Blackness. All encompassing blackness. Not just the absence of light, but the absence of anything, everything. Not only could Aden not see his hand before his face, neither could he feel it. No sound reverberated in the emptiness; not even his heartbeat could be felt or heard. In fact, all of his senses seemed to be failing him. He couldn't see, hear, or touch. Was he standing or sitting? Was he dead? He remembered the man in his apartment. The photo of Kaden and Twila that looked like him and Rose. The words the man spoke rolled through his mind. 'If you would just join me… There's much you don't know…' What didn't he know? What had that man done to him? Where was he? These questions maddened him as he tried to reach for anything to give him some semblance of what he could consider reality but it was just black. Empty. He was to let the fear swallow him and cry as he was trapped in the nothingness but even his tears were unfelt. "Hello!!" he yelled. He was sure he yelled but he couldn't even hear his own voice. "Anyone hear me?!"
His mind was filled with the echo of a little girl's voice repeating those words. "I do." It wasn't a voice he heard audibly but a knowing in his heart.
"Can you help me?" he thought rather than spoke.
"You do not belong here." Echoed the child's voice.
"Please, I can't see. I don't know where I am."
"You are where you do not belong." The voice repeated.
"I know! But I don't know how to get out."
"You cannot get out."
Panic would have settled in could he feel its effect, not even frustration could make its way to the surface. "Where am I?"
"You are where you do not belong."
"Clearly, I'm asking the wrong questions. Can you help me get to where I do belong?"
"I cannot. I can only lead you to where you have been. Only One can take you to where you belong."
He sighed, or at least he thought he did. "If you take to where I have been, will I be able to see again?"
"You can see now."
"I can't. I can't see, hear or feel."
"But you are speaking with me. If you could not hear, we could not converse."
He contemplated what the girl was saying without making much sense of it. "I'm really confused. There was man in my apartment who did… something. I don't know what he did but the next thing I knew I was here in the blackness absent of my physical senses. I don't know where I am. I don't know who you are. I don't know what to do."
"If it is light you seek, you need only ask."
"I want to see!"
"Then, open your eyes." He felt small fingers caress his eyelids softly. He swallowed and too his surprise he felt the action in his throat. His heartbeat once again reverberated in his ears as well as his labored breaths. Suddenly a blinding light washed over him bringing to life every one of his senses. He slowly opened his eyes, shielding them from the brightness of the light. A few seconds passed before he was able to focus on his surroundings. He was standing in a garden of some sort full of fruiting trees and flowers. He noticed the marble bench he was sitting upon, the smoothness of which felt like glass and shone like gold in the light. "What is this place?"
"It is where you do not yet belong."
He turned towards the voice. A young girl of maybe six or seven stood before him. Soft blonde curls cascaded down to her waist accentuated only by her violet eyes. She smiled at him as she reached out and touched his hand. He was captivated by the glamour of the garden and her youthful beauty. His mind rested on her words before he spoke. "Yet?"
"All belong here," she said. "…in time. It's not your time yet."
"How do I get back?"
"She must come for you."
"She?"
"Eat of any tree you like if you get hungry." Her eyes sparkled.
He smirked and raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Where's the forbidden tree?"
"Destroyed," she said with a glint in her expression. He panned the expanse of the garden taken back by the size and beauty of it all. "Any tree, huh?" He zeroed in on a peach tree to his left ignoring the lack of answer to his previous question. He plucked a ripe peach and turned to face his young companion. She was gone. 'Odd.' He thought, though it far from the weirdest thing that had happened to him.
He stalked back to the bench to eat his peach. With his first bite he found himself sitting in a high school lunchroom with a boy sitting in front of him, snapping his fingers in his face. "Earth to Kaden." Snap snap. "You in there, dude?" Aden blinked to get his bearings. He was in high school and according to his table companion, his name was Kaden, not Aden. Is this what the girl meant by leading him to where he had been? Why high school? His attention was drawn to a girl sitting alone in a corner of the room. "Seriously, dude? The freak again?" the boy snapped his fingers again. He finally put his attention on the snapping boy. Troy, his red-headed jock friend at Twin Falls High. "I'm telling you, she's too weird. Don't go there."
He felt compelled to defend the girl but since he couldn't yet remember who she was, he opted to forego the idea. Maybe interacting with this friend would jog his memory a bit more. "Um, I… Sorry. You were saying?"
"The game tonight. It's our last one, remember? You're coming, right?"
"I-I, um. I mean, I- uh. It's just, I mean I…" He noticed the girl leave the lunchroom and felt compelled to follow. "Can I get back to you on that?" He left Troy without waiting for answer. He caught up with her in the hallway. "Hey! Got a minute?"
She stopped and looked at him, her violet eyes stabbed his temple with recognition. "What do you want from me?" she demanded.
"Just trying to get to know you. Maybe be your friend." He smiled hoping she didn't notice his nervousness.
"Why? You got a thing for freaks?" She turned and started walking away quickly.
He followed. "Maybe. Are you a freak?"
"I'm sure you've heard as much."
"Yep. I'm sure I have heard. But we're teenagers, aren't we? And teenagers call a lot of really cool people freaks."
"Well, this time they got it right."
"Do you always walk so fast? I mean most short people normally have to run to keep with me and you got me jogging here."
"No one asked you to keep up."
"I want to." 'What is her name? Obviously we've talked before so I should know. Rose? No that's not right.'
She stopped abruptly and turned to face him, halting his mental memory inquiries. His shoes squeaked on the tile floor as he braked stopping just shy of touching. "Look Kaden. The kids here were right when they told you to stay away from me. I am not friendship material. You are better off making other friends." They locked eyes for moment. He saw fear there and then he realized he was reliving the memories that had been obscured in fuzziness these past seven years. "Adrian." She muttered the name barely above a whisper.
He was instantly drawn to the moment with crystal clarity as if he were experiencing the events for the first time. "Who's Adrian?"
Her eyes misted over. "No one. Forget it." Shoulders squared she drilled him with an unapologetic glare. "Seriously Kaden, I don't want to be your friend!"
"Is Adrian your boyfriend?!" He called after her as she bolted out of the school. No, Adrian wasn't a boyfriend. He was a… nemesis.
"Told you she was weird," Troy quipped slapping Kaden on the back. Aden simply smiled at his friend. "So, The game?"
"Game?"
"Last one of the season? Tonight? Bon fire after at my house."
"Um, sure. I guess. Looks like I'm free."
"Great! Game starts at six. Don't be late."
**
Twila didn't return to school for the rest of the week. Kaden waited near her locker every morning hoping for her to return. When she walked through the doors the following Monday morning, he was ecstatic. She passed right by him and quipped "buzz off!" before he could utter the words he had on his tongue to say. He hadn't seen her the rest of the day, convinced she purposely avoiding him. He left his last class early under the ruse of needing to use the restroom, but instead went to wait for her at her locker. "What. Do. You. Want?" She growled. "I thought I said…"
He raised his hand to silence her. "You don't wanna be my friend. Yeah, I heard you. I know you lied about that, too. I know you like me. I see your knees go weak when I get too close. I see the wonder in your eyes when you steal glances at me."
She shook her in protest, avoiding eye contact. She shifted on her feet nervously.
"I know you're scared. Scared of me and what might happen if we became friends. Scared of this Adrian and what he might do."
She snapped her head up at the mention of Adrian. "What do you know about what I'm afraid of? What makes you such an expert on me suddenly?"
"Look, I don't know anything. Really. I mean I want to. I want to know everything. Even the freaky stuff." He smiled again. "It's just… I can sense things." He looked up as if he would find the right words. "I mean… I'm not sure how to say it, exactly. I can tell when someone is lying or hiding the truth or from it." A frustrated sigh escaped his lungs. "I don't know how to explain it. I know you are lying when you tell me to leave you alone and that you don't want to be friends. I know you're wearing contacts to hide your true eye color. I don't know what you are afraid of; but I know you're afraid all the time. The mere mention of that name sends terror through your veins and you think you need to protect me from him; from you." He paused for confirmation. She tried to shake her head no, but her eyes betrayed her lie. "I don't need protecting. I'm not afraid." He extended his hand out to touch her shoulder, but she jumped back from his reach.
"Don't touch me!" She yelped. He retracted his hand unoffended. "I'm sorry, I just…"
"I know, you're afraid. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
He watched her eyes soften as they locked with his. Her shoulders dropped in seeming defeat before she spoke again. "The bell is going to ring in a minute. It's best we don't stay here. Meet me under the north end of the Perrine at eight tonight and I'll explain to you exactly why we shouldn't be friends." She left before he could respond leaving him leaning against her locker wearing a silly grin of victory.
*
He found her lying on the stone wall beneath the bridge. Without turning her attention to him she acknowledged his presence. "Part of me was hoping you wouldn't show." She admitted plainly.
"But most of you wanted me here." He surmised.
"Yes," she agreed. "It's unwise, but I'm drawn to you in a way I have never been drawn to anyone. Can you tell me why that is, Kaden? I mean since you seem to 'know' so much about me already."
"I can't. Honestly, I feel the same way about you but no, I don't know why." Except the fact that their initial meeting in the lunch would haunt his dreams in his adult life, but he couldn't tell her that. She would think him crazier than she already does.
"Okay, so what, then? Where do we start? Tell me about you. I tell you about me? What? What do you want?"
"Well, we could start by introducing ourselves. You know, start all over at the beginning." He stuck out his hand in greeting "I'm Kaden. Kaden Michaels. Pleased to make your acquaintance." 'Kaden Michaels? Hmmm. Why didn't I remember that when I woke up in the hospital?'
"I thought I told you not to touch me." She waited for him to withdraw his hand before continuing. "I'm Twila. Twila Rose." 'Rose! I knew it!' "The freak of Twin Falls High."
Wait. Freak? "Please don't call yourself that."
"Why not? It's what I am."
"I don't think…"
"Clearly," she interrupted. "Look, I'm not a normal girl. Chances are pretty high I'm not even human. So 'freak' is as good a word as any other I've heard over the years."
Curiosity piqued, he began his inquisition. "What is it about you that you consider freakish? Your hair color? Lots of people have red hair. Most must buy Halloween hair dye to get the color you have, but still it's not that uncommon. You don't have a weird skin tone. I'd say it's a beautiful milk chocolate color which is quite the envy of girls that are white like me. So, what's the freaky part.?"
"Funny you should mention Halloween. It's the one time of year I can be myself without scaring people. You see," she said removing her sunglasses, "my eyes are as red as my hair; a brilliant shade of blood, aren't they?"
His breath caught in his lungs. Frightening, yes; but also, mesmerizing, enchanting and all together the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. "Beautiful," He managed. Just as beautiful as they were in the police station.
"They are the least freaky thing about me." She studied his face as if she were expecting to see fear in his eyes; upon not seeing it, continued. "Also, I don't bleed. Ever. I've been stab… er, injured many times and have never lost a single drop of blood." Recognizing his gaze as disbelief she opted to demonstrate. "Here, watch." She retrieved a pocket knife from her jeans and before he could protest she had plunged the blade into forearm and ripped the flesh open from wrist to elbow and watched his reactions as her arm sealed shut within seconds without one drop blood upon the blade or the arm.
"Okay," He admitted hesitantly; "that's a bit freaky. Agreed." His eyes met hers again without a hint of fear in his gaze. This what she did to him at her house. "But not freaky enough to scare me off. What else you got?"
"You got secrets, Kaden? Things in your life you don't want known?"
"Um, I don't think so. No."
"Everyone does. I can see them." She watched his eyes widen. "Not with my mind… or my eyes… I'm not psychic. I can't read you mind or hear your thoughts or anything like that. No. It's my hands, my skin. It's how I can see everything. It's why you can't touch me." Confusion crossed his face. "It's… um. How do I explain it? Okay, If I were to shake your hand for example; I would see everything that ever was and is about you. Thoughts, dreams, actions, physical… just everything. If you had a medical problem, I would know what it is. Um, I would know what you had for dinner on your third birthday or whether you've ever skipped class. In a sense, I would completely relive your life entirely in a split second and you… Well, you feel like you got hit with a bolt of lightning. Painful. Extremely painful."
His silence hung thick in the air for several beats. "I see," Was all he could muster.
"You are the only person I've ever told. Only my mother knows, of course. This is what makes me the freak I am. It's the reason I fear Adrian. He wants me dead because I am this freak. He has hunted me longer than I can remember and has tried kill me many, many times. I've no doubt that if I allowed myself to have friends, he would hurt them too. I hope now you understand why we can't be friends. Why you have to leave me alone. Trust me, it's safer for you." She ran off before he could respond.
He watched disappear up the stairs knowing he was going to do no such thing. He turned to look over the river and saw only trees. He was back in the garden