The Lead Up

My father is a terrific specialist in his field of oil drilling. But his racism has always gotten him into trouble. And even worse he dragged me and my younger brother with him. He infused us with his ideas for so long that we were also racists. Even my mother didn't like people of other races that much. But she worked quite well enough with most of them.

Things changed a little a while ago, my dad's employer had enough of his racism and sent him to Louisiana, to New Orleans to be precise. My father was now partially in charge of the rigs in the gulf. But it meant he had to tone down on his beliefs because of the many black people living here. I also had to keep a lower profile in my expressions.

Still I got myself a scholarship to get into law school at Tulane. Why did I get the scholarship? Well first I was a big jock, capable of holding my own in a football game. But that isn't enough. You have to have a good throwing arm, running speed or a large mass to block. I didn't have all of that, but I had something else. A few years ago, I secretly did a Webster & Kline test. I scored only moderate in my magic abilities, but they said it is normal for a male. They said it was something about the Y-chromosome blocking magic. Females did far better in magic.

I did find out my magic talent or power. I didn't tell anyone though. You may ask why, well maybe the same reason that whisperers don't tell. If people know that you are a whisperer, and are aware, then your power doesn't work. I didn't have that problem, but I would be disqualified to play the sports that I did. You see, I'm a precognitive. I can see in the future. Not very far mind you, my power is just a weak one. And it isn't actually like seeing it. It is more a feeling or hunch to me. So somehow I just know where the ball is going to be or what a person is about to do. Because of this I could play a whole range of positions on the field. Mostly I was a wide receiver or running back. Sometimes I was backup quarterback, though my arm wasn't good enough to play full time in that position. Hell I could even play defense sometimes as an interceptor. Sometimes a coach used me just for that. I think they guessed my magic talent. Anyway it paid my way through college and I got a great physique doing the sports. Because of that I never lacked a girlfriend. Right now Elise Jameson, one of the cheerleaders had attached herself to me. And I really liked her too. I was making progress with her, but still hadn't gone past first base. That was ok with me, I was in no rush. I wasn't a virgin anymore, my previous girlfriends had seen to that. I didn't have them as friends anymore though. They were repulsed by my racist remarks that I sometimes uttered. Hopefully I didn't screw it up with Elise.

The day everything changed, I was barging my way through the hall in a hurry. I had just finished my morning run and showered. I didn't want to be too late for Professor Sanderson's lesson and my watch said that it was already too late.

I made my way without so much of a thought about other people. I didn't shy away from a fight anyway. Did I already mention that my magic talent is also very useful in a fight? Well it's very practical. But I digress. As I came to my destination, I noticed that I wasn't late at all, in fact I was early. The previous class was just exiting. I looked at my watch, the damn thing was apparently broken. I moved without watching towards the entrance and bumped into a cute little black girl.

Without thinking I said, "Watch it, Cocoa."

The big black guy next to her started to take offence, "Who do you think you are calling my girlfriend Cocoa."

I wasn't in a good mood and was looking for an outlet. So I looked back with a menacing grin.

"Bring it on, nigger." Now I really had him going.

He started coming at me, but the girl said, "No Brett, he's not worth it." Then she pulled him away from me. Where did she get to power to do that? Oh well I could find myself another victim later and went inside the classroom.

Sanderson started his class very soon after that and I forgot my issues when he started talking about faults. Now this had my interest. This was because of something I had experienced during a holiday in September in New York.

Soon there was an opportunity and I spoke up, "Professor. I have a friend with precognitive power. He was near the WMTC in New York on 9 September. He claimed to have a vision of a big grey cloud trying to smother him just before he fainted."

This started the discussion on the disturbance in New York. We arrived at a possible scenario that a big explosion or something happened in a parallel world, causing the disturbance in ours.

I really liked this class, it gave me possible answers on some of the visions I had been getting. Of course I didn't tell anyone I was the one having the vision. That would ruin my sports participation and my reputation. Imagine if someone knew I had fainted.

A few hours later I found my victim for a fight. I just finished lunch and was watching some of the girls. One girl in particular looked hot. She was Asian with a very revealing outfit. I know what you're thinking. If I'm such a racist, then why would I look at an Asian chick? Well the ideas were pumped in by my dad. But secretly some girls from other races looked very appealing. A few even looked better than white girls. Anyway some Asian guys didn't appreciate my leering stare and decided to do something about it.

"He gweijai, stop looking at my girl."

And I knew I had just found my fight. "I look where I want, gook."

"What did you call me?"

"Are you deaf as well as dumb, I said gook, you chink."

Now he was pissed. He swung his arm in a karate chop, but sensing it, I blocked and slapped his face hard. So hard actually that he fell down. He jumped up quickly enough and tried a high kick to my head. I stepped in and punched him hard in his stomach. This took the air and the fight right out of him, another easy victory for me. I left him crumpled on the ground and went to my next class while his buddy, a big guy, knelt down with him asking, "Lee, say something."

During that evening on football practice I noticed that guy Lee sitting on the bleachers. He was giving some conspiratorial looks at someone on the field. Of course I knew the defense players. One of them, Chao, was a big Asian guy. He was bigger than me and had been with Lee at the fight. So now I could expect a revenge attempt from his friend. During the practice run of a new play the coach was trying out, I caught the ball and sure enough I felt someone threatening to crash into me. Thank you Webster & Kline for giving me the precog sense magic.

With a quick sidestep like I was dancing, I slipped out of harms way and saw Chao slam into the ground. He expected to land on me, but now connected with the much harder and unforgiving turf.

With a glee I taunted, " Missed me."

He got up very quickly considering his bulk and was about to attack me again, when Coach Silver shouted, "Chao, quit foolin around. Get your butt over here."

Grumbling the big bruiser complied while I smiled at his failure to hurt me. I went back to my assigned space and threw the ball back to the quarterback. Later I walked to the locker rooms when the coach called me in his office.

"I know your talent, Wood. I don't mind using it, but don't flaunt it too much. And I know your problem also. I do not condone any racism here. So stop taunting others and no remarks either. Or you're off the team."

Shit, I had to be more careful. I still needed this football team membership to keep my scholarship. Fortune was with me though as I only got a warning. It was only too bad that I wasn't privy to the conversation taking place outside at the bleachers between Chao and Lee.

"I thought you said it would be easy to have Wood get into an accident. Why didn't you take him on harder."

Chao shrugged, "I can't just go out and punch him. Not with Coach and the guys watching. I would be off the team."

"So what now, we still owe a world of hurt to him," said Lee.

"I have something else in mind. It will not only get us even with Wood, but settle a score with someone else for me also."

Lee looked questioningly, "What are you up to?"

"Better you don't know. What you don't know you can't tell."

The Trap

A couple of days later early in the morning I was preparing to go to class. I just finished breakfast and reached for the doorknob when my warning sense from my precog power buzzed insistently. I jerked open the door expecting someone to attack me. Well I was half right anyway. I froze as I stared into the barrels of several guns. The police were right outside the house with their guns all pointing at me. I dropped my bag and slowly raised my hands to shoulder level holding my palms forward.

A guy in a suit to my right asked, "Are you Douglas Wood?"

I nodded, "Uh huh."

"Douglas Wood, you are under arrest for assault and rape."

Then he continued reading my rights while another police officer handcuffed me behind my back. Meanwhile my mind was working overtime. What did they mean with rape? I hadn't had sex in months. And as for assault, I had only defended myself against attackers. Granted I had provoked every one of them, but that wasn't assault. And I did know; I wasn't a law student for nothing.

My parents came looking alerted by the noise and got all upset about me being arrested. I told them that I didn't do anything wrong. The cops quickly put me in a car while dad shouted that he would do whatever it took to get me out. Soon I arrived at the station and was led to the booking desk. After removing all my pocket contents, shoelaces and other things like my watch, I got thrown in a jail cell to wait for interrogation. I guess they talked to some other people first, because I waited for quite some time. Of course without my watch, I just had to guess at the time by the position of the sun. I didn't get anything to eat from anyone, so I was quite hungry when they finally came for me. I was put in a bare concrete room with two detectives and a black mirror imbedded in the wall. That was probably the one way mirror, and people were watching us.

One detective had a beard and asked, "Tell me, boy, why did you rape Kathy? Was she unwilling or did you just not care that she didn't want to have sex." I just kept quiet.

"Just talk to us, son," said the other older man. "We already found her panties in your room."

They kept badgering me and asking me those questions and where I was last night for some time. Then Beard got relieved by another detective with a cross-eyed look. First this new guy just looked on as the old guy kept asking why I did it.

Then Cross-eye asked with a soft voice, "Why don't you just admit that you raped poor Kathy?"

At the first sound out of his mouth, my warning sense screamed 'bloody murder' and I braced myself for the whisper. I barely blocked it in time and with enough force.

I got really angry and yelled, "Don't you fucking try to whisper me into a confession."

Now Cross-eye was shaken. He didn't expect me to know about the whisper, much less block it.

But I was so pissed that I continued, "I don't know this Kathy. I didn't assault anyone. I don't know how those panties ended up in my room. I haven't been close with a girl except my girlfriend Elise and I haven't had any sex in months."

Two men entered the room during my tirade and as I finished. One of the men told Cross-eye to leave the room.

The other man said, "I'm your lawyer, Greg Heumer. I advise you to say no more to them and that we have a private talk first."

I concurred and asked if I could get something to eat. Greg was outraged that they hadn't given me anything to eat or drink and shortly later I was munching on a burger while we started talking about the case. He told me to answer truthfully to him and asked me to tell my side of the events. I outlined all the things I did the previous day and told him that I had no clue about the girl. He asked me about the found undergarments. I explained that I was only told that they found it in my room. Greg told me according to the file that the panty they found from the raped girl was torn up and lay in a corner of my room like it was tossed there. A half hour later we were both back in the interrogation room questioned by Beard, who identified himself now as Sergeant Völler and a Detective Baker.

Völler asked with his deep calm voice, "Douglas, I apologize for Rizman's try to whisper you into anything. He should not do that and will be punished. But we would like to know how you knew about his whisper and how you could resist him that easily."

Well it had been anything but easy. Damn, that man was powerful with his whisper.

"Well I kind of sensed it and got a headache blocking it."

Baker jumped in, "Are you a whisperer too, Douglas?"

"No," I answered coldly. "If I was, I would not be here accused of rape. Any girl would gladly sleep with me."

Völler responded, "Not all, if she resisted a whisper, then the attacker might rape her. But what is your magical talent then?"

"I am a precognitive, but I didn't score high on my test. Just between 50 and 60."

Baker interrupted, "So you couldn't whisper Kathy Hsu into having sex with you and you just did it the only other way, rape."

I fumed again, "Who is this Kathy Sue? I don't know her."

Greg intervened, "Let's stay calm and go over the events."

Völler agreed, "Why don't you just tell us about your day yesterday."

I closed my eyes for a second, taking in a long breath. "After classes I had football practice till about six thirty. Then I went home, had dinner and went to my room to study."

"You never went back down to the others or out of the house?"

"I did go down once to get a soda."

Baker asked again, "What time was that?"

"I don't exactly know the time. But I did see that someone scored a homerun in the game on TV. My dad can confirm that."

"I'm afraid that family members are not that much of use."

Greg asked, "Now who is the girl that Douglas supposedly raped?"

Völler answered, "Her name is Kathy Hsu, not Sue. She is the daughter of a Chinese restaurant owner. Douglas should know her she is a student at his college."

Greg gave me a sign to keep quiet. "Why is she so sure that Douglas attacked her? Did she see him clearly enough to identify him?"

"No, but she said that he told her 'For Douglas Wood all Chinese girls are just fuck toys'," said Völler.

I was about to blow up again, but Greg hushed me. Instead they kept asking questions about my whereabouts, trying to break my story. But I didn't stray from my story. Why should I? It was the truth. Then they said that they found the panties.

"You had her panties in your room; did you just toss it in the corner?"

"I don't rape girls and take their panties."

They didn't believe me of course and kept asking and accusing me. Later that night I got a visit from my father and brother in the jail. They told me that mom was too upset to come see me. They asked me about things and I told them in short explicit sentences what I was accused of and what really happened. They had some trouble with my story because of the evidence against me, but they did trust me enough to believe I was innocent. The police kept questioning me almost every day the next two days, but I never cracked. A few days later I was put on trial already.

The Trial

In the courtroom I saw Kathy Hsu for the first time consciously. She's a very good looking Asian girl. I had seen her a few times before at college, but I had never talked to her. She was put on the stand very early in the proceedings. With tears in her eyes she answered the questions of the prosecutor and repeated her earlier quote 'For Douglas Wood all Chinese girls are just fuck toys'. We all felt sorry for her and even I had doubts about my own innocence. Greg was totally professional though and had put together a good defense. He asked her to listen well and had me say the same line. Then he asked if my voice was the same as the one she heard. Kathy couldn't tell and Greg told the jury that anyone could have said that to implicate me. Then Greg asked if she had more reason to suspect me. Kathy said that the attacker was about my height, which meant towering over her. Some testimonies of crime investigators were heard after that and the panties were brought up as evidence against me. They already established that they had belonged to Kathy both by her confirmation and the outcome of the tests in the lab. Greg asked the investigator if there had been traces of me on the panties. They admitted that no epidermis or other cells had been found matching my DNA, so this evidence was made more or less harmless. Then the judge adjourned for the day. The next day I was put on the stand by Greg as the first person.

He asked me, "What do you think about the quote from Miss Hsu?"

In a calm tone I replied, "I would never say something like that because of three things. First: My mom taught me to respect girls. I would never attack one. Second: I would not say Chinese. I wouldn't know the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese. I would have said Asian. Third: As a Law Student I would not be so stupid to say my own name. So someone just said that to implicate me."

Greg continued with, "How about the panties that the police found in your room."

"I don't know how the panties from Miss Hsu got into my room,. I do have a window open most of the time, so the panties could have been thrown in I guess. Again I can only emphasize that as a Law Student I wouldn't leave something like that in my room."

Greg asked me a few more questions and then it was the prosecutor's turn.

He paced a few times before me and then asked, "Doesn't Miss Hsu look hot to you?"

"Yes and no."

"Why do you say both, Douglas?"

I sighed, "Yes, she is a good looking girl. No, because I don't date Asian people."

The prosecutor turned to me, "Are you saying that you are a racist"

"I do not call myself a racist, but I just don't mingle with some other people."

The prosecutor tried to corner me more, but Greg objected and the Judge told the prosecutor to move on.

He looked into some papers and then asked, "Do you have a magic talent, Douglas?"

I hesitated with my answer, looking to Greg for what to say. He nodded affirmatively.

"Please answer the question," said the Judge.

"Yes, I do have a magic talent."

"And what is your specific talent? Is it perhaps whispering and didn't it work as well as you wanted?"

Again I was forced to answer, "I am a precognitive."

"Please elaborate for us ignorant people here."

"I can sense where someone is going to hit me and how. I can also feel a whisperer trying to goad me, like one of the policemen did."

The prosecutor ignored my accusation, "How about sports, do you use it there too?"

Now I was squirming, "Ok, I can feel where a ball is probably going and what my opponent will do."

Shit, now my football days were over.

"So you were cheating in the games that you played. What was your plan, get lots of money playing it?"

"No, I play for the sport and to go to school. It is not something I asked for, and it isn't that strong."

He tried to corner me again, but with Greg's help the Judge had him move on again.

After that there were some more trivial questions, which were anticlimactic. Some other witnesses were put on the stand, including my dad and brother. They confirmed my alibi, but the value wasn't that high it seemed. Everyone would expect my family to cover for me.

Punishment

The jury was sent out to deliberate on the verdict while we waited. It seemed like ages, but in fact they were back quite early. To my surprise I was found not guilty by the jury. The verdict was greeted with lots of booing from the public. About half of them were my classmates and most others were Asian people. I got escorted out of the courtroom and still didn't feel ok when I arrived home. I went straight to my room trying to read a bit in my class books.

My brother Gordon came in soon, "I don't believe you did it, Douglas."

"Thanks, Flash." I always called Gordon Flash whenever I meant it.

It started right after we saw the movie Flash Gordon. I accidentally hit him, and apologized sincerely. I called him Flash then jokingly for the first time. Since then I used it sparingly only whenever I really meant it and was serious.

A few days later I had to go back to school. I went there with lead in my shoes and with good reasons as I found out.

In short, my return to school was one big disaster. Wherever I walked, I got called racist and pervert behind my back. I didn't even try to look around anymore to spot who said it. My locker got spray painted with Racist and Rapist. Even worse, everyone I looked at, looked away or looked back with a menacing glare, disapproving looks or outright contempt.

Already the first day Coach Silver called me into his office. "Sorry, Douglas. But now that your secret of your magical talent is out, I can't keep you on the team. You are out of the football."

As I expected, the next call came from the head office. I already figured what they would say and went there sullenly.

"Douglas Wood, because your recent dismissal from the football team, we cannot allow you to keep your scholarship. I'm sorry, but we have no choice. You can of course finish this semester."

The semester was already mostly over, just a few weeks left. Well at least they didn't kick me out because of the false accusation. The first few days after this dreadful news, I still showed up in class, though it was uncomfortable being stared at by the others with their contempt and hatred. Even the teachers avoided me, they didn't speak openly to me anymore.

But as the days went by I grew more indifferent. I would never complete my education for passing the bar exams. I would not become a lawyer, my parents couldn't afford it and I would never get a loan to continue the school. Even if I had the prospects of paying it back.

So I had to look forward taking jobs as a worker in a factory or something menial. So it was no wonder that I started drinking. It started with a few beers in the bars, then a few more at home. It quickly wasn't enough and I changed over to the more potent stuff. Within a week I was more drunk than sober all day long.

My parents watched it with disgust and pity. But although they tried to keep me from drinking too much, they were far from successful. Gordon tried to keep me from drinking but even he gave up after I swore at him and tried to hit him. He knew I didn't mean to hurt him or his feelings, but he could do nothing more than see me going down to the level of the gutter.

Ever since I started drinking the hard liquor, I didn't bother to shave or shower much and soon I looked more like a hobo than a student. A couple of times I got thrown in jail again for public intoxication. It was fortunate that I didn't own a car or I might have faced more serious charges like for DUI or worse. During my weeks-long binge, Elise decided I wasn't good enough for her or any other girl and with a terrible fight we broke up. She told me that she would be gone for several weeks on a vacation and that I should be out of her life when she got back. Well she would get her wish, but not as anyone thought it would.

One night I was walking, well not exactly walking, more like staggering along some obscure street. I was very drunk again and lost in the city and my thoughts. I didn't know or didn't care where I was and where I was going. Then at some point my warning sense started to alert me that I was in danger. I didn't pay attention and ignored it. It got louder and louder, but my drunken stupor was so big that I still failed to react. Then it got so loud that my head started to hurt and finally I woke from my stupor. My reaction time was very slow in my drunken state, but even in peak performance I might not have escaped the attack. Someone froze me from behind. Then still from behind a bag was thrown over my head and I couldn't see a thing anymore. Someone started carrying me to another place and from the echoing sounds, I assumed it to be an abandoned building. I was strapped down to an inclining hard surface while a little feeling crept back into my nerves and muscles. After I was bound securely, the bag was pulled from my head and I could see barely that I lay on a sort of bench that had broken down on one end, making it angle to the floor. The bench was illuminated by some lamp outside, while the rest of the place stayed dark. Someone, presumably my attacker, put something up to my face while staying in the dark himself. Vaguely I could make out a form of another person further away, but I couldn't make out who or what it was. The something near my face turned out to be a cup with a foul smelling concoction. My mouth was forced open and the liquid was poured into my throat. I tried to block it, but had to swallow. As my face was released, I tried to heave, but I couldn't do it. A gravely throaty voice came from the man behind me.

"It's no use trying to get the potion out of you. By now it has already been absorbed. Now you get to feel what it is to be a fuck toy."

Now I was scared; were they planning to sodomize me? But then the man and the other person just left. I mean they just went away like that. They left me behind, tied up, alone without any help. It was then, thanks to the returning feeling in my extremities, that I noticed that my bonds weren't that tight. I twisted my right wrist and managed to free it. The freeze was wearing off well now and though I was still drunk, I relatively easily managed to free myself. I tottered out of the building, an abandoned factory it seemed, and made my way swaying and reeling towards a road. I almost made it when I started to feel sick. My guts felt like they were on fire and I started retching everything in my stomach. There wasn't much in there, but what there was came out. I was sobering up quickly now, but whatever disease I now had, made me still feel and look as awful like a drunk.

As I stumbled out into a road, a police car happened to pass by. The officers stopped and recognized me as the regular drunk kid. They took me in for another night in the holding tank to sober up. I just felt so sick that I rolled up into a fetal ball and stayed like that till they checked up on me. The officer looking in on me realized that I wasn't drunk but sick. He had me released and had a squad car drive me home. It was already well into the morning as I arrived home, and everyone in the house had gone to work or school. I had the place to myself.

I felt quite filthy and after throwing all my clothes into a hamper (was it my imagination or were my clothes bigger than they should be?), I took a long warm bath. I should have noticed that my height wasn't the same anymore or that my body hair wasn't as thick as it used to be. But I didn't pay attention, because although I still wasn't feeling well, it was getting better. After my bath, my skin got raw from rubbing it dry. Then I dove straight into bed and slept for a very long time. I slept through everyone coming home and dinner. I wasn't even hungry. My parents assumed that I already had a liquid dinner, so they didn't ask me to join them. The whole night I was engulfed in a restless sleep, filled with nightmares. I can recall all of them, which is weird, because before I never could remember any of my dreams. Though being dreams, I could not recall them exactly, more like wispy images.

Anyway, one type of dream was about me assaulting a girl. That was probably put into my head with the spells. So were the others put in also? Other types of dreams were about me being assaulted as a girl. Now this was strange. The few dreams that weren't about assaults on girls were about some people talking to me in a strange language. But I could kind of understand what they said. How weird, I don't even know what language they spoke.

The Change

The next morning I was still half asleep through the noise the family made. My mom started to enter my room, but stayed in the doorway.

"Douglas, we are going out of town to look for another house. We'll be gone for at least two days. You can make something to eat for yourself if you want." She paused for a moment and looked caringly at me. "I'm glad to see that you finally decided to shave, but you could use a haircut."

Her words didn't fully register with me and I just groaned. Mom closed the door and moments later I heard the car pull out. It took another five minutes before the words sank in and suddenly I jumped up with a start. What did she mean 'decided to shave'? I hadn't shaved last night. I should still have a day's beard. I stepped out of bed wearing only my boxer shorts and they promptly slid down my legs. I had to hold them up while I made my way to the bathroom. In the bathroom I looked closely in the mirror and saw my face, but it wasn't quite my face. All the hair on my cheeks and chin was gone. There was no trace whatsoever that I ever had a beard. Worse, my brows didn't look right. It seemed as if they had been plucked a bit. Then I noticed that my eyes weren't their usual blue, but were getting darker. And they didn't look as round anymore, more almond shaped. Then I stepped back a bit and it hit me like a sledgehammer. My muscles weren't as prominent anymore. My height seemed to have diminished and my skin looked as smooth as a...