|
|
|
No one spoke immediately after Gale finished.
“That sounds very lonely.” Darius finally said.
“I don't care,” Gale turned her head from the wall, but did not look up at him, “As long as I don't have visions.”
“That's stupid.” Reid said from the doorway. Gale hadn't seen or heard him come in.
“I don't like having them.”
“No, your mother doesn't like you having them. So much, that she's exiled you.” Reid's accusation hit Gale hard.
“I don't like them either!” Gale defended. “It'd be better if I didn't have them! If I could just make them stop—“
“Then your mom will welcome you home with open arms?” He spat. “Is that the delusion you're holding onto?”
“Reid!” Doctor Elm scolded. “You are upsetting my patient—get out!”
Reid took one more look at Gale, and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Jeez, that man has no tact!” Dr Elm said, fuming. He then looked at Gale, and immediately softened his expression.
Gale was crying. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks, but couldn't understand why they were there. Was what Reid said true? Had she really been holding on to that idea? Gale shook her head, then drew her knees to her chest. That couldn't be it. Gale knew she would always have visions like she would always have a heart to pump blood through her veins. But despite that fact, Gale felt the tears in her eyes, and a feeling of defiance made words bubble up from deep inside and out of her mouth.
“She calls me,”Gale hiccuped “Once a month, sometimes.”
“Nightingale.” Darius put his hand on her shoulder, careful to only touch her sleeve.
“He's right—it's so stupid.” Gale tried to wipe the tears away, but fresh ones just replaced them as she spoke the realization that was now hitting her like a rock to her skull. “She just...She just couldn't understand it...understand me...if I had just been normal!”
And there it was: what Reid said had been too true. Somewhere deep inside, Gale had carried the thought that if she could just go for a while with out having a vision—if her abilities could magically disappear—then just maybe, her mother would accept her: Love her. But her mother could barely look at her before she moved out, and hardly ever contacted her now. When Gale called her mother, she could hear her mother's tone change when she realized it was her daughter on the other end. Gale was a source of shame and fear for her, and always would be. It was too late to go back. Gale didn't fit in with her own family, and that was reality.
Gale looked at Darius with a smile that carried nothing but sadness and pain. “I'm a freak, aren't I?” She whispered. “A monster.”
Darius withdrew his hand from her shoulder. He instead rested it palm up on Gale's leg, on the sheet. He was offering it to her. She didn't take it.
“I am, what is known as empathic.” Darius announced. “Meaning I can sense the emotions felt by those around me. I have several other abilities besides that, but it's the only one I've had since birth.”
“And Reid was born with the ability to see spirits.” Doctor Elm added.
Gale could only stare at them in amazement.
“You see Nightingale, to call you a monster would be say the same about ourselves.” Darius spoke slowly, his words more sincere than anything Gale had heard in a long time. “Reid and I have struggled in the past as well, but we have come to terms with who we are, and the fact that our gifts are a part of us.”
“It's been nothing but a curse.” Gale said painfully, new tears welling up in her eyes.
“Nightingale, what you have is a gift.” Darius countered. “And I'd like to help you learn, not to suppress them, but to develop your powers. I have confidence in the fact that you could at least build up a tolerance, so the visions wouldn't be such a strain.”
There was a heavy pause. Gale was back to staring at her lap.
“I can't promise that you'll ever reach a point where you can entirely stop your visions from happening.” Darius continued. “But what I can promise is understanding from people who know exactly what you're going through, and a chance that someday, you may not need to wear those gloves anymore.”
Gale silently looked at Darius again, trying to see something beneath the surface of his brown eyes, but after a moment she averted her eyes to a spot on the tile floor. Darius stood up and sighed, knowing he could not push the issue more than he already had. As he walked to the door to go join Reid in the hall, Doctor Elm brought Gale her jacket and gloves from the counter on the wall opposite the bed. Darius' hand was on the knob when she spoke.
“Gale.”
Darius turned around. Gale was looking at Darius with a timidness that surprised him.
“Nightingale is what my mom uses now. She didn't always though. I think was my mom's way of detaching herself. She used to call me Gale.” Gale said, mimicking the slow pace Darius had used for her. “And I can do Wednesdays. I could come by once a week to work with you, if that's okay.”
It took a minute for Darius to realize his mouth was hanging open. Finally he shook his head, and smiled.
“Gale it is.” He replied. “I'll have Reid pick you up at 10 starting next Wednesday morning.”
Gerbil_of_the_Vashness · Tue Dec 30, 2014 @ 04:15am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|