Drowning Lessons

I struggle up onto the roof again. This time Alex helps me jump and Gerard is the one to pull me onto the roof. I blush a thanks and we walk away off along the slates as Alex eases himself up. Vic and Jaime are sitting ahead and Mikey is standing beside them looking off into the distance.
“Not everyone’s here yet,” Vic says as Mikey is about to speak. He closes his mouth, scowls for a second at Vic and returns to staring way out to sea.
Alex stands beside him and follows his stare. “Oh my god…” he mumbles.
“Oh my god,” Vic echoes jumping up and slipping on a tile as he stumbles up to Alex and Mikey.
“It’s there isn’t it,” Mikey murmurs.
“What is?” Gerard and I blurt simultaneously.
“There’s another Island over there,” Alex says, “and there’s low buildings, like army barracks. Except the people there… I can’t really see it’s very dark… But it looks like there are a load of girls… All in black… working in fields and stuff it seems… I dunno I’ll look again in the bright I can see far away but I’m not a cat…”
Another Island, like this, all for girls. But they’re not getting like treated…
Vic says what we’re all thinking, “do you think they have powers?”
Alex continues to stare. He starts squinting and scanning the island. After about three minutes of us silently watching Alex scan the island he says, “Okay one chick just blasted something out of her palms so my guess is yes.”
Before we could ask more Andy and Ashley are walking toward us. Ashley is in woman form and feeling his own breasts… Whatever you’re into I guess.
Minutes later Ray and Bob clamber over the roof too and Vic gestures us all to sit down.
So I was being escorted back from visiting Kellin in the infirmary when I caught what a white coat was thinking… Okay um I don’t know how to phrase this really… One of them was picturing this uh machine with wires and a cap and the Captain was sitting in under it and all these lights were going on and then he was thought why does the Captain get all the powers to himself when the rest of us work hard to keep the freaks in order. So I got curious and snuck around a bit trying to hear more. He still hasn’t drained this guy enough to erase everyone’s memories when they’re powerless and he won’t be able to the fucking bastard won’t let him and his mind pictured you Gerard while you were getting drained this afternoon. Then another thought about you Ash and how important it is for you to get drained. Then the last bit like this I caught was that Zack never went home, he’s held captive on an island until they can erase his memory.” We’re all silent staring up at him.
“So the Captain wants to take our powers for himself. He knows that if he has all our powers there’s nothing anyone can do to fucking stop him doing anything,” Andy spits after a while.
“Especially mine,” Mikey mumbles, “then they can’t even kill him.”
Everyone nods.
“Why is mine so important? All I can do is stare at my own tits which isn’t even that great anymore.”
The island with the girls I think.“Maybe he can’t drain any girl’s powers because he’s a dude…” I suggest. Everyone is looking at me but my eyes rest on Gerard’s. “Maybe he has to be a like a woman before he can have their powers and that’s why they’re over there and not here.”
Alex explains to those who weren’t there what we mean about the island of girls. “So he wants to take my power the get girls,” Ashley laughs morphing back into guy form.
“You could put it like that,” Bob mumbles. I haven’t spoken to Bob much. He looks intimidating and I still have no idea what he can do.
“Bob can slow down time for himself and others,” Vic says.
I glance over at Bob, “I’ll show you. Way, wave or something,” he says.
Mikey and Gerard both start waving. Bob squints a bit suddenly it slows down completely. My breaths are slow and so is my heart beat but I feel like I can still do whatever the fuck I want at a normal speed. Things go back to normal after… well I have no idea how long.
“Fucking awesome,” I laugh. Bob smiles a little bashfully.
“What are we going to then,” Ray asks from Bob’s left.
“Resist,” I say. “Ashley if you go in a girl he can’t do anything can he?”
“No so what I’ll go in as a chick?” Ashley says.
“Yea.”
“But what if they force me to change?” Ashley says looking seriously worried.
I was about to answer but Gerard cuts over me, “they’ve been trying to force me for a while… but I don’t let them. I block them out, I don’t let them in my head. It’s hard but doable.”
Alex sniggers, “that’s what she said.” Ashley smirks but the rest just shake our heads, “not the time.”
“Just everyone resist them, block them out, cause trouble and wreak havoc. Don’t let them take your mind,” Gerard instructs. His eyes gleaming with intrigue, “Andy and Jaime kick up a fuss, wreck everything. Bob try to slow down the process so it doesn’t work. Ray confuse them with endorphins. Vic, play mind games. Alex focus on things really far away and don’t let them shorten it. Frank… act like you’re drowning but don’t actually. Make them end your sessions early so they think they’re curing you. Mikey just don’t let them hurt you…”
“We’ll try warn the others then throughout the day,” Vic says.
“I’ll try get Ryan to fuck around with them,” Jaime smiles.
“Starting tomorrow then we’re all gonna be total assholes and fuck with this until it stops then,” Andy says.
“Yea I guess. Whoever isn’t early morning sessions warn the rest. Night guys,” Gerard says and starts treading down the slant of the roof and then disappearing off the edge. Mikey follows him.
Back in our room Alex is quick to sleep but my mind is too full of thoughts that I don’t sleep for what seems like hours.

Breakfast has a weird vibe. Everyone’s trying to act normal and failing. I’d caught Brendon and Ryan in the hall and briefly filled them in. We had white coats behind us so I just said “resist as much as you can this morning, very important, Vic will fill you in…” and then I managed to make it seem like I was asking them about piano.
Gerard asks me to pass him more coffee and our hands touch for longer than they’d have to in passing a cup. I’m not saying this means much only that I totally just got to second base.
I go out into the gardens on my own again. Alex was taken for treatment in the morning and so was Andy and Ryan. I was walking alone when I saw a lightning storm kick up. I run up and around a corner to find Brendon with his hands in the air standing on one of the rocks me and Gerard sat on.
“Brendon what are you doing?” I demand from a meter bellow.
“Helping Andy,” he smiles and a bolt of lightning hits something sticking out of a window.
“What the fuck Brendon you’ll fry them all!” I shout.
“Nah I won’t,” he smiles hopping off the rock to stand still way taller than me, “Andy is just going to fuck with their systems a bit by blowing every fuse. Vic told me everything by getting in my head earlier and Andy asked me to give him power. He’s so pissed off,” he grins.
I stand up on the rock and see white coat after white coat run into the main building. Some are carrying spades and fling them into the long grass as they run in the door. So many spades it’s kind of weird.
I see Gerard strolling toward us and jump down off the rock. Brendon sits down.
“Nice storm,” Gerard notes standing beside me.
“Thanks,” Brendon says standing up, “I’m going to go check on Ryan. He was trying to scare the shit out of the people treating him, making them see scary things and I want to make sure they haven’t hurt him.” He starts jogging away in the path of the white coats and disappears behind a massive yew tree.
Gerard sits down on the rock and I sit opposite him and try to smile in a hot way. I usually just look “adorable”. He smiles back and my stomach twists. I feel like such a teenage girl.
The feeling increases as I go to touch my hair.
“So… how did you discover your power?” I ask after a moment of awkward silence.
His face goes grave and he stares off to sea, like he can burry that memory in the depths.
“I’m sorry if it’s personal you don’t have to tell me…” I mumble.
“It’s fine. It was about five years ago. I was um walking down an alley on my own. I’d walked those alleys a million times before just this time it was at like 3am and I was a little high. Also I was all alone. So I turn a corner and am in this uh midsection between two alleys so about twelve feet that you can’t see from the main street and these two guys approach me with knives. Because I was high and fucking broke I didn’t just give them my wallet but punched one guy in the face. My knuckles hurt and he goes staggering backwards. I’m a weak fucker and he only steps back like two fucking steps with a cut on his fucking lip. Barely bleeding. So they both lunge at me with knives and one guy slashes me across the chest ripping a bright line through my Smiths’ shirt. A signed one for fuck sake, now blood stained and ripped. So I’m lying on the ground the two thugs standing over me and my mind racing with ways to escape and then I see something. It’s in my head I know but it’s buzzing around them. Then I realise I have one too. It’s weird, a colour you’ve never seen before and never will because you mind can’t make up colours no matter how high you get. I make mine reach out and take there’s. Suck it all in till I’m exhausted and they’re lying on the floor struggling for life. I’d taken absolutely every memory they’d ever had. They couldn’t remember how to breathe, their bodies figured it out when they thought they were about to die. I’d taken like every living memory they had and what’s worse is that they’re mine now. I have thirty four years of being a thug embedded on my brain twice. When your brain searches for an answer it compares the situation to your memories and because I’ve got fucking murderer and rapist memories. I try to think what I’d like to drink and my mind looks back on bar fights I never had. I know they’re not my memories but sometimes I look back on say my first kiss and I see some fat girl who let me feel her up when we were eleven and seven minutes in heaven with a little blond girl even though my first kiss was a dude and I’m sure. All because I was too fucking stupid to just give them my wallet with four dollars and a Walmart coupon. God if I could go back and not have this fucking power I would. But whatever I’m not afraid to keep on living even with hundreds other people’s memories it feels like I walk this road alone.”

Notes

Okay so I'm writing this much quicker than I'd expected, I can't stop writing it :3 it's the weekend so the next chapter should be just as quick because I have no life! Three cheers for never leaving the house!! I'll update soon and let me know how I could improve in the comments :3 xx