I Know How You Feel

“What?” she shouted. “How the fuck are we terrorists? Why would we turn ourselves in and be stupid like that?”

“Well, you think about it… to them, the only way we could have gotten that information is if we were on the inside.”

“But we’re just teenagers!” she yelled. “I mean how could they even think that we’d kill people?”

I thought about this for a second and wondered how a couple of teenagers could do anything too horrible besides steal and maybe go insane and misuse a handgun.

“Maybe they know about Olivia being tele-whatever,” I heard Sam think. The question nearly formed on her lips but I stopped her.

“They don’t. Be careful. Most likely they have cameras like all the FBI in the movies,” I warned.

“I hate talking like this. It makes my head hurt.”

“Welcome to my world. I would rather have a small headache compared to the one I’m getting right now,”

“Sorry, this is all just so confusing.”

“I know. I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And it scares me,” I admitted.

There was a long pause and I heard the wheels in Sam’s head turning to the only option we had to get out of here.

“You have to tell them.”

“I can’t.” Even in my thoughts, the retort sounded weak.

I began to realize that we stood no chance otherwise. I hoped they would be thinking we were too pathetic to be terrorists and let us go. After all they did leave us in this hotel room-like cell.

“Why are we in such a nice room?” I asked out loud knowing Sam wouldn’t have an answer.

When the door clicked open, a different man who looked more like a prison guard asked for me. I stood up and went with him still having no idea what to say. As we neared the interrogation room, I heard the planning thoughts of a girl…

She sounded no older than me. It first seemed like my mind was playing tricks on me--I was finally losing it for real--but then I was for certain it was a girl. The guard used a key code to open the door and waved me in. I walked in and saw her.

A girl who looked about a year or two older than me--though lately I had been feeling middle-aged--was sitting in a chair across from a steel table but unlike the movies, the whole room was illuminated with ugly and bright florescent light. I blinked twice and looked up at a two-way mirror and found the source for the other thoughts. This probably didn’t help with the whole completely innocent thing. I looked back at the girl and my eyes went wide with surprise. She was going to interrogate me. Her mind was focused on getting this right and not messing up. She seemed almost as nervous as me. What was she even doing here? I wondered. Did they kidnap her like they did us? Was the FBI just a bunch of child-snatchers?

“Hi, Olivia, I’m Rose. Can you have a seat?” she asked. I realized I was just standing there and I went to sit down. I decided to let my fear I had been pushing back show vividly on my face.

“Do you know why you’re here?” she asked sounding like she was just making conversation.

“I…um…is it because of the envelope Sam and I found?” I guessed letting my voice sound scared and unsure.

This girl obviously wanted to seem older and more mature than me, so I let her.

“Found?” she asked.

“Yeah.” I mumbled. I pulled on one of my sleeves suddenly realizing I was still in my dress.

“Why don’t we start out with the basics… how old are you?”

“Fourteen… I think. What’s today?” I asked. My birthday was weeks away but sounding disoriented probably would help with the totally freaked out façade.

“Where do you go to school?” she asked, thinking I was going to hesitate.

“John Cabot High School. I’m a freshman,” I mumbled weakly.

I could feel her surprise but it quickly turned to skeptics.

“Rose? Why am I here?” I asked her. I looked around and tried to avoid eye contact with her.

“You told me why you are here. The envelope. How exactly did that come into your hands?”

I was horrible at lying about something this important so I stuck with mostly the truth.

“I was on a class trip and I ran into this really gross looking guy and he started cursing at me and dropped the envelope. I picked it up and…”

“You’re a really bad liar,” Rose said nonchalantly.

“What?” I snapped.

“I’m really surprised they let you in,” she added her voice flat.

My voice was full hate and disgust. “I am not a terrorist,” I spat.

“Well, then why not tell the truth?” she asked. Her thoughts calculated all of her words carefully during the short pause. “Tell us how you got this information without being one of them or on the inside. If you can prove to us you’re not lying we’ll let you go. And your friend.”

“What, so we’re just being held prisoners?” I asked.

My hands balled into my fists and my body tensed. She looked away from me and wondered what other people were being held against their will here for something they didn’t do. The thought only seemed to make me angrier. If Rose didn’t leave soon she’d end up like Misty. Though she was part of it, she was just following orders and wanted to impress her boss.

“Please leave me alone. I don’t want to talk anymore,” I mumbled struggling to hide my boiling anger.

“Hmm?” she looked me in the eye and smiled at my frustration. I felt my contained angry pressing.

“Leave,” I hissed.

My voice sounded different; I couldn’t place why. Rose’s eyes glazed over and she nodded to me before leaving. The men behind the mirror seemed to get frustrated as she walked out of the door. I sat with my head down on the table and listened to their conversation. I would have been surprised I could hear it but I was done being surprised about anything.

I heard a door open and a deep baritone started to yell.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Finish the interrogation!”

“Rose!”

“What? Where the fuck am I?” I heard her voice sounding disoriented. “Why am I here?”

“You need to be out there!” a voice snapped. “Finish the job!”

“What? But I was…” she started to say.

Her thoughts were going a mile a minute, every one of them trying to fathom how she just up and left without even consulting her brain.

“Hm, mind control,” I thought. “That could come in handy.”

“Never mind that! I don’t think she’s going to say her source. I really don’t think she’s part of the group. I just don’t know how she could have gotten the information without being on the inside,” the deep baritone admitted.

“It is weird. It’s like she was in their heads or something,” the other man commented.

“Nevertheless she gave us what we needed to place specifics on their location. I’m not sure how… but—” the baritone hesitated.

“I’ll continue looking through her background sir,” Rose said.

“There’s nothing there, Ms. Melton,” the baritone sighed, “I looked myself. This is damn frustrating.”

“What if there was a counter organization?” the man suggested, “She could possibly be part of that. Her and her partner.”

“I really think we’re overestimating her,” Rose said, “She looks like a kid. Not a spy.”

“Well so do you, Ms. Melton. There’s a reason we hired you. The young agents are the most dangerous ones for their element of surprise.”

“Right, so we basically have nothing on her,” Rose huffed.

“It would seem so,” he said, “Maybe a few more days in solitude will change her mind. Until then, talk to the other girl. Samantha Muse.”

I felt my fist tighten at the thought of Sam in this room. We were going to be separated it looked like. I just wanted to scream. I knew Sam wouldn’t be able to handle them. She would say things and they would--

My brain began to accept the only option.

Tell them the truth.

I couldn’t run away. I couldn’t lie. I couldn’t escape my fate.

I had to tell them. But how?

“Go get the girl and bring her back to the room. We need to discuss this further before we do anything more,” the deep baritone said.

I let them bring me back and thought about how and when I could tell them. I was pushed into the room. The door clicked behind me.

“Olivia?” Sam called.

Her thoughts were filled with anxiety from the blank look on my face. I closed my eyes to avoid seeing the bright purple haze that was around her.

“Olivia?”

My mind began to explore every option. I couldn’t tell them; they wouldn’t believe me.

I could show them. I thought of the door handle and remembered the code that the guard had recited in his mind.

“Olivia.”

My eyes snapped open and I looked up at her with mild irritation.

She flinched.

Well, maybe not mild irritation. I blocked out the guilt and stated my plan.

“I’m going to show them what I can do.” My voice dropped into the careless monotone that it did when I was overcome with emotions that, in less dire cases, wouldn’t allow speech.

“You mean,” she hesitated. “But I—I didn’t mean it. You could—I don’t know. You can’t do that. They’ll think you’re a—I don’t know!” Frustration oozed red around her.

“See. This is why I’m going to. I really can’t figure out any other way of getting out of this mess. It’s either this or we can rot in here.”

“There has to be another option. I mean, who knows what they’ll do to you when they find out. You’ve seen the weird alien movies. They could think you’re an alien and want to run tests on you or something.”

“Hardly,” I said knowing that it was entirely possible.

I lifted my hand and held a phantom grip on the handle. I moved it to the handle on the other side of the door and felt the buttons.

“What are you doing?” Sam asked staring blankly at my right hand.

I pressed the first key and it made a sound. I heard the guard’s thoughts speed up and I began to type in the rest of the code. The lock clicked and Sam grabbed my hand.

“You unlocked the door?” she asked. Her face looked impressed and incredibly scared.

“Yep,” I said.

I pulled my hand out from her grip but the door opened already. The barrel of a gun was the first thing I saw and Sam grabbed my arm. I tried to speak but nothing came out at first. Then I pushed all my emotions back and spoke loudly.

“I want to see whoever’s in charge,” I stated.

My voice didn’t sound as strong as I had hoped, but it would work. When the gunned man didn’t move, I lifted both of my hands and pushed him back with a force field. He was so stunned that his gun dropped from his hands. I heard dozens of footsteps coming towards the door and I waited for them to enter.

A man came into the room and I was fairly certain he was it; the head of the FBI. And if not, he sure did act like it.

He stared at me for about thirty seconds while he tried to comprehend what he just saw on the video monitor.

“Take her,” he ordered.

The guards came towards me. I pushed the air once again and they fell back.

“I’d very much like to make my own way, sir,” I said.

My voice dripped with an unspoken threat.

He coughed and pulled the men back. I got up and walked through the small gap and out into the hallway. I heard his heavy footsteps behind me and I looked over my shoulder. He intended to go to his office so I walked through the hallways using his memory as a map.

I could feel the surprise hit me in the back as I stood in front of the door and waited for him to open it. Though I could feel his fear and surprise, it didn’t show on his face. I felt a weird sense of amusement from his fear that scared me. He opened the door and I sat down in a chair nearby. As soon as the door closed, he was questioning me.

“What are you?” he asked.

“Well… I think I’m a telepath,” I answered truthfully. “Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.”