Chapter 8

Time: 12:03 AM Friday, May 31, 2002, DeKalb Illinois

I had checked into a motel late Thursday night, shortly before 11 PM, an hour's drive east of Sterling. I had been on the road since early morning, had driven close to 800 miles, and now I was lying in bed trying to get some rest. Melanie's commencement is tomorrow, two days after mine. No, wait. It's after midnight. Her commencement is later today. I still don't know how events will play out, but I'm hoping Melanie and I will drive back to Pennsylvania.

My sensing and pushing abilities have continued to grow. I can now sense things from 9 meters away, exert a force of 1.05 Newtons, and generate over 9.5 Watts of power. I found I really don't need my expensive flashlight. I can just lock 2 cubic mm of air and pour 9.5 Watts of power into it, raising the temperature to 4000C in a millisecond. The incandescence is quite brilliant.

I've come to realize that I can be quite deadly to anyone within my sphere, lock and fry their heart pacemaker tissue in an instant. I've vowed to myself never to use my powers to attack anyone's body unless it were truly a life-or-death situation.

I felt exhausted from the drive. I had a concern I'd be so worried about Melanie, I wouldn't be able to sleep, but I soon met her in my dreams...

The commencement was unreal. Melanie was valedictorian, and had asked to speak at the very end of the program, after the diplomas were handed out. Graduation papers in hand, she went on stage and gave an incredible speech, stressing the importance of both self-esteem and love for others, the importance of both courage and consideration, and how utterly she had personally failed these ideals. She described how her parents had been manipulating her and degrading her for months, how she had allowed them to strip her of her dignity, and then she denounced them for trying to sabotage her enrollment at Harvard.

Both her parents started screaming at her from their seats. Her dad was incoherent, and her mom was screaming that Melanie was committing slander. He parents then both stormed out of the hall. The rest of the auditorium remained sitting stunned and silent.

Melanie finished her speech, bidding her friends goodbye and walked off the stage. She handed her graduation robe to Lisa and then came straight to me. "Eric," she said simply, "Get me out of here."

We got to my car in a tie with C.J., and he started standing in front of my driver's door, glaring at me and itching for a fight. "Eric, you piece of shit! You think you can just walk in here and steal my girl?! You pervert! She's promised to me!"

Melanie shook her head in pity, "C.J., let go of your delusions."

C.J. whipped his head around to Melanie and seemed to notice her for the first time. He seemed astonished by what she had just said. "Don't call me that, you bitch! My name is Jason!"

I was confused by his words. He hadn't said Melanie belonged to him. He said Melanie was promised to him. Promised by whom? "Let it go, Jason," I finally said, trying to be reasonable. "There's nothing you can do to stop us from leaving, short of breaking the law, and Melanie's dad isn't paying you enough for that."

C.J. turned back to me and shot me a look of wild hatred, and then threw a punch at me. I was more than half expecting it, and ducked and launched my counter-attack. I had scanned C.J. a moment before and knew he had a cheap butane lighter in his pants pocket underneath the graduation gown. I melted a hole near the top of the plastic lighter in less than two seconds, and my 10-Watt incandescent power point easily ignited the butane. C.J.'s expression flashed instantly from pure hatred to stark terror as he realized his pants were on fire.

As C.J. was running around desperately trying to pull his pants off in the center of the street, Melanie and I jumped into my car and drove off.

"Wow, that was fortunate," said Melanie. "What an incredibly lucky break."

"... Yeah..."

We were both too keyed up to start talking with each other. I just drove south over the bridge on Route 40, driving through Rock Falls to pick up I-88 East.

One mile from the Interstate, I was stopped at a red light at the intersection of West Rock Falls Road, and I looked up into my rear-view mirror. I could not believe my eyes, the moment seemed completely surreal. Melanie's parents were right behind us. Melanie turned and saw them too and started to whimper.

"It's okay, just relax!" I said. I probed their car and waited. Just as the light was about to turn, I fried the micro-chip controlling their electronic fuel-injection, and then calmly stepped on the gas a second later. The car behind me was dead in the street and the people further behind started honking.

"Wow, that was fortunate," said Melanie, looking back and seeing her father open his car hood in the distance. Her mother was also out of the car, and she seemed to be gesturing wildly at both her husband and the traffic trying to pass them.

"What?!" muttered Melanie. "Another incredibly lucky break?" She looked at me with a very confused expression. "Eric? Did you cause that?"

"Uh..." I had promised myself I would never, ever lie to Melanie, no matter what. "Sort of. Don't ask me how, okay?"

She stared at me in pure admiration. "Okay. Wow! Very professional Eric! I feel as if I'm in the middle of a Mission Impossible movie!" We got on I-88 a moment later and started heading East.

We drove 400 miles that day, stopping only for short restroom breaks. I had box lunches for us already in the car. We finally stopped in Sandusky, Ohio, at a small hotel along the banks of Lake Erie. It was very pretty, and a bit off the beaten track. I thought it would be a good place for Melanie to unwind.

My first thought was to rent two rooms for the night, but Melanie didn't want to be alone and we wound up renting one room with two queen-sized beds. Melanie was delighted that I had pajamas for her and two extra day outfits. I thought about basking in more of her adoration for a moment, and then confessed the clothes were my father's idea.

We both took showers after checking in. Melanie spent a long time under the steaming hot water, and commented after she got out she hadn't felt this clean in a year. She looked so pretty in her new clothes, and we strolled along the promenade for a while, holding hands after sunset and watching the water as the evening twilight turned to night. We found a nice restaurant and had a light dinner. Afterwards we walked back to our hotel room and sacked out.

Our conversations for the whole day had been caring and affectionate but also a bit light. I was sure Melanie was under a terrific strain, trying to adjust from all the horrors she went through, and wasn't ready to talk about them yet. For my part, I was hiding the fact that I had abilities that made me effectively non-human. I think we both sensed we were hiding major things from each other. It made things just a bit awkward.

We changed for bed. I tried not to stare at her as she came out of the bathroom in her pajamas, but... Damn! She is so incredibly, incredibly beautiful. She still had a very fit body, even being off track she somehow managed to get in lots of exercise. She looked like an angel without a bra, her pajama top falling loosely around her taut breasts.

I was already in my bed. She climbed into hers and turned off the lights, lying on her back, her head face up on the pillow. "Good night Melanie," I whispered. "I love you."

"Goodnight, my love," she whispered in reply. She hadn't pulled the sheet up past her hips, and I lay there silently for a while, watching the rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed, overcome with emotions of wanting to care for her. After a while I turned over to give her some privacy.

An hour passed, the room silent except for the soothing rush of coolness from the air conditioner. I thought I heard the softest of a whisper. "Asleep?"

Did I just imagine it? "No..." I whispered back. I heard a rustle of Melanie leaving her bed, and then I shivered as she climbed into mine, curling up around my back. She petted the side of my hip for a while, loving caresses. Then she kissed the back of my neck and pulled me to turn to her.

We were soon locked in a fierce embrace, more loving than passionate at first, but the sexual desire certainly was there on both sides and it was building. Melanie started to pant and I could feel her body shiver from her arousal. We stroked each other's bodies through our pajamas. Melanie was on her back, an arm under me holding me to her, and I was lying on my side against her. I could feel my stiff penis pressing into the side of her hip, and I was delighted she didn't mind. My throat caught as I realized Melanie was welcoming my arousal.