Gifts

I suddenly jerked up in bed, ruining my much needed sleep on this stupid school field trip, and found myself sweating through my pajamas. What was that dream I just had about? I can't remember. Stifling a yawn, I walk over to the other bed to wake up my friend, Christie, but she's not there. I kneel on her bed in the dark, trying to see if she left me a note to why she was gone at…I glance at the clock…. Five a.m., and didn't find anything. Now that I think about it, her bed isn't even warm, nor does it even remotely appear to be slept in. I grab my cell phone off the old, dusty nightstand and send her a text. I wait a few minutes, but get no reply. Christie is the fastest texter I have ever met and she always replies within two minutes and I waited three. Something has to be wrong. She never leaves without her phone nor does her phone ever die. Seriously. She has never let it die since she bought it two years ago. What the hell is going on? I quickly step into the tiny bathroom and put in my contacts. I take a quick sweep around the room and realize that all of her stuff is gone too. Deciding that I should look out in the hallway for her, I walk over to the door and when I open it I run into my friend, Darren. Darren and I have been friends since the second grade, and used to do everything together. That changed when we started high school. Darren was automatically accepted and thrown into the raging mass of "populars". Did I mention he is an incredible football player and probably the cutest guy in our grade? Why has he stayed friends with me? Who knows! I'm that girl who would rather be sitting in a tree reading a book or listening to music than be at cheerleading or a football game and for some reason, that is frowned upon by high school society. Screw high school society. Me, I'm just another average girl; straight brown hair, dark brown eyes, and an average body and build. So, as I walked out the door I ran right smack into Darren, like a clutz. Then, Darren starts laughing at me immediately. But his laughter is always contagious and soon he has me laughing a bit as well.

"Forget to put in your contacts again?" Darren jested, purposely pushing my buttons.

"Ha-ha. You are just hilarious! The actual reason I came out was because I can't find Christie. Have you seen her? Wait. The real question here is why are you out here? And in precarious places, waiting for me to run into you? Hmmm?" I question him, thinking that I'm having some strange dream.

"Well I have no clue where Christie is and I'm out here for the same reason. I woke up and Ty was gone, and so was all his stuff. I came to ask you if you knew where he went." Ty was his room mate if you hadn't picked that up.

"Huh. Why would they leave? Let's go to Rick's room to see if he has noticed anything strange."

"Well… I kinda forgot to mention that I was already there. They are in a room next to mine and their door was unlocked so I walked in and there was no sign of them. It's like a bunch of people just vanished."

Puzzled, I went to the room next to mine and tried the door. It was unlocked and I waltzed right on in to find no one there. What is this? Seeing the worried look on Darren's face made me think of how freaked out I must look, myself. After a few seconds of eerie silence, we start checking doors in a craze, eager to convince ourselves that other people were still here. We didn't find anyone. But then, I heard crying from a room we must have missed and rushed right in to find a tiny little boy sitting on the bed.

"Where's mommy?" he said to me when I sat next to him on the bed and stared at me with huge watery eyes.

"I'm not sure. But, I'm Marissa and that's Darren." I said, pointing at Darren, who just walked in the door, "And I would love to know your name."

"I'm Mason. I… I turned seven yesterday. My mommy said she had a surprise for me today. I hope this wasn't what she meant." I couldn't help myself, and I gave him a hug, feeling sorry for this poor little boy.

"Well we can't find some of our friends, either. Maybe you want to come with us and help us look for them and your mom." Darren suggested, trying to cheer him up a little."And happy birthday! Did you get any presents?"

Mason's eyes lit up and he jumped off the bed and returned with trucks and cars and all sorts of little boy type of toys. He threw them all on the bed and started showing them all to Darren. Darren nodded and said"wow, cool!" and "that looks so fun!" or "I loved to play with those when I was seven" when it was appropriate.

After he explained them all, we finally convinced him to come with us.

"Maybe we should head up a level and look around." I said. We were on the fifteenth floor and there were only sixteen.

"Alright. That sounds good." Darren replied, bending slightly so he could hold Mason's tiny hand.

What if everyone is… dead? I thought to myself.

"Rissa!" Darren proclaimed, calling me by his odd nickname, "don't say that in front of him! He might get upset!" he whispers the last part into my ear.

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything."

He looked confused,and I was too, but neither one of us said anything else until we reached the elevators.

"I think I hear people upstairs." He said, just as the elevator made an odd noise alerting us that it was here. Personally, I was ready for Ashton Kutcher to walk out and tell us we were being pranked, but the doors opened and there was no one there.

I sighed loudly and walked into the elevator behind Darren and Mason, who was now on Darren's back. I pushed the fading "16" button and the elevator jerked and for a second I thought it was going to fall right there, but it shuddered and began moving up.

The elevator quickly reached the 16th floor and when the doors opened, they revealed a huge conference room with people included. But there has to be more people than this, doesn't there? I asked myself suspiciously. Only around 25 people were in the room.

"I don't see my mommy." Mason pointed out, interrupting my thoughts.

"I don't see our friends either. But maybe someone here will know whe-"he never got to finish his statement because a lady with red rimmed eyes and smudged mascara ran up to him and started yelling gibberish. Then she passed out and fell on the ground.

"Ummm… that was.. creepy." I said, slowly, afraid she might jump up and start yelling again.

Mason was staring at the lady on the ground for a while, but then he walked over to her and touched her shoulder. For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then her eyes opened and she slowly made her way back onto her feet.

"Oh thank you, dear boy!" she exclaimed before running off to talk to some other lady.

"Mason, buddy, are you ok?" Darren said.

Mason looked really tired and his eye lids were drooping, like he couldn't hold them open any more. Then his eyes closed and he was out cold. Darren scooped up the child in his arms and was going to lay him down on some chairs, but a man interrupted him.

"Ah. A new healer, we have here. Good thing he is young. Here, give him to me." The man said, motioning toward Mason with his arms.

"Umm.. I'd rather not, sir. Who are you? "Darren said to him.

"And what's a "healer"?" I added.

The man paused before he replied, probably figuring out the best way to word his answer.

When he began, he said, "I am the head of this …. Conference lets call it, going on here. Only very special people are allowed here. And I am positive that this young boy is what we are looking for, so I am going to speak with him. The rest of you, I am not so sure about." Then raising his voice so all the people could hear, he said "All of you will have to go through some… tests before you can be let in."

Now was when I noticed the doors at the end of the room. That must be where they are taking Mason, I decided.

"Where are all the other people?" one man shouted.

"Yeah! Where's my wife?" another yelled as the whole room erupted with questions.

After waiting for the crowd to quiet down, the man started to speak. "They are fine, I assure you. But they won't be if you don't cooperate and go through with these tests."

With plenty of sighs and defeated looks, the crowd finally gave in.

"Good. Now it is time for you to be separated into pairs of two." The man proclaimed as he began sorting through the small crowd. I closed my eyes and prayed that I was paired with Darren. "And…. You two! Partner up!" the man said while pointing a long finger at me and Darren. I exhale in relief.

Darren leaned over and whispered, "Did that not feel like picking teams for gym to anyone else but me?" I smirked and thought "Well you're always picked first…" Darren sighed.

"I am not." He said.

Puzzled, I looked up at him and said "Darren, I didn't say anything."

"I just heard you say 'Well you're always picked first'." He said with a quizzical look. I pulled him closer to me and whispered in his ear while glancing nervously around the room,

"I don't know what's going on, but I think you just read my mind." Before he could reply, the strange man was right in front of us, grinning madly.

"Listen up everyone! It seems these two have figured out why we're here. You all were chosen for these tests because you all have some sort of…. Gift, that these tests will bring out. " The group was unsure of this crazy proclamation. Then Darren spoke up,

"Everyone, I think… I think he's telling the truth. I just read my partners thoughts."

"Prove it!" one woman yelled. Darren concentrated on the woman for a few seconds. A few minutes. Right when I thought it wasn't going to work, he said,

"You just thought "This better be a dream. Would God do this to me?"" The woman gasped and said

"No human should be able to do that…" as another man, her husband and a minister, grabbed the gun from the Strange man's belt. I didn't notice the gun until then. He fired it at Darren. Time started to slow and something came over me. I had to stop that bullet. It just had to stop. I concentrated on it and time returned to normal. Before hitting Darren, the bullet dropped straight onto the floor. Everyone was shocked, including myself. The strange man was overjoyed and came over to me and Darren.

"You two! Excellent! You can go straight to the main test now that you have already discovered your gifts!" HE said.

"Uhm What are our gifts exactly?" I asked.

"Well mind reading and telekinesis, of course!" he said while ushering us into the same room they brought Mason into.

Floor 16

The room was huge but dark, and I couldn't find Mason. "So, the main test. As you know, this hotel has 16 floors and we are on the 16. On each floor, someone you know is in danger. You must save them, using your gifts. If you successfully save all 16 people, then you may exit on the ground floor. Your test starts, now!" He said as he disappeared.

"Hey! Come Back!" I screamed after the man, but it was not use. Darren sighed and muttered

"I cant believe this…" then louder said, "Well I guess we better find the person on this floor." I nodded and we began making our way through the room. After a few moments, Darren stopped.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

"Hear what?" I said.

"That whispering… it's faint but I think it's Mason." He said, concentrating.

"Darren, I don't hear a thing." I said, then thought "well maybe its Masons thoughts!"

"I think so too." He replied to my thought.

"I am really going to have to get used to that." I said with a grin. He smirked as we continued towards Mason's thoughts.

"Shhh. I think he's close. Start searching around for him." Darren said as we started feeling around in the dark for Mason. Soon, my arm hit something soft and warm.

"Darren I found him!" I exclaimed.

Hold on let I'll be right there. I can carry him. I heard Darren say, but there was something strange about his words. Then I heard Darren behind me saying "I'll carry him."

"You just said that, Darren." I said with a grin. He looked confused.

"No, I didn't say that before. I was thinking it on the way over though. You don't think….?" He asked, letting the question trail off. That I can speak in your mind and read it too? He finished, in my head.

"Woah." Was all I could say.