Healing Rain (24 page)

 

 

Katy Newton Naas
currently teaches middle school reading and high school English in southern Illinois, as well as children's church. She graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor's degree in English Education and a master's degree in Reading and Language Studies. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, including her husband, her young son, Aven, and her four-legged sons, Shakespeare and Poe.

From a young age, Katy was always an avid reader and writer with a big imagination. Though she continues to grow older, her true literature love is and has always been young adult fiction. She loves creating both realistic and futuristic stories about teenagers, and feels so fortunate to get to work with them every day as a teacher.

 

 

 

Chapter One: Noah

 

The overwhelming sensation that invaded my body when I awoke was so unfamiliar that it took a while to register in my brain –
fear
. Something was happening, and whatever it was, the society was afraid. After quietly pulling on the tan coverings I laid out the night before, I walked out of the male sleeping chamber. Once inside the solid white eating quarters, I found Lucy sitting motionlessly at the table. She stared ahead at the blank walls without acknowledging my presence. The look on her face only supported my thoughts.

“Lucy, what's happening?” I focused my attention on her response, trying to read her emotions.

She shook her head. “I don't know yet. I was ordered to come here and wait for further instructions.” Anxiety was rolling off of her body in rapid waves as she responded.

Before I could question her further, Sir Andrew walked through the door. We automatically stood up in respect at the sight of him. He nodded slightly to both of us, and without a word, motioned for us to follow him out the door. We trailed just behind him, quietly stepping out into the thick, humid atmosphere. Once inside his transportation means, we strapped ourselves in. The waves of anxiety coming off of Lucy's body were only growing larger with every minute of silence. Her large brown eyes were wide and alert as she looked out the window. I watched over her shoulder as we passed the massive gray stone and brick buildings in the town's center. The towering trees stood stiffly over our heads while the smaller plants and bushes swayed gently in the breeze our vehicle created. We were moving away from the heart of the community toward an unfamiliar area.

I considered the situation carefully. Something was definitely wrong. The lack of communication was extremely unusual. The fact that Sir Andrew, one of the most highly respected leaders of society, was taking us somewhere was strange in itself. His gift of intelligence kept him incredibly busy and made his appearance in our society rare. I watched him closely, trying to get a feel for his emotions, but as usual, he radiated nothing. He appeared to have no feelings. I guessed that he was somehow shielding himself, as he was aware of my gift, so that I could not read him. I knew better than to question him, though.

After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at a large, gray, castle-like building. Its structure was made entirely of stone, with small, intricate swirling patterns surrounding the doors and windows. A locked gate blocked the entrance, but it opened automatically as we pulled up close to it. We moved quickly to the main door of the building, still maintaining the silence. Sir Andrew put his hand on a small computerized gray box beside the heavy door so that it opened for us. Lucy and I stayed close as we followed Sir Andrew's long, quick strides through a dark, damp corridor.

Finally, we arrived in a small room, where several men sat waiting. I glanced over them all to get a quick read – fear, anger, nervousness, irritation. Each man tried to appear serious and intelligent as they sat around a round table in tall, cushioned chairs, but I could see that they were as unsure and scared as Lucy and I were. Sir Andrew motioned towards three empty chairs at the table, and Lucy and I hesitantly took a place with the others.

It was Sir Andrew who finally spoke. “Noah and Lucy, we have brought the two of you here today for a very special reason. You are in a place that most members of the society will never enter, particularly those of your young age and position. This is a building where new technology is developed and tested. It is also the location where security for our society is monitored. It is for the second purpose that we have brought the two of you here.”

Lucy and I exchanged glances. Security monitoring? What could we possibly have to do with that? And from what did our society need
security
?

Sir Andrew continued, this time speaking directly to Lucy. “Lucy, because of your gift of reading the thoughts of others, we have brought you here today.” He then turned to me. “Noah, because of your gift of reading the emotions of others, you will be a valuable asset to us as well.”

He got up from the table and moved toward a large monitor. Lucy's emotions started to calm as a picture of a space travel transporter appeared on the screen. A slight smile crossed her face as she spoke. “We have visitors coming.”

Sir Andrew nodded slowly. He obviously did not share Lucy's pleasant thoughts about the visitors. “Read their thoughts,” he commanded. “Why are they coming?”

Lucy closed her eyes and focused. I could feel her concentration as she gathered her strength and got into the minds of the visitors. After only a few seconds, all waves of anxiety disappeared. Serenity came over her as she said, “They want to learn about us and our society. They believe we can help them in some way.” Confusion then interrupted her composure as she opened her eyes and turned to Sir Andrew. “Wait, these visitors have never been here before? I thought all other societies already knew us and were familiar with our ways. Is this a new species?”

Sir Andrew ignored her questions, instead turning to me. “Noah, can you read their emotions?” Though it was framed as a question, I knew it was an order.

It took all my concentration to tune into the visitors in the monitor. Lucy's questions were echoing through my head. The waves of puzzlement coming from her body invaded my head, making it hard to focus. Finally, I began to get a read. “I see excitement…and happiness. That is all.”

Sir Andrew nodded slowly, looking carefully at each man sitting at the table. As they looked at one another, their apprehension did not fade, despite the comforting readings given by Lucy and me. There were so many questions going through my head, but I did not want to be disrespectful by asking for information that was not necessarily meant for me. It seemed like years before Sir Andrew stood up and motioned for Lucy and me to follow him out of the room.

Frustration radiated off of Lucy as we walked out the door, and I knew she shared the same questions I had. Who were the coming visitors? What were they trying to learn about us? Why was there so much unease at their coming when we had visitors on a semi-regular basis?

Sir Andrew led us back to his transportation means in silence. The irritation surrounding Lucy was thick, and her usual polite, good-natured demeanor was being threatened by it. I silently willed her not to ask any more questions, hoping she would read my thoughts and remember the rules so as not to cause trouble.

As I feared, Lucy turned to Sir Andrew. “Sir, if I can ask…I mean, I'm not trying to pry, but since you brought us here…um, well, with the greatest amount of respect, could you please give us further information about the visitors? Who are they? When will they be here? What do they want to learn about us?”

I was surprised at Lucy's boldness. It was usually I who was too curious. Part of my specialized training leading up to my teen years was on etiquette, as I had so often gotten myself into trouble by asking questions of my elders. I was afraid to look at Sir Andrew, knowing he could lash out at Lucy because she was meddling into information that was not her concern. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he kept his steady gaze out the window, and was surprised when anger did not radiate out of him.

After only a brief moment, he turned to Lucy with a sigh. “The visitors will arrive in a matter of hours. They want to learn everything they possibly can about us because they have never been to our society before. They are not a new species; they have been around even longer than we have. Yet, our advancements far surpass their own.”

Because he did not become angry with Lucy's questioning, I grew brave. I took a deep breath before I asked him, “Sir Andrew, with the greatest amount of respect, could you please tell me why there is so much angst because of their arrival? We have visitors somewhat frequently, and there has never been this kind of unease due to any of the prior visits.”

I saw a flash of anger cross his eyes as he turned to me, and I expected him to attack me for my curiosity. Instead, he stared into my eyes for a minute without an answer. I tried desperately to read his emotions, but again, there was nothing. Finally, he began to speak slowly and carefully. “Young Noah, these visitors are different, in a way that I cannot begin to adequately describe before their arrival. A lot of time would be required to explain their existence. To sum it up, these visitors do not live in peace as our society does, as well as the other communities who have come to visit. Their behaviors can be erratic, self-serving, and destructive. The fear you are sensing is justified because of what we know of their society.”

I nodded, trying to absorb the information he had just given me. I saw Lucy's anxiety begin to reappear faintly as she tried to take in the information as well. I was struggling to comprehend and picture these visitors based on his description. Erratic, self-serving, and destructive? I knew what those words
meant
, but I never knew anyone who behaved that way regularly. Those behaviors were not tolerated in our society, or any other society of which I was familiar.

Lucy spoke up in a small voice. “What society are these visitors from? Have we heard of it before?”

Sir Andrew shook his head firmly. “Because of their behaviors and lifestyle choices, they are the one group that we deliberately do not discuss or teach about in our society. We never dreamed they would find the means to even discover us, let alone explore our world.” He looked back out the window, apparently deep in thought. He spoke again, softly this time. “These visitors are called humans. They come from a planet called Earth.”