Devin Greigh: Testimony

The rest of the training was much more exhausting than the first. When we were finished with our training with Casrial, the three of us reunited with Anna and Othello and then headed for the safe zone in the middle of the woods. The sun was starting to rise, and dawn drew closer. Devin, Shaun, and Nichelle were all together; Shaun and Nichelle were both dirty and their faces glistened with sweat. Devin remained unscathed. Shaun immediately scurried over to me like a five-year-old boy seeing his favorite superhero in person.

“E!” Shaun shouted. “How did you do!?”

“I classified a few wolf gheists,” I bragged.

“That’s awesome!” he complimented.

“How did you do, Shaun?”

“Pretty good! I learned a few new moves! I totally kicked Niche’s butt when I practiced against her!”

“Did not you little pack rat!” I heard Nichelle’s voice shoot across the winds blowing towards us in the woods. Nichelle walked over to where Shaun and I were, and smacked him in the back of the head.

“So you’re getting used to your powers yet, Lolita?” she asked me—Lolita is what Nichelle grew accustomed to calling me because of my tiny build; I was a bit smaller than Tess, the shortest person in the group, and I looked much younger than I actually was.

I looked at Nichelle, smiled and then replied, “…A little bit. I classified some wolf gheists earlier, and now I can actually pick up heavier things using psychokinesis!”

I looked at Shaun, and saw his eyes light up like the night of Christmas Eve. The gaping hole in his face, which was his mouth, bellowed, “You can pick things up with your mind…!? Where have you been all my life!?”

“Definitely not looking for you,” Nichelle teased. Othello and Aaron, who had arrived later than the rest of his agent team and just as clean as Devin, joined us as we unconsciously formed a circle much similar to the circle we were directed to form earlier.

“You’re gonna have more fun once we get the next set of groups goin,” Othello boasted.

“Maybe you’ll finally win one without Alex’s help, O,” Aaron teased.

“Please,” Othello scoffed, “my last name ain’t Worthy for nothin…I know the entire layout of these woods now, so whoever’s on my team this time is goin’ home more than satisfied, playboy!”

Aaron laughed and replied, “Well I’ll probably be on your team, and so you better have my back…I don’t want any surprises!”

“Why isn’t Mr. Goldstein—err—Alexander participating?” I asked.

“Alex only participated because we were lacking in numbers,” Nichelle started.

“Yeah,” Aaron added, “and now that Othello, Shaun, Tessa, and you are all at the level to participate, it would be overkill to have someone as powerful as Alex joining in.”

“Is he that powerful of a clairvoyant?” I asked.

“He’s in a league of his own,” Nichelle answered, “He’s got the woodland area covered, so if anything should get out of hand, he will be there quicker than you can scream for help…Although he looks like a complete dork, Alex is by far the best. He’s the reason why we are all here now, and the reason why he is our overseer.”

“Not to mention that the man is wealthy,” Othello crooned, “…with his international solutions firm and all.”

I had always wondered what Mr. Goldstein did for a living; how he was able to travel to various places throughout the world easier than crossing the street. I wondered if my dad was in the same line of business since they had been close friends and met on several occasions in Brazil over the course of years he had been alive. Before I knew it, our three instructors were already together, and Tess bounded over to my side, filling in the gap that blemished our circle.

Tess had improved her powers too; she was able to pass through solid objects as oppose to just dispersing her body into smoke to pass through gaps. She had been learning to improve her powers more, determining if she could do the same as Devin could; traveling with someone else while in astral form. Despite what she thought, Tess had an incredibly useful power; if mastered, she would be able to carry wounded away from a dangerous area by phasing through walls easily, and escaping the haunted area.

When I brought that up in our little circle, Tess simply blushed and modestly replied, “But it takes a lot out of me…I’d much rather have an offensive power. Is it possible to switch?”

Our circle began throwing jokes at each other—which made for a great icebreaker since I rarely had the moment to talk to everyone this weekend—when our conversation was broken by a sharp whistle piercing the air.

“Okay class!” Cas teased. “I’ve always wanted to say that! Okay, now that you all are together, that means that most of you know what time it is. Morning Madness is about to begin, but first, we’re going to do something new...Now as you know, Alex isn’t going to participate in the events, and I know that may be a relief and a disappointment since he brought fun along with a heavily unfair advantage whether you were in his group or against his group…However, he will be the spectator for the event…He will keep track of who is in the lead, and if the threat levels grow too high. The other thing that has changed is, we are making it the ultimate test of your skills…In order to do that, we need to see where each of you lie as far as being able to stand your own ground…With that said, instead of mixing us in with you guys, we will be pitted against you, so Aaron, you’re on our team!”

I gasped with disbelief. We had to compete against the alumni of clairvoyants who pretty much had more of a grasp on their powers than we had? How did we stand a chance? Our circle shrunk as Aaron left to stand by Cas, Devin, and Anna’s side, which left me, Tess, Shaun, Othello, and Nichelle in the group. The five of us stared at each other; Tess and I looked scared out of our wits, but the other three seemed overly thrilled about competing against their much stronger opposition.

“The teachers against the students!?” Shaun beamed. “How awesome is that!?”

“Oh boy!” Othello sang as he rubbed his hands together. “This is gonna get good!”

Nichelle looked at me and Tess, and then started up a count.

“We’ve got one more medium on you, Cassie. Think you could keep up with these two!?”

“Don’t worry about the handicap,” Cas teased with a smile, “You two are going to have to worry about Devin and Aaron more than anything!”

“Well I ain’t gonna have to worry about Ms. Kitty over there,” Othello said, winking at Anna—she simply scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Othello Worthy’s got this place locked down! Ya’ll better believe that we’re gonna own these woods by the time the sun rises!”

“Better make due on that promise!” Cas challenged. “Okay, so for those of you who don’t know the rules…Evvy…It’s quite simple: track down as many waywards and gheists…classify as many as you can before the sun rises over the woods. Waywards are two points. Gheists are three points. The object is to utilize everything that you’ve been taught thus far, to pick your targets, and classify them strategically. And above all else, protect your teammates, and each other. Remember, strategizing is the key; if you just go in blindly, you could be overwhelmed. Reserve your powers, and don’t rely too much on one action. And keep a connection with everyone; should anything happen, we will all know, and will be able to aid each other if or when we need immediate assistance. Any questions?”

I raised my hand bashfully and replied, “I have a question…”

The idea of training sounded more like one of Barry’s football games; there was the thrill of competition, but I wished that I were on Cas’ team and not against her. On the flipside of things, Tess was excellent with the parasight; she had better control, and knew how to quickly switch her settings and adjust them accordingly. Tess also had a very useful subclass skill, so in case she needed to flee, she could do so easily. But then there were the other members of our group; Nichelle, Shaun, and Othello. Othello’s confidence, not to be confused with arrogance, was so strong, I felt reassured of his reliability. Our agents, Shaun and Nichelle, were both my concern. Although Nichelle appeared tough and a little more trained in her abilities, Shaun was the youngest; I felt that he shouldn’t be thrown in the middle of the woods of battle. At the same time, I could feel that Shaun was waiting to get his hands a little dirty, and he was chomping at the bit to try out his new abilities. I soon realized that it wasn’t an issue of reliability that bothered me; it was the question of who was more of a strategist in the matter. There had to be a director to make sure no one simply just ran into the fray. That thought was drowned by the return of my anxiousness; my aura started seeping out over my body once again.

I gave Casrial a smile, and asked, “What do we get once we win?”

Everyone laughed, and got together. Tess became more excited as well, and everyone in our group closed the gap that Aaron left after defecting to the side of our opposition.

“Although this event will be a chockfull of fun and bonding, remember that this is an exercise to master your skills as a clairvoyant. After today’s exercise, you will feel the difference once you’ve rested, and each week we will further test your skills as we venture deeper into the woods. Huddle up your teams and be on your guard…the clearing will be lowered in a few moments.”

When I heard that, I knew what was about to happen; our safe zone was going to cease to exist, and we were left to think fast. As I noticed Casrial look over to Anna, I huddled with the team and then commenced the discussion of strategy.

“O, you said you know the entire area, right?” I asked.

“Even the more dangerous parts, beautiful,” he crooned.

“We’ve got two mediums, and two agents…It may be risky, but I think we should split the playing field, but not too far; we should stay close so we could keep a connection open for us.”

“Yeah, too bad we didn’t have long distance connectivity like Cassie does,” Tess snorted.

“What?” I asked.

“Cassie has the ability to connect with people outside of the usual sight range,” Tess explained. “As long as she had made a connection with you before, she will be able to track you, and make that connection with you like a third generation cell phone network…The same goes for her powers; she could push anything without physically being in viewing range of it so as long as she made a connection with it beforehand.”

“Wow…,” I gasped. “That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, but you’re right,” Tess said, “we should split up a bit, but if connection gets fuzzy, we can use Othello to pinpoint us to bring us back together.”

“Tess, you’re better with using Monroe than I am with using Scarlett…you should have no problem catching gheists off guard.”

“Yeah, I plan to play the sniper role, you should keep Othello in your group…you’re much better with your subclass powers than I am.”

“I was gonna join her team anyway,” Othello teased. “You’re too clumsy for my liking!”

“I love you too, O,” Tess teased back, blowing him a kiss.

“I’m definitely joining E’s team!” Shaun announced—“It wouldn’t be the same with the team of E and me!”

“Oh please,” Nichelle scoffed. “I think it would be best if you went with Lolita anyway; for my sanity’s sake!”

“Are you two going to be okay alone?” I asked.

“I’m much stronger than I look, Lolita,” Nichelle snapped, “I’ll keep her safe.”

I started to feel colder than usual; the safe zone was definitely diminishing.

“The only problem is, if we split, O isn’t an agent nor a medium; he won’t be able to defend himself.”

“Yes I can honey,” Othello argued—“My skills allows yours truly to paralyze the senses that gheists use to trace residual energy…in other words it makes them blind. In the end, I’ll be protecting ya’ll when it gets heavy. I’ve got a suggestion about formations though…”

Othello suggested that we set up a traditional formation, one having the agents as our frontline, the mediums in the middle, and the auditor switching from rear to middle in case they needed the support.

“Remember that agents are self-regenerative, we ain’t,” Othello explained—“They could take a few hits if need be, plus they have the least residual energy expenditure cap than all other classes; they’re able to use their strongest skills more than we could. When passive waywards are around, we need to make sure ya’ll two are still able to walk without passin out to classify them. The agents will help reserve your energy, and should it get a little crazy, I could simply use my powers to turn the tides; your powers should be the last resort.”

“Good point,” I agreed, “I forgot about that annoying expenditure cap.”

“Not to mention if we wanted to split, the same formation should follow,” Tess added, “so when O gives us a lead, we should track it down and handle it according to the threat level, but don’t forget that the exercise is so that we all exercise our skills, so we should also try to utilize different strategies like Cassie explained, but keep the same formation just in case it gets too crazy.”

We decided to set our teams up using O’s plan; it was more solid than splitting up and completely using the two most important members, the mediums, as the first line of defense. I noticed the area dimming, and the atmosphere growing colder. Cas and her team were waiting for us to give them our attention. When we broke our huddle, we turned to them. The four members of our opposition looked serious, and the dense fog rose higher, adding more to the solemn element. Our hoods were all draped over our heads, and our auras were radiating; it once again sounded like an orchestra as I sensed everyone’s aura around me. The fog was just above my chest as the sounds of howling, cackling, and shrieking started flooding the area.

“Are you all ready?” Casrial asked us.

“Let’s do this,” Shaun murmured.

It almost became pitch black again; heavy clouds rolled in, creating overcast almost impossible to look through from the ground. Casrial suddenly gave a cadence, shouted, “Go!” and then our opposition disappeared into the thick fog.

“Let’s go guys!” I screamed with excitement, and we set up our formation mid-sprint.

We managed to work well together as a team; Othello kept us updated on all of the hot spots in the woods, and the threat level for each. The threat levels were pretty high given the path we chose, but Nichelle and Shaun proved to be completely stronger and more skilled than they looked. Nichelle was strong and moved with blinding speed, and was able to weaken gheists easily with just using her hands and feet while infused with her aura. Shaun was like an acrobat. He was fast and agile, able to cling to trees using the palms of his hands, and able to mold his aura into a long bamboo-shaped staff which he used as though he was a baton-twirler in a marching band. He was also able to leap unfathomably high, almost passing the highest trees in the woods. He would twirl and perform flipping stunts in mid-air before landing a blow with his staff against the head of a woodland gheist.

“Devin taught you well!” I complimented him.

“I still can’t beat him though,” he admitted.

“Don’t worry, Shaun, I’m sure you will be able to beat him someday!”

“I will…today!”

“WE will today!”

Tess and I had our hands more full than expected; the gheists were indeed strong, and at times they flooded us in numbers. Othello’s powers worked perfectly to our advantage; as soon as we thought they would overwhelm us, they would suddenly stop, run frantically around us, and then away from us. Othello always laughed out loud to himself after performing this skill.

“It’s funny t’watch them run around dumbfounded!” he admitted—“It’s like watching them blooper videos on the Internet!”

My powers helped a lot; I realized that not only could I pick up objects, but I could pick up gheists as well. I grabbed a few of them using psychokinesis, and then flung them through the woods as they tried to gang up on Tess. I made use of my psychokinesis when we ran into obstacles only Tess could pass. This was a huge test at my expenditure cap, as most of the obstacles were collapsed trees. I alternated between my psychokinesis and fighting off gheists with Scarlett, so I did not overuse my subclass skills. Tess was like a skilled marksman with Monroe; at one point she climbed a tree to get a better view before picking off gheists with blinding burst shots from her parasight’s flash bulb.

At one point our team developed a formation which put us all back-to-back, forming a pentagon whenever gheists attacked in hordes; this kept our backs constantly and flawlessly protected, and allowed us to cover the entire area when we were surrounded. We fought off all different types of woodland gheists, from wolves, to bears, to foxes, to even aviaries and deer.

After fighting the gheists off, it was time to find them after they were lessened down to waywards and had run off. Othello knew exactly where to find them, and pointed us in the right directions. One by one Tess and I classified them, and each classification left me with a brain-freezing pain, followed by an almost unquenchable amount of information being flushed into my brain. After awhile, I started getting used to the different feeling of classifying this different breed of gheist, and the headaches were far lesser than previous experiences.

Before we knew it, three hours had passed. The woods were getting brighter, and the overcast started to drift away. Our team was exhausted, and walking was growing more cumbersome with each step.

“Time’s up!!” I heard Cas’ aura chime in and her voice croon. Everyone sighed, and dropped to the slightly cushioning of the dirt path we were on. The sun slowly crept over us, and shone its endless rays, drizzling light across our face. The cold atmosphere soon died out, and the dense fog dispersed. Warmth and light overtook the landscape, and the woods were suddenly a splendor of gold from the morning sun. The autumn cold was still present, and I saw my breath as I exhaled a deep sigh once more.

“I can barely move!” I whined.

“I’d rather be playing Guitar Hero right about now,” Tess added to the pity party.

“I’d rather be asleep right now,” Nichelle joined in.

“I’d rather be eating right now,” Shaun said.

“I’d rather be—,” Othello started, but Tess cut him off by saying, “Don’t even say it, O!”

“What?” he shrugged. “It’s true!”

“Doesn’t matter!” Nichelle said. “I don’t wanna hear it either!”

“Yes you do,” Othello teased, “or ya’ll would wanna hear it later!”

“I wanna hear that I’ve won a million dollars!” I teased.

“Well the feeling would be just like that,” Othello flirted.

“Okay,” I quickly retorted, jumping up to my feet, “on that note I think I’m ready to get back to the others after hearing that!”

The others agreed, and all joined me as I rose to my feet. Othello just snickered to himself, and Shaun helped Nichelle up, to which she replied—“I’d much rather deal with you right now than him!”

Shaun smiled, and joined us, and we all huddled around Shaun, making him the hero of the day.

“No way had we lost!” Nichelle argued.

We stood in front of the van as the sun poured down on us, in the parking lot in front of the path which led to the woods. Alex was fast asleep after announcing the winner of today’s event; Team Alumni.

“Do you really want us to explain how we totally owned you?” Devin boasted.

“Enlighten us o’ fearless leader,” Nichelle snapped.

Cas stepped forward instead, and smiled.

“Look,” Cas started, “you guys are getting better each day, your powers are growing more and more, and the way you all worked together as a group, was how we would work together as a family. This wasn’t a test to see whose team is better; it was a test to make you stronger. The woods here, is home to old spirits of animals that once inhabited the area. These are special gheists that you would not normally run into in such a frequent situation unless you live in the wildlife. These gheists are swifter, more powerful, and more feral and unpredictable; if you all could survive this training every week, you could survive your average gheist encounter. Nichelle, you’re speed and strength could amplify to a magnitude so great, you’d think you could chase light, catch it, and bend it with two fingers before tying it into a knot…But you’re not at that level yet. You guys managed to classify four hundred eighty-one waywards today…Do you know why we were able to classify over two thousand?”

My jaw was still hanging—as if it was unhinged—from my face at the huge difference in our scores. I simply shook my head with the rest of my disappointed team, along with a slightly reluctant Nichelle.

“It’s because you guys still hang on limits. Remember the movie, ‘The Matrix?’ Remember how the main character had to throw away all human restrictions, in order to perform the impossible? That rule applies here. Evvy, do you remember when I had you count as many blades of grass in the park the other night? And Tess, do you remember how I had you phase through every shrubbery last week? Plants and foliage count as life too. And every life has a spirit, including every insect and every woodland creature. You guys are still stuck on gheists being our enemies, and not as what they truly are; our brothers and sister who have lost their way. And so you hunt the ones that you know will be aggressive, instead of observing your surroundings, forgetting there is life outside of it all. We are human, but when we are clairvoyants, you must learn that there are countless possibilities to strengthen your potential; don’t confuse it with the limitations of being human.”

Casrial made a point; this wasn’t a competition to see who was better. This was a competition to help strengthen us; to bring us all up to equal levels of the playing field. Right now, we were beginners with a lot to learn. We were anchors holding the others—Cas, Anna, Aaron, and Devin—back, and dragging them down. This was why they pit us all against them; the alumni. They needed to see where we stood with our skills, and will train us further to become better. But one thing was standing in our way: our inability to think outside of the box, our inability to free our minds, and expand our horizons. Casrial continued her evaluation as we all stood still, looking down at the asphalt of the parking lot.

“Evvy, Evvy, Evvy…”

“Cas, Cas, Cas,” I imitated, “I know I have to work on a lot, don’t I?”

“Why do you say that?” she asked me suddenly. “Don’t think of this as a bad thing; this is to help you learn what you need to strengthen, so when we are here again, you can apply what you’ve worked on to improve. In your case, become more familiar with Scarlett. She is a part of you, and I know you’ve already designed a connection familiar to yourself. Your classification skills are phenomenal…Your ability of hindsight has improved. Much like any medium, you have the ability to observe the thoughts of a wayward during its last few moments of being alive. However, your method of hindsight is more advanced, allowing you to experience the memories vividly. It’s not a skill that any average medium could do.”

Everything Casrial was telling me was almost overwhelming. I now discovered that, aside from being able to move things with my mind, the fact that I was able to see the last few moments of a wayward’s life before they died since I was nine had evolved, allowing me to actually experience the memories in much more depth than the other mediums. Cas had considered this an extremely rare skill that wasn’t learned by your garden-variety medium. I started reverting back to wondering if all of this was just a very vivid dream, but the stinging from the cuts on my cheek and neck reminded me that I was indeed awake.

“It’s okay, Evvy,” Casrial ensured me, “I know everything is overwhelming for you…you are a lot more delicate than any of us. But you’re going to be the most important member of our family, although everyone in our family is of high importance. You must begin to believe…in yourself and in others….Now back to your evaluation…”

Casrial reminded me to keep a tight connection with Scarlett, and to work a little more with my subclass skills. I thought that I had come a long way considering I had only three days of training thus far; I managed to lift fallen trees and earth-sunken boulders with my psychokinesis; something I would not have been able to do with my own physical strength. I made a mental note to practice my psychokinesis during my off times at home; there were plenty of things lying around the back yard of my house.

After our evaluation, we stopped by the nearest diner for breakfast. Mr. Goldstein ordered four cups of coffee to keep him awake. I had never seen Mr. Goldstein tired my whole life until now; it was rather entertaining.

“So how did you guys do out there?” he asked after his third cup of coffee. “Who won?”

“We did, Alex…,” Cas muttered, “you kept score, remember?”

“Uh…? Oh…yeah…,” Mr. Goldstein mumbled, and then his head took a swan dive directly into the plate of eggs Benedict he had ordered.

“Check, please?” Cas sang, and then everyone swelled with laughter.

After breakfast, Anna drove the rest of the way home. I noticed a green road sign, and realized that we were over an hour away from home. “You guys drive all the way out here every weekend!?” I asked.

“Every weekend,” Cas sang.

“That’s crazy!”

“Why’s that?”

“How are you guys able to afford it!?”

Casrial stared out of the window momentarily. “Well as you probably already know, Alex owns his own international solutions business. On top of that and investments, everyone inherited a savings bond of money that is only released to us when we need it. It’s kind of creepy, but our parents knew something was going to happen to them…They prepared for it years in advance.”

“But, your father,” I started to say.

“He’s a normal human,” Cas explained. “He and my mom—she was a medium—were separated…and my dad was away during the day the rest of my family was killed. I was with him…I knew something was wrong that day; my father was quiet…eerily quiet. And then his phone rang. He told me, ‘no matter what, honey, everything will be alright…’ his voice was trembling. And then he gave me the news after he had hung up the phone.”

She looked at me, and her eyes were welling with tears.

“I was only five,” she said.

“I feel your pain,” I murmured, “I just turned four when it happened…It was on my birthday. I remember getting everything I wanted…except a pony of course…every little girl’s dream…But it was probably the happiest time of my life. I was too young to realize what was happening. Every member of my family was there, and every last one of them was killed. I remember my dad telling my mom that it was happening. She tried to carry me into the house, but it was too late. Her last words were, ‘Everything will be okay…’ I actually watched my family die.”

I forced a smile on my face, but my eyes too, were welling with tears.

“I wish my mom and dad were still alive…”

Both Casrial and I broke down, and he held each other, trying to console one another, while trying to keep our own composures in check.

“You two were younger than I was when my family was taken from me,” I heard Nichelle speak softly. “Picture yourselves getting in a huge argument with your father…Never letting you go out and have fun, never having a boy over the house, and always having to come right back home at the allotted time. My father was a hardcore marine, and when he finally served his duty there, the only day I felt happy to have him home, was the day he finally returned home. After that, I had a curfew, I was home-schooled, and I only went somewhere when he or my mom was with me. The night before I got into this huge fight with him, I had snuck out of the house to go to a party with one of my closest friends. She had too much to drink, and I didn’t know how to drive, so I spent the night, hoping to wake up earlier than the sun so I could sneak back into the house. My father was up the entire time that night, wondering where I had gone. He finally found the address of my friend’s house, and dragged me home. I said so many awful things to him and my mom…how he was a shell-shocked loser, and how she wasn’t good enough to find anyone better than a six-foot bucket of rat turd, and how I wished they were both dead so I could do what I wanted to do. And then my father said to me, ‘According to your mother, your wish isn’t too far along now…’ five hours later, they came…took them both, and I hid until I was able to run away…If it wasn’t for Devin, I would have probably died…I was sixteen…”

“Two years ago!?” I gasped. Casrial nodded.

“I was seventeen when my family was killed,” Othello joined in.

“Just graduating high school. I had a nice party, food, drinks, good people…good times. My pops…he and my mom…they owned their own restaurant just outside of town. We threw the party there. Once everyone that weren’t relatives had gone home either drunk, stuffed, or happy, that’s when they came. Now I had no warnin’ mind you; I was passed out from sneakin’ some of the more…adult drinks, so I was pretty toasted by the time we all went back home and the lights went out in m’head. When I woke up in the living room couch, everyone I knew as a kid growin’ up, were layin’ on the floor. No blood, no bruises, no signs of struggle…Just stopped hearts and lifeless bodies. My mom and dad left me a note that I found on my bed when I ran upstairs to find someone, anyone, alive…It said, ‘no matter what baby boy, your last name is Worthy for a reason and everything’s gon’ be alright. We love you.’ It wasn’t till I started sensin’ everyone’s aura that I knew somethin’ was different about me. I ran into Cas, Devin, and Anna a few years later, and they took me in. Otherwise, I would have been goin’ to Harvard…”

I smiled at Othello’s wisecrack, which was definitely needed to lighten the mood. Casrial smiled as well. One thing amazing about Othello other than his auditor skills was that he was all about having a good time; he reminded me of Archie Long, and how he was all about living while being alive…and dying knowing that you’ve lived a fulfilling life. I looked over to Devin, who was sitting in the seat in front of me. “What about you?” I asked him softly.

“What about me?” he asked in return. I felt like I had offended him, and I didn’t want to just blurt something insensitive out such as, “Well how did your family die, Devin?” or, “How did it make you feel inside?” I shrugged my shoulders, struggling to prevent myself from stuttering like a scratched CD, and simply replied, “I-I don’t know…,”

“My family was already dead by the time I was born,” Devin interrupted me. “It’s nothing special or depressing like you guys. Nothing to sit at a campfire and discuss like we’re in group therapy.”

“I’m sorry,” I murmured; my voice sounded hoarse. “You did nothing,” Devin said. “My story about being orphaned isn’t as thrilling as everyone else’s; it’s actually very boring. There’s nothing to feel sad about when you literally grow up not creating any sentimental value to the one who share the same bloodlines as you…There’s no memories, no good times, no bad times, no regrets…Nothing to feel bad for…”

“But don’t you feel bad about not knowing about your origin?” I asked. “Does that not interest you?”

“I know only what I need to know,” Devin answered coldly. “What I want to know will wait until I feel the need to know…” Devin leaned back, and slouched in his seat. He held his cane at the gun-fashioned handle like a knight stabbing the heart of a fallen opponent. His hood fell further over his beautiful blue eyes, creating a shadow too thick to determine the expression on his face. I would have tried to connect with his aura using astral communication, but I had spent the majority of my energy training in the woods. I could barely think, let alone connect with anyone in the van. I sighed to myself, slouching as well, and became lost with the blurring motion of the environment passing by, until I drifted off to sleep.