Page 34 of Dark Visions (Strange Gifts #1)

“Well, doesn’t that spin a new light on things,” said Aislinn. “We’re all pretty close to the same age. It would make sense that perhaps we were all exposed to something.”

“Then why aren’t there hundreds of people with gifts?” asked Kane.

“Maybe there are,” she said. “Maybe they don’t know they have it. If someone had my gift, I can tell you that they may be labeled as psychotic, or they could be hiding their gifts. I don’t remember a lot of children near or around the base. In fact, I don’t remember a lot of anything there.”

“I don’t remember much about being there,” said Adam. “I was pretty young. Maybe three or four when we got there and six or seven when I left.”

“Same,” said Kane. “I don’t remember any of you, so maybe we were all there at different times. I do know there weren’t a lot of children. We lived in this dump of an apartment above a garage in Herlong.”

“I remember going to the one little store they had as a child,” said Aislinn. “I was really young. I think my first episode happened about a year after I left.”

“My dad was stationed there for two years,” said Flip. “We lived in a trailer outside the base. My mom home-schooled me. I think my first episode was about a year after we moved to Fort Lewis.”

Adam looked at his friends and shook his head. They were all in the same area, around the same time, on a base that held munitions and potentially weapons that no one was aware existed. Anything could have been in the air or transmitted through the water.

“I was five,” said Spook softly. All eyes turned to him, not saying anything to him. “We – my mom and me – we lived with her boyfriend. He would come home every day with this pink dust all over him. My mom would shake it off on the front porch.”

“Pink dust,” whispered Aislinn. “I remember…”

“He would ruffle my hair and hand me a dollar so I could run to the candy store. I think he did it so he and my mom could get it on, but I didn’t care.” It was as if Spook were speaking to himself. He stared over the heads of his friends out the window into the gray day.

“Cell phones were just starting to get popular, but we had this house phone that when it rang, I knew who it was without answering. It would freak my mom out. I would say ‘grandma’s calling.’ Her boyfriend had a beeper or pager or whatever, and I would know when he was within a few miles of the house.”

“I don’t understand,” said Adam.

“He sees the signals. He feels them,” said Aislinn, staring at Spook. He gave her a slight nod.

“I do. I feel the signals, but more than that, I see the numbers associated with them.”

“You mean like all the ones and zeros?” asked Flip.

“Something like that, but more like… like your digital print. For instance, I know that Adam’s first cell phone number was 555-831-2345.”

“What the fuck!? How did you know that?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s like it’s imprinted in your DNA. The man down there, the one with the black umbrella in his hand? His cell phone is 555-275-0892. His last three calls have been from his mother.”

“You see this all the time?” asked Adam.

“All the fucking time,” he said calmly. “In the sandbox, over there, I could hear and see the numbers like a teletype machine racing across my brain. It was so much I could barely cope. When I’m in a city, it’s fucking overwhelming. Thousands of people with thousands of numbers. Over there? I always knew where you guys were by your signals.”

“And you knew where the enemy was?” said Kane. “That’s how you saved our asses in the mountains.”

Spook nodded.

“It was also why I couldn’t save the team from the two hundred and fifty-first. I was so focused on your numbers, when I figured out theirs was coming from another hot zone I didn’t have enough reaction time. They died, all of them. Because I couldn’t see the numbers fast enough.” He folded his lean muscular arms and stared out into the street.

“Jesus, Spook, you couldn’t have saved them. They were like forty miles away! Dude, there is no fucking way you could have saved them. You can’t carry that burden,” said Flip.

“But I can, and I do. Just like you carry the burden of all the men you couldn’t save,” he said, staring at his friend.

“No one should carry any burdens at all,” said Aislinn. “Do you know how many murders I’ve been a witness to and unable to stop? If I had carried that burden, I would have been committed years ago. Look, I don’t know what happened to us, but I think we all have a good place to start now. More importantly, we have each other. Something a few weeks ago I would have never dreamed could happen. I have a man I love…”

“You love me?” asked Kane.

“Yes, you idiot, I love you. I have a man I love and friends. I feel it in my soul. You are my friends and so much more. Do you know how lonely my life has been? I don’t care what brought us together. I just know that this was supposed to happen.”

“I agree,” said Flip. “Had I known about all of you while we were in the Army, my life would have been very different. This seems natural, all of us being together.”

Kane nodded at his friends and pulled Aislinn in tight for a hug.

“You stay here with Spook tonight,” he said. Aislinn started to argue, but he kissed her, quieting her instantly. “It will be safer if you stay here. Spook will have us on communications. We’ll stop Deborah. Don’t worry.”

Aislinn nodded and watched as the men prepared to leave for the night. Kane kissed her once more as he left the loft. Locking the door, she turned to see Spook, still cross-armed staring at her.

“I’m sorry you had to reveal your secret,” she said.

“I’m not. Thank you, Aislinn,” he said, letting out a long, slow breath. “I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

Aislinn smiled at him as he turned to focus his attention on the computer screen. She pulled the afghan from the back of the sofa and covered her legs, a chill settling in the apartment. Picking up the book on the coffee table, she tried to read, but sleep crept up on her, and she finally nodded off.

Spook turned to see the pretty woman sound asleep. He smiled and stood, pulling the blanket up under her chin. She looked so angelic sleeping there and so brave. He knew what thoughts must be entering her head as she slept, and although his burden was great, hers was terrifying.

Let’s end this, and I’ll disappear.