Unaltered #2_A Diamond in my Heart (12 page)

“You’re blushing, Ms.
Courtnae.”

“No I’m not. Now go try that
setting.”

He just stood there looking at me for
a moment, and then he pressed the volume button reducing the sound
to the lowest level. “This is the lowest level I can go without
being attacked.”

“You’ve already tried?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Well. I guess we’re done for the
night then.”

“It’s been a good night, Calli. May I
keep this ‘heart-attack jacket’? I’ll buy your father another one.”
He smiled at me and ran his hands over the front
pockets.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll replace
it. Keep in mind that the batteries will only last just so long, so
you won’t want to be caught off guard. I’ll work on another version
of the device and try to find something with external speakers
included in the unit.”

“How about attaching a flashlight too?
I can’t see very well in the dark.”

“Good idea. Well, goodnight, Brand.
I’ll talk to you later.”

When I arrived at home, I stumbled
upon my parents whispering about me inside their room. I don’t make
it a practice to eavesdrop but when my father mentioned my
ultrasound I had to listen.

“Charlotte, it was all wrong. She
doesn’t have normal sinus rhythm and I think we should have her
checked out. She must have sustained damage in the
accident.”

“Relax; I don’t think it’s anything
serious, otherwise it would have shown up in her file from the
hospital.”

I walked away from their doorway and
back down the hallway, then I turned and announced my presence
loudly, “Mom, Dad, I’m home.”

My mother immediately opened her
bedroom door and greeted me. She didn’t mention anything about my
father’s concerns nor did she ask about my evening with Brand. We
said goodnight and I entered my room.

*****

Over the course of the next seven
days, I met with Chuck Stowley and he taught me about the history
of lighting. The amount of light put off by one candle flame is
equal to one lumen. Now I know why all the light bulbs state lumens
instead of watts; with LED and fluorescent lighting the wattage is
much less but the amount of light can be equivalent to incandescent
lighting. I learned the difference between reflected light and
visible light, flux and lux, light amplification and photo
multipliers.

However, Mr. Stowley was reluctant to
let me ‘borrow’ a digital light meter that also measured lux
readings, so I had to actually purchase one. Mr. Stowley was more
than happy to make the sale and as we completed the transaction, I
read his mind and was shocked to find that he didn’t really like
being around my father, he only liked the ‘free stuff’ my father
would buy him or give him because of the association. My purchase
fell into the same category; Chuck was profiting off of my father
and mother because, let’s face it, my money wasn’t really my
own.

I guess the world revolves around
faked friendships, disingenuous greetings and the ability to get
others to part with their money. Oddly, I didn’t allow myself to
become offended by this revelation because with it came the
understanding that my father needed his friendship with Chuck, no
matter how dysfunctional it may be. They both served each other’s
needs.

I began measuring lux readings all
around the house and yard and charting my findings in a tablet. The
light meter was a good investment because it had a separate unit
which measured the light from the display unit. A bright sunny day
measured in at 50,000 lux while a heavy overcast day at two in the
afternoon measured at 100 lux. Sunrise and sunset on clear days
measured 400 lux, and the full moon on a clear night came in at one
lux. The most important number, the level at which Demons were
present was not as cut and dried as I thought it would be. The
further away the Demons are from a light source, like Brand’s front
porch or leaping out a bus door and into my car, the more they can
exist in random locations. Light doesn’t travel through the body,
therefore when the body blocks the light source and creates a
shadow, the Demons can attack; such as the incident when we
returned from Cedar Point. The light from the inside of my car was
sufficient, but Brand’s body created a shadow behind him and the
dim interior lighting from the bus wasn’t strong enough to properly
illuminate his backside.

I decided that a minimum safe reading
was 50 lux; Brand’s shadow at this level wasn’t too low as to
invite an attack. I would make sure the new devices were activated
at 75 lux just to be extra safe. I was inspired by the nightlight
in the hallway outside my door which had a sensor to indicate low
levels of lighting at which time it would turn on. My devices would
operate on the same principle, plus it would save battery
power.

I explained all the technical
information to Brand and found he wasn’t interested in the how or
why the device would work. He only wanted to know it would work.
Apparently he’d been thoroughly enjoying his new found nighttime
freedom and hadn’t really missed me at all over the last
week.

Chapter 8 - Matchmaker
Calli

It was that time of the year again; my
birthday. As in years past, my birthday signified the closing of
summer, the nearing of another school year, and one additional
candle on the cake. This year I officially became an adult
according to the state of Ohio. I certainly didn’t feel any
different being eighteen and I had no desire to purchase tobacco in
any of its forms, so becoming another year older really only meant
I’d soon be off to College.

My parents gave me supplies for my
dorm room; nothing too expensive. Brand gave me a new Mp3 player
and a set of small external speakers. My mom eyed him curiously and
I resisted the urge to read what she was thinking. I decided it was
better not to know. The last thing I wanted to discover was if my
mom was disappointed Brand didn’t give me jewelry or
perfume.

I received another bouquet of roses
and a card from Maetha wherein she reemphasized the importance of
meditation and learning how to calm my mind. Between my struggle to
visualize auras and feeling like an idiot whenever I sat in the
lotus position to meditate, I hadn’t made any progress toward
mastering either. I was too afraid my mom would walk in and make
fun of me for succumbing to Eastern hooey. She’s a supporter of
stress relieving methods and often prescribed relaxation techniques
to her patients, but if she saw me meditating she’d probably flip
out and question me about what’s bothering me. I think she’d haul
me off to a doctor for evaluation and demand a
prescription.

Maetha reminded me in her letter to
socialize at college and she also applauded my decision to pursue a
medical degree. One particular paragraph stood out in my mind. It
read:

Brain scans are being used
to study the brain’s activity during the thought process.
Similarities between people are emerging and the data is being
catalogued. Soon, a brain scan will be able to determine if someone
is lying, or if a crime was committed out of premeditation or
self-defense. The future of this science is unforeseeable as the
ones to perfect it haven’t been born yet. Placing yourself on the
frontier of medical advancements allows insight to possible
directions these types of inventions might go.
No one
is immune to something like a
brain scan. We are, after all, just humans. -Maetha

*****

The next four weeks flew by rapidly.
I’d located a possible manufacturer to produce my Demon devices and
sent my written requirements via email with my shipping address
listed as my dorm. The developer estimated three months to kick out
a prototype. I figured Brand was covered adequately, although a
little ridiculously, and the $900 price was much lower than the
other manufacturers wanted.

My parents followed me to my dorm and
helped me move in. It was a tough day for all. I caught my mom
wiping her eyes a couple times and it made me feel bad. It wasn’t
like I was moving away for good or anything; I’d be back at
Thanksgiving. She’d really be amazed and upset if she knew what I’d
been through in Montana.

I said my goodbyes and settled into my
new life; well, that was an understatement.

The next day I ran into Suz at the
Student Union building. She was originally going to be my roommate
but opted out after graduation. Huh, go figure. Too bad, we had a
really nice apartment picked out near campus with a hot tub. I
guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I quickly found an
opening at the co-ed dorm Brand would be in, not that I wanted to
be located that close to him, but he was kind of handy to keep
around for all those moments when a do-over was needed. My close
proximity to Brand only seemed to make matters worse with
Suz.

Brand never ceased to amaze me. He was
offered a full-ride scholarship in football but he denied it and
went into Performing Arts instead. What the hell? I wasn’t the only
confused person to find out Mr. All-Star Jock wanted to be a
singing actor. I hadn’t questioned him about it yet, but I fully
intended on doing it.

College life was a real rush to say
the least. I think what amazed me the most was observing the minds
of everyone on campus and just how different people are in their
thoughts and behavior. Take, for instance, the girls from my school
who were attending college with me. I’d seen their behavior in high
school when they were stuck-up, ‘holier than thou’ gossips. They
never missed an opportunity to criticize all the other girls who
were ‘too easy’. However, now they were in a reversed role where
they had become the ‘too easy’ sluts chasing after the jocks
without a relationship in mind. It seems when girls like these move
out of mommy and daddy’s house they go wild. Hmm, the girls were
mild but now they’re wild. Someone could write a song about that.
Someone probably already has.

Many guys, on the other hand, were
horn dogs in high school but too stupid to actually score. In
college the guys were still horn dogs but scored more often. What
was the causality of this? Was it that the guys had become smarter
or that the girls had loosened up? I was leaning toward the latter
of the two. In my dorm I found that girls seemed to wear much less
clothing than at the beach and guys liked to walk around without
their shirts all the time. I’m not complaining, as a medicine major
I fully appreciate the many muscles that make up the abdomen and
chest, but as an inexperienced female who doesn’t leave my room
without being properly covered I still blush a bit when I run into
that much skin.

My class schedule was quite manageable
leaving a lot of extra time for studying and practicing my
abilities. Acting on Maetha’s advice to socialize and mingle, I
began an experiment of sorts in the college cafeteria that involved
unsuspecting students and faculty. I read minds looking for girls
who had the dreamy gaze in their eyes for a particular guy and then
I would read the guy’s mind to see if he liked the girl, or if he
even knew the girl existed.

One day while reading minds I found a
girl staring longingly across the room and in her mind I saw the
image of the boy she was attracted to. I scanned the room, located
the boy and read his mind finding he liked her too but was too shy
to act on it. It was more than that though, these two were in a
couple of classes together and took turns looking at each
other.

As a female who appreciates love, I
had to help out. I walked across the room to the girl and said,
“Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice you’re checking out that guy
over by the soda machines. I hope I’m not butting in too much but
when you look away from him do you know he looks back at
you?”

“What? Are you sure?”

“I’m Calli Courtnae, and yes, I’m
sure. I’m fascinated with body language and have a pretty good
sense for it. His body language is screaming for you, but I get the
idea he’s really shy and afraid to talk to you.”

“I thought he was looking at me in
class. I’m Pamela Gilespy, nice to meet you Calli.”

That’s all it took and suddenly I had
a new friend. Over the next few weeks, Pamela and the guy named
Spencer Wainsfeld became acquainted and really hit it off. They
were a match made in heaven with similar interests and backgrounds
and it made me very happy to know I helped them out.

Pamela started hanging out with me
more often whenever she wasn’t with Spencer and one day her friend
Stacy Nelson came along too.

Pamela introduced us. “Hey, Calli, do
you think you could work your magic on Stacy too? There’s a guy she
likes but it’s unclear if he likes her or not.”

“Sure. Where do we find
him?”

“He’ll be at the Mixer tonight. Are
you going?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, but I guess
I am now.”

“Spencer has to work tonight, so it
will be a girls' night out.” Pamela added.

The two girls became all giddy and
giggly; female aspects I really don’t like. They helped me pick out
an outfit to wear and played with my shoulder length hair
experimenting with different 'do's; another detestable
activity.