She sits at the table, still wearing that horrible smirk. There is no explanation for what I am feeling, but I know. I know that this is not my mother. The feeling goes away as promptly as it came as the smirk disappears, and the familiar sadness reappears.
“Mom,” I asked reluctantly. I don’t know what is going on. I don’t if what I saw was just my imagination.
“Yes, honey?” She answered with a serene smile on her face. When I just look at her she tilts her head walking towards me. “Are you okay? You seem upset.”
She touches my forehead, and that feeling comes back. This is not my mother. It feels like her; it looks like her. But this is not the mother that I loved all of my life.
I didn’t realize until this very moment that I always felt a sense of comfort whenever she touched me. When she would hug me or even just touch my arm, I knew that I was home. Now her touch doesn’t feel like home. I just feel a void where she touches me.
“I’m fine, mom. Just conflicted about moving in with grandma.” I answered as relaxed as I could be. Something happened when she answered the door. I don’t know who it is, and I don’t know if whoever this is, it’s using my mother’s body or just a facsimile. So I have to play it slow and figure it out if I have a chance of getting my mother back.
“Look I know it is a tough decision.” She said. “But this is the best for you. You will be away from that horrible company and you will be closer to your family. And as a bonus, you will be with your favorite grandma!”
“She is my only grandma,” I replied with a smile of my own. My body still hurts from the hard fall that I took, but my heart is the one in genuine pain. Pretending to be okay when I have butterflies in my stomach and a chill goes down my spine is the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do in my life. My mother’s life is on the line and I have to joke around to keep her alive.
She chuckles before sitting down beside Tyler on the dining table. I stay glued to the ground, just breathing through all the emotions that are inundating me. I’m terrified of doing something that will tell them I know. But I am also terrified that my inaction will mean my mother’s death.
I feel my heart trying to flee my chest and I see black spots cover my vision. Panic is once more winning against logic, but I don’t think I can stop it from happening this time. My breathing picks up as I hyperventilate. I know I have to stop and think because Thomas is already looking at me with a frown on his face. Before I can reassure him that I’m fine, the world stops.
Are you panicking again?
The question pops up out of nowhere. I can see the dining room with my mother and brother still talking. But everything is in slow motion. I look at Thomas as he washes the dishes and I can see a single droplet of water fall down slowly to the sink.
What the hell is going on? I asked but instead of my voice coming out the question stayed only inside my head.
We are the ones doing that; we don’t want anyone to know that you can talk to us. So for now you can only talk in your head. We are also slowing everything down. He said like it was a common occurrence, someone talking inside my head and slowing everything down.
Who are you? And how can you talk to me in my head? Are you a psychic?
We are not psychics. We are a lot more complicated than that. But right now we don’t have the time to explain it to you. We have to deal with the imposter inhabiting your mother’s body.
How is it possible that we don’t have time when you slowed it down? I asked, annoyed with the obvious lie.
Because we have no control over this. It’s something that happens whenever we talk to you. And it doesn’t last for long. So you have to be careful of your surroundings. Case in point pay attention to her, she is noticing the blank look in your eyes.
Blinking, I focus on the scene in front of me again, and they were right. She is watching me. Not directly in a way that would alert my brothers. But she is definitely paying attention to what I am doing. The moment that they stopped talking to me, the world gets back to its normal speed.
The change is jarring and I shake my head to get rid of the faint sense of dizziness. She is still watching me so I pretend to hold the chair for support.
“Lisa, are you okay?” Thomas comes to my side supporting my back.
“Yeah. I think I stood too long on the sun today. I feel a little dizzy.” I answered, looking up at his beautiful brown eyes. They are the exact copy of our father’s eyes. I keep forgetting about that fact, then I see them up close and I remember once again. I shake my head again so I can sneak a look at her, but she doesn’t look suspicious anymore.
Now the only thing that’s on her face is smugness. I can feel the arrogance from here. The slight smile and the tilt of her head. She thinks she won whatever she wanted.
“Then sit down before you fall.” Thomas pulls the chair so I can sit. As I lean my head on the back of the chair and stare at the ceiling. I try to remember desperately the lessons about the different species that I had when I was in school. Those classes weren’t required in college, so the last time that I had those lessons were at least seven years ago.
You wouldn’t learn about them anyway.
The world slows down again and I don’t move a muscle, afraid that I will give myself up.
Who the hell are you? I asked angry at the games they are playing with my mind. I have to save my mother and every second that I lose talking to them is another second that she could die.
I told you. It’s too complicated for us to explain it to you right now. But we can help you get your mother back.
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How? I asked skeptically.
The being inhabiting your mother’s body is a psychophagos. They typically consume ghosts for their energy. But this one spent a lot of energy to possess your mother. There is probably an excellent reason for this, but we don’t have the time to ponder it.
Don’t I need to know the reason she went to so much trouble? I don’t want to know the reason right now. But their casual dismissal of it makes me suspicious that the reason is actually really important.
Not right now. Now you have to focus on getting your mother back. You can try to figure out the reasons later. The only thing that you need to know is that they are vulnerable in this state. You just have to send a pulse of your energy outwards to expel them from your mother.
And how, pray tell, would I do that? I’m not a manipulare. I can’t manipulate energy to do what I want.
Well, here comes the part where you are going to have to trust us. You are not a manipulare. But you can manipulate energy.
Who the hell are you?
I don’t who is this is, but I know that they must have a reason to talk to me, a plan. Nobody helps anyone unless it is for their own gain. And now they are telling me I am not a regular. That I am a species that has never been cataloged in written history. Because it's common knowledge that only the manipulare species can wield the energy flowing in the world the way they want to. It takes time and practice, but they are the only ones who can.
And now an unknown voice is casually telling me I am something completely new.
We are the beings who enable you to manipulate energy even though you are not a manipulare. You’re not something new, Lisa. You are something very old.
What?
That’s impossible. How can I be something old if nobody knows what I am? And there is no such thing as being the intermediary between someone and the energy. You can be a bridge that anyone can use. If that was possible the manipulare would have found out about it a long time ago.
We aren’t bridges to the energy. We are the connection that links your soul to the core of the world. I told you it’s complicated. Now if you want to save your mother, do exactly as we say.
Why should I trust you? I don’t know you. I asked, doubtful they would help without gaining anything. Not only that, but I realized that they were responding to things I didn’t think aloud. They were just thoughts in my head. And they responded to it. Which means they are reading my mind.
You have to decide right now if you can trust us, Lisa. Because you have to do as we say to save your mother. But we can only give you the tools. Decide if you want to use them.
And why would you be so generous even when I doubt you? I asked, confused. Why would they be so insistent in helping me when I suspect them at every corner?
Because you need us.
The matter-of-fact tone of the voice convinces me. Not that I have much of a choice. I don’t understand what psychophagos are and have no way of bringing my mother back. If they will help me, I will have to take a chance on them.
Ok. Tell me what to do.
They tell me their plan and the entire time I’m thinking about how we are wasting time. I know little about beings who can possess others, but what I know that if they stay too long, they erase the mind of the person being possessed.
So my mother’s mind is slowly dying. And if I have to do something, I need to do it fast.
Their plan is good. I have to lure this being into thinking I am clueless about what is happening and play along with whatever she says. At the same time, I have to concentrate on feeling the spaces on my mind so I can find where my place of power is.
They said it is not really something that I can learn in a minute but they think because of this unique situation it will make my instincts sharper. My powers relay heavily on my subconscious, so as long as I have an excellent reason to use my powers, my subconscious will make sure I have access to them.
I straighten my back, staring at the view in front of me. My mother is fixing Tyler’s hair while he is playfully beating her hands away. She is so good at imitating that if I didn’t feel the change, I wouldn’t know that something was wrong. And then she called me honey multiple times.
Everybody in my family knows that I hate being called honey. An awful experience with an ex-boyfriend made me hate the word with a passion of a thousand suns. I’m just surprised that none of my brothers caught on to this. I have smacked them multiple times when they used that word with me. So they should notice when my mom did it.
“Hey, are you okay now?” Thomas asked sitting by my side.
“Yeah. The dizziness is gone.” I said.
“Good.” He smiles at me before his eyes get serious and he signals the living room with his head. “I was thinking of watching the recent action movie that was released. Do you want to watch it with me?”
He and I both love everything that has multiple explosions on it, and according to the trailer, this movie has a lot of them. So he should vibrate on his seat from the excitement, but his eyes are serious. His expression was severe.
“Sure,” I said getting up before watching mom and Tyler once more. It takes a second but I can see that every time that mom touches Tyler he flinches. It’s almost imperceptible, but I’ve known my brother his entire life. I can read him better than anyone except his twin. “Tyler, do you want to watch it with us? If you do, I promise to watch any other movie you want.”
“Really?” Tyler jumps out of his seat before nodding enthusiastically and going to the living room.
“Ok kids, you three have fun and I will be on the office working on some things.” The imposter gets up, smiling wildly at us. I think we fooled them into thinking we know nothing. But I am sure that the same thing that I felt, my brothers felt too.
When we get to the living room we close the door that connects to the kitchen and closes all the blinders on the windows. It’s convenient that Thomas said that we would watch movies. Now we have a decent excuse as to why the room is so dark.
“Lisa, tell us you feel it too?” Thomas asked me urgently. All the energy that he had contained near the imposter is out now. So he paces back and forth in front of the TV while still wringing his hands. In the meantime, Tyler sits on the armchair near the back door. It’s like all the energy that he had shown earlier wore him out.
“I feel it too,” I reassured them both. “And I have a plan.”
“What is it?” They both asked.
“Turn on the TV first. We can all sit on the couch and I’ll explain everything. We don’t want to risk them hearing us.” I replied sitting in the middle of the couch gesturing for them to follow.
When everything is ready and they sit on both sides of me I try to whisper the plan as quietly as possible. They both fight me on it, saying that I couldn’t possibly do this. That we are regulars and we don’t have that kind of power. And I tell them I know all of this and yet there is a voice in my head telling me I have powers at the same time that my mother gets possessed by a species that we never even heard of.
This may be a coincidence. But the odds of being one are endlessly small.
After much bickering, we all agree that this is the best plan that we have. We can’t call the guards because they won’t answer a call about a species that nobody has even heard of it. And we can’t lie to them to get them here because they have witches monitoring the call lines to make sure that only people in genuine distress get help.
The system sucks, but it’s all we have. I have to focus on the task at hand. This will not be easy to do, and I need to be prepared.
I don’t know what this person will do, so I send my brothers to wait in the garage. I don’t want them anywhere near us when I go confront her. The voice told me that the more rattled she is, the looser her hold on my mom’s mind is. That means I have to get her as disturbed as possible.
When the boys are as safe as they can be, I go to the office and knock on the door.
“Come on in.” She said in a chipper voice.
Entering the room, I don’t realize the trap until it’s too late. One moment I’m ready to face this challenge and get my mother back. The next, the being possessing her has a knife to my throat.
“Now lets talk shall we, canolradd?”