Part 8
Four days later you're still suspicious of the Tomorrow People and all they've told you. Since your resolution to be cautious that first day you've become more and more anxious about your new 'friends'.
Did you make the right decision? It's so difficult to be sure. It is as if as soon as you decided that you didn't trust John, Elizabeth and the others a barrier came down between you making any kind of trust impossible. You're wary of them, reluctant to speak even to Elizabeth who's visited you to help you learn to use the new powers that haunt you. Untrained, they are playing havoc with your life. Crockery jumps off tables as you pass, machinery hums into life. These last two days at school you've anticipated other people's questions on no less than four occasions. You've only visited the Lab twice since you broke out and even without meaning to you know that John, TIM and Elizabeth are worried. You seem to have unusually strong talents and your subconscious refusal to trust your tutors is rendering them impossible to train. Each failed exercise, each humiliating defeat is just adding to the wall of mistrust that's keeping you away from the others.
You're walking home from school on that fourth day when a young man a few years older than you falls into step beside you. You know without seeing the belt around his waist that this is another Tomorrow Person but you wait until you've walked in silent agreement to the nearby park before indulging your curiosity.
"Who are you?" You ask simply. The man shrugs
"How much of what John and Liz have told you do you believe?" He counters without answering. This time you shrug.
"Some of it, I suppose." You tell him. "I suppose I can't really deny the telepathy and the jaunting. But that the Prime Minister is in on all this? That we're defenders of the Earth like some comic book heroes? How am I meant to believe any of that? And how can I trust people who are lying to me?"
The man nods, and he's looking thoughtful.
"What are you thinking?" You ask.
"Can't you tell? From what I've heard your mental shields are shaky enough to pick up a mouse's thoughts at a hundred paces and you won't let Elizabeth teach you how to improve them." The man's eyebrow is raised and you realise with a shock that he's teasing you. In the gloom that seems to have settled over the Lab since you arrived humour has been scarce indeed. "Seriously, Jay, I was wondering if you're particularly suspicious or the rest of us were particularly naive."
"Which do you think?" You ask, genuinely curious.
"It's probably a little of both." He admits. "I'll admit it does all sound ridiculous but the rest of us swallowed it in a single lump together with our special powers."
"You're one of the 'others' that John talks about, aren't you?" You ask. "Kenny or Stephen or Tyso or Mike."
"Stephen Jameson at your service." The man offers his hand and gives a slight bow as you shake it awkwardly. His old fashioned manners seem a little strange but you know somehow that he is completely serious, that this is a form of greeting to which he has become accustomed. He brushes your mind as your hands touch. It's enough for you to know that you would recognize his thoughts again but not much more. "John asked me to come and talk to you. You seem to be having difficulty accepting your new life together with the old so we wondered if you'd like a break from the old while getting to grips with the new. How would you like to come up to the Trig with me and see for yourself what it means to be a defender of the Earth?" He pauses and looks you in the eyes. "At least this way you'll know for yourself whether John and Liz and the others are lying."
You hesitate for only a moment. After the last few days you're willing to try almost anything to break down the unnatural barriers that have risen between you and the other Tomorrow People. Intellectually you still don't believe that Stephen can do what he claims but, as he says, this way you'll know for sure.
"My parents will never agree." You warn him and Stephen gets a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Oh, I think they can be persuaded." He tells you.
Go to Path 5
To return to the start click here.
To skip this storyline and start another click here.
You are currently on Path 4.
Click here to return to my homepage.
Email me on tiylaya@yahoo.com with coments or suggestions.