The vision- chapter 10

Lickable Luken

I was just sitting in class, drawing in the back of my book, when someone sat next to me. Shocked, I look up into the eyes of Ashlea. I smile warmly.
"Mind if I sit?" She asks, though she was already sitting.
"‘Course not." I remember being in her mind, and knew that she felt kind of sorry for me, liked me, and thought I looked beautiful with wings. In the classroom now, her eyes open wide. I look down, and realise she was looking at my drawing.
"Wow, you’re a really good drawer!" I shrug, closing the book. I had been drawing Mr. Cowan but felt self conscious about the drawing, it was only half finished.
"How are you?" She says in a low voice as the teacher starts to introduce our new topic.
"They got me a healer. I’m fine." She nods, looking straight ahead.
"I’m glad to hear that."
"I’m glad you’re sitting with me." She smiles again and then we pay attention to the teacher.

It was a long morning, but Ashlea let me sit with her friends again at lunch time. We were just sitting and talking when the best sensations run through my back.
"Oh!" I say, closing my eyes and arching my back. I resist moaning, but I was close.
"Hi, Junic." I say with a smile, not opening my eyes. I turn to look at him, just to make sure it was him. It was, he grins and stops massaging.
"Hows the back?"
"Good." I answer truthfully, flashing him a grin.
"Mind if I steal your fried away for a bit?" He asks the table, they all shrug and shake their heads. The girls smile. I stand up, carrying my tray back to the lunch lady.

When Junic and I wee out in the hallway we start walking.
"It’s almost the end of lunch, what class do you have next?"
"P.E." I inform him with a smile, so far it was my favorite subject.
"Ah, to the gym hall then." It wasn’t really a question but I nod anyway and we walk out into the sunlight.
"Where are you from Junic? I don’t know anything about you."
"A long way away from here, Luken came to get me." I nod.
"Yeah, I saw him leave."
"How did you and Luken meet, anyway?" I look away.
"I met him in a forest, I…was in with a bad crowd. Luken told me to come with him. When the guy I was with saw me talking with Luken he shot me. Luken brought me here, now he’s my mentor." I was frowning, remembering the day we met, yet again.
"Really? You’re his first charge, if I am not mistaken?"
"You’re not, I’m his first."
"And judging by that wound you had you have not been here longer than a couple of weeks?" I smile.
"Yeah, about one and a half." Wow, he was good.
"Anyway, how do you know Luken?"
"I came to school here with him and Damien. We hadn’t a different headmaster then, blurgh! That lady you have has no sense of humour." I laugh.
"Tell me about it." I was tempted to ask what had happened between them at school but I was too shy, and also we had arrived at the gym hall.
"Thanks for walking me." I say, stopping. He turns around.
"Glad to see you’re ok." I smile, then duck into the hall before he could say anything else. I get changed in the girls change room, glad I had finally remembered to bring a change of clothes, and wander back out to wait on the uncomfortable wooden seats. It was a fun P.E. session, we played tennis, then finished off with a game of dodge ball.

I was walking back to the hall when Ashlea caught up to me.
"Hey." She says, a little breathless.
"Hey. Have fun?" I ask as we enter back into the hall, caught in the crowd
"Yeah, gosh is it hot though!" I laugh, I scrape my hair away from my neck where it was sticking and wrap it into a bun before I realise that I didn’t have a hair tie with me. I turn to ashlea to ask her for one,
Then someone behind us screams.
My first reaction was shock.
My second reaction was ‘thank god its not me for once’.
Then I turned around, and the girl who had screamed was staring straight at me with horror in her eyes.
So my third reaction was, oh crap.
"She bears the mark of the Killawalans!" It took me three whole seconds to figure out who the hell the killawalans were, though it sounded familiar. Adrian, Paul…memories come flooding back. Luken telling me about them, saying they had marked me. So much had been happenning lately I had barely taken a glance at the tattoo on the back of my neck before forgetting about it. It was kind of an oval with a circle in it, almost like an eye.

Everyone looks at me, some look confused like I had a minute ago, others watch on with wide eyes. I hastily drop my hair back over my neck.
"It’s not what you think-" I start.
"Right, everyone get changed!" Calls the teacher. Slowly people keep moving into the change rooms. Her look told me clearly not to move. When the last girl comes out of the change rooms I quickly say.
"I’m gonna get changed." And dissapear inside. Ms. Haylock does not object but watches me like a hawk.

In the hange rooms I sweep my hair to the side and try to peer over my shoulder into the mirror. Yup, there it was. I sigh and quickly get changed. I walk back out with my bag slung over my shoulder and pause. Luken was talking with Ms. Haylock. How did he always know when I was in trouble? Hmm, maybe she just called him or something, he was my mentor after all. I sigh and keep walking forward. He looked serious, as always, but I felt it go deeper this time. He was upset, probably about Junic still.
"Bridget Sarah Parkins." He says in way of greeting, voice full of dissaproval. I was about to ask how he knew my middle name but decide against it.
"Luken." I respond, tone just as serious. Ms. Haylock looks from him to me with an odd expression. I glare at her.
"I’m not a stupid Killawilla thing." I inform her. She raises a neatly plucked eyebrow at me.
"Really?"
"Bree was kidnapped." Her head snaps back to Luken, the slowly returns to me.
"Really?" She says, with more interest. I look at my black ballet flats and hoped that Luken would explain for me. He came through, as always.
"Yes, that is when I…rescued her." She nods.
"I remember, you had an arrow sticking out of your back, you transported into the middle of the classroom. Ms. Peaque was not impressed." She pursed her lips at the mention of Ms. Peaque, I was beginning to pick up that not many people around here liked their principle all too much.
"No." Agrees Luken.
"I should go." I say, I really didn’t want to be here.
"Wait, Bree. I’ll walk you." And without further explanation to Ms. Haylock we leave the gym hall. Luken stops and, sensing he had something to say, I turn back to him so we were facing each other. He looks me dead in the eye and I get that strong feeling like I do every time I look into his eyes.
"I don’t want you with Junic."
"You-what?" I ask, disbelieving. He takes a deep breath.
"I do not want you…fooling around with Junic."
"I-I’m not!" I say, shocked. Luken gives me a look that clearly say he does not believe me. I become angry. How dare he!
"I am not doing anything with Junic! We just talked!"
"He gave you a massage. He walked you to class."
"You gave me a necklace and you walk me to at least one class a day! Does that mean I should be fooling around with you?!" Luken looks taken back.
"No!"
"No. So you have no right to say things like that to me."
"I’m your mentor-"
"So your meant to be my friend, not my father."
"I want to make sure you are making the right choices. Junic…dates a lot of women. I don’t want your first time…" He trails off when he see’s the murderous stare I was giving him. But he does not look intimidated, I hoped I was doing it right.
"My first time doing what?"
"Having sex." He says, without skipping a beat.
"What makes you think I haven’t?" I immediately put up all of (little) guard on my mind as I feel him trying to enter. He either could not enter or decides not to, so instead just keeps staring at me.
"Have you?" He asks, voice neutral.
"Yes." I say truthfully, then immediately wish I could take it back and blush heavily. Luken says nothing but when I looked up he was giving me a stare so intense I couldn’t bear to look away. I didn’t look for the emotion, I just knew it was intense.
"Don’t do anything with Junic."
"Mind your own business." I snap, then walk off. It was hard to turn my back on him, but I managed, grinding my teeth heavily.

That night I sat on my bed. I realised that not once had Luken mentioned my freaky powers to have my prayers controlled. I was nervous, scared even, of this power. If I got everything I prayed for, I could be dangerous. How is that even possible, anyway? I’m not even sure if I believe in this stupid Zin chick, she hasn’t shown herself to me in any great vision or anything, why should I believe that she is the one and only true god? I sigh, wishing I could talk to Luken, or maybe Junic. I quickly cross Junic out. Just by looking at his blue eyes, blonde hair and perfect mouth in it’s cocky smile you could count how many hearts he had broken. He had that feel about him, and so far had said nothing to me to make me think otherwise of him. I mean, he was nice and all, but seemed a little too cocky.

I was scared, what happens if I kept praying for stuff for years and then Zin turns around and goes screw you, my turn. And makes me do all of this horrible stuff? What if it isn’t Zin at all, but someone else giving me these gifts? I was nervous, I had learnt by now that nothing good ever happened to me, and I had a bad feeling.

So I close my eyes and pray silently.
But I don’t pray like most people do, I do something different.
This is what I asked.
"Please give me the ability to help others in need. Open my eyes to the world around me so I can give aid to others, rather than taking everything for myself."
And then I got the weirdest sensation. I felt warm and happy, as if someone was smiling at me and approving of my prayer.
And the next thing I knew I was on my feet and heading out my door. It was late, but I managed to avoid all teachers on my way to Damiens room. I had no idea why I was going here, but I trusted whatever was leading me.

As I knock on Damiens door I begin to wonder if maybe this really was the right thing to do, it was late after all. And what would Damien need my help with? But when he opens the door and I see his face all my hesitations disappear in the blink of an eye.

His hair was messy, like he had run his hand through it a billion times. His face was totally tired and kind of panicked. And confused when he see’s me. His clothes were messy, you could tell that he was stressed.
And to top it all of, he had a little baby held closely to his chest.
"Bree? What are you doing here, it’s-"
"She’s beautiful." Damien had tried to hide the baby but since she was crying and screaming it was a little hard. I quickly take her out of his arms and step inside. I curl her to my chest. Her clothes were clean but her face was red. She stopped crying and looked up at me curiously.
"I didn’t know you had a daughter." I tell him as he closes the door, still looking confused.
"Neither did, up until about four hours ago." I look up, shocked.
"An…ex-girlfriend showed up today, dumped her on me and left." He admits reluctantly. I look back down at the baby, she was cute, and a healthy size. She had dark brown eyes like Damiens. She couldn’t have been more than a few months old.
"What are you doing here, Bree?" He asks me, trying to take his baby back. I stop him.
"I’m here to help you, you’re obviously not coping." His face crumples.
"I didn’t think I would be a father for a long time yet." The baby starts crying again, I pat Damiens shoulder and rock her at the same time.
"You’ll be ok, you just gotta get the hang of things. I’ll make you a deal, you go and have a shower and get changed and I’ll change the baby." Damien hesitates.
"Take youre time, relax, because you’re not going to get a lot of sleep for a while."
"I don’t understand, Bree. I haven’t even told anyone about her yet, none of the teachers or even Luken. What did you actually want when you showed up here?"
"To help. Go get changed." Damien disappears. If he wasn’t so tired he would have fought with me more, I hadn’t seen him like this. So stressed and confused. He wanders off down the hall, pulling his shirt over his head. I admire his body for only a second befor chastising myself. I look down at the litle baby girl. She looks at me, and then starts crying again.
"It’s ok, darling, it’s ok. Sshhh." I walk to the fridge and open it to peer inside while I rock the small infant gently against my chest. I have had a lot of experience with kids before. Damien, obviously, had not.

I search the fridge in vain and finally pull out a banana. That should do the trick, it would have to. But she would need baby food, and milk, and diapers and everything.

Damien reaapears ten minutes later, looking more like himself. I was sitting on the couch, playing with the baby. She wasn’t crying any more, she laughed. I lift my head up before he can say anything.
"I am going to take you shopping for her tomorrow." He looks at me for a few moments before nodding. I smile reassuringly.
"It’s going to be ok, don’t look so freaked out." He shakes his head, and sits on the couch next to us.
"It’s a lot to take in. It’s a big change in someones life."
"I’ll say. Does she have a name yet?" He shakes his head, staring at her. She looks at him for a minute, then smiles and laughs again.
"You have a beautiful daughter, do you want to hold her?" Damien hesitates, then shakes his head.
"I’m sorry, I just-"
"It’s ok, it’s ok. You’ll get used to her. And in the meantime, I’m here." He shakes his head again.
"You have no idea how thankful I am."
"Well I have a few favours to return." He looks at me confused.
"Nevermind." I say quickly.
"How did you know, to come here? Or did you really come for something else."
"I just knew." He doesn’t push it any further.

It was a long night, Damien held the baby again and she was happy with him for a while. But then she got over her good mood fast and nothing would clam her down. Eventually she fell asleep if I walked around in circles and rocked her. I gently started singing to her, and watched her cute little mouth yawn as she drifted off. I glance at the clock, it was almost four in the morning!
"You can go to bed, Damien. I promise I’ll take care of her."
"I trust you, but I think I’ll stay in here." I nod, he had grown to like his child even in less than a day.
"Ok, but try and get some sleep. I hear shopping with women a can get tiresome." He laughs, and falls asleep within ten minutes. Poor guy, as if his life here isn’t stressful enough. Having this dumped on you so suddenly. I wouldn’t cope ether.

I stay up the whole night with the baby (gos I wish she had a name just so I could stop saying the baby). Damien woke up around six and went to the bathroom. I sit down in an armchair. I think I dozed off a couple of times, but still had a firm grip on the baby. Then someone starts pounding at the door loudly. I hurry to adjust her in my arms and rush to the door and throw it open before holding the baby with two arms just in case she woke up. Damien walks in with nothing but a towel around his waist.
"Sshhh, you’ll wake the baby." I say, then I look up. Luke looks from the baby, to me, to Damien, to the baby, to me, and then he blinks. I sigh.
"Sorry, Damien. Game over." Luken walks in slowly and I close the door behind him.
"Oh crap, I was meant to meet you. I completely forgot." Admits Damien. I throw a quick glance at him, and his towel (lucky he was looking at Luken and not me) and turn back to the baby, walking away from Luken and back to the couch.
"I think I missed something." Says Luken, coolly keeping his head. I laugh and kiss the baby on the forehead and rock her, she was stirring.
"Is this your child, Bridget?" I look up, shocked.
"God no!" Then realising I might have offended Damien I turn to him. "Sorry." His expression remains neutral.
"It’s mine, Luken." Luken turns to him, eye brows raised. Then they do that freaky thing where they have that communication without talking, that mind thing. Freaky. After a while Luken lets out a long breath and turns back to me.
"Bree and I are going shopping today, you can come if you want." Says Damien.
"Or you could just leave." I suggest in a light tone, not looking up. But out of the corner of my eye I see Luken looking at me, and Damien looking from one of us to the other and back again, putting the pieces together. I don’t look up.
"It’s allright Damien, I actually have a class to teach today." I see Damien nod, then he walks down the hallway. I watch him go, and when I look up Luken was watching me. I wiggle my eye brows like I had been checking Damien out (which I would never do…). I see him swallow as his expression hardens. I smile and look back down at the baby girl in my arms. She was back asleep, thank god. She barely slept at all last night. I was incredibly tired too.
"You can leave now." I tell Luken when he makes no move towards the door.
"I’m sorry, I took it too far befor."
"Piss off." I say angrily. He had. Way too far. He had no idea what I’d been through. I try not to think about it. He wait’s a few moments before leaving. I rub my forehead, trying to relieve some tension. Would my life ever be simple again?

************************************COMMENT GUYS!!! TOTALLY OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS