"They found me. What do I do now? Should I run? Should I just suck it up and face them? I don't know what to do."

"Jay! Where the hell have you been? Your mother and I have been looking all over for you!"

There he was, my father standing right in front of me, it was too late to run. I did the first thing that came to mind. I punched him in the jaw, I heard his jawbone crack and seen blood shoot from his mouth like saliva. His hands raced rapidly to his mouth as he yelled out in pain. The sound of his bone made my stomach turn. The feeling was all too familiar. When I was younger, I wandered into the garage where I knew I was not allowed. I saw my dad standing at his wood shop table, the light was dim, and music was playing faintly in the background; 'Suspicious Minds by Elvis Presley'. I could hear him singing along. At first, I could not tell what he was doing, upon further inspection, I realized he was chopping a human into pieces with an axe and dropping the body parts into a bucket of some kind of thick liquid that sizzled as the parts fell in (I am still unsure of what the thick liquid was). The sound of the bones snapping as he chopped through them was almost like the sound of wood breaking but not quite there; it had a bit more of a hollow sound to it like my dad had hollowed the bones out before he began chopping them. The blood spatter that riddled the garage was sickening, and the awful copper smell was almost too much for me to handle.

"What the hell did you do that for?" My mother screamed as she ran to my father's aid. "Instinct." was the only word I could manage. I Just stood there waiting for them to fight back, but nothing happened. Mom poured the contents of her purse onto the ground sifting through it all to find something to help him. She grabbed a small vile of clear liquid, dabbed a little onto her finger and gently rubbed it across his jaw. Not even ten seconds later he was standing straight up with red gleaming eyes, panting like a dog, his body almost tripled in size, his mouth split open like a snake, and he lunged at me.

"NO!"

"Jay! Wake up! You are having a bad dream, wake up!"

I shot up with sweat glistening on my entire body, I felt out of breath and was in desperate need of water. I saw Tiffany running to the refrigerator, she grabbed a bottle of water from the top shelf and ran back to my side. "Here, drink some water. Are you ok?" She was nervous and slightly afraid; I could feel it. "Yea, I'm fine. Thanks for the water." I whispered, trying to catch my breath. "Are you sure you are ok?" she asked still worried. "Yes baby, I'm fine." I did it again. Talking to her like she is my girlfriend. Apparently, she liked it enough to ease the bad feelings she was having toward me, I could feel the tension releasing and her body beginning to relax. She sat back on the couch, crossed her legs, and threw the blanket over herself. I didn't bother apologizing or trying to correct myself because deep down I wanted her, and I wanted to make it known. I wanted to see if she would respond in any way whatsoever, that would either prove Tom right or prove him wrong about her having the hots for me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. I looked up at her and found myself smiling. "No, thank you though." I said with the gentlest tone I could gather, she smiled back at me, "Ok." and she laid back down on couch. The couch was a sectional, so she had one end and I had the other. It was two o'clock in the morning so we laid back down but neither of us could go back to sleep.

BY morning I was exhausted, I was hoping to have a good night, but the good times ended with a nightmare. Ms. Emily got up and made breakfast for everyone and Lacy and Tiffany decided they would clean up this time. After breakfast I thanked Ms. Emily and Mr. James for taking me in again and I left despite the pleas of wanting me to stay. I wanted to stay, but I had to go. I felt like I needed to find my parents and put the feeling of the unknown behind me. Thoughts swirled in my head about how everything would play out, some were good, but most were bad. I had no idea what to expect but I needed to get it over with.

I spent my nights wandering the streets and my days asking my parents' old friends (the ones I could find) if they had heard from them lately. Day three of trying to track them down, I found them. Mr. Jenkins told me where they lived, he was a long-time friend of my dad's. He reminded me a lot of the old Samaris that seem to know everything. He was a good man, but no one dared to cross him. He was very strong and very quick for an old man, although you wouldn't think so just by looking at him.

I stood on the street in front of their house trying to figure out how they were able to afford such a massive home. They have upgraded big time since the last time I spoke to them. When I was a kid, yea, we had a nice two-story home but this one was bigger, and from what I remember, neither of my parents ever left for work. So, where their money was coming from, I had no idea, and knowing what kind of people they are, I don't think I really want to know.

After standing there staring at the house like some random stalker, I finally gathered enough courage to knock on the door. My sister Sarah answered the door. "Jay?"

"Yea."

"Oh my god! Come in! Come in! Mom! Dad! Come look who's here!"

I stepped inside and waited for them to come around the corner, the house didn't open up like I thought it would. Instead, there was a short hall that led to a second set of doors. What was beyond that I was not sure at this point. Mom and dad both turned the corner at the same time from opposite sides, mom on the right, dad on the left. Dad stood there in shock staring at me like he had just seen a ghost and mom rushed at me with her arms wide coming in for a hug. "Jay! How have you been? I hope the boys in that nasty prison treated you ok!" My mother spoke seemingly excited to see me. I was confused, last time I seen them they hated me. What changed?

"Come on in son, we have quite a bit to catch up on." Dad held out a hand as if he wanted me to hold hands with him and skip through the house. I can tell you right now I was not about to do that at all. Walking through the second set of doors is when the house finally opened up and presented that wow factor that one would expect to see when they walk into a huge house. The living room had a bar in it. Mom took me on a tour through the house before I could walk off with dad. "Aarron, you are just going to have to wait on that sir! Jay has never been to this house before, so I need to give him the proper grand tour!" "Ok baby, go ahead." he said gently and winked at her. Now, I understand where I get my charm from, my dad. He always had a way with the ladies, all he really had to do was smile and wink at them and they would melt in his arms. Which are the same tactics I use when I flirt with women.

Mom led me through the living room and into the kitchen, it was off to the left of the house. The kitchen was nothing special and she didn't boast about it too much. Next she led me to the laundry room, which was surprisingly enough attached to the kitchen, it was disguised as a second pantry, it had two washing machines, two dryers, a huge island folding table in the center of the room, and a full-sized bathroom. The other end of the house had four master bedrooms all equipped with their own master bathrooms, a guest bathroom in the hallway and a library at the very end of the hall. The back end of the house across from the living room was a full-sized basketball court, a guest bedroom with its own bathroom and an indoor temperature controlled twelve-foot pool. "The house is real nice mom, congratulations."

"Ok, now that you have had a tour, lets hit the bar and get you a drink, because you are going to need it, and go sit down with your father so you can hear what he has to say."

"It's that bad that I need a drink?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It really all depends on how you take it; and given our history I doubt you will take it well."

I was lost for words and my nightmare from a few nights prior flashed through my mind. Mom fixed a drink for me that she called her own concoction (I had no idea what all she put in it, she had her back turned), I took a sip and almost fell out of my chair; yea, it was that strong. We sat down with my dad at the table in the dining room with was one of the magical rooms that my mom failed to show me Durning the tour, which caused me to wonder what else she hadn't shown me.

"Son, I know we have had our problems in the past, but these are different times now and we need to leave that shit in the past where it belongs and start over." my dad began.

"Why?"

"Because I fucking said so."

"I don't buy it. What's the catch?"

"Marcy, baby, can you please finish?"

"Sure sweetheart. What your dad means is, we need your help." 

The conversation with my parents left me in a daze. I was so confused, but I also found myself enlightened, all of a sudden bits and pieces of my childhood began to make sense. Like me being able to hear people's thoughts, I thought that was just part of movies and books and when I experienced it, I thought it was just me believing that's what they were thinking. Does that make sense? Turns out, it has been real this whole time. I have been able to hear people's thoughts, I have been invading the privacy of other's personal thoughts for years. Apparently, it was inherited, my parents can do it too. My brother and sister cannot. They have something different, but as of right now I have no clue what it is.