I heard someone pull into the driveway so I investigated. I was so bored I was praying for something that I could do. Sam was getting out of his truck.
He knocked on the door, but didn’t wait before coming in, “Oh good, you’re up.”
“Yup, just picking my brain for something to keep my mind occupied for a while.” I pointed to the dishes that I had hand washed even though there was a dishwasher.
“Well, the doctor would like to see you immediately.”
“Let’s go then.” I pulled on my shoes and we left.
When we arrived at the clinic Doctor Z was waiting outside. He was almost bouncing on his heels in excitement yet Sam was somber as we got out of the truck. I couldn’t help but to wonder what was wrong with this strange man.
“Ah, Grace I have wonderful news, please come into my lab.” He directed me with his arm outstretched. I followed Sam who led the way through the clinic to Doctor Z’s lab.
“Have a seat, please.” Sam sat on the doctor stool.
Doctor Z shut the door, “I have been going over your test results from the other day coupled with scans that we took while you were at level six within the Aurora facility.”
“Alright.” I wasn’t following as the small man zipped all over the room showing me different images.
“These are, I must say, nothing short of magnificent.” Dr. Z rambled, “Anyway, I have been working on a drug that can remove your mental block.”
“Completely?”
“It could, or only slightly.” He sighed, "It could also do nothing at all.”
“Alright,” I thought for a moment, “I’m in.”
“Grace I want you to know I’m against this, I think you should work through this, on your own.” Sam voiced his opinion.
“There is one other thing.” Doctor Z Said, “If it works as designed it won’t just get rid of the mental block that prevents your powers; it will remove all mental blocks.”
“Really, I don’t think that I have any other mental blocks.” I joked.
“This is serious Grace, you could unlock horrible memories that you don’t want to remember, you were an orphan.” Sam paced around the room running his fingers through his hair. He was determined to talk me out of using the drug.
“I remember every bit of that.” I growled.
“You may have to spend more time putting the blocks back up, then it would take to just work through this one.” He continued to pace.
“Sam, look, I’m ok with this.” I stopped him and looked into his eyes.
“Alright, Alright. Let’s do it.” He finally let up.
I laid down on the table. Doctor Z rolled up my sleeve and sterilized a spot on my arm. He opened a small plastic case where he removed a small syringe full of glowing purple liquid.
“This will hurt, at first.” Dr. Z was sure to inform me.
He pushed the needle into my vein and emptied the chemical into my blood. He pulled the needle back out and replaced it in the case.
I felt burning as the chemical coursed through my body. My legs began to shake. Slowly, the movement shook up my arms. My whole body began to shake. I tried to keep my eyes open but my eye lids became more and more heavy.
I fainted.
I was knee high. I couldn’t see over any counters, or anything for that matter. Beside me stood a man and a woman, who seemed familiar, but that’s all.
“My name is Joseph Madison and this is my wife Abby. We spoke on the phone.” The man spoke to a woman behind the counter.
“How may I help you today?” the woman asked.
“We had an appointment.” Mr. Madison said.
The woman looked down at the book in front of her, “Right this way.” We were led into a back room.
I was placed in a small play area where there were several toys but I just sat there. I could hear everything that was going on.
“Mr. Madison, the first question that I am forced to ask is, did you bring the required compensation? Obviously you are a wealthy man.” The woman asked.
“We have the requested amount, along with instructions for an account that will be injected with one million dollars when she reaches eighteen, safely. My work is getting increasingly dangerous and I don’t want my daughter to be a part of it.” My father explained.
“Alright, the child’s name?”
“Her name is Grace. I want her to disappear. I do not want her to seek us out. I want her to think that we are both dead.” He slid an elaborate wooden case across the table to the woman. “Inside this box is a tracking system that will lead you to the girl when she is eighteen years old. It will not activate until then. When she is of age I want her restored to her place as the inheritor of my estate. I will be dead by the time she is of age I am afraid, and if by some chance I am not, all the better.”
“I hope to have her in a family rather quickly; she is such a cute child. We have a back story and fake records prepared already.”
Everything got very fuzzy and the room dissolved into thin air.
I woke in Doctor Z’s lab covered in sweat and shot bolt upright, “What do you know about Joseph Madison?”
“He used to own all of this; he died a few years back.” Sam said, “Why?”
“I just had a hell of a dream.” I rubbed my head.
“What happened?” Doctor Z asked.
“My parents were getting rid of me.” I closed my eyes trying to remember all the details. “My father was Joseph Madison.”
“I will look into it.” Sam said.
“Can you use your abilities?” Doctor Z was irritated with the detour that we had taken away from the reason he gave me the treatment.
I held out my hand and concentrated on a powerful flame. Foot high flames burst out of my palm.
Doctor Z clapped his hands and whelped for joy. Sam smiled but still looked disturbed.
I got off of the bed, my legs a little weak as I stood up, and ignited my other hand with flames.
“I’m going to take another scan, keep the flames active.” Doctor Z brought out the electronic crown and placed it once again on my head.
“Could you dial them back a bit though?” Sam worried that I might burn the place down.
I lowered the flames down to a two inch height while the good doctor took his readings. As the results began to appear, he frowned.
“This is interesting.” He projected the picture to the big screen.
The lines were similar to the earlier scan. The blackness that they thought was a mental block was still there, but it was much smaller and only the extreme ends of the graphs were blocked.
“It was only partially successful. You may only be able to use your powers in the tier three ranges. And that may be only with extreme concentration.” Doctor Z zoomed into the blocked areas.
“I’ll work on it; I mean at least I can use my powers some.” I smiled and took the scanner off of my head, “Thank you doctor.”
He took the scanner and put it back in its case, “Please keep me updated on any changes.”
Chapter 16: Emotions
I lay on the ground in the middle of that desert again looking up at the sky. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there, but I wasn’t worried about it. I was content to just lay there in the warm sand.
Clouds began to fill the sky, threatening to dump rain down on top of me. I decided that I could do one of two things; lay there and get rained on, or I could try and find some shelter. I turned my head either way, and couldn’t see anything until the horizon.