*Gasp* I joulted awake with laboured breath. It's been long since I had slept so deeply, my mind fully entombed in slumber. 'What a strange dream', the images I saw left me perplexed, I mauled over them but the memory of them gradually became forgotten. But there was one thing I vividly remember, I was drowning for what felt like an eternity falling deeper into a bottomless body of water.
The veil of sleep came to me partially only a portion of my mind rested at any set time. I didn't experience dreams as often, maybe that was why I was out of practice with them. This was the most refreshed I'd felt in months. 'Time to test it out' the veil should have been restored by now, i pulled on it giving it a slight mental thug, 'it feels good enough.'. as the veil left my mind and my kinetic ability reactivated I noticed a small difference, it felt a bit stronger, i knew by training it i could become stronger but it seems it behaved more like a muscle than I thought.
It seeemed just like a muscle that grew stonger with wear and tear the veil did the same when exposed to kinetic/pyshic damage, the draw back being i wasnt able to use it while it recovered without experiencing excruciating pain. 'Today is good i feel both fully rested and stronger', I thought as I got out of bed. It was already mid day judging by the suns position, I'd overslept and missed a whole day of school.
I met Miss Adelaide in the main reception hall doing a bit of cleaning, dusting of the old furniture. "Afternoon ma'am." the greeting startled her, distracting her from the melody she was humming. "Oh Luke, you're finally awake dear, how are you feeling?" She said as she approached me and ran her hand along my forehead and wrist feeling for my temperature. "I'm alright now, I fell much better I told you all I needed was a bit of rest."
"Now don't get snarky with me young man. I was worried about you, especially after Tobias said you didn't wake up this morning." She said then proceeded to drag me to the kitchen. "I made you something to eat, be sure to finish it all I want the plates spotless." Many delicacies were laid out in front of me and a basket of fruit as well all of which came out of her own pocket. Miss Adelaide was much too caring, she always went the extra mile when it came to looking after us.
I sat by the small desk leaning against the window and proceeded to devour the food. It was devine, the ratio of spice and the texture of the food was distictly Adeliade, I could tell it was her cooking almost instantly. I gazed out the window as I ate, the backyard where we played and the small playhouse for the younger ones still rested there. The veil spread out and I took everything in with finer detail, I felt the moist grass, the steel swing that would blister in summer heat and the old goal post we used to play soccer. So many memories flashed in my mind, a lot of deals, fights, arguments took place there. Some had left, adopted into new families, some were still with us still hopeful about being taken in, but we knew at this age it was a mere dream.
"Luke I'll speak to that employer of yours, she should know better than to overwork a child." Miss Adelaide said as she reentered the kitchen with a thick book in her arms. 'Oh I forgot she had Mrs Alba's number.' normally when we started working part time jobs we were required to fill in a lot of details into that old notebook. Our employer's name and phone number being one of them. "Not so fast Miss Adelaide, I said I was a bit tired not that I was overworked. These things happen from time to time during a young adolescents lifetime, somedays were full of energy others we are in dire need of rest due to the excellearated metabolism." I said in one breath as I seized the phone from her hand, she wasn't amused but this time I wouldn't give in. I wouldn't let her trouble Mrs Alba when she had nothing to do with my condition. "Lukehiem hand over the phone I need to make enquiries about yesterday's workload from your employer." "I won't let you trouble her Ma'am, please believe me everything is alright now and I am in perfect condition, there's no need to stress yourself. Besides I can assure you that Mrs Alba doesn't overwork me or assign me heavy tasks, if she did I would ask for more pay." She sighed in expersation before patting my cheek and proceeding to attend to other duties. "Fine dear I'll believe you just this once, but the next time I see you come home that unwell I will conduct investigations." She said before leaving the kitchen.
With that taken care of I wondered how I would spend the rest of the day, I needed to visit the library again, also needed to check up on Jonathan and investigate that family of his with new criteria. I also had to upgrade the security around the house, knives alone wouldn't suffice I had to obtain some firearms, luckily I lived in America the land of firearms. Though it would still be hard to get them considering I had to be 18 to be seen with one and 21 to even purchase any, *sigh* what poor gun laws we had.
After yesterday's encounter I realised many thing, one of them being that my abilities can be interfered with. Now I also had to plan for possible actions I could take when my abilities were out of commission. 'Jonathan and I are going to have a lot of fun playing his games.' yeah that's what I would do, play into his questionable games. I lacked to much information to call the shots and deciding the outcome this early was impossible.
I spent the rest of the day as usual, reading, training and observing. By 2pm all the preschoolers, middle schoolers came back home. An hour later the high schooler came in as well except the unfortunate few that had to work today. Tobias came in looking giddy and love sick a lot more than usual. He paused at the entryway taking in the sight of the children around me happily discussing their day and gossiping as I cheered them on.
He skipped towards me maintaining that cringy air of teenage frivalry. "You look much better today Luke, I assume you're feeling good enough to resume school tomorrow." "Yes I am Tobias, mind telling me why your so giddy this afternoon. Anything happen with a special someone when I wasn't around." His ears turned a bright red confirming my doubts. "W..w...well noth..thing really happened today." he stammered out the words his fingers twitching in embarrassment. "Don't worry Tobias things like this shouldn't be discussed with the little ones present." that sent him reeling as he stomped up the stairs back to the bedroom, the children laughing at him even though they didn't really get the joke. I spent more time with the children giving them rides on my back and inconspicuouly lifting them up with my ability, their young minds incapable of telling the difference.
Today I was on kitchen duty, it was my turn to help out preparing the food. One of the perks of being a big brother among my orphaned colleagues was the added responsibility. Thrice a week I helped out in the kitchen, we all pitched in to maintain our home and avoid overworking our caretakers.
Dinner time came soon after, we gathered in the dining hall ready to be served our food. The hall was abuzz with conversation. It was the only meal we really bonded over, some of the others asked about my health and a few from my age group suggested ways to get out of work if it got too stressful. All in all the day turned out well the only thing I was worried about was DeLark, my absence today could mark weakness. He could take it as a victory over me, I couldn't allow him to get one over me, I had to fein my lack of attendance as a causality not my recovery time. He was also gathering data on me, there are two options either take another day off school or resume tomorrow. Either way not much damage will be dealt, besides he isn't aware I'd already adapted to his mental attacks. I'm very confident that I should be able to repel it easier this time, now that I've gotten a feel of it.
The only thing I more time needed to adapt to was that cold, lifeless energy of his. By exposing the veil to short bursts of it I could heighten it's resistance. Though I would be almost impossible to do so without alerting him, 'i'll figure something out '. If I'm successful his secrets will come undone much faster.