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    So here I am, walking to Burger King, going to meet Alice Walker, the girl with special abilities like me. So many questions are going through my mind: How is this possible? How could someone with special powers be so close to me and I don’t even know it? What kind of powers does she have? All this and more. I took a right on Jonesville Avenue and across the bridge. My super expensive touch phone vibrated but I didn’t pick it up, I already knew who it would be.

    Across the bridge was Burger King. I walked into the fast-food restaurant and looked around. Alice was nowhere to be found. Where is she? I asked myself.

    Hey! Meet me around back where we can talk without worrying about eavesdroppers, echoed Alice’s thoughts in my head. I left the fast-food restaurant and started towards the rendezvous point. Sure enough, Alice was back there waiting for me.

    “Hi Vinny!” she said with enthusiasm. I rolled my eyes a little bit.

    “Okay, so what’s up? I want some answers,” I said. Something clicked in her, like someone turned on her game face switch or something like that.

    “I will start from what I know to be fact. You and I are psychic, or some variation of it.” She seemed like a different Alice, if I even really knew the other Alice.

    “Psychic? All I can do is see aura,” I skeptically said, though aura was strange enough I wasn’t going around seeing dead people.

    “As can I, though I have been developing my psychic abilities at a faster rate than you, so it would seem. I now have the ability to read the minds of other living creatures to an unambiguous level. Not only that but I can now break off a piece of my own aura and send it to another individual, creating an effective telepathic communication with that person,” said this suddenly super-smart Alice.

    So she could read minds and send telepathic messages and they could send them back kind of like—

    “A telephone, correct,” she finished my thoughts, “Though, for some reason, you’re the only one who’s ever picked up. If I send the message to another person it’s not my voice. I pass it off as a miscommunication.”

    “So what about you cutting off my aura sight in class?” I questioned her.

    “Simply another ability I gained. I can effectively cut off the extrasensory abilities of other psychics. I first discovered this power when I visited a psychic, you know, one of the psychics that tell you your future and what not. She couldn’t tell my future. The only thing I learned to do from there is turn it on and off.” That explains quite a bit but there is one, no two more things I still needed to ask her….actually make that three.

    “Okay, three questions. One, can you see into the future? Two, are there anymore like us? And three, how did this happen?” I was starting to get frantic. Her aura became active again and she sent a wave of tranquility towards me.

    “To your first question, yes. I can see the future but only about five minutes ahead. Basically I rip off another piece of my aura and send it to the future; it comes back and lets me know what happened. To your second, I can’t really say if there are or aren’t anymore. As for your third…well.

    “Remember that psychic I told you about, the one who couldn’t see my future? Well, she found that odd. She searched for me and told me that I was a very special kid. She told me that I had a job to do and that I had to find you, here in Texas. She said that after I found you that we were supposed to meet her in her hometown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,” Alice reached inside of her pocket and pulled out two train tickets for the Amtrak Heartland Flyer, “We have to go see her.”

    Now this is officially weird. I just met this girl and she wants me to go to Oklahoma City with her to meet some psychic or something? I mean, I’m not saying I wouldn’t go but I don’t know if my mom will be so up to me missing school to go to Oklahoma, alone, with a girl.

    It won’t be a simple task but something tells me that we have to do this, said Alice in my head.

    “Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” I reluctantly accepted. A wide smile hit Alice’s face and she ran over and gave me a bear hug. She released her grip and began walking away.

    What’s up with you? At first you were cheerful and carefree and now you’re all serious and super smart, I asked through my mind.

    Well, you’re the only one I felt the need to be serious with, and I’m always super smart, I just don’t show it all the time, she replied, then she skipped away. Skipped! I haven’t seen anyone skip in a long time.

    I headed back home thinking about my dilemma. I had to find some kind of way to convince my mom and dad to let me go to Oklahoma alone with a girl. And that’s when it hit me. I didn’t have to go alone with her. I could always ask my brother, Brandon to go. He was twenty-four-years-old, I’m sure he could take me. Now the only thing left was to convince them to let me miss school. I pulled out my cell phone and called Brandon.

    “Hello?” he answered.

    “Brandon, it’s me Vincent. I need a favor,” I said whilst still walking towards my home.

    “Oh hey Vinny, what you need?” I bit my lip and told him that I needed him to come with me to Oklahoma.

    “Why do you need me for that?” he asked me, slightly annoyed.

    “Well, a girl is coming and I don’t want mom and dad freaking out if I go alone, so.” There was a pause.

    “Fine, but you have to convince them to let you skip school for that.” He hung up. Well part one done. I was only a few feet away from the front door. By habit I looked around. Same old concrete, same old forest we called a backyard, same old neighborless cul-de-sac. I opened the door already knowing who would be there. The only person who leaves the door unlocked: my dad.

    “Vinny my man! Welcome home!” he crazily greeted me. My dad kinda reminded me of Alice. At home he was an overly enthusiastic, still thinks he’s cool but really isn’t dad. But at the office he was Dr. Clark Campbell, brain surgeon. His hair was like mine, brown and mushroom-cap like. He had a pretty thick moustache and thick side-burns. For an old guy my dad was pretty fit.

    “Dad you need to shave that caterpillar on your lip,” I said to him jokingly. My dad shook his head, “Watch the floor, me and Gregory mopped it and it could still be wet.” I look down on the marble floor I was standing on. It was extremely white! Now that I think about it, my whole house is this white. I felt Gregory come down the steps before I saw him. Gregory is the house butler. I think it must be some kind of rich person code to have a butler or maid. But Gregory was more like a family friend rather than a butler.

    “Welcome home Master Vincent, good to see you!” Gregory said with a smile.

    “Hey Greg, mind taking this to my room for me,” I asked him and handed him my backpack. Gregory nodded and ascended the stairwell. I headed left of the doorway and into the main living room. A huge HD television was the first thing I saw. Across from that was an aquarium in the wall. Next to the south-east corner of the TV was just about every videogame system to ever come out, from Atari to Playstation 3. A couple of leather couches on the wall to the south side and a chair to the west side of the room. The room itself was a titanic-sized room. I felt Gregory trying to sneak up on me.

    “I know you’re there Greg,” I sighed. Greg was always trying to keep my senses sharp by attempting to creep up on me.

    “Blast, every time!” Gregory said, frustrated. I shook my head, “You can’t sneak up on me when I can feel you’re aura as soon as you enter the room.” Greg shrugged, then departed but I knew he’d try again.

    I left the living room and headed upstairs to my bedroom. My room was the first door to the left as soon as you got to the upper level of the house. I opened my door to the only averaged-sized room in just about the entire house. My carpet and walls were marble white, just like the rest of the house. My bed was queen sized and covered in black sheets. A plasma screen TV was inserted into my wall, against my protest, right next to the door. Other than that, my room was pretty bare, compared to the other rooms in the house. I felt Gregory, once again, try to sneak up on me. I sighed and that let Greg know that I knew he was there.

    “I wanted to see if you wanted to join me in the basement, Master Vincent,” he said, still frustrated at his failed stealth attempt. I shrugged, why not. I haven’t had a good exercise in a while and I already knew my father was down there.

    “I’ll be down there in a little bit, let me get my workout clothes on,” I said, looking over my shoulder. Gregory nodded and left the room. I opened my wardrobe door. I searched for my old parkour/workout gear. Yeah, I used to be a traceur, until a back injury sent me to a hospital. Parkour was a fun sport. Don’t know if it can really be called that, it’s more of a recreational thing where you basically use the entire world as your obstacle course. When I located my clothes I quickly changed and rushed to the basement. My father invested in an underground gymnasium/weight room. Another waste of money I thought, but it did keep us both, and Gregory, in shape.

    “Vinny old boy! Came down for a little workout have you?” my dad said, grunting through his bench presses.

    “Yeah,” I said, rolling my shoulders and stretching, “It’s been a while.”






    The warm water of the shower was running down my body, refreshing me.

    Been a while since I worked out, didn’t think it would be this tiring, I thought to myself. I stepped out the pearly white shower and dried myself off, put on fresh clothes, and headed to my room. It was about 10:30 p.m. and I was tired. I set my alarm and shut it down for the night. Several hours went by and I was in that state between sleep and being awake, when my senses are at its peak, when I heard a voice in the back of my head.

    Vincent, is that you? Said Alice.

    Alice, what?

    Oh it is you! Hello Vinny! Alice’s voice sounded excited, even in my head.

    How are you doing this? I asked her.

    I don’t really know myself. I was falling asleep when I suddenly heard your thoughts. The weird thing is that I’m not even sending my aura to you! It’s like we’re talking through our dreams. Now, I was officially freaked out.

    How is that even possible? I tried to sound as sane as a boy talking to voices in his head could sound.

    I don’t know, but it’s clearly possible. So, how is it with your parents on the Oklahoma thing? She asked hysterically.

    I haven’t even told them. My mom is still at some kind of press conference and my dad, well, I can’t really tell him, he’ll forget he gave me permission. My brother said he could come so that should make them a little more acceptant, I told her, honestly. I heard her cheerfully giggle in my cranium.

    Well I hope you succeed! My foster-parents already said they don’t care, though they don’t really care about anything I do… he voice got a little softer with that statement, well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow!

    And with that, I fell asleep.