MIND CONTROL
A short story by Alvin Atwater
She looked at me with an odd smile. I frowned. What exactly was my so-called friend, Gemini, up to this time? I hurried outside of the gym.
“Hey, Matt,” someone called from afar. I waved, even though I couldn’t see this person from such a distance –assuming he was afar. Well, I can’t help the curse of bad eyesight and voice recognition. This is why I can’t tell anyone that I’m afraid of the dark. If only I owned a pair of glasses, but my uncle’s cheap.
I recognized the person as Brandon, a fellow Mystery Club member, seconds later.
“Oh, hey Brandon,” I said.
“Why are you outside of the gym?”
I simply shrugged, shaking my head slightly to increase the effect of its message.
“Gemini again?” he asked.
“Of course,” I snarled. “Who else embarrasses the hell out of me on a daily basis?”
“Are you still mad about that day?” I glared at Brandon. He had some nerve to even mention a hint of the most embarrassing day of my life. “I guess you are.” He snickered. “You should just let it go –it’s not like it was a bad thing. I mean, Gemini’s cute anyway, so that didn’t do too much damage to your reputation.”
I continued to glare at him. “It’s still embarrassing. Would you like for her to sneak into the Archaeology Club, steal a mind controlling jewel, and have you announce a marriage proposal in front of everyone?” We’re sixteen but embarrassment is embarrassment.
Brandon laughed again. “Come on, this whole thing will blow over in no time. I mean you promised to marry her when you were like five, right? You were just kids playing house –and…” He grinned.
“And Gemini still remembers it,” I said with a sigh. “I’m the freaking laughing stock of the school!”
“You’re overthinking it man,” Brandon said. “Everyone loves you two.”
“Shut up and let’s go back,” I said shaking my head. He probably was right but I still hated the embarrassment.
As Brandon and I walked back into the gym we could see Gemini smirking, caressing a sky-blue gem that was the size of a lemon. How could teachers not catch onto that? I mean sure, Gemini is the top student in the school, but that doesn’t mean she should be allowed to keep a gem as dangerous as that.
I sat on a bench that was on the far side of the gym. “She’s probably going to try and take control of me again,” I told Brandon.
He shook his head. “You’re being paranoid.”
Just then, the gem shimmered. He looked at me. “Okay, so maybe you’re not, but what can we do about it? Every teacher in the school, including the principal, loves Gemini. And they love to see her tease you.”
I glanced at Gemini. She was staring at me.
“Awe, the lovers are passionately gazing at each other,” my classmate, Chelsea blabbed as she approached us carrying a volleyball in her hand.
“Please don’t start,” I said, “I’m really not in the mood.” Chelsea laughed. I wanted to shave off her blonde hair and make her run around campus bald. Even that wouldn’t be enough to satisfy the vengeance that burned within me.
She snickered, nodded at Brandon, and then started toward the exit.
After school, Brandon and I hurried to the Mystery Club. Our president, Kate laid out an enormous book on the table.
“You two are certainly late,” she said. The other members, one which included Gemini, were completing their assigned tasks. Gemini was in charge of analyzing yet another gem –red this time– from the archaeology club. That worried me. The blue gem was mind control, so what could red possibly be? If one was as cautious as I am, the color red itself always signified something wicked. “Do you guys want to work with Gemini for a bit?”
All eyes turned on us –I could tell they remembered the last time I “worked” with her. Kate had some nerve to ask me such a question.
“I still have to finish evaluating last week’s incident with the boys’ basketball team,” I said. All eyes turned to Brandon. He looked like he wanted to choke me, but I was confident he could bail himself out of this one.
“Don’t forget I’m assisting him with this one,” he quickly said. Oh really? He screwed up.
“Assisting huh?” Kate said, her evil smirk faintly curling on her face. Seniors were evil…When Gemini becomes a senior, she’s most likely going to carry the tradition of being evil. I bet she’d make Kate’s sacrifice of going to college a meaningful one.
“Yeah,” Brandon said. “Handling an entire basketball team’s mystery is a bit too much for one guy to handle, don’t you think?”
Kate shook her head. “For a regular guy that is, but for Matt, this is child’s play.” I was overjoyed within my mind –for the first time in a while, I was possibly off the hook. Sure, this was somewhat betrayal to Brandon, but anything was better than working with Gemini. “That’s why you both are going to help out with the gem. We’ll give someone else that challenge.” She couldn’t be serious.
“Are you serious?” I growled.
“Gemini needs help. You two are more suited for the job.”
“You do realize that I have an entire basketball team to finish investigating.”
“We’ll get others to work on it.”
“I’ve been on this case for more than three weeks,” I snarled. “I’ve built a crap ton of notes –are you seriously going to let those go all to waste?”
“No. You can give those notes to the new team.” Kate’s evil smile made me flinch. “Make sure the notes about the gem are organized in nice columns as you did in your previous set.”
I miserably took a seat next to Gemini. She smiled “politely” and said, “hi Matt.”
I felt the blazing stares of everyone. “Hello.”
She passed me her notes about the gem. “So far, I found out that it’s from an ancient tribe called the Iyans. They used this jewel to force two people to fall in love with each other and produce more children for the tribe.”
I snatched the gem from her grasps. This is something the gem-obsessed girl shouldn’t have. “Where’d you get that type of information?”
I could tell Brandon didn’t really want to speak by the blank stare on his face.
“Obviously through research on the internet,” Gemini said.
“I’ll just be the one to hang onto this jewel.”
“Awe, why not me?” Gemini said, “I have more experience when it comes to examining these things. Let me take it home and have a closer look at it.”
“No way! I’ll have a look at it myself.”
“But –”
“Don’t worry; I’ll take care of it.” I gave her a false reassuring smile.
“Fine,” she said. I couldn’t believe my ears. Gemini actually gave in. Maybe that meant she was curious about how I was going to use it. But to be honest, I only wanted to get it away from her.
“You’re the expert.” She tapped her blue gemstone. “Hey Matt, I rea –”
“Matt –I need to speak with you about something,” Brandon interrupted, pulling me up from the chair.
I followed him outside the door.
“What now?” I asked.
“You idiot,” he snarled, “be a bit more careful.”
“What’s going on?”
“She nearly got you again.”
I froze. “Seriously?”
“Couldn’t you tell?” Brandon shook his head. “She really wants that red gem you’re carrying.”
I glanced at it. “Sorry about that, I’ll be a bit more careful, but how do I avoid getting controlled by the other gem.”
“Let’s just look it up,” he suggested. “That’s why search engines are your friend.” I kind of doubted even Google could find something like this...
The door opened. “What are you two doing?” Kate asked.
“We’re coming back in,” I said.
I noticed Gemini reviewing her notes. Brandon and I went back to our seats. The streaks of her light brown hair reminded me of hot chocolate for some weird reason.
After about an hour of our routines, Kate dismissed us. Gemini grabbed my hand.
“Hey, let’s walk home together,” she said. She’s at it again.
I tried to look for an excuse, but Brandon had already left, Kate had no open tasks and everyone else…well, let’s just say they’re no help at all. And Gemini knew all of this too –that’s why she took this perfect time to ask.
“Sure…I guess.” I wanted to find an excuse so bad that even if an ant couldn’t get into an anthill of four thousand killer ants that despised humans, I’d help it. That’s just how badly I feared the blue gem.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Gemini said, pulling me toward the exit.
A group of cheerleaders awed us as we approached the front gates of the school. No, let me reiterate this –those cheerleaders were all of Gemini’s friends. She waved at them. They winked.
When we were outside of the front gates, Gemini pulled out her gem. This was it –I had to do something quick or I was finished. If she took control of my mind again, there was no telling what she’d have me do after taking my gem.1037Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvl3SI2r9yK
Without hesitation, I burst into a sprint. “I’ll catch you later Gemini, I just remembered that I have something to do.”
Just as I thought that did the trick, she yelled, “You’re not getting away! I know you’re lying!” I couldn’t see too far away, but I knew she chased after me. Don’t laugh at me –I’m not running from a girl, I’m running from a gem that’s so powerful that it gives the user full control of another’s mind.
I made my way into a crowded mall. If Gemini followed, she could kiss her luck goodbye because there was no way she’d catch me easily in a rushing crowd. Wrong. I felt a hand grab my arm.
“Wait up, silly.” I forgot something: a major detail. Gemini was once the star of the track team –what was I thinking –outrunning her was impossible!
“I can’t,” I lied, “I have to –”
Just then, she kissed me in front of the entire crowd. Everyone glared at me.
“You’re not trying to leave behind your beautiful girlfriend, now are you?” a middle-aged woman said.
“Don’t be a douche,” a man said as he held the hand of a little girl –possibly his daughter. I was at lost. Gemini had fooled everyone with such a dirty tactic –not even I could top that. She held my hand and we started toward the exit.
“That’s the way to do it, young man,” the woman said. I wanted to erupt lava at her, but then I thought of something else. I’ll use this opportunity to escape the mall. I do have to admit, I was still a little shaky. That’s just what a kiss of an attractive woman can do to you –even one as evil as Gemini.
When we were outside of the mall, I snatched my hand away.
“Thanks for stealing my first kiss,” I snarled sarcastically.
“That…was my first too,” Gemini said softly. I noticed she slowly pulled out the gem from the depths of her pocket. The only possible conclusion was that she planned to use this moment of distraction to steal my mind. There was only one thing left to do. I dreaded to do this because I felt like I would dip to Gemini’s childish level but she left me no choice. I quickly dug into my pocket, pulled out the red gem, and aimed it at her. It shimmered and she gasped. Before I had to chance to see if anything worked, I took off running. Whether it actually worked or not, it appeared that Gemini allowed me to escape this time.
The next morning at school, she showed up late. I didn’t dare look at her at all during first period. When the bell rang, I was the last out of the classroom. On Gemini’s desk, a pink journal rested in plain view. Generosity overcame my thoughts and I decided to return it to her, despite what she’d put me though. But of course, I couldn’t resist looking inside either.
I dropped it when I read what was inside the journal. It read: I love Matt, I love Matt, I love Matt, over and over again. The journal was brand new, so I could tell she possibly bought this yesterday. Either that or she was exceptional at taking care of things. Could this have something to do with the kiss or the gem?
In gym class, I approached Gemini with her journal. Her surrounding friends were giggling.
“Here. You left it in first period.”
When Gemini made eye contact with me, I was struck with a strange feeling. I broke contact immediately.
“Th...thanks,” she said.
“Matt…you’re so bold,” Chelsea said.
“Huh?” I didn’t like where she was going with this.
“I can’t believe you actually proposed to her seriously!”
What. The. Heck. Did. I. Miss. When. I. Was. Out?
“Excuse me?” I wanted to be sure I heard her correctly.
“Gemini told us the news.”
I sat down by Gemini, chuckled and placed my arm around her. “Guys, you do know she’s only joking right, like she usually does.”
Glares. They were serious.
“What?”
“I hope YOU’RE joking,” Chelsea said.
“Why should I be joking?” I said. “You guys should know her pranks now.”
They were silent. I glanced at Gemini. She smirked when she noticed. What kind act did she put on to get them to believe this?
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“Hey Matt,” I heard Brandon call from afar.
“Just a sec,” I called to him. I focused my attention to Gemini and whispered, “You didn’t use your gem on them, did you?”
Just then, Gemini leaned over for yet another public kiss. I tried to move back but someone pushed me in place. I turned around. All of her friends grinned. Joke’s on me.
“Really?” I said in a nonchalant voice.
“Come on, don’t act shy now,” one of them said. “You didn’t have a problem kissing her in front of strangers at the mall.”
I gasped. “It was her that kissed me.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Chelsea blabbed. “You two still kissed and then you proposed to her outside the mall.”
“Seriously not helping,” I said. “Never mind, there’s no point in defending myself to you.” I hurried to see what Brandon wanted.
“Took you long enough,” he said. “I have some things to discuss.”
We stepped outside the gym. Cool winds breezed through my hair. I could smell the scent of the fall leaves that flaked off surrounding trees, relieving and refreshing.
“What’s up?” I said.
“What happened between you and Gemini yesterday?” he asked.
I explained everything to him. “Those gems are really annoying. You really should consider destroying them.”
“You’re right, but how?” I said.
“Remember what I said yesterday? The internet is your friend.”
Brandon and I snuck out of gym class and into the computer lab. Good thing it was free to students to use for “research” purposes.
Brandon typed in a website that he found last night. Everything we wanted to know about the jewels was on this site. It turns out, originally from the Iyan tribe, four known gems with exceptional power were created. Two of them were supposedly destroyed in a mysterious explosion while the other two went missing. Each gem represented a crest of Iyan mind control. The blue gem was demand, the red was love, the purple was hate and the yellow was kindness. The Iyans were so overwhelmed with the gems, they supposedly went mad and destroyed themselves. Now the two remaining gems plagued misfortune to the couple that wields them. A likely story of cow waste.
I sighed. “How are we going to get the gem from Gemini?”
“Let’s wait until Mystery Club this afternoon. I’m pretty sure Kate’s going to force us to work with her again.”
He was indeed correct. The minute we stepped into the room, Kate pointed at Gemini. We didn’t even bother complaining this time because there was no way out of working with her. Well, the real reason is because we had to destroy the gem, but the other reason is valid too. Right?
“Hey Gemini, can I talk to you outside for a sec?” I asked.
“What are you doing?” Brandon hissed. I gave him a look that said, “I must do this alone.”
I needed to take her on one on one. The red gem vs. the blue one –I didn’t need Brandon to create an excuse for Gemini to use the gem on him.
“Um, sure Matt,” she said. Kate smirked as we went outside the door. I led her into the now-empty gym. My stone began to pulse. I assumed Gemini’s did the same. I closed the doors.
“So Matt, what did you want to talk about?”
“Mind if I see your gem? I wanted to talk to you about some additional research, but since everyone was a bit too noisy, I thought it would much easier in here.”
Gemini smirked and pulled out the blue gem. I took out my red one.
“The effects that they usually create aren’t permanent,” I explained, “as you can see what happened the day you tested it.”
“Yeah, I know that much –after all, I couldn’t get a good night sleep last night.”
“Why was that?”
“Because you tested the red gem at the mall yesterday –or at least accidentally used it.” Gemini turned around. “I had this weird feeling after that and it lasted for hours. But…” she faced me again. “The gem doesn’t let you forget what happened, whether the effects are gone or not.”
I felt my face flush. “We should sell these to a museum –either that or destroy them.” Gemini chuckled. “I’m serious. These things are too dangerous for us to handle. The only people that can probably use them correctly are the Iyans and they died off hundreds of years ago.”
Gemini chuckled again. “They didn’t die off.”
“What? How do you know?” I challenged.
“Because I have Iyan blood running through me. My dad’s side of the family has an Iyan heritage.”
“Really? That’s actually… pretty interesting,” I said.
“Matt…I want the gem. Hand it over right now.”
“Seriously? Hell no,” I said.
“Fine, I’ll make you hand it over.” Gemini aimed her gem at me and it shimmered. I darted to the other side of the gym.
“I learned that each gem has a certain effective range,” I said with a laugh. “If I stay out of the gem’s range circle, I’ll be unaffected by it.”
“Ah, that’s some very nice research you’ve done. But that’s still not going to save you, unless you can outrun me.”
We circled the gym for twenty seconds, waiting for an opportunity to force each other in the range circle of our gems.
“You know, we’ve known each other since we were kids,” Gemini said.
“Yeah, and?”
“You should know that I know all of your weaknesses.”
I gasped. She did –especially my main weakness. Suddenly, the lights of the gym shut off.
“Crap!” I snarled.
“Unlike you, with bat eyes when it comes to the dark, I have owl eyes.”
This sucked! Gemini was at a complete advantage. I had to find a way to get the lights on. She lured me pretty far from the switch too. Clever is an understatement for her.
“Matt, I could be behind you. Or in front of you. Or on your left. Or on your right. Come on, you can find me.”
I decided to keep walking. Hopefully I’d advance toward the spot I last saw Gemini. I could hear footsteps. She was teasing me. Gemini knew just how much I despised that blue gem of hers and expected my paranoia to increase. But that didn’t matter anymore.
“What’s wrong?” Gemini taunted. “Are you afraid of the dark?”
“You’re starting to annoy me, Gemini,” I growled. “Stop being so stubborn and just sell the gem.”
“Shut up!” she barked. “You and your stupidity, dense, failure to return feelings, failing to understand how much I need these gems.”
“You know you’ve got an annoying obsession for those gems. And you’re not the one getting embarrassed everyday -–you just have to go and blab about our childhood to your friends. Despite you being a weirdo, I still think of you as a friend, twisted as you are.”
“Weirdo? You’re calling me a weirdo now!? That’s funny coming from someone who can’t afford glasses.”
“It’s not that I can’t afford them. My uncle refuses to buy them because he’s so cheap.”
“Yeah, your uncle is quite cheap. I remember the time you broke your arm and needed surgery. He wanted to do it himself –even though you had health insurance.”
Silence. Then we both burst into laughter.
I felt Gemini kiss me on the cheek. Crap. I quickly aimed my gem into the air, being unable to see anything. It collided with Gemini’s. They both shimmered and pulsed repeatedly.
“Oh crap –run!” Gemini yelled. We both tossed aside the gemstones and raced out of the gym. Then I heard it, an explosion. That’s when I knew they were both gone.
We panted.
“That was close,” I said.
“Yeah,” Gemini said, “but now…you’ve managed to destroy artifacts that belonged to my ancestors.”
“I’m sorry but your ancestors shouldn’t leave freaking mind-controlling gems lying around.”
Gemini sighed. “You’ll regret this.” She grabbed my hand. “Come on, let’s get to class.”
“Wait…what excuse are we going tell Kate this time?”
“Crap,” Gemini said softly. “Oh well, who cares?”
Yes, you’ve guessed it. This isn’t the first time Gemini and I managed to destroy Mystery Club objects. If we weren’t the best officers (and the most loved) in the club, Kate probably would’ve thrown us out. Unfortunately, I knew this wasn’t quite over. I’m pretty sure Gemini’s going to discover yet another magical item and I’ll have to be the one to stop her. See: Almost a never-ending cycle.1037Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPeoSYgOEl
