I entered the room to find what looked like a regular patient's room. My palms clenched up and started sweating, and I grabbed the sides my hoodie to calm myself.
"Please have a seat." Dr. Tusik asked.
I quickly plopped myself down on the stool that was next to the counter.
"Alright Ali," He pulled himself over in a swivel chair that he got from one of the counters in the room. "Here's what we're going to do." He placed the clipboard on his lap. "I want to make sure that any of what they injected you with has completely left your system. We don't want them to secretly have any ounce of control. Alright?"
I nodded my head in approval and he took me over to a full body x-ray, or what looked like it. After the x-ray Dr. Tusik, thankfully, concluded that I was free. None of that serum was still in my system. That was a relief.
"Ali."
I looked up from the clipboard with the results that I was examining.
"I don't, I don't think you realize how big of a deal this is." He stated.
"How big, how, what is?"
"You." He grabbed the clipboard from my hands and set it on the counter. "We haven't had a mind reader since the disappearance of Ariana with Dr. Adenosine, nearly 60 years ago. She is dead though, and you are the first. You see, I grew up believing I was different. My powers weren't recognized until I was about in my twenties and had graduated from my medical school. When I was in my thirties and forties, that was when Ariana was proclaimed dead, and around the time that Viribus was established. I was contacted, and became, I guess you could say an over glorified school nurse."
I met eye contact with him and nodded. He continued to speak.
"You see, Alanis,"
I groaned.
"You see, Ali, that the fact that you are even alive and breathing is a miracle. However, they want you on their side just as much as we do. They're going to come after you, and you should be ready." He spoke with such sincerity and desperation that I didn't know how to react. "Ali my dear, you are a gift to this world. You are the most powerful thing anyone in your generation will ever have the pleasure of encountering."
Okay, I was fired up now.
"Thing? I am not a thing! I am not something to be goggled at in a zoo or marveled at by scientists. I am not anything special and I don't care what you say!" I stood up from my seat and headed towards the door. I turned back around. "I am not something to be fought over. This isn't some sort of war and I won't have to pick sides because I don't want to be involved! I want to live a normal teenage life as a normal teenager and not have to worry about saving the world, or developing these, so called powers."
All of the fent up anger and frustration that I had built up over the past couple of weeks was finally coming out on Dr. Tusik, and I felt kind of bad, but not bad enough. I reached for the door handle, only to find that it was locked. I jiggled it again, still locked. I whipped around to Dr. Tusik.
"What is this, why?!?"
He hung his head and sighed. "Alanis,"
"NO! It's Ali. Not Alanis, or the last of them all, or the most powerful, it's Ali. That is who I am and that is who I will always be!" The emotions in me were rising like lava from a volcano. "I don't want things to change, I want it to stay the same! I just want to go home! Why can't I just go home!"
My legs shook and my back hit the door as I slumped down to the floor and held my head in my hands. I shook as I struggled to get the sobs out. While running around was fun with my friends, it was for all of the wrong reasons.
A realization just hit me that I was powerful. I could make Dr. Tusik unlock the door right now, I could make him get me out of here, I could...
NO! What was I thinking? I needed to develop these powers, as much as I hated them. What would happen if something happened that I wasn't able to control? What if I ended up hurting people, or worse, or...
I needed help.
Dr. Tusik came over and helped me up and onto a chair. I pulled my knees up to my chest and he brought me a glass of water that I gratefully drank. Thank goodness this man is a grandfather. He definitely had that sweet disposition about him, that you could tell he took part in raising several children.
He waited until I had calmed down to continue speaking.
"I apologize, Ali." He spoke sincerely. "I got a little carried away and over-excited, prosti."
"Da." I responded. He smiled. I figured if he was russian there was no harm in learning yes and no.
He nodded his head. "I should have said things differently. Let me start over." I nodded. "Ali, I'm here to help you develop your powers in such a way that you will still be able to live a decently normal life, but you will have full control. I am not a trainer, but I see no other option, considering as there is no one specialized in your abilities. Think of it, as like I am tutoring you in an instrument, or a very rare subject."
I sighed and finally glanced up. "I can work with that."
The next few hours I spent with Dr. Tusik were headache inducing. I thought, and strained, and I didn't even understand half of what we were doing. He had a better understanding of my powers than I did, I was surprised he wasn't a mind reader himself. It's a good thing he was a Doctor, or I would have probably overdosed on Aspirin and Ibuprofen. The headaches were enormous, but I started getting the hang of everything when I heard loud stomping coming from upstairs.
"What's that?" I asked, in the middle of deep thought.
"It's dinnertime." He said casually, as if it was normal to call everyone to eat with the stomping of elephants.
My stomach growled and I was grateful for just the thought of food. I followed Dr. Tusik upstairs, only to realize that he had unlocked the door long before we left. I could have left during any of the training, but I didn't. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind when the smell of Potatoes, meat, and other scents filled my nose.
"Sit down you little rebenok and eat your food! No, Gabriel, leave Dina in her high chair, go sit in your seat. Vhat are you doing Amelia? Don't eat until everyone is in here." Babushka Tusik was running around, carrying dishes to and from the counters, her apron stained with various kinds of food.
It was chaos at the dinner table. Baked potatoes with meatloaf and various toppings littered the table along with homemade dinner rolls and a salad. I watched as Gabriel climbed over the top of Justin's lap and jumped over Clara to get to his seat on the other side of Andrew. I took an empty seat next to Justin on the bench and he leaned over and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"Eeew! Gross!" Gabriel shouted.
I ignored him and instead grabbed one of the tinfoil wrapped potatoes, to which I received a smack on the back of my hand. Babushka Tusik had grabbed a wooden spoon and smacked my hand, and I looked over to see everyone else at the table holding hands. Oh. I grabbed Justin's and Amelia's and bowed my head as Amelia said a brisk and short grace. I looked up to see everyone else digging into the food and finally grabbed a potato myself.
The meatloaf was delicious, and had some different kind of sauce on it that was a little strange, but still tasted good. The rolls were heavenly and the butter melted all over them, getting my hands messy. I looked over and noticed that I wasn't anywhere near as messy as Dina. She had potato in her wispy brown hair, and she was shoving more of it on the floor and her bib then in her mouth. Was the bib even doing anything? I laughed to myself and continued to eat the potatoes and meatloaf. It was a nice change from gas station sandwiches, soda, and fast food.
After dinner I went back down to the room and trained some more with Dr. Tusik. By the end of the evening I was able to open and close my thoughts to others. It was like there was a doorway in my mind that I could open and close at will. If it was open, the thoughts flowed freely into other's minds and I was able to communicate, but when it was shut my thoughts were mine, and they were secluded.
I also learned that I wasn't the only with a doorway in my mind. Everyone else had one. The doors weren't literal, but it was a good metaphor to describe what it was like. When I entered someone's mind the doorway was right there. It was almost as if I had the universal key to all of the doors, unlimited access to everyone's thoughts and fears and inner turmoils, and that scared me. By unlocking that door and going inside I had ultimate control. It was terrifying, but I didn't really ever see a reason as to why I would need to control people.
Now that I was beginning to understand these abilities I was beginning to be more okay with them. It was like I had a hidden talent that could improve and grow the more I practiced it, and I did practice it.
We spent the next two weeks all developing our powers and abilities. We had daily or weekly check-ins with Tusik, and slept in the guest bedroom or on the couch. When we weren't training, we were watching TV, or playing with the little children. I realized that Gabriel practically lived in his cowboy boots, and would even sleep with them on when his Babushka didn't make him take them off beforehand. Amelia loved to draw and write, and she would fill notebook after notebook with doodles and stories. When she wasn't doing that she was watching Disney channel, or doing her doll's hair. Dina just crawled around the entire time and chewed on literally everything. I found her sucking on my shoelaces one day and had to take it away from her to give her her pacifier, which she threw across the room.
Halfway into the second week with them Daniel came back from his basketball camp. He didn't really want to do anything with any of us, until Justin invited him to play some basketball in the backyard. Dr. Tusik agreed to let Justin go outside as long as they stayed in the back.
We weren't really allowed to go outside of the house, it was too risky. I only stepped foot in the backyard a couple of times, and when I did Dr. Tusik rushed me back inside after only a couple of feet because it was 'just too dangerous for you out there'.
If I really was as powerful as he said I was, then was it really that dangerous?