"Ah!" I hear my shrill voice louder than it's been in awhile. I sit up fast, disoriented and sweaty.
"Zoe?" I hear a voice, followed by running to my bed quickly. Something sits down and grabs my shoulders, "Zoe!"
"Get off!" I scream. I push at them, flailing wildly.
"Zoe it's me!" Trish's voice comes out more clearer. I calm down and she asks, "Zoe, we need to talk about this. It's your third nightmare in a row. You and I both are losing sleep."
I shake my head, "Sorry." My voice sounds soft now in the tense air.
Even in the dark, I know Trish is giving me an irritated look. It's been about five days since Flame has left. His absence is really worrying me. I didn't think he mattered this much to me, but I guess just knowing he was near me made me feel safer.
"You've got to tell me something. Is this about your Dad?"
"No," I frown. He, nor any of the Shadow compound, have bothered to come to the compound in the past five days, which worries me more. They wouldn't just forget about me like that, not when they are trying to prepare for the storm as Spirit put it.
"What's it about?"
Too many things that you don't need to know, "Just random nightmares. They should pass."
"Should?"
"They will," I correct myself with a smile I know Trish can't see.
She looks at the clock, well it's three in the morning, what do you want to do?"
"Go back to sleep."
"Really?"
"No."
Trish laughs, "I thought so. You want to head to the training room and warm up?"
"Sure." That's what we've done these past mornings that I've woken up my roommate. We get ready quickly and start to head out. We whisper and try to be extra quiet in the hallways but once we get to a bulletin board in one of the huge main intersections I hear Trish curse rather loudly. I turn to her, "What?"
She points to a new flier, "Visiting day is coming up. No, no, this isn't good."
"What's that?"
"It's where your parents or guardians or whoever raised you with your ability come to the Omega Compound and visits."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Trish sighs, "Not when you have extremely high standards you aren't even close to making."
"Not to mention that it's more of an annoying weekend when everyone spends time with their family while the ones without the relatives sit in the corner awkwardly," We turn around and see Beast with a towel around his neck. He's wearing a thin black tank top. "Where are you going?" He looks like he just took a shower or something.
"Training room," Trish answers.
"Why?"
"Because a certain someone doesn't know how to sleep past 3 o'clock," Trish smiles glancing at me.
Beast frowns, "Is everything okay?"
"Define okay," Trish says.
"We have to go practice," I say before Beast and Trish can finish their conversation. "Feel free to join us if you want."
"Thanks but I just took a shower, so I'm not planning on taking a second one this morning. I'll see you guys at breakfast, okay?"
"Okay, bye Beast," Trish waves as we continue our walk.
"Why is he up so early?" I ask.
Trish turns to me, "You didn't know? He's always up hours earlier than we need to be."
"Why?"
Trish shrugs, "I guess he's just not much of a sleeper."
We continue our walk in silence. Beast never struck me as an early riser. I guess that would explain why he's usually at the tables for breakfast before us. What does he do in the morning for four hours? Showers don't take that long.
Trish finds that the training room is "unlocked" and we walk in quietly. Trish pins her bangs back with the bobby pin in her hand. "Okay, so what are we going to start on today?
"I say you need to learn more sensory skills."
"My sensory skills are fine," she argues. "In fact, I didn't tell you this but, this one time during practice last week Beast and I were faced up." I spot a pen on the floor a few feet away. I start to walk over to it and pick it up, "He tried to tackle me in his silly wolf form, but I sensed it and—ah!" Trish flinches as I throw the pen and it zooms through the air right near her head. "What was that for?"
"You didn't even notice I was retrieving that pen, let alone the fact I was about ready to throw it at you."
"Which you did."
"Trish, close your eyes."
Reluctantly, she does it and I start circling her, in order to get to the pen. "Feel your surroundings."
"How?"
"Use what you can. My voice, your knowledge of the room, and most importantly your ability."
"I'm not very good at my ability," she replies softly.
"Then get good. You want to impress your mom? Flame when he gets back? Nix in today's practice? Start learning how to control your ability on a higher standard."
With either frustration or motivation, I see Trish's face change. She visibly focuses and she scans the air for me. I lift my hand slowly, then throw the pen.
She catches it.
"Trish!" I exclaim.
She opens her eyes and looks at the pen, "That is awesome. I don't even know what I did."
"I'm guessing you figured out a way to scan the water vapor in the air around you so that you can feel where the pen was."
"That was a whole new type of sensing," she stares at the pen. "Thanks for showing me that, Zoe."
"No problem, now it's my turn."
"Right. Okay," she hands the pen back to me, "After seeing you fight, I know what you need to work on. You're great at dodging, but what if you don't have the room to dodge? I haven't seen laser vision from you yet, so I say we should work on your close contact fighting skills."
I scoff and nod my head, "How do you purpose we do that?"
She steps forward with a punch, I knew she was going to, so instinctively I back up. "No, no you can't cower. Attack me with a punch."
I stand still and give her my best punch, but she counters it and slaps me on the shoulder. "Hey."
"I don't want to actually hit you."
"I'm throwing punches though," I argue.
"Ones that never hit me," she gives me a light shove and our fight becomes mobile.
I start getting chills and my arms lock up. I can't handle this, I know she won't hurt me, but I can't handle this knowing that John—
"Come on Zoe! I know you don't really like close contact fighting. I can see the fear in your face, but you have to get over it. It's like my lack of sensing," she gives me a tap on the shoulder again. "You just have to feel it. Get out of the past, and live in the present."
I take a deep breath and take Trish's words into consideration. John isn't here anymore. She's not trying to hurt me. I have to feel the fight, and learn to get out of it. It's all more or less a puzzle. I slide to the left and tap her on the shoulder."
"Good, again," Trish quickens her speed, and hits my shoulder a little harder than she was before. She dodges around me, but I keep with her. I take one step back, and she comes with me. With a smile I spot her arm coming towards me, and I push it away. She tries with the other arm and I grab it and pull her to my side. She's off balance, so I decide to take the moment and swing. I shove her lightly on the shoulder, but Trish starts to fall.
She's holding onto my arm, so I fall with her. We both land on the floor with a thump. Trish starts laughing, and this causes me to laugh too.
"That was fun," I say.
"It was, I wish I had the stamina to do that every morning."
"I'm sorry for you having to wake up because of me," I say.
"Don't apologize to me, Zoe." Trish looks at me, "I consider you my friend, and I don't get very many friends." She smiles, "I'll wake up at three every morning for a friend like you."
I lay down on the floor, "You know, Trish, I forget that this compound isn't really the world, you know? I forget that there's a whole other life that doesn't understand us, let alone ever will. We aren't really that significant when you think about it. We're just freaks to them."
Trish lays down beside me, "We may not be significant to the world, but to this compound, we are the next trainers, and agents. Mr. X depends on our education in abilities to help him stop Raven."
"What do the Raven do, anyways?"
"They murder, kidnap, torture, and brainwash our kind. Then they use them to create chaos in the world. They see our kind as the apex predators, so they want to commit genocide, and when they are all done, they want to be the only type of our kind."
"So after the humans, we're next?"
Trish sits up, "Not just us, but the other compounds too. The ones that support human interaction. See, we still think there's a chance that humanity can accept us. If we act civil enough, maybe humans just might."
"The humans don't see us as civil, do they?"
Trish pauses, "Not yet."
"Then why do we try?"
"Because that's what the humans do. They hope, and pray, and shoot for the goals they can't even see in the universe," Trish laughs lightly, "That's the point where they usually accomplish their goals. I want to be that hopeful in life."
"So you think humans will accept us someday?"
"Someday, yes. Someday soon? I doubt it. Eventually Raven will be weeded out, and they'll see that we aren't a threat. Maybe then they can just accept us as a type of citizen, not a walking terrorist against mankind." Trish stands up and helps me up, "Come on, let's go get changed again for breakfast and training. Maybe we can show Nix what we taught each other today." I follow Trish out and down the hallway. I feel a chill run down my back, as if someone was staring right at me. I turn around and see no one, but I know I felt something.
Just a matter of who.