to the first level and into the bathroom. I turned the water on full blast, cold, and stepped into the stream still fully clothed.
The water evaporated like my sweat had, billowing in the air of the small bathroom. The thick white cloud of vapor made it hard to breath.
I just stood there until the steaming stopped and I actually felt the cold chill me. I turned off the water. I climbed out of the shower grabbing a towel.
I dried what I could and left the bathroom.
I took the steps one at a time.
It took me a few moments to find clean, dry clothes, and get dressed. My head was killing me and I didn’t want to turn on the light. I laid back down in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I saw nothing but darkness but could feel the memories of that man’s hands around my neck.
I played the parts of the dream that I could remember in my head over and over again.
I wondered what it all meant. I had caused a man so much sorrow that he tried to kill me and I was only eleven years old. Rebecca had told the person on the phone that I had used emotional projection. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Rebecca again after that incident or the man for that matter.
I had to find out what exactly emotional projection meant and if I was still able to do that. I have to keep myself from torturing anyone else with my emotions; I hardly understood what was going on in my head. I didn’t need anyone else to suffer because of me.
There was a soft knock on my door.
"Yeah." I turned my head over to look at whoever opened the door.
Kenny leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, "Hey, was that you that got up and took a shower?"
"It was." I sat up.
"Are you sick?" He looked worried, "I was watching TV and you walked by like a zombie and ignored me."
"I guess you could call it that." I smiled. "I didn't mean to ignore you."
"Don't worry about it; most people are zombies this time of night. You want to talk about what’s on your mind?"
"I wouldn’t know what to talk about if I wanted to." I sighed.
"Come on, you used to talk to me all the time. You know that I won't say anything to anybody." he was right. There weren’t many secrets among the four of us, but if there was ever something, Kenny was my go to guy.
"What about Sandy, you two don't keep secrets." I picked at him.
"We don't keep secrets from each other that pertain to the two of us but this is your thing and that doesn't count." he remained perfectly cool.
"I don't think that I have told anyone about what happened to me before I came to Hillside, partly because I didn’t remember most of my past." I laid back down onto my side.
"Nope, I figured it was a touchy subject."
"Well, I had blocked most of it out. What I could remember back then was pretty rough." I took a deep breath. "I was having problems with my abilities and Doctor Z thought that it was linked to a mental block. He gave me a drug that he created to get rid of blocks, but it got rid of them all. I just relived a memory that I wish I never had. I should have listened to Sam.”
"What happened?" he listened closely.
"At this old orphanage that I used to live at there was a male caretaker. His name was George. He tried to kill me." I forced the tears away.
"Why?"
I contemplated telling him everything that I had remembered but decided against it. "I don't know why. I went to therapy for a while before moving to Hillside. George was let go, or terminated was the word they used, and I never saw him again. Didn't bother me."
"Wow, no wonder you got sick." he sat down on the floor next to my bed and leaned back.
"Yeah." I chuckled, "I think that other than a therapist, you are the only person that I have told any of this to."
“You want to know something?”
“What’s that?” I let my hand fall off the side. He took it and held it like I imagined a brother would.
“I had abilities before we were abducted.”
“What do you mean?” I knew exactly what he meant.
“From as far back as I can remember I have been able to heal things.”
“Like