The theme song for this chapter is "Chasing My Tail" by Fox Avenue.
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Incredible
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Rated T for language and violence.
She could no longer hear the voices. He ceased to repeat them. Her abundant voice lost all meaning. He didn't know what to listen for anymore. She was beaten of her will, her Voice having left her for dead. His voice was lost forever to the violent wind.
But the ones who created them made a crucial mistake when taking apart their miraculous creation. Now their experiments are getting minds of their own, and they're pushing at the time-weakened, crumbling walls. How much longer will they stay standing?
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Chapter Eight: Recognition
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She shrugged, her hair rustling against her top, but her voice was warm. "Just have fun in Dallas, Aiden."
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
The front door banged open, and Aiden sighed. His reprieve was over. Time for the kids.
"Aiden!" That was Dave. He stumbled up to where his older brother lay on the couch, eyes closed as he feigned sleep. "I know you're awake, Aiden, that hasn't worked on me since I was five. Whatever—guess what? We brought home some new kids!"
"We can't keep them, Dave," Aiden yawned. "They have a loving family who must miss them."
A new voice, coming from somewhere above Dave, laughed; the sound was both bitter and remorseful. "If by 'loving family' you mean distracted, workaholic mother, then, yes, we certainly have a 'loving family.'"
Aiden paused, halfway between sitting and lying on the creaky, bad-for-his-back couch. That voice… he knew that voice. But it sounded… older, somehow. How do I know that voice?
Aiden felt his mouth open, and he said the first word that came to mind. "Gasman?"
There was a horrible pause, where no one made a sound and the room seemed to hold its breath.
The new voice said slowly, "No…"
"This is Mike, Aiden," the younger Wallace boy corrected. Suddenly, Dave sounded very worried. "Dude, you're not… gassy, are you?"
But this new voice, Mike, never answered. A small, young girl's timid words spoke up first. Aiden didn't even hear her extra set of footsteps enter the room.
"Iggy?" She sounded close to tears.
I know that voice, too. Another word popped into his head, but this time, he kept it quiet. But… wait. Was that his name she'd said?
"No, Aiden," Haley insisted, her socked feet sliding up along the smooth wood floor.
Suddenly, two wiry arms were wrapped around the seventeen-year-old's waist, and a curly-haired head pressed into his chest. Something about the little girl, the way she spoke, the way she flew through the air to hug him, tugged at some distant, buried memory. Aiden wrapped his arms around her and held fast. That one word, his initial reaction, seemed to suit her perfectly.
"Aiden," she said, voice muffled by his shirt. The older boy nearly laughed. She sounded so cross, like she was convinced that wasn't his name. "You're Aiden?" It was a statement posed as a question. She didn't believe it.
He did chuckle, rubbing her hair. "Yeah, and you're…?"
"Izzy." That was Mike's voice, and suddenly the little girl was tugged out of the seventeen-year-old's arms. "Leave the guy alone."
"But Mike…" Izzy's stubborn voice trailed off, and two pairs of feet hurried from the living room.
"What was that all about?" Sarah. She came up and put her hands on the back of the couch. "Dave, Haley, what are your friends doing hugging Aiden?"
"I'm not quite sure…" Haley trailed off, shuffling her feet. She sounded concerned, worried. "Izzy and Mike just moved here from New York. Tuesday was their first day at school."
There was a frown in Sarah's words. "Aiden, do you know those kids?" She directed her question down at her older brother.
"I…" He couldn't say that he did, because he had no idea who they were. But somewhere, buried deep down, in that same place that felt heart-stopping recognition at the Cowboys-Bears game, he did know them, and he knew them well. "No," he murmured definitively.
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Izzy stumbled out of the room as Mike yanked her arm. In the kitchen, he hissed, "Izzy, what was that for?"
"I know him, Mike," she whispered. "I can feel it. And I know you know him, too." On the word "you" she poked him in the chest, her eyes blazing defiantly. "I saw your eyes."
Mike glared at his sister, then glanced over his shoulder at the young man sitting on the couch. With his pale, freckled skin, strawberry-blonde hair, and cloudy blue eyes, he seemed so familiar. But Mike didn't know him, and he had no idea why Aiden called him Gasman. How did anyone know about that, anyway? That was between his family and him. No one outside of his mother and his sister knew. He couldn't have them know about that. That as too personal.
Yet… something fired up in the back of his mind when his sister called the boy Iggy; a sudden flare of recognition that was instantly washed away.
"Izzy… did you take your medicine this afternoon?" he hated himself for bringing it up, but he had to make sure. If she didn't take her medicine, them maybe this is just her mind playing tricks on her, he reasoned.
His sister's heartbroken face was all he needed in confirmation. "Why does everyone think I am crazy? I am not crazy!" Izzy's horrified, appalled eyes glared up at her brother. "How can you think that? You're my brother…" Her face crumpled, and she raced out the back door as fast as her legs could carry her.
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The sniffling above his head was all Aiden needed to guide him to the old tree house. Hands met wood and feet met bark and he hoisted himself into the small, raised shack.
"What are you doing here?" Izzy sniffed, scooting away from the hole in the floor so the seventeen-year-old could climb through.
He let his feet dangle over the edge, hearing her sniffling come from a far corner. "Are you okay?" he asked gently. He'd learned from Dave and Haley that they kids' last name was Conroy, and that they were needed home by four-thirty. They only had fifteen minutes, and Mike hadn't made any move to go get his sister. Sarah was busy as well, so it fell to Aiden to get the little girl out of the tree.
Izzy swiped at her eyes, and her hair rustled as she shook her head. "Aiden," her scared little voice came from the right, and the young man scooted a little closer to it. "Do you know who I am?"
"You're Izzy Conroy?"
"No, do you know who I am?"
Aiden paused for a moment. She seemed to know the burst of recognition that flared within his chest whenever Izzy or her brother spoke. She acted like she had the same feeling. "Do you?" A split second late, he realized that he was asking his own question, how replying to hers.
"I feel like I should, but… I don't know." The confusion and distress in her light little voice were evident.
The older boy felt himself smile. "That's how I feel," he said truthfully.
"Mike thinks I'm crazy." Izzy sounded close to tears.
"Your brother?" Aiden scooted next to the young girl and draped an arm around her shoulder, like he often did for the younger kids. She's just like them, he thought.
Izzy nodded. "I mean, I see a shrink, so I guess he has his reasons. But he doesn't have to go and call me crazy like that."
"Why do you see a shrink?"
Izzy buried her head in his chest. "Sometimes I hear voices," she murmured, ashamed of herself despite what she told her teacher.
"What kind of voices?" Aiden drew her shaking, crying form close, brushing down her frazzled curls. Hearing her so distressed made his heart ache, too. But it didn't make any sense. He barely knew her. Scratch that. He didn't know her at all.
"They feel like thoughts," the girl admitted, horrified as the words slipped out of her mouth.
The young man stiffened. "Can you hear my thoughts?"
Izzy shook her head. "Nope. But I…" Should she tell him? Should she divulge her deepest, darkest secret in the entire universe? Izzy thought she could. She could tell Aiden, because she knew him, despite the fact that she didn't actually know him. "I… I do remember one thought. I haven't told Mike or my mom, though," she added hastily, "so you can't tell them either."
"Of course not."
The girl took a deep breath to steady herself. "She felt scared, furious. She said to me, 'Don't worry, angel. We will survive this. I'll find you all, I promise.'"
"Angel." Aiden beamed suddenly, squeezing her frail shoulders after his whole body had tensed when she'd murmured his instant reaction to her voice.
Izzy nodded. "She called me an angel."
"No, she said Angel. Capital 'A'. It's your name." The young man was nearly shaking with pent-up excitement.
"What?"
"She called you Angel the way you called me Iggy."
Her little gasp in understanding, but still she paused for a moment. "So…" The girl mulled this over, pulling herself upright. After a moment, she whispered, nervous, "Aiden?"
"Yes?"
"You called Mike Gasman. How could you have known that?"
"Known what?" He didn't know who the kid was—or did he? Aiden shook his head. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, he knew for a fact that Mike was in Dave's class.
There was a slight laugh in Izzy's voice, and Aiden felt himself smile at her small happiness. "Mike had digestive problems when he was little. He used to be really… gassy." She giggled, sounding like the tinkling of chimes. Suddenly, her voice changed, became melancholy. "But he would always get teased about it at school. So mom took him in to a doctor, and now he's all better. But he still hates me when I bring it up. So don't tell him I told you, okay?"
Aiden tilted his head back and laughed hard. Holy moly, that kid Mike Conroy was familiar. Just like… but he couldn't place a name. "Don't tell me, he builds explosives, too?" he chuckled almost to himself.
Izzy stiffened. In a half-awed, half-scared whisper, she said, "How do you know that?"
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A/N: I'd originally had 48 reviews going into this chapter. Now I have over 400. But I was so psyched about it, all the same. We take baby steps, we really do.
Speaking of baby steps, there will be QUITE a few baby steps in this story, much like this one. I take it, by now, that you've figured out the secret of my little name changes. The details, however, you don't know. And you probably won't know all the details until later on. (If I remember correctly, I do explain a few things in the next few chapters. But most of it might not even be addressed until the sequel, which is coming.)
This is a rare instance where the same characters are in two consecutive chapters. Also, keep track of the dates, it might help you to understand the story a bit better and keep you a little less confused. (That's why I've added them.)
Still, have any questions? Comments? Hopes for the future? A funny fact that will make me smile and get me to like you (so, when the sequel food contest rolls around, you'll be in prime position to earn extra snacks because I actually enjoy getting your reviews)?
I knew there was a reason I kept asking these questions! ;)
On to the next chapter!
Your faithful author,
Lea