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Author's Note: Here's Chapter Eight, a new character is introduced and I don't beat around the bush concerning his identity. Things seem to be taking an interesting turn for our heroine now. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Eight:

Most people are nervous on their first days of school. It happens if it’s the very first day of school when starting kindergarten or the very first day of starting a new school, say moving from elementary to middle school or middle to high. In Azarath, we didn’t really have that problem: it was a central school with elementary, middle and high all in one large school complex. Yes, we all had a few butterflies when moving to new buildings but nothing overly fear invoking. I was pretty jittery though, a few weeks ago when I arrived for my first day of college. If anyone says that adults don’t get butterflies, they’re damn wrong because they do. Being only nineteen doesn’t really make me an adult but I’m definitely not a kid anymore.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that one first day of college was scary, but two first days of college, there are very few people who get to experience that.

“Dude” said Bart as he pulled into a parking place. “You ok? You look pale.”

I turned to him and gave him a raised eyebrow. As soon as I did, he realized what he said and laughed. But I still responded with a snappy come-back anyway. “When do I not look pale?”

He laughed. “What I meant is that you look paler than usual.”

I took a deep breath. “Well I am about to commit the biggest performance of my lifetime.”

“You see this as acting?”

I shrugged. “Isn’t it?”

He didn’t say a thing. Instead, he took the key from the ignition and unbuckled himself.

I’m not sure if I really saw it as acting either. A few days ago, I might have said yes but that was then. After my meeting with Dakota and my trip to the mall, life seemed to get fast. The day after that I went into the city and got all my information filled out at the local office that Dakota mentioned. I was surprised to find that the DEO---top secret government agency that it was---worked out of a nondescript, gray building like any other government building. Once there a representative from the local branch of STAR Labs evaluated me. He ran a battery of tests, took some more blood and then said he’d get the results back soon. Those didn’t come until two days later, along with all my new identification. The only thing the test proved was that I was not a Meta. I think that perplexed them all a great deal. They wanted more tests but they weren’t mandatory so I told them no.

Mom came by later that night. I met her at a little coffee shop---the same one that Lori and I went to earlier that day. We had a long, nice chat. My ID said I was officially Rachel Roth and if anyone in school asked, I was Ryan’s twin sister. Not that that would make much of a difference because everyone thought Ryan was a girl anyway. Mom and I talked for a long time about things. It was a little awkward at first but the two of us got over that quickly. Like Iris, she kinda frowned at my new gothic look but she didn’t say anything. The day after that I officially reenrolled at Arizona State. The DEO helped fast track my application. I filled out most of the paperwork with Dakota as a witness. When it came to my major though, I faltered. I thought about going Theater again but something about it felt wrong. I’m not sure why but I didn’t want anything more to do with it. Old memories I guess. Every time I thought about all the fun times I had performing, I couldn’t stop seeing Katie’s face. She used to come to all my plays and the fact that I wasn’t going to see her smiling face in the front row anymore made me sick to my stomach. In the end I decided to go Undecided, that way if something really interested me, I could sign up for it later. I signed up for the same General curriculum and then found a class that Katie was particularly fond of. She raved about it actually. It was a class on the Occult, taught by a visiting professor named Dee. So I ended up putting that on my list.

Now here I was four days after my meeting with Dakota, ready to get on with my college life once again.

“You getting out dude?” asked Bart, half hanging out of the car himself.

I sighed. “I’m building up to it.”

He slipped back into the driver’s seat. “We can always ditch today, start again tomorrow?”

I shook my head. “Then I’d just have to go through this all over again.” I shook my head again. “I just need a moment to build up to it.”

He laughed. “Me too. I’m going to miss being roommates with you bro. Whoever this new guy is, he better not snore or I’m going to kick his ass.”

I smiled weakly at his attempt to cheer me up. This new life definitely had disadvantages. Officially, Ryan withdrew from school and went home, seeking familiar surroundings. If anyone asked, my “brother” couldn’t deal with the pain of being in this place without Katie. It was partially the truth. I almost didn’t enroll back at Arizona State at all, too many painful memories. Mom convinced me to at least try. She said if I couldn’t handle it then I could move to some place else.

“You know anything about your new roomie yet?”

My new roomie? I groaned to think about it. I got my new room assignment yesterday. I was going to be in the same dorm building as Katie believe it or not. I dreaded that they might put me with Sarah but that wasn’t the case. Sarah was gone too apparently, the stress too much for her to handle. I tried talking to her on the phone but she refused to take my calls, not that I blamed her. She thought I killed her best friend and I’d be lying if I said she was wrong. I tried calling Katie’s parents too but their number was disconnected.

According to Mom, they took Katie’s death pretty hard. They didn’t blame me like Sarah but they couldn’t stay here anymore. They packed up all their things and moved a day after the funeral, out of state apparently. Strangely enough, most of the stuff in Katie’s dorm was just moved to storage. They didn’t even bother to take her car.

“Earth to Ry…I mean…Rachel” said Bart waving his hand in front of my face.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Then I sighed. “I only have a name but I’m even dreading that.”

Her name was Angelina Smith, which was bad enough. But it was made worse by the fact that she dotted her i’s with little hearts. That tells you a lot about a person and it definitely told me that my new roommate was going to be someone worthy of the cringe factor. If anything, living with Angelina was going to be enough of a problem. Add to that the fact that I was suppose to have been a girl for the last nineteen years. So far, I’d been able to get by because I wasn’t really interacting with anyone else. Lori and I hung out a lot now but if I was doing anything ungirl-like, she wasn’t calling me on it. But then again Lori wasn’t the girliest person either. Hell, Katie wasn’t all that girly. So as far as being a girl was concerned I was trying my hardest to emulate both of them.

I told Bart my fears and after he was done laughing his ass off, I threatened to make him slam his head a few times in the car door. He held up his hands. “Dude, consider me warned.” He scratched the back of his head. “You going to be ok living with a chick?”

I shrugged and took a deep breath. “Only one way to find out I guess.”

I unbuckled my seat belt and pushed open the door.

The first thing I notice when I went into my dorm was that they were much nicer than the ones I had when I was Ryan. For one thing, there seemed to be more room with an actual carpet on the floor and two beds instead of a bunk bed. The second thing I noticed was the girliness of said room. I’m not sure all of them were like this but this one sure was. One side of the room was decked out in kitten posters, boy bands and candid personal photos. The desk had a girly pink shaded lamp and there was a fuzzy pink bedspread. I wanted to gag. I looked to the other side of the room, which was bare and must have been my side.

I carried my duffel over and dropped it on the bed. I didn’t have much in the way of things. Most of my stuff was still in my old room with Bart. I promised to come by later in the week and pack it up. The DEO gave me a nice dividend to start my life over. Even if I didn’t test as a Meta, they were sure that I was something worthy of keeping an eye. So I got a five thousand dollar budget to spend on whatever I wanted. So far, the only thing I bought was a cell phone and some underwear. Most of my clothes I bought the other day with Lori---Bart wasn’t too happy I swiped his bank card, especially when he saw how much I spent. I reimbursed him with my cash, plus a hundred bucks more. I told Dakota about my wallet but she said I’d have to figure that out on my own.

So much for government aid. I looked at my brand new watch. It appeared to be in-between classes so Angelina wasn’t here. I guess that was a good thing. I decided to use the quiet and unpack. I put my casual clothes in the dresser, intimates in top drawer, jeans, t-shirts and assorted clothing in the other drawers. The rest of my clothes went into the closet. Lori insisted I have at least two dresses---both of them gothic in nature. One was skimpier for the club and the other longer and elegant. I’m not sure where I’d wear the second one, but apparently there was an alternative club in the city. Lori frequented it a lot and expected me to join her this weekend. I’m not sure if I was looking forward to that actually. The last club I was in led to a fight and that fight led to…
Clubs are bad for me. Bad things happen when I get in that kind of environment. I’d have to make up an excuse and call Lori later about it.

When I was done putting my stuff away, I went and explored the other side of the room. A lot of pictures on the wall showed a blonde girl with a big smile who I assumed must be Angelina. I groaned when I saw her in a shiny pink prom dress and groaned even more when she was wearing a yellow and black cheerleader outfit with a bumblebee in the center. That’s all I needed. I looked at the other pictures then looked over her desk quickly. Besides the girly lamp, there was a laptop with a pink trim, several pink pencils and a plush pink bear wearing a graduation hat. I groaned. This girl clearly liked pink, which was going to make things really hard for me.

The final thing I noticed was on her wall. It was a crucifix. I couldn’t help but think of my own cross with a bit of longing. One of things I planned to do was get a look in Katie’s car. Hopefully my clothes were still in there, along with the cross. It was the only other place I could think of, unless I left it back in her room before that shower I took. That dreaded shower, the one which if I hadn’t taken, Katie might still be alive. I shuddered, a tear running down my cheek. If my cross was in the dorm then it was probably in storage with the rest of her dorm room stuff. I wonder if Dakota could help me get into that. I suppose if I asked nicely enough she might.

As I was rounding toward Angelina’s bed, my cell rang. It vibrated through my pants’ pocket, thumping against my leg. I cursed when I saw the name on the screen: Dakota. Speak of the devil. I took a deep breath and clicked it on.

“You have ESP?”

She chuckled. “You’re the only psychic I know.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a psychic, I’m an Empath.”

There was one good thing about the whole STAR Labs experience. The doctor who tested me---Dr. Reynolds---was able to figure out exactly what I was. He called me an Empath or more accurately a Psionic Empath. I’m not sure what any of that really meant because he explained it to me in a bunch of techno mumble jumble. But the jest of it was that I could read emotions and to an extent, project those very same emotions on others. He didn’t know what to think of my power of suggestion though. According to him, I was the one in their database who could do such a thing. The teleportation they listed as questionable because I was never able to reproduce it. They ran me through countless tests but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t teleport at will. I guess it was for the best. I overheard him talking to his flunky and they wanted to keep me around for more tests if that ability proved liable. I definitely didn’t want to be a lab rat for the next few months, that’s for sure. I still was keeping quiet about my precog ability, whatever it may be. I’m not sure why I decided to keep that one to myself but there was something about it that freaked me out. It wasn’t just seeing those girls being killed either. There was more to it; I’m not sure how to describe it though. I guess first and foremost I was terrified of it. It was somehow connected to that thing behind the door and I didn’t like that in the least.

“Psychic, Empathic or whatever, you and I need to talk for a few.”

I groaned. “Didn’t we discuss everything discussable?”

She laughed. “I’m supposed to be checking in with you every day.”

I looked at my watch. “I have my first class in an hour.”

“This meet will only take like ten minutes” she said, I sighed. “Good, meet me on the bench in front of your dorm.”

I clicked the phone off and headed out of the dorm. A two minute elevator ride later, I was downstairs walking through the little foyer and out the door. Dakota was sitting on the bench just like she said. It was clear she was trying to look like she belonged but she wasn’t doing a really good job of it. Tank top and khaki shorts aside, she still looked a little out of place. I walked over to her. She was sitting on the bench, reading a hardback textbook. When I approached, she snapped the book shut and stuffed it back into a backpack at her feet.

She looked at me and shook her head. “Aren’t you hot in all that black?”

I looked down at my black tee and baggy black pants. The heat didn’t seem to be bothering me. Maybe it was another of my Meta powers or maybe it was because I just walked out of an air-conditioned dorm room. “You wanted to see me?” I asked, ignoring her question.

She nodded. “Are you adjusting well?”

“That’s why you dragged me out here, to ask how I was?”

She laughed. “No, that was called concern” She picked up the pack and shook it. “This is why I’m here. The government took the liberty of getting you your books already.”

I looked at the purple backpack and frowned at the little stuffed bear attached to my zipper. I took the pack from her but pulled the bear off and put it in her hand. She laughed.

“I told them that that was too easy.”

“Too easy for what?”

She shook her head and pulled a keychain from her pocket. “Give me your keys.”

I did as I told and watched as she put the little Devil mascot on my key ring. “What’s that for?”

“Insurance.”

I tried to get her to tell me more but she wasn’t in the talking mood. At least not about super secret government stuff. Instead, she wanted to talk more about me. Ever since we met the other day, in our last two meetings---this one being the third---all she wanted to do was talk about me. She was really interested in my well being, like an overbearing big sister. I’m not even sure why she was still around. I wasn’t a Meta according to all the tests they performed and yet I still couldn’t get rid of her. She did work for the Department of Metahuman Affairs; surely, there was another Meta out there that she could bug.

After a few more questions, I didn’t even have time to go back to my dorm. My first class was on the other side of the campus. By the time I got there, I would have maybe ten minutes or so to get to class. Dakota said it would only take a couple of minutes but with the questions, it was nearly thirty. I guess it couldn’t be helped. I wanted to know why she was still around and all she wanted to know was what kind of person I was. Neither one of us ended up with the answers we sought. She told me she’d back tomorrow at about this time. Me, I could hardly contain myself.

I had to walk at a brisk pace. I went to the bathroom first. On the way out, I notice a strange man standing at the corner. He was tall with dark hair and an angular face. He wore one of those coats that detectives wore in those old black and white movies. As soon as I walked out of bathroom, he started staring at me. He kinda freaked me out actually. The freakiest thing though was that I couldn’t get a reading off him. There was no color surrounding his body and when I tried to read his feelings, I got nothing. I took a deep breath. Stop looking at me you creep. I tried “suggesting” he look the other way. One of his eyebrows rose slightly then a slight smile curved his lip.

I took a step forward. Just as I was about to take another step, an influx of people floored the halls. I was nearly trampled as they poured out of the classrooms. I got a bit turned around. When I finally righted myself, I turned back to where I saw him. He was gone. I sighed. He was probably just some creepy janitor or something. I shrugged it off and slipped into the crowd. If I hurried, I might be able to make a food run before class.

My first class of the day happened to be my Occult class. Katie herself had only been in the class a few weeks before she died but she raved about it. The professor was supposed to be a foremost expert on it or something. I’d be lying if I said I knew what it was that we were actually going to be discussing in class. So after I got my course curriculum the other day, I went online and looked it up. According to Wikipedia---gotta love it---Occultism is the study of occult or hidden wisdom (forbidden knowledge). It contains things like magic and alchemy. I vaguely remember Katie going on about some of the stuff they talked about in class but she talked so much about all her classes that things just molded together. Me, the only think I could talk about was acting. Not that I ever bored her---at least she didn’t act like she was bored.

There were a lot of people in the classroom when I finally got there. I almost didn’t make it in time. There was a line at the little Starbucks cart at the end of the hall. Now standing in the door I was finding it hard to find a seat. I scanned the faces, wondering which one of them wouldn’t mind a girl like me sitting next to them. I caught eyes with a girl in the front row. She had black hair cut to her shoulders and was wearing a dark purple skirt and black skirt. I looked at her legs, which were clad in fishnet stockings. It was the boots that gave her away. Though she wasn’t all decked out in her usual wear, especially the heavy makeup, it was clear this girl was Lori.

She smiled when we locked eyes. I smiled back and walked over. When I slipped into the seat next to her, she took my coffee from me and took a sip. “Caramel macchiato?”

I nodded then took my drink back. “Why didn’t you say you were in this class?”

She shrugged. “You never asked.”

The two of us discussed classes the other day. It was true I never really went out of the way to find out which classes she was in. Then I realized that she thought I was a student here from day one. So I needed to cover and fast. “I transferred myself into this class from an earlier one. I needed more time to sleep in the morning.”

“I hear ya; this is my first class as well.”

When I first met her one of the first things I noticed was the slight accent. In fact, at the coffee shop, I picked on her a bit about it. But apparently, I had one too, at least to her. She was from Dayton Ohio. Her home life wasn’t exactly the best so as soon as she graduated high school she found the farthest college from her father she could think of. I’m not sure why she chose Arizona. She didn’t talk much about her mother, other than the fact that she was dead. I think it was a sore subject. If one were to look at Lori Zechlin, one might think they had her all figured out. I sure thought I did. But seeing her now---sitting here in semi-normal clothes---I was way off. There was definitely more to her than she was letting on. I guess that makes two of us.

The class started a few minutes after I sat down. The professor walked to the front of the room. He was definitely not what I was expecting. For one thing, he wasn’t wearing a tie and for another he actually looked like he wanted to be there. Not that any of my former professors didn’t look like that but this guy was actually smiling. When he set down his briefcase and put his long tan coat on the back of the chair, something clicked. I took a big breath: it was the guy from the hall. I forgot everything else as I stared at him. Even when he started lecturing, I zoned all of it. The only thing that mattered to me was this guy. I looked around the room. Everyone else was glowing in various colors, most of them a calming blue. But the professor was nothing. It was like how I used to see people before all this crazy crap started to happen. I tried reading his emotions again. I’d been practicing ever since the STAR Lab doctor told me I could do it. I have a pretty good handle on it now. I can either read everyone in the room---which is a bitch and a half---or one person at a time. I tested it on the blonde haired jock in front of me. I centered on his glowing blue form. There was a slight fluctuation in the color. Then I got this overwhelming sense of lust. Not for him but from him. I gripped the edge of my desk from the intensity.

I forced myself away from him, breaking the hold. Then I noticed the busty red head in front of him. The lecture hall was set up so one row looked over the row in front of it slightly. So in theory guys could actually look down girl’s shirts if they wanted. The red head was wearing a low cut top, her girls exposed for every guy behind her to see. The lust I felt was clearly directed at her. Once the feeling passed, I felt sick to my stomach.

“You ok?” asked Lori softly.

I nodded. “Something I ate.”

After I fully recovered, I lashed out again. I still wanted to make sure that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It didn’t take long though for the lust to come back. I almost smacked the jock in the back of the head before I realized it wasn’t coming from him. I turned slightly and saw a skater punk glaring at me. He wasn’t trying to hide it either. His stare was definitely uncomfortable. Lori caught where I was looking and saw the guy too. She gave him the finger, which snapped him out of his stare. It also killed his lust. When I shook off the feeling, I decided that I was definitely doing things right. It grossed me out that a guy could think about me that way but at least I knew things were working. I picked up other emotions too before finally deciding to try my “magic” on the professor.

But just like the hallway, I didn’t get a thing off him. He did lock eyes with me though. It was only for a second. There was something about his eyes, something that made me feel uneasy. They weren’t evil but they weren’t the kind of eyes that normal people had either. We stared at each other for a long time, neither breaking the stare. My concentration was finally broken by Lori snapping her fingers in front of my face.

“You alive in there?”

“Yeah barely.”

She chuckled softly. “You were freaking me.” She looked where I was staring and smiled. “You hot for teacher?”

“Eww gross.”

She laughed. “Well you don’t talk about boys so I thought maybe you liked men.”

We both shared a soft laugh. “I saw him in the hall today and he was giving me a creepy look.”

She nodded. “That’s Dr. Occult for you.”

“Dr. Occult?”

She laughed. “Everyone calls him that. He kinda freaks people out, especially about how passionate he is about the stuff he teaches. So we all started calling him Dr. Occult.”

I stared at “Dr. Occult” again. He was no longer staring at me while he talked. His back to his happy and passionate self. That didn’t stop me from staring at him through the whole class though. I couldn’t tell you what the class was about but everyone else was really attentive so it must have been interesting. As soon as he let us go, Lori had to bail. She had another class right after this---a couple of buildings over. Before she ran off, she promised to call me. As I was gathering my things, I suddenly got this feeling that I wasn’t alone. I turned my head and found the skater punk standing next to me.
He picked my book off the desk and handed it to me. I took it and slid it into my pack. “Thanks” I said, annoyed.

He didn’t get the hint. Instead, he smiled. “I’m Brody.”

“Fascinating” I said as I zipped up my back, slung it on my shoulder and walked off.

Brody ran to keep up. “You got a name?”

“Yep” I said as he followed me out into the hall.

“You going to give it to me?”

I sighed heavily and turned to him. “Look Cody, I’m sure you’re a really nice guy and all but I’m not interested, ok.”

He frowned. “Don’t be like that.” He said then gently touched my shoulder. “You need to chill, chica. All I want is your name.”

His touch sent shivers up my body. Not the good kind either. I could tell this guy was bad news. In fact, I could feel it. I shrugged his hand off. “What part of not interested did you not hear?”

He laughed. “They always say that at first. But once you get to know me, I bet you’ll change your mind.”

Not getting the hint. “I doubt it.”

I slammed my shoulder into him as I pushed past him and down the hall. But he apparently didn’t want to give up. He was really starting to piss me off. He walked a bit faster than me and stepped in my path.

“Look, chill babe. Give me your name and I’ll leave you alone.”

Not only was it Chill but now it was Babe. My anger flared. Something snapped. I leaned into him, my mouth inches from his ear. “You’re so interested in chilling,” I said, a coldness in my voice. “Why don’t you walk into the nearest bathroom, stick your head in the urinal and flush.”

When I pulled away from him, I saw the glassy look in his eyes. He dropped his bag in the middle of the hallway and walked toward the men’s room a few doors down. When he opened the door and walked inside, I couldn’t help but smile. Was I proud of what I’d done, no not particularly? But did the scumbag deserve it, most definitely. I kicked his pack into the wall and then started off toward my next class, happy that at least my gifts worked on someone.

The rest of my classes that day went by relatively easy. Though there were a few classes that paralleled my previous schedule like my Bio one. When I first told Dakota I wanted to be in the same Bio class as before she thought I was nuts. Maybe I was. Then I explained the whole Lori thing---how she thought I was a girl to begin with---Dakota was a little more understanding. I got some strange looks from some of the others though. There were even some whispers when I walked by. At first I thought they were gossiping about me being a cross dresser but it turns out that most of them were whispering about Katie. Word on the street---she and I were lesbians---and when her parents found out, she couldn’t live with their rejection and killed herself. I’m not sure where the rumor got started but I didn’t like it.

I was thankful that no one was blaming me for it anymore.

My math class was the other one I had before. In there, I sat in the back away from other people. Not that anyone noticed me in the first place. Except for maybe Becky. She was the girl I met while auditioning for Macbeth. She kept on staring at me strangely every chance she got. I tried to ignore her but it was a little hard to do. I suppose I could have “suggested” that she didn’t know me but I’m not sure that would have helped. After class, she caught up with me as I was leaving. I had a four-hour break before heading to my last class of the day: a three-hour Bio lab.

“Ryan?” Becky called to me.

I turned my head and looked around, playing dumb. “You talking to me?”

Ok, so I’m no Clint Eastwood. Becky frowned.

She shook her head. “I thought you were someone I used to know.”

“A guy?” I asked, she nodded. Then we both laughed. I decided to not torture her any more. “He’s my brother actually, my twin.”

Becky looked a little stupid after that. “I thought you two looked alike. I’m Becky; I was in a couple of his Theater classes.”

I reintroduced myself to her. Then the two of us walked to the library together. She asked me about the rumors---the real ones. When I told her that Katie did in fact kill herself, she hugged me. I’m not sure why. Then I told her that my “brother” couldn’t deal with being here without her, so that he went back home. She understood that pretty well. Then she told me a story about losing her grandmother over the summer. She teared up a bit over that so I ended up hugging her. Becky came across as one of those girls who didn’t have a lot of friends. She was nice enough but very quiet. I never noticed it before but she was also very plain. If only she spruced herself up a bit, a little makeup, less frumpy clothes…and I did not think that. God I’m turning into a girl.

She and I hit the food court together before going to the library. While we were eating Lori called. She was supposed to meet me after the Lab tonight but she had to cancel. She was exhausted and needed to crash. I was kinda tired myself.

Becky and I spent two and a half hours in the library before heading off to Lab together. I’m not a big fan of night classes but the lab was the only one I had this late. Though it seemed like a long time to be in one place it went relatively fast. The reason for its length, I only had it one night a week. Tonight we were discussing the human nervous system just like in class but in Lab, it was the practical application of the thing. Becky was my partner and together we had to dissect a sheep’s brain. She was squeamish about it but I had no qualms about dissection. She was a good note taker and thankfully didn’t dot all her i’s with little hearts. There was no way I could deal with two of those kinds of people in my life.

When class was finally over, Becky begged me to walk with her back to the dorm. She was a little freaked out about all the girls disappearing. To reassure her, I walked with her. It wasn’t too far out of my way thankfully. I didn’t go into the dorm building but I waited until she was inside before turning and going toward my own. By the time I started back to my own dorm it was almost nine o’clock. I decided to cut my trip in half by taking a short cut through the parking lots. There were two of three of them that would make it much easier then following a winding path through school buildings.

As I was walking through the second one, I got this foreboding feeling that I wasn’t alone. So I lashed out with my empathic sense and found the culprit. I turned around quickly and even though I couldn’t see him, I knew he was there. I could feel his same lust from class mixed with anger. I took a deep breath. “I know you’re there.”

A minute or so later, Brody came out of hiding behind a SUV. He looked kinda pissed. His hair flattened to his head, the top of his shirt darker from where it spent all day drying. It was clear that he did what I suggested and didn’t bother to change clothes afterwards. Ewww. I did notice he recovered his backpack though. He took a step toward me, a sneer on his face.

“You fucking bitch” he said, stepping toward me in an intimidating manner.

As Ryan, I might have been a little bit afraid of him. But as Rachel, he didn’t scare me in the least. He was a joke and he really didn’t want to fuck with me. “What are you talking about?”

He rubbed his temples. “I don’t know what you did but I know you did it.”

“You’re confused” I said and turned to walk away.

He apparently wasn’t done talking. He took a step forward and grabbed my arm. He yanked me around violently. The blackness that flared off him was dangerous. I took a step back. There was so much anger now, drowning out any of the lust he felt. He was at least five inches taller than me and probably weighed fifty pounds more. He also a lot stronger than I thought. He grabbed both my arms in a tight grip and forced me to the ground. I tried to struggle away but he had a good grip. When he let go of one of my arms I tried to bolt. But he grabbed my hair and held firm, gasping me to gasp. I tried to throw suggestions at him but it wasn’t working, his anger was too strong.

“You fucked me over bitch,” he said, fumbling with the clasp of his pants. “And now you’re going to make it up to me.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he wanted from me. When he had his pants open fully, he starting pulling down the waistband of his boxers. He used his other hand to push my head toward it. I struggled and fought but he was a lot stronger than I was. I wanted to scream but instead I closed my eyes. When I did, I felt something. At first, it was a slow tingling but then it was like a fire. As soon as the fire got overwhelming, I snapped my eyes open and there was screaming. At first, I thought it was mine but then I realized it was him. There was a great blackness surrounding the two of us and Brody was no longer holding onto to me. In fact, he wasn’t holding onto anything. He wasn’t even standing. He was at least a foot off the ground, his pants down around his ankles.

I blinked. It was like the blackness was wrapped around him, lifting him from the ground. He was screaming bloody murder but somehow I knew the only ones who could hear it were him and I. He kicked and struggled but it was no use. Me I never felt more alive. I got to my feet and felt an overwhelming sense of power course through my body.

“Pain,” whispered a voice in my head. “Show him pain for what he did to us”.

Pain was good.

I raised my hand and the blackness squeezed around him. Brody stopped screaming and clutched at his throat. He dug at it with his hands like he was being choked. But there was nothing gripping it except the black. I wanted to kill him; I wanted to choke the life out of him for what he tried to make me do. I was so pissed and so angry. The fire burned stronger the more I choked him. There was a cackling in the back of my mind. It was low at first but grew in strength and intensity the more I squeezed. A small part of me knew all of this was wrong but the anger inside of me wouldn’t let that part get to me. Brody was a danger and as a danger, he needed to die.

“Kill him then,” said the voice. “Set an example, so these insects they can’t mess with us.”

I smirked as I continued to choke him slowly. It felt right, it felt good. It felt like he was getting exactly what he deserved. Everyone who treated people like this deserved this. Brody was scum. I knew that in the classroom and I knew even more so when he tried to force me to do unthinkable things. People like him thought they owned the world, thought they could do whatever they wanted. But not now, not to me. Not when I was still breathing. It would start with him then I’d seek out all the other scumbags like him and choke the life out of them too.

“They all deserve to die.”

They will.

“They’re in our way, all of them,” said the voice. “Just like Katie, they’re stopping you from being who you are, who you were meant to be.”

Katie? My anger broke for a split second. Katie’s face appeared in front of me. I stopped choking Brody for a second. Katie was a good person, she wasn’t holding me back. I loved her; I loved her with all my might. Katie didn’t deserve what happened to her. I looked at Brody. Even though he was scum, he didn’t deserve it either. There was a fog that had crept over me but it was slowly starting to fade. I stopped choking Brody. The cackling in my head grew louder though and my hand involuntarily twitched. When it did, I started choking Brody again.

“You’re weak but I’ll make us stronger,” said the voice.

“No” I screamed back but it was no use.

Brody continued to choke. The color drained from his features and his skin turned gray. His eyes were glassy and then dull, like all life was taken from them. He was still choking but he was no longer struggling against it. His whole body looked numb but he was still alive. I tried to fight whatever I was doing, tried to lower my arm. But I couldn’t. It was as if my arm had a life of its own. I grabbed it with my other arm, gripping my wrist with my free fingers. I tried to pull it down but it wouldn’t budge. Then I screamed. I screamed as loud as I could. I didn’t think it would make much difference though. I was going to kill Brody, become another murderer, except this time I really wanted the person dead.

Tears started running down my cheeks as I continued to scream.

That’s when the light came. It was bright and overwhelming. It cut through my blackness like a knife, severing whatever hold I had over Brody. He dropped to the ground and I regained control of my arm. I dropped it to my side and a there was a scream in the back of my head before it was silenced. I stumbled backwards. I fell to the ground. The tears ran down my cheeks. I wanted to die; I wanted to crawl into a ball somewhere and cease to exist. I heard footsteps coming toward me and panicked but I didn’t move, I couldn’t move. Then someone was standing over me, looking down at me with a frown. I saw a long tan coat and black hair. It was Professor Dee, the one students called “Dr. Occult”. He reached out and touched my forehead gently with his index finger.

Then I blacked out.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF