10: Under the Microscope

Don’t take life too seriously.
Punch it in the face when it needs a good hit.
Laugh at it.

Colleen Hooverr

“What the hell were you thinking?” Jonathon shouted when Logan and Leslie walked in their front door after dropping Jie and Aiesha off at their homes. He stood, shaking his fist at his two kids, his face flush and his temples throbbing. “The phone has been ringing off the hook the whole day long! Reporters keep stopping by, asking what we think about your single-handedly destroying an entire house, and worst of all, your grandmother is livid. She’s convinced you’ve destroyed Catholicism, and that, as your father, I’m personally responsible!”

“Things sorta got out of hand,” Logan admitted. “By the way, I survived, though you’re supposed to ensure I don’t pass out due to concussions.”

“I’ll give you some concussions!” he threatened, obviously too angry to conceive of a meaningful threat.

“No, thanks, I’ve got enough of my own,” Logan quipped, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Are you joking about this?” he challenged, stalking forward.

“No,” he said, backing up a step and holding both hand before him. “We discovered that things were dire and the girl might die at any moment if we didn’t intervene immediately, so we didn’t have time to scope the place out. We were ... caught by surprise.”

“You humiliated us and our entire family name. My employer is debating whether he needs to lay us off until the heat dies down, or possibly forever! Relatives we haven’t heard from for decades are calling us asking whether you intended to humiliate them.”

“You realize I almost died, don’t you? I was unconscious for over nearly seven minutes, and we were charged with multiple crimes until they could verify who we were and contacted the family—whose daughter we saved, by the way!

“Well, you can forget this ‘chasing ghosts’ thing! In fact, you’re grounded, and no more unauthorized visits by your friends. Either they’re a bad influence on you, or you’re a terrible influence on them, but together, you’re a powder keg waiting to blow. Hand me your keys. You’re not going anywhere for the next month!”

“John!” Helen cautioned, standing behind him and rubbing her hands together, her eyes red and wet with tears, her makeup streaked.

Jonathon turned, waving at his wife without actually looking at her. “Your mother can’t even attend church anymore. She can’t go shopping or attend her book club. You’ve made her into the neighborhood pariah! And your grandmother’s entire life revolved around the Catholic church, and you’ve stripped that from her.”

“Cardinal Garcia owes us. He’ll give her a call and settle things, or at least talk to her parish priests.”

“You’ve got an answer for everything, don’t you?” he snarled, raising his fist as if to strike Logan.

“STOP IT!” Leslie shouted. They all turned, and she was even more flushed than their father, shaking like a leaf during a gale, ready to snap off and become lost forever.

“We just lost a trusted and cherished friend, and I KILLED her! It was my fault. I saved Logan’s life, but murdered the girl who was risking her life to protect us, and I was the one who caused her death!”

“Honey...” Helen said, hesitantly stepping forward, while her husband stood gasping with his mouth hanging open, shocked silent.

“And don’t you dare attack Logan like that again,” Leslie continued, building a fresh head of steam. “He’s the only reason we survived at all, and ... and ... if you don’t, I’m likely to kill you too!” And Leslie bolted, rushing upstairs, bawling, smacking the walls in anger as she ran, slamming her bedroom door and bolting it shut.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to her,” Logan promised, “but we’ve been through a lot today. If you continue like this, something drastic is likely to happen, as Leslie’s probably suicidal, and we’re all a wreck. I was shaking the entire way home. Now, if you’ll pardon me, I have a sister and several friends to talk down from the edge!”

“So, how was your reception last night?” Logan asked, when they met Kia and Aiesha in the school parking lot the next morning.

“Frankly, it was good,” Ai said. “My moms were worried about me, and they wanted to know every last detail, but they were supportive, letting me talk everything out, and they offered helpful advice. Oh yeah, they also helped me drain my negative energy—the energy we absorb from others that weigh us down. That always helps a lot, though I don’t always remember to do it myself, even though it’s so simple, and takes so little time.”

“It must be nice,” Leslie said, rolling her eyes, but when the others turned, waiting for her continue, she simply clammed up, not saying anything more.

“My parents were concerned—especially because, in our culture, how a child acts is a direct reflection on the parents—but after reminding me of the repercussions—particularly those they had already suffered due to my actions, they too were very supportive. But alas, unlike Ai’s moms, I felt that I’d disappointed them and they were merely putting on a happy face for my benefit, even if I didn’t deserve it.”

Logan glanced at his sister, who seemed to be somewhere else, so he spoke for the two of them. “Our parents read us the riot act, threatening to take my car and our phones, ground us indefinitely and lectured us about how much our actions hurt their careers and social standing.” Glancing at Leslie again, he dropped his voice. “But, always my defender, Leslie went off and scared the crap out of both of them.” His voice dropped even lower, barely more than a whisper, but Leslie showed no interest in hearing it. “She even threatened to harm them if they continued berating me.”

Despite not detailing the context, the two girls immediately looked at Leslie, to see how she responded. When she didn’t, Aiesha took her elbow in hers, and Jie took the other, and they escorted her towards the school.

“Oh shit,” Logan swore. “I forgot my chemistry notebook.” He glanced at his watch. “Leslie, would you be a dear and get it for me?”

Rather than answering, she merely shrugged, and headed back, her head staring at the ground the whole way, as Logan turned to the girls, who were staring daggers at him.

“Girls, Leslie’s in a world of hurt. She’s convinced that she killed Mattie.”

“We all feel like that,” Jie acknowledged.

“I know, but she’s practically suicidal. After all, it was her outburst that did the dead, while we were all indirectly responsible. Hell, I was the one who insisted she accompany us, when I could easily have asked her to wait at the parish. But I think it’s essential that we keep an eye out for her.” He glanced back, to see how far she’d gotten. “Hell, we might even need to ensure that she can find her classes, remembers and books and returns from the restroom. She’s got it bad!”

“Don’t worry,” Aiesha assured him. “We’ll watch her. We saw her yesterday. The only thing that kept her going was worrying about you, so when you were feeling better, she began to fall apart.”

“If you hadn’t worried so much about falling asleep driving, she would’ve been even worse,” Jie added, chewing on her lip.

“If you get a chance, mention it to her teachers too, so there are multiple people watching her and can call us if she gets out of hand. Just don’t say anything to her. She’s already shutting everyone else out, if she thinks we’re overly concerned, she’ll cut us off too.” He leaned in to emphasize his next comment. “She wouldn’t even let me in to talk to her last night—after she suggested that she might kill our folks too.”

Aiesha glanced back, noting that Leslie had nearly returned. “That’s bad. We’ll find people to help cover for her, but this is serious. We need to figure out how to rectify this.”

“I’m trying, but until she admits it and shows some emotions, I don’t think we can reach her to pull her out of it!”

As Leslie was shuffling off to her third period class, Aiesha sidled up beside Logan who was surreptitiously following her—despite the fact his class was in the other direction.

“How’s she doing?”

“Not good,” he admitted, reaching out to clasp her hand, feeling especially alone over not being able to help his sister out in her hours of need.

“She’s not answering any questions, and if called upon, acts like she doesn’t give a damn what the answers are.”

“That’s not like her at all,” Logan acknowledged.

“I know. If nothing else, she studies doubly hard, just so she can keep up with you, so you won’t feel so isolated.”

“You’re preaching to the choir. I’m well aware of that.”

“Maybe if you got morose, she’d recover enough to get you going again?”

“Believe me, I considered it, but I don’t think even that would work. And when it doesn’t, she’d know we’re treating her with kid gloves, and she’ll never open up.”

“Any ideas then?” Aiesha inquired.

“I think the only way we’ll reconnect with her, is if we determine exactly what happened to Mattie.”

She stopped, turning to stare at him. “What do you mean? She died ... didn’t she?”

“I’m not so sure. At the very least, we don’t actually know, and if you think about it, waiting for the proof that she didn’t survive, allows us each to process her loss at our leisure. At this point, our doubt is our best support. But I’m not totally convinced she did perish. I mean, I hope I’m not deluding myself, but we have no idea what these spirits do when they disappear, and they spend more time not with us than they do in our presence! If we had some clue where they went, and what happens during those periods, we’d know a lot more about how to handle them. We’re missing a vital piece of the puzzle. We’ve proved we can kill these beings, but shy of that, I’m not sure they can actually die on their own. If it was that simple, then they’d simple fade away over time, as they gradually lose what little energy they need to continue. There’s just something that we’re missing.”

“See, that’s what’s keeping you functioning, unlike your sister. You’re focused on answering vital questions which will guarantee our survival. Leslie’s missing that. She needs to care about something as much as you do about us, and we do about you.”

“Let me know if you can figure it out, as that’s even more vital than my questions.”

“Uh, where are we going?” Leslie asked, glancing around once she finally realized they weren’t heading towards Logan’s car.

“We’re heading someone we can conduct a little ‘experiment’.”

“What kind of experiment?” she asked, leery of what they intended—especially since they’d purposefully kept her in the dark about it. Or she assumed they had, since she hadn’t actually heard what they’d said since they were heading towards the school’s exit.

“Jie brought up a reasonable point when she said that if your new ability works as an enhancer to what we were already doing, then it shouldn’t have done something completely unexpected. But the key is, just like with what happened to Mattie, we really have no idea what happens. Just as we have no clue where Mattie goes when she’s not with us, we also have no concept of what you’re actually doing when you go nuts like you did. And since I was nearly killed, I’d prefer we work this out before someone else gets injured.”

“But ... if it’s not possible that I did what I did,” she asked, her brow crinkling, “then how could I unintentionally do it again? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” he explained, once again diving into another topic she struggled trying to keep up with, “simply because we don’t understand what’s actually happening. So, just as we need to research what happens when spirits regularly disappear, yet never remember where they were, we need to work out how you achieve what you do. What’s more, simply as a matter of self-preservation, you need to refine your techniques, so you can do them automatically rather than simply flying off the handle without a moment’s notice. That’s how people end up getting injured.”

“Hold on,” she argued, her eyes focusing for the first time all day. “Are you arguing that I killed Mattie, or that I didn’t?”

“Neither. I’m arguing that it’s unsafe playing with your abilities, when practicing them guarantees that we’ll not only understand what you’re doing, but we won’t have more accidents like the other day.”

“But, if Mattie didn’t die, then how could I have killed her?”

“Exactly!” he concluded, grinning like he’d just won a cash prize for being smarter than everyone else in the room.

“Are you following this?” she asked, turning to the other two girls.

“Yeah,” Aiesha said, chuckling softly.

“I think it’s a hoot,” Jie said. “What’s more, I’m looking forward to practicing these techniques.”

“Did you guys discuss this without me?”

“Who, us?” Aiesha asked, playing innocent. “We’d never leave you out of anything. We all discussed this extensively, both over lunch, and on the way out here.”

“We did?” Leslie glanced around, only then noticing that they were heading to the empty baseball field, which obviously wasn’t being used, since it wasn’t the season for it. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. I ... guess we did.”

She scratched her head, trying to follow the conversation she’d clearly forgotten having. “Seriously, even if I only strengthen what you’re already doing, maybe I short circuited what you’re doing? Or created a feedback look, trigger a fatal burst of energy?”

“But you wouldn’t,” he assured her. “We’re conscious of what we’re doing when we use these techniques, and we all know that we could never kill anything unless we actually decided to end their lives. It’s clearly a conscious choice.”

“If you say so,” she said, clearly not convinced, but not wanting to argue the point anymore. She looked around again. “So, why are we doing it here?”

“Because there’s less chance of anyone noticing what we’re doing or getting caught in the crossfire.”

“But you just said I didn’t actually hurt Mattie.”

“Precisely,” Logan agreed, grinning widely.

“Do you want to start the whole discussion again, from scratch, because it’ll take hours and we’ll lose this opportunity to refine our techniques.”

“No, no. I ... agreed to it, so I ... can hardly argue against it.” Leslie tripped over her feet, when she failed to lift her toes high enough to clear the ground—for the third or fourth time since they left the school. She decided that she really needed to concentrate, or she really was going to injure someone.

“Okay, I need you, Leslie, on the pitcher’s mound, while Ai and I will be at home plate, while Jie will play umpire, observing the play to see precisely what’s happening.”

“Uh ... okay.” She was confused how everyone seemed to know exactly what they were doing, and what they were planning to accomplish. Had she really been that spacey today?

“All right, your new ability appears to be an enhancer, an emotional intensifier effect, focus what we’re already doing. If that’s correct, then you won’t be able to do it on your own, just as you and the others can’t affect other’s spirits without my being nearby.”

“Uh ... yeah, that makes sense.”

“So, Ai and I are going to enjoy each other’s company, effectively ‘loving’ each other. But rather than ‘joining in’ as you normally do, I want you to get excited enough to snowball the emotions that we’re already sharing. Can you do that?”

“Uh ... I think so. But ... how exactly?”

“You need to get excited. What’s more, you need to believe that our lives are at stake, so you have to protect us by increasing how much we love each other. Okay?”

“And just how does that work, in this instance?”

“Just image that it’s now months from today, and Mattie has been gone for well over four months, and you miss her terribly.”

“Of course.” Even from this distance, they could tell that her eyes were already watering at the memory of losing her friend.

“But then, just as we’ve sharing an isolated intimate moment, you see that Mattie’s come back, and is eager to join us, only she can’t. What’s—”

“Hold on.” Leslie straightened, concentrating on the task at hand. “How’s that supposed to work. I mean, how would I know she’s there? And if I know, then why wouldn’t you know, especially since Ai’s capable of seeing her, herself? And how can I save Mattie’s life by forcing her to love you?”