Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (19 page)

Paro emptied the broken glass into the trashcan
in the corner of the room.

“
When I say I will succeed at
something, I do.” He walked to where Melissa was sitting and knelt
on the floor to look directly into her eyes. His gaze was not his
typical. He held a fierce look to his face, a tightness that
promised death to whoever dared to gaze for too long. Melissa
couldn’t help but feel a pinch of fear.

“
I will not let Jack Harris die.
And, he
will
help us catch the men and women responsible for
these killings. If you’ve got any further objections, we can step
outside. I’m not the type to report my own team-members for
disobedience. No, I handle it myself. Do we have an
understanding?”

Melissa choked on her pride and nodded. Paro
smiled and returned to his seat.

“
Now,” Paro said, “we need to work
on stabilizing the Harris-kid. This isn’t going to be easy. It’s
rare enough for a Psych to not to be able to control himself, but
it’s even more complicated when that same Psych is Jack Harris. So,
here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get the kid just
comfortable enough with his abilities, at least to the point where
we don’t have to worry about repeat incidents, and then we’re going
to set him loose. Melissa, since you go to his school, you are to
stay with him at all times. You want to make sure he’s safe, yes?
Well, here’s your chance to do it. We’ll be within a half-mile of
you at all times, if not closer.”

Melissa nodded yet again. This was good. Now at
least matters were in her own hands, and she could do what she must
to keep Jack safe, provided he listened to her. And she would make
sure
he listened, she thought with a grin.

I’ll teach him to show me respect! Calling
me the ‘Funinator’ in front of everyone, oh, I’ll have him barking
on command.

Sarah broke the short moment of silence. “So,
should we register him now?”

Paro nodded. “Yeah, we’ll need to take a small
sample of his blood. It’s already beyond a doubt that he’s a
Telekinetic, but we still need him to test-positive and get him in
the records. His mother will need to be informed and sworn to
secrecy. For this, at least, we can go about our normal
routine.”

Melissa laughed. “Alana isn’t going to like
this.”

Paro’s eyes widened in the biggest display of
shock Melissa had ever seen on him. “Melissa, I’m sorry. What did
you say?”

“
Umm, I said Alana, his mom—she’s
not going to like this news.”

“
Jack’s mother, her name is
Alana Harris?
”

Kazou and Sarah looked at each other for a
moment before Sarah craned her neck to face Paro. “Yeah, didn’t you
read the file, Paro?” she asked.

Paro sat back in his chair, motionless and
silent, causing Melissa to become confused. From the looks of
things, so was everyone else.

Finally, he spoke, “Harris is a pretty common
name … it’s just a coincidence. It has to be.” There was a sound of
fear in his voice, and Melissa saw a trickle of sweat roll down his
face.

“
Paro, what’s this about?” Kazou
asked. He was never one to show much expression, but there was a
certain curiosity to his look.

“
Alana Harris, she’d know better
than to have a kid and not report it. It’s just me being
irrational. It’s a common name after all, and that’s all that there
is to it.”

Kazou met Melissa’s eyes and
shrugged.

Paro’s face took on a pleading look, and he
shook his head. “No, the similarities, I just … I’m an idiot,
because I … but then …”

“
Paro, you’re rambling, bud,”
Michael said. “Wanna tell us what’s going on here?”

Paro looked at his team. Melissa had no idea
what had him so spooked.

 
Paro inhaled then said, “I
think we might be in some trouble, is all. I mean, just, let’s
proceed as normal and forget I said anything.”

The intercom on the center of the table rang.
Paro reached over and flipped the red switch.

“Paro, there’s a call for you
from someone. They requested to speak to your team
specifically.”

Paro gulped. “Pass it through,
please.”

The room quieted at the sound of an enraged
voice from the other end of the device. In the background, Melissa
could hear heavy traffic, frustrated drivers, and roadwork. It
added a sense of chaos to the thunderous voice.

“Paro, where is he!”
the voice shouted in a high-pitched
shriek.

Paro looked like he was ready to cry. “Easy
now, Alana, I didn’t know he was yours. Just give me a chance and I
can explain everything, but please, calm down, for the love of
God.”

“Calm down? Calm down! I’m gonna
beat you like you’re sixteen again, Paro. Tell Jack mummy’s coming.
You better pray I like your explanation, because I haven’t been
this angry in a long, long time.”

Melissa wondered what was going on. It didn’t
make any sense for Alana to be calling, but the voice indeed
belonged to Jack’s mother.

Paro visibly tensed. “Look, this is an official
investigation, and you can’t just come barging in. You had no right
to not report him. Keeping this a secret from us was a crime. Oh,
and I’m not a child anymore, so don’t treat me like
one.”

“Or what?” the voice
mocked.
“
You’ll throw another one of
your ‘temper tantrums.’ I didn’t deal with them when you were a
kid, and I certainly won’t deal with them now. You’ll always be
just a little boy to me Paro. Now, you better have Jack bundled up
and ready to go home by the time I get there, or I’m going to whip
you in front of your little friends.”

Paro growled. “Listen to me, Alana, I’m a
captain now, and you do
not
possess the authority to tell me
what to do! Your precious little brat set a school on fire, and
thanks to your criminal act of keeping him a secret, we didn’t even
know there was a Psych attending it in the first place. Now, you
can turn that car around and go home, or I can press charges
against you for not reporting Jack. It’s your choice. Let’s be
reasonable here.”

“Oh, I’ll be reasonable alright!
By the way, is that Melissa girl there?”

Melissa forced saliva into her mouth and
answered, “Yes, Mrs. Harris.”

“I wanted to tell you earlier,
but I forgot. I love your shoes. I was thinking of getting a
similar pair. But we’ll talk about it when I get there. Alana
out!”

Michael laughed, while the rest of the team
remained silent, with the exception of Paro. He wore a scowl and
curled hit bottom lip. With frightening growl, he grabbed the
intercom off the table and threw it. It smashed into the same spot
on the wall where Melissa’s cup had hit only moments
before.

Paro poured his anger into his voice as he
shouted, “Goddamn Telekinetics! I’m so sick of them … I’m so sick
of all of them!”

It was a lot to take in, but Melissa learned
that in this world, she had to adapt quickly. Paro held out his
hands and inhaled, and his voice calmed. He looked around the
room.

“
That conversation meant nothing.
Nothing has changed. Proceed as we planned, and let’s get to work.
We need to register Jack and work with him to get his abilities
under control. Don’t worry about anything you’ve just heard. Now,
all of you—get out of my sight. If the Harris kid gives you any
trouble, knock him over the head a few times until he
cooperates.”

Melissa waited until she was certain Paro
couldn’t see her and then smiled. She wasn’t sure why, but she
really liked Mrs. Harris.

Jack rubbed his eyes as he slowly got out of
bed and responded to the knock on the door. He was still in a
dreamy state, so walking in a straight line was a bit of a problem.
He tumbled to the left and almost knocked over a lamp resting on a
glass nightstand.

He turned on the light and opened the door. In
an instant, he went from groggy to elated as he spotted Melissa in
the doorframe. His elation diminished when he also spotted the rest
of the team behind her, all but Paro. The four entered the
room.

“
Get any sleep?” Kazou
asked.

“
Yeah, a bit. Hey, where’s
Paro?”

The four of them shifted on their feet and for
a moment avoided looking at him. Jack wondered if he said something
wrong. Was it considered rude in the Psych-world to ask someone’s
location? Who knew, right?

Michael walked past Jack and sat on the bed in
the corner of the room. “Jack, we’ve got quite a bit of stuff to
do. And being that I’m the only Kinetic here, I reckon it’s gonna
be my job to show you the ropes.”

“
What ropes?”

“
You know, using the power ya got.
The one you were born with.”

Jack shook his head in disappointment.
Learning. Oh man, he hated learning things. Now it was like he had
two schools or an extra class to take on the side.

“
You don’t look too excited, Jack.
Did ya not hear me? I just said I’m gonna teach you how to use
Telekinesis, ain’t that like the coolest thing ever?”

Jack moaned, “Do we have to? I don’t wanna
learn stuff!”

Michael laughed, and Melissa grunted as she and
Sarah entered the room. Melissa held a small metal box and directed
Jack to sit at the little table in front of the bed. She opened the
box and began setting up some kind of equipment.

Michael stood up and came to join the two.
“Jack, look,” he said.

He placed a tiny toy-soldier on the glass
table. “Knock that over. I know you can do it. Ya just gotta try,
bud. You should actually already know how, but it’s just that you
don’t realize you do.”

Jack looked at the thing. How was he supposed
to knock it over? It made no sense. Melissa continued to set up her
equipment while Jack stared at the toy, feeling like an
idiot.

‘Knock it over,’ he tells me.
How the heck can I do something like that?

“
Are you sure there’s not
some special word or phrase I need to say?”

Sarah stood behind Jack and massaged his
shoulders. “No, you just do it. I’m a Telepath, but even I could do
something like that. We can’t branch far out from the line that we
were born with, but all Psychs can do some basic stuff—here,
watch.”

Sarah squinted, and the small figurine toppled
on its side. She lifted it up and pointed. “Now you
try.”

Jack looked at it again. How was he supposed to
know how to knock it over? Why couldn’t they just give him an
instruction manual or something? The small figurine was the
stationary type, with an oval-green platform on the bottom. Jack
hated these when he was younger. He hated all action figures that
couldn’t be moved. Who wanted to play with a toy that had no
flexibility?

Move! Move!

Jack focused on the object. His eyes honed in
on its tiny plastic face.

Move, damn you. Move!

Jack sighed. “It’s not working.”

Sarah gave him a pat on the back. She seemed
like she had infinite patience. Melissa watched but said nothing as
she put on a pair of latex medical gloves.

“
Try again, sweetie,” Sarah said.
“This time, don’t try willing it with thought. You were screaming,
‘Move, damn you’ so loud in your head that every Path in this
building probably heard it. It’s more like a muscle, like, how you
wave your arms or jump up and down. Try to think of it that
way.”

A muscle?

“
But I don’t feel anything. Unless
you’re talking about that stinging, unpleasant one, but everyone
has that, don’t they?”

“
Haha! Jack, you’re hilarious, bud,”
Michael said. “That’s exactly what we’re talking about. Don’t tell
me all your life you felt that odd, different part of you, and you
thought everyone was that way?”

Jack was shocked. “You mean not everyone has
that ‘inner thing’ in them? I don’t know what to call it. That
like, weird thing that you feel from your chest to your
eyes.”