MIND CONTROL 8
A short story by Alvin Atwater
There were stares. Lots and lots of stares. Gemini insisted that we hold hands as we walked through the front gates into the school. Whispering began. Eyes were widening. And I honestly didn’t care. I sure didn’t plan to hide the fact that the biggest pain-in-the-ass of my life was now my girlfriend. Most people already assumed something flowed there but I was just too ashamed to admit what lied deep inside. Many saw this coming from a mile away. Still, some acted surprised when we marched in, hands held, one half united with the other.
Later, I felt eyes of envy as I walked Gemini to her second class. She didn’t hesitate to put on a show, instead of just hugging, she followed through with a strawberry-flavored kiss. Fortunately, no teacher loomed around to bust us for public display of affection. So why not? I think we’ve done slightly worse than a hug and kiss.
After classes ended, we walked into the mystery club together. Our club president, Kate, squealed in so much excitement that she nearly popped us like bubbles as she hugged us.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said. “I can’t wait to you get married and have lots of babies.” She winked. Gemini laughed as my mouth formed into a frown. Kate’s grin widened. “Come in, celebrity couple, have a seat with your group. It’s time we get to the assignments and what makes us the mystery club.”
She started with the other groups, assigning them tasks, collecting completed papers, encouraging both the efficient and the downers. I’ve never really thought much into it but Kate wasn’t a do-nothing president. She had her very own case in a black folder, sitting on her desk, her name written on it with white marker. She probably noticed my staring and gave me an icy glare. I smirked and then turned to my group, each of them looking at me with anticipation.
“What?”
“Waiting on you, club officer, group leader,” Brandon said, waving his hands like I was some kind of almighty king. “You do have authority you know.”
“Yeah but our president didn’t give us an assignment yet,” I said. I felt a nudge under the table and turned to Gemini. She smirked.
“I think you were staring at our assignment,” she said.
“Got to agree with your wife,” Brandon said. Rachael simply sighed.
“Kate will probably kill me if I touch that folder,” I said.
“And why do you think that?” Rachael said.
“Um, hello, did you not see that look she gave me?”
“No really but who cares?” Brandon said.
“What look?” Gemini asked, tiny hints of amusement peeking from her voice. A folder suddenly smacked down dead center of our table. Our attentions snapped to the Hispanic girl glaring at us.
“Your assignment is going to be exceedingly difficult,” Kate began. We groaned. “Don’t be bummed now. You all seemed to think you were ready to take on that black-level case.”
“Are you angry that you can’t crack it?” I challenged, knowing damn well that pissing her off would get me nowhere. Kate’s face reddened with rage. For a second, I thought she would choke me or even kick me out. “Never mind, let’s look into –”
“No…I can’t solve it,” Kate interrupted, hurt in her voice. She pulled up a chair and sat between Gemini and me. “Your club president is a failure.”
“Pres, I was only kidding –I didn’t mean to –”
She raised one hand and I shut up. Those watery eyes made Gemini shoot a “dude, not cool,” glare at me. Kate continued.
“You guys know that I had that folder for maybe a year. It’s a case given to me by my dad, Detective Oliver Moore. It’s my chance to prove to him that I deserve a spot on his team. The catch is that it’s a case that not even he could solve. He took pity on me and offered a fair case but I jumped at the chance to surpass him. Because you know, it’s my dream to become one of the world’s greatest detectives, solving both normal and paranormal cases.” She sighed, replacing her sorrow with a look of determination. At this time, the entire class was paying attention, silent. “So, hotshot.” She lightly fist-banged my shoulder. “Solve the second most difficult case here. Then you and your celebrity A-team will be joining me on that black-level monstrosity.” She gave Gemini a double pat on the shoulder as she stood up and pointed at the red folder on the table then joined another group, explaining their assignments loudly.
Gemini whispered to me, “what in the bloody hell did you do to tick her off?”
I shrugged. She sighed, grabbed the folder, and read aloud the paper inside. “The leader of the goth club had supposedly performed some unexplained phenomena. Many interview requests were made by people around the country. Many defined by the club members. Two persistent science club members went in, ready to debunk at full force. The next day, they became goth club members for no explained reason. According to their friends, classmates, and even teachers, the two students were hardcore nonbelievers. The ex-science club duo claimed to have seen the light, perhaps the dark but will not explain anything. Figure out if this is a hoax or not and what changed the ex-science students.” She frowned. “This is the second hardest case to crack? Really, this?”
I started to say something but Gemini continued. “I think the actual hard about this case is getting the interview. I’m not going to lie, goths kind of creep me out. Luckily, our favorite black-haired, blue-eyed leader, and my personal favorite, can go infiltrate and tell us his findings.”
I flushed and frowned. “Why should I be the one investigating the goths?”
“I agree with Gemini,” Rachael said.
“Same here,” Brandon said, flashing me an evil grin. I shot him a glare.
“It’s not that hard,” Gemini said. “Talk to the goth club leader and leave. That’s it.”
My entire group stared at me until I finally sighed.
“Fine, whatever,” I said, annoyed. But I’d make them suffer too. “Brandon, you’re hand-writing the report. Gemini, you’ll compile every note, every detail I give. And Rachael, you will type and submit the report to Kate. Dismissed.”
Satisfied that I gave them the jobs they complained about the most, I stood up, soaking in their disbelieving faces. “Study up and we’ll start tomorrow.” Gemini stood up.
“You’re not planning to leave me behind, are you?” she said, igniting one last show.
“Of course not. Not that you’d let that happen anyway,” I said, ignoring the amused stares of the entire mystery club. It’s like they have nothing better to do.
In the hall, we bumped into Chelsea. She looked as if she struggled between a glare and a smirk but eventually smirked as she noticed our hand-holding.
“When can I expect the wedding? And when’s the baby due?”
I frowned. “How’s the editing of that documentary coming along, Cheerzilla?”
The blonde narrowed her eyes. “The techs are wrapping it up. Should be done by next week.”
“Do you think your club president can make a special appearance?” Gemini asked.
“I’ll ask him. After you solved that basketball team thingy, he’s become somewhat of a fanboy of you two.”
“Thanks,” Gemini said.
“Yeah, well have a great life together.” She smiled and winked before walking off.
Gemini and I stopped by Smoothie Queen. Then after slurping down some strawberry miracles, we started for my house.
“Are your relatives still here?” I asked during the walk.
“They’ll be leaving at the end of the week.”
“Good.”
She squeezed my hand. “You have to come over on Friday.”
I blinked. “I don’t think so.”
She stopped. I did too and turned to look at her.
“My family hadn’t seen you in years. The least you can do is spare a brief ‘long time no see.’ And Morgan wants to apologize.”
I couldn’t look away from those glistening blue eyes. A look of determination animated from them. I’d be going to her house whether I wanted to or not.
You see, this is why everyone hates Mondays. Nothing good ever comes of them. Just a realization that you’re at the beginning of a long week.
“Fine but make sure they don’t try anything. Don’t need them passing my head around like a used pros –”
“They won’t,” she interrupted. “I think.” I shot her a glare. She smiled apologetically. We watched a movie when got to my house, did our homework, snacked, and then I walked her home. I didn’t dare go inside but did send Gemini in with a reassuring kiss. When she closed the door, I headed home, the nine o’ clock breeze whipping my face. Gemini and I only lived two blocks from each other. Maybe a little less. The five minute walks didn’t bother me. Traffic was low on this side of the city. A few buses and cars rolled by every now and then. For some ungodly reason, a few douchebags felt the need to yell things out of their vehicle windows to impress friends. Some of them even flipped birds. I tried to ignore the idiots the best I could. Sometimes I found myself returning a bird or two unless the guys inside the cars were huge. Then I saw them: a group of goth kids walking to a bus stop. Among the center, a girl stood out, and she looked like a teen model. Long black hair, emerald green eyes, and creamy skin. This was the goth leader? What a waste. Then she looked right at me.
I pretended not to notice and turned to continue onward to my house. Suddenly, she was right beside me, holding my arm with a single hand, smirking. I froze.
“I’ve known about you for a while,” she said. “And you and I are the same.”
I pulled my arm away. “The same? What do you mean? Besides the obvious fact that I’m not goth or that you freaking…teleported.”
The girl winked, amused…still amused. “You may not be strongly aware of it but I can feel it radiating off you like the surface of the sun. And I want you.”
I chuckled. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh you know and I heard that your club wants an interview with me. I’ll accept one from you only. And you will be mine.”
“You’re hot but I happen to already have a girlfriend that I like a lot,” I said, imagining Gemini’s strawberry kiss. Not that I’m shallow but Gemini was even with her in the looks department. Her incredibly blue eyes drove me crazy, so for me, I stood unwavering. I won’t lie, the black hair, green eye thing was a secret weakness of mine but that’s beside the point.
“It won’t be fun without competition,” the girl continued. “Stealing you away shouldn’t be too hard. And then you’ll be able to see how much we’re alike and what we can do.”
“Arrogance won’t get you anywhere,” I said. She simply winked.
“I’m Amy.” She held out a delicate hand.
I hesitated, noticing the stares of her gothic minions, then accepted the handshake. “I’m Matt. I’ll be at your club tomorrow just for the interview. Nothing more, nothing less. I trust you won’t cause any problems between me and my girlfriend.”
Amy’s green eyes seemed to brighten. “You’re not married, so as far as I know, free game. See you tomorrow.” She let go and started back to her goons. They all nodded at me in unison. Creepy. I turned around and hurried home without looking back. Uncle still wasn’t home when I got there, so I texted Gemini for an hour before going to sleep.
An hour into slumber, something awoke me. I glanced around but saw nothing. The second I closed my eyes, there was a whisper.
“You will be mine.”
My eyes snapped open and I practically dove for the light. Nothing. My door was open though I could’ve sworn I closed it before falling asleep. I slammed it shut and twisted the lock. Going to be quite the pain to fall back asleep but so be it. I shut off the light. A few minutes after I closed my eyes, someone crawled on top of me. I tried to move, tried to freak out but couldn’t. No sound came out of my mouth. The light suddenly flicked on to a dim. Amy was straddling me, smirk on her face.
“Nice place you got here.” She caressed a finger across my chest.
“What the hell is going on?” I managed to say. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re in your dream,” Amy said. “And it looks like you’re having a good one. Is it okay for me to be your dream girl?”
I laughed as I shoved her to the side. “That’s a good one.” She floated like a rock in space. “This can’t be real.”
“Of course it isn’t. It’s a dream. And I jumped into yours.”
“How?”
“I can tell you that off the record tomorrow. For now, it’s time to have some fun.”
Before I could protest, my room changed into a grassland filled with rainbows, ponies, unicorns, rabbits, pink stuffed animals, and all kinds of girly crap. Not what I expected of the goth club leader.
“You did more than just jump into my dream. You hijacked it.”
The land of fluffiness actually creeped me out. The smiling sun or happy music didn’t help. This felt like a nightmare.
Abruptly, Amy appeared in front of me. Emerald eyes peered at me.
“Kiss me,” she demanded softly.
“Nope, I don’t think so,” I said. “Listen, I don’t know you or what you’ll get out of this but you’re just wasting both of our times.”
“Is there anything wrong with having a dream girl?”
I smirked. “I’ll show you MY dream girl.” I concentrated very hard, somehow regaining control of my dream. Well, it was mine. Sparks of electricity danced around Amy enough to make her somehow yelp. I imagined, hard, Gemini. In a whiff of bright white light, she appeared beside me, wand in one hand and a bag of Iyan goodies. Amy paled.
“See you at the interview tomorrow,” I said then motioned to my dreamy girlfriend. See what I did there. “Gemini.”
“Yep,” Gemini responded cheerfully. “He’s mine and you can’t have him. You’re not the only one who can perform an Iyan dream jump.”
I froze. “No way.”
Gemini turned to me. “You called me. Besides, I don’t need to dream jump when I can just come to your room anytime.”
She waved her wand, causing Amy to shimmer, and just like that, the black-haired, green-eyed girl was gone. Gemini covered me with a hug...that was warm. I woke up. She was there.
I shook her slightly, trying my best not to let my thoughts linger on her nightgown. She opened her eyes revealing sleepy blue.
“You’ve got some explaining to do,” I told her.
“So…I’m your dream girl?” she said, a hint of tiredness and amusement in her voice. I felt myself blush so hard that my mouth didn’t blurt out an immediate response. She hugged me. “Even in the face of a girl like that, you didn’t even flinch at the opportunity that every guy would kill for. Imagine the things you could’ve done with –”
“No,” I interrupted. “I won’t.” I gazed at her. “How’d you get here?”
She flashed the wand, energizing my memory of it from Story Two. It basically gave her the ability to teleport among other impossibilities. “Should we still go through with the interview? That goth girl is obviously up to something.”
Gemini nodded. “You will go as planned. She may be what I think she is. If so, we beat her at her own game.”
“What game,” I said, almost sounding smug.
“Shut up and kiss me already.”
END
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