Crackling of the Air Ch. 1

The morning sun slowly rose as it’s light began spreading across a nice little town, nothing was particularly special about it or how it looked. It just seemed to be another town in a series of towns that the light of the sun touched. Ordered streets, occasional roads, the random shadow of a person or car cast across the ground, along with the spreading light. Bushes, flowers, grass, two nice green areas built for relaxation in the warmer hours. A still lake and the local school that had been retrofitted in the past to serve as an elementary and junior high for the town. Beyond that as the light spread it revealed the gleaming buildings of the outskirts of the nearby city to the north separated from the town by row upon row of farm fields. In the other direction rising hills that led to impressive mountains beyond. In the south, it gave way to more fields and a river making its way through the land, unaffected by the growing light except for the new sounds of the animals there waking from their slumber. Finally to the west a large forest spreading to the edge of what could be seen both to the north and west climbing over the hills unaffected by their elevation.
The warmth of the day brought forth other creatures to wakefulness namely Terron who found himself yawning the sleep from himself as he felt his feet suddenly becoming cold despite the comfort of the blanket above him. Glaring down he realized that just as he’d expected the blanket was once again rippling and hovering a few feet from the bed. It let the cold air in and made his feet colder than the rest of him as the house slowly warmed up. With slow and tired arms he sat up and pressed on the blanket forcing it back down to the bed and letting go he was satisfied as it stayed in place. The annoyance, however, stayed as he realized this was, in fact, the second time his blanket had been the thing to unexpectedly levitate this week. He was eighteen and definitely didn’t have time to deal with these things with everything else that was going on. It’d started when he was ten too he remarked, eight whole years of this, something anyone else would think was extraordinary had become commonplace to him. Silently he thought that if he could go even a week without something like this happening it would be a glorious time.
A soft groan escaped him as he sat up in bed his tired eyes slowly taking in the familiar surroundings encompassing the plant in the corner to the left of the door. Above him, the light still off as he’d left it last night. His bed stand with the reading light and the alarm clock. The window to the right of the door centered on the wall. Once again he smiled at the genius of the placement of the plant, it always caught most of the sunlight throughout the day. Turning his eyes back to the alarm clock he realized that in fact, it was moments from going off. Apparently, he had beaten it today, although, just barely, once again he moved with slow movements flicking the switch to turn the alarm off entirely. Smiling in satisfaction he turned back to the door before his face dropped a little bit. This was his last year before college, he already had to go a way to reach the high school down the road in the city. After this… After this he knew he’d be out of his parents home, It was a scary thought in his mind, he could handle it though. When the time came he was certain he could make his own, it was just the apprehension of doing so and starting that which worried him.
Finally, as his body began to function a little more quickly wiping the sleep away and bringing his mind to faster function the calming sound of birdcall began drifting into his ears. He’d always loved the sound of birdsong, it had an ethereal quality in his opinion, in a way it said that no matter what things will always stay in many ways the same. Swinging his legs off the bed he stood up moving over to his dresser and soon picking up the clothes that he enjoyed the most out of his wardrobe. As he grabbed the clothes that familiar sixth sense he’d always enjoyed showing off to others because of how astute it was activated. With it, he realized the presence of a shirt drifting away from one of the lower drawers and reached out pushing it back in as it was still folded pressing it back into the drawer. Finally, as he was dressed he happily enjoyed the familiar pressure and weight of the garments on his body. Quickly looking around the room to ensure nothing had unexpectedly begun floating he nodded in satisfaction ensured that it wouldn’t happen much for the rest of the day. It was always right after he woke up he thought that all of that happened the most.
Turning towards the door he made his way through his room pushing the door open and walking out into the hallway. Making his way towards the stairs he thought wistfully about the number of wonderful paintings that made their way down either end of it. Half of them were his mothers work he knew and he’d seen her at work. It never ceased to amaze him how she could take a brush and bottles of colored paint and make such extraordinary masterpieces. His familiar sixth sense suddenly stopped him at the top of the stairs as he shook his head at his sister's vain attempts to scare him in the morning, she knew it didn’t work so he couldn’t understand why she continued. With a calm and a little-annoyed tone, he called down. “Karen I know your down there, stop trying to scare me in the morning, you know it doesn’t work”. Just as he’d expected he watched her come from the bend in the staircase looking a little upset. “How do you always know? It’s like you can see through walls!” She started pouting but he couldn’t deny how cute his sixteen-year-old sister looked when she did that.
Leaving her question without a response as it was known by both of them what his response was to be he continued down the stairs. Unable to stifle a yawn as he stepped off the bottom step it suddenly turned to a yell of fright as Jerry his fourteen-year-old brother lept from the same place that his sister had been. Stumbling and nearly falling he stabilized himself and shook his head at the two of the faces smiling at him looking like they were both moments from breaking into laughter. “Ha ha ha, very funny” He completed the thought by rolling his eyes at them seeming merely annoyed as his heart thumped hard in his chest. The whole action was suddenly interrupted by Sarah Terron’s mother glaring at them from the top of the stairs silencing all conversation. “May you all be quieter? Your dad is still sleeping, you know he works late we need to give him all the time to rest we can,” she said
Aware of the truthfulness of her statement they all stopped talking but nevertheless acutely aware that this being their normal routine they’d continue doing it. Sarah was soon walking away from them heading straight to the kitchen leaving them alone where they giggled softly and smiled at each other. Terron then turned to Jerry curiously. “You're never up at this hour, I’m going to guess that Karen woke you up just to scare me?” While the question was directed at Jerry, Karen was the one to speak. “What do you mean Terron? I’d never do something like that just to scare you.” She smirked as she finished before turning away and walking away after Sarah. Jerry as always seemed to be some sort of minion and followed after Karen quickly. As they left Terren sighed looking behind himself at the twin doorways on opposite sides, one to the living room and the other to the dining room. Turning back he heard the creak of the stairs and saw his father Geron halfway down them. They exchanged smiles as soon as their eyes locked on each other. Geron was, of course, the first to speak as he often was. “She causing you trouble again?” He asked before continuing before Terron could respond. “You know I still think that she’s going to end up being an influential CEO of some company over there in the city, she’s got the attitude… She’s also very good at getting others to follow her without knowing entirely what they are doing…”
Terron waited a few seconds to see if his dad would continue before nodding and gazing after her. “That’s definitely true, she’s got Jerry in the palm of her hand a lot of the time. It’s annoying too at times…” Geron nodded before looking back to Terron. “So, any new developments this morning?” Terron knew the question had been coming and smiled a bit at the familiarity of it. His dad was the only one who knew of the particular occurrences that happened near him and they’d pieced together that it was directly related to him in some way. “Well, the blanket on my bed tried to float away from my feet and then one of my shirts tried to float away from my dresser still folded” Geron nodded listening as he said it tapping his chin. “There are things you can do for injuries… Therapy that can sometimes be used for mental issues… I sometimes wish we knew just what could be done for something like this…” Geron stopped with a sigh. “Sorry Terron, I know you hate it when I refer to this as being something wrong with you, It’s just my mindset I suppose.” Terron smiled at him understanding what he meant. “Don’t worry Geron, I understand what you mean, I know you are always trying to help others and think up ways to fix things that are broken. In your position, I can't imagine what I would do. I can’t think of any father that could ever be more supportive and understanding then you are of me. I also know how exhausting your job is for you.” Geron smiled at him with the same smile that had never left his face even with the sigh. “Agreed, thank you Terron, now let’s go get breakfast.”
With that said they both turned over to the kitchen with its small table within, they had always used that for small family meals. Looking into the room Terron breathed a small sigh of enjoyment seeing the shadow of the house cast across the garden behind it. The balcony outside always offered the most beautiful views of the sunset, Terron had loved that fact added to the fact that that whole side of the kitchen was a huge glass window. His eyes were pulled from the view however by the scent entering his nose turning his head to the tasty breakfast his mother always prepared. It never ceased to amaze him how much she could do in the morning, she’d come down prepare the oatmeal and pancakes then go back up and finish up the rest of her morning activities. She’d then come back down, tell them all to be quiet and go to the kitchen to serve the breakfast she’d prepared. It was impressive in his eyes, both his parents were impressive. Once again it hit him just how much they did and he wondered how he’d be able to do so much without stumbling and failing at something every other day. Once he left the house he would be on his own, he would be all alone. “Sarah, is Terron just going to keep standing behind me looking like a deer in headlights?” Karen questioned quickly pulling Terron out of his thoughts as he made his way to the table looking just a little chastened. Sitting down he looked down at his plate and smiled at the familiarity of the meal, a perfect morning pickup is what it was.
They were soon eating their morning meals and as was the tradition they were silent while they ate, better to focus on eating than talking his parents had always told him. The meal was as always a good one though so Terron didn’t have any problems with eating instead of talking it was filled with flavor, his mother knew the perfect way of cooking food to make it keep as much natural flavor as possible.
They finished quickly as they always did which left Sarah gazing at them with a smile satisfied that they had enjoyed her cooking. Terron stood in that moment making his way across the house to the doorway on the opposite end with the hangar on the wall next to the door. Karen was next to him at the same moment grabbing her bag quickly before he even reached out for his. Casting her a quick glare he turned towards the door nearly leaping out of it on light feet and gazing back with a smirk as she squeezed herself through. This was nothing out of the ordinary though, they’d always had a rivalry with each other and this would just be another in an ongoing set of attempts to get an edge on the other. A new thought crossed his mind as his smirk faded. This couldn’t go on much longer though, he would leave the house and then he’d need to strike out and… He cut the thought at that contenting himself to consider it later.
Walking down the path to his car he opened the door getting in an waiting for Karen and Jerry to get into the vehicle. Starting the car a smile touched his face at the familiar hum of the engine coming to life. It was a fond memory of how on his sixteenth birthday his parents had surprised him by gifting him this car. Ever since he had treasured it and always ensured it was in peak condition, though his sister was often jealous of the fact that he’d been given a car and she hadn’t. Though unknowing to her his dad had told him that they would get her a car for herself when she turned seventeen. She needed it, in fact, to drive herself and Jerry to school. Shaking his head he looked over and seeing that they had both gotten in he brought his focus to the road as his foot pressed down on the accelerator moving the car forwards and turning onto the street following the familiar road to the junior high.
After a silent ride filled with the hum of the engine and the occasional rustling of Karen digging through her bag they finally arrived at the school. Karen popped the door swinging on her bag in an impressively fluid movement and was instantly surrounded by a crowd of her friends. It was interesting though because she was the most common voice to be heard within it, she just had that personality. Jerry hopped out as well but not quite as cleanly and nearly looked to stumble as he ran off towards the school buildings close by. Terron smiled at the two, he couldn’t dispute it, no matter what, having siblings was worth it, despite arguments or battles he loved them both dearly.
Turning his eyes back to the road he pressed onto the accelerator and felt the lurch as the car turned back to the road merging into the traffic. Pulling onto the highway connecting the town and the city he locked his eyes on the road but nevertheless kept feeling them try to drift to the nearby forest a small sigh escaping him. What could possibly be in there he wondered often, it grew impossible to see very deep into it after the first few meters. His mind continued to wander as his eyes floated back onto the road. What was in there truly, he’d always had a deep feeling that places like that held more then what others believed that it held, many would call it just a silly thought but he couldn’t ever shake it. Frankly, who would believe what he’d already seen on more than one occasion? Floating items, who would believe that without seeing it? His thoughts may in fact very well be right, as his eyes drifted back to the forest he nearly felt a gasp rising into his throat, he’d sworn that he had just seen a pair of eyes in the woods gazing at him. Looking closer he felt another familiar sensation as his eyes seemed to narrow in on the spot that he could have sworn he had seen them, the trees grew in his sight till it almost seemed he was standing at the foot of them. He hadn’t said anything about this ability to anyone else though because he thought nothing of it, he’d always believed it was normal. Looking around at the other drivers he slowly began to question that belief and kept his eyes fixed on the road resisting the urge to turn and look at the spot that he had seen those eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity he found himself in front of his high school slightly surprised at the suddenness of his arrival at it. It had felt long, yes but he hadn’t even realized that he was near it until he had already turned off and arrived. Quickly he parked his car hopping out and grabbing his bag checking the time and satisfied himself that he had arrived fifteen minutes before the first period of the day. Walking into his first period he pulled open the metal door and smiled at his teacher before hearing the common exclamation of surprise from the person behind him as the door gave them a quick jolt of static electricity. Every single time it seemed, anything metallic he touched the next person to do so always seemed to end up getting shocked. Shaking his head quickly he walked in feeling his mind slip into the familiar path as his school day became the normal blur.
The whole day was pretty normal except for one small incident that he had to deal with being an empty desk to his side that tried to float upwards. It made it about an inch upwards before he pushed it back down with his foot. As it would, it disrupted the entire room with the thunk the desk made on the hard floor earning him a glare from that period's teacher. Reservedly he accepted the glare not making any protest or showing it upsetting him. There wasn’t much he could do about it anyway so there was no reason for him to be fazed by it or what it caused. Luckily it seemed that it only happened when people weren't paying attention or they just didn’t believe that they saw when it happened. Either way, he was glad no one had found it important enough to bring up so far.
Soon before he knew it once again it seemed the day was over as quickly as it had begun. His mind always seemed to slip somewhere else through school and his classes it also seemed the more he let it happen the higher his scores on the assignments became. Shrugging away the thoughts he collected his papers and packed up walking out of the class heading directly towards his car. With that sixth sense, he noticed the presence of someone tailing him and focused on the gait knowing exactly who it was. Shaking his head he listened to the footsteps of the school annoyance, mostly a bully and in his head silently counted to ten. Smiling a bit as soon as he reached ten he heard a thunk behind him not even needing to look back to know that he had been hit hard by a door. That happened all too common whenever James tried to follow him and make things difficult, and it was always around ten seconds, something would normally happen that would hamper him. As Terron continued he turned a corner and instinctively knew that James would be tied up and wouldn’t have seen him turn. He also reflected with some distaste that at some point when he did make it to Terron he’d be more upset than normal. James had a bad habit of blaming others for his problems and especially if something that wasn’t their fault stopped him from reaching them.
As he stepped into the parking lot however he stopped for a second the hair on the back of his neck prickling as he stopped everything he was doing including reaching for his keys. It felt like someone was watching him, of that he was certain, he just couldn’t place where that individual may be. Turning his head and glancing around he couldn’t catch any eyes on him but still, the sensation remained. Uneasily he shuffled towards his car seeking at least the shelter that would provide to him flipping his keys into the lock and quickly climbing into it. Despite the new surroundings of the car he still felt uneasy, still felt the sensation of eyes watching him, once again he lifted his head roving his eyes around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The normal crowds of students trying to get home, that was it though. Resigning himself to not knowing he started the engine finding it’s sound not nearly as comforting as he felt it should be.
Still however even as he started out from the parking lot he still felt that there were eyes on him, watching closely his every move. Making it onto the highway as before there was no sense of blurred time as the gaze seemed to follow him relentlessly as he went. Looking back his eyes still caught nothing, no one was looking in his direction it seemed, glaring inwardly he continued driving desperately trying to ignore the feeling and nearly missing the turnoff.
Attempting to keep himself calm he felt himself inadvertently accelerating more than his normal pace seeking the relative safety of home. Forcing himself to ease up on the accelerator he merely kept up a normal pace nonetheless looking over his shoulder every few seconds. As he gazed back for the hundredth time he felt something coming to his mind but focusing on what it was caused it to become hazy and vanish on him as quickly as he had realized its existence. Nearly growling at himself for his own forgetfulness he tightened his grip on the wheel his knuckles turning white from the pressure. Once again feeling his tension he eased the pressure taking a deep breath looking into the rearview mirror once again.
Slowly pulling into the driveway Terron eager to get a wall between himself and that oppressive watching presence. He nearly lept from the car before it even had come to a complete halt barely remembering to activate the parking brake. Wanting to run full speed to the house he composed himself taking a few deep breaths and taking another look around himself. Once again he saw nothing that caught his eyes and just walked away from the road towards the front door of the house. It was a feeling he had never had before holding his heart in fluttering fearful movements that spread that sensation across his entire body. Despite the things he had seen he had never felt a sense like this, an oppressive presence that seemed to scare him more than anything he had seen or felt before. Slowly it dawned on him why it was so scary, this was real, it wasn’t a game, it wasn’t a movie, it wasn’t a video, he was here, he was living this.
Speeding his stride a meter or so from the door he fumbled his keys from his pocket and into the door slipping in without hesitation. Moving from the door he collapsed against the wall of the doorway slowly feeling the stress slip from his body as he slid down the wall his back pressed against it. Moments later he watched a discarded jacket lift into the air seemingly on its own and all his stress on the way home turned to laughter. At least that was normal, something he could deal with, something he could see and somewhat control…
Making no move to push the jacket down he just watched in a sort of amused silence as it floated a meter from the ground. Closing his eyes and ignoring the floating piece of clothing he probed his mind for anyone who could possibly follow or would follow him. All the way home too, they must have been determined he reasoned, someone who really wanted to keep an eye on him. Suddenly as that thought drifted through his mind another hit him like a rock and he thought about all the times he had been out in public and things had levitated around him. Could it be? Had someone pieced together the events and figured out that it was him? He tried to shake the thoughts but they remained in his mind stolidly not leaving him.
Sighing softly he resigned himself to not knowing and closed his eyes once again and a small whimper escaped his throat surprising himself as he had never made such a sound. Lowering his head instead he opened his eyes slowly trudging up the stairs his head lowered and felt far older than he should.
Stumbling into his room he barely noticed the door closing behind him on its own and if he had he probably would have smiled at that small thing. Now, however, he was wiped out and just stumbled over the foot of his bed falling onto it with a thump not even caring about the covers and passing out in seconds.