I studied her and spied what was hidden: bruising beneath makeup. Someone had hit her, and knowing this I felt a surge of my own anger amongst her concoction of emotion.
It had proven too much when our eyes met. I caught a glimpse of enchanting brown and green eyes before all I could see was blood, lots of blood, and screaming. There was a voice crying out to ‘stop, please stop!'.
I knew the images weren't mine. Memories which were imprinted so deep into her subconscious that they leaked out of her soul with the rest of her feelings.
The next thing I knew I was throwing up, emptying my stomach onto the ground in front of me.
Rather embarrassing, to be honest.
I hadn't been affected by someone's emotions like that in a long time. Having gained control over my abilities years ago, I had finally come to see my powers of empathy as less of a curse and more of a mild burden. Yet, I could still remember when being near anyone caused my stomach to clench as my mind was overwhelmed by theirs. Chocolate always helped to soothe the attacks.
Whack!
I paused in my chopping to take a deep breath. I hadn't yet broken a sweat. It would take a lot more to do that, especially in this cool, crisp air.
When I finally recovered with Dorris' help the other day, I felt the immediate need to seek out the girl again. Despite knowing it wasn't a good idea so soon after getting sick, I felt the innate need to help her. To understand her pain and want to heal it as my abilities demanded. Dorris had convinced me, however, to go home instead.
On the way back, I had stopped by Tim's and asked for some chocolate to settle my nerves. He was more than happy to help and even gave me an extra box to take home. The box was pretty with a thin, colorful film. Holding it, I thought back to the girl and thought she could use it more than I.
When she had approached me two days later, I was more prepared. Her emotions slammed into the wall I had built up to prepare being in a town surrounded by so many people. I was prompt about giving the chocolate to her. Her happiness at receiving the gift warmed my insides like a small fire. I wanted her to feel that again.
Whack!
She was interesting.
Whack!
And gorgeous.
Whack!
And she was standing two hundred yards in front of me.
I looked up as I felt her unique signature pass at the edge of my radius. Startled, the axe slipped from my hands in my downswing and went flying into a tree not far from her.
"Holy shit!" She shouted.
Eyes wide, I rushed towards her to make sure she was okay.
She turned to run, only to stumble on a root and fall. When she turned and saw me still coming, she curled up into a ball, whimpering. I halted and reassessed the situation. She was scared.
I realized that to her, a large form was racing towards her in the middle of the night after throwing an axe at her.
"Atalanta," I called.
I felt her surprise and realization at my familiar voice.
I approached slowly. Pulling out my phone, I turned on the flashlight to add extra light for her to see. She looked up at me, her beautiful eyes meeting mine. Prepared this time, I put up my mental walls to block the full extent of her emotions.
"Ajax?"
I crouched down next to her and leaned forward, wanting to comfort her and make her feel safe. “It's me. I'm here."
"What the fuck are you doing out here at night with a fucking axe!?" she shouted, causing me to sit back away from her with my eyebrows raised.
I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times before coming up with, "Cutting wood."
"In the middle of the night?" She asked, her voice rising in pitch, cracking.
"It's my only free time."
"Oh, that's all the better, to be walking around at night with a creepy lantern and hacking at wood with an axe!” She waved her hands wildly in the air. "Here I was, minding my own business, trying to get some air when I see your lantern! Then I hear the creepy chopping, and of course against my better judgment I freaking get closer to the sound! Next thing I know, an axe is flying at my face! You know how freaking scary that is?! You threw an axe at me!"
She talked quite a lot. It was obvious that she was a tad upset.
"I'm sorry,” I apologized as I helped her to her feet. “My hand slipped."
She laughed. "Slipped? Slipped?! Christ, Ajax, you could have killed me!"
Strike that, she was just a bit hysterical. Her emotions were all over the place as she continued to rant about how scared she was and how it was extremely weird and stupid for me to be out here cutting down trees in the dark.
I felt bad for causing her to feel such fear. Wanting that feeling gone from her, I instinctually reached forward and brushed my hand along her cheek and pulled her fear into me. I felt the pain spear through me like an icicle through the heart, causing a shiver to run down my spine before I brushed it away.
Almost immediately, the fumes I could practically see coming out of her ears stopped. Her hands, which were waving all over the place and pointing fingers at me, calmed. Her ramblings slowed to a stop, leaving her panting.
She let out a heavy breath. "Okay. I feel much better now."
I nodded, doubting she realized that I pulled the negative feeling from her. Most didn’t, unless they knew about my ability beforehand.
“That's good," I commented, staring into her eyes with what little light we had.
She stepped up close to me and poked me in the chest. “You need to be more careful, Mister. Out cutting wood in the dark and throwing axes at girls.”
“Again, my apologies. It slipped.” I said as I stopped her finger from poking my chest by gently wrapping my hand around hers.
She blinked her beautiful wild eyes up at me, drawing me into her. She was wearing a heavy coat that looked far too big on her and…super tight jeans. Before I realized it, I far too close into her personal space, leaning over her as if I was about to kiss her. She was looking up at me, her mouth open ever so slightly. When she licked her lips nervously, I had to step back.
As a distraction, I walked over to the tree that my axe had buried itself into. With one hand, I pulled it out and began to walk back towards the tree trunk. I knew she was following behind me. Being a bit of a show off, I swung the axe high and slammed it hard down on the wood, chopping off the rest of the section.
Standing up straight, I saw her at the edge of my space watching me as she leaned against one of the nearby trees.
“That was rather impressive,” she said, her voice a little breathy.
I smiled, pride prickling in my chest.
“Now how are you going to move it?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest with a cocky expression on her face.
Without a word, I walked back over to my backpack and pulled out some rope. I tied the rope around the piece of trunk, snatched up my bag and lantern, then used the rope to pull the hunk of wood onto my back.
She whistled.
Curious to see if she would follow me, I took one careful step at a time as I walked back to my house with the wood. It wasn’t particularly heavy, just awkward, and the bark scratched against my back.
With a quick glance behind me, I saw that Atalanta was indeed following.
Discreetly, I let the scales on my back rise to the surface, acting as an efficient barrier to the rough bark.
“Here, let me at least hold this for you,” she said, hurrying over and scooping up my backpack and lantern.
“Thanks,” I muttered, warmed by her offer to help.
We walked through the forest for a few minutes in comfortable silence before she broke it.