Break the Norm

Chapter 1

Prologue





The cement was as cool as the night. It was ice to my injuries. I stayed where I was, lying on the pavement, unsure what to do next. I was vulnerable. I desperately looked at the school playground beside me to distract me from what was happening. I didn't want to accept it. There was no way people could be so mean.





Sean was about to punch me again when a car drove by. I looked up into the street to see the car driving slowly. The driver was far away, but I could feel his knowing eyes staring straight at me without a single question in his mind. I heard a soft jingle at the same time Sean cursed. Drake, as always, was beside Sean. Drake had been leaning forward and pulled back as the car drove by. The movement caused his necklace to fly in front of his face. I didn't remember him having a necklace and he seemed to not have known about it either. He brought it to his face and was staring at a key pendant.





The car drove away, but its headlights reflected off of something next to me. I looked down to find I also had a necklace that wasn't there before. It was a locket; that was locked. The keyhole seemed to be the same size as Drake's key.





Tension seeped through the air. Sean was shaking. He cursed again and left, pulling Drake behind him. I finally relaxed. It was hard to believe that this level of violence resided in fifth graders, but that's how old we were. Luckily, Drake's violence peaked that night and descended from there. I didn't see Sean that often. But when I met his glance in the hall, his dark blue eyes were slivers of hell.





Chapter 1





My name is Laura Williams and I'm an alcoholic. I'm sure a lot of therapy sessions start like that. Fortunately, and unfortunately, mine is slightly different.





"Hi, my name is Laura Williams and I'm not telekinetic."





Ms. Dimmer smiled at me, "It's getting easier for you to admit, isn't it, Laura?" It was getting easier to not roll my eyes at her. My parents sent me to therapy so I would be forced to deny that the gift I have exists. The thing about mental therapy is that no one but the patient knows what the patient is thinking so I could lie about anything and no one would know, though that may be because I'm a good liar.





"Now, Laura. Try and focus." It was the psychiatrist's classic 'what is the first thing you think of' game. The activity forces out the answers you don't want to say, and surprisingly I didn't mind telling Ms. Dimmer. In a weird way, I trusted her. More than I trusted my parents at least.





She held up the first card: Dog. "Puppy."





She smiled. That was always the first card and the answer changed every week. I didn't even mean to. Last week I'd answered with Sean. I'd been especially mad at him that day and had called him a mongrel so when I saw the dog card his name had popped into my head.





Next card: Drake. "Trust." I bit my lip. I wasn't expecting myself to say something like that. Ms. Dimmer smiled and held up the next card: Telekinesis. "Fake." Ms. Dimmer had a really believable fake smile, but I could feel her weird mix of emotions in the air. She was disappointed that I'd given up, but I hadn't. I knew my gift was more than telekinesis. Emotions aren't tangible to most. Just me.





Next card: Me. "Freak."





Someone knocked and opened the door. My dad walked in. "It's time to go. Come on." I looked at the clock, there was still fifteen minutes.





"Mr. Williams, you can't just pull her out of therapy like this. I don't care what the reason is." Ms. Dimmer was ignored as my dad grabbed by arm and pulled me out the door. I slammed into the door on the way out and I felt a bruise starting to form on my cheek.





"Dad, slow down." A table was set up on the right side of the hall. My dad avoided it, but my hip bashed into it as he wanted me to. We got to the car and he shoved me into the back. I heard him mumble as he walked to the front. I could only make out a few words, "How…stuck…you." I often wondered how I got stuck with them, too.





My dad started pelting me with questions, as usual. I ignored them, as usual. "Why didn't you use your 'power' to stop yourself from getting hurt? Why couldn't you just float over the table? Move the door so it opened? It's because you have no power. Just hallucinations. It's about time you got that through your head. Stop saying you can do it. NO, don't interrupt me, you can't. I don't care what anyone else says. You can't." I let my dad continue on like that. I never tried to interrupt him. He likes when he can pretend I did something bad and yell at me, so I let him. He never noticed when I split my energy in half, left a duplicate of myself in the car. Of course, it wasn't perfect. It couldn't talk, but it could walk and that's all it needed back at my house. I used the energy I had left to make a sight barrier around myself. No one saw me as I ran down the street to Drake's house.





I stood by the door to his room, still invisible. I watched him play video games for awhile. He was about to beat the game so I didn't want to interrupt him. The energy was draining inside of me, but I held it together. I took a few steps toward him and waited. I felt weak. I knew Drake would be mad at me for pulling a stunt like this again. I couldn't stay with my dad, even if it caused me to not be able to fight off an attack if I were weak.





Drake jumped up when he won and dropped the controller. I fell into his open arms and dropped the barrier. "Holy sh- Oh, Laura. Oh God. Laura, you didn't." His arms wrapped around me and he helped me onto his bed. A cold sweat started building up. I heard Drake swear again. I felt myself fading out, but I heard Drake say, "I'll be right here, Laura." He grabbed my shoulder just before my vision blacked out.





~*~ Drake





Laura's body shivered. I wondered what it was she was looking at this time. It's usually from the second time Sean and I beat her up in fifth grade. I closed my eyes, it was like thinking of a story someone told me. That was someone else's life, it couldn't have been mine. But it was. They were my fists, my fears. Though I guess the whole time they were really only Sean's fears. He had this overwhelming way of convincing me that his way was the right way, and only way, but after the second time we went after Laura, it all changed.





I awkwardly sat next to Sean at lunch the day after we beat her up. Something had gone wrong and I wasn't sure whether he'd want me next to him. I just didn't have anywhere else to go. He started talking. He didn't look at me and his voice was soft and shaky. "You believe me more than I do. You know who I am, I don't. I'm told what to do and I do it. I don't think about it. It's like I've never even heard the word 'rebel.' You though, you have a chance". His eyes had glanced at the cord around my neck. The key pennant was hidden behind my shirt. "You have a chance…with…"





He left after that. He ran out of the cafeteria in a blur. I didn't think anything of it besides being confused because I didn't know what 'rebel' meant. I haven't talked to him since then.





I shook off the thoughts as Laura's body started shaking more violently. She put her hand on her face where she had bled that night. I looked closer at where her hand was and spotted a bruise. I'd ask her about that later.





She stopped shaking so I assumed the memory had changed to another. Laura's voice broke the silence, "Anne…" She had said this name before, but she couldn't remember who the person was to her. Anne was a memory lost in Laura's past. Her parents don't remember an Anne who was a childhood friend and there's no mention of her anywhere except when Laura's mind brings her back.





I stared at Laura helplessly. There was nothing I could do. Her mind thought what she was seeing was real. She was reliving a memory. Sometimes she'd jump up and walk around, even talk in sync with what was happening in the memory, but she was too weak to stand right now.





"Daddy, please. I want to stay with Anne." She paused as if listening to someone else speaking. "What do you mean 'you're not my Daddy?' " She bolted upright.





The room was silent for a few seconds. I wasn't sure if she was done or not, "Laura? Is it over?"





She didn't respond in anyway and I knew it was still wearing off. Her eyes were wide and scared. "They took me away from her. And that man, I thought he was my daddy. But they lied. They let me call him Daddy, but he wasn't my daddy. Then they brought me here. I was so happy there. It smelt like cookies."





I stifled a laugh. She was still thinking like a five year old. It was adorable. I sat on the bed and put my arms out, "Come here."





She shuffled forward and fell into my arms. As I had expected, she'd unknowingly changed her appearance. I sat and held five year old Laura. She cried into my chest and her small hand grasped my thumb. With my free hand, I petted her auburn air. I've never seen her hair in anyway but a side part. Symmetry was her pet peeve. She hated the perfection. Sometimes she'd appreciate it, but not in her hair. Some things were meant to be messy.





A little girl's gentle voice broke the sweet silence. "Oh. Drake." Laura blushed, "I'm sorry." She stepped out of my arms and aged ten years. "You're mad, aren't you?"





I took a deep breath. "Disappointed: yes, but I'm not mad." I looked at her seriously. "Laura, they're your parents. You can't run from them."





Laura's eyes squinted in confusion, "But they can run from you."





I froze. She didn't know what she was saying.





I knew she was still out of it because she didn't sense my aura. She didn't know to stop. She continued speaking. "How come it's easier to accept in a person's mind for a parent to runaway, but when a child runs away, posters and search teams are sent out. It doesn't make sense."





Laura's tired eyelids kept falling shut and she sat still and quiet for awhile. Her words had ticked me off a little. I didn't care how tired she was. She was about to get an earful. "What the hell? People let the parents run because it's better for the child to get that person out of their life. Kids can't get by on their own, and parents love them enough to want them back, most of the time. But when a parent runs, they lose that title. They're no longer a parent and they're gone forever."





Laura's glance focused. She looked at me with pity and guilt. "I'm sorry." She bit her lip. "But you don't know that about your dad. Your mom won't tell you anything about him. For all you know he may have died…I mean, maybe…uh…"





I shook my head. "It's okay. I know. I'll learn who he is eventually. He might be alive."





Laura's voice cut through the developing tension. "So, by the way, happy birthday." Her eyes lit up and she smiled with her mouth closed. I let out a small laugh and ruffled her hair. She scrunched her nose and closed her eyes. "So it is ridiculously early during thanksgiving break, which reminds me, why are you even awake right now? You're not an early bird. But anyway…where do you want to go?"