realized I was not sure whether I was ready yet. I pulled out the files from my backpack and went through them one more time.

The first one was about eleven years old Denis who had gone missing four months ago. The police believed that the little boy had been taken away by his father who had just lost custody of him and they were still looking for him. However, from the roaring that came from the files, I had a feeling that there was more to that. I had heard that roar before, not the exact same one but pretty similar. It had to come from a destroyer like Alvin and that meant the boy was probably long dead. To close that particular case file, I had to retrace the little boy's steps and find out what happened to him. Then there was the second case. That one was about a teenage girl, Diana. She had gone missing right about the same time and the roaring from her file was the same as the one from the other file. I had two guesses, either she was preyed on by the destroyer like Alvin was trying to prey on me, or she somehow fell for him and he advised her to run away with him. Either way, there was a chance that she was still alive somewhere living a lie. I just needed to make sure the file was closed and that meant looking for her. I hated that my very fast task was to go after the destroyers. After what I saw Alvin do six months earlier, I knew his kind was no joke. There was no way I was going to let Dad or Anne help with the cases. It was way too dangerous for me already and that made me wonder how it would affect them. I needed to work alone but I also needed to be smart about it. I had never lied to my father before, at least not in an obvious way but from the looks of things, I was just about to.

I put the files away in a safe place that would be hard to find and went back to bed ready to sleep but way too stressed out to fall asleep right away. Thoughts were flooding in my head and I felt like I would explode. I tried to think about Anne and the fact that she had promised to come by the next day to study but the sooner I started thinking about her, the faster the thought would be wiped away by another scary thought. Why did I bring her into my world? I already had gotten the two friends who knew about me destroyed. Why would I go out there and pull yet another one to my messed-up world? I felt a self-loathe and I was sure I would feel it for quite some time. I thought of canceling the study meeting but looking at my watch, it was too late to call. Anne was probably asleep already. I decide to wait till morning to call. I went to turning and tossing on the bed for a really long while and I couldn't tell when or how I drifted off to sleep. One thing I was to learn soon, was the fact that that was one of the few last peaceful nights I was going to have for a long time.