Farsighted (Farsighted Series) (31 page)

She pulls away, walks closer to the stream, and I hear her lower herself into the grass. The blades crinkle under her weight. “Let’s talk,” she says. Simmi always wants to break up our kisses with dialogue. Personally, I’d kiss her all day if I could. I don’t know how I’m going to survive once the school year starts, since most teachers probably wouldn’t appreciate us making out in their classrooms.

“Okay…” I drop my cane to the ground and sit down beside her. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Not sure. I just want to talk.”

I sit in silence and wait for her to come up with a topic. She does after a few harried moments of thought. The anxious heat rises and hangs above her like a swarm of bees.

“Do you still have visions of me dying?”

“No, no,” I assure her. “Actually, I haven’t had any visions at all lately.”

“Do you miss them?” She runs her hands through the grass creating a soft prickling noise.

“Of course I don’t. None of my visions were good. Well, except one.” I sneak another kiss, recalling the vision reel and how I had experienced Simmi kissing me before it happened. When she pulls away, I finish my thought aloud. “No visions means no bad things happening.”

“My problem is the exact opposite,” she confesses. “My gifts are stronger now. Too strong. I’m afraid of what I can do. Afraid of what we all can do.” She chokes out a sob, and I rush to comfort her, squeezing her tighter in my arms.

“But Simmi, you saved all those people. If you hadn’t put them to sleep, they would have gotten hurt, or worse.”

“I understand, but…” She sniffs back tears. “Nobody should have that kind of power over others.”

“Simmi, we have these gifts for a reason. Imagine if I couldn’t sense the future. You might be dead.”

“What if I was supposed to die? What if by saving me, we’ve set the universe on a different course, a worse one?”

“Simmi, that’s ridiculous,” I spit. Anger surges through me at her debasing the value of her life so easily. Why can’t she understand how wonderful she is, that without her, the world would stop spinning?

She laughs to lighten the mood. “I guess the only person to come out of this stronger is Shapri.”

“Really? I thought she’d be the worst off of all of us.” A shiver races across my skin as I recall the eerie scene at the zoo. “It was hard enough with Dax inside my head. I can’t imagine having someone else in my body.”

“She’s changed, though. Shapri says she wishes she hadn’t remained in denial for so long, that the spirits always have the most interesting stories to tell her.”

“Yeah, but they also take possession of her body,” I argue.

“Only when she gives them permission. Her gift is much easier to control than either of ours. She seems to enjoy talking to them now.”

“No way. That doesn’t sound like Shapri.” A couple weeks ago, I visited Shapri, but she’s pulled away a bit since then; Simmi speaking of her makes me realize I haven’t seen Shapri in an eternity. I miss her, but not so much that I’d compromise time with my Simmi.

Simmi laughs, and the cloud of anxiety dissipates. “Oh, I didn’t even tell you the funniest part. Shapri’s been staying up late and visiting graveyards at night.”

“Creepy.”

“No, but the reason why she goes is funny. She says the graveyard is a hopping party scene.” Simmi breaks into a fit of giggles, and I laugh, too. Together we fall back in the grass and Simmi finds more shapes in the clouds.

***

By the time Simmi drops me off at home, the evening is turning cold. I float into the house as if I’m on one of Simmi’s clouds. We had as close to a perfect day as possible, like every day we spend together. Now we can visit our special place, too.

Dad greets me at the door. “Where were you all day?” He’s angry, and he obviously doesn’t trust my answer since he asks this question with an accent. I try to keep my mind blank so my thoughts can remain private.

The thickening smell of berries pushes me into a tailspin. Dax. Why is he always here? Not even my home is safe anymore; Dax is why Simmi and I needed our place to begin with.

“You always need somebody to be angry at, don’t you? First me, now Dax. Stop being angry all the time,” Dad says.

Dax shifts from the doorway to the sofa and slinks down into a sitting position; the cushion wheezes under his weight. Protecting Simmi from him has taken up all my time and it hasn’t even crossed my mind that I may need to guard Mom and Dad, too. What does Dax do while I’m gone all day? What mind games does he play?

“Alex, that’s ridiculous. I don’t need you to protect me, and neither does Simmi. Quit looking at Dax as a villain, and give him a chance. He’s a good kid.”

He’s gotten to Dad. How, I’m not sure, but Dad’s not stupid. If Dax can fool him, who else can he get at? Is Mom safe? Simmi? Shapri? Nobody is until this poison is removed from our house.

Dad sighs in exasperation. “I’m going now. Play nice.” He picks up his car keys from the half wall and leaves.

I huff and head to my bedroom. No way am I hanging out with Dax in the living room. I retrieve the copy of Sophocles Mom and Dad gave me for my birthday and start reading in a useless attempt to distract myself.

The door eases open.

“Mom, I’m fine,” I say. She probably overheard my argument with Dad and is coming by to make sure I’m okay.

“Ahem,” a throat clears and berries eek into the room. Not Mom, Dax.

“Go away,” I yell and throw the thick braille book at him. I wait for the satisfying thud of impact, but no sound comes. Instead, the book returns gently to my lap. I grunt and throw the volume at the floor as hard as I can.

“Why do you hate me?” Dax asks in a calm tone.

“You tried to kill me. You tried to kill Simmi. You
killed
your sister. Why would I like you?” I lower my voice to a hostile whisper in case Mom is nearby listening.

“You tried to kill me,” he points out. “I don’t hate you, though. Why can’t we be friends?”

“Friends? Friends. Are you kidding me? I don’t want you anywhere near me or my friends.”

“What happened to my sister
was an accident
. I would never hurt Simmi. I like her.”

“Stay away from Simmi,” I thunder, bolting to my feet and holding my cane before me in a defensive position.

Dax sniffs and walks to the doorway. “Fine. But you can’t keep us apart forever. School starts in a couple months.” He leaves, taking his nauseating berries with him.

Thousands of thoughts push their way into my brain. I’m angry. I’m scared. I’m exhausted. The feelings bubble in my skull, rising higher and higher until they boil over. My mind goes blank right before dread floods my every thought. I’m having another vision. The bad times were supposed to be past us. The visions weren’t supposed to come back.

Dax’s voice sounds first. The syllables take the form of disgusting, rhythmic lulls. “…and there’s nothing for me but my Simmi. Every sight that I see is my Simmi.” His every word scratches the inside of my head like nails on a chalkboard.

Simmi giggles. Almond Joy and berries clash as the two embrace. My blood runs cold.
No
.

“I always thought feelings like this were invented to sell stories. I never realized how real love could be,” she whispers.

The two kiss, their mouths making wet sucking noises. Their hands rub one another’s backs as they pull each other tighter.

I ball my hands into fists and scream, cutting the vision off. How could this happen? Simmi is
mine
. Dax has no right to her. She’s too smart to ever… This kind of vision can be prevented; I couldn’t live otherwise. Still, I can’t afford to take any risks.

I need to keep Simmi and Dax apart—no matter what it takes.

Book 2 in the Farsighted Series

Simmi Shergill’s life is a mess. Her powers of psychic feeling are on the fritz, and Grandon Township’s sudden population boom has brought quite a few unsavory characters to town. She also looks like an over-blown balloon in her size 14 pants, but not even starving herself seems to be working as a diet plan. Well, at least her boyfriend, Alex, loves her so much he’d do anything for her. Last summer he even risked his life to protect her from the mysterious boy everyone was convinced wanted to kill her.

The problem is, she’s not so sure she feels the same way. Is Alex really the man of her dreams? And why can’t she stop fixating on her would-be killer, Dax? Whenever he’s around, part of her wants to run screaming in the other direction while the other part longs to run into his embrace, no matter who she’d hurt or what she’d risk.

Simmi’s loyalty is on the line. Who will she choose—the blind seer who loves her, or the charming telekinetic with “bad idea” written all over him? Emotions run high as the tension mounts in book two of the
Farsighted
series.

Charitable Contributions

“Placing a book in a child’s hands is like planting a seed.”

-- Seedlings Motto --

Opening a book is like entering a portal to another world. Even the dreariest of days can be made wonderful, thanks to good fiction. Books were my only friends for years. It never bothered me that the other kids didn’t want to play with me, because I knew my good friends
Bunnicula
, the
Sweet Valley Twins
, and the
Babysitters’ Club
were at home waiting. Reading offered me a solace and joy little else could.

Every child deserves the company of a good book, but for some, that company is hard to find. The truth of the matter is, braille books are expensive and difficult to attain, especially for families with limited means like Alex’s. There is an inherent bliss associated with the act of reading—a bliss that is simply not matched by listening to a story via audiobook. That’s why it’s so important to promote braille literacy and to give blind children access to the same books their sighted peers enjoy.

Luckily, I know a great charity that works hard to right this. Seedlings Braille Books for Children is a
non-profit organization dedicated to providing high quality, low-cost braille books for blind children in Michigan and around the world
.

Like me, Seedlings was born in 1984. At that time, braille materials were scarce and expensive. In the years since its inception, Seedlings has added over twelve hundred books to their catalogue—from well-loved classics such as
Charlotte’s Web
to more contemporary reads like
Farsighted
. They generously offer these books to readers for far less than it costs to produce them.