LS: The Beginning (30 page)

“Wow, what a party,” Lisa murmured as we entered. It looked the same as the last time I was there, only with balloons and decorations everywhere.

Lisa and I had decided not to buy any gifts because the occasion wasn’t a birthday
party, and I didn’t want to give Julie the wrong signals. We met Stacey
at the front door, she was ushering the guests in. She looked at Lisa and smiled. "Hey, welcome," she said.

"Thank you," responded Lisa.

"Hope you brought your swimsuits?" she asked.

Lisa shook her head and looked at me. I mimicked her.

"Okay. Enjoy the party," gestured Stacey.

Unfortunately, Lisa couldn't swim. I really wasn't sure if her pool thing was a phobia or an allergy. As
for me, I couldn’t swim because I hadn't learned; the least I could do
was stand in the water, at the shallow end.

We entered the living room, where people stood drinking and making
conversation. It looked really nice and simple. No centerpieces; with an empty space in-between the sofas. Soon Lisa and I were bored, and so we began gossiping about everyone we knew and
awkwardly that removed the boredom. Many guys came over to us and
asked Lisa to dance with them, but she politely declined, whereas girls only smiled at me.

“Hey, isn’t that Sharon?” Lisa pointed out to me.

I turned to look at the girl in question. “Yeah, what a
surprise, I never knew she loved all-night parties.”

“Same here,” Lisa agreed.

It was the very first time I saw Sharon wearing a
gown. She really did look like
a diva. If I didn’t know her I'd have mistaken her for a celebrity. She stood alone without a companion, so I suggested to Lisa, “Let’s go say hi.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” She placed the full glass of wine on the table.

Sharon noticed us approaching before we reached; she smiled at us.

“Hey,” I gave her a cold hug. Lisa smiled at Sharon as I released her from the embrace.

“Lisa, meet Sharon. Sharon, meet Lisa.” I didn’t bother to describe their
involvement with me. I felt saying only their names was good enough.

Lisa hugged Sharon, looking very excited to meet her. They began talking, leaving me to wallow in my boredom. Eventually, it reached the last minute of the
year, and everyone around was meant to kiss the closest person to them. It was a kind of tradition.

Lisa turned to face me. The intensity in her eyes kept me in suspense.
Does
she want to kiss me at last?
I thought.
If she does, is it because of the culture or
because she really wants to kiss me?

Then the clock struck midnight and everyone leaned toward their partners. Even Sharon had picked a guy to kiss. I was certain she was
going to kiss someone because I could read her thoughts, unlike Lisa. We
all shouted, “Happy New Year!” and people began kissing each other.

I stared into Lisa's eyes, and she looked into mine. We were in an awkward situation. I know, it was just a kiss, but for Lisa and I, it was so much more. A kiss should be a reflex action, not a planned one. After a long minute of staring, I leaned close to Lisa and brushed my lips on her cheek. It felt like I'd placed my lips on the softest cheek in the world. She blinked her eyes in a seductive way, and smiled. Strangely, during this period, I hadn’t seen the host, Julie. Also, like in the bowling alley, there was someone in the
estate
whose mind I couldn’t read, but I didn’t want to disturb
Lisa with it. She must have sensed it too and decided to ignore it.

After Sharon left, Julie appeared from nowhere to make a request of Lisa.

“Can I borrow Stephen for a moment?” Her British accent was still
strong even after two years of living in the US.

“Sure,” Lisa agreed. I frowned at her. I was
expecting her to decline.

Julie took me to her bedroom. Her thoughts were completely different
from her actions.
How can this be?
I thought. Had she found out about Lisa and me? It was impossible. Stacey hadn’t told a soul; maybe Julie just decided to
try a different seductive approach.

Next thing I knew, she began undressing. Her tongue slowly moved across
her
luscious lips.

“Please, stop this. What in the world is wrong with you?” I asked,
slowly walking to the door.

I tried to turn the knob and it didn't open. Julie was really smart: she'd locked the door from the outside before we'd entered. The stupid door couldn't be opened from the inside without the key.

“Open the door,” I demanded.

She looked at herself. “Don’t tell me you don’t want
this,” she said.

She removed the top bit of her gown and her black bra was revealed. Her cleavage was supple and looked really nice from where I stood. She was right:
a
part of me wanted to feel her body, but the dominant part which loved Lisa
resisted the temptation.

Just as I moved forward to beg her, a familiar voice in my head cried out, “
Stephen, help me, help me!
” It
was Lisa. The tone of her voice sounded like someone who was dying.
But I left her downstairs, enjoying the party,
I thought.

“I have to go now, please open the door,” I said.

Julie was still adamant on changing my mind, and I couldn't take the risk of waiting and pleading. I moved towards her window, took a glimpse of where I was to land and jumped. I was lucky the distance too far. If not,
I'd have left Julie with strange ideas. Although I doubt she'd be interested in anything other than my body.

Unluckily, the window I'd jumped through was on the left side of the building, while the pool was at the right. Everywhere was
empty; it seemed like all the guest had left the party.
But how?
I wondered.

“What's going on?” I asked myself as I ran to the only place where Lisa could
be in trouble – the pool.

There she was, slowly dying in the water
and no one seemed to be around to help her. At that moment, my hands were shaking and I had no clue of what to do. There was no way I could dive in the pool to rescue her, because she was at the deepest end. So there we were; Lisa drowning in the swimming pool and me standing in front of it. She couldn't even scream for help: she was just lying helplessly in the pool.

There was an option of vaporizing the water, but I didn't know how to perform such an act. I'd never transferred liquid to gas; only liquid to solid and solid to liquid. I couldn't linger on a plan, thus I acted on reflex. I placed my palms together and slowly began separating them. At the same time, the water in the pool began dividing, and I continued moving my hands until Lisa was left lying in the middle of the divided water.

In a heartbeat I ran into the pool, scooped Lisa up and settled her down on the poolside. As I looked back at the pool, the water remained divided. I blinked my blue eyes and it returned to original state.

Again, I was terrified. Someone
was out to kill her and I know why.

We got to her house in a flash. Her body was getting colder by the minute, and I was
afraid I hadn’t gotten to her in time.
Did Julie have a hand in Lisa’s drowning? Or was it just coincidence she locked me in a room at the same time someone
attempted to drown
Lisa? I was confused and didn’t know what to think, or what to
believe.

I had to go through the pain of touching the fiery necklace again. I placed it over her head, and waited for
her to talk.

“Lee, what happened out there?” I asked.

“It was David,” she answered, sitting up to signify her recovery.

“But how is that possible? He’s just a human being with no powers. You could have run away – or better yet, beaten him up.”

“The person I met wasn’t a human being. He was something else. He
called himself
‘
Psychosis’
but he was in the body of David and sounded exactly
like him. He told me to stay away from you.” She took a deep breath. “Then, without touching me, he
lifted me up and threw me into the pool. I can vividly remember the color of David’s eyes; they were different from the person I saw. His were green, while David and I share the same color of eyes.”

“Maybe he was wearing lenses,” I said.

“No,” she replied. “I can differentiate lenses from a person's real eyes.”

I joined her on the bed. “Or maybe he’s just
like us,” I suggested.

“Then why would he want to kill me?” she inquired.

I grimaced. “Okay, maybe he knows about the powers we have. Because
how can one explain the fact that he threw you into a place where we know you
can’t survive?”

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's really strange."

"You can say that again."

All morning we discussed what had happened: how the
remaining guests had mysteriously left, and how Julie had plans for me. Although her life was being threatened, Lisa and I knew that
in any tunnel, no matter how long it may be, there is always a light at the end. We were prepared to wait for it.

Chapter Sixteen

Owning Up

The first three months of the year had passed and a lot had changed.
For one, there had been no threats on Lisa’s life. We’d searched for
David to find out what was going on, but all to no avail. It was like he
’
d disappeared; ran away in my opinion.

Julie had stayed away from me after that night. I guess she was embarrassed, or maybe she was tired of seducing me. Nah couldn't be the last option. It was nice to attend lectures without the thought of her antics hunting me.

Lisa and I had become inseparable. Where
you’d find Lisa, I’d be some feet away. One would think we were going out:
even my dear cousin thought I was going out and sleeping with
Lisa. Sincerely, we had grown close, but we’d never ventured on any romantic escapade – at least not yet.

***

I
t was a sunny, school-free day. The palm trees and exotic fruit trees swirled in the spring wind. It was a rare time of the year, and Lisa and I were playing tennis on the court. As usual, she was winning.

“It's not fair, you win every time,” I said, taking a powerful
serve.