Feeling of Dread

8 hours before

“Jason, are you ready to go? I need to get you to work on time” I asked. Jason was starting his first day of work at a local newspaper. He was able to graduate with his journalism degree and get a job rather quickly. We were all really proud.

“Almost ready.” He responded as he placed the last strand of his honey brown hair in place. He always likes to keep it tamed and gelled up and back. It suited him well. He had on a button down long sleeve shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbow. He had on a pair of dark jeans with a black belt and some loafers to complete his look. “Okay I am good to go now.” He turned to face me, prying his dark green eyes away from himself in the mirror.

“Good, don't want you to be late on your first day.” I smiled at him “You look great” Jason blushed a bit. He was always so bashful and sweet. He had such a pure and innocent heart.

We walked out of the house, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the way out realizing I should have put more effort into my look that morning. My dark raven hair seemed so plain, just straight, covering my face. I placed it behind my ear showing more of my face. My light blue eyes at least didn’t look as tired as I felt after staying up too late last night working.

I had a pretty tough case handed to me last night. I was in charge of placing specials in a home and a school when their powers manifested. If their families were special they were allowed to stay with them but if not the special was taken from their family and placed with a family of specials. The case I had last night was a 2 year old who had manifested his abilities in daycare. They took the kid from daycare without alerting the parents and brought him here to our part of the city. They placed him right over our border and left him. It took a couple hours for someone to find him on our part. I stayed up trying to find someone to take him in. I finally found someone willing around 2 in the morning.

“You look great, don’t worry so much.” Jason said, watching me look at myself for a second.

“Hey, stay out of my head Jason” I teased. Jason was one of my cases. He was 17 when his powers emerged. It was his graduation night from high school and his head exploded with everyones thoughts during the graduation ceremony, causing him to accidentally use telekinesis and push everyone around him away. It was quite a scene and reported on all the local news of his town, since he was the bright child of his small town with a very promising future now ruined. I hated how people thought of us specials that way. I couldn’t find anyone willing to take a teenager that old at the time, so I took him in.

“I wasn’t in there, don’t worry. I don’t have to be in your mind to know what you’re thinking. Living with you for 5 years has helped with that” He joked back.

We got in the car and I drove him to his job. He was so excited I could feel his emotions from the driver's seat. I wished him luck and gave him a quick hug. I watched his back as he entered the building for the first time. Please keep him safe, I prayed. Working with humans could be dangerous for us, as we were feared and hated by most.

I looked at the clock and it was now 8. I headed towards my office ready to see my coworkers and talk about this case I had last night. As I pulled into the parking lot of my building I got another sensation in my stomach that told me something bad was going to happen. I kept trying to push it off but it kept returning stronger every time. It started this morning at 5 waking me up from a dead sleep.

I grabbed my cup of coffee, it being the only thing keeping me going this morning. I’m not as energetic as I used to be. These years of peace have made me tame and slow. I still train at home and I made sure to teach Jason how to use his powers as best I could with our limitations. We were only allowed to use a certain percentage of our abilities before they were picked up on the humans radar. Anything too high or too powerful would send soldiers knocking on your door to take you away to the camps. It’s harder on the younger kids who are still learning to control their powers. We’ll be lucky if this two year old is able to last the year here without being taken.

I got down from the car and headed toward my office. “Good morning Charley” I greeted our receptionist as I entered.

Her normal response would be a big smile and a good morning back, but today her face was filled with nervousness and anxiety and a little something I couldn’t quite place. Perhaps fear. I looked at her puzzled and she realized her mistake.

“Good morning Astrid!” she tensley responded and gave a small smile.

Something was definitely off but I couldn’t place it. Why was she acting this way? I pressed the 5th floor button on the elevator and watched the doors slowly close. The closer I got to the 5th floor the worse the feeling of dread got. I decided it was time to use some of these lower level abilities of mine. I searched through Charley’s mind to find what was bothering her. I found it so quickly since it was right on the top of her mind. Soldiers. Soldiers had come in and asked her about me. They were waiting for me in my office. A cold sweat ran through me. Why were they here? I hadn’t done anything.

The elevator doors opened to the most tense atmosphere I have felt in a while. All my coworkers had turned to look at me, eyes wide and filled with worry. There was no need to read their minds to know what they were thinking. They were wondering the same thing I was.

I walked toward my office, taking a deep breath to calm myself as I pushed it open. As I walked in I could see 3 soldiers, or really 2 and a lieutenant. The lieutenant had made himself at home sitting on my chair with his combat boots on my desk. His hands pushed together as he lifted his head up to look at me.

“Astrid, I presume” He said as his dark eyes met mine.

Eyes give away so much of a person's emotions, age and soul. His eyes told me he had seen and done a lot of dark things in the name of keeping “the peace” of keeping us specials in order.

“That’s correct” I responded, the dread in my stomach strengthening. My voice thankfully did not give it away. “What can I help you with?” I said as I walked toward my desk ready to kick his boots off, but realizing how that could cause a fight.

“I heard about the case you got last night. The 2 year old was placed at your border yesterday. “ He answered as he watched me waiting for some sort of reaction. “I need the boy back.” He said.

I took a step back. This has never happened. The boy had been asleep and couldn’t have used his powers in that time, even if he would have they would have gone to collect him at his house or where the trace of power came from on their radar. Why come here asking for him?

“Can I ask why you need him back? There is no way the boy used his abilities last night. He was asleep and resting, and in fact still is after the traumatic experience he went through” I responded my voice gave me away this time. Concern flooded my tone.

“The traumatic experience he went through? What about the traumatic experience the kids and teachers at the daycare went through? Knowing they were in contact with a dangerous special.” He snapped back coldly and with some disgust. I hated guys like this. Those who somehow thought we were both dangerous but also inferior to them.

“I guess you could say it was traumatic for all.” I said annoyed.

“You don’t need to know why I need the boy. Let us know which house you placed him in so we can be on our way.” He ordered assertively.

“Look lieutenant” I paused, trying to wash the annoyance out of my voice. “I can’t just tell you where he is without proper approval. We have to make sure he is safe as well. He can’t be detained without proper cause.” I was firm, still nervous but unwilling to give this boy over just because they asked.

“Here” He said.

He handed a paper to the soldier on his right and signaled for him to hand it over to me. I took it and read its contents. It was a letter from Lieutenant General Carter stating that the boy was to be handed over as a matter of national security. It made no sense the boy was only 2 his power was a low level ability that could not possibly cause any harm yet alone be a threat to national security. I knew something wasn’t right but I couldn’t contest this letter. I sighed.

“I need to get to my computer so I can get you the address” I said waiting for him to move out of my way. When he didn’t I walked around my desk and reached over him. He smelled of cigarettes and metal.

I logged in and pulled up the little boys file. Landon was his name, I scrolled through his file finding the address of the place I put him in. I didn’t want this family to be affected by this. I’ll have to call them after these officers leave to warn them.

“Here it is.” I said, pulling the address up for them. The soldier to the right wrote down the address and the lieutenant finally got up from my seat. I moved back to let him walk by, but he decided he wanted me to be in his way. He pressed himself against me and whispered in my ear.

“Next time don’t give me such a hard time, or I’ll have to give you one back”

I wanted so badly to hit him, but I wasn’t going to be one of those specials that breaks the peace because I can’t control my anger. I roll my eyes and back away some. He smiled menacingly and walked out of the office, his soldiers following behind him. I sighed in relief once the door closed behind them.

I quickly ran to the phone remembering to call the family and warn them about the soldiers heading their way. Thankfully Monica answered quickly she was as confused as I, and wanted so badly to protest, but we knew what it would mean if we did. She understood what needed to be done, even though both of us hated it so much. I got off the phone and sat back on my chair forgetting that the disgusting man had just been there. I looked over Landon’s file again wondering what it was about him that would make him national security level. I scrolled down to the ability page on his file it read :

Low level

non physical

no telekinetic abilities.

Cannot cause any harm with his ability.

Ability description: Can locate anyone or anything.

Still confused I closed out of the file and tried to push it to the back of my mind. I hope he will be okay.