MIND CONTROL 4
A short story by Alvin Atwater
Continued directly after story 3…
The gems in my hand didn’t blow up yet. We’re not devising an excuse to our club president, Kate. Kindness’ effects will probably wear off in an hour. They’d come for me. I’ll be ready.
I swear, the sky darkened with thunderclouds the moment I got off the bus and dashed into my house. In my hands were both Demand and Kindness, my newest blue and yellow gem “best” buddies. Sigh. I honestly wanted to take these headaches to an abandoned warehouse, collide them, and run as they explode, killing every dust mite in sight.
But… Kate, my evil Satan-of-a-senior and mystery club president practically begged us not to “lose” the gems. All I could think of at that moment was “now what?” My answer to such a silly question is to prepare. Prepare for a showdown. Two pissed off girls were on their way to my house and I needed to increase my chances of survival.
And well…a pissed off Gemini is no laughing matter. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that she’d arrive with another stolen Iyan object from the mystery or archaeology club. The question is what?
I shrugged off the thoughts and glanced around my house. Nothing I could really do here but use the gems to my advantage. Great tactic right? Nope. If my hunch is correct, the object she’d bring will have the same gem-immunity effect as the wand. I’m so screwed.
My only plan, which I wanted to be a last resort, was to hold the gems hostage. Threaten to collide them if my demands weren’t met, that sort of thing. I heard a vehicle pull into driveway.
Them? No way. Gemini didn’t have a car nor did Chelsea. Did they catch a ride from their parents? Crap –it appeared my time was done. I peeked out the window and to my surprise, Uncle strolled in early from work. I should’ve listened to the sound of his beat-up truck. He’s got perfect credit but too cheap to get himself a new vehicle. It’s a good thing he inherited this house or we’d probably be in a shack. Uncle walked in dressed in his usual black suit and tie.
“I forgot some files,” he said without closing the door. “Annndd since when did you become such a player.” He opened the door wider. They walked in. I froze, cheeks clenched then I grinned.
“You’re here earlier than expected,” I said.
“Gemini, make sure he doesn’t do anything he’d regret,” Uncle says, flailing his eyebrows before leaving out the door, files in hand. As soon as the pickup left, Gemini’s smirk retracted into a frown that matched Chelsea’s mug all the way.
“We still have a project to complete,” Gemini said.
I blinked. “You’re not mad?”
“Surprised that you had it in you but your punishment will come later.”
I sighed, not buying this whole charade one bit. They were up to something.
“Let’s do this project outside,” I said opening the door. Pouring rain –like the biggest downpour I’ve ever seen in my life –holy crap! I know I said the sky darkened with thunderclouds after I stepped off the bus but there weren’t that many. Blue still shined in the sky. I closed the door and gazed at the girls. Gemini’s smirk returned as she reached into her pocket and revealed a wooden dial, some hand-clock thing with ruby-like stones embedded on each corner.
“Weather control dial,” Gemini said. “I prefer the inside.”
I nearly asked, “what the hell?” but instead said, “you really have a bad habit of stealing items from the mystery club.”
“Shut up,” Chelsea said. “The faster we finish this, the faster I can get away from you.”
I laughed. “Sure thing, my sweet, sweet servant.” Her face turned three shades of purple.
“Save this for later,” Gemini said, interrupting Chelsea’s chance to retaliate.
I needed insurance. They were up to something, that much was obvious. I mean when have Gemini ever decided to stop her aggression?
“Before we get started,” I said, “we will be clear on me holding these gems. If you try anything, I will collide them, toss the stones out the gems out the window so we can watch them go bye-bye.”
“Are you threatening us?” Chelsea snarled.
I laughed. “Yes.”
Gemini placed a hand on Chelsea’s shoulder. “Project first. Make-out session later.”
“True –but that’s my line,” Chelsea replied.
Man oh man, the mood felt so awkward as Chelsea recorded our interviews for the documentary. No matter how hard I tried, I could not read Gemini. For her to actually take anything in the mystery club this seriously surprised me –I guess her first defeat was necessary. But… I knew Gemini too well. This wasn’t over –not by a long shot. That weather-controlling dial wasn’t for show… Plus, she’d rather sky-dive without a parachute than admit defeat. Or quit. She got a kick out of using Iyan magic on me. Great friend, right? Psh. “Only the best.”
After we wrapped up the video –double checking so that it was good to go for its editor, I peeked out the window, taking notice that the storm faded.
“You two were quite professional,” I said. “See you in the morning—the club will be damned pleased to see what we did.”
Gemini smirked. That’s when a crappy, really crappy, thought eased into my head. If Gemini brought an Iyan item, then most likely Chelsea had one too. I froze. What could I do? I had to try something. I quickly aimed Kindness at Chelsea just as she reached into her pocket.
“Matt, what are you doing?” Gemini said, hysterically, as if I was committing a crime. Maybe…I was paranoid. I put down the gem. She finished her thought. “You know it’s useless –Chelsea now!” Man, what’s wrong with me?
I switched to Demand and snarled to Gemini, “Grab Chelsea now.” Nothing happened. Called it.
I had no intention of just standing there like an idiot, so I ran for the door, nearly falling backward when I saw my hopes and dreams rot in front of me. Outside raged an enormous blizzard. I slammed the door shut when the super-cold air licked my face. Wow.
Gemini laughed. “You’re trapped. Just give it up.”
A weird glowing, bright blue rope bounced from Chelsea’s direction, wrapped around my hands, restraining them, delivering a shock that made me drop the gems. They almost hit each other. We all sighed in relief. So full of regret at this moment: WHY didn’t I just collide the gems and throw them into the blizzard? I wanted to return the headaches to Kate, I really did. Why would she pair me up with Gemini if she expected them back? The girls turned to me, evil smiles on their faces.
“Welcome to the corner of pay and back,” Chelsea said. She bent over to pick up Kindness.
Crap. I couldn’t go down like this. Who knows what they’d do to me or make me do during mind control. I hustled over there, kicked Kindness but in route of that, my coordination failed and down I went, on top of Chelsea. Our lips were somehow connecting. No joke, this was the kind of fall that only happened in Japanese anime. Unfortunately, in real life, pain existed. I slowly got off her, groaning a bit. Chelsea covered her face, realizing the tiny narrow situation, flushing of embarrassment. In truth, I didn’t care. She was hot but far from my type. I’d like to believe that this little accident would go on to be meaningless but for some reason I didn’t want to turn around and look at Gemini. She tapped on my shoulder.
“Oh come on, it was an accident. I’m sorry for falling on you, okay?” I flinched and with my own will said, “Wait a sec… I didn’t apologize for virtually defending myself.”
I turned around to see a grinning Gemini, her perfectly white teeth nearly blinding me.
“We all know that was an accident –I doubt you’d be brave enough to kiss like you mean it –still, you stole her first kiss and now you’re responsible for it.”
I glanced at Demand in her hand. Too bad I couldn’t snatch it from her, not with these restrained hands…by this Iyan magic rope thing. Sometimes…. I hated my life a lot. A smart thing for me would’ve been to kick Demand instead.
Chelsea reached underneath my bed. I wanted to move but Gemini ordered me to stay. My body did exactly that. That was it. Done! Doomed! Gemini one hundred forty-six, to my one. Chelsea grasped kindness, her eyes locked onto me, blush still on her face but she had a different look, not the usual glare. She probably was still disorientated –but like a child receiving the greatest Christmas present in the world –I felt vengeance waiting to uncover itself.
“Now…what should we do with you,” Gemini said. “Well, first, slap yourself.”
No… NO NOO… I did and damned hard too. I tasted blood. “Why you hitting yourself?”
“Gemini, I’m going to f–”
“Do what, slave,” she said and winked. I shut up, feeling stomped.
“Hmmm,” Chelsea briefly wrinkled her nose. “Let’s make him do pushups.”
“Sure, after he wipes his lips and punches himself in the face.”
“No,” Chelsea said, “It will look like an ego trip if he wipes off my kiss. It’s the greatest in his life.”
Gemini shook her head. “No, it’s an ego trip if he doesn’t --and my kiss is the greatest in his life.”
“Who do you think you are –you just don’t want to share control of that blue gem!”
I sighed, tiring of the argument –their egos greatly exceeded mine. I glanced at the rope. It did feel a bit loose compared to earlier. Maybe it had a time limit before the magic wore off and released its victim. Well, too bad because I had no intention of waiting for said time limit. I used my feet to force off the rope then stuffed it in my pocket. I quietly slipped out of the room but as soon as Gemini shouted, “hey!” I bolted out the door. To my surprise, the blizzard was completely done, replaced by sunshine. Hardly any snow remained. Gemini of course could’ve spawned another blizzard but for some reason she didn’t. I assumed that the dial had its limitations.
I saw the city bus ahead and sped up, chased by Gemini and Chelsea. One bad slip into Demand’s range circle would end everything.
Just then, Brandon blinked into existence –the invisibility ring in hand. He motioned for me to stop. I did as well as Gemini and Chelsea. He tossed me something. I looked at it and gasped.
Green? He gave me a green gem….
“It just came in from the guy who sends in Iyan items,” Brandon said.
“Ah…but how did you know to come?” I asked.
“I realized Demand was gone and Kate couldn’t stop laughing. I told Rachael to wait and raced ahead but some freaky weather slowed me down. I mean a downpour and a blizzard? It’s probably all over the news.”
“Well, you can thank Gemini’s new Iyan toy,” I told him and turned to her. Her face was pale with shock, mouth agape, eyes locked onto the green gem.
“Wha -what are you doing with that?” she asked Brandon, a little hysterical. I scratched my head wondering what got into her. I had no clue about this new gem –there were always four: red, blue, yellow, and purple. I tapped the gem with it aimed at Gemini to give it a test but then realized something incredibly important. The illegals…
Gemini fell to her knees, head down. She slowly looked up at us. “I can hear them. Their cries for help. I cannot turn my back on them. I. Am. Gemini!”
And just like that, she took off running with crazy speed.
I looked at Chelsea and Brandon and we all yelled, “Oh freaking crap!”
Okay, so yet another story goes by without any exploding gems. I get it, its quiet disappointing, right? I just couldn’t believe womanly ego paved way for me to escape such a drastic situation. But… now things are possibly worse. This stupid mean green machine was one of the four illegal gems, probably made by Iyan traitors or the Iyan mafia, I don’t know. Hero.
Hero, Evil, Seduction, and Colorless are not supposed to exist –evidence of them didn’t come up…that is until now.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
