Time: 11:45 AM
Ugh, sorry it's been so long. My apologies dearest readers. I have so many stories I NEED to finish, but never find the time. Meh. Anyways, I need something to cheer me up, so...
Please review! X)
Disclaimer: I shall say this now... I don't own Jimmy Neutron. My mind isn't that brilliant.
I could feel my heartbeat pick up a gear as his arm carefully brushed mine. I looked down at where our arms continued to touch and held in a happy sigh. This is how everything should be. I should be here at the movie theatre with the guy I wanted to be with most. I should be here with his body accidentally brushing mine, and staying there, both of us content with the bare touching of arm against arm. I stole a glance at him. Unfortunately he didn't seemed to be fazed by out little accidental touching bit.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that I was here with him, Jimmy Neutron, on an outing. We were going to meet Libby and Sheen here while Libby was back for the Holidays, but she and Sheen bailed on us. Which I was alright with, not that it mattered. Sure, I wanted to see Libby again, but I also wanted something I could call a date with Neutron. Especially since all he had been doing lately was study on his stupid experiment. Well, I guess it wasn't stupid, since it was giving me great tremendous power, but still. I could feel my body grow weak at times, and then others… I was completely invincible. It was strange. There was a power switch I kept turning on and off, but I couldn't figure out what triggered it.
I looked back down at where our arms met. Gulping down a squeal of delight, I tried to focus my attention on the screen and the movie. Unfortunately I was really distracted. One, Neutron was touching me! Second, my palms were becoming really really itching.
Crap. Not again. Again with the whole, power switch thing. Feeling the energy bubble up inside my stomach and tingling through my hands, I couldn't handle it anymore. Standing up, I pushed past Neutron and walked as quickly as I could down the stairs towards the door out of the theatre.
I heard hasty footsteps behind me, and willed them to go away.
Once in the hallway, I turned sharply to the right and trudged down the hall. Just a little more and I will be outside.
"Woah Cindy, where are you going?" Jimmy asked curiously as he caught up with me, and put a hand on my arm. Swallowing my happiness once again, I pulled away.
"My palms are itching again," I said bitterly.
He looked at me strangely. "What? Again? Why would you be building up power here?"
I pushed out the cinema doors and into the crisp cold night. "How should I know? I was watching the movie, and next thing I knew, I was scratching my palms on the inside of the armrest. It's starting to become a pain in the butt you know."
He put his hand around my waist casually, as we passed a couple going into the theatre. "Well then, let's get that power source out of you." He carefully pulled on my waist and guided me around the side of the large building to the deserted back lot where blackberry bushes and ivy had overgrown a small employee parking lot.
He pulled away and reached into this pocket, pulling out a small notebook. It was something he always had on him incase something like this ever happened. "Okay," he said, checking his watch and jotting down the time, "Go ahead and shoot some fire."
I rolled my eyes and turned from him, facing the dark eerie forest on the west side of the building. Spreading my fingers out in front of me, I felt energy radiate through my veins. Curling the tips a bit, I released the bottled up power that felt like it could rip my entire body to pieces.
Incredibly bright blue flames licked at my fingertips, spreading slightly through my hands. Feeling the energy flow through me made my body shiver with excitement. It was enchanting, a song that was sung with flames instead of voices.
Opening my eyes that I had realized I had closed, I breathed out heavily, watching the flames grow. Bringing my hands to my chest I opened them face out and shoved hard, as if shoving something away from me. Lightning exploded from my palms, shrieking and bolting into the dark forest, lighting up the area for a moment, and then succumbing back into darkness. Grinning, I shot another one, trying to direct my aim at a far off tree, seeing if I could pinpoint correctly.
A good ten minutes later, I felt myself calm down. Closing my palms, I made the flame disappear. The wonderful thing was that the fire never left my body, unless of course, I was completely drained. I always had this delicious power, always ready to fight if I needed too.
Heaving a satisfied sigh, I turned around to find Neutron leaning against the wall of the building, his arms crossed over his chest smugly. I narrowed my eyes. "What?" I asked carefully.
"I think I've figured it out," he said, peeling himself from the wall and walking towards me. "Your powers are spurred by emotions. It doesn't matter which one, but it still affects you." He paused and slyly looked down at me from his tall form. "Something sparked your emotions in that movie theatre didn't it? Movie too action packed and fast perhaps?" He brushed his arm against mine, slowly weaving his arm around my shoulders, bringing me in close to whisper nonsense into my ear.
My eyes widened and flaming warmth flooded my face. I silently thanked the darkness around us and pulled away. "Yeah, the movie," I mumbled to myself, walking away, shoving my hands in my pockets, feeling my palms begin to itch again.
I awoke to the sound of soft music playing somewhere. Blinking my eyes wide, I felt the haze of drugs running through my system. Trying to figure out where I was, I looked around silently, trying to keep my head from swimming.
I was in the room I had been in for over the past week. Nothing looked different. Lolling my head to the side I felt my heart beat thump wildly as I looked down at my right arm, facing upwards. There was a gaze wrapped around the soft spot where my elbow creased. Groaning to myself and raising my left hand to rub my face, I remembered the incident that left me scared and confused. I had made fire cocoon my hands, out of thin air.
I remember that man, Jimmy, had put them out himself, and I marveled at how he could do that with just the touch of his hands. Just afterwards, I had felt tears of anger and confusion drip down my face. He gave me a sedative and I felt the world around me shiver with hallucinations. Reluctantly, he then took three vials of my blood, finishing what he came here for.
The narcotics setting in, I felt my body relax and then looked around me, visions painting their way across my vision. Through half lidded eyes, I watched as he walked around to the other side of my bed, ready to leave, and then suddenly turned back. His eyes gazed at me intently, and he reached down to take my limp hand. He squeezed his softly and laid it back down, mumbling something incoherent to my ears. After that, I had drifted off into a peaceful slumber.
Now awake, I looked at my hands again, trying to convince myself that flames hadn't sprung up from my fingertips. Swallowing hard, I licked my lips thoughtfully. Tilting my head, I suddenly saw something I hadn't noticed sooner. I now had two metal bands wrapped around my wrists, like the ones I had been forced to wear during in my prison encampment.
I remember wearing these, but couldn't seem to remember why I had them during that time. It must have been so that I wouldn't do that. My eyes widened a bit. Did those people know I had powers? How come I can't remember having powers?
I heard footsteps coming down the hallway. My heartbeat picked up and I heard a small thought in the back of my head, hoping it was Jimmy. Even though he had taken my blood and seemed really hard to be with, his constant worry and deliciously good looks made me want to get to know him better.
I tried to hide my disappointment when I saw Carl's face pop into the doorway, followed by a girl I had never seen before. But she was incredibly beautiful, her dark hair cut short and flipped out in a fashion she could only pull off. She smiled warmly at me, her hands full of blankets and extra clothes. Carl smiled affectionately as he carried a tray of food and set it on my lap. "Here's your meal Cindy. We are going to be passing through an ice crystal storm soon, so Jimmy ordered us to find the thickest blankets the ship had and send them to you immediately. He will be here soon enough to check on you himself." Carl winked at me handsomely, and I felt my face want to flush. Jimmy was coming to see me? Even after I had yelled at him earlier?
The woman went to the corner of the room, where a small fold out chair sat and she tried to place all the heavy blankets and clothes on top.
I smiled up to Carl. "Thank you Carl, that's very kind of you." I peered past him to look at the woman. "Who's your friend?" I raised my eyebrows.
Carl's face went white. Why is it that whenever I said something to him, he always looked at me as if I said the exact wrong thing. "What?" I asked defiantly.
He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short as the woman came up from behind him, smiling down at me and taking my hand. My eyes widened. Why was she acting so familiar-like?
"Okay Cind," she said happily, "We have everything you need for this five day trip through the ice crystals. I even found an old disk player and searched around in the back room for old CD's that we used to listen too. Do you remember how long ago that was when CD's were still being made?" She laughed lightly, "I still remember all your favorite ones…" Her eyes grew wide with my silence.
I silently pulled my hand away from her grip. Who was this person? And why did she talk as if she knew me? She was acting the same way Jimmy had when I first met him.
"D-Do I know you?" I asked carefully.
Her mouth fell open and she reached a hand out towards me. "Cindy.." she started.
"Oh crap," Carl said through gritted teeth and put an arm up in between her body and mine, "Libby, it would be best if we left right now. Jimmy should be here anytime."
She fell to her knees at my bedside. "Cindy no!" She wailed, tears springing from her eyes, "You can't forget me! You can't! We've been friends ever since first grade, don't you remember?" Her sad brown eyes crinkled, as if remembering things. "You're in there somewhere, I know you are. Why are you letting yourself forget?"
"Forget?" I mumbled quietly to myself. I looked at her. There was something about the way she was looking at me, that gave me the feeling that she was familiar to me. I could feel small tears form in the corner of my eyes.
There were other footsteps down the hallway and I turned to the doorway to see Jimmy standing there in a dark green and gold shirt, making his eyes pop with extra brightness.
"Hey," he said, his eye meeting mine and making all the air in my lungs become trapped in the shell they were in, "How's everything go..?" He saw my face, eyes filled with tears. He looked down to see the woman's hand entwined in mine, her body hunched over, crying into the sheets on my bed. He glanced up at Carl, whose mouth was still open in fright. Carl looked at him sadly and nodded his head, signaling something beyond my comprehension.
I heard Jimmy cuss softly to himself.
He stepped forwards, making my heart skyrocket. "Okay," his deep voice rumbled with authority, "This has gone on long enough. Libby, I need to take her to my lab. I will do everything in my power to make her remember."
I blinked, trying to figure out what he was talking about. Remember what? What had I forgotten that was making everyone crazy on this ship?
Libby sniffled against the sheets and allowed Carl to help her get up, where she buried her face in his chest.
"Shhh, I know you've been through a lot," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her, "First Sheen and now Cindy. Don't worry. We will figure out something."
Sheen? Hadn't I gone to grade school with a hyper boy named sheen? That's right, he and Carl and some other boy had always hung out together. He really liked this one girl…oh why couldn't I remember her name? Looking back up at the woman everyone kept calling Libby, I tilted my head. How did she know him?
But my thoughts were put on hold when I felt Jimmy's presence next to my bed. He reached down and flung the sheets from my body, exposing my body to the cold air.
"Hey," I interjected, "What are you doing?"
He leaned down, reaching behind my back and under my shoulders. Lifting me up off the bed, he curled his other arm behind the backs of my knees, smoothing my white nightgown to my body. My heartbeat picked up and I felt the back of my neck flare up in embarrassment. My body tingled with every spot he touched me.
"It's time for you to know the things that haunt us all," he said darkly, turning and with one look at Carl and Libby, he walked out of my room and carried me down the hallway.
