Manipulate
Chapter Four

As Alia leads me back to the dorms, my head is buzzing with new information. I couldn’t believe any of it, honestly. When Alia and I get back to the dorms, I could hear laughter and people throwing things around. Someone threw a paper ball at someone’s face where it hit them straight in the forehead. I smile. I like being here in TID. I really do. It’s better than living with Donatella, Linda and Lillie. I just miss dad and Aj.

“Hey everyone, Abhaya is going to join us! Who wants to explain the rules to her?” Alia shouts over the chaos. A hand shoots up in the air.

“Go ahead, Trey,” Alia says, nodding.

“Abhaya, the rules are simple. You get asked truth or dare and you pick one of those. If you get a dare you have to do it or you can chicken out. Same thing with truth. But here’s the catch you only have three chickens, so use them wisely,” Trey explains.

“Okay, since now that you know how the game is played let’s get started!” Alia says.

Everyone scrambles to get on the floor. Some people stand up, while others sit on the bunks.

“Abhaya, truth or dare?” Trey asks me.

“Dare,” I say.

“Abhaya, I dare you to go and run down to the nearest hallway and start yelling. And when someone asks what you’re doing say that you were singing and slap them. Then run off,” Trey explains to me.

“Done. Who wants to be my witnesses?” I ask. I end up with Theo, Abi, Trey and Alia as my witnesses.

The four of us walk outside of the dorms to the nearest hall. I start yelling. Max comes down to see what I’m yelling about.

“What are you doing, Abhaya?” Max asks over my yelling.

“I’m singing,” I say, repeating what Trey told me to do. I run up to him and slap him on the face. Max turns around looking back over his shoulder double checking that I’m not going to start yelling again.

We return to the dorms laughing.

“What happened?” Someone shouts.

I have to catch my breath for a moment.

“We saw Max. He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. He asked me why I was yelling, and I told him that I was singing. When he left, he looked back at me because he thought that I was crazy,” I explain to the whole dorm. Most people end up laughing. The others are thinking of other dares for me. I bet that they are some are more stupid than others.

“Theo, truth or dare?” I ask Theo.

“Dare,” he says.

I tap my chin. I got an idea. “Theo, I dare you to take a piece of paper and make it look like a ring and propose to the first person you see in the hallway,” I say.

“Oh Yeah! Let’s do it! Who wants to be my witness?” Theo asks. In the end it’s Alia, Kayla, me, and Abi.

Theo waits at the end of the hall. Max is coming down the hall. Theo smirks, all the girls giggle.

“This is going to be good,” Abi says, giggling. We all laugh.

Theo runs toward Max and gets on a knee. “Will you marry me?” Theo asks. Theo slips the fake paper ring onto Max’s finger.

Theo gets up in a flash and pecks Max on the lips. Max looks stunned and confused at the same time. Then Max’s face starts to turn into a scowl.

We run back to the dorms before Max can figure out what we’re up to. Theo, Abi, Alia, Kayla and me come stumbling back into the dorms laughing.

“How’d it go?” Trey asks.

“It was hilarious. Max’s reaction was priceless!” Alia says. We’re all laughing now.

We hear a knock on the door. Alia gets up to answer it. The person at the door is Max. This time he looks angry. He has a scowl painted across his face.

“Can you please explain why he came up to me and did this?” Max demands as he shows everyone the paper ring on his finger. Max points to Theo in the process.

“It was a Dare,” Theo explains. “I had to pretend to propose to you. I promise it wasn’t for real.”

“It’s fine.” Max sighs. “Can I join?”

“Of course!” Trey exclaims.

Max stands against the wall next to Alia. Alia smiles at Max.

“Okay everyone. Max do you know the rules to truth or dare?” Trey asks.

“Yes, I know the rules,” Max says.

“Okay then. Max truth or dare?” Trey asks.

“Truth,” Max states.

“You have to tell the whole dorm who you like. Even if we have to replace him or her.” Trey says.

“First of all, I’m not in love with a boy. And second of all fine I’ll tell you who the lucky girl is,” Max states.

Everyone stares at him as if he’s a target. I feel the whole room tense up from the suspense.

“I like Alia,” Max says without any embarrassment in his tone. Alia looks at Max and kisses him on the cheek.

The whole room bursts into laughter. There are some “icks.”

“Hey no PDA!” Theo yells halfway across the room.

Everyone breaks out into laughter. Alia blushes and Max turns away. I can see his face turning red.

“Nick, truth or dare?” Trey asks.

“Dare,” Nick says.

“Nick, I dare you to kiss the person on your left,” Trey says.

Oh, dear God. I’m on Nick’s left. Alia smiles, and Abi starts giggling. I roll my eyes. I see Theo across the room. I see a dark look on his face. Nick leans in and kisses me straight on the mouth. I swear to god I will get him back. After two seconds I punch Nick in the face. Hard. My knuckles sting from the impact of bone hitting bone. Nick stumbles back with a groan from my fist. I storm out of the room as fast as I can.

Theo follows me down the hall. Theo grabs my arm. I hear footsteps. I see the silhouette of a boy. He comes into the light. It’s Nick. His face is covered with blood.

“Why did you punch me?” Nick demands.

“I felt threatened,” I state.

“You know that you could’ve just pushed me away. I would’ve got the message,” Nick says.

I spot Theo looking at me and Nick. I turn away from Nick. “Leave me alone. And don’t talk to me. Even though we’re bunk mates I don’t care. Leave me alone,” I say as coldly as I can. I turn away and start walking.

As I start walking down the hall Theo catches up to me.

“Hey, Abhaya, remember when I said that I would tell you how long I’ve been here? I’ll tell you now if you want me to,” Theo says.

“It’s fine. You can tell me later. I’m just really frustrated right now,” I say, trying to conceal my anger.

“Okay then. See you later,” Theo says. He turns around and heads back toward the dorms. I walk down to the training room.

When I get to the training room, I throw open a door and turn on the light switch. No ones in here so I can take all my anger out and no one can see that. I walk over to a punching bag and start hitting it. I smile. The anger in me fades as I punch the bag. After so many punches I look down at my hands. My knuckles are red and raw. I see the skin breaking around my knuckles.

I check the clock. It’s four thirty. Shit. Dinner is going to be served in half an hour. I walk back toward the dorms and open the door. I walk in. Everyone is sitting on their bunks talking and laughing. I get to my bunk. I see Nick sitting on his bunk reading a book. I ignore him. Nick doesn’t look up at me or acknowledge my presence. Good, I think to myself. I pull myself up onto my bunk and pull my backpack off of the edge of my bed frame. I search through it until I replace my books. I pull out the book Mom put flowers in. I read over the words she wrote for me. I open up the book it says:

For my dear Abhaya, you will bloom just like these beautiful flowers did. Take this book and fill it with the beautiful flowers you replace.

Love,

Mom

I look at her handwriting, it’s neat but cramped together. I flip through the pages until I replace the flower I was looking for. The rose. The rose from my mom’s wedding bouquet. I brush my finger gently over the dried and worn flower. I check the clock. It’s four fifty. I put my book away and jump down off of my bunk. No one notices that I leave the room.

I walk down the hall. I run into Theo.

“Hi, Abhaya. Do you feel better now?” Theo asks me.

“Hi, Theo. Yes, I feel better now,” I reply.

“Good. Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to walk around,” I say.

“Okay. I’ll see you at dinner then,” Theo says as he walks toward the dorms.

I decide to walk around again. While I’m walking, I hear two voices talking in low whispers.

“Do you think that she should start learning how to control her power? Alia this is serious. We’re teaching them how to defend themselves against people but they need to learn how to control themselves too,” Rae whispers urgently.

“I know, Rae. After the paintball match, we’re going to start teaching them in small groups. But from what we’ve noticed, Abhaya is the only one in the dorm who possess the power to manipulate time and she has better hearing than all of us. She can also see into the past. It’s too risky to let her be outside,” Alia says.

“I see. But we need to start training her. Soon. We can’t risk anything. And yes, it is very rare for someone to possess three different abilities,” Rae says urgently.

“Yes, ma’am. We’ll start training her as soon as we can,” Alia says.

“Good. Now go grab your unit and take them down to dinner,” Rae concludes.

I walk as fast as I can back to the dorms. I get there before Alia does. I get to my bunk and sit on it. Abi comes over and joins me on my bunk. We start talking. Alia walks in. All the talking stops

“Everyone, let’s go down to dinner,” Alia says.

We all climb off of our bunks. Well most of us do. I jump off along with a bunch of other boys. We all pile out of the dorms and follow Alia down to the cafeteria. Abi stands next to me as we walk down.

“How’s your second day going?” Abi asks with a bunch of enthusiasm.

“Great,” I say. “Great.”

“Was that sarcasm?” Abi questions.

“Yes. There was a bunch of it,” I say without the sarcasm this time.

“Was that sarcasm too?” Abi asks.

“No,” I say.

Abi smiles and skips along toward the front of the group. As we pile into the cafeteria, I see Nick looking over at me. So, this is how he wants to play now is it. Bring it on Nick bring it on.

I get in line to get my dinner. I pick up a tray and two plates. Theo is next to me in line. Theo smiles at me. “Can I talk to you now? Or are you still angry about earlier?” Theo asks me.

“I’m fine. You can talk to me, I really don’t care honestly,” I say as I grab a hamburger off of a tray. Theo nods.

I grab the rest of my dinner and go and replace Theo, Abi and Alia. When I sit down Alia looks at me and smiles hesitantly. I try to smile back. I plop my tray down in between Theo and Abi. Nick comes and sits down across from me. I glare down at my food. Abi starts talking about her family.

“What was your family like Abhaya?” Abi asks me.

I nearly choke on my bite of hamburger. “Um... well you see, my mom left me when I was five so I don’t remember a whole lot about her. But my dad remarried a woman when I was six and she has two daughters. The lady and her daughters treated me like shit. And my brother couldn’t do anything really about it, and my dad didn’t know that this was going on until I was about ten,” I explain. Horror paints Abi’s face as the words hit her like a punch.

“Oh, Abhaya, that sounds terrible. I’m sorry,” Abi apologizes. She pats my free hand gently. I stare down at my food.

The bell rings signaling the end of dinner, everyone piles out of the cafeteria. I dump my leftover hamburger into the trash can. Everyone is talking about next Friday in the halls. I try to smile but I can’t help but think am I really cut out for this? We all head back toward the dorms. The adults head to their apartments. Alia tells all of us to go to the dorms except me. Crap.

Alia makes me follow her down a hall until we get to an office. I see the name plaque outside. It’s Rae’s office. I feel my blood course through my veins and I feel my heartbeat in my ears. Alia knocks on the door. I feel my body stiffen. This can’t be good, I think to myself.

When Rae answers the door, she has a smile on her face. She nods at my presence. “Come in, Abhaya, I need to talk to you separately. Alia you may go back to your unit to check on them,” Rae says.

“Yes, ma’am,” Alia says as she turns around.

I walk into Rae’s office. It isn’t what I thought it would be. I thought that her office would be black walls with a desk and a small chair in front of it. Instead it feels warm. The walls are a French gray with bookcases lining the left side of the room. There is a desk near a window on the right side with a cabin chair across from the desk. The only light that lights the room is a small lamp on her desk. Rae motions for me to take a seat. I sit in the chair across from the desk. Rae sits down behind her desk with her folded in front of her.

“Abhaya, there is something that I need to tell you. It’s highly important and no one can know,” Rae says in a serious tone.

I stare at her with my eyes. “Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone. What is it?” I ask curiosity filling my voice.

“Abhaya, you know why you came here? I believe you do,” Rae questions. I nod my head saying yes.

“Good. You have a power that no one else possess in this compound. You’re the only one who can manipulate time, you can see into the past and you have super hearing. Possessing three different powers is dangerous to yourself because, the government can replace you and they’ll want to run tests on you because of that. But, everyone in TID has a power they possess but some are more common than others. Such as super strength, invisibility and on rare occasions seeing into the future,” Rae explains as I attempt to follow along.

“So, no one else can manipulate time here in TID?” I ask.

“Yes, Alia and Max will start training you on how to control it. You will also be working with Theo on this. He possesses a power close to yours,” Rae says. I nod.

“Okay,” I say. “Can I leave now?”

“Yes, you may leave now. Abhaya, remember the paintball game is coming up this week,” Rae reminds me as I exit her office.

What is close to one of my powers? And what is Theo’s power?

I head back to the dorms to replace that everyone is planning something mischievous. Oh no. Is all I can think. Everyone has either toilet paper, shaving cream or whip cream cans.

“Abhaya we’re going to trash the adult’s quarters! Want to join?” Theo asks me.

I smile, “Sure I’d love to,” I say, making my mischievous grin. Theo laughs and hands me a whip cream can.

“Let’s go and have some fun!” Theo yells at everyone. He gets a bunch of hollers and screams from everyone in the back in return.