《The Weight of Memories》


 Chapter 1: Diving In

    Memories are an interesting look into what a human finds most important. I don¡¯t just mean the big events in a person¡¯s life. A birthday party where the family gathers around in joyous celebration, graduating with a degree you worked years of your life to earn, no. These memories most everyone would hold fondly. What I am talking about is the unconscious focus each person has on normal, everyday observations. Those few extra seconds spent looking at the facial structure of the man sitting on the far end of the bus, the side-long glance at a drop of condensation sliding down the side of a car window. These memories that many people don¡¯t realize the have, are the most telling of what their subconscious is focused on.


    I am currently wading through the memories of a young girl and all of the expected memories are here. The first crush, the first break-up, passing a difficult test, and receiving her first car. These memories appear and disappear as large frames of space, but what I am focused on is the small pockets of space in-between. I then sift through that space plucking tiny memories no larger than a fingernail out of the air. Each one tells a story, maybe not for this young girl directly, but for those around her as well.


    It didn¡¯t take long to find a memory I was looking for, his image always stands out. He is always in the peripheral of the memories I find. His black hood and red eyes stand out among the crowd of pedestrians as he swiftly walks behind them and then out of sight once more. By the time anyone would have the time to look over, he would be gone. This was the tenth time I had seen this man and I still do not understand who, or what, he is.


    I exited the memories of the young girl, back into the sparsely furnished surroundings of the hotel room I was currently staying in. The burst of noise from city traffic finally brought me back to my senses. I was getting better, but the nausea from my journey¡¯s into other¡¯s minds often left me stuck in the bathroom for the next hour. This time was no different.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Staggering out of the bathroom, I pulled out my phone to call Eric.


    After two rings, his floaty, singsong voice rang out from the other end. ¡°Hey Mitch, how did the dive go?¡± I shakily sat down on the edge of the bed before responding, ¡°I found another one. Add Rachel Miller to the list. I still wasn¡¯t able to get a good look at him. Same as the others. He¡¯s always in the periphery.¡± My participation in this journey had begun two years earlier when Eric and I first met in our first few days of college. Our abilities, a rarity in today¡¯s world, connected us, but the man was one of Eric''s pet projects after he had learned of his existence much earlier browsing through a variety of message boards online.


    ¡°Good work. The pieces of this puzzle are slowly coming together. When will you make it back?¡± I checked my watch, it was already past midnight. Time always seemed to dilate whenever I entered someone else¡¯s memories.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll stay the night here. It¡¯s too late to head back now. I¡¯ll be back early tomorrow in time for classes.¡±


    ¡°Cool.¡± Eric said, ¡°I¡¯ll see you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep this time.¡± I chuckled, ¡°We¡¯ll see. See you.¡± I hung up the phone and fell back onto the bed. My stomach growled aching for food as it often did after a dive and purge. I didn¡¯t have the energy to sit back up, much less make it out to a restaurant that might be open at this time of night.


    I could only stare up at the ceiling fan spinning slowly round and round. It¡¯s spinning blades almost hypnotic. Other symptoms would appear after a dive, often much worse than the initial nausea. Memories, not my own, would flash through my mind. Not just from the recent dive either. Memories of other¡¯s I had seen at one point or another would appear.


    A man named David, watching over his cancer-stricken mother knowing there is nothing left that can be done. The variety of emotions and pure helplessness washed over me until the memory switched suddenly to a child screaming. She was running from her drunken father as cursed her very existence. The girl slammed and locked her bedroom door, but that didn¡¯t stop his drunken rampage. He continued to bang on the door as she hid under her bed crying. This is one I couldn¡¯t quite remember the origin of. The memories of the minds I jumped in may fade from that person¡¯s life, but I could remember each one vividly. I carry them around as invisible weights, a curse of the ability I have been born with.


    The memories of others continued to flash through my mind as I stared at the ceiling fan. It was going to be another sleepless night.

 Chapter 2: The Lesson

    I rubbed my eyes as I stumbled through campus. The sun shone brightly as sweat began to darken areas of my light blue t-shirt. I should have gone with black, but in my half-asleep state I just grabbed the first shirt I could find in my closet before heading to class. I passed by a number of students happily walking in groups on the way to their next class.


    Everything always seems to annoy me a little bit more when I¡¯m sleep-deprived and some of the vapid conversations I would catch small snippets of were really getting to me. Who cares how much you had to drink last night? Droning on about how your boyfriend liked another girl¡¯s instagram photo is not productive. Why not just talk to him about it like the adult you¡¯re supposed to be¡­ I might just be too pessimistic. Due to my power, I¡¯ve never been much of a conversationalist. It¡¯s hard to have a conversation when you can have random flashes of that person¡¯s life play out while talking to them.


    I put in my headphones to dull the sounds around me until I made it to the auditorium style classroom. Eric waved at me from our seats in the middle of the room and I squeezed past the couple of students sitting in seats closer to the aisle. I pulled out my headphones after sitting down and turned to look over at the smiling Eric.


    The quickest description I could give him, as much as I dislike the concept, would be social media model. He was tall and muscular with short, cropped black hair. He used to play a number of sports, but our recent endeavors had been taking up all our time recently so we quit any extracurriculars to focus solely on our project.


    Eric¡¯s smile slowly faded as he got a closer look at my current state. ¡°You didn¡¯t get any sleep, did you?¡± He was frowning now. I just shrugged while pulling out my notebook. ¡°You know how it¡¯s been lately. I¡¯m having a tougher time keeping the memories out.¡±


    His worried look gave away what he was about to say, ¡°Maybe we should take a break. It could help you clear your mind. A hard reset could be what we both need to get a better grasp on the situation.¡±


    I shook my head immediately. ¡°We¡¯re fucking close and you know it. We can¡¯t afford to stop now. The memory we found yesterday was from only a few days ago. He has to be in the city.¡± We were whispering now as more students started to fill in the seats around us.


    The professor walked in shortly after and our conversation was put on hold for the moment. Our professor, Doctor Anderson, started writing a word on one of the six chalkboards in the room. The soft scratching sound echoing through the now silent room. The sounds of occasional screech where the chalk hit the board at an odd angle made my skin crawl, but the professor didn¡¯t even pause until the word was displayed in her elegant handwriting.


    ¡°Super humans¡±, she said while tapping the word she had just written. ¡°This is where we are at now in our World History lesson.¡± She paused while walking back to her desk at the center of the room, ¡°It is estimated that now close to two percent of the population have some form of extraordinary power. That is roughly one-hundred and sixty million people! I can guarantee we have at least one or two powered up people in this room. I doubt they will ever admit it though.¡± She stared out around the sea of students before locking eyes with me. I wasn¡¯t sure how, but she knew, or maybe I¡¯m just extremely paranoid.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Who can tell me when the first powered human came to be?¡± A number of students¡¯ hands flew up into the air before Doctor Anderson chose a student close to the front. A clear, confident voice rang out through the hall, ¡°The first powered, a Korean citizen named Lee Chun Hei, gained the power to heal others roughly twenty-five years ago in 2025.¡±


    Doctor Anderson nodded, ¡°Good and who can tell me what happened to her after she went public with her powers?¡± A similar situation from before happened, but this time a student at the back was chosen to answer. ¡°She was exalted as a hero and soon conscripted into the Korean army. Her help is what ultimately led to the fall of North Korea.¡± The teacher looked up at the student in the back with interest, ¡°How so?¡±


    The student paused before trying their best to answer her follow up question. ¡°Well, her healing powers were and still are unequaled in terms of power. It¡¯s said she could practically revive the dead and did so in large numbers. This allowed for South Korea and their allies to push through the North Korean troops with minimal casualties.¡±


    Doctor Anderson smiled before walking back to the board. She erased ¡®Superheroes¡¯ from the board and in its place started writing a list of names, both English and Korean. I didn¡¯t recognize a single one. ¡°These men and women I have listed were just a few of the real heroes of that war. These are some of the soldiers, leaders, and strategists you won¡¯t hear about in most history books. They gave their lives for the cause and each held rather large contributions for the war effort. The reason we don¡¯t hear about any of these heroes,¡± She turned back around to face the class, ¡°Is because what powered humans contribute is so overwhelming that everyone else falls into the shadow of their achievements. Not that its a bad thing since so many lives were saved thanks to Lee Chun Hei¡¯s contributions.¡±


    She paused again, gathering her thoughts. ¡°We¡¯ve already managed to detract from the topic.¡± She gave a light-hearted laugh before diving back into her lecture. ¡°Now, after Lee Chun Hei came out, many other powered people started coming out of the woodwork. At first it was entertaining. Each country had their own little force for good.¡± It was at this point my eyes started to get heavy. At first I thought it would pass, but the next thing I know, I was getting shoved awake by Eric next to me.


    ¡°Thanks for joining us again, Mitch¡± Doctor Anderson smiled up at me. I just drowsily looked back at her trying to regain my bearings. ¡°Were you having an interesting dream?¡± It was a loaded question. I looked over to Eric for help and his face spoke volumes. I must have said something in my sleep. I couldn¡¯t even remember the dream I was having.


    I turned back to Doctor Anderson and chose to be as polite as possible, ¡°I¡¯m sorry for disrupting the class, professor. I wasn¡¯t able to get a lot of sleep last night.¡±


    ¡°With dreams like that I can¡¯t blame you, but please try to at least wait until you¡¯re out my classroom to take your naps.¡± I nodded, it seems as though she was letting me off the hook pretty easily. ¡°Of course, professor.¡± With one last glance up at me, she went back to teaching her lesson.


    Once Eric and I were out of the classroom, I had to ask, ¡°What did I do this time?¡± He just shrugged, ¡°More of the usual, it was a mostly screaming.¡± I nodded and we silently started walking through the center of campus. It had only gotten hotter out after the class had ended, but the sun felt nice after being cooped up in the classroom for so long.


    ¡°Mitch and Eric.¡± A familiar voice stopped us in our tracks as Doctor Anderson walked up to the two of us. ¡°Can I speak with you two for a minute.¡± I glanced over at Eric, but we both nodded and followed Doctor Anderson back into the classroom.

 Chapter 3: Caught

    Doctor Anderson led us through the now empty auditorium, through a hallway, and into a small office adorned with two leather seats and large mahogany desk. It was as if someone had decorated the office based solely off of movie depictions of a professor¡¯s office.


    ¡°Please, sit.¡± She indicated for the two of us to take the two seats in front of the desk. As I sat down into the large leather chair, I sunk down an inch or two. It was easily one of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in.


    Doctor Anderson took her seat as well and looked at the two of us curiously. Neither one of us knew what to say, so we simply sat and waited for her to start the conversation.


    ¡°Do you two know why the government keeps tabs on every human with powers?¡± It was clearly a rhetorical question. Eric and I waited for her to continue. ¡°It only took a few powerful powereds with a lack of morals to cause public panic. I¡¯m sure you two know what I¡¯m talking about. The Californian Tragedy is still fresh on everyone¡¯s minds.¡± She pulled out a bottle of seemingly expensive whiskey from the bottom drawer of her desk. She slowly poured herself a glass. The sound of the amber liquid slowly filling the glass felt overwhelming. I was too scared to even look over at Eric. She was clearly hinting that she knew we were powered humans. Unregistered ones at that.


    ¡°Now, society has a list of signs we need to watch out for in our colleagues, friends, and family. We¡¯re expected to turn on each other for the good of the country. You, Mitch, in particular have a startling number of these telltale signs of a powered. Yet, neither you nor Eric are registered as powereds. It¡¯s very odd.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t stay quiet anymore, I had to say something. ¡°I¡¯m merely sleep-deprived professor. My classes this semester have been taking their toll on my sleep schedule.¡± She just chuckled, ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me, Mitch. You¡¯re not very good at it.¡± She finished off her first glass and poured another as I felt my heart sink further into my chest. This was it. My life as I know it is going to be over. All she would need to do is notify the government that I exhibited a sign of being powered and they would be banging on my door the next day.


    ¡°I don¡¯t wish to turn you in, so you can relax. I¡¯ve heard stories about how the program they use to monitor a powered is inhumane. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair that you will have to lose any chance you have at a normal life.¡± I let out a sigh of relief, which in retrospect was almost admitting to what she had said outright. A mistake I couldn¡¯t take back.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    She smiled devilishly at my nonverbal confirmation of her theory. ¡°I do wish for a small favor in return for my silence.¡± Looking at our nervous looks, she quickly followed up, ¡°It¡¯s nothing to difficult. I simply wish to know what powers the two of you have.¡±


    I looked over at Eric, ¡°I don¡¯t think we have much of a choice.¡± His head dropped in agreement, ¡°You¡¯re right. It was bound to come out eventually...My power is minor teleportation. It is limited to myself and any items I have on my person.¡± Doctor Anderson pulled out a notebook and started scribbling excitedly. ¡°That¡¯s an uncommon one! I can understand why you have kept it a secret. Society as a whole no longer underestimates the power of a teleporter.¡± She pointed to me with her pen, ¡°And what about you?¡± I hesitated, I wasn¡¯t sure if I wanted to tell her the entire truth, but figured she would see through any attempts I made to lie. ¡°I have the ability to see other¡¯s memories and manipulate them in minor ways.¡± She was scribbling furiously once more. ¡°Now that¡¯s a power I haven¡¯t heard of yet! Although, that explains the lack of sleep and nightmares. The memories must stay with you.¡± She immediately saw through the drawback of my power.She was frightening in her own right.


    ¡°Thank you for sharing boys. I promise, I will not tell a single soul about the two of you.¡± I was doubtful, but at the moment I just wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible. It was starting to feel suffocatingly uncomfortable. The seat that was initially so comfortable now felt as though it was stabbing me in multiple places. Eric noticed my discomfort and spoke up, ¡°If that is going to be all, we need to start heading to our next class.¡± She nodded and waved us off. Completely lost in thought, likely thinking what the advent of my powers could mean to the future of the world.


    The second we got back outside I turned to face Eric, ¡°We need to leave. We aren¡¯t safe here anymore.¡±


    Eric just looked at me with a peculiar expression, ¡°I don¡¯t think we are yet. For whatever reason I trust her not to tell others.¡± I couldn¡¯t believe what I was hearing. Our secret was now out in the world. We needed to move as far away as possible and likely change our names if not our entire appearances. ¡°You¡¯re only saying that because you can teleport away if the situation gets too dangerous. I don¡¯t have that luxury.¡±


    It was then that I saw what I never expected to, a glint of red at the corner of my vision. I held up my hand to silence Eric. He didn¡¯t take offense to it and instead started looking around cautiously.


    ¡°He¡¯s here.¡± I was certain the man with red eyes was watching us right now. Now that I think about it, it was strange how he kept getting closer and closer to our location everytime we would spot him in a memory. How did we never notice it before. As we looked around, more and more flashes of red kept appearing in my peripheral. He was getting closer and closer, but was somehow always out of our line of sight.


    I then felt a sudden chill. I knew he was right beside us, yet even now we couldn¡¯t see him. ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to finally meet you boys.¡± A gravelly voice seemed to come out of thin air. ¡°I know you¡¯re interested in knowing more about me, I feel the same about the two of you.¡± A piece of paper suddenly fluttered to the ground at our feet. ¡°Come to this address tonight at nine. I¡¯ll be looking forward to it.¡± Eric and I just stared at the piece of paper on the ground as we felt the man¡¯s presence disappear. I looked over at Eric and he looked back. I¡¯m sure my face looked similar to his. A strange mix of fear and excitement. Our search was coming to an end.

 Chapter 4: The Meeting

    I have a habit of overthinking situations. It likely started when my powers first appeared when I was four. At that time, I had almost no control over the memories I would see. It¡¯s frightening to be suddenly forced into the world of adults when you barely know basic addition. I would get flashes of adults arguing, the sex they had the night before, their secret thoughts and feelings that although they never happened physically, were still kept as memories. It¡¯s frightening to know just how fucked up the world is. As a child, even more so. It was crippling. I was living in fear at when the next episode would happen. It would come in bursts, but as a child I wasn¡¯t able to properly describe what was happening to my parents. They took it to be a number of mental issues that have become more and more common over the years.


    As a child, I was prescribed a number of drugs I had to take daily that were supposed to help. They only worsened the effects of my powers. Not only was I now seeing other¡¯s memories, I was having those people see them as well.


    I¡¯m sure everyone¡¯s had those moments where they lie in bed at night and suddenly thing of that one stupidly embarrassing thing they did years ago. Imagine that, but during the middle of the day and much more vivid. I believe it was similar to reliving the memory in its entirety. It wasn¡¯t until I was ten that I was able to stop these bursts of power from happening. I still couldn¡¯t control it, but I could at least hold it back. By that point, my parents had figured out I was a powered. As I believe many other parents have chosen as well, they kept it a secret. I was quickly homeschooled and kept away from the public once they found out the issue. They didn¡¯t want to lose me.


    I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever recover from those early childhood days though. The things I saw and felt were beyond what many grown adults would be capable of handling. That along with the increasing side effects from using the power has led me to be much more conservative with its use. I want to be extremely certain that using my power is the best option. That along with the moral issues that come with completely violating someone¡¯s privacy, I often wish I had never gotten this power in the first place.


    Now Eric¡¯s story of his first use of power is much more hilarious. There¡¯s just something comical about a baby teleporting randomly around a house as parents try desperately to catch it. Although I¡¯m sure it was frightening at the time due to the California Tragedy that had recently taken place. The main culprit was a frighteningly powerful teleporter. Since then, the public has never viewed them the same. It¡¯s hard to blame them. A million or so people losing their lives is a wound that may never fully heal.


    I¡¯m currently waiting for Eric to show up at my dorm room. It¡¯s getting close to nine. Of course we have to go meet the man. Otherwise, what did we spend the last few years of our life doing?Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    The most frightening thing about this meeting was actually something I noticed when the man first appeared. It¡¯s hard to describe, but my powers are always activated in some small way. The minds of those around me are constantly beckoning for me to dive in. To view what is hidden in their depths. It is always an open invitation. With that man, I felt nothing. Well, not nothing exactly but more of an emptiness. A void, almost as if he didn¡¯t have memories at all. This isn¡¯t a guy I can get a read on. Although it will push Eric to his limit, I¡¯m hoping he¡¯ll be able to teleport us to safety if the situation turns ugly.


    A loud knock jolted me from my thoughts and I opened the door to a grim-looking Eric waiting for me.


    ¡°Are you ready for this?¡± He asked. This may be the most serious I have ever seen him.


    ¡°Of course. Let¡¯s finally solve this mystery and move on with our lives.¡± He nodded and we made our way out into the streets of the city. The building was surprisingly only a few blocks away. A rundown apartment building scheduled for demolition. A fence surrounded the property, but we found a hole on the side we could slip through.


    It was frightening. Extremely frightening. The interior of the building was poorly lit by the lights of the city outside casting odd shadows throughout the decrepit rooms and hallways.


    ¡°Over here.¡± The gravelly voice called out, causing Eric and I jump. It was a strange relief knowing that Eric was just as frightened as I was. We walked into a small room to the right of us. It was an old one-bedroom apartment. The man was sitting on the edge of the bed, his hood still on, but he was finally in full view. He was shorter than average, but bulky which was either muscle or fat. It was difficult to tell with the baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants.


    He pulled back his hood once we were both in the room, revealing his blood-red eyes. Other than that, he looked like a middle-aged dad. He had thick eyebrows, a five-o-clock shadow, and dimples that were extremely noticeable as he smiled at the two of us.


    ¡°Thanks for coming, guys.¡± His voice changed. It was lighter now, more friendly. I wonder if he was intentionally changing it or if it was an effect from using his power. ¡°I¡¯m sure you have a lot of questions, I will answer them in time. I first have a proposition for you two.¡± He stood up, perhaps for dramatic effect. ¡°I represent a group of unregistered powereds, similar to the two of you. We work in the shadows to help other powereds in the country. Discrimination against our kind has only been growing and our freedoms are continuing to be stripped from us as anti-powered sentiment continues to grow. We need to stand up as one to fight the injustices that have been happening against our kind and you two would be a very powerful addition to the team.¡±


    It was then I noticed a second mind in the room. One begging to be dived into. Rich with memories. Hundreds of years of them.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± I turned quickly to the shadows of the adjoining room.


    A small chuckle came from the room as a female voice spoke out. ¡°Your power really is something, Mitch.¡± A woman, looking to be in her mid to late twenties walked out of the room to stand beside the man in grey. She had long, grey hair that seemed to clash with her otherwise youthful appearance.


    ¡°My name is Amanda, I am the current leader of our small group, The Chosen. I do hope you two will join.¡±

 Chapter 5: Past Memories

    I couldn¡¯t believe the direction this meeting had gone. We were now being invited to join one of the most wanted terrorist organizations in the world simply because we were unregistered powereds. It was infuriating. How fucking dare they think we would even be willing to listen to any of their shit.


    I reached towards the back of the waistband of my jeans. These two needed to be dealt with. They had to pay for what they had done. I pulled out the pistol that I had hidden in my waistband and fired off multiple shots.


    ¡°Mitch, No!¡± Eric screamed out as the shots echoed through the abandoned building. He was about to leap over in an attempt to stop me from firing any further, but a voice interrupted us.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that sort of violence.¡± The gun vanished out of my hand. The man and woman were now standing behind us calmly waiting for us to turn around as if they hadn¡¯t just been assaulted.


    I was about to charge them head-on, but Eric grabbed me in a tight bear hug. ¡°Let go of me you fucker!¡± I struggled to escape his grasp, but he was many times stronger than I was. ¡°Eric, they need to pay for what they¡¯ve done. They need to pay for destroying my life.¡± I continued to struggle but Eric was holding on tightly.


    The woman walked up, a look of sadness and regret came over her as she looked at me struggling. ¡°We¡¯re sorry about what happened, Mitch. We really are.¡±


    It was horrible, seeing these monsters act as if they gave a shit about what their actions had caused. I could still remember that day vividly. It only happened five years ago after all. Word got out in our hometown that I might be a powered. At the time, my parents and I lived in a very rural town in Michigan. A very conservative town. The rumor spread fast, as rumors tend to do in towns like that. A mob was soon formed, banging on our door wanting our lives for just being different.


    Thanks to the actions of the powered terrorist group over the years, a very large following for powered hate had grown. We were and many still are all viewed as a public menace. My parents rushed my sister and me into our basement, told us to stay quiet, and locked the door behind us. The sounds of screaming, yelling, and fighting soon followed as the mob burst through our front door. It didn¡¯t take long before the banging began on the basement door. I remember it so vividly, I was holding my hand over my sister¡¯s mouth to keep her from screaming out. I wasn¡¯t faring any better as I could feel my legs trembling in fear.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    A few minutes later, the mob burst into the basement and found the two of us curled up in the corner. My sister was dragged out first by her hair. Her screams still haunt me to this day. The mob all seemed so pleased with themselves. Like they were doing some form of good deed by ripping our family apart. It wasn¡¯t until I was grabbed though, that my power burst out. It still is the strongest my powers have been. I could see each mind in our house. I had complete control over them. I remember this strange calm and clarity washing over me. I drug out hundreds of memories all at once. It ripped apart the minds of the mob, leaving some babbling mindlessly and others complete vegetables. My attacker had the same fate. He fell over a mumbling mess, his eyes glazed over as he lived through multiple memories, some his and some from the mob around him.


    I stumbled up the steps of the basement and out into the front yard only to see my worst fears come to life. My mom, my dad, my sister, each had been shot in the back of the head. Their blood now splayed across the front of our house.  I¡¯m not sure why, but at the time I didn¡¯t cry. I didn¡¯t feel anything as I gathered up the bodies of the attackers and placed them inside the house. I didn¡¯t feel a thing as I carefully placed each of my family members in the house as well. I carefully filled the house with lighter fluid and stood calmly outside as the flames began to rise.


    I¡¯ve had years to grieve now. Years to think of who is really to blame. What could cause such hatred in people that they would turn against a family that had done nothing wrong. The conclusion, the terrorist group that created nationwide fear of powereds in the first place. Those that killed hundreds of thousands in the California Tragedy. Those that continued to plague our country and society with acts of violence. They were the reason. They were the cause.


    Eric, noticing I was just going to angrily stare at the two terrorists, continued the conversation. ¡°I don¡¯t think we are going to have much of a conversation with Mitch here.¡±


    The woman sighed, ¡°That¡¯s a real shame. I think with time he will be able to come around to our way of thinking. Eric how about you and I continue this conversation somewhere a little calmer.¡± In a second both she and Eric had been teleported away. I had calmed down slightly to properly assess the situation. I was left with the red-eyed man. He was looking at me with the same sadness and regret I saw from Amanda.


    ¡°We really are sorry about what happened to your family, Mitch. That was out of our control.¡±


    Out of your control!?¡± I was getting angry again, ¡°Of course it was fucking out of your control. That doesn¡¯t change the fact that your group and all the shitty things you have done over the years led to that moment. Killing innocent people, spreading hate, nothing can justify those actions. No seemingly good deed can make what you have done any better.¡±


    The man disappeared from my line of sight, but he continued to talk to me, ¡°There is much you do not know, Mitch. A war is coming despite our best efforts. I think, with time you will come to see our point of view. For the moment, we will give you time to consider our invitation. You are always welcome to our organization. Your power could help save millions.¡±


    Before I could respond, I saw a glint of red as his presence fully vanished from the room leaving me alone in the rundown apartment, now with more questions than answers.