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She stopped in her tracks and sighed. “Oh, what’s the use?”

Walter approached and placed a hand on her shoulder. “He’s far enough away that his thoughts shouldn’t be too audible.”

“They’re not very loud, but I can still hear him.”

His brow furrowed a bit as he looked at the young man and then gently led her farther into the seclusion of the trees. “What’s wrong, Melina? Why did you run out like that?”

“I can’t do it. I can’t do any of it.”

“Yes, you can,” Walter said. “You need to believe in yourself and—”

“No,” she said as she spun around to look at him. “It’s not about whether I believe in myself or not. I literally can’t do it! Instead of trying to help the man in the coffee shop, I ran away from him because I was scared. Powers or no powers, what sort of a person who has any ounce of compassion would do that?”

Walter remained silent so she pointed at herself and answered her own question. “A weak person like me. Any other caring person would have put his fears aside to help that man.”

“It was your first time to experience a vision,” Walter said. “You weren’t just scared, you were also confused. How were you to know that what you saw was even real? Your reaction was perfectly normal.”

Melina pondered what he'd said for a moment. It made her feel a little better about herself but not completely. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Why could she still hear that man’s thoughts? She opened her eyes and glanced back at him.

“Is something else bothering you?” asked Walter.

She looked down at the ground and shook her head. “I couldn’t even figure out that the best way to help people through a situation is to change their attitudes and outlooks. Maybe you’re right about cutting me some slack with the man in the coffee shop since I didn’t know what was happening, but changing their attitudes is something that should’ve been obvious to me.” She raised her eyes to Walter’s, waiting for him to explain that one for her.

He hesitated a few seconds then finally said, “Melina, you are being way too hard on yourself.”

She gave a small nod as she turned her gaze back toward the ground. That was probably one of her biggest flaws. She was always too hard on herself.

“We didn’t expect you to already know everything. We didn’t even expect you to understand it right off the bat. It’s only happened three times before you, so we’re not experts either.” He tried to give her a comforting smile, but she wouldn’t look up from the ground. “Listen, for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing great. And up until now, you’ve had a commendable attitude toward the situation. Now instead of wasting time doubting yourself, you need to work on surviving. Shall we continue to practice here in the park?”

Melina was still looking at the ground, rubbing her forehead.

“Are you okay?” Walter asked.

“I can still hear his thoughts. Can you?”

Walter narrowed his eyes. “No, I can’t.” He looked over at the young man sitting on the old, rickety park bench. “Melina, come with me. I need to figure something out.”

“Um, okay.” She glanced at the man on the bench and then followed after Walter.

She was being led farther and farther away from the young man, and every five feet or so, Walter would ask if she could still hear his thoughts.

“Yes,” she replied. “They’re growing quieter, but I can still hear them.”

They were more than halfway back to the entrance before she finally stopped hearing them.

Walter stopped and looked at her, almost as if he were worried.

“What is it?” she asked, still confused about what he was trying to figure out.

“I didn’t expect for it to happen so soon, but I believe that man is the one you’re supposed to help.”

“How do you know?”

“That’s how it works. Once we encounter the person we need to help, his or her thoughts will be louder than anybody else’s. They’ll also remain audible to us even when we’re very far away, much past the normal range. It’s like we can’t shake them.”

“So that’s why I could hear his thoughts when you couldn’t.” Melina looked away from Walter and back in the direction of the young man. She hadn’t expected to find him so soon either. “I’m not sure if I’m ready yet.”

“I was afraid you might say that, but you have to act now. Once you’ve found your charge, you can’t lose him. You need to go to him before he leaves.”

She gave Walter an anxious look.

“Are you scared to approach him?”

“No, it’s not that.” Approaching the man wasn’t what scared her. She approached strangers all the time in her store. What she was afraid of was the fact that she had no idea what to say to him. “How do I even start the conversation? How do you talk to someone about his intimate thoughts without him thinking you’re crazy for knowing his intimate thoughts?”

“What was he thinking about?” asked Walter.

“I don’t know. I was trying to block them out earlier.”

Walter took her by the arm and started to lead her back toward the park bench. “When you start to hear him again, immediately try to hone in on what he’s thinking about. As soon as I can hear him, I’ll do the same, and then I’ll help you to come up with a conversation starter. If we’re lucky, he’ll be thinking about something that you’re familiar with.”

Melina’s brow furrowed.

“You know,” said Walter. “Something you’ve maybe had a similar experience with.”

She nodded. They only had to walk a little bit farther before she began to hear the man’s thoughts again. “He’s still there. I can hear him.”

“Good. Now focus and try to make out what he’s thinking.”

Melina nodded again and tried to picture the man in her mind. She had caught a glimpse of him before Walter had led her away, and luckily it had been long enough for her to have gathered a decent description of him. He was a simple yet handsome young man with ruggedly strong features and a thin, stubbly goatee. His eyes were a soft brown, and his distinct tawny-colored hair was messed about his head in an attractive sort of way. He was wearing jeans with a brown shirt and a dark tan peacoat. Within a second, his mumbled thoughts turned crystal clear, and she was finally able to make out what he was thinking.

Everything is such a mess right now. I was supposed to fly out to New York next month, but I can’t possibly leave now. My father just died yet I’m angry that it’s messed up my plans. What kind of a person does that make me? I’m a horrible son.

Melina couldn’t hear him anymore, but they didn’t have too much farther to go. Once they arrived back in the area, she could see that the man had his face buried in his hands and was crying. She stood in place, unsure of what to do now. His emotional state made her even more nervous, but it seemed as though she might be able to relate to his situation.

“Give him a moment,” Walter whispered. “You never want to approach someone when they’re overly emotional.”

Melina nodded. She felt relieved that Walter had told her to wait because she wasn’t ready just yet. If only she could have a little more detail about why his father’s death messed up his plans. She waited in silence.

After a few minutes, the man finally lifted his head and gazed out into the park as he wiped at his cheeks and under his eyes. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Then his thoughts started up again.

I wasn’t expecting what he left for me. That’s why I’m so upset. I’m not really a horrible son. But it’s like he didn’t know me at all by leaving the store to me. And he even had business cards made up for me already. He knew I had other interests. He knew the dreams I had for myself. No, no. I’m a bad son for not caring about the fact that he entrusted me, instead of my sister, to carry on with the family business. I just don’t understand why. I don’t even know what I’m doing.

The man shook his head and stared down at the ground.

“Do you need help with a conversation starter?” Walter asked.

“No,” said Melina, not taking her eyes off the young man. “I actually know what he’s going through.”

Walter smiled at her. “Then it’s time that I leave you.”

She gave him a surprised look. “What?”

“Just for now. He might be intimidated if we both approach him, especially if we both try to talk to him about what’s bothering him. He’d probably run off scared. Your best chance is to approach him alone. Ease into it. You want him to trust you.”

Melina nodded. She took in a deep breath and walked over to where the man was still sitting on the old park bench. He didn’t look up as she approached, so she lightly cleared her throat to get his attention.

“May I sit down?” she asked as he finally glanced her way.

He gave her a small nod and then scooted over to his right.

She sat down next to him. “What’s got you so down?”

“Excuse me?”

“You look like you’re a little upset, and I like to come here when I have something bothering me.”

He looked away from her and didn’t say a word.

“Let me start over. My name’s Melina. Melina Rowe.” She extended her hand out to him and waited.

After a couple of seconds he glanced over at her. He took notice of her hand, but instead of reaching out his own, he looked away again. “Lee Atwood.”

She slowly pulled her hand back into her lap. “Nice to meet you, Lee.” She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but good grief. He was making it almost impossible to have a conversation. She thought she knew how to get him to talk about his problem, but she would have to ease into it like Walter had said. “So… what do you do, Lee?”

“Heh. I currently don’t know.”

She gave him a small smile then said, “I own my own bookstore.”

“Really?” he asked as he continued to stare out in front of him. “And how’s that going for you?”

“Oh, it’s great now. I love it. But I didn’t feel that way at first. When I was a freshman in college, aspiring to be an English teacher, mind you, it was sort of thrust onto me when my parents died in a car accident. My major quickly changed to Business, and in three short years, at the ripe age of twenty-two, I was responsible for running the family bookstore.”

Lee slowly turned to look at her. “I’m sorry. About your parents, that is.”

Melina’s eyes started to tear up, but she quickly blinked them away and just smiled, hoping her silence would prompt him to keep talking and open up to her.

“I have to be going now. Excuse me.” He stood up from the bench and hurried away.

His abrupt departure took her by surprise, so he was already a good distance away before she realized he was leaving. She shot up from the bench. “Lee, wait! Please don’t go.” It was too late, though. He wasn’t going to turn around, and she wasn’t going to chase him.

Chapter Five

Melina needed to talk to Walter. But how was she supposed to get in touch with him again? He hadn't mentioned that before he left.

She was about to try calling out his name when she saw a strange figure looming in the patch of trees over to her left. It looked like it was someone’s shadow, but there was no sunlight that far back. She leaned forward a bit to try and get a better look, when she heard the figure let out a low, grumbling growl.

“What the…” Melina’s voice trailed off as the figure started to inch its way closer to her. That’s when she noticed its eyes. They were a deep crimson color, and she could swear they were glowing. She wasn’t sure what the thing was, but she knew she needed to get away from it. Scared that any sudden movement might provoke it, she began to back away little by little when suddenly her cell phone started to ring.

Startled, she jumped and pulled her phone from her coat pocket. She glanced down to silence it, but when she looked back up, the shadow figure was no longer there. She blinked a few times. Had she imagined it?

She gave the immediate area a quick scan and, seeing no sign of it, headed straight for the walking path. Once she found it, she picked up her pace and made her way back to the entrance of the park. Her eyes darted all around her as she went, still paranoid about the strange shadow figure.

“That’s just great. First, I start hearing people’s thoughts, then I start having visions, and now I’m having hallucinations? No, it was real. It had to be. But then, what was it?”

She pulled up the image of the figure in her mind and tried to make sense of it. It had had the form of a human, but different somehow. And those eyes. Those deep red, glowing eyes. They'd looked as if they'd been on fire. She shuddered and then shook her head to clear the picture from her mind.

She thought she had better talk to Walter about what she had seen, but she didn’t want him to know that she had failed with Lee. At least not yet. She glanced down at her phone and saw that the call she had missed earlier was from Tessa. That was who she really needed to talk to right now. She called the number back, and Tessa picked up almost immediately.

“Melina!”

“Hey, Tess. Sorry I didn’t answer your call earlier. I was a little busy. I’m on my way back to the store, though, and we need to talk.”

“Yeah, we do need to talk.”

Melina hesitated for a moment. “Oh, um, what is that you need to talk about?”

“Right after you left, two grisly looking men came into the store looking for you. I told them you had stepped out for a bit, and when I asked them what they needed, they became really angry and told me it was none of my business. They stormed out of the place before I could say anything back to them.” Tessa paused for a moment then continued. “Melina, these men, the way they looked… they weren’t just dirty and unkempt. They looked downright scary and… evil.”

“Evil?”

“Melina, will you please tell me what’s going on? You’ve been acting strange all day, and then these two creepy men show up here asking for you. I’m not sure what to think, and I’m worried about you.”

Melina couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll be back at the store shortly, and I’ll explain what I can then.”

“No,” said Tessa. “I’m going to close the store early and come meet you right now. Where are you?”

Melina didn’t want to stay in the area of the park, but she also didn’t want to argue with Tessa about coming back to the store. “I’m walking right now. Meet me at Nina’s.”