Feel Again (4 page)

“Actually, it usually is, but I don’t really care until after
it’s all over. Put on some nice clothes and a pair of high heels or
something, because I
am
going to take
you
to a smashing club and let you feel the music,”
Lionel responded with quite a bit of enthusiam.

“How can
you take me to a club. Is that not a blunt object which people use
so that they may hit each other over the head and seriously maim or
possibly kill them?” She seemed sincerely confused in such a manner
that Lionel did not even know what he could possibly say to justify
her complete lack of social skills.

“Wow,
Sam. I guess you really don’t get out all that much.” That was
about all he could come up with in response to her inept mannerisms
and infinitely perplexing responses.

To Sam’s surprise, it did
not take very long at to travel to this place which the Earthlings
referred to as a “club.”. It was very hard to walk in the weird
shoes with the sticks holding up the backs, though. Earthlings on
the strange square portal, often referred to as a “television,”
always called them “high heels” and Sam really did not see the
point of such ridicoulous fashion objects at all. Regardless of how
much Lionel has talked about this place on the way there, nothing
could have prepared her for what was inside. There were these
strange lights in all different colors and lots of people were
drinking beverages of all different colors that seemed to make them
go completely insane. A girl about Sam’s age was on a platform
singing. Lionel said her name was Loretta J. Apparently she did not
have a last name like other earthlings. Strange. Samakri was
fascinated by the music.

You were my hero, my
bonafide

You were my savior, my shining
knight

When life went wrong

You made it right

And then she came along,

I faced my fear

I was in need;

You disappeared 

You are my poison, my
cyanide

You are my evil, my
afterlife

When I am lonely,

Alone I cry

Right from the beginning

Of my days living

You understood 

What no one would

You were my hero, my
bonafide

You were my savior, my shining
knight

When life went wrong,

You made it right

But after what only seemed a
day,

You began to slowly slip
away

What I though would be
addition

Confirmed my
superstition

You are my weakness, my
kryptonite

You are my ending, my null and
void

When I am frozen

You close my eyes

After many a moon,

That fated June,

You walked away,

So far, too soon.

You were my hero, my
bonafide

You were my savior, my shining
knight,

When life went wrong,

You made it all right

You are my ego, my the one who
lies

You are my secret, my mind’s
desire,

When I am broken, 

Alone I fight. 

“That was a wonderful song,”
Samakri told Lionel with as much sincerity as someone like her
could produce. “It is such a shame that I do not understand
anything whatsoever of what it was about.” How typical of someone
as unusual as Samakri.

“You will someday.”

For a brief moment, Sam allowed
Lionel’s eyes to meet hers. And, in that moment, she felt
something, and it scared her, because Zebdians did not feel any
human emotions. At the same time, Lionel watched as her yellow eyes
turn blue for the tiniest fraction of a second, and then she looked
away, her irises returning to their original shade.

"Let's leave this place," she said,
showing a rather sudden lack of interest in the very thing with
which she had just seemed, in fact, quite fascinated by.

"Okay," Lionel replied, having no
immediate desire to argue with someone as disagreeable as
Sam.

Just then, the singer, Loretta J,
came running out of the club. A crazed woman with dark hair and a
red sweater was chasing her out of the back door. The overzealous
fan was holding a gun and Loretta J was in tears. Before Lionel
could react, Samakri ran out past them and grabbed the gun from the
fan. She did not anticipate that Loretta would take it from her.
The singer shot her crazy fan in the chest.The woman began to
hemorrhage and lost consciousness. Loretta J was still in tears. A
security guard spotted them and began to chase Loretta J. Without
thinking, Sam grabbed her and pulled her into Lionel's car. They
began to drive off.

"Thank you so much for saving me,
but who the hell are you?" asked the singer.

"Do not ask me any further
questions. And, also, please get rid of that thing," Sam said,
reaching for Loretta's loudly ringing smartphone, which she then
proceeded to throw carelessly out of the window of the beat-up
black pickup truck.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing,”
Loretta J inquired, showing how upset she was at the thought of
losing her cell phone. “My manager's number is on there and I paid
like five hundred bucks for that thing! It’s my baby!"

"You will not be needing it unless
you plan on going to prison," Samakri said in response to Loretta,
though her facial expression suggested that she was, in fact, quite
confused as to what a prison really was.

"Do you mind if I sing while you
drive,” Loretta J asked Lionel meekly. It helps me with my
anxiety,” she added, as if someone with as much anxiety as she
claimed to have would be capable of the act that she had just
committed.

"Go right ahead," Lionel said. "I
have pretty good focus."

I live in the heart of a
dreamer

and that's all I want you to
know

I was once a
non-believer

and it just goes to show

I never give up

I never give in

I never let go

I always win

You haven't seen the
worst

I'll hit you where it
hurts

and I ain't backing'
down

I'm a beast; you let me
out

You'll lose out on a lot

So look before it's gone

I have a broken heart

but you'll never wear my
crown

I live in the heart of a
dreamer

and I don't want you to
go

You're a first-rate
deceiver

but I'll never be alone.

I never give up

I never give in

I never let go

I always win.

You don't have a head
start

no matter what you
thought

I'll hit you with my
dart

You'll see what I hath
wrought

I never give up

I never give in

I never let go

I always win

"Impressive," Lionel
commented.

"Where I come from, we would say
'owulg' not 'impressive.' I think it means the same thing,
however," Samakri added randomly.

"You people are really weird,"
Loretta J said.

"I am not weird. I am brilliant and
resourceful," Sam remarked. Lionel laughed to himself.

"Do not laugh at me,
Lionel."

"Sorry."

Lionel was driving the weathered
Ford pick-up for what seemed like forever, as Samakri instructed
him to drive continuously in random directions. By then, they were
probably in New Jersey, by the looks of things. Sam had insisted
that she could drive, but Lionel was not going to take any chances
when it came to the safety of a pop culture icon.

“I can drive. You do not need to,”
the strange girl said matter-of-factly, just as they passed a
decrepit farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Just before they drove
too far away, Sam added, “Stop. We’re going there.” She used her
arm to make exaggerative gestures toward the farmhouse.

Lionel beckoned for Sam and Loretta
to get out of the car. As they waded through tall, overgrown grass
and past rusty tractors lined up along a rotting wooded wall,
Samakri surprised Lionel yet again; in a way which he could never
have anticipated.

“We
are in Albany, not New Jersey,” she said. Lionel felt a shiver run
up his spine.
Samakri knows
what I’m thinking.
When he
looked up, he caught a wry grin form in the corner of her mouth.
She had caught that too. Nothing was safe from her. Just then, he
got an idea, just to see if it would work.

I hate that stupid bitch. I bet
she’s from Mars or something and she’s probably a whore. She looks
worse than someone from MTV with all that disgusting makeup on. I
wonder if she’s really that much of a dog that she needs to cover
her face.

Samakri pegged him off. He supposed
that it was a universal signal for sure now. That explained why his
Russian chemistry teacher had known it all too well. Oops. Lionel
proceeded to trip over the root of an oak tree and fall flat on his
face. Samakri laughed at him and that really pissed him off. But,
why was he letting that weirdo get to him? He figured that he
should not allow that to happen, but it would be really hard not to
be annoyed by her if she could read his mind. Loretta started to
sing again.

You’re sitting in a
classroom

On that almost summer
day;

You’re stuck in endless
silence,

But the pain won’t slip
away

Let your imagination run
wild,

Let your dreams soar with
mine;

Let your heart fly away
tonight,

Let everything be
alright

You’re standing in the
corner

Of the street in the
rain;

You’re the one still
waiting

For the ride that never
came

Let your imagination run
wild,

Let your dreams soar with
mine;

Let your heart fly away
tonight

Let everything be
alright

You’re lying in the
silence

And you just can’t fall
asleep;

You’re waiting and you’re
wondering

If you’ll ever see a
dream

Let your imagination run
wild,

Let your dreams soar with
mine;

Let your heart fly away
tonight,

Let everything be
alright

You’re trying and you’re
crying,

And you feel like it’s in
vain;

You’re hoping and you’re
praying

For a better day

Let your imagination run
wild,

Let your dreams soar with
mine;

Let your heart fly away
tonight,

Let everything be
alright

Let everything be
alright

There had to be a way to block her
out. They walked along until they reached the craggy door of the
farmhouse, with it’s brick-colored paint peeling around the edges,
and thick blue-green moss coating what was left of the lock.
Without hesitation, Sam pushed the door open and the Lionel
followed.

“Where’s Loretta?”

“I removed her from existence. She
was annoying and superfluous.”

“Seriously, Sam?”

“Yes. I cannot lie. I also cannot
read your mind anymore, as I have broken the thought bond which
connected us, that is, once I came to realize that your mind is
filled with nonsense and disgusting cuss words.” Her voice
suggested that she held quite a distasteful disposition with
regards to Lionel’s thoughts, especially those which pertained to
her.

“What the hell is a thought bond?”
Lionel was super confused now. He really did not even want to know
what a thought bond could be.

“That’s for me to know and for you
never to find out.”

Lionel was now alone with a murderous girl who was
presumably from a foreign planet that did not exactly seem normal
to him and, to put it quite frankly--
she was hot.
It was
probably okay to think it now that she could not read his mind any
longer, at least, he hoped she could not read his mind. He would be
really pissed off at her if she had lied to him. When she was not
looking, he glanced over at her for just a moment, and saw
her,
really saw her,
for the first time, with her pearly
white skin, her flowing purple hair, those enduring yellow eyes,
and that
body.
She was not human, but she was,
however, suddenly beautiful to him, though he did not know exactly
why he was beginning to feel that way.