Project ELE (19 page)

"Ohh!" I cry out as I grasp at my head and push my hands over my ears. It hurts so bad and I can't get it to stop. My knees buckle and I feel myself falling but Connor catches me before I hit the floor. He picks me up and runs with me away from the open air area into a much quieter hall.

"Go get Alec." Connor instructs Claire and I hear her running ahead of us. He finds an empty office and takes me inside.

He lies me down on the floor out of sight of the windows. "I think this office is empty. Are you sure I shouldn't get the nurse?" He asks looking at me worriedly.

I shake my head. I feel the tears running down my cheeks because while the headache isn't as debilitating as it was in the main headquarters area, it still hurts horribly.

"What happened?" Alec demands as he runs to my side and drops to the floor.

I keep my eyes shut because it's helping with the headache a bit. "It hurts." Is all I manage to say to him.

"We're going to the doctor." He says while starting to pull me into his arms.

I shake my head and more tears of frustration start to fall through my shut eyes.

"Look at me Willow." He pushes the hair back from my face and I start to open my eyes to look up at him. I blink away the tears and stare into his eyes. I can't help noticing the dark blue ring that is now outlining the outer area of his once solid emerald colored eyes. I stare into them for several seconds before I notice, all of a sudden, that the headache is completely gone. There is zero pain. I can even hear his inner voice now and it's the most beautiful thing I've heard in a while. "I CAN'T LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU. I LOVE YOU."

My heart flutters and my breath catches. I can hear him going through his mind about how worried he was that I was sick but I'm looking better now. Then he thinks about how beautiful I look even with my new bangs. He's intrigued by my eyes and thinks about the change he's noticed in his as well.

"Are you okay babe?" He asks.

I nod my head. "Yes, I think so."

"What happened?" He asks. He's stroking my hair back soothingly and it feels so good that if I were a cat I would purr.

"I have no idea."

"She doesn't know what's going on with her but some freaky stuff is happening here." Connor says. Claire nods in agreement.

"Like what?" Alec directs his question towards me.

I cringe worried that I'm going to sound like a nut job. "I really don't know but it's like I woke up and my eyes looked all crazy and I've been getting these headaches and I can hear what people think." I say it all in one quick breath.

"What people think?" Alec looks at me as if I made a joke that he didn't quite get.

"She's not messing around man, she really can hear thoughts. I'm telling you, freaky stuff here!" Connor interrupts, looking completely frazzled.

I sit up now, allowing Alec to still cradle me somewhat in his arms. I need him to believe me, so I lean in and whisper ever so softly in his ear, "I love you too." I lean my forehead against his for a second as if my brain can transmit to his brain what I'm feeling and what I'm going through. I pull back and look into his eyes and can see instantly that he believes me.

"Wow." Is all he says out loud, but inside he says, "I LOVE YOU," again and again. He studies my eyes and I hear his inner voice, which tells me that he doesn't find them creepy, but interesting instead.

"A-hum." Connor breaks up our intimate moment. "GROSS, THAT'S LIKE MY SISTER." I hear him saying inside his head.

"SO SWEET!." Claire says inside her head.

She playfully shoves Connor for interrupting our moment then she gets right to business. "Is your head feeling better?"

I nod and then move off of Alec's lap and sit cross-legged on the ground. We are now all sitting in a small circle.

"That's interesting. I guess you have the magic touch Alec." She jokes but I look at Alec as if something clicked.

"Yeah, it was like the instant I looked into your eyes my headache went away." I say looking at Alec.

He has a strange expression and I hear him say inside his head, "NO IT 'S NOT POSSIBLE."

"What's not possible?" I ask.

He looks at me wide eyed and then inside his head I hear him say, "I DON'T KNOW HOW KEEN I AM THAT YOU CAN READ MY MIND."

I smile up at him. "I don't know how to turn it off yet."

"Okay, well we will have to figure that out. Anyhow, a few weird things have been happening to me today too. I cut myself shaving this morning. I saw myself bleeding and everything. I immediately washed my face off with water and then when I looked up again in the mirror the cut was gone. Like it just vanished." He says.

"Hmm, maybe it wasn't as bad as you thought it was man." Connor says attempting to lighten the mood.

"I said that to myself this morning too. However, a few hours later I got a nasty paper cut while filing some paperwork. I ran to the restroom and cleaned off all the blood only to find that there was no cut or any type of laceration on my hand anywhere." Alec looks at me and pulls some of the hair back from his forehead. He points to a spot at the top right corner near his hairline. "The freakiest thing of all is this!"

I look at him confused. "There's nothing there."

"Exactly! I've had a scar there since I was five years old. I fell out of a tree, or actually I was pushed out of a tree when my friend got mad that I beat him to the top. I scraped my head on one of the branches on the way down and had to get ten stitches to close it up. I've always had that scar…until today." He pushes the pant leg up on his left leg. "And right here, there was a large burn from where I stupidly wore shorts while riding a dirt bike when I was thirteen. My leg had rubbed up against the exhaust pipe and it singed the skin right off." He points to his inner calf. "I have no scars anywhere. They are all gone!"

He rakes his hand through his hair. “I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND. IT’S SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME.” I hear his inner voice mutter.

I reach over and take his hand in mine rubbing my thumb across his in a comforting gesture. I bite my bottom lip trying to sift through all this newly discovered information.

Claire’s been sitting pretty despondent but finally speaks up. “I don’t know what’s going on but whatever it is has to be connected to something you,” she says while pointing to me, “and Alec have done that Connor and I haven’t.”

I nod my head in agreement, she has a point. I furrow my brow trying to take it all in. Hesitantly, I notice I’m not hearing anyone’s thoughts. That's odd. “Claire,” I begin. “Think of something, like your favorite flavor of ice cream.”

“Um, okay,” she says aloud.

I listen expecting to hear something but come up blank.

“So…?” she implores.

I shrug my shoulders, “I didn’t hear anything.” I’m not sure if I feel relief or what. My tablet goes off and I let go of Alec's hand so I can check it.

" OH, I PROBABLY OUGHT TO CHECK INTO WORK." I hear Claire say in her head.

"I’M STILL HUNGRY." Connor says inside his. He rubs his belly and I barely contain my laugh.

"That's so weird. I can hear you all again." I say looking at each of them.

I look to Alec and he says inside, "THIS IS PURE CRAZI… " I grab his hand and his thoughts are instantly cut off. I let go of his hand again. "WHAT IS SHE DO… " I grab his hand again.

"Um, are you feeling okay Willow?" Alec raises one of his eyebrows in serious question.

"Yeah, it's just that for some reason, when I hold your hand I can't hear anyone's thoughts but when I let go, I can hear them again. It's like you are buffering them when we make physical contact."

I move closer to Claire and grab a hold of her hand. "UM, AWKWARD.." She says in her head, while Connor mutters, "THAT’S HOT, " in his.

"So it only works when I'm holding your hand." I'm staring at Alec now and he looks just as intrigued as me.

"That's really interesting." He says rubbing his temples as if that could somehow give him all of the answers to what's going on right now.

I look down at my tablet and the calendar reminder is on the screen stating that I have to report to the assembly hall for community service immediately. "I wonder why I don't have work today." I look to Alec.

"As a gift for having such high test scores in our shelter they've given all of the students a second free day. I couldn't find a way to schedule you all to have the same two free days this time." Alec says looking apologetic.

"Not that it would matter anyhow since I have to do community service for the next month." I sigh heavily.

Claire and Connor look excited. "How long will we be getting two free days?"

"It's indefinite as of right now so don't worry." He smiles a sexy smile.

"Good. Well I have to go, I only have three minutes left, but we will talk more later." I can hear mutters of them feeling sorry for me.

Alec's is the worst because in his head he wishes he had the community service. He blames himself that I'm stuck with it. I lean in to kiss him goodbye and as if I put in the best earplugs ever made, the entire world goes quiet. It’s just Alec and me sharing a goose bump, tummy fluttering, swoon worthy kiss.

I pull back and the world goes haywire again inside my head but this time I feel energized and healthy. I no longer feel a pounding headache or the overwhelming exhaustion. I tell everyone goodbye and head out of the room with a spring in my step. I walk, or more so run through the halls towards the assembly room. When I reach the main outer area where the assembly hall is located I try to open the main doors but find them locked. I walk along the hall that surrounds the exterior of the enormous circular assembly room, trying to find a door that's unlocked. I try several but have no luck. I keep walking the perimeter and find myself nearing the end of a large, empty hallway where there is a final set of metal double doors. I presume this is the entrance for the assembly speakers and staff.

A chill runs up my spine when I hear footsteps behind me. I open my mind to try to hear the thoughts of whoever is approaching but all I hear is dead silence. My heart starts racing as I realize just how deserted this area of the hall is. I turn around slowly to find Zack a few feet behind me.

"Hey sugar." He calls to me.

Nausea rolls in my stomach and something about this situation tells me I should get out of it. I remain facing him but start backing away. He chuckles and moves towards me.

"Um, hey Zack." I say trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. I stare at him long and hard trying to find a way to read his mind. I need to know what his intentions are and am frustrated to find myself hitting a brick wall when it comes to reading him.

"So, I'm thinking you and I need to talk." He says in a sly voice.

He's bridged the gap between us. I step backwards quickly and feel the cool hard surface of the wall hit my spine. I look to the side and realize that I just backed myself into a corner only a few feet away from the door. "Maybe later, I'm late." I say. This time I can't hide the quiver in my voice.

Zack steps even closer to me now, invading my personal space. He places both of his arms on the wall on either side of my head caging me in. My heart starts beating at rapid speeds and my brain is telling me to run. He leans ever so close, to where his eyes are now only inches from mine.

He stares at me with this strange intensity that I've never seen before. I don't know if it's the lighting or if it's just me, but it almost appears that the alternating colors of green, brown and yellow that make up his hazel eyes are swirling. "Kiss me." He says in a quietly demanding voice.

My mind goes a little hazy and my eyelids droop. Something in me makes me move ever so closer to him. I look down at his lips and start closing my eyes. I don't feel the same butterflies in my stomach that I get when I'm anticipating kissing Alec. Alec!

I shut my eyes tight and shake my head. What was I thinking? My muscles tense up as I recoil from him. I move my head back even further against the wall as if trying to make myself one with it. "What the freak? Hell no!" I say loudly.

He looks shocked and I take that instant to push him away and speed towards the door. He catches my arm and pulls me back.

"What did you just say?" He asks in complete shock.

"I said hell no! What are you thinking Zack? Let me go!" I yell at him while struggling to pull my arm free from his hold. He only grips my arm tighter and I cringe in pain. Realizing that he's hurting me, he releases his grip. Well maybe he's not a total psycho if he's not trying to hurt me. I think to myself but something is really wrong with him.

He pulls me closer to him again. He's got a hold of both of my arms now but he's not squeezing them tight enough to make it hurt. He puts his eyes even closer to mine and tries again. "I said KISS me!" He says each word with such a force that I feel compelled to listen to him. That same sensation goes through me and I start leaning in towards him, my eyes start to close and then bam, I snap out of it again! I turn my head from him.

He squeezes my arms tightly and then backs away from me laughing strangely. "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you? Do girls actually kiss you when you do that? I mean, you can't just go up to someone that you've been a punk to and expect them to promptly obey you when you tell them to kiss you." I look at him incredulously. My cheeks heat and my brain reels over the possible reasons as to why I nearly obeyed him. I love Alec. Why in the world would I actually have contemplated kissing Zack, even for a second? I take some deep breaths. I don't want to show Zack just how much he ruffled my feathers.