Disclaimer: I own nothing that is not mine. I trust you can tell the difference, right?
Previously:
"I'm hearing voices."
Chapter Two
Zack was … unbelieving, to say the least.
"Voices," He stated.
"Yep," This was definitely not going well.
"Sara and I were talking," he started.
"I would use arguing, not talking." I told him. "You weren't talking, Zack, you were shouting." Zack grimaced, probably at my pickiness, and opened his mouth, but I beat him to it. "Yelling maybe, Zack, but I wouldn't describe what I saw as talking. She was screeching, or whining at the top of her lungs, but she wasn't just talking, either, Zack, you know that." He just nodded. I saw the corners of his mouth trembling. I felt myself relax slightly. Maybe this wouldn't end in complete disaster after all. "Talking now, talking is when tow people sit down and have a conversation." I stopped. Zack was laughing. I relaxed completely. Disaster had been averted. For now. He shook his head and sighed.
"You're really weird, you know that?"
"Yep!" It's amazing how the atmosphere had changed from tense to joking.
"Come on." He unlocked the car and started to get out. "Let's go inside. You can tell me about your voices there."
I hurriedly followed suit.
"They're not my voices. I was just hearing them. I'm not going mad either – they weren't interesting enough."
Zack raised his eyebrows.
"Really? Start at the beginning. When did this start?" He asked.
"Um," I thought about it as I unlocked the front door. "I think 7th bell. We were listening to a lecture, and someone – I don't know who – complained about knowing this already, but the teacher didn't tell them off." We walked inside, and I listened to the door slam behind us as I kicked off my clogs. Zack sat on the ledge leading up into the hallway to take off his shoes. I leaned against the wall as I continued. "Then someone else said something about the teacher looking bored with his lecture, which no one would say out loud during class, Zack, they'd get in trouble, and people would laugh; only no one did because no one heard!" I paused for breath. Zack put his shoes to the side and stood up.
"No one heard?" He clarified as we walked into the living room. I nodded in reply.
"No one seemed to hear. It was really weird." I dumped my bag on the beige carpeted floor and sat down on the couch with a sigh. Zack sat on the other end of the tan couch and motioned for me to continue. "Then Kevin, Kevin, started to count down the time. That really startled me because Kevin never talks, yet hear he is blabbering about dance lessons."
"Dance lessons?" Zack asked incredulously. "Kevin takes dance lessons?" I nodded. He started to laugh again, and I had to grin. It was funny, and I liked to hear Zack laugh.
"Zack," I started after he had calmed down some.
"I'm not gonna tell, Lara." He said instantly.
"Yeah, I know, but Zack, when you and Sara were arguing, I didn't hear any of it, and I was standing right next to you!" My voice was anxious, rising in pitch towards the end.
"You didn't hear anything." Despite the phrasing, it wasn't a question.
"Not after Sara said 'tell me it isn't true!'" I affirmed. "Then, all I could hear were those stupid voices." I tried to sound nonchalant, but from the look on his face, Zack wasn't fooled.
"That's it?" He asked. "You couldn't hear anything specific?"
"Well, some kid lost their iPhone, and I heard Chloe loud and clear, which really sucked, but mostly people were freaking out about Sara being mad." I took a shaky breath.
"Let me think." He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "The mad don't hear voices they recognize, so we know you're not mad," his voice trailed off.
I nodded, trying to keep from trembling. How could he be taking this so calmly? It's not fair!
I think I jumped out of my skin when he put his arms around me. I do now that I squeaked. It would've been super embarrassing if I wasn't busy freaking out. He chuckled in my ear.
"Calm down, Lara," he told me. I could still hear the laughter in his voice. "We'll figure this out." I turned so my face was in the crook of his neck and squirmed to get comfy. "There are three options." He continued. "You could be making it up, but I can tell when you lie, so that's not it." I scowled into his chest. Zack pulled me closer, and I slid into his lap. I was still shuddering, but I could feel myself calming down.
"We already know that you're not mad, so you can stop freaking out about that." He rubbed circles on my back, trying to soothe me.
I gradually calmed down, until I had some semblance of control back. Slowly I stopped shaking. I became aware of an irritating noise in the background, sort of like music or a talk show on the radio turned down until you can barely hear it. Sort of, only this was a real conversation, not a debate or song.
"Zack?" I asked.
"Yeah?" He replied.
"Is… is the radio on?" I was tense again, my voice reflecting this by creeping up in pitch towards the end, my last word ending in a gasp.
"No…" he said slowly. "What do you hear?"
I took a shuddery breath. "Not much, really. I can't make it out. It's – it's kind of, kind of like when you turn a r-radio down real low, so you can barely hear it." My voice had dropped to a whisper, and I was shaking again, but I couldn't stop. Zack's hand continued to rub circles on my back, still trying to soothe me, while he thought.
"Well," he finally said, "I don't hear anything." He paused, and I think he was trying to figure out how to say what he was thinking. "Which brings us to the third, and final, option." He stopped again and sighed, his breath ruffling my hair.
"You might be a mutant."
I froze. What?
AN: Review! Review, Review, Reveiw! Have I made myself clear?
