Manipulate

“Abhaya, are you okay?” Rae asks.

I’m still stunned. I’m completely stunned. I manage to shake my head. “What power does she possess?”

“I’m afraid I can’t share that information at the moment. But I can tell you, she was captured and she’s being tested because of her power. And she wants you to be safe,” Rae states.

Mom was here. She lived here. I want to cry right now. But I can’t. “How old was she when she came here to TID?” I ask.

“Abhaya, let’s focus on you at the moment. I’ll tell you more about your mom later. Deal?” Rae asks.

“Deal,” I state.

“You may go back to your dorm. Alia will bring you back here tomorrow after breakfast. Do you understand?” Rae asks

“Yes ma’am,” I respond.

“You may go now.”

I nod and unlock the door. I head to the training room and find that Theo is in there.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

Theo looks at me. He has a bow and arrow out. “You’re doing it all wrong by the way.”

“What?” Theo asks.

“You need to hold it like this and you need to reposition the arrow. It’s all crooked. That’ll make it weird to shoot and plus that’s a safety hazard,” I explain as I fix Theo’s mistakes.

I head to the storage closet and grab a bow. “Just mirror what I do.”

Theo copies me and does what I say. “Load the arrow like this,” I say as I demonstrate.

Theo follows my lead. “Good. Now pull the string back with your first three fingers.” I pull back the string and Theo copies. “Now release!”

Theo lets the string go. The arrow whizzes through the air and hits the target. A smile paints across Theo’s face. “That was really cool! Thank you Abhaya for showing me the proper way to do archery,” Theo says, looking down at the ground, scratching the back of his neck.

“You’re welcome. It’s something that you have to practice to get better at,” I respond.

Theo loads another arrow into the bow. “Want to see who can shoot the most arrows?” Theo asks with a grin.

“You’re on,” I state.

Within fifteen minutes Theo has shot all of his arrows. His arrows stick out at weird angles. “I’m terrible at this,” Theo mopes as he pulls the arrows out of the target.

“You’re not terrible. You did actually pretty good for your first time,” I state as I put the equipment back in the closet.

“Really? How’d you do when you did it for the first time then?” Theo questions.

“I was decent when I tried archery for the first time,” I start. “But, that’s not what I mean. My aunt taught me and we practiced for hours.”

“So, you practiced for hours with your aunt? How old were you when you started?” Theo asks.

“I was five when I started doing archery,” I state.

Theo’s jaw drops. “Seriously? You were that young when you started?”

“Yeah. We should head back to the dorm,” I say, motioning toward the door.

“Okay. Let me shut off the lights,” Theo adds.

I wait outside of the training room for two minutes. Theo steps out and clicks the door closed. He pulls out a key card and swipes it upwards.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“It’s a key. All the older members of TID get one. You get a key when you turn sixteen.” Theo explains. Then he makes a face. “Wait, have you gotten a key yet?” Theo asks.

“No. I haven’t,” I say, shaking my head.

“You should ask Rae later. Or she’ll make a huge announcement at breakfast,” Theo says, shuddering at the thought.

“So, getting a key a huge deal then, I’m guessing,” I say with a sly smile.

Theo rolls his eyes at me. “Abhaya, are you trying to annoy me? Or is it the change in your schedule?” Theo asks.

“I’m just playing with you,” I say, shaking my head.

Theo smiles as we walk down the hallway. I notice a small neon sign outside a room. It reads Tattoo Parlor.

“Have you ever thought about getting a tattoo Abhaya?” Theo asks, breaking the silence.

“I did once then I changed my mind,” I say. “Why?”

“I was just wondering,” Theo says, shrugging his shoulders.

Theo opens the door and all I can see is pure chaos. There’s toilet paper everywhere. There’s screaming and fighting. Then I see a paintball fly across the room and it makes a splat on the wall. I see Theo’s face turn pale.

“Theo! Can I have some help please with the younger ones? There was a fight and then it spread like a disease. So now everyone is fighting!” Trey pants as he runs toward us.

“I’m coming. Abhaya, can you go to the bathroom and clean up the paintball mess please?” Theo asks.

I nod and I head to the bathroom. When I open the door to the locker room, I hear a scream tear through the air. I dart into the bathroom and I find Kayla screaming at the wall.

“What is it?” I demand as I rush to Kayla.

I look at the wall and it reads: Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.

Kayla shakes in terror as I read the quote. “Shakespeare,” I manage to whisper.

“What?” Kayla asks. “What does it mean?” She asks a little stronger this time.

I look again at the red spray-painted words on the wall. I shake my head. “I don’t know. But I believe that someone has an idea and someone else is suspicious about that other person’s theory or idea. So that one person who is suspicious about what that person is doing will feel guilty about him or herself later in life,” I explain.

“Why would anyone be suspicious in TID?” Kayla questions. “Who would someone be suspicious about?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know.”

I grab the paper towels and I go back out to the dorm and start cleaning the paintball mess. “How can people get a hold of these? Shit, this is stupid.” I curse and mutter under my breath as I scrub the wall.

I scrub the walls for over half an hour. Theo comes over with more paper towels and a bruise along his jawline.

“What happened?” I ask as I take the paper towels from him.

“Well, where do I start? The people who got in the fight were Peter, Nick and some other kid. But I don’t remember his name though. I tried to break the fight up, but I got hit in the jaw,” Theo explains as he scrubs the wall fiercely.

The wall is finally clean after two hours of scrubbing and countless paper towels. I glance at the trash can. The trash can overflow with paint stained paper towels. “Abhaya, do you want to take the trash out? I’ll put a new bag in the trash can,” Theo offers.

I nod and take the trash bag out to a larger trash can at the end of the hall.

I come back to the dorm and everyone is sitting on their bunks with their heads hanging low. I push myself up onto my bunk. The door clicks open and Max comes in with Alia and Rae behind him. Scowls are painted across their faces. “Whoever got into the fight please come here. If you helped clean up or if you tried to break up the fight you may stay here,” Rae orders.

I look at Theo. He’s sitting on his bunk with his knees tucked up to his chest. I catch a small glimpse at his bruise on his jaw.

“How’s your face?” I blurt out.

Theo looks up at me. “Fine,” he says. “Fine.”

I head to the locker room to shower. “Ugh. I feel disgusting,” I complain as I open my locker and grab my clean clothes I put in there. I head to a shower and turn the water on and I start washing my hair. The warm water streams down my back as I rinse the rest of my hair. I start humming a tune as I wash with the soap.

I hear someone open the door to the locker room. “Hello? Is anyone in here?” The voice calls out.

I shut off the water and stand against the wall. “Guess nobody’s in here,” the voice grumbles.

I rush into the locker and change into a black long sleeve shirt and black ripped jeans. I pull my combat boots back on. I let my hair fall down my back for now.

I head back out to the dorm and find that everything is back to normal. Everyone is yelling, talking and laughing. I feel like a weight has been lifted and I head to my bunk.

The clock reads seven forty when I push myself up onto my bunk. I grab a book out of my backpack and settle down on my bed to read.

“Hey,” Theo greets.

That catches me off guard. I look up and close my book slightly. “Hi,” I say back.

Theo looks at me. His face is blushing, especially around his ears. “What are you reading?” Theo asks.

“A book my mom wrote. She was a florist and she studied herbalism. She always wanted to learn the basics of flowers and herbs,” I say.

“That’s nice. What’s your favorite flower?” Theo asks.

“Why do you want to know?” I ask with a small smile.

“I was just wondering.”

“Rose. Roses are my favorite,” I say.

Theo looks at me. “Really? You know roses symbolize love or a deep longing for affection, right?”

“I know.”

“What’s your favorite flower then?” I ask.

“Iris,” Theo states.

I smile. “Iris’ symbolize wisdom, hope and faith,” I say.

Theo smiles. “I can see that. My mom used to love them. But she passed away in an accident and we ended up burying her with a bouquet from her garden,” Theo whispers.

“I’m sorry about your mom. I’m sorry if I brought the topic up,” I apologize.

“It’s fine, Abhaya. Don’t worry about it,” Theo says, shaking his head.

The clock reads seven fifty when I look at it. I sigh and I put the book back into my backpack. The door opens and Rae comes in.

“Everyone, I need you all to report to the cafeteria. I need to talk to you guys. I need everyone down there in five minutes. Come down quietly. I don’t want any more complaints from the adults,” Rae orders.

Rae closes the door and leaves. I can hear her heels clicking against the tile floor as she walks down the hallway.

Everyone groans and piles out of the dorm. The hallways are eerily quiet without everyone laughing or talking. We walk down quietly toward the cafeteria.

Max, Alia and Rae are already there when we come pouring into the cafeteria. “Have a seat please,” Max orders.

Everyone stops and starts running to a table as if it is musical chairs. Max and Alia roll their eyes when Rae gives them a questioning look.

Everyone starts talking and whispering. “Guys! Everyone Quit talking!” Max yells.

No one stops talking or looks at Max.

“Hey! Quit talking!” Alia yells over the chaos.

No one stops. That’s when we hear a loud whistle go through the air and bounce off of the walls. The room goes dead silent.

“Pay attention, please,” Alia pleads.

Rae stands up on her podium and looks at all of us. “Everyone in unit four, please remember that Friday this week is the annual paintball game and that this is not just for fun. This is a test to see if you’ve been paying attention to Max and Alia and the skills, they’ve been teaching you. And I want to get this engraved into your heads; please, be respectful to the adults. They deserve respect, they help all of you with your classes. So please just show respect for them and we’ll be cool. Okay?”

No one answers. The room is dead silent. You can only hear everyone breathing.

“Okay?” Rae repeats.

“Okay,” I whisper.

That one whisper causes a chain reaction. Everyone screams, “okay!”

“You are all dismissed then!” Rae chirps. “You may go back to your dorms. Quietly. You may whisper; but no yelling,” Rae adds sternly.

We all pour out of the cafeteria and we head back to our dorm. No one talks on the way back to the dorm. I feel a light tug on my sleeve. “Abhaya, aren’t you burning up in that. I mean long sleeves, jeans and boots; you have to be at least sweating in that,” Mia points out.

“I’m not hot. I always wear long sleeves and pants,” I say calmly.

“Why?” Mia scoffs.

I feel the blood rush through my body. “Why are you questioning what I wear.”

“I’m not. I just want to know why,” Mia says while flipping her blond shoulder-length hair.

I stop and talking and I shut my mouth. When we get to the dorm Theo yells, “lights out!”

Everyone groans but they do what they’re told to do.

I crawl into my bed and snuggle under the sheet and blanket. I press my cheek to the pillow and close my eyes. I fall asleep in an instant. Tonight, there will be no nightmares or flashbacks. Just a dark and dreamless sleep is all I want.