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<01/23/2012 - 13:15 | Saffrin Middle School (Physics), Austell, GA, USA>
Most of my day breezed by with no repeat visions as I got before, but I was too impatient to expect all would end well. Only a few minutes into my Honors Physics class, the teacher was setting the announcement of a new science project, based on yesterday's homework.
"Today, we're going to be observing measurements from the changing angles of light curvature. First, we will refresh our metric conversion system to ensure we understand the various formats. Everyone make sure you have a meter stick."
"Measurements and meter sticks, huh...?" The mention of meter sticks felt suspicious to me, since they were some big focus in that last hallucination I saw... I'm calling them hallucinations for now, because I still don't agree with Lumina that these could be psychic visions into the future. As I said before, one miracle was enough. An additional miracle in my life is too unlikely, and if it's not, then I'm playing the lottery to win later.
"You really think what you saw in your vision will come to life?"
There she goes, making assumptions for me. I never once thought any of this was as amazing as psychic visions of the future, but I can tell Lumina wants it to be true for some reason. "How could I ever think that? Using clairvoyance is impossible. I'm sure what I saw was part of my mind going insane in increments." So what if the vision had something to do with science class, as I'm in that class now? So what if it had something to do with meter sticks in the outdoor field? Ms. Ray Ray may want us to us meter sticks, but we're indoors right now. There's nothing in proof to suggest what I saw would really happen that way.
"Hey, I'm curious too Reed. This kind of thing doesn't normally happen with our other purge subjects... I went and asked around a bit before this class, and nobody has heard of any purged humans developing extra abilities, despite it being more likely."
"See?" I pointed out. "It's still so unlikely that no other purged human has had to deal with that. Therefore, I must be going insane."
"You say that like it's somehow a good thing."
I couldn't care either way right now; I only wanted the potential nightmare to be over. I wasn't sure why this scared me as much as it did, but I knew I wanted my days to continue being normal as they were before this vision flash happened. "— which has a conversion of 100 centimeters. Now, let's all form into small groups, and head outside to conduct a little experiment. Deven? Help me with the meter sticks please."
Everybody started preparing their belongings like this was somehow normal... It was normal to them, but the announcement that we were heading outside with meter sticks didn't sit well with me. I tried my best not to let my body tremble from the anticipation that the impossible was suddenly becoming possible. There has to be a catch to this, right?
"Ah, so this is the part where you go on outside."
"Not a word Lumina. Not a word." I knew I must still be wrong about this somehow. I was just about the last person to leave the classroom, lagging behind on purpose to try and find out what was really going on. I had to put on my jacket knowing how cold it was back outside, and on my way out the door, I wound up in Ashly's group, while she held onto the meter stick.
In under two minutes, the class and myself included were outside, standing below the overcast of beautiful winter clouds as the freezing gust hovered around us in wait. Still entranced by what I was seeing, I kept myself at a distance from the crazy set up Ms. Ray Ray had, observing all of the similarities from this moment back to the vision I recalled living earlier. There were various objects all over the ground with white marked tape, but more importantly, the field we were standing in right outside the school turned out to be the exact same general location I witnessed before coming out here. Each time I tried to convince myself that I saw random and benign data from the hallucination, reality came to kick my idea away, while I grew more nervous and jittery.
"All you need to do is take measurements of the various objects I've placed around, and convert them from centimeters to meters. Once we prove you understand conversion, we can proceed with the rest of the experiment."
"Come on Reed. Let's get started." Ashly took the lead, walking to the first of many stations in the grass with the meter stick. I knew she expected me to write down measurements while she took them, but I was barely able to move at all. She spoke at me with some general attitude, proving that she wasn't all too happy to have me as a partner.
What could I care? The trance building inside became stronger when I saw what came next. All of the other groups and partners started dropping their meter sticks from the base of the ground, letting gravity take its fall. While it wasn't necessary, everybody seemed to prefer letting the sticks fall in this manner, but as they were landing in the ground, I noticed and remembered the pattern and sequence that I saw in my mind hours ago.
The memory of this was so powerful, it felt like I had somehow stumbled back into the same vision flash I witnessed before. Only this time, there was no weird vision or sensory shift. The large rulers falling to the ground like dominos with audible pats played as a metronome, hypnotizing all of my attention so strongly that I forgot where I was momentarily.
"Reed? You okay?"
Lumina noticed my behavior first, but I could hardly do anything about it. As much as I wanted to deny this moment, there was no longer the possibility I could call any of this a coincidence. Registering it took longer than it should have though. After all, based on what I'm seeing right now, the vision flash I saw earlier was not random, nor was it part of a hallucination. I had no idea prior to this hour that my science class was doing any kind of experiment, indoors or out. However, everything I remembered seeing in the vision played out so accurately in front of me, which put a strong strain to my mind. "This is exactly the same as it was before. Every single detail right now is exactly symmetrical!"
"Wow! Then what's happening to you is real! You're using clairvoyance without even trying to." Lumina couldn't sound more excited and thrilled to hear the news, while I wanted to wake up from this nightmare in contrast.
I turned around to face the distant side entrance, unable to hide my shocked expressions anymore. I can't bring myself to believe I have clairvoyance now, but I've just about eliminated all alternative possibilities. "Okay, so how do I switch it off?"
"Why are you just standing over there? I'm not doing the work for you." Ashly unleashed her valid complaints against me from a distance, though I didn't turn around to address her yet, prioritizing the bigger concern while waiting on Lumina's miraculous plan.
"Switch it off?" She mimicked confused. "Reed? I know it seems scary to you now, but this is nothing but a surge in psionic potential. It will actually go away on its own after enough time."
"That's not good enough Lumina! I can't just go about my day having uncontrolled psychic visions triggering at random. There has to be a way to shut it off."
"Just calm down and try to relax. If you get all nervous and alert about it, it might make it worse. Look, these visions give you the current opportunity to strengthen this sense and learn manual control over simple clairvoyance. But, if you don't do anything with them, the visions will go away on their own in very short time; I'm sure of it."
"Good."
"What do ya mean good?"
Still unprepared to deal with the class today, I turned around to give Ashly my ultimatum. "Look Ashly. Either give me a few minutes to myself first, or take the measurements without me." I can do the project alone anyway; partners are not needed for something like this.
"It's your call." Ashly turned away and went back to do the work on her own, but she walked away with such sass. I clearly angered her to some degree, but I still didn't care.
"... You really don't want anything to do with this clairvoyant power, do you?"
She's just now realizing that? "Not one bit! The ability to see into the future? Get real, Lumina. Anyone would know that this isn't right!"
"I don't know why you think it's so wrong. Clairvoyance gives people the power to see in remote locations, even if the user of the ability isn't there. But there are three types of clairvoyance. Standard usage, like the kind Altiri have, allows us to see events in real time only. Then, there's future sight clairvoyance, giving one the ability to see events before they even happen. Finally, there is past-tense clairvoyance, giving people the chance to see events of the distant past. The Scryers don't believe past-tense clairvoyance exists. Furthermore, future sight clairvoyance is rumored to exist, but has never once been observed in the wild."
"Are you trying to tell me that none of you Altiri can use clairvoyance to see into the future?"
"Not a single one. If you can, that's a rarity on its own. It goes back to what I said before though. If you aren't able to control this power right now, then this must simply be the side effect of your peaking moment."
She says that like it's normal. If I suddenly start airlifting everything around me with telekinesis, I'm going to have to sit this day out and relax at home. "Peaking huh? You've mentioned that more than once today."
"It's the only thing I can think of that might explain why you are developing new abilities on your own. Peaking happens when your body reaches the absolute height of the developmental stage of your psionic physiology. At this age, it was bound to happen sooner or later."
"Okay... So what now? What am I supposed to do if this is really happening to me?" I keep trying not to panic, but Lumina doesn't seem to realize the consequences of this problem like I do. If I suddenly have a strange vision flash of the future while I'm in the middle of doing something important, people are going to look at me like I'm a freak. And if I somehow see something far bigger than I could ever handle, well, I just don't want that kind of responsibility right now.
"As long as our connection is as strong as it is now, the peaking will incur additional side effects. The thing is, the peaking phase doesn't last very long when it starts. You could either take this opportunity to let me teach you permanent and manual control of simple clairvoyance, or you could do your best to ignore it. If you do ignore it, this will all go away on its own."
In that case, this is a problem that solves itself. "Good, cause I'm not sure I want anything to do with that power. I'm glad to hear I'm getting stronger as a scion, but this is just too much, even for me. So we won't be doing any weird psionic training, okay?"
"Okay." Lumina didn't jump into any other tangent after the agreement, and I could tell she finally caught on to how uncomfortable this made me feel.
"Now, I should return to the work and help that lab partner of mine." That's that I wanted to do; it's what I decided to do, but fate had a different track for me to follow. Before I could bother to turn around in my footing, the world around be flashed as if it were a blinding light, replacing all I could see into a new environment I was not supposed to be part of right now.
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In a flash, I found myself eye level with some familiar faces, as Banarus, Zero, and Laura were all talking directly to me. They seemed more focused on me than what should have ever been normal, looks of concern more than grace. As surprised as I was to find myself in another psychic vision, I tried to remain calm and listen to their words. However, while their mouths were all moving, I couldn't hear a single sound. I couldn't feel any part of my body or the chair I thought I was sitting in, nor could I determine any particular emotion from what I was part of. All I knew for certain was that these three girls had something to say to me, something important. Then, the vision ended.
Placed right back where I was standing before, the world around me came back to my senses in such a rush, I felt disoriented and confused for the first second of it. After having experienced this more than once before, I was certain I knew what happened to me just now.
"What's wrong?"
I held the left side of my face in defeat, as half of me curiously wanted to analyze the vision while the other half wanted this day to be over and done. "I just had another one. This time, it was in my very next class, math."
"My gosh! You didn't even do anything to call it up. That's amazing Reed!"
"No, it is not!" How could she already forget how I feel about this? Seeing into the future this way is both scary and creepy. I don't want this!
"Like I said before, it will go away on its own soon enough... But Reed, what about the opportunity this gives you? Haven't you always wanted a way to prove that the Altiri exist and that your powers are real? If you can find a way to prove that your clairvoyance is real, then anyone who learns of it would have no choice but to believe you on the other stuff."
It's not that I didn't have the same thoughts on this before, but such a challenge is much easier said than done. "I don't have the first idea how to prove it Lumina. I can't even control this crazy power right now. Plus, I've only now noticed that everything I've been seeing in these flashes doesn't have any other sensation attached to them. I can see what's happening, but I can't hear a hint of sound."
"That's actually not surprising. Altiri who use clairvoyance can obtain both sight and sound simultaneously; we call this advanced-clairvoyance. Until we discovered Earth, we thought that was the only kind of clairvoyance possible. But as the psionic science caught up, we realized that sight and sound are not supposed to be combined when conducting simple clairvoyance, which is the kind you must be using. Getting audio data from a vision into the future just isn't possible for you. That's mainly part of the limit to your psionic aptitude, as a human."
"Yeah, yeah. I want to know how in the world I'm to prove this stuff."
"You would need practice with it first I believe. Proving it in concept is not hard however. If you see something that is going to happen in the future, and you want to know if it's a real vision, just wait for that moment to happen. When it does, there's the proof you need right there before you."
"I guess that makes sense." She makes it sound easy, and maybe it is that simple. Maybe all I have to do is wait for a prediction, tell somebody about that prediction, and let the moment play out in reality.
"When did this next vision occur?"
"In math class, about fifty minutes from now... Wait, how do I know that?" Everything about the where made plenty of sense, but what about the when? How do I know it's today and not several school days from now? When I tried to present that question to myself, I somehow became so certain it would be today, about fifty minutes from now. Why was I so certain? Where did that certainty come from if not from my normal deduction?
"Maybe the ability to see the future gives you some kind of clarity on when it will happen. At this point, I don't know much more than you."
"It just isn't possible for me to have a normal day today, is it?" I knew I would have to wait about an hour to see the results of this next vision. If I go into my math class and find the three of them speaking to me with those expressions and such attention, then I'll have to believe this is happening. What I want to know is, what could I have done or said that would make anybody lend such concern onto me?
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<01/23/2012 - 14:24 | Saffrin Middle School (Math), Austell, GA, USA>
I managed to calm my nerves throughout the class assignment I was part of, even though Ashly didn't appreciate my odd behavior for the time being. Now that I was in my math class at last, I sat silently and passively, waiting for any of these three targets to prove to me that I accurately predicted the view future of this exact moment.
After ten minutes passed however, my patience only resulted in the three of them calmly discussing mundane topics between themselves. Even as I remained quiet and retained an appearance of being zoned out, not one of them thought to look at or bother me. I know what I saw in my last vision, but at the present moment of its activation, that which was seen by a third eye and reality - failed to match up as it did before. After long enough, I concluded that something was off. "... This is strange."
"Hm?"
"It's strange Lumina. This is the exact moment that I saw in my clairvoyant vision. Banarus, Zero, and Laura are all here in front of me... But they're not doing what they were doing in the vision at all. Nothing I saw this time came true like it did before."
"That's weird..."
"Whatever I saw in the vision isn't happening this time. Does that mean I really did imagine it?" This was exactly why I didn't want to believe I had special powers, to avoid getting my hopes up for nothing. It was much too late for that now, but there had to be some reason why this vision was a dud.
"Reed? Do you understand what it really means to see into the future? Whatever you saw in the vision isn't happening now. The only way that could happen is if the future you witnessed has already changed before the original moment of time could occur."
She's a time travel expert now? "What do you mean it changed? How?"
"There is no such thing as forced destiny. Nothing is ever really set in stone. You see, when you took a peek into the future, that which you saw was entirely based on events from the moment right before you used clairvoyance, not based on events afterwards. Therefore, by seeing into the future, your very reaction and nature to everything must have changed. Whatever you were supposed to do or say to make your vision happen didn't happen this time, because you're own knowledge of it happening allowed you to alter what would come of the moment. If you see into the future, you have the ability to change that future, whether it's accidental or not... I guess that means clairvoyance isn't something you can rely on for exact detail predictions."
Now she tells me! I found the whole prospect of changing time pretty amazing in itself, if not terrifying. All this time, I thought that God controlled all that would happen in our world, including time. But if one can manipulate time itself to change events of the future, then that means destinies and prophecies are meaningless, no matter where they come from. "This whole prospect of manipulating time is bugging me. I can't seem to wrap my head around this." That's not the only new issue coming up from this. If the future can accidentally be changed after I see into it simply from my own new knowledge of witnessing it, wouldn't that make it much harder to prove to others after all? It would mean that anything I bear witness to using clairvoyance could potentially not happen all from microscopic changes I make around me, even if those changes are simply thoughts and conceptions; we call this the butterfly effect.
"Do realize that I'm insanely curious about this too. While you were doing those measurements, I checked around again to confirm what others were rumoring about new psionic powers developing among the purged. I found out that what we heard earlier wasn't the truth. The others who have been purged actually did have a few reports of extra-sensory powers developing during their peaking period, for those who already have anyway."
"Are you serious?!" That means, anybody that the Altiri purge could develop some kickass psychic powers in due time!
"The only thing is, the reports also claimed that these abilities that were presented didn't work well, or were barely usable for only a short time. It reminded me exactly of what you are going through now, except, your ability isn't weak like the others. For some reason, even though your psionic aptitude was measured to be sixty percent of the maximum, you're powers are presenting more easily than it does in everyone else. Just so you know, sixty percent isn't all that high to the average. I've certainly spotted others with higher psionic aptitudes than you using psionic scans, but that's beside the point."
"Maybe it has to do with how well I can concentrate on things. It's oddly refreshing to hear that I'm not the only one this can happen to, but something about this bothers me..." I didn't have much time to think about it though, because right as I was sitting still with my eyes shut, minding my own business, that familiar flash of light and sensory shift took over again.
Instead of sitting in my class chair, I was now floating at a slight angle looking down, above the familiar woodchips of the public park I always go to. There was still some day time, but what I saw bewildered me further. I was looking down at myself, my own body pacing around the swing set with my headphones in. I was speaking out loud, even though there wasn't a soul around me, and I was laughing too. It didn't take much for me to realize that the me I was looking at was reacting to having a good time with Lumina, currently invisible from my own vision. I could hear nothing either, so I don't know what was being said. The whole experience looked pretty romantic though, the amount of fun I was having! I also had a similar certainty impulse like before; four-forty-five in the afternoon was the exact time of this framed moment. Then, the vision ended again, leaving me back in the classroom with the most confused sensation I could ever know.
"Did it just happen again? I can't tell what's going on Reed."
I needed to grant myself a few more seconds to recover from the amount of data poured into my senses so abruptly. I also forced myself to think about how strange it was that Lumina could not take any part in my remote viewing at all. I couldn't understand why she was unable to see them despite being connected to me. Maybe the part of seeing directly through my eyes and seeing through some other method were conflicting with telepathy in some way, but I wasn't educated enough in psionics to understand why. All I knew was what I saw; myself, having fun in the park of my own neighborhood. It's something I would normally do, but to see myself in my own clairvoyant vision was wicked enough. "It did... It did! It did! It did!"
"Calm down. Just... Tell me what you saw."
I didn't ask to see what I saw, but I was forced to see the future anyway, the future of today, just more than an hour from now. "The park... It was you and me in the park after school..." At last, my emotions kicked in to react to the situation. I shut my eyes for a second before aggressively standing up from my seat, nearly knocking my own desk over. "I'm not doing this Lumina! This clair-crap has to stop!"
"But it isn't harming anything to leave it as is. I told you before, it will stop on its own."
"I'm going out to get some water!" With only little of my brain power devoted to my physical situation of the class, I mustered up some excuse to leave without being suspicious, expedited given the attention I set on myself by the way I stood up. On my way out, I tried desperately to find a cure to this cursed condition.
"Look Reed. I honestly don't know how to shut it off like you want to."
"Well you better think of something, cause this is ruining everything. The vision I just saw was something amazing. I'm glad that I'm going to have time to spend with you in the park today, but that was still supposed to be a surprise! It was supposed to be part of my own spontaneous actions. I don't want these visions to map out my entire day like that, spoiling everything that will ever happen over and over."
I realized it after I spoke from my aching heart. When it came to warping time, thinking about crazy events, or even proving Lumina's existence, I just wasn't sure how I felt about seeing into the future. However, when considering the surprise spoiling aspect of it all, I knew instantly that I didn't want this at all. What fun would it be if every moment of my day was already known, already mapped out and destined to happen based on what I had foresight of? Life is supposed to be full of surprises, good or bad. It isn't right to take that away. Seeing into the future just isn't right! I know it's not right!
"I understand... But I don't know how to stop it." I could feel Lumina beginning to tremor as she fought back that familiar sensation of pure upset. The thought of having no ability to help me control this power shook her from the excitement she shrouded herself in earlier, leaving behind sadness.
With a calming sigh to control my rapid pulse, I stopped in the hallway and tried to reset once more. "Don't be like that Lumina... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'll try to calm down, okay?"
"Okay... Please talk to me Reed. If there's anything you need help with, please talk to me about it."
I can't believe how horrible I can be sometimes. I have no merit to be upset with Lumina. She didn't do a thing to start this. I bet Lumina never expected me to develop any powers in my human lifetime. It's not her fault that this day has been crazy. But I still have to know, "Lumina? What happens if these visions don't stop?"
"I actually thought of that already. You might not like the plan, but there is technically another way to calm them down."
"Please, tell me."
"Let me teach you how to use clairvoyance Reed. If you achieve manual control over this ability, it won't trigger on its own anymore. And once you have that kind of control, you don't have to use it if you don't want to."
"Achieve manual control?" I never thought about it before. By embracing the ability and learning to master it, I can then toss it away into the trash forever. All I really want is for these visions to cease and desist. I should have known things wouldn't be this easy.
"Yes. When an ability like yours starts going off like crazy, it's only because that power is starting to peak, expecting your personal input. It should still stop on its own regardless... But I don't know if that will take days or months."
"Very well Lumina. You have a deal. If these visions hit me again tomorrow, I will agree to let you train me how to use simple future-sight clairvoyance." I bet the other eight graders don't have to put up with this insanity. Why does the crazy stuff always happen to me?