Powers of the Mind - 1. Chapter 1

“Get your fat ass back in that seat!” Nancy could hear the words as loud as day but looking around at the other children still sitting and working busily at their test papers she knew that the voice was only in her head. With a sheepish grin she looked up at Robert who was glancing at her with a satisfied smirk on his face. Smiling back at him she took the foot that she had been sitting on and placed it back on the floor. She had probably been sitting on it at a really strange angle because as it touched the floor it had that annoying and painful buzz in it that always happened when the foot fell asleep. Nancy really wanted to bang it on the floor to get sensation back into it but was afraid if she did anything it would really annoy Robert. Sometimes it was really great being his friend but other times it was just a tiny bit too scary. Nancy knew that Robert didn’t always intend to do the things he did but his temper was just a little bit much to handle and sometimes things just went awry.

It had not always been this way though. Robert began life as a normal child or at least as normal as any other child was apt to be. When Robert was young he had no idea of the power that was within him. He was a normal kid or so he though,t with a normal temper. One day at age 8 while playing with a group of friends one of the children came up to him and pulling away the ball that was in his arms tripped Robert down to the ground so hard that the brand new pair of jeans he was wearing ripped right across his leg not only leaving a gaping hole but a red slash of blood as his knee hit the pavement. Trying to raise himself up Robert tripped on his shoelace that always seemed to have come undone at the worst times. The anger inside him tripled. He had never felt such feeling. It was like a damn had burst inside and instead of thoughts raw fire flashed through his brain.

Looking up Robert saw the young boy that had tripped him. As he did the fire in his brain ripped through him the pain feeling like it would tear him apart. All of a sudden it was like something exploded and Robert saw the young boy in front of him fall down to the ground holding his head like he had been hit. At that exact same moment all of the pain in Robert’s head ceased as if it had never been. All of the child’s companions came running looking at the young boy bewildered at what could possibly be wrong with him. Even Robert was puzzled for a moment.

Realizing though as strange as it could possibly be that the same moment his pain ended the other boy had been struck down it had to be much more than coincidence. Nothing like this had ever happened to Robert before and as far as he knew had ever happened to anyone he knew. As he thought about it his small brain started turning in confusion it was really to much for an 8 year old to comprehend. Besides while he was thinking the game had already restarted and as small boys often do got engaged in play and completely forgot about the strange incident.

Robert had always had a temper in his toddler hood.. His temper tantrums had always driven his parents to distraction, but although they were annoying to the people around him and often quite loud they had stopped at age 4. Everyone thought Robert had grown more tolerant of others foibles. This was not the truth though. If anyone at the time had been able to read Robert’s mind they would have seen that although to the outside observer it looked like Robert had grown tolerant and quiet, inside a storm was brewing, The anger and the hate sometimes building up to immense proportions. This really wouldn’t have mattered if Robert had been just a normal child like all his playmates but for some reason that was not so.

At the age of 8 no one could deny there was something strange about Robert. , In fact not only strange but downright dangerous. Every child that played with him and had any sort of disagreement with him came down with disabling headaches, the pain so bad they were nauseous. Robert though seemed totally unaware of this unusual phenomenon. As all his playmates were sent to their beds crying in pain Robert seemed to get happier and happier. In fact as the last of his friends was crying in pain Robert started to laugh in glee.

For some reason it seemed the adults around Robert never seemed to notice this peculiarity about him. It was like he was somehow able to block them from noticing anything was wrong even if right in front of them someone was being tortured internally by him. The children though were not so lucky they could see there was something devilish about him. It was not good to get on his bad side and even though they really couldn’t understand what was happening soon all the children started to avoid him by the time he was nine years old not one child would go near him and Robert had become a real loner.

Nancy was the new child. At age 12 it really stunk to be new in a school, after all weren’t you supposed to be the BMOC in 6th grade with all the younger children looking up at you? . There was nothing Nancy could do. Her dad was in the navy in the secret service part of it, and all her life as soon as she had just started to settle down make a friend or two off they went again to another new town and another new home full of strangers. Maybe it would have been better if she was even allowed to say goodbye to her friends but every time they left because of her dads job, it was like sneaking off in the dead of night

“Nancy could you please stop staring through that window?” Nancy looked up to see her father had come into the room and was talking to her as he walked through the living room. Nancy still had a wistful look in her face. This last move they had made was the hardest for her. She had just gotten Tony to notice her existence and even ask her to the 6th grade dance. Her mom had even gone with her to pick out her dance dress. The dress was still sitting in the closet although and would probably never be worn.

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The memories of that day were still very clear in Nancy’s head. It was the day before the dance and her dad had come into her bedroom and sat down on the edge of her bed. Afraid even before he said a word Nancy could tell that he had bad news and by the expression on his face he really didn’t want to tell her.

“Nancy I’m so sorry honey but I got new orders. I would let you stay here and finish off the school year but you know your mom she is insisting you guys go with me because otherwise it might be a long time before I can contact you again. You know my job. I have to be in Washington by tomorrow. We are leaving on the 6AM flight. Please go pack your stuff the truck will be here to pick it all up in 4 hours.” Nancy’s dad must have really felt terrible. He didn’t even wait to see Nancy’s reaction to his words. He just turned around and left the room closing the door with a click. The instant the door closed Nancy threw herself on the bed with a shriek. “DAMN DAMN! NO they cant do this to me!” The tears were streaking down her cheeks and as she said this her thoughts were racing through her mind. I’m not going to do this I will run away!

After another outburst where she got up ran into her closet and ripped the dress she had been so proud of down off the hanger into a heap on the floor Nancy started to pull all her clothes out of the closet and throw them into her footlocker. The chest had been packed and unpacked so many times that the key latch was completely scratched and no longer had a polished surface.

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“Nancy I am talking to you please stop daydreaming” With a start Nancy realized she had again zoned out and her father was talking to her again. It seemed to be happening more and more. “Did your mom leave us a dinner to cook? Your brother is driving me crazy he is starving.” Guiltily Nancy looked up. When her mom had left for her temp job she had left her clear instructions to put the casserole in the oven at 5PM. Realizing that it was already 7:00 and the oven hadn’t even been turned on Nancy knew that again she had messed up. Dinner wouldn’t be ready for another hour the soonest.