Birthday Week!

Last Thursday I turned 27! I had a fun birthday and got pretty much everything I could possibly ask for! I am off to work now so this will be short. Here are a few pics from the week. I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, President's Day and Mardi Gras! Laissez les bons temps rouler! 

P.S. I did not go over this last story but I will later. If it is awful and full of mistakes I apologize.

Week 6 (9-15 February 2015)

The Fear Touch Part 2

Lilou felt a strange cathartic sense of peace while she practiced honing her skill. Being able to touch someone and not be paralyzed with their deepest fears was a difficult task but Averett was an incredibly patient teacher. They bounced from safe house to safe house, often sleeping on the floors of mountain caves and factories in various cities until she finally figured out how to control her fear flashes. Once she was in control, Averett finally answered Lilou's burning questions; who were they running from and why?

“There are men, bad men...”

“Really? Bad guys? We are running from bad guys?” Lilou was underwhelmed at Averett's answer. Of course they were running from bad guys. This wasn't a movie, this was her life, “Who are they?”

“I don't really know. That is the problem. We have been trying to stay ahead of them for so long we don't know exactly who they are just that they want to use our abilities to kill people, important people,” he answered.

“Have they captured any of us? Who are we by the way?”

“They have,” Averett paused, “That's why we don't know who these people are. If they can't use us or someone tries to escape they kill them. No one who has been captured has ever come back to us. We have just kind of been collecting and hiding and trying to figure this all out as a group. W don't have a name, we aren't like a thing, we just save each other and run.”

“There has to be something we can do, there has to be!” She demanded. Lilou was flabbergasted. How could they not possibly know who they are dealing with. Obviously these people were dangerous, they destroyed her home and beat her mother, but how could they run from them and outsmart them if they didn't even know who they were dealing with? Averett gave her a sympathetic look as if to say he had thought long and hard about that but had no answer either.

“Now that you have your fear flashes under control it's time you met some of the others like us,” Averett took Lilou to dingy little Chinese restaurant. He walked passed the counter, to the back, through a door that led to stairs and into a room where a few people were playing an Xbox. An Xbox? These people were so normal but so was Lilou so she shouldn't be too surprised, “This is Max, Ellie and Beckett. Max, like you, has the fear touch. He will be the most helpful to you. Ellie, with one touch, can make you want to die. Then we have Beckett. Beckett is a great asset because he can see your weaknesses as if someone just wrote it all over your face for him to read.”

“And you?” Lilou realized at introductions that she had never asked Averett what he could do. How could she have gone all this time and not asked? It was most likely because she was so distracted by her own life altering change that she didn't even ask the stranger who was helping her what he could do. Averett smiled at her, as did the rest of the group. She wasn't sure why they were smiling until she realized she was hugging herself. Why was she hugging herself? She tried to stop but she couldn't. She noticed they were all laughing and yelled, “Stop!”

“Okay! Okay! Sorry,” Averett chuckled and she couldn't help but smile back.

“So... what do you do?”

“I can manipulate thoughts. I figured it out as a child so I can make people do pretty much whatever I want but I don't even allow myself to go there,” Lilou was stunned. She suddenly felt hurt.

“Have you manipulated me?”

“NO! No! Not at all! The only time I have was now to make you hug yourself so you could see my ability. That is all. I use my skill to make people feel at ease. I did it to your mother. That is how we were able to leave so easily. I helped her feel comfortable with me taking you,” Lilou wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand she was upset. She felt slightly betrayed that he had this trait of manipulation and never told her. On the other hand, he had earned her trust and he had helped her hone her skill. She decided she would talk to him about her feelings later. She had too many other thoughts.

“So what do we do now?”

“Well, we think we figured out what is going on,” announced Ellie as she put her controller down.

“Yeah? And? What is going on?” Lilou was growing impatient.

“There was an assassination attempt on the president while he was visiting a few European leaders. Now, this doesn't seem all that surprising, world leaders are nearly assassinated all the time and no one bats an eye. The interesting thing about this incident is one of our own did it. Jen went missing a couple weeks ago and we knew they had to of had her. Well they did and she was killed trying to make the attempt. We don't know how or why or anything other than one of our own did something bad after she was taken,” proclaimed Max.

“We need to get her body. We need to bring her home and see what they did to her. Jen never would have done this without force,” Averett looked crushed, “You guys figure out as much as you can. Lilou I need you to come with me. My aunt knows someone who can possibly help us.”

Max, Ellie and Beckett began making calls and doing research on the incident with Jen. Averett took Lilou with him to a quiet little house in a nice little neighborhood. She was confused. His aunt was not in hiding but Averett seemed to constantly be on the run. It felt dangerous to be in such a normal area. The house was quite cute. It had a small front yard with a flourishing tree that hung over a simple patio. The door was white and a dirty welcome mat sat at the door. It was such an obvious home it had to be a perfect hiding place. Lilou and Averett walked around back and found the key hidden in a rock on the back deck. He opened the door and called out his aunt's name. They stepped into the kitchen and heard nothing but Lilou could smell a sharp metallic scent fill her nose. Their confusion was laid to rest when they entered the living room.

The entire living room was covered in blood and Averett's aunt lay face down on the stairs with a note stabbed to her back. Lilou let out a scream and Averett turn chalk white. There had been a great struggle and his aunt had fought diligently but to no avail. Averett grabbed the note and read it: We've been watching you. Join us or Lilou's mother is next. Lilou choked on the tears trying to escape her. She had left her mother alone and someone wanted to kill her. Fear gripped her entire body. She felt it pulsating through her fists and her ears were pounding. Averett placed his hand on her and attempted to calm her.

“I need you to touch her Lilou. I cannot manipulate a dead persons thoughts but if she is still warm you can see her last moments of fear,” Lilou was shocked. He could not possibly be asking her to touch his dead aunt. Averett looked more serious thank he ever had before. She slowly walked to the body. It was still warm so she felt a tiny sliver of hope. She took a deep breath and placed her hand in Averett's aunt's hand. Suddenly a chaotic scene filled her mind. Jen got inside and began stabbing Averett's aunt. It was brutal and quick but something wasn't right. Jen had something tattooed on her hand and she looked crazed. She didn't look like a woman who had control of herself. Someone else had control of her and made her kill the poor woman on the stairs.

Lilou explained to Averett what she saw. He grabbed her arm and took her out of the home to his car. She had never seen him drive so fast. When they made it to a place she could only assume was a safe spot, Averett made a call to the others. They met them at the new safe house to discuss a plan with the traumatized pair.

“They are taking control of us and I think it is through the tattoo they put on Jen's arm. They are watching us and we need to stop them now before they kill all of or families,” demanded Averett. The group agreed and for the first time in a while Lilou could feel the fear filling up the room. Someone was kidnapping them, controlling them and forcing them to murder others. They would have to act fast to protect the innocent but how? They did not know their enemy.

Lilou took a deep breath and called attention to herself, “Our families are not safe. We need to protect them and destroy whoever did this. They cannot use us and we cannot let them harm our loved one. We leave tomorrow. I hope someone figured out where these people are because we are going after them. They will pay for this,” Lilou was shaking. She had never been so angry and vengeful but she had also never seen such a horrible sight. Everyone agreed her plan was solid and they parted ways in he safe home for watch and privacy. Only months before she was a normal student, now she just felt like a freak with a hit on her head.