Those that Follow...

“So…what kind of person are you?”
The man before me was not someone I had met before. He seemed to be a teenager…blond hair that just went down past his shoulders, deep blue eyes that seemed to reveal a tranquility within, he also wore a suit like he was going to a funeral. What he was doing in my classroom was really why I was concerned. Somehow I had ended up as Class Representative and while I found my time slowly slipping through my fingers with work…I could not help but stop and investigate something I had never seen before. Plus this guy did not go to our school so it only made sense to question him.

“What you mean by that, can’t you flippin tell!? I am Es-TA-TIC…” he felt the 40’s gangster grease smear out as he spoke…

He spoke in a way that screamed he was not from around here…he must not be as positive as I thought he was. His aura gave off an aroma of happiness but upon speaking to him he just seemed to want to be by himself. As I glanced up at the clock I notice it was already 4:53…I need to leave to get home so I can eat and then do homework and then go to bed. Why me…?
“Look I am just trying to find out where you need to go…so if you could just tell m…”
“Oh ho no…you should already know who I am.” A small grin played on his face and it seemed too sure of itself that I wanted to punch it. I always hated cocky prideful people.

I gave him a skeptical look…if I really knew who he was, why would I ask? His breath or cologne seemed to waft away from him and I could not help but try to place it. Creamy…maybe a soft sweetness. Definitely a flower of some kind. I was not much of a flower guru but if people like him were going to start showing up…maybe I really needed to branch out. Hehe…
I gave myself a slap on the wrist to remind myself to focus.

“Sorry just a bug, now anyway, what seemed to be troubling you?” I asked this mainly to keep him talking. Appearances were always deceiving when it came to people like them.
He shifted slightly and then put a hand to his chin, the smell brushed against me again and I worried he laid it on just a little too much.

“Why I am the thing that gives all you little ones hope.” He nodded as if he had explained everything all at once and that suddenly the light of reason should now be basking on my body. I’ll be honest…I had no idea what he was even talking about.

“A hope that is now lost. If I do not find my retainer they could lose themselves. You wouldn’t want someone in your class suffer like that would you…?” He made a face that gave off a sensation of pure control. He thought he had me and he thought he could play me like this. He was a fool though if he thought this was my first time around the block.

I crossed my legs and declared in a harsh tone, “Look, friend, It is not my job to police you. If I helped out every single person with every little problem I would never have anytime for myself and would eventually be run ragged. Plus…mind you…I am only sixteen. Maybe I would like to prepare for my future? Did you ever think of that? Huh!? What about me?” I needed to be aggressive here or else this would never move forward. Happiness often responded to anger…while I hated to raise my voice this was the best way.

He looked at me like I had slapped him upside his face. He almost looked disgusted and simply retorted with, “Humph…I guess you like feeling guilt for someone who might kill themselves. Fine suit yourself tough guy.”
I moved and slammed my hands down onto the table, “Someone might kill themselves!?”
“C-Castin…is everything okay?” A soft voice entered the room.

My eyes darted away from the boy to a girl who entered the room. She had dark long hair that went down to around her chest, the tips curled at the end and her eyes always reminded him of baby bird eggs. She was athletic but never joined any sports teams…she instead worked as my right hand, she was the right hand of another as well but that was something I always avoided thinking about it.

As I moved to sit down I pitched my nose and let loose a long sigh.
“Eina…sorry I just worried that some of our proposals for Student Council might cause someone to kill themselves.” The man before me was gone, like they always did when I lost focus. I hadn’t even gotten his name so it would be that much harder to find him in the future. If he was hanging around the classroom though it would only be a matter of time till I saw him again. If he was right and that was his honest impression of their emotional state…then he really had no time to lose.

As his eyes slowly returned to the girls position he thought to himself.
Eina…Nilsson…

If I had to rate her beauty I would give her an eight out of ten…if I had to rate her intelligence probably also an eight out of ten…her athletic were also an eight out of ten. She was the perfect above average girl. She worked very hard to achieve that status or so he hoped…otherwise she was either talented an annoying or just enjoyed the suffering of mortals.

As she walked over I got the sense of her being a servant from a famous noble family. She always wore appropriate clothing with very little make-up. She was considerate and kind to everyone. She was Vice-President only because she lacked the will power to take control of things, often sadly left to cleaning up other people messes. She was the leader out of the two here in terms of position, but she preferred to allow me to manage things. I always figured it was because she was so busy that she just did not want another plate added to her list.
As her lips began to move I found myself following them, “Not that I need to warn you but if you ever have a hunch about suicide you need to report it to the councilor.” She was a mother figure in my life…one of many it seemed but still, I would gladly take that over being ignored. Plus it was especially enjoyable to watch the other boys get upset when they saw us talking so casually.

As I looked at her I saw a small figure waving at me from her shoulder. The last time I interacted with her I got in trouble so I gave a nod but looked away.
“Eina you know as well as I do that I would never not say something…I’m practically hated here for truth telling.” I huffed anyway and started to throw my pencil into the air and catch it clearly bored with all this.

“Yes…”
My eyes squinted in irritation. She normally responded to things like that with a simply yes. Never allowing one to see inside her. “Castin…it’s time to go home though for today.” I let out another sigh and started to pack up my things. Hers were already in a bag so she stood there waiting for me. It unnerved me how much she watched me. I had spoken out loud instead of inside and called her a stalker once in class. That had not gone particularly well.
I checked to make sure the chalkboard was clean and the thirty-two desks were all aligned right. So much so I took an extra two minutes just to make sure they measured out right. I made sure to place the yard stick back once I was finished with it.
We walked in silence, her slightly behind me. We were not friends, in fact we only started talking because of this position that was forced on me. As we walked down the stairs and moved into the main entry way we made our way out and towards the ten foot tall brick fence that “Protected” us for the dangers of the city. This was a rich persons school after all, wouldn’t want the riffraff to come in and mess with their perfect little angels.
As the sun set her servant opened the car door for her. A large black car that screamed I am an important daughter.

“Ms. Nilsson if we do not hurry we will be late for your Choir lessons…” He smelled of cigarettes covered with cologne and I twitched my nose and rubbed it. “Very well…Mr. Taylor I expect to see you here first thing in the morning then.” She gave me a very serious looked and I furrowed my brow. I gave her a deep bow moved my arms in the largest dramatic manner I could. “Oh of course indeed Ms. Nilsson I would not dream of making you wait.” She stared daggers into me and then made her way into the car. As the driver stared equal daggers into me I just gave him an expressionless look back.

The car slowly pulled away and I thought I saw her looking back at me…
The buzzing of my phone caused me to jump and as I looked down I saw the school Psychiatrist calling me. I clicked my tongue and answered, “Your servant ready to do your bidding your majesty.”

“Fu…Castin you really need to stop being such a spoiled brat…you didn’t come to our session yesterday and I have a feeling you are going to try and ditch again tomorrow.” I rolled my eyes and started to roll my sleeves so that way my arms could breathe…stupid dress code. “I wouldn’t imagine doing something like that to you Duchess.”
He could hear her exhale slowly and then she continued, “I told your mother…be here tomorrow morning or else...”

The call hung up and I suddenly felt angry. Ever since she had figured out what I could do she constantly bothered me. I was basically a slave. Worse yet…I now had to pick which person to upset tomorrow morning. Yay me…

As I walked my way towards home I began to kick a can along the street. I let out a heavy sigh and stated…

“Whoever said being a Psychic was cool…never actually was one…”

*OOC Was informed that the beginning was not so great but it got better towards the end, I am using this for opinions on story and just general thoughts, comments, opinions, ideas etc. Feel free to comment if you feel inspired to*

Clink…Clunk…clink…

The can was going to make it home this time. As someone who was only a six out of ten in the athletic department he usually lost it through a wrong kick or just simply got lazy and did not want to chase it. Speaking of which I usually like to keep things to scale. Measuring things out by numbers always seemed to calm me down. Not that I ever get scared or anything.

The setting sun told him that he only had a little bit of light out left. It was why he rolled his sleeves and untucked his shirt. Most normal ruffians are coming home getting ready to go out, hence he needed to not look like a rich kid. Prime targets are always people who never did anything but use their brains all day and while he would not consider himself weak…he was by no means able to compete with a traditional ruffian even two or three years younger than him.

“Mr. Taylor how are you this evening?” A little old lady was greeting me as she sat on her stoop. She enjoyed watching the cars go by and she always carried lemons on her…why he had no idea but he always referenced her as the lemon lady. She was a semi-active senior certainly able to hold herself up and she had a grand-daughter who visited occasionally. Her son never visited and the daughter used her for babysitting. Not that she treated her mother badly but that was the fate of a single mother. As such I found myself helping her with groceries and helping her granddaughter get things out of trees when she played, though that was a few years ago and she was getting older now. Eventually we came to be…close acquaintances.

“Gran-lemon things are going lovely, I got to spend my evening with a beautiful girl in my class and am planning to have a lovely chat with my school councilor about my evening activities and general mental health.” As I said this I casually slipped my bag off and sat down on the lowest level. She was a lovely if slightly lonely lady, her skin looked tan and sagged a bit, wrinkles from years of hard work, but most of them showed when she smiled…meaning she was either happy or always kept up optimistically. Something I would come to appreciate and even emulate…at least when things got bad.

“Is it that Eina Nilsson girl?” She gave me a look…it was a look of why I haven’t asked her out yet and the majority of my answers revolved around a simple now is not the time. She decided to continue her rant, “You know, you think she is out of your league but if she is watching you as much as you think she is she must have some kind of reason to do it. Girls her age are having more problems than you can wiggle a finger at so the least you can do is either engage or end it.”

I looked shocked for a moment as she smacked me mentally with all that. I held my hands up helplessly, “Hey…hey I couldn’t begin to tell you how much you are always right.” As her eyes squinted she started to toss a lemon up and down. Weird as it sounded I had learned online that fruits do not bruise when you get hit with them and that showed a deeper intelligence and power than anything I had seen in the adults around me. I never wanted to mess with her when she did this. “Look…look hey seriously. I am not ready for a relationship, my emotions are all over the place. I get into fights on a regular basis, I piss off anyone who has authority over me, and to top it off I have never been able to sugar coat or sound sweet. All of these qualities are not good for a traditional boyfriend.”

Thud…the sound of a soft thing hitting the back of his head was followed by me watching a lemon roll out onto the corner of the pavemnet…I paused and then casually looked back and said, “Did you actually just th-“ Thwack…this time with force I covered my face. A slight stinging filled my eyes and I screamed, “REALLY GRANDMA!” I started rubbing my eyes like an idiot but logic never came in when pain was on the line. As I continued my vain attempt to get my eyes to stop stinging she scowled…

As the lemon slowly started to float back into her hand she commented, “Boys like you gain gifts and then think they are so smart...your gift maybe helpful but it doesn’t do much for you if you never act on it. You’ve seen what follows her right! Make a judgement about it. You’re smarter than this…you just fear commitment and letting someone see what you get to see every day.”

Well…that was enough of this for today…

I quickly picked up my backpack and still keeping a hand up to cover my face said, “Alright Alright teacher…I’ll considering trying to date someone…sorry sorry. I’ll let you know how it goes at our next session.” As I did what she wanted, a traditional Japanese bow to his master she nodded sternly back to him and said, “Make me proud not foolish…I love you.”

As I glanced towards her I saw the small pinkish yellow spirit wink and wave to me. My eyes glazed over and I sighed, “I care about you deeply to teacher.” Her felt a soft thud of a lemon in his stomach and he saw her smiling back. She never expected him to return her feelings but he did know that her son got lost to his powers…something she was adamant to make sure he did not have happen to him.

My Psychic mentor found me…despite what anyone said. She set up those situations so she could see what type of person he was. She had two powers that were very strong…her greatest strength though…was her ability to see through others.

I forgot about my can and continued my way down the road…knowing full well I would not speak to Eina about anything.

Traveling home was thankfully uneventful. I lost my can at Gran-lemons house which was a major bummer. I always lose it somewhere due to either getting distracted or losing his cool and kicking somewhere. As he made it to his complex he looked up at the apartments all collected together. He heard that rich people had yards and multiple room and things…his family’s place had a two bedroom one bathroom and no yard within miles. It still costed a ton in the city…things were better now but he remembered watching his parents suffer. Well Correction…they did not suffer on the outside. Speaking of which…

As he opened the door the smell of a home cooked meal pelted his nose. Something…chicken and rice based…it was one of his favorites. As he walked in he looked at the family room already almost overstuffed with things and people. His brother and sister were doing homework, his mother was in the kitchen a small one aisle that no one can get past if another person was in here…that just left.

He felt a big hug come across him as her was lifted off the ground and swung back and forth. “Welcome home my star student!” He was starting to feel sick and the terror of being off the ground was causing his heart to start beating out of control. He hated being forced to do things, tickling, getting picked up, and family events. All of them caused him real fear…and general sickness. “Dad…let go of me…so help me God…” His father laughed at him and firmly planted him on the ground almost causing him to lose his balance. He glared daggers at his father and said, “First of all star student? Really? Secondly…why in the world did you start doing this when I entered high school?”

As I looked to him I saw the pleased face of a small blond girl behind him. She worse a bright sundress and her pure blue eyes screamed of innocent happiness. She started to skip around me and toss small little beads of light that vanished once they hit the floor. I was getting tired of this. As I looked up at him he simply smiled and with a hand on his chest he stated, “Son…you got into the best school in the area with a scholarship, sure your grades are not the best at that school but you earned the right to go in there. You are going to carry the family name with Pride HAHAHAHA!”

A sudden sickness filled my stomach and a small peck from the girl made me move my hands to shoo her away. I glared at her but she quickly scooted behind my father and vanished. “Okay…fine whatever I’m going to go do my homework now and change if that is okay with you wall-father.” He gave an elegant bow and moved out of my way…

A panic shot through me as I realized I did the same thing to Gran-lemon…am I becoming my father?

Moving to the bedroom was my next step. There was a single bed and a bunk bed so three in total with a small desk and one dresser. Since I was the middle child I took the middle drawer and proceeded to hang my clothing up. I had one pair of good clothing to wear to school, the free ones provided. So I needed to iron them in the morning and make sure they did not smell. I hated wearing the same thing every day but this was the situation I was in. I grabbed a Black T-shirt and grey sweatpants and made my way back to the front room with my book bag. As I looked to my two siblings I could see a blue guy with black hair casually glancing at what my sister was looking at on her phone and a small purple child with yellow eyes seemingly pushing down on my younger brother shoulders. I gave a sigh as I sat down and said, “Bad day a school Sis?” She looked gloomy as usually and the guy just glanced at me and threw me a middle finger…he looked like some emo punk Goth kid and it pissed me off. As she looked at me for a second she just looked back at her phone and said, “What do you care star spangled banner?” I looked down at my clothing and thought really…how…?

My sister used to be the pride and joy of my parents until my successful test scores got me into a private school. She started to study less and less and got into make-up and socializing. She was a completely different person outside the house than she was in it. Quite frankly the blue guy gave away that she was suffering from depression. As I looked to my brother I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled, “You’ll do fine Matthew I believe in you.” My brother looked at me and just nodded clearly focused on his work. The small purple kid grew to the size of a baby and crawled onto his lap.

As I looked to them I worried…despite knowing these things my impacts were either non-existent or marginal at best. Gran-lemon told me to interact and make an impact on the world…but who was I to do that? Just because I had an ability did not mean I had to use it…besides people’s emotions were not so easily moved.

Gran-lemon had told me that the ones following everyone were their emotions. Normally only strong emotions gained a physical form and the stronger they were the more human they seemed to be. For some people it took a lot of effort to tell they were not actually people. Ones like these in my family were easily identifiable due to their skin being the color of their emotion. As I pulled out my book I started to think…the one in the class looked so real and it was talking to me…challenging me. Gran-lemon told me my gift…while useless in my eye…was actually very useful. Strong emotions were the key to being a powerful Psychic. The knowledge I had could make me very strong if I could handle my emotions and bolster them. No one other than me had a means of communicating to their power source. When I told gran-lemon that I did not have anyone following me she was confused…how could a psychic have a power and no power source?

What this meant was I was a terrible and weak Psychic. I couldn’t float things, read minds, make barriers, or float. Nothing…I could just see these things. She mentioned that my two points of training right now were finding my own deep emotions…and developing this to see past barriers so I could identify psychics in hiding.

It was all…really boring for super powers and a huge drag.

“Honey….are you okay?” I looked up at my mother and noticed her concerned look. She was a beautiful lady which none of it had transferred to my sister. “Sorry I was lost in thought…forgive me.” She placed a hand down onto my shoulder and gave it a small rub. “You’ll be fine…school is just a passing thing. Just work hard and do your best.” A small smile crossed my lips and I nodded.

“Thank you mom…”