Gather the Sentient (11 page)

CHAPTER

19

LANYING

Saturday, September 10

Baltimore

Her mother’s warning about being mindful of Americans who might not have her ‘best interest at heart’ gnawed at her as Lanying perched at the bar.  The heels of her pumps, tucked behind the rung of the chair, were the only things keeping her from fleeing the scene.

That, and the overwhelming desire to find out what was about to happen next.

She hadn’t been surprised to see Thomas playing the piano in the hotel lobby the day before.  Physically, he was exactly as he had appeared to her for many months, in the waking dreams which plagued her existence.  But in all that time she had only seen brief images of his life – his actual persona was much different than she had imagined.  She was proud of herself for plucking up the courage to speak with him, and now, as she waited for him and his girlfriend, Mia, she wondered just exactly what she had gotten herself into.  For although he had seemed mild-mannered, as her mother was always quick to point out, you could never really know for sure about another person’s intentions.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just her mother who taught Lanying to be cautious – life had shown her most people were seldom worthy of trust.  By the time the cause of her obesity was diagnosed as PCOS at sixteen, the emotional damage had already been done.  She’d been scarred by what her classmates said about her.  Traumatized by the way they gawked at her when they assumed she couldn’t see them.

But she could see them.

She saw them whether she wanted to or not.

Such was her curse.

She’d been alone on the bus on the way home from secondary school when her consciousness was unexpectedly transported to her classmate Huilang’s house.  Vividly, Lanying saw and heard Huilang talking to her mother about who she wanted to invite to her upcoming New Year’s party.  There were invitations on the table and a handwritten list set before the girl.  She mentioned Lanying as a possible guest, but the mother laughed, saying, “Certainly not!  If we were to invite her, there would be no food left for the others to eat.”

It wasn’t the first time her visions had warned her of people’s true natures.  And as painful as it was to endure, she knew it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Lanying was still nursing her first mojito when Thomas appeared at the far end of the bar, a petite brunette by his side.  Instinctively, old insecurities bubbled to the surface.  Mia was stunning, in a girl-next-door sort of way, and Lanying chastised herself for agreeing to join them when she should have just ordered room service and spent the evening alone in her hotel room with a good book.

But it was too late for all of that.  He spotted her and waved enthusiastically, side-stepping his way through the rows of chairs and patrons to cross the space between them.  Within seconds, he and Mia were sidled up beside her at the bar and the introductions were being made.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” Mia gushed in a way that somehow bolstered Lanying’s confidence.  “I can’t believe you agreed to meet us,” she continued, rolling her eyes.  “I mean really, Thomas coming at you with that whole ‘we have the same birthday’ thing had to have been a little weird!”

“Definitely an interesting pick-up line,” Lanying agreed, adjusting her position on the seat to make room for them to squeeze in beside her.

Thomas shook his head good-naturedly.  “It wasn’t a pick-up line!  We all really do all have the same birthday!”

A look passed between the couple which could have been interpreted as seditious, but something compelled Lanying to trust them.  “Thomas tells me finding people who share your birthday is something of a hobby for you.”

“You’re number four,” Mia replied, motioning to the bartender for two drafts.  “It’s pretty strange meeting three people who share my birthday this year.  Especially since before that I hadn’t met any.”

Lanying wondered if everyone from the US was so open and friendly.  Her prior knowledge and personal assumptions regarding the country’s cultural norms were based solely on characters from American movies.  Thomas and Mia were the first Americans she’d ever actually interacted with on a personal level.

If people are so kind here, do overweight American children face the same bullying I endured?

She had so many questions but decided to keep them to herself, at least for the time being.

“Sharing a birthday is certainly coincidental,” she said finally.  “Although my grandfather always told me there are no coincidences in life.”

The beers arrived and her words hung heavily in the space around them as Mia took her first sip.  Obviously, she was missing something important about their meeting.

“It’s funny you should say that,” Thomas began, the cadence of his words carefully controlled so they rolled slowly off his lips.  He glanced at Mia, and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod.  “There’s something we would like you to read, if you don’t mind.”

Lanying accepted the sheet of paper Thomas slid across the bar.  The two obviously had an ulterior motive for meeting with her, but she found the realization didn’t make her anxious.  Only curious.

She began reading what was printed on the sheet of copy paper, collected from an ‘Obscure Prophecies’ website.  She finished reading and then skimmed through it a second time.

An unexpected calm washed over her, and it was as if she was finally able to set down the millstone of questions she’d been carrying around her entire life.

Maybe there was a reason for her visions after all.

She glanced up.  They were watching her expectantly.

“Is this for real?”

“We don’t know for sure,” Mia replied, biting nervously at the inside of her cheek, “but we’ve experienced some extraordinary events over the past few months, and we’re growing more convinced every day.”

Lanying considered the possibility there were other people in the world with abilities like hers.  It wasn’t a concept she’d ever really pondered, as she’d always been dismissive about her visions.  Was it possible these strangers knew her secret?  “Do you know any of the people this prophecy speaks about?” she asked them.

Thomas and Mia shared another knowing glance, and it was obvious they’d come to the bar having already established what they would and wouldn’t share with her.  “You’re looking at two ‘children of the light,’” he told her brightly.  “Mia and I both possess abilities we consider gifts.  And because you share our birthday, we were sort of hoping maybe you do too.”

“Because, of course, that would be really amazing,” Mia added.  “And it would give credence to the prophecy itself.”

Lanying set the paper on the bar and slid her drink to the side.  She never imagined when she agreed to meet Thomas she would be confronted with something so utterly absurd – or strangely comforting.  She’d been an outsider her entire life, never quite squeezing herself into the expectations of her culture.  So to belong to something as important as this?

It was more than she could imagine.

It was more than she could have ever hoped for.

She heard her mother’s voice, nagging somewhere in the far recesses of her mind, begging her to guard her secrets and walk away.

And then she stared into Thomas’ eyes.  The eyes which had been a part of her visions for more years than she could remember, and that’s when she knew – there were no coincidences in life.

“I began having visions when I was four.  At the time I didn’t realize what they were or that other people didn’t have them.  I’d see people I knew grocery shopping or walking their dog, only I wasn’t with them.  I was at my house.  Just sitting there, watching their lives from my bedroom floor.  I didn’t think it was strange to have these visions about what was happening to them, but when I had my first one about a person I didn’t know – that’s when I got scared.  I remember calling to my mother from the kitchen where I was experiencing one while pouring myself a glass of juice.  I asked her why anybody would whip a child with a belt.”

She hesitated, taking a deep breath to compose herself.  It had been a long time since she’d thought about that day.  The day that stripped a layer of her childhood innocence, exposing her to the harsh reality of the world.

The first time she’d seen Thomas when he’d been just a boy. 

Before she could continue, Mia placed a gentle hand on her wrist.  “She didn’t believe you when you told her, did she?  About how you knew about such a thing?”

She cocked her head to the side and regarded Mia with the sort of compassion she herself had always hoped to elicit.  They were kindred spirits in more ways than she’d imagined.  Because it was clear she’d been doubted too.

“No.  She didn’t.  In fact, she accused me of sneaking behind her back to watch television shows she didn’t allow.”  She shook her head, tossing the memory aside.  “Anyway, that was the last time I said anything to anyone besides by grandfather about what I see.  Until you, here today.”

“You never confided in anyone else?  No friends?” Mia asked.

“There was no one to tell.”  She reflected on her immediate family – just her mother, father, maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother.  With the exception of her grandfather, they were a conservative, serious assemblage whose minds were far too narrow to accept the possibility of her visions.  And as for friends, there had never been anyone she trusted enough to share her confidence, especially after developing symptoms of PCOS.  They hated her for being fat.  She couldn’t imagine what they would’ve done to her if they’d known she could hear what they were saying about her, even when she wasn’t with them.

She saw tears pooling in the corner of Mia’s eyes.  “My mother actually left,” Mia told her.  “She didn’t like that I was different.  That I could see things she couldn’t see.  She was never able to accept me for who I was or forgive my father for embracing my gift.  One day, she just never came home.”

“That’s awful.”

She shrugged, hastily blotting her eyes with a paper napkin.  “It’s life.”

“I’m still sorry for you, just the same.  Everyone needs a mother.”

They sat in silence for a long moment, each of them taking sips from their respective drinks.  Lanying wondered if the others sensed the electricity pulsing between them.

“What is it that you can do?” she asked finally.

Mia brightened, the color returning to her face.  “I see people’s auras.  Everyone is bathed in luminosity or shrouded in a dark cast.  It shows me if their souls are good or evil.”

It sounded crazy to Lanying, that Mia could look at someone and tell if they were good or bad.  She supposed she knew now how her mother had felt all those years ago when she explained to her about the visions.  Then she had another thought.

“And what do you see when you look at me?”

Mia smiled.  “Radiant light.”

She was surprised by the relief she felt from Mia’s admission.  Part of her had always wondered if her visions were more sinister than they appeared.

“And what about you?” she asked, turning her attention to Thomas.

He set down his beer and settled on the stool beside her.  He seemed embarrassed by the question.  “Well, unlike the two of you, I didn’t consider myself gifted until Mia actually pointed it out when she started putting the pieces of this whole prophecy thing together earlier this year.  I never thought my ability was anything more than run-of-the-mill intuition, but apparently, what I experience is anything but typical.”

“He senses danger,” Mia interrupted.  “He can feel when bad things are about to happen.”

“Do you see the bad thing happening?” Lanying asked.  “Like my visions?”

“No,” Thomas told her.  “It’s just this horrible sense of urgency.  I can’t ignore it.  It causes actual physical pain if I try.”

She saw Mia beaming at Thomas.  It was obvious she cared deeply for him.

“There was this one night,” Mia interjected again, “we were walking to the light rail after a ballgame at Camden Yards, and out of nowhere Thomas grabbed my hand and started dragging me in the opposite direction.  He almost pulled my arm out of its socket!”  She laughed, remembering the event.  “I told him the station was the other way, but he refused to listen and told me to hurry up.  He just kept saying ‘We need to get out of here.’  So anyway, we got about 50 feet from where we’d been standing when a knife fight breaks out between two fans over Lord knows what, but somehow Thomas knew it was about to happen.  Their auras were both dimly lit, so even if I’d seen them, I probably wouldn’t have given them a second thought.”  She nudged him now, playfully in the ribs with her elbow.  “You kept us safe that night.”