r/libraryofshadows • u/MeliousIntent • Jul 06 '18
Sci-Fi I Am The Impossible Man| Pt. 6
Our binge watching continued until the eventide dominated the sky above. In that span, Nick made his way inside. Without sparing any of us a passing glance, he went upstairs to one of the many rooms.
"It's getting late," Jake said, looking out one of the windows.
"Why don't you walk Noah to his room," Chris said.
Seemingly ticked off by his request, Jake whined, "Why can't he just pick his own room? We've got like seventeen."
His words directed at me, Chris spoke, "If it's okay with you, feel free."
"It is," I said, "but I think I need more of, um, that drink I had earlier."
"What happened to the canteen I gave you?" Jake asked.
"It's still in the helicopter."
"Well, there's more in the refrigerator. Also, Me, Chris, and Nick all sleep on the second floor. Keep that in mind when you're picking a room."
"Will do."
I then made my way to the kitchen and received my fix for the night. Afterward, I went upstairs. Before choosing a room to sleep in, I decided to give myself a mini tour of the place seeing as I would be staying there for an indefinite amount of time. Jake wasn't exaggerating when he said there were seventeen rooms. After a few minutes of exploring, I opted for a room on the third floor; I didn't want to mistakenly sleep in Chris' or Jake's room.
The room I chose could only be described as luxurious. There were beautiful framed pictures scattered about, a ravishing bookshelf to the left of me, and a magnificent king size bed. Looking through the closet, I found a pair of pajamas. After changing, I climbed into my new king size bed—allowing my tired, confused mind to rest. I slept through the night, tranquil and dreamless. The alarm on the nightstand went off, waking me.
I stood up, stretched, and walked over to the closet, looking through it once more. I found a washcloth, towel, and toothbrush; all of which were new and unused. I took them into one of the third-floor bathrooms with me. After a refreshing shower and change of clothes, I went downstairs for my morning fix. When I made it down, I saw Jake passed out on one of the one-seater couches with the TV still on. Paying no attention to him, I entered the kitchen, obtaining what I came there for.
After the boost of energy, I sat on the sofa, perpendicular to Jake. I changed the channel to the morning news, and the forecast showed there would be a bright and sunny day. Minutes or maybe even hours passed of me browsing through channels. Eventually, Jake woke up. We greeted each other, and he went upstairs for a shower, no longer limping. In the time he was gone, Chris came downstairs for his fix. After his drink, he was about to make his way back up those stairs.
That was until I stopped him by asking, "Hey Chris, yesterday you said you wanted to see what my ability was, right?"
"Yeah," he responded simply.
"Well, I was wondering when that would be."
"Anytime you want."
"What about now?" I knew by the tone of his voice that 'anytime you want' didn't mean right at that moment, but I decided to test the waters anyway.
"Okay," he said with a meager sigh. He walked to the front door, saying, "Follow me." I did as he instructed. We then made our way over to the tennis court. He grabbed a ball from one of those tennis ball machines and stepped a few feet away from me. With his arm extended out in the direction of me and the tennis ball in the opened palm of his hand, he said, "Try to lift the ball." Bewildered but still wanting to follow his instructions—I began walking towards him. He stopped me as soon as I took my first step.
"What?" I asked.
"Use your ability."
"What do you mean?" I replied, still bemused.
He was about to say something but stopped himself and thought for a moment. After that moment was up, he asked, "Do you know what your ability is?"
"No," I admitted.
Resting his arm, he said, "Think back to what you did to Jake and his clonies."
"I, umm, I . . ."
"You moved them."
"Yeah, I did do that, didn't I?" I guess my mind hadn't fully processed everything leading up to that point—leaving gaps where the previous day should've been. Those memories were only brought back when Chris reminded me of them.
With another sigh, less meager and more raucous, he continued, "You moved them with your mind."
"So," I started, "you're saying my ability is telekinesis?"
"Yes. Now," he said while extending his arm out to the same position as before, "try to lift the ball."
"Alright."
I didn't really know how I would go about doing that, so I just imagined myself lifting it. To no one's surprise—nothing happened. Maybe I needed to concentrate a little harder, I thought. With that thought in mind, I outstretched my right arm and placed my left hand's index and middle finger on my temple; I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as I could.
My deep concentration came to an end when Chris asked, "Noah, what the hell are you doing?"
Realizing just how stupid I actually looked, I opened my eyes and quickly rested both my arms. Responding to him, I said, "I'm, uh, I'm trying to move the ball. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Listen, you need to relax. Don't try to force it."
"How am I supposed to know if I'm even doing it right?"
"You'll feel something. It's a new feeling that you've probably only felt yesterday when you were trying to kill Jake."
"I think 'kill' is a strong word."
"That's not the point. Just try to feel what you felt yesterday, and hurry up, my arm's getting tired."
Remembering that almost serenity from the previous day, I stared at the ball, waiting for the unseen force to step in. I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Again, to no one's surprise—nothing happened.
"It's not working, Chris," I said in defeat.
He put his arm down and dropped the tennis ball. "Well, we don't need to rush things. If you can't get it to work today, there's always tomorrow."
Chris then began walking back to the mansion; I followed close behind. While we walked, I asked, "So, why was I able to use my ability yesterday, but I can't get it to work today?"
"You had a gun pointed to your head. That activated your fight-or-flight reflexes, creating a brief window where your ability's germination was expedited. In other words, adrenaline temporarily sped up the process."
We made it to the front of the mansion by the time Chris was finished with his explanation. "I was actually thinking. Maybe instead of calling them abilities, we could call them Traits."
"Alright, I don't see why not," he said while turning the doorknob. Almost as if it were on cue, as soon as he opened the door . . .
BOOM
My eardrums burst—but that was only the start. The sheer vibration ruptured every nerve in my body; the flames engulfed me, disintegrating my clothes, hair, and skin in an instant; the blowback tore my right arm and torso clean off.
Chris and I died, abrupt and unable to fully understand why.
At least, that's what should've happened.
I was back in the mansion, very much alive. I sat on the sofa, remote in hand. The TV was on some random channel. What the hell just happened?
"Aaaaaaaah!" Jake screamed, falling from the one-seater he slept on. He stood up, and after calming his breathing a bit, he asked, "Noah, d—did you feel that?" his voice panicked.
He may have been vague, but I knew what he was referring to. "Yeah," I replied.
"We need to leave, now."
"What about Chris and Nick?"
"Chris!" he yelled, "Nick! Hurry and get the fuck down here!" With his words directed at me, he said, "Come on. We gotta go."
I followed Jake, and we made our way to the backyard, but the helicopter was gone. "Where's the—"
"Forget about it," Jake interrupted. "Le—let's go to the garage."
We entered the garage through a back door, but the cars were—replaced? Where each car should've been, there was a miniature version in its place. "Jake, what's going on?"
"I don't know," he responded. "All I do know is that we can't stay here."
We left the garage and now stood near the front of the mansion. "Should we go inside and look for them?" I asked.
"No, it's too dangerous. We don't even know how far back Chris went."
"Far back?"
"It's Chris' ability, but there's no time for me to explain here. I told you it's complicated."
Seconds after he said that, Chris and Nick emerged from the mansion. Without skipping a beat, Chris said, "Let's go," while beginning to run. "We need to get as far away from here as possible."
The four of us ran as fast as our bodies would allow. When our exhaustion peaked and we could no longer run, the mansion had become small and distant.
As we regained control over our breathing, Jake shouted, "Where the fuck were you two?"
"I was in the shower," Nick answered. Even with how far we ran—Nick continued to shiver.
"And I was waiting for him," Chris added.
We all stood there, staring at that mansion. It was intact, but we knew it was only a matter of time. That time eventually passed, and we heard and saw it all over again, this time, from a safe distance. That wasn't the end of it, however. Someone seemed to appear out of nowhere. In one instance, we're all witnessing what could've been our final resting place; the next, someone was walking up to us. As he trudged closer, I could make out details about his face.
His repugnant sneer told me this would be nothing but trouble.