Chapter 1: First Days Back

This, the second volume of my history of our founder, Alex Jennings, details what happens once Alex ran away from the big city of New Orleans and tried to seek refuge in his previous anonymity. The previous volume, “An Unusual Attraction”, detailed how he first discovered his unique abilities and those drawn to him, how he reacted to it and to them. The results of those encounters left him confused, nervous and finally, feeling like he failed everyone relying on him when he lost one of his followers on his journey home.

This volume details Alex’s attempts to resume his normal existence, even if only for a short time. When he returned, Alex had only a little more than two months remaining in his high school career. He had plans to attend college in the fall, but hadn’t had a chance to decide how his circumstances might have changed that. Alex wanted, as much as he could, to retain a shred of his former social invisibility. However, the events in New Orleans, and the things that he’d learned about himself, made trying to hide who he had become extremely difficult and were to prove very important in what he was to eventually achieve. But more than that, understanding what he went through allows us, his followers, to understand more of just who Alex really was as it reveals much of his personality that he was afraid to reveal while in New Orleans.

Finally, it reveals the three categories by which Alex began to categorize his followers. There were those that actively sought him out and who necessarily took priority, those that could determine there was something important about him but didn’t know anything more than that and finally, all the ‘normal people’ that chose to follow him simply because of what he stood for and because of the force of his personality. This book focuses largely on Alex’s ability to deal with this new, third group.

I was as bad the next day, Saturday, as I’d been the previous evening. I woke late, alone, although I could tell that both Anh and Allison had slept beside me during the night. Apparently everyone thought it better to let me sleep it off.

My family and I had just returned from a one week vacation to New Orleans for my sister Cate’s and my spring break from high school. The events of that week had been, in a word, unusual. I’d gone from an uneventful childhood and a high school career consisting mainly of being ignored, to finding myself being watched and approached by a variety of women. But they weren’t interested in me as a hot young piece of flesh. No, they were interested in me because they could sense some sort of power I was giving off, a power I’d never noticed. Actually, no one had ever detected it before because it was apparently some new type of energy that had never been discovered before.

It seemed certain people could unwittingly detect this new type of energy which seemed to surround all living things. Kind of hard to believe every scientist in the world had missed such an occurrence, but that appeared to be the case. Anyway, the people who could detect this energy were all attracted to me; the same way a magnet attracts metal filings or lanterns attract bugs at night. They were unable to resist its pull, even though they didn’t understand what it meant. They were drawn in, fascinated with me and captivated with what I seemingly represented. There were two classes of these people, the ones who simply watched me in fascination, unable to figure out why I was so interesting. The others would come right up and confront me—usually in the most aggressive and embarrassing manner possible.

While the first group—whom I’ve taken to calling ‘Watchers’ for obvious reasons—alerted Cate and me that something was up, the second group took most of my attention during the past week. As soon as I made eye contact, something would happen—even though there was no clear explanation for how it could possibly occur. They’d get this glazed look to their eyes and would jerk back like something had struck them, and then they’d get these ‘visions’. It seemed I was some kind of a catalyst that attracted people with a certain unique characteristic and then triggered a change in them, allowing them to actually see this newly discovered energy in people. The ability to see it revealed a lot about people. It showed how healthy they were and details about their health—specifically whether they suffered from any diseases or conditions—certain aspects of their basic personality, and temporary effects that played on that personality, like their emotions, as well as many things we simply didn’t understand yet. Oh, yes, it also gave us the power of telepathy.

The people I’d met this way—almost all women for some unknown reason—had decided to stick close to me in order to continue learning about these new abilities, as well as expecting me to impart some kind of wisdom about what they should do. I’d wanted to run screaming from these new intimidating responsibilities, not ready to deal with so many people and deciding all aspects of their lives. However, my reluctance faded when Anh—an older Vietnamese woman who spoke only faltering English—was thrown out of her house because of me. I realized then that I was responsible for them, and that Anh wouldn’t have been in the trouble she was if not for me. Luckily, most of them had other responsibilities from jobs, families and children, so only two had been able to follow me home—although the others planned to follow along as soon as they could manage.

Unfortunately, just when we were finally on our way home and I was filled with hopes of putting all this craziness behind me for a little while, I encountered a woman traveling the other way crossing the Frisco Bridge outside Memphis. I triggered her despite all the obstacles between us, but because of the heavy traffic and the construction limiting access, there was no way to track her, so we’d lost her. That meant there was a young woman out there who needed me, who needed us, but that we couldn’t help.

We couldn’t tell her what was going on, we couldn’t give her a sympathetic ear or understanding companions, and most importantly, I couldn’t take care of her as I’d promised to do with each of the other women, all of whom, despite my inexperience, had come to depend on me.

That was why I’d fallen apart the night before; I simply couldn’t deal with losing one of these special women. I’d told myself I’d watch out for them and I’d failed. It wouldn’t take much from me, just giving them some direction and guidance, but I couldn’t even provide that if I didn’t know who I’d unwittingly triggered.

Throwing off the covers, I dressed and wandered downstairs, even though I had no specific objective.

“Alex, Alex, Alex,” Cate said, clucking like a worried hen when she discovered me wandering aimlessly like a little lost chick. “Come on, we’re going into the kitchen. It’s a good thing that Anh alerted me you were here, otherwise there’s no telling what you might have gotten up to.”

She steered me to the family’s breakfast nook, reassuring me with a bunch of meaningless platitudes as she seated me and let Anh prepare me some food. Despite their obvious concern, and Anh’s delicious Vietnamese breakfast, my despair wasn’t mollified. Finally, they all simply left me alone as they went about their various tasks. They were busy unpacking from their trip, the new girls trying to find a place for their possessions they’d brought with them. Cate and our parents called friends, made arrangements and sorted stuff to make room for the new additions to the house—both those already here and those planning to arrive in the coming weeks. Life didn’t stop just because some stranger was lost along the way.

I finally got sick of my own sense of loss. I tried to think of a way of contacting her, just as I had the previous day, but there wasn’t any way to accomplish it. It wasn’t my fault she was lost. Besides, she might have been fine without us. She’d apparently done fine without us for a couple of decades at least. And I wasn’t doing anyone any good by fretting about it. Not her and certainly not those people that depended on me. I could and would put it out of my mind, but I couldn’t forget it. It would follow me and worry me for some time to come.

So I got back into the spirit of things, helping with the unpacking and once everyone (my mother, Linda, my sister, Cate, and Anh and Allison, the two women who’d followed me home) started relaxing, we set up some games to play together. We started with Scrabble, but Anh had trouble as she kept trying to play Vietnamese words. I supplied her some American words she could use—telepathically, of course—but everyone agreed that constituted cheating.

“How about if she uses a dictionary, like Mom and Dad used to allow us to do when we were first learning the game?” I suggested, hoping to include her as well as helping her learn the language.

“Nah,” Cate argued, “reading words one doesn’t recognize isn’t going to be much fun.”

“That’s certainly true,” Mom added. “Personally, I find the idea of reading the dictionary difficult enough when I’m looking for something specific, the idea of reading it for pleasure is a concept that’s completely lost on me.

Cate and I shared a private look, not wanting to admit that we’d both done just that when we were younger, reading the dictionary for pleasure and the sheer delight of discovering new things. But then, we knew we were nerdy enough without having to remind anyone else of it.

“Well how about Monopoly then?” Allison suggested, getting up and retrieving it from the bookcase. “The rules should be easy enough for her to figure out. The only things to read are the property names and the chance cards, and there’s no problem with you translating those for her.”

“Hey, now there’s a game that I can join in on,” my father said, wandering in from the kitchen, rubbing his hands together. “All those games testing how many obscure words you know always left me drooling over my Neanderthal hands, but I actually stand a chance at Monopoly!”

“There won’t be enough time to finish a full game, but I think it’ll be fun anyway,” Cate offered, grinning at Anh to include her in the discussion.

“And reading the Community Chest cards won’t be an issue,” I announced, translating for her, “because she says that her kids did that every time she played with them.” Everyone laughed at that, as the image of the ever engaging Vicky, Anh’s granddaughter who’d translated for Anh when we first encountered her, made us feel better.

Later, as Cate and I washed the dishes—after I had politely refused Ahn’s offer to do them for me, telling her it was part of my regular chores and that I really didn’t mind it—Cate finally had it out with me.

“Alex, everyone has been giving you a lot of latitude,” she said as she handed me a dish to dry. “After all, we realize how deeply this has struck you, but you’ve got to get your act together. I called Becky and Melinda, and they’re both coming home tomorrow evening for a family discussion. We really need to tell them what’s been happening. I’m interested in getting Becky to help me with my research, and she’s been champing at the bit wondering about that phone call you asked her to make to the hospital in New Orleans. There’s no way you can get out of this. You’re going to have to lead the discussion, and you’ll need to figure out how you’re going to present it without sounding like a deranged nutcase.”

“Why thank you for the vote of confidence,” I replied with a smile just before I snapped her with the towel. “But you’re right, it’ll take some thought before I’m ready to confront them. It’s going to be a difficult discussion, no matter how we approach it.”

“Well, I think that Anh and Allison can provide enough evidence for us,” Cate reflected with a wicked grin. “After all, it’s not every day that a seventeen year old virgin comes home with an Asian grandmother and an exclusive escort and his parents don’t have a problem with it.”

“Yeah, Becky could certainly help me a lot,” she noted since their eldest sister was interning for a biomedical research firm while finishing up her graduate work in Genetics. “I’d love to bounce some ideas off of her, and with any luck, she may be able to get me some resources to run a few tests. After all, I’m pretty sure these abilities of yours and the girls are genetically based, and there’s no way I can test that kind of stuff on my own. Though I’m not quite sure how we can put Melinda to use. You’ll also have to figure out how to include her so she doesn’t feel left out,” she informed me summarily, adding yet more burdens to my mounting list of responsibilities.

“Well, Melinda is tied into the whole college environment over at SIU, so she’s got access to more resources than either of us do, so I suspect we’ll think of something she can help us with,” I told her. “But don’t worry, I’ll be ready by the time they arrive, even though I may end up staying awake all night trying to figure out how I’m going to do it.”

“Good,” Cate said, leaning up and kissing my cheek. “That’s what I was counting on. You always come through in a pinch, and that’s just one of the many things that I love about you.” She finished the kiss off with a hug, which she seemed to hold for much longer than usual, which only reminded me of our recent troubles. But I chose not to voice those concerns, and after another few moments Cate finally released me, finished off the last few dishes and wandered off on her own again, mumbling about people she needed to call and research she was hoping to do online.

“Hey, Cate,” I called before she reached the kitchen door.

“Yeah?” she asked, turning and clutching the door as she glancing back in.

“Well... ,” I began uneasily. “Remember how Shani wanted me to ... uh, date a little before any of the girls would ... uh... ?”

“I remember,” she laughed, her eyes twinkling at mirth watching me twist in the wind. “What about it?”

“Well, she wanted me to find a girlfriend, and frankly, I really have no idea who to approach about it. I don’t have that many female friends at school, so I don’t know—”

“And you want me to help you out?” she asked, taking mercy on me and cutting off my meandering question.

“Yeah,” I answered, leaning back against the sink. “If you could, it would be great if you could make some suggestions about who I could ask out?” I’d been thinking about this for a while, and given Shani’s theory about Cate’s sexuality, I figured that Cate just might take up the challenge, if only to gain an excuse to gawk at the other girls at school. Either way, it was a potential win for both of us.

“Geez, bro, you’re a senior. We’re not exactly in the same classes. Besides, I don’t know what you’re looking for in a girl. You haven’t shown a preference before.”

“No, not unless you count the many magazines I hide in my room,” I teased, fully aware my stash was by no means a secret to anyone in the house since Cate had made that abundantly clear in New Orleans when she explained all my foibles to the women I’d met there.

“Yeah, I’ve tended to avoid catching up on your reading material,” Cate replied, making a face at the idea. “You know, sticky pages and all that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m well familiar with ‘sticky pages’,” I grinned, feeling comfortable falling back into the familiar refrain of our typical teasing. Something I’d missed, even as I’d enjoyed the newer softer moments as well.

“You should, it’s your sticky stuff that stuck them,” she laughed.

“So, you gonna help or not?” I challenged, wanting a firm commitment.

“Hmmm, I’ll think about it,” she replied, her eyes sparkling as she considered the possibilities. “I’ll take a look around school and see if anyone strikes me as being a potential match for you.”

I figured that’d be her response. I didn’t think I knew a female that didn’t dream of matchmaking at one point or another. “Thanks, I’d appreciate it. I don’t have much of a clue myself, obviously,” I finished with a playful grin.

“Hey, don’t knock yourself,” she responded, surprising me since I had been expecting some sort of sharp comeback. “You’ve already proven you can handle any number of attractive women. You managed all those people in New Orleans without a problem.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No buts,” she responded quickly, reentering the room in order to confront me, staring me directly in the eyes. “You faced an unusual situation and took control of it quickly. You went from being all on your own to leading a bunch of people in only a few days. You’ve always had the ability to get anyone you’ve ever desired.” Here she hesitated before continuing, glancing down before looking up at me again. “But I’ve held you back by always criticizing you with silly jokes that were only meant to make me feel smart. You deserve better. You’re a handsome, attractive, personable guy. I’ve always known that, but I simply never bothered to tell you before. I want you to get it through your head that you are very desirable.”

I simply stood there, a little stunned at the strength and the unexpectedness of her response. However, a moment later she continued, filling in the silence.

“Still, isn’t there anyone you’ve lusted after all these years?”

“Not really,” I replied, running my hand through my hair considering it. “The girls most guys lust after are the cheerleader types, and they just don’t do it for me. They’re a bit too full of themselves. They hang around with Football Players,” I sighed exasperatedly, as if the very idea of football players was a huge turn off. “Plus the girls I’ve fantasized about were just that, fantasies. I’ve learned enough in the last week to know that I want more than just a pretty face.”

“So what kind of girl rings your bell?” she asked, cocking her head as she warmed up to the subject.

“I don’t know,” I answered with a shrug. “I like simple girls, cute but not gorgeous, smart, thoughtful, quick and potentially funny. I like thin girls but that’s not really necessary. Active and somewhat athletic I guess.”

Cate looked at me askance, a small smile teasing the edge of her mouth. “You realize you just described me, don’t you?”

“You? I just described myself! I think I’m looking for me. Now if I was only gay I’d be ready to settle down,” I laughed.

“Yeah, before this last week, you settled down with yourself every night for the last several years,” she giggled back.

“You’ve been checking at my door for the last several years?” I teased, playfully leering at her though I knew she wouldn’t take it the wrong way. I was enjoying the renewal of this relaxed, playful relationship that had been missing since our difficulties of the last several days.

“Granted, and your behavior has been a bit hard to miss, bro,” she responded, falling into the familiar pattern once more. “All that time spent in the bathroom, the extra-long showers, the exit in the middle of a movie on TV to take a sudden nap, the ‘wacka-wacka’ sound whenever I passed by your room.” She certainly had a lot of examples handy of my supposedly secret activities over the years.

“Yeah, unfortunately I’ve missed all the ‘squish-squish’ sounds coming out of yours,” I shot back, eager to keep the teasing play going.

“What makes you think I ‘squish-squish’?” she asked with a ‘who me’ innocence.

“I’ve spent several nights ‘wacka-wacking’ while you were ‘squish-squishing’ in the other bed,” I laughed along with her. While the statement was true, I had only shared such activities in the past week, and I had hardly been doing the ‘wacka-wacking’ she was referring to.

“OK, I’ll see if I can find any desperate copies of me who don’t mind copulating with you in exchange for the promise you’ll be too busy afterwards to bother them anymore.”

“There is that. Thanks Cate, I appreciate it.”

“Ha, you haven’t seen who I set you up with yet,” she laughed, finally turning and sashaying out the door.

I had to grin at her antics as I put everything away. Left to my own devices, I considered how I’d missed the excitement of the various activities of the day; the apartment hunting, the last-minute school shopping and the many other tasks I missed out on. I didn’t exactly miss the last-minute rushing to complete our back-to-school assignments, but both Cate and I were so far ahead in our schoolwork it wasn’t really an issue. Finally putting away the final cup and closing the cabinet, I considered my relationship with Cate. It had returned to normal once we’d returned, I reflected, recalling how our attempt to include her in our sexual games I’d tried playing with the other girls in our hotel room had produced a noticeable strain between us. No, I corrected myself, actually it’s better for some odd reason. Not only is she speaking to me again, but she’s going out of her way to be nice to me. She’s giving me hugs, complimenting me and doing many other things that she doesn’t normally do. But the strangest thing was that she seemed reluctant to tease me the way we typically did when they were having fun together. I’d finally gotten her to resume it, but it had taken a long time of dangling openings before she’d finally relented. I figured I could adjust to that in exchange for the other things she’d supposedly substituted for it.

I was recovered enough from my missing girl trauma to make quiet love with both Allison and Anh later that night. They both gave me some step-by-step assistance in my crude attempts at cunnilingus, and they seemed to appreciate my meager attempts as well. They finished me off nicely with an exquisitely performed dual blowjob. Everyone fell fast asleep cuddling each other, though I remained awake for some time afterwards, considering what I was going to say to Becky and Mel the next day.

As I was considering those issues, I glanced again at the two women in my arms, looking perfectly at ease in my grasp as they tried to snuggle in closer in their sleep. I hated to admit it, but I missed going to sleep with multiple women in my arms every night, and another lying just a short distance away. I idly wondered what life would be like when I’d have to give it all up after I found the girlfriend the girls wanted me to get. I was still grinning at the thought when I eventually fell asleep at last.

Sunday was relatively relaxing. I’d stopped obsessing about the lost girl, I wasn’t worried about new women finding me and no one needed me to do anything for them, aside from helping unpack and store things. The women were busy preparing the house for the upcoming onslaught of women, and Allison left a few times to investigate nearby apartments and houses that she and the rest of the women could share.

But I hadn’t forgotten the upcoming discussions with my sisters. So far I’d only discussed our various new abilities with people who had a vested interest in the topic. Aside from Mom and Dad, this was the first time I had to try to convince normal people that I was somehow special. I was especially nervous since they were my sisters. They would likely think I was simply inventing stuff to sound more impressive than I was. I didn’t think my older sisters thought much of me to begin with; we’d see how they’d relate to this news. I was just the annoying little brother who’d always pestered them.

Mom and Cate thought it would be fun to have Allison answer the door when they arrived, and were watching the door so she could get to it before they entered on their own.

“Hi, Becky and Melinda, I take it,” she greeted them happily, her bright red hair bouncing as she hugged them both. “I’m Allison, I’m sure you’ll hear all about me in a few minutes, so I won’t bore you with any personal histories at the moment. Come on in, we’ve been expecting you.”

The two girls glanced at each other, then shrugged and followed Allison into their own home, watching her fantastic figure jiggle its way before them. Both girls resembled Mom’s side of the family in that they all tended to be thin and in great shape, and luckily they all managed to miss my wild eyebrow gene. Becky looked like a typical research assistant in that she appeared to have been too busy to have eaten much lately. Melinda looked much more relaxed, being in her junior year she had bypassed much of the more stressful aspects of school while getting into the more interesting, detailed subjects. They just walked through the door when they encountered their next surprise.

“This is Anh,” Allison said, introducing the gray-haired oriental woman who smiled graciously at them. “She’s another of Alex’s girls. In case you don’t know it,” she confided, leaning in and whispering conspiratorially to them as Anh surprised them with big heartfelt hugs, “you have an amazing brother and we’re totally crazy about him. We’d all follow him to the ends of the earth.” They both looked at her in confusion, then at me and then at Mom. Anh proceeded to greet them both, in polite Vietnamese, bowing slightly as she did. Linda and Cate had trouble trying to keep from giggling hysterically. Even Frank was enjoying the spectacle they presented.

“She says she’s pleased to meet you and that she’s heard a great deal about both of you,” I translated for them, realizing she was lying as we’d never spoken much about my sisters.

“You speak... ?” Melinda started to ask before halting, not sure what she was asking.

“No, I don’t speak Vietnamese, but I know what she’s saying anyway. We’ll get to that in a moment,” I told them simply as I kissed them both hello, both Allison and Anh stepping aside as I approached.

Mom walked up at that point and tried to give them both a hug as well.

“Wait a minute, Mom, just what the hell is going on?” Mom started to say something about Melinda’s choice of language but Becky cut her off.

“Is this what you meant when you were talking about ‘Alex’s women’?” she asked.

“Believe me, you’ll understand everything in a minute,” my father said, interrupting them. “A lot has been happening in the last week, and while you may have trouble believing it, it’s all absolutely true. Cate, why don’t you put your presentation skills to use and give them a run down on everything that’s been happening to your brother over the past week.” So Cate proceeded to describe, in a shortened version, much of what had happened during the last week. Both girls were agog at the whole thing, but Dad kept telling them not to interrupt and to listen, as they’d want to hear it all before they began asking any questions.

Cate described the basic events, the various tests she’d conducted and what she thought they meant, the various relationships that I’d formed with the ladies, and that there were others as well. She described the difference between the Watchers and, as she described it, ‘the chosen’. I’d have to talk to her about that particular terminology. I think at first they both believed it was all an elaborate joke, but the fact that no one laughed brought them around.

After Cate finished her presentation, my parents started next. First Mom described my budding social life, listing the sleeping arrangements and their conversations with each of the girls. Next Dad described Cate’s and my relationships and what had happened between us for the past week. I had to hide my head in embarrassment, but at least he didn’t know the whole story. I figured Cate was already humiliated enough as it is.

He finished off telling them what he knew about our fight, before launching into his theory about how I may be influencing those around me. In short, they managed to leave nothing out aside from the girls’ histories.

In a fairly deft move, Dad then asked Anh to explain her own theories about Alex’s abilities. That accomplished two things, besides presenting her views, it once again demonstrated our telepathy and that there was an established precedent for what was happening, however remote.

“So, do either of you have any questions?” Alex asked as he finished translating Anh’s responses.

“Oh, my fucking god,” Becky exclaimed, finally able to express herself after being constrained from doing so by her father’s admonitions before, “this is fucking unbelievable!”

“Becky!” Linda warned her eldest regarding her language, giving her a look.

“Mom, you’ve gotta admit, if there was ever a time to be profane, this is it.” That generated a laugh all around which seemed to ease the tension everyone had been feeling, wondering how the girls would react to the news.

“Man, I can’t believe our little Alex gets to be the main actor in his own Sci-Fi adventure,” Melinda said. “I mean, all this stuff about energy sounds like something out of Star Wars. And he adds his own harem to the mix. Man, if you can set me up with some amazing ability that gets me a string of attentive guys I’d really appreciate it, Alex.”

“I’ve been trying to give Alex some theories about what’s happening,” Cate said, “but I think we’ll need you to help with that, Becky, since you have more experience, more training, and better access to facilities.”

“Yeah, I think your basic theories are pretty good, as far as they go,” Becky said, her eyes sparkling at all the possible avenues they could take in studying this, “but I’ll have to see if I can arrange some tests to get a better understanding about it. So far every idea seems to be concerning the girls, though. Any ideas on what may be going on with Alex himself?”