Chapter 4: Off-Switch

Lucas found himself in a sunflower field just outside of Tazmily.

"Hey, li'l bro."

Blue eyes shot up to meet their mirror image.

"Come on, let's play."

Small hands tugged on his arm, and a freckled face very much like his own wore a blithe smile. Lucas stood up and followed his orange-haired twin. They ran around the field, Claus' chuckles filling the calm air. In the distance, he spotted a woman with her back turned to him. Her long, brown hair swayed in the breeze gently in harmony with her flowing red dress. Lucas smiled widely and stood next to his twin, before noticing that something was very wrong.

His own form almost towered over Claus' childish body. Claus looked up at him, smile still firmly in place.

"Mom is just over there," he said, pointing towards the woman.

Lucas felt his heart pick up its pace. Claus bolted from his place towards their mother. Lucas froze there for a beat, before hurrying behind his brother. They ran and ran, but the woman remained distant. Lucas tried calling for her, but he couldn't feel his vocal cords. He felt his legs become heavier, as if they were encased in lead.

Rat-atatatatatatatat

Kill them, and bury them where they fall.

This side's closed!

Hinawa materialized in front of the twins. Her face wore an anxious smile as she dropped to grasp Lucas' shoulders.

Shh, darling, shh.

Claus began to tear up. He hugged his twin and buried his face in his waist. Suddenly, a deafening sound exploded overhead. Claus paled and roughly shoved his brother out of the way. Lucas watched as the debris buried his twin and mother. He felt himself tip over and..


It's a blessing, but also a fairly lethal weapon.

He felt something distant echo in his head.


Lucas bolted upright from his bed with a start and a sharp gasp. He panted, staring wide-eyed at the space in front of him. He willed himself to calm down and took a deep breath, wiping the tears and cold sweat from his face. He flopped back down, feeling the disgusting moisture on his pillow soak the back of his neck. After he'd restored his breath and the shrill ringing in his ear had eased, he got up and walked in the dark corridor towards the bathroom. He grimaced at the blinding fluorescent light when he turned it on, but quickly adjusted. Stepping towards the mirror, he took a long look at his face. This was the sixth night in a row that he had the very same nightmare, or was it the seventh? He'd lost count. By then, he half-expected to will himself to wake up once he saw the sunflower field, but it was always as if he'd never seen it before. Sleep deprivation made itself known from the dark circles marring the skin under his bloodshot eyes. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair, and turned on the sink. He splashed some ice-cold water on his face, feeling the cold liquid numb the tips of his fingers and sting his skin. He turned off the sink and dried his face off. Back in his room, he glanced at the wall clock that hung over his bed. It was seven o'clock on a Sunday morning, and the streets outside were very calm. He got out of his pyjamas and shimmied into his everyday clothes. After preparing a steaming thermos of coffee in the kitchen, he put on his sneakers and went outside.


It was almost a ritual for Lucas to get up very early on Sundays so he could visit the hills north of Onett. Boney always accompanied him on his weekly trek, wagging his tail happily. Lucas knelt down at his dog, patting his head and placing a leash on his collar. The pair went out of the front lawn and walked through the tranquil streets, passing through the main street. Lucas had gotten used to seeing this part of town in its sleeping state, so the contrast between now and the usual congestion hardly surprised him. He stopped by a message board to read its contents.

'CAUTION - A black van driven by this guy has been spotted racing recklessly through town. Be careful!'

There was a black-and-white photo of a man wearing a hat and a mask that covered his eyes to the left of the message. Lucas shrugged. He didn't see nor hear any black vans racing around at this hour. He ambled towards the end of the street where an unpaved road led to the town library, passing by the limestone building towards an inclined path that wove its way through the trees. He walked by a small two-storey house, but he picked up his pace to cross the fork in the road that led to the Minches' mansion. Not even animals liked approaching that place, evident by Boney's whimpering whine. After fifteen minutes, he arrived at a run-down shack inhabited by a shady person that always reeked of garlic and sweat. At last, Lucas found himself standing on top of the highest hill in Onett, Meteorite Hill. He sat down at the cliff edge and looked at the sweeping view of the still-sleeping town, sipping his coffee. Boney lied down next to him.

He hated the way Onett could pass for a modernized Tazmily.

He could just pretend the house he'd just passed by to be his old family's home, only painted white instead of the natural brown lumber, the sea was just as calm and blue as the vast ocean from his memories. The Minch house was thankfully concealed behind the cliffs he'd just ascended. It was amusing how Pokey and his cohorts had given him a wide berth ever since that night at the McKinley's. He looked wistfully at the street where the haunted house used to stand, before the city decided to bulldoze it months ago. He couldn't believe a whole year had passed since he had a friendly chat with the McKinley ghosts. He could still remember it like yesterday. A year had passed since he wrote to the Twoson Police Department, informing them of unbelievable details and indicting evidence about some old flea market peddler called Al Everdred. News of the serial killer's arrest made headlines all over the country, but nobody knew who originally wrote that letter with the childish handwriting. At least he was glad that Howard and Jane had finally found their rest.

Ever since that night at the McKinleys' house, Lucas' powers were steadily growing. He realized he could move small things around with his mind, and conjure up luminous blue-green shapes. His mind reading ability was becoming more sensitive, but grew more uncontrollable each passing day. On some lucky days he wouldn't hear a single thought around him, but on most days, the thoughts of everyone around him poured into his mind at once, the jumbled noise nearly driving him insane. Lucas avoided crowds whenever he could; listening to people's thoughts embittered him against them, choosing to withdraw from everyone else as if they were vials of caustic acid.

Boney stood up, shaking Lucas out of his brooding thoughts. He followed the canine's gaze down towards another human and dog duo exiting the small house next to the Minches. Lucas could hear his companion's excited emotions at seeing another fellow dog, but his own attention fixated upon the human. It was a teenage boy around his own age (Just like Claus if he was alive), wearing denim shorts and a yellow-and-blue striped shirt (Claus' shirt was just a shade lighter than that), and his dark hair was hidden under a red and blue cap. The kid slung a baseball bat over his shoulder and ruffled the grey fur behind his pet's ears (Claus used to do that to Boney), and went downhill with his dog. Lucas realized he was staring intently at an otherwise unremarkable person, but the dark-haired boy stirred odd emotions within him. Out of curiosity, Lucas concentrated his gaze at the back of the other's head. He heard nothing.

He couldn't point a finger on it, but for some reason Lucas didn't like that capped boy very much.


Ness.

The boy's name was Ness.

Not that Lucas was actively keeping watch for him, but the kid turned out to be the school's baseball captain. He was under the blond's nose all the time, but Lucas never noticed anyone around him, being the social recluse that he was. On numerous occasions, Lucas would try listening for Ness' thoughts, but he always came back empty-handed. He would hear everyone else's thoughts clearly, but the red-capped boy's mind was always silent. Girls would squeal Ness' name whenever he passed through the hallways, and some beefy guys would give him a high-five or a fist bump. In short, he was an absolute 'jock' as the term goes. Those bunch were loud, obnoxious and looked down on everyone else. He wanted nothing to do with those meatheads, especially their captain.

'Mmm, Ness is so.. hot. I want that,' one ditzy cheerleader's thoughts made its way to Lucas' head while swooning over the capped boy. He scrunched his face in disgust at the sight of the skimpy-clothed girl snaking her limbs around the baseball player. He wondered what the other thought of the excessive female attention upon him. He stared at the red-capped kid and listened in.

Nothing. Again.

Lucas grew accustomed to not being able to hear Ness' thoughts. He could read every single person's mind, but that particular boy was either immune to mind-reading, or that he had no thoughts of his own. Lucas quickly ruled out the second possibility. Nevertheless, it was convenient to have an off-switch for his unruly ability — something to silence the maddening mental noise around him.

He hated to admit it, but he craved Ness' proximity.

With the subtlety of a drunken, three-legged elephant, Lucas went out of his way to be within eyeshot of the dark-haired boy whenever he could. He didn't share a single class with him, but he silently followed Ness around in the hallways, or sat in the bleachers feigning interest in watching chicken-legged jocks scurrying around the baseball field with Ness barking orders at his teammates.


"Hi, friend," A familiarly obnoxious voice sounded behind him after a long day of baseball practice. Ness winced and mouthed a curse before turning towards his addressor.

"Oh. Hello, Pokey," Ness said, forcing a smile.

"Say, we haven't hung out for a while. Wanna go to Franky at the arcade?"

No. Ain't gonna happen, Minch, Ness thought. He wondered how persistent his portly neighbor can get.

"Sorry," Ness started, trying to think of an excuse, "But you see, um, I have plans with.."

With who? He was going to say Paula, but she was at her parents' in Twoson for today. He looked around and pointed at the first person his eyes had fallen on.

".. With blondie over there," he pointed his thumb towards a blond kid with a peculiar hairstyle sitting in the bleachers, apparently minding his own business. Pokey unexpectedly blanched at that.

"Th-that guy? Look Ness," Pokey leaned towards him, "That islander is nothin' but bad news. I tell ya, you don't want anything to do with him."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Ness said flatly, approaching the blond, who was reading a book. Who read books at a sports field?

"Ah. I remembered something I gotta do," Pokey suddenly said, rushing through his speech, "Later." With that, he barrelled away from sight. Ness shrugged and turned around to face the blond, who was impassively looking up at him. He felt uncomfortable under the piercing, blue-eyed gaze.

"Yo," he greeted, trying to sound casual.


"Wanna go at Franky at the arcade?"

Ugh. Pokey's thought must have snuck its way into his mind. Lucas tried concentrating harder on the silence of Ness' thoughts as he flipped through the book in his hand before he realized that Minch's voice made its way through his ear, not mind. He looked up to see Pokey talking with Ness. Pokey leaned towards the capped boy and whispered something he couldn't follow.

'That Islander is nothin' but bad news. I tell ya, you don't want anything to do with him,' He heard Pokey with his mind instead. Ness shrugged and told Pokey that he'd be fine or something. The fat kid excused himself and scuttled away. Ness turned at him. Lucas felt unsure what to say, especially since he had no idea what the other wanted with him.

"Yo," Ness said.

Strike one: Obnoxious greeting. Lucas lowered his eyelids to half-closed and shot the capped boy a bored stare. Ness shifted his feet uncomfortably.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just wanted to get rid of Pokey. Um, yeah."

Strike two: Ness apparently is a lying son of a bitch. Lucas remained impassive, silently staring the baseball player down.

"Well, so… Nice weather we're having, eh?" He said, rubbing the back of his head, just like Claus did when mom scolded him over spooking the sheep or getting himself dirty.

Strike three. Lucas closed his book and stood up. He eyed the slightly shorter kid before walking away, leaving a floored Ness to gawk at his back with his jaw dropped.


He ignored me! That little shit!

Ness was fuming. Who does that guy think he is? At least he could've said something. Even a 'fuck off' would have been an okay response, but wordlessly leaving like that was just insulting. Maybe Pokey was right for once and that kid was bad news. He knitted his eyebrows in thought; he'd seen Blondie around a lot, but he was always alone. It seemed that he had no friends at all. Well, if he acted like such an overinflated phallus all the time, then no wonder! Then again, he didn't even know his name let alone his actual personality. Blondie could use a friend after all. Or maybe not. Ness sighed and stepped back into the school building. He was itching to go home and sink his teeth into some steak.


A/N: OK, so.. Exams. Wow. Here's registering for 20 hours this semester coming around to bite me in the arse. XD I had computer architecture/assembly languages and then data transmission exams with only 12 hours time in between, so I'm currently functioning on black coffee and magical unicorn tears. I think I'll just post this chapter (really short. Sorry) now and sleep for the rest of my life. Maybe. :P

Reviews:

Guest: Haha, it's cringeworthy indeed. And yeah, good thing Pokey got what he deserved. Thanks. ^^

Ninten64: Well, I applaud your well-played pun. XD As for Lucas seeing his family again, I doubt he would be able to come back to his home islands anytime soon. If his family's ghosts roamed the ruins of the village, he's none the wiser.

Connor the spelling pro: A pushover, yup. Still obnoxious and easily hateable, though. :/

As for more description equals better atmosphere, I agree, but excessive description would make a story sound like an essay or something. :P I admit, I tend to be very brief with descriptions - If someone told me to describe an apple, I'm more likely to write 'it's red' instead of 'it is rounded, firm-fleshed, sweet-tasting...' and so on.

I actually nicked the parentheses thing from a thriller novel I've read ages ago XD. I've read some horror stories, namely a few Stephen King books. That guy is great with fridge horror instead of the conventional in-your-face scare techniques.

Yeah Lucas has no (human) friends. Boo hoo. :( Oh well, it's likely to change.

I thought the ghost law was silly too, but it's a staple of haunted house stories (namely the Unfinished Business trope) it's true it wasn't their fault they were murdered, but they apparently want to witness their murderer receive his just punishment before resting in the afterlife or something.

Lucas is pure-hearted, so when he's slapped in the face with the fact that people can have malicious thoughts and act upon them, I believe it's a natural response to withdraw and be bitter and/or vindictive towards them.

hellolord307: Thanks a lot, dude/tte. :)

adricarra: Hey. :D

Yeah, poor Tazmily. It's kinda like a Nazi-like army invading a small town in Poland or France.

I figured it would be a funny thing to pick and poke [heh, get it?] at the translation fail. :P

Well, he might find an honest person. The jury's out on Ness, though, since he's a bit of a special case as you can see. XD

Yeah, Pokey needed something like that to leave Lucas alone, no? XD And thanks. I'm happy you like this story. ^^