Dark Mind (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 1) (18 page)

Travis tightened his grip on the club. “Stay back. I don’t know what you’re talking - ”

The whispering roared into a tidal wave of fury. “HOW DARE YOU?!!” Animalistic rage exploded within Cole and, before Travis could react, he charged, headfirst, crashing into him, overturning the chair and sending them both sprawling onto the floor. Travis curled up into the fetal position as Cole unleashed a fury of fists, lost in his hatred, yet strangely detached from his actions.

“Don’t mess with me!” he screamed. “I’m going to kill you!” Without realizing it, he had picked up Travis’ own club and beaten him senseless with it, until blood began to gush, splashing over his hands and spreading in a pool on the rug. He was so consumed by the rage that he did not notice that Travis had long since slipped from consciousness nor did he hear the pounding footsteps on the stairs. Not until he heard Travis’ name being screamed did he stop his mindless beating and return to reality.

He dropped the club, looking down in horror at his blood-soaked hands and Travis’ bleeding head, and then up in alarm at the footsteps racing down the hall. He was on his feet and at the window in an instant. He had no time to comprehend his actions; all he knew then was he had to escape and he had only seconds to do it. He yanked the window open and looked out in panic on the front yard, ten feet down.

A deafening explosion ripped a hole in the wall next to his head, knocking him back in shock. He turned around to catch a glimpse of a sleek, black revolver being leveled shakily at him before flinging himself out the window just as another gunshot blasted into the wall. He hit the ground hard, going into a roll, and coming up running. He did not even feel the pain until he had rounded the block, but nothing could stop him. His brain had long since shut off, his body running on automatic, and he stopped only once at a sprinkler to rinse off his hands. Propelled by an inhuman surge of adrenaline he full out sprinted the entire route back to Amy’s house.

17

As he reached Amy’s back door, he perceived shadows moving inside.
Shit. I couldn’t have been gone that long. Why the hell are they back already?
He stood immobile, in indecision, until a voice whispered behind him, “Hey, Cole. Follow me.”

Amy was at the corner of the house, beckoning him over.

“Amy, what are you doing outside?” he whispered as he followed her around the house.

She reached a window and pushed it up. “Just shut up and get inside,” she said as she hoisted herself through the window. She disappeared inside and Cole climbed in after her, landing clumsily on the floor.

“Shh,” Amy said as she closed the window. “They just pulled up a minute ago. I’m pretty sure they don’t know we left.”

“Did you come outside to get me?” Cole said.

Amy smirked. “If you really thought I wouldn’t follow you, you either don’t know me at all or you’re really slow.”

“What? You followed me? Oh God... Why? What did you see?” He dropped his face in his hands as the weight of his actions began to sink in.
Did I kill him?

Amy’s smile was gone. “I didn’t trust you, and obviously for good reason. What happened in there? What the
hell
were you thinking? I just saw you sneak inside and then there was a loud bang and you came flying out a second story window…Was that a gunshot? My God. Is that blood on your shirt? Are you okay?”

Cole looked down at a small dark patch on the bottom of his gray shirt and began to tremble. “I think I'm all right. I’m not hurt so it can’t be mine.”

“I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” Amy laid a hand on his knee. “Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

“I knew his mom wouldn’t let me in to talk to him so I snuck inside and we started arguing and we got in a fight and I didn’t even know what happened it was all so fast and then there was a gunshot and…”

“Cole, look at me. You’re okay. I just hope you didn’t hurt him too badly. Do you know what made him bleed? And what were you arguing about?”

“We – we just…” In this state it was impossible to think of any convincing lies and his mind was grasping at blanks. The images of Travis’ bloodied head and the bullet whizzing past his own head filled his brain to capacity.

“All right, this has gone too far. I’m not stupid. There’s something you’re not telling me. No more lies or half-truths. Tell me everything.”

For his entire life, this was the moment Cole had feared more than anything. He had always been afraid someone would catch on to his weird habits and realize they were more than tics, that they were conscious decisions. Now he had been caught in a way that was even worse than he could have imagined. This wasn’t something he could explain to a sane person and hope for any kind of understanding. He knew he’d be lucky if he didn’t end up in an institution
, but for the life of him, he had no idea how he could keep the truth from Amy any longer.

While he was contemplating the drawbacks of full disclosure, a new thought popped into his mind that he had never considered before. He was tired of living with this secret, of never having anyone to confide in, of always being on his own to deal with the most terrifying parts of his life. The thought of having just that one person to talk to about his greatest fears and worst problems brought with it a new ray of hope. But how could he make anyone believe him?

“Cole? Are you there? Cole.”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” Amy said. “You can’t tell me? Well I’m sorry but you don’t have a choice.”

Shit.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

She punched his arm. “I already think you’re crazy and that’s what I like about you.”

Shit. Shit.
“I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Take your time,” Amy said.

Cole hid his face in his hands, struggling to find the right words, struggling against every instinct and defense he had built up over the years. “I might as well dive right in. I can... my actions can... dammit. I can control things in ways that should be impossible.”

“What are you trying to say? You’re very persuasive and influential?” Amy laughed. “I learned those words last week.”

Cole’s dead stare killed Amy’s levity.

“Just let me finish,” he said. “Ever since I can remember I have been playing this game in my head. I hear these instructions that I have to do something within certain restrictions and if I win there are positive consequences and if I lose there are negative ones. It used to be vague what the connection was between the game and the consequences but lately I’ve had a few agreements that had oddly specific results involved.”

Cole paused to gauge Amy’s reaction but her expression was blank, willing him on. He continued. “I’ve always felt that, as in most games, there was an opposing side competing against me, trying to win its own games and, in turn, make me lose. This was always more just a feeling, a suspicion, since I had no concrete proof, until I ran into that proof at the amusement park, Travis. I felt the connection with him the moment we were near each other. It was an indescribable feeling, but I could sense the games running through his head, hear the voices telling him what to do, and I knew he felt it too because he stared me down.

“The worst part about all this is that, since we’re competing over potentially life or death scenarios, there has to be a winner. We both know that eliminating the opponent means victory and that victory will mean the end of the game. I can’t take being responsible for tragedies happening to other people anymore and I’m sure he feels the same way. This game has proved to be more a curse than anything and winning is the only option open to us. I think that’s about as concise as I can be.”

Now that he was finished with his speech, he began to sweat in anticipation of Amy’s response. She was silent for many seconds, seemingly lost in thought, contemplating what to say and choosing her words carefully.
There’s a reason I never told anyone. What was I thinking? Of course she doesn’t believe me. I wouldn’t if I were her. It sounded even more insane out loud than in my head. What are you thinking about? Say something!

“What do you mean by ‘eliminating the opponent’?” she said at last. “That part scares me.”

“Anything that takes him out of the game permanently. I know you hate violence, and I do too, so if you can think of a non-violent solution, I’m open to anything.”

“Wait a second,” Amy said, her eyes narrowing. “Did you go over there to
kill
him?”

“I-I, uh-
”

“Oh my God, you did!” Her eyes shot open in disbelief. Realizing she had just shouted she clapped her hand over her mouth and looked to the door to make sure no one heard. “What the hell is wrong with you? I don’t care if what you told me is true or not, you can’t
kill
someone. Oh my God…” She stared across the room, unable to look him in the eye. “Did you?” she whispered.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine. I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”

“That’s not the point right now! Promise me you won’t try to kill him. I can’t believe I have to tell you that. What is wrong with you?”

“I didn’t go there with any intent but when I saw him…
I don’t know what happened. I just got so angry I lost control. I’m sorry but what do you expect me to do? He tried to kill me first so what, should I just stand around and wait for him to try again?”

“You seriously can’t even promise me you won’t kill someone?” Amy said incredulously. “I don’t care
what
the circumstances are. You never, ever kill someone.”

“Not even in self-defense?”

“He didn't attack you just now. And besides, you don’t even know for sure that he’s the one that burned down your house. Haven’t you ever heard of the police?”

“Like you just said, I have no proof he did anything wrong,” Cole said. “The best I can hope for is a restraining order and a whole lot of good that will do.”

“Just swear you’ll work with me to figure out a different solution. There
has
to be another solution.”

“All right, I swear.”

“Look me in the eye,” Amy said.

Cole leveled his gaze into Amy’s frightened eyes. “I swear. So, do you believe anything I told you?”

“To be honest, I don’t know what to believe. You know as well as I do how crazy it sounds, but, as you know, I’ve always been into superstition and magic. Kind of a hobby of mine. Got any way to prove it?”

Cole sighed. “It’s tough. I can’t predict when the instructions will come and I usually have no way of knowing what the consequences will be.”

“Well next time you hear these voices when I’m around, let me know. As crazy as your actions have been lately I would like to believe you’re sane. I obviously can’t commit without proof though, so, do your best.”

“I will. I’m not crazy. I’ll find some way to prove it to you. It feels really great to get that off my chest. I’ve never told anyone before. By the way, weren’t you afraid your parents would find out you snuck out?”

Amy’s smile returned. “A little, but I couldn’t very well leave you on your own. I had faith we’d get back before them, although maybe a little too much faith. And in any case, since you had already promised to help me, I figured if I did get caught I’d just come stay with you.”

For the first time that day, Cole smiled too. “I’m glad you took the privilege of using me as a failsafe. Maybe you should just get caught on purpose then.”

Amy opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the bedroom door opening.

Mr. Brown entered. “It’s time for Cole to leave,” he said. “His aunt has been called and will be here in a minute. Come.”

Amy mouthed Cole a goodbye and he threw her an apologetic look before following Mr. Brown outside.

“Shame that Amy fell and hurt herself,” Mr. Brown said while they waited. “Did she tell you how it happened?”

Cole’s insides clenched. “Yeah… but she didn’t go into many details. Just said that it hurt. A lot.”

“Shame.”

“Yep.”

They waited the rest of the time in silence until, after a minute that seemed like an hour, Beth drove up.

“There she is,” Mr. Brown said and walked back into the house.

“That was a short visit,” Beth said grumpily as Cole clambered in.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Is this about your lady friend again?”

“Yeah,” Cole said. “It got worse and she finally wants to do something about it. She wants to get away from them forever.”

“Okay, if that's what she wants, I’ll put in a call to
Child Services.”

“But how is this going to work? If her parents find out she had
Child Services called on them, they’ll be pissed.”

“You have to trust they know what they’re doing,” Beth said. “They deal with similar situations all the time.”

“All right. Thanks a lot. Could you do me a favor and not tell Mom? She has enough to worry about lately. I don’t want to give her another reason.”

“Sure thing. This can stay between us.”

“Thanks, Aunt Beth,” Cole said. “I’m sorry I misjudged you.”

“Misjudged me how?”

“Nothing. I just didn’t think you were so…um, nice.”

Beth grunted.

Once they were back at the house, since Meredith was gone, Beth placed a call to Child Services while Cole watched impatiently from the kitchen chair.

“So you can get back to me about what you find?” Beth was saying. “Great. Thanks for your time. Goodbye.” She hung up and turned to Cole. “It’s done. They'll conduct an investigation and then get back to us. It’s a waiting game from here.”

“I hope she’ll be okay,” Cole said. “I was wondering, do you think Amy could stay with me?”

“Ha. Haha. Is that serious? You’ll have to talk to your mother about that one. And it will have to wait until you move back to your own house. But one step at a time. Let
Child Services handle the investigation before we jump to any conclusions.”

The rest of the day passed in painful anxiety, as Cole wondered what
Child Services was doing, how long they’d take and how Amy’s parents would react when they showed up on their doorstep. Travis’ bloody head also flashed frequently through his mind, invading his dreams and his waking hours equally. He felt awful about it but he also could not help having a slight hope that he had actually killed him. An agreement late that night terminated that train of thought but at the least he hoped that Travis was hurt enough that he would be incapable of retaliating for a while. After the last attack, a counterattack was guaranteed and he had to figure out a solution before then. He did not want to break his promise to Amy but he would let nothing get in his way of preventing any harm from befalling his family.

He prayed that night for the first time he could remember. He had no particular religious beliefs; he just wished someone could listen to his pleas. He wished there was someone out there who could understand him. After a few minutes he felt foolish and gave up but he couldn’t shake the idea that if there was a game, there might be a coordinator or mediator of some kind. Perhaps he was praying more to that figure than to any kind of God. Unless they were one and the same.