7. EVENTFUL STROLL

I told Jay everything about Ashton that I knew, including the fact that he could read minds too. I also told him about the multi-million rands car that he was driving, although I don’t know why that was relevant. I told him about how his eyes changed colour mimicking mine. I told him all the minor details I knew about him.

With all that I told them, there wasn’t any harmful information that made him or my dad fear for the worst. I still couldn’t get my head around the reason why Ashton’s picture was on the missing children’s website. I decided to toss it aside for some day that might come up with a helpful solution to the puzzle in my head.

“Hey dad, I’m going out for some air. I’ll be back soon”, I said that heading to the elevator.

“Ok, but be back in time for dinner. And please be careful”, he added with a smile on his face.

“Always”, I said. “See you later, Jay.”

“Bye kid”, he said.

“Jack?” I called out to him.

“Yeah?” he came back instantly.

“You wanna go for a ride?”

“Umm, yeah sure. Hey Andy, can I go?” he asked my dad.

“Sure”, he said that as he handed me a tablet with a blank screen.

After a few taps made by my dad on his computer, Jack appeared on the tab’s screen.

“Love you, dad. Later”, I said that and went upstairs with Jack.

I retrieved my wallet from my room and then went out to my car.

“Nice wheels you’ve got there, kid”, he said as we got in.

“Thanks, bud.”

“Sure. So where are we headed to?” he asked me when I was putting him up on my tab stand near the stereo.

“I was thinking the mall, you know, show you a few places and maybe we can buy something while we’re there.”

“That sounds fun but maybe you should invite one of your friends to come over with us”, he said.

“Maybe next time. Today, it’s just me and you”, I said that and grinned at him.

We took off heading to the Greenstone mall. It was still around 4pm so that gave us three hours before dinnertime. We got to the mall and I parked my car on the second floor parking lot. I took out my own tab from its protection cover and put Jack in its place. We then went in, luckily it wasn’t that much crowded.

I hated going to crowded places because hearing all the people’s minds at the same time was too much noisy and normally it gave me a headache, but not a normal one. So I tuned out all the shouting in my mind and focused on my trip with Jack.

“It’s pretty much flocked around here”, he said with amazement.

“Yeah, some days are better than others. But today it’s better because it’s still in the middle of the week. Weekends are the worst.”

“Wow, I wouldn’t want to get caught up in a huge crowd. It might make me clastrauphobic”, he said jokingly.

I laughed at that but I stopped short because I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.

“Very funny, Jack.”

“I try”, he commented.

I took him around a few shops in the mall and then we went to the movie house. I looked at the movies that were in cinema but I didn’t bother buying a ticket because a movie would take more time to watch. But I promised myself that I’d come during the weekend because I wanted to watch Step Up All Inthat was appearing on that coming weekend.

“We’ll come back on the weekend for a movie, Jack. Today there’s not much time since dad said we should be back before dinnertime”, I told him.

“Looking forward to that. So, what are we going to do with the time left?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know. But let’s go to the bookshop and find a book or two before we hit the road.”

“Mind if I join you?” a familiar voice said behind my back.

My heart stammered for a few seconds and then I turned to find Ashton standing there wearing a black jacket with some blue jeans and a white t-shirt. His hair was still in its gelled-up position and he looked really breath taking. He smiled when he read my thoughts as I evaluated him. I gathered my thoughts and answered him.

“Umm, hi. What are you doing here?”

“I was just taking a stroll and getting some air from home. I live near the mall so I wandered in here and found myself in the cinema”, he said.

Jack made a throat-clearing sound to get my attention and I gave it to him.

“The bookshop?” he asked.

“Yeah, maybe I can get new books there.”

Ashton eyed me in surprise and I understood when he asked me mentally, What’s that?

“Jack, this is Ashton from my school. Ashton, this is my brother, Jack”, I introduced them.

“Oh, hey Ashton. Nice to meet you”, Jack said with a smile.

“Umm, hey Jack. Howzit goin’?” Ashton stammered, even in his mind.

“All is well”, Jack said and to me, “Kid, the bookshop is boring. Can’t we do anything else?”

“We’ll come back during the weekend, I told you that. So let’s move it.” I turned to Ashton who was still surprised and asked, “You coming?”

He recovered and then said, “Yeah sure.” I moved away from the movie house and he followed.

“Lina?” he called.

“Yeah?”

“Jack?” he asked.

I understood what he was asking and I told him.

“It was a surprise that my dad made for me. I don’t have a brother or sister so he decided to make one for me, scientifically.”

“Oh”, he reasoned and understood.

We got to the bookshop and then I went to the novels’ section.

“So you’re into novels?” Ashton asked.

“Yeah. I don’t go out much so I spend most of my time reading different kinds of books and surfing the net.”

“Boring, all spelt in bold capital letters”, Jack said with emphasis.

Ashton laughed at that and said, “I agree with you, Jack. That’s a boring lifestyle.”

“Nope, I don’t think so. I’m used to it now and I enjoy it.”

“Kid, I’m going to change it for you”, Jack said.

“I’ll help you to do that, Jack. Maybe a lot of going out might change it”, Ashton said.

I ignored them and went to check for an interesting book that I could purchase. Jack and Ashton kept on talking and laughing but I didn’t pay them any attention. Jack was funny and I liked that about him. I found a book that seemed nice and pulse-racing, Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts.

I took it off the shelf and looked back at Ashton who was now holding Jack in his hands. I went to the till and paid for the book. We then went out of the shop and headed to the car park. When we got to the car park, I got in and took Jack from Ashton to remove him from the cover and place him back on the stand.

It was around 5:30 pm so we still had some time before heading home. Ashton read that from my mind and then he went around the car, got in and sat on the seat next to mine.

“Can we talk?” he asked again and I turned to look at Jack.

He sighed and then, “Ok, but make it quick. We’ve gotta head home now.”

“Thanks, bud”, I said and then the screen went off.

“Wow, where did he go to?” Ashton asked in amazement.

“Nowhere. He’s around but he just went off into the background”, I laughed.

He joined in and then he turned to look at me. I looked at him too but not for long. Looking at him made me have some uneasiness that I’d never had before.

“So, you know that I’m more than human”, he started off saying.

I didn’t say anything so he went on.

“And you’re more than human too”, he said and looked at me.

I looked back at him and smiled in agreement to what he said. He smiled back and then continued.

“Who else knows about it?” he asked.

“Just my dad and my umm…, uncle”, I said that and looked down. I didn’t want to say anything about Jay so I termed him my uncle.

“At school?”

“No one, not even my friends.”

“Wow, so you’ve been in that school for how long?” he asked.

“Since kindergarten.”

“And no one ever suspected anything about you?”

“No, not a single soul. I’ve always learnt how to control my powers and not glitch around mere normals. Although it’s challenging at times to keep your emotions stable, I do everything in my power not to let them take over.”

“That’s a great self-control you’ve got.” He paused, hesitatingly, but I read the question that he was trying to ask in his mind. How long have you been like this?

“I’ve been a superhuman since I was five. So around eleven years”, I answered him.

“Then that would put you to sixteen years of age”, he concluded.

“Yeah.” I then asked him, “How old are you?”

“Seventeen. I was turned to a superhuman at the age of seven”, he said that and his tone lowered to a whisper.

I didn’t raise any question for a few moments and I looked up to find him looking at me with his onyx eyes. I couldn’t say anything for some time as I was lost in the emotions that were displaying in his eyes.