Gifted Youngster

Gifted Youngster

Old Fiat

Currently Listening: "That Thing You Do!" by the 'Wonders' from the soundtrack of the film, That Thing You Do! I love this song. :D

Okay, nobody is allowed to say that it's unrealistic how fast Scott gets disorientated because I did an experiment with myself on the stairs in my own home and I could figure out where I was when I had only gone down five steps. Yes, I know it was weird to run an experiment like that on myself. It was in the interest of… fan fiction? XD

Hope you all like it!

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Chapter 7: Teasing

Mildred was the one who led Scott upstairs. One hand on his shoulder and her arm wrapped around his waist, she steered him through the hallway. However the moment they stepped out of the test room, Scott had lost where he was. As they climbed what he thought was the first flight of stairs, he gripped the hem of her shirt.

"Mildred?" he asked tentatively, praying she wouldn't take her arms off him.

"It's me," she said, helping him find the steps with his feet.

"Where are we going?"

"You're being moved upstairs so you can't hurt the other children."

He could see why he was a danger. The huge hole in the wall of his room was enough evidence of that. "Will I see my friends again?" he asked, carefully letting one of his hands rest on the metal railing. He felt a lot safer being with Mildred than he'd felt with Dr. Jennifer. Mildred wouldn't hurt him.

Mildred felt her stomach twist with guilt as she looked at the frightened boy, unable to see due to a long strip of cloth tied over his eyes.

"Maybe," she lied. "But you'll make friends up here too. You're going to be in a room with another one of the children who stays there."

"Why?" he asked without thinking.

"To keep an eye on you. To..." she paused to think of a good way to say it. "To be a kind of seeing-eye dog for you."

"Oh..." He'd lost count of which flight of stairs they were on now. It had to be at least four, and yet Mildred kept going. Higher and higher, until finally she led him off the stairs and down the hallway.

"Here is your room," she said, briefly letting go off him to pull some keys out of her pocket and unlock the door. She led him into the room. Scott could feel plush carpet under his feet and he tried to work out which direction he was pointing. As far as he knew, he could've been upside down. "I'll see you in the morning."

He heard the door close and spun around to try and stop her going, but only succeeded in disorientating himself more.

"Hello?" he said softly, trying to figure out where he was in the room. Where was the person he was sharing a room with? Whoever it was seemed awfully quiet. He wondered side ways until his hands met concrete wall. It was like playing Blind man's Bluff—a game he'd always hated. He felt his way along the wall and jumped as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Who's that?" he called out loudly, keeping one hand against the wall as he craned his head, as though he was peering around for the person who'd tapped him. There was a snicker about two feet to his right. Hesitating only for a second, he let go of the wall and reached out.

His hands met only air and, due to his sloppy lunge, he fell down on the carpeting. His chin smashed against the ground and his teeth clenched together painfully.

He was so confused-- he couldn't figure out if he was still two feet or ten miles from the wall. Rooms no longer held their boundaries but stretched on for ever and ever. He gripped the floor, wondering where the horizon was.

Slowly standing up, he began fumbling for the wall once more.

"Over here!"

Somebody was right behind him! He turned around and jumped. Again, he slammed against the floor.

"Please!" he shouted, voice cracking as his nose began to bleed a little. "Please stop! Leave me alone..."

"It's okay, kid... I'm right here."

Somebody roughly took him by the wrist and pressed his hands to his face. Scott let his fingers glide over the large, beaky nose, soft lips and sunken eyes. He could feel whoever-it-was's hair too-- silky and smooth under his fingertips. The person pulled his hand off again, but didn't let go of his wrist.

"My name is Jack," he said quickly, but clearly. "I'm sorry about that thing before. I was just playing when I probably shouldn't have. I didn't realize you'd get so upset."

Scott tried to move his hands a little in Jack's flesh and bone handcuff. "My name is Scott," he said, after a slight pause.

"No nickname?" asked Jack, a teasing tone in his voice.

"No..." said Scott, raising one eyebrow behind his blindfold. "Why? Do I need one?"

"No, but I would've thought you'd prefer some sort of nickname instead of just 'Scott'."

"Hey," said Scott, a little miffed. "What's wrong with my name?"

"Oh nothing…" he said, a hint of laughter in his voice.

"What do you—"

"So what are your powers then? Jack asked, smoothly cutting off Scott before he'd even reached mid-sentence.

"What powers?" he asked, deciding to leave the name thing for now.

"Your… Well… Okay, most of the kids were sent up here because they had some sort of… power. Something they could just do that no person should be able to do normally. One of my friends—Keira—was sent up here when I was about ten because she could make plants grow according to her will. Dr. Milbury found out about it and yanked her into the test room and I saw Mildred leading her up here latter that day. I dunno where she is now…"

"How did she get her powers?" asked Scott. He quite liked the idea of her ability—it sounded a lot more useful than what he could do.

"Dunno," said Jack with another shrug. "But she had them, that's for sure. What can you do?"

"I... I woke up, a while ago-- I dunno if it was a couple of days or a week..." Scott quickly realized he was rambling and caught himself. "Anyway, when I opened my eyes this big... energy... thing burst out and just sort of blew a hole through the wall."

"Did everyone come in when they heard the explosion? I remember hearing something loud a couple days back."

"Yeah..." said Scott, his whole body shaking, "and when I turned around to see them I just sort of... fell off."

"Fell off?" Scott could almost see Jack's look of bewilderment.

"I just kind of toppled off the edge of the floor," said Scott and suddenly realized something. "I don't know how I didn't die, actually."

Jack shrugged, then, remembering Scott couldn't see him, said, "Beats me."

He looked at Scott for a few minutes. He was clearly nervous and scared. Sighing, he stood up, pulling Scott up with him.

"I'll give you a quick tour of the room and then we'll go to bed, okay? IT's nearly eleven at night."

Scott nodded and Jack led him around the room. As they neared the bed, he tripped over a small box and nearly fell down again.

"Sorry about that," said Jack, helping Scott regain his balance. "They brought up your things a while before you arrived."

Slowly and carefully, Scott knelt down and opened the box. He'd know it when he felt it.

"What are you looking for?" asked Jack, bending down beside him and placing one hand on his back.

Scott just shook his head and dug through the various items. Finally, he found what he'd been looking for.

He pulled it out and opened it, running his hand over the yellowed pages-- Jack snatched it from his hands.

"Pride and Prejudice?" he said, turning the book over in his hand. "Have you read this before?"

"Give it back," said Scott, trying to take it back from him.

"No, seriously! Have you—"

"I said 'give it back'!" said Scott, grabbing it from Jack and holding it tightly in his hands.

"I'm sorry," said Jack, patting the brunette on the back.

"I never got to read it," said Scott, biting his lip and running his hands over the soft cloth cover. "And now I never will."

"Sure you will!" said Jack, giving Scott a light punch in the shoulder.

"How?" asked Scott, cocking one eyebrow.

"Well..." Jack grinned. "I could read it to you!"

Scott looked angry now.

"I don't need you to read to me!" he shouted, unsure of why he felt unwilling to accept his offer. Apart from learning brail—which was pretty much out of the question when he was trapped in a room he couldn't see—having a person read the book aloud was the only way he'd ever read the whole story.

"Look," Jack sighed and patted him on the back. "Just because I'd be reading it aloud to you doesn't mean I don't think you're not intelligent enough to read and understand the story on your own. You just have a... disability because of your power and having to accept help because of it."

Scott mulled over Jack's words in his mind. Finally, he took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the book.

"I'd... Please, read this to me."

"It'd be my pleasure," said Jack, beaming. "Let me help you into your pajamas and then we'll start."

Only a few minutes later, Jack helped Scott into bed and sat down beside him. He opened the old, green volume, his eyes landing instantly on the neatly written words, Marie Summers.

He flipped to the first page and tapped Scott on the shoulder.

"You ready?" he asked, resting his hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

Scott nodded, letting himself sink a little further into his pillow.

"Okay—It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife..."

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Okay, so not much happened in this chapter. I apologize again for not updating before. I hope you all enjoy!

-OFsI