LS: The Beginning (4 page)

As I strolled through the parking lot, I remembered I was meant to call Susan during the day. My hands delved into my pockets but came out empty handed. This was the first time I came to college without my phone. As
I turned back to go look for it, I bumped into Lisa and her books fell on the floor. Again, her
hair was beaming black and her skin sparkled. Beautiful was an understatement
to describe this girl; she looked magnificent
.

“Oh, I’m so sorry," I said as I looked into her chestnut eyes.

I picked up her books, thereby preventing her from bending down. I was very good at making a good first impression, though, a clumsy one.

“I’m Stephen Wilson,” I said.

I stretched my hand forward to shake hers and kindly enough,
she met my outstretched hand half way with hers. As our hands touched, the strangest thing happened. Instantly her eyes grew red and through her eyes, I could see my eyes turn noon blue. At the same time, a warm current flowed through my veins causing me to shiver. I was assailed by an uncountable feeling of similarity, like we had met before. I winced and found Lisa doing the same. We only shook hands and I experienced a semi-blackout.
What would happen if we hugged?
My subconscious questioned. 

“Did you feel that?” she asked, flinching.

“Feel what?”

She shook her head, saying, “Never mind,” and immediately ran off. I shuffled to my car and found my phone on the driver’s seat.

During lectures, Dr. Taylor droned on about a topic which acted as a sleeping pill to half of the students in the lecture. Although the class was silent, I kept hearing voices.

“
Can’t wait to leave this class
,” said one of the voices. “
Do we look like professors to you? Elaborate, mister,
”
said another. It was really strange. I focused and counted the different voices and they summed up to the
number of students in the class, except from one’s. I didn’t hear Lisa’s voice.

Am I reading people’s minds now
? I thought.
I felt excited rather than amazed about hearing what people thought. But how could this be possible? I smiled as I heard the girl sitting beside me think,
Damn, he's got lovely hair.

Soon, I began to worry as my body experienced some sudden changes; my hands were colder than usual and my fingers grew pale. The weirdest thing was that vapors kept emerging out of my mouth like I was dry ice. Dr. Taylor
had to ask if I was cold and if I needed anything.

“No, thank you. I’m okay,” I replied.

All I wanted was to talk to Lisa and find out what she'd done to me, but
then as I stared at her obtrusively, I noticed she wasn’t godly herself. She was sweating
like a Christmas chicken in the poultry house,
even though she didn't have a jacket on and though the room wasn't hot. Her head was resting on the desk, refusing to pay attention to the teacher.

I was furious with her about the incident, but under my rage was a tinge of excitement that I’d had
my first words with the Greek goddess. As the lecture came to an end, everyone rushed
out of class except Lisa and I. I went to confront her.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked, hoping she’d have an answer, but instead I was asked the same question – killed by my own sword.

“Do I look okay? What have you done to me?” She reached for her handbag and headed for the door. “Please, just stay away from me,” she said. 

“Wow, that was rude,” I said.

A sudden rush of anger flushed through my veins. I could feel my entire body getting colder by the second; next thing I knew I hit the chair beside me and it began to freeze. Yeah,
freeze
. Luckily, I was
alone in the class so no one saw my weird act. I ran out of
the class and rushed home, feeling scared – but most of all, confused.

I went straight to the bathtub for the first
time and filled it with hot water. At first my body became calm, but suddenly I felt this strange energy stir up inside me and then the hot tub began
to freeze. I jumped out of the tub and located the white towel on the metal rack. I got dressed and laid on my bed, thinking about what could be medically wrong with
me. It surely wasn’t fever.

Just then I remembered I'd left Stacey at school.

“Oh no,” I grumbled.

Rapidly, I called Tony to go pick her from college. After the phone call, I
researched the internet looking for any illness that
had to do with ice or cold. It took me an hour but still I got no concrete answer.
Then I
remembered my parents in Africa and how I hadn’t called them since I
arrived in Sloutenville. They’d always been the ones calling.

I called my mom.

“Mom, do I have any
illness related to cold?” There was no time for greetings.

“No, dear; you’ve never fallen ill before. Though, your body's
temperature has always been a bit of an issue. Nevertheless, you have never been ill.”

“Okay, thanks, Mom. I’ve got to go now. Bye.”

“But…” I hung up the call.

The phone slipped out of my grasp and hit the floor. I was frustrated. I needed answers from someone.
Anyone
.

Growing up, I was the only child and so I couldn’t compare my temperature
issues
with any sibling. Also, I couldn’t go to clinic because my mother had told me that
I had a thing for needles and I should never let a doctor give me a shot. It was only paperwork I'd done in the clinic Susan had sent me to. Strangely, I'd
never wondered why my mom warned me to stay away from needles – but then, I'd never needed a shot
.

While thinking about my situation, I heard a lady's voice in my head. “
What's happening to me? I feel so different,
” she said.

It was Lisa. I could recognize her voice from our previous conversation. I called her name aloud but nothing happened. I whispered her name and got the same result. My last option was to say her name in my head and it worked.

“
Who is this? Where are you? Oh my gosh, what’s happening to me,
” she cried.

"
It’s Stephen from college.
”

“
Oh, not you again, what have you done to me?
”

“
I haven’t done anything,
” I answered. “
I should be asking you
.”

“
Asking me? I've not been the same since we shook hands,
” Lisa said.

“
Same here,
” I replied in my mind.

Before I could get a chance to ask for her symptoms, Stacey walked in. I noticed the crease on her forehead as she inched closer.

“What happened today?” she probed, looking more
worried than angry.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth, at least not just yet.

“I’m sorry, I totally forgot. I
had a long day at school.”

Yeah right
,
she thought.

I was now certain I could read people’s minds and it didn’t sound like an illness to me, but more of a gift.

“How was your day?” I asked.

“Nothing spectacular happened, just the usual. How's yours? You look really cold.”

“I do? Anyways, my day was
pretty
much the same. Lisa and all,” I said.

Stacey sighed. I noticed the makeup on her face was fading and she kept twisting her feet, showing she was uncomfortable in her high.

“Please, go take a nap. You look tired,” I suggested.

“Yeah, I need to. See you later,” she replied, and gently walked out of the room.

Lisa and I were actually
conversing without seeing each other and using the gift of tongue. It
was so strange, but later on I researched and found out it‘s called
Telepathy – still another gift. Ironically, it only worked with Lisa. We
had more in common than I’d imagined; this fact made me long for her
even more.

I was determined to learn more about
the symptoms I'd acquired. I entered my closet and looked at the mirror, examining my pale face; the light of the florescent tube above the mirror added to the paleness.

“How did I freeze that table?” I said.

My eyes scrolled down to my palms. They looked scanty. I could hardly see the lines on them. This made me scared for a long minute as I stood in front of the mirror. I washed my hands repeatedly, hoping to make the lines visible but all to no avail. After spending some minutes in the closet, I noticed there was no point in looking at the mirror for answers, and so I left the room. I went down to the kitchen to make a cup of tea and as I filled the cup to the brim, something popped into my mind.
Maybe I can turn this into ice
, I thought. I looked at the teacup, thinking of what could trigger the symptom.

“Freeze,” I said, but nothing happened. “Turn to ice.” Nothing happened.
Argh!!!
 

My hands gripped the tea cup in defeat. But as I took a sip, the boiling tea began to freeze. The cup slipped from my fingers and shattered on the floor.

“No worries. It's nothing,” I yelled, hoping Stacey won't come downstairs. My eyes were fixed to the doorway of the kitchen waiting for her arrival. Luckily she didn't surface.

I cleaned up the mess and continued with my experiment in the bedroom. I practiced so many things to understand
the ice I was able to create.
I
placed my fingers opposite each other while thinking of a snowball and slowly ice flakes began emerging from my bare hands. The exact picture of the snowball I had drawn in my
my
 subconscious appeared in-between my fingers. It was like some sort of force field was created in between my palms, and the snowball was suspended inside the field. I smiled each time my thoughts came to life.

Also, I noticed I could create water from my bare hands, but that was a much difficult
task. I stretched my left hand toward the sink in the bathroom and mentally commanded it to release water. It did, but only few drops dripped on the sink. I scowled and gave up with the practices, maybe another time.

A few weeks ago, I was a normal teenager who had spent
his seventeen years living as a human being with no supernatural powers. Now, I could produce ice from my bare hands and read the minds of individuals. What a change!!!
Why
was
it
when
I
touched
Lisa
all
these
began?
I kept on asking myself, but no answer came forth.