Chapter 3

Back to Ward and Cathy...

Ward has the narrative

The doctor agreed to meet with Cathy, me, and our parents tomorrow evening at seven, and he left after answering a few additional questions about follow-up care. After he departed, the six of us talked about the unusual brain activity and the doctor’s interest in doing what could become long-term follow-up tests.

When I started speaking, I got a dirty look from Cathy, but she and I needed to be honest with our parents.

I said, “Cathy and I have talked about this activity. We are both having the same dreams. We don’t think it’s possible, but the dreams are about how to establish a mental link with another person.”

Our folks gave us funny looks and Mary asked, “Cathy, is this just a dream that seems real, or do you think it may be real?”

“Mom, it is hard to believe, but I think it’s real. I think Ward and I are developing some type of mental ability, something like telepathy.”

Art interrupted with, “Whatever you do, Cathy, don’t talk about this with anyone else, and don’t talk about it where someone might overhear you. We can discuss this after the two of you are discharged.”

My dad reinforced that for me with, “The same goes for you, Ward. If what Cathy said is true, then the six of us need to get together in a very private setting and discuss it further. The hospital is not the type of private setting I’m thinking of, so until I let you know just keep your thoughts to yourself.”

My mom, Rhoda, said, “And if either of you ever actually link with someone, let the four of us know about it ASAP.”

I changed the subject.

“Mom, Cathy and I have discussed these tests the doctor wants to run. We think they would be a good idea. However, we are worried about what the doctors might do with the results. We don’t want to end up as guinea pigs, especially if the government gets involved.”

My dad eased my mind by telling me, “Your mom and I will keep that in mind. For now, let’s just wait and see what the doctor is proposing. I’m sure that Art and Mary feel the same way as your mom and I do.” Cathy’s parents were nodding in agreement with what my dad said.

Art said, “One of the things we need to determine is, what obligations we will incur if the doctors are proposing a research program. We also need to know how much of Ward and Cathy’s time will be needed for us to assess the impact on their lives. I am in favor of necessary follow-up care, but I’m reluctant when it comes to Cathy taking part in a research program, especially if what the two of you suspect is true.”

Once we said what we felt needed to be said, Cathy and her parents returned to her room, and my parents and I went to my room.

In my room with the door shut, my folks and I quietly talked about my dreams and the tests the doctor wanted to run.

“Mom, I’m not opposed to a research effort as long as the time and my involvement don’t create problems for me.”

Dad asked me, “What type of problems do you have in mind?”

“Well in the dreams, information is stored in my mind about establishing a mental link with someone else. I haven’t experienced a link, but it seems like it is similar to, but much more than telepathy.”

Mom asked, “What do you mean by more than telepathy?”

“Well, telepathy is just talking with someone mentally without speaking words. In the dreams, I can also read their memories, sense and influence people’s emotions and thoughts, and I can plant a command that they will follow. There may be more than that, but that is all I remember.”

My dad immediately reminded me to keep any ability that I may develop a secret from the doctors and other people. He excused himself and left for about ten minutes.

When he returned, he told us that he had talked with Art. He told Art about the full capabilities of what I believed might be happening. Art agreed that it was even more important that we keep such a development between the six of us. At least until we could come to an informed decision regarding sharing the information with others, which would be never if what I thought was happening was true.

Visiting hours ended. After our folks left, Cathy and I walked down to our private meeting place to talk about what had been going on with the doctor, our folks, and us. I had the feeling Cathy was upset, and she confirmed it in an angry tone of voice.

“Ward, I thought you agreed with me that we would tell no one. So without talking with me, you went and told our folks.”

“I’m sorry, Cathy. I did agree to keep it a secret from everyone. However, I didn’t think you meant to include our parents in ‘everyone.’ Whatever is happening to me is more than I am ready to deal with by myself. I think we are going to need help from our parents regardless of whether we are right or wrong about gaining powers.”

“Yeah, I can see how you could misunderstand me. My initial idea was to tell absolutely nobody. Then when you agreed, I started to have second thoughts about not telling our parents. The only reason I got upset was that it seemed like you betrayed our agreement to remain silent without talking with me first. I have to admit I did feel a sense of relief when you told them.”

“Cathy, I’m really sorry about that. I may not have known you very well before the fire, but I have come to value your friendship. I hope we can continue our friendship once we return to school. Would you like to go to a movie with me after we get out of here?”

“Yeah, I’d like that, Ward. One thing though, will we be going out as just friends or will it be a date?”

I must have blushed clear up to my hairline for she giggled as I said, “I want to take you as my date.” It was her turn to blush when I said that.

“I think I would like going out with you as your date, Ward.”

I wondered if two people declaring an interest in each other always caused an uncomfortable ‘what next moment.’ We recovered once we changed topics to the possibility of our becoming involved in a medical study.

“I don’t mind admitting it, Cathy, but whatever is happening to us scares me almost as much as it excites me.”

“Yeah, the thought of becoming different bothers me also. My mom talked with me while our dads talked. She said fear of the unknown was normal, and people often deny what they fear. As a result, the people aren’t prepared for what eventually happens. I told her that you didn’t seem upset by what was happening. She told me that you were probably as upset as me, but men seem to think it is unmanly to show their fears.”

I wondered if Cathy considered me more or less of a man for admitting my fears. I got my answer when she took my hand, gave me a big smile, and slid across the couch so she could lean up against me.

She spoke to me in a soft, hushed voice saying, “I don’t know what is going to happen, but I hope we are there to support each other through whatever does happen.”

I told her, “If the way I feel about you is any indication, then I will always be there for you.”

That earned me another kiss on the lips and short hug from Cathy, which made me feel ten feet tall and very protective of her.

Over the next half hour, we talked about the possibility of being part of a medical research project, and the impact it might have on us. We both agreed that we were interested in learning more about the activity in our brains, especially whether it might be harmful to us.

However, we thought there should be limitations to prevent the study from intruding into our personal lives. We were both concerned about the amount of time the study would take and the notoriety we might receive if we developed a power. Actually, we wouldn’t mind the notoriety; but we didn’t want to be bothered all the time ... like when the paparazzi annoyed celebrities.

We talked about how we might be able to help people if we developed a power. We thought about the upside of having a power, which we considered to be doing things for people and have them thank us. Then we got to thinking about the downside. Eventually, everyone we met would be expecting us to help them with whatever they needed. Our lives would not be our own, and we would become hated by those we couldn’t or wouldn’t help. We both agreed that we didn’t want the public learning about us having any type of power.

It was getting late, so I helped Cathy to her feet and kissed her, it was the first kiss that I had initiated with her. The kiss I gave her wasn’t a kiss of passion. I tried to make the kiss say ... I like you, I want to be with you, and I want to share things with you. We walked back to our rooms holding hands and said good night outside Cathy’s room.

As I walked back to my room, the floor nurse, who had watched our relationship grow over the last several evenings, gave me a smile. She told me that Cathy and I needed to make sure things didn’t get out of hand, especially while we were still in the hospital. I told the nurse we would; and that most likely, we were going to be discharged the next day. She had actually been very kind and considerate to both Cathy and me, so I didn’t want to cause her any problems.

The lab techs once again woke me up early the next morning to get blood and urine samples. The doctor had ordered a full set of lab tests for me in addition to the EEG, and I assumed he had also done that for Cathy. I just finished cleaning up when breakfast arrived. I carried my meal down to Cathy’s room to see if she wanted to eat breakfast together. She did, so we ate in her room, and when we finished, the morning floor nurse let us know that in an hour we were due downstairs for the rest of our tests.

As the nurse was leaving Cathy’s room, I had a sense of what was going through the nurse’s mind. It seemed as though she was thinking that Cathy and I made a cute couple. I wasn’t sure if I actually heard her thoughts or if I imagined them, but wishful thinking on my part might explain it.

I tried to connect with her mind, but nothing came back. I tried to connect with Cathy and got nothing. I was either doing this wrong or just imagined hearing the nurse. I asked Cathy if she picked up any stray thoughts recently, and she just looked at me as if I was putting her on. I explained that I was serious and thought that I may have made a momentary connection with the nurse, but couldn’t reestablish the connection.

Our day went the same for us as other days. We had our lab tests, lunch, and we both took a nap after lunch.

When I woke, Cathy was sitting in one of my visitor’s chairs smiling. I excused myself for a quick trip to the bathroom. On my return, I shut the door for privacy before sitting down.

We had talked about the oddity of our dreams that morning. Having information appear in your minds from nowhere and automatically accepting the new information as valid was spooky. We both believed the information was true. The problem was that there was so much of it that we had been having trouble putting it all together.

We told each other about the downloads we received during our naps.

Cathy said, “My afternoon of dreaming resulted in me seeing how to create a mental link. I tried to create links while I was waiting for you to wake up. I was able to briefly link with a couple of our fellow patients, but I wasn’t able to maintain the link for very long. I was startled the first time I created a link, and I think that is why the link ended. I think I was also worried that the patients would discover the links, so that may be why my subsequent links broke down so quickly.”

We talked about linking and decided that we needed to practice creating links. We were told about the three types of links. We decided to establish Receive-only links with other people. That should prevent other people from becoming aware of what we were doing.

I tried to link with our doctor, but was unable to do so. I could reach a couple of patients, but my maximum distance was less than fifty feet.

The floor nurse knocked on my door and came in. She politely informed us that hospital policy required that we keep the door open when in the room together. I guess they’re afraid underage patients might indulge in personal activities. Don’t I wish!

After the nurse left, Cathy and I talked about getting together after our discharge from the hospital. While making plans for a date, we suddenly found ourselves linked. It was a bidirectional link, so the thoughts and feelings we each had for the other flowed across the link into the other’s mind. Our shock caused the link to break before we consciously realized it was present.

Cathy looked at me with a shocked look and said, “Oh, God! What just happened? One moment I was thinking of you and wondering what you thought of me. Then I was in your mind. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

I believe she accidentally created a link with me. The sudden influx of my personal thoughts and feelings must have overwhelmed and startled her into breaking the link. I didn’t think that Cathy was aware that in addition to receiving a great deal of information from me, she had also transmitted her thoughts and feelings to me. Those thoughts and feelings were burned into my memory.

I could tell that her linking with me embarrassed Cathy, so I said, “Don’t worry about it. I know it was an accident. We really don’t know what we are doing with this linking business. We need to find a private place away from the hospital and talk about it.”

As I talked, I remembered how to create a shield that would block a link, so I shielded my mind to prevent future accidental links. Since I had a shield in place, I didn’t mention a shield to Cathy.

“Cathy, we need to conceal this ability from everyone. At least until we can discuss it with our folks. Now that I know that we are getting an ability, I don’t want to do this study.”

Cathy looked at me and smiled, “Ward, I agree with you. I was planning to tell the doctor that I don’t want to make a long-term commitment with lots of medical exams and tests.”

Dinner arrived, so we went back to finalizing our plans for a date while we ate our evening meals. After eating, Cathy went to her room to wait for her parents. They would return to my room, when they arrived. When my parents showed up, we visited for a short while, before Cathy and her parents arrived. We had some time left before the doctor was due. Once Cathy and her parents were in my room, Art shut the door.

Cathy said, “We experienced our first links, today. We will tell you about them later.”

“Yeah,” I said. “We also talked about the research program. Neither of us want to do it. We think the brain activity is related to our new abilities.”

There was a knock on the door, so Cathy’s dad opened the door and let the doctor in.

“Well,” the doctor said, “I got the results of the lab tests we did this morning. The EEG shows that the area affected by the unusual activity has increased slightly, but there are no abnormal growths or other problems. The rest of the tests were normal.”

“Does that mean we can take our kids home with us, tonight?” Mary asked.

“Yes,” he replied, “but since the active area spread, I want them to come back for another EEG in one week. I am still looking into arranging funding for a study and will get back to you later about that.”

My mom said, “We aren’t sure that we want Ward to participate in the study. However, we will keep an open mind, at least until you can give us more details as to what is involved.”

While my mom was speaking, I was able to link with the doctor’s mind making sure it was a Receive-only link. I learned his associates were pursuing government funding for the study. The doctor himself was hoping to publish the results and obtain a position in a medical research hospital. I couldn’t blame the doctor for his ambition, but I knew I wouldn’t be participating in any research funded by the government. The truth of the matter was, regardless of whom willing to fund the research, I would not be a participant. For the moment, I kept that tidbit to myself.

The doctor said, “I see. Well, I hope you will listen to what we plan to do without just dismissing the idea.

“I told the Billing Department to have your discharge paperwork ready for a seven o’clock discharge, so one of our Billing Specialists should be here shortly. That’s all I have for you this evening, do you have any questions?” We had no questions.

After the doctor left, Mary gave Cathy a bag containing her street clothes. They left for her room, so Cathy could change and collect her belongings. My mom gave me a similar bag, and I slipped into the bathroom. After I changed, I gathered my stuff putting it in the bag, and then sat on my bed.

Art was talking to my parents about getting together for a barbeque. During their discussion, Cathy and her mom came back into the room with her stuff.

Mary said, “I let the nurse at the nursing station know that we would be in Ward’s room when the person with their discharge papers showed up.”

While our parents talked, Cathy joined me sitting on the edge of my bed. We sat there ignored by our parents, so I let Cathy know what I learned from the doctor. We discussed the new knowledge and neither of us wanted to be part of a government-funded program. I didn’t mention the possibility of a privately-funded program for I knew neither of us were interested in being a part of any research program.

A very elderly lady finally showed up with our discharge papers and she got the signatures she needed from our parents. The six of us left right behind her. What appeared to be her younger sixty year old twin sisters were waiting for us with wheelchairs as we left my room. They insisted that hospital policy required them to push Cathy and me to the main entrance. Finally, we climbed out of the chairs, into our parents’ cars, and headed for our respective homes.

I talked with Mom and Dad on the way home about the links Cathy and I created except for the one between Cathy and I. On the way home, Mom told me that I missed the entire first week of school, and needed to go to bed early for tomorrow was a school day for me.

My younger brother and sister, Tom and Sally, were waiting for us when we got home. Tom was fifteen and Sally thirteen. Since they were close to my age, they weren’t quite the pain in the ass that some of my friends’ younger siblings were. After a seemingly obligatory “Hi” and “How are you doing?” they returned to their rooms and to whatever they had been doing before we got home. Things seemed back to normal with them. We were never close, so they weren’t very enthused by my return.

I headed up to my room to get things ready for tomorrow. Actually, I had very little to do to get ready. So I called my friend Chuck, Charles Johnston, to find out if I missed anything important at school last week. I could tell that he was surprised and happy to hear from me.

“Hey, Ward! I guess you got tired of lying around in a hospital bed for a week with cute nurses taking care of your every need. Actually, Tommy and I have been worried about you, and he wants to know what happened.”

The three of us were best friends, and since he brought it up, I suspected that Chuck was as interested as Tommy. Therefore, I told him about the fire and my stay in the hospital, but didn’t mention Cathy or the EEG results. Finally, I got around to asking about school.

Chuck and I were on the same study track. So last year, we talked with our Counselors, and arranged to have the same class schedules. He let me know that the week had been mainly a review of the stuff we covered last year. After catching up on all the gossip, we said goodbye and hung-up. I was tired, so I went to bed.

Going to bed does not mean going to sleep, at least not always. Once I got comfortable, I started to think about the link Cathy created between us. I’m not sure what information she got from me, but I got a great deal from her. I got three main things from her: her feelings for me, her plans for creating a relationship with me, and the existence of some type of bond between us.

Her feelings and plans for a relationship were straightforward other than her fear that I would hurt her when I took her virginity. What I wasn’t sure I understood was the presence of a bond. Especially a bond that seemed like it would bind us together for a long time. I did not get a sense that she was aware of any bond, and I hadn’t thought of anything like that previously, so where did the idea of a long-term bond come from?

When I looked deep into myself, I could sense a vague feeling of pressure pushing me toward developing a relationship with Cathy. Yes, before the fire I thought that she was somewhat cute and of average intelligence. Now my opinion of her was, she is very beautiful and sexy in addition to being very intelligent. I also realized, much to my surprise, that I wanted to have a long-term relationship with her. I wasn’t sure if the change in my perceptions was due to the pressure I felt or if I just realized she was a fox and interested in me.

Based on her thoughts and feelings, which I experienced, I knew that she was very interested in having me as a boyfriend. She already made plans to ensnare me, so I wouldn’t get away. She didn’t need to make any serious effort in that direction for I was already hooked. I don’t know what she got from me, but at the time she created the link, my mind was on setting up a date. Maybe she was aware of my physical interest in her. God, I hope that my mind wasn’t on thoughts of having sex with her when she created the link. If so, she knew that we both wanted the same things from each other. I was thinking that Cathy and I would have to explore this linking business more, when I finally fell asleep.

When I woke in the morning, I remembered everything about my dreams. This was an improvement over my prior mornings. I had a much clearer idea of how to establish a link with someone else and how to prevent someone from linking with me.

I lay in bed daydreaming about shields while I woke up fully. Last night I learned that there were two basic types of shields: a hard shield and a permeable shield. A hard shield prevents a link from forming, unless the person trying to create the link is considerably more powerful than you are. A permeable shield allows the formation of a link, but limits the information extracted without cooperation. I had created a permeable shield yesterday.

In light of my dreams last night, I decided to change my shield to a permeable-hard shield. Basically, I would create a hard shield within my current permeable shield. This would allow someone invading my mind to extract my surface thoughts and feelings that were outside the permeable shield that I didn’t mind others knowing about.

I wanted to keep what I thought of as me and my really personal and important stuff within my hard shield. What I wanted to keep private and most of my personal information would be within my permeable shield, but outside of my hard shield. Thoughts of my day-to-day activities would be outside my permeable shield. A hard shield takes a long time to create, so I would have to do it when I had plenty of free time, probably this coming weekend.

I got up and headed for the bathroom to clean up for school. While in the shower, I thought about the three basic types of links that I could create and the primary purpose, or use, of each type of link.

The Bi-Directional Link was what Cathy created with me. This was the default link. I vaguely recalled there was something about being able to change this default, maybe Cathy remembers. It is normally used for communication between two people who want to share their thoughts, memories, and feelings. The Receive Link and Transmit Link were different in that they are primarily used when the other party is not a willing or a knowing participant in the establishment of the link.

The Receive Link is usually used to retrieve another person’s thoughts, memories, and feelings without them being aware of the retrieval.

The Transmit Link is nasty for it can be used in several ways. It allows you to plant thoughts and feelings in another person’s mind, and they will think that the thoughts and feelings are theirs. It can also be used to plant commands in a person’s mind, and if done right, the person will voluntarily comply with the commands thinking that they are doing things that they want to do. The person will never realize that they are actually being controlled by another person.

I had often daydreamed about being able to make people do what I desired, and I knew actually doing something like what I fantasized about doing would be wrong. Yeah, I had fantasized about making attractive women want to go to bed with me, and what we would do in bed together.

When the desire to control others was just a fantasy, my thoughts weren’t important. However, if I can actually do what I think I can do, then using my abilities in that way would be ethically and morally wrong. Yes, it turned me on to think about how I could use my new abilities on a few of my school’s hotties. My thoughts were very arousing. I had to keep reminding myself that, if I actually acted on my thoughts, it would be a form of rape.

I didn’t think I would ever actually do something like that to a woman. But, I realized that I would have to be very careful how I used this ability or I could turn into a veritable monster. However, there are several positive ways I can use my ability.

I suddenly realized that my thoughts had been very strange. To the best of my knowledge, no one had ever experienced a mental link of this type. Why had I been using words like normally, primarily, and usually in my dreams and thoughts to describe the links?

The bus stop was an interesting experience the next morning. Some of my fellow students made it clear that they were happy to see me again, while others had apparently not even noticed that I wasn’t in school last week. Then again, there were those who knew that I was involved in the fire and wanted me to tell them everything that I knew about who set it, why it was set, and my personal feelings and thoughts regarding being trapped on the second floor. I answered everyone’s questions to the best of my ability without mentioning Cathy until the bus arrived. The only thing I said about Cathy was denying the reports that I had carried her out of a burning building. Apparently, the four small fires on the second floor had grown to the entire building being engulfed in flames.

Chuck and I sat together and talked on the way to school. I thought it a little odd, but out of everyone at the bus stop, he seemed to be the only one who really cared about how I was doing. It was then that I realized I was reading the emotions that everyone was radiating. I also believed the headache that I was developing was caused by my mind being overloaded by other people’s emotions.

Before the fire, I sometimes had a vague sense of other people’s emotions when I was close to someone. Now the emotions were as clear as if I was reading them from a book. In fact, now that I was aware of what I was doing, I needed to create a filter to reduce the intensity of the emotions I was receiving from the people around me or else they would eventually drive me crazy. I would have to mention this to Cathy. However, she was probably experiencing the same thing and already constructed her filter.

While talking with Chuck, he had said something about the other people trapped on the second floor and his remark got me to thinking about my shield. I realized that I needed to discuss my thoughts with Cathy immediately. I knew that she usually sat with her friends in the cafeteria until the bell rang for first period. Chuck and I normally sat on the other side of the cafeteria with our friends. As soon as the bus got to school, Chuck and I headed for the cafeteria.

We went to our normal table and sat down with our friends. Once their greetings and questions wound down, I looked around for Cathy and saw her across the room with her friends. I excused myself and went over to her table to speak with her. When I got to her table, her friends immediately stopped speaking. I assumed they wanted to protect their secrets from prying ears, especially boy ears.

“Cathy, I would like to talk with you privately for a moment.”

She got up and walked off to the side with me. When we were where no one could hear us, I said, “We need to speak more about the link you created with me yesterday.”

“I’m sorry, Ward; I really didn’t mean to do that.”

I cut her off before she could continue.

“I know you didn’t do it intentionally, but we need to talk about it, and about setting up shields. I setup a mental shield that will prevent anyone from linking with me. If you haven’t done so, you need to set up a shield immediately to keep someone other than me from linking with you. I’ll explain why during lunch. I also thought you needed to know that I was receiving the emotions of the people around me. It got so bad I had to create a filter to reduce the intensity of the emotions. You may want to do that before it happens to you.”