The Samantha Project (29 page)

I was deep in thought when I heard a voice nearby. “Hey, there. Brittany, right?” It was Erik, the boy from the diner. The boy from my dream.
 

I stood up, startled to see him. “What are you doing here? I thought you graduated.” I felt excited and a little nervous seeing him again.
 

“Yeah. I graduated last year.”

“I’ll be 18 in a few weeks,” I said, not sure why I was telling him my age. I felt my cheeks turning red.

Erik laughed. “Um, okay. So don’t you need to get to class?”
 

“Oh, um, no. Not just yet.” I couldn’t stop staring at this guy. Images from my dream were flooding my head. Just seeing him again was making my heart beat faster.
 

“You seem nervous. Are you okay?” He smiled and gently touched my arm. The instant his hand hit my skin, I felt a jolt of energy go through me. He must have felt it too because he quickly backed away.
 

“Sorry about that. The air must be dry. Static shock, you know,” Erik said, trying to break the tension. “Here, I feel bad about that. Let’s try this again. Hi, I’m Erik.” He stretched his hand out. I went to accept his handshake, but when our hands met, we each felt another jolt of energy. It wasn’t as jarring that time, but more of a synchronized energy flow from him to me and back. It was like nothing I had felt before.

We looked at each other unable to speak.
 

“Erik, I think the truck is fixed now. We can get going.” I heard Jack’s voice behind me. “Anything wrong, Erik?” Jack’s question seemed to have some hidden meaning.

“No. I just saw
Brittany
here and thought I’d say hello.” Erik said “Brittany” in a strange tone.
 

Jack picked up on the change in tone. “And did you learn anything
new
about Brittany? Seems like you didn’t quite remember her from school.”
 

I didn’t like the way the two of them were talking in some type of secret code. Something was up with them. I looked around to see nothing but farmland. If I was in danger, my only way to get away from them would be to run to the school. I was sure they would catch me, but I decided to try. As I turned to run, Jack grabbed my arm and jabbed it with something. Within seconds, I was lightheaded and then everything went black.

I woke up feeling weak and groggy. For a minute, I was sure I was back at GlobalLife. I was so used to being drugged there that waking up weak and groggy had become the norm. But I didn’t have that overwhelming feeling of fear and panic that I had at GlobalLife. Instead, I felt somewhat at peace. I thought I might be dead. But then I heard voices.
 

Footsteps seemed to be approaching. My vision was too blurry to make out who owned them. The footsteps stopped and someone sat next to me. “Hey, there,” a voice whispered. “Are you awake?”
 

I felt a hand rest on mine and could feel my body slowly warming, like someone had placed a blanket over me. I wasn’t sure who this was but I wasn’t afraid.
 

“How do you feel? Can you hear me?” The voice talked softly now and I seemed to recognize it.
 

I opened my eyes, but even the dim light seemed bright. “Who’s there? Who is that?” I said, my voice hoarse from the drugs.

“It’s Erik. We met at the diner. Do you remember?”
 

The scene at the school yard came rushing back to me. Erik approaching, Jack walking up, and then the needle. I tried to pull my hand away, but Erik held it firmly in his.
 

“I know. I’m sorry about that—that whole thing at the school. I can explain later. Now you need to let me know how you feel.”

“What is this? Why am I here?” I asked, still feeling like I was half asleep.

More footsteps entered the room. “I think she’s slept most of it off,” I heard Erik say to whoever walked in.
 

I felt Erik’s other hand on my arm and then felt a prick from a needle. Soon I could feel the grogginess go away and the strength in my muscles return. I opened my eyes and could see normally.
 

Erik was sitting at my side, still holding my hand. “Ready to get up now?” His smile was so warm and kind that the anger I had prepared to unleash on him was quickly disarmed.
 

Jack stood behind him, arms crossed, studying my every move.

“Amazing,” he said. “But I can’t quite understand it.”

Erik shot him a glance of annoyance.
 

“Um, yes. Well, let’s get started then, shall we?” Jack said, sitting on a chair at the end of my bed.

Erik sighed, disappointed in how the old man was handling things. He turned back to me. “I know it may not seem like it, but we’re actually trying to help you.”
 

I gave him the look that I had heard that line before.

“Sure. You don’t believe me,” he continued. “I wouldn’t believe me either. Someone drugs me and I wake up in some strange place, I’d be pretty pissed.” He flashed a slight smile.

“But here’s the deal. We have a lot of stuff to tell you. And we’d like
you
to tell
us
some stuff, too,” he paused, sensing my hesitation, “if, and only if, you want to. Okay?” He waited for me to shake my head yes.

“I’ll start with the basics.” Erik let go of my hand and sat in the chair next to my bed.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m a little like you.”
I glanced over at him, unsure of what he was trying to tell me.
“You see what I mean? Not everyone can do this.”
 

I looked at him confused. Not do what? I thought. This guy is cute but not at all good at explaining things in clear and simple terms.
 

“So you think I’m cute, huh?”
I looked up to see him smiling.
“And by the way, I think my explanation is very clear. You just need to pay attention.”
 

“I AM paying attention!” I said loudly. And then it hit me. My voice had filled what had been a silent room. Nobody had spoken for at least a minute. Erik hadn’t said anything. And yet we were having a conversation. A two-way conversation—without spoken words. He could read thoughts! That’s why he said we were alike.

“Finally you understand that, so let’s—” Erik continued, this time out loud.

“Wait a minute. So you could hear my thoughts and I could hear yours? What about him?” I looked over at Jack, who seemed to be deep in thought, staring at the floor.
 

“My dad? I mean, Jack? He heard nothing. Well, nothing but his own thoughts.” Erik looked over at Jack. “He’s somewhat of a genius. He kind of lives in his own head solving equations, coming up with new theories.” He turned back to me. “So what do you think? Pretty cool to meet someone who can think back at you, right? At least
I
thought it was. I thought I was the only one.”

“But how did you know?” I still couldn’t believe any of this.
 

“I wasn’t 100% sure until just now. At the diner, it was more of a feeling. I could hear your thoughts and I could sense that you had some abilities, like I have. Then I felt something else. A connection to you. A strong connection. It was strange. I felt it again when I saw you at the school. I wanted to ask you about it because I could sense you felt it, too. But then I heard your thoughts—that you were planning to run—and that’s when I gave the signal to Jack. We had to get you here, where we could talk, in private.”

“What did you give me?”

“Just something to make you sleep and relax your muscles. You’ve only been asleep a couple hours. Can I ask your name? I know it’s not Brittany.”

I can’t tell him my real name, I thought. I can’t trust him.
 

“You can trust me. Well, both of us.” He looked over at Jack, who was focused on me again.

“We’re not going to harm you,” Jack assured me. “In fact, Erik was more worried about
you
harming
us
. He could sense that you’re very strong, maybe even more so than him.”

Erik looked embarrassed. “Let’s not go that far, Dad.”

“So he’s your dad?” I asked, seeing no resemblance.

“It’s a long story,” Erik said looking at Jack. “He’s the only dad I know, even if we’re not biologically related. So how about that name?”

“I can’t tell you. I need to know more. Like where are we?” I looked around and saw what looked like a basement. There were no windows, but it wasn’t like my room at GlobalLife. The place looked like a house. I was in a normal-looking bedroom. The other room I could see appeared to be a living room with a sofa and television.

“You’re just outside of Comfort. We live in the country. Not many houses out here. Just agricultural land. We’re in the basement now. We’ll take you upstairs later.”

“Let me get you something to eat. Um, what should I call you since I don’t know your name?” Jack asked, getting up.
 

“Ellie. That was my mom’s name.”

Jack stopped. “
Was
your mom’s name?”

“My parents are gone.” I paused, still finding it hard to say the words aloud. “They were killed. In a car accident.”

“I see,” Jack said. “I’m so sorry to hear that. Was it recent?”

“A couple months ago.”

Jack and Erik gave each other a look. I tried to hear what Erik was thinking but couldn’t.
 

“I would take a sandwich if you don’t mind,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Of course. Coming right up.” Jack left for the kitchen.

“Your dad seems nice.” I sat up, feeling back to normal.

“He’s a good guy. And really smart. Not just book smart. He can figure stuff out. Like we pretty much sustain ourselves out here. Solar panels instead of electric. A well for water. He’s even rigged up a mini wind farm.”

“Do you not get services living out here?”
 

“We could, but why pay for what you can get for free from nature?”

I didn’t buy it. I got a feeling that they lived that way to hide from something rather than for thriftiness or to help the environment.

“But you have a TV and computer, right?” I pointed to the other room. “You’ve got
some
modern amenities?”

“We don’t have cable or satellite, but we do have a TV that gets the free channels. We don’t watch much TV. Dad listens to the radio a lot. And the computers aren’t Internet connected. If we need Internet, there’s actually some free Wi-Fi hotspots in town.”
 

Their avoidance of a modern lifestyle was starting to concern me. Nobody lived like that—well, nobody except crazy people trying to run from society. Maybe they were in a cult, I thought, and had captured me for some type of sick ritual. I looked around trying to figure out how I could get out of the place.

“We’re not crazy. And we’re not doing any kind of rituals.” Erik smiled.

“Stop doing that!” I had forgotten that he could hear my thoughts.
 

“You know, you can block me from hearing them. I could show you how.”
 

“How would you know how to do that? I thought I was the first person who could hear you?”
 

“I told you. My dad knows stuff. A lot of stuff. This thought-reading thing we do? It’s all based on brain wave patterns. And you can control those. Here, try to read my thoughts right now.”

I closed my eyes and imagined our minds connecting. After a few minutes, I still heard nothing.

“So what did you get?”
I looked up, but Erik wasn’t talking. He was thinking.

“That. Just now. I heard you ask me that question.”

“That’s because I let you hear that. So you didn’t hear all the other stuff I said?” he asked, knowing I didn’t. “See, it works. I can teach you that, although it will only work with me since nobody else can hear our thoughts.”

“I still want to learn,” I said, annoyed that he could hear me but could block me from hearing him. “I would like to be able to have private thoughts.”

Erik looked at me. “Hey, I won’t do it anymore. I can tune out your thoughts. I can teach you that, too.”

Jack walked in with a pile of sandwiches and some chips. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I made you one ham, one turkey, and one peanut butter. We’ll eat whatever you don’t want.”

I was so hungry I could have eaten all three. “I’ll take the turkey.”
 

Jack and Erik sat quietly while I ate. I could tell they were waiting for me to decide what to do next. Either I would talk or they would, and I wasn’t talking until I knew more.
 

“I need to know why you brought me here. What’s the reason for all this?” I asked, looking at them both.

Jack glanced over at Erik. They both seemed ready to talk, but Jack started. “It’s clear that you’re similar to Erik in some ways. By that I mean that you seem to have abilities that other people don’t have.”

“Like the ability to hear my thoughts,” Erik jumped in. “And there were other things, too. Like at the diner, I felt like I knew you somehow. I could sense that you felt the same way, about knowing me. And I—I had a dream a few days ago about a girl that looked, well, similar to you.”
 

I froze, wondering if Erik had experienced the same intimate dream that I had on the bus. I could feel my face blushing.
 

Jack continued. “Given all that, we had to talk to you. And this isn’t the type of thing you can just bring up in conversation. When it seemed like you were going to run, we—”

“You drugged me.” The words made me angry again.
 

“Again, I’m sorry for how we went about this. But if you really are anything like Erik, with his abilities, then you’re in danger. You won’t survive out there on your own. You may be very strong and very smart, but it’s not enough.”

“How do you know all this? How do you know I’m in danger?”

“Because Erik used to be in danger. Back when I got him. If I hadn’t taken him,
they
would have, and he would either be dead or locked away somewhere.”
 

Erik gave him a look to tone it down a bit.