The Prisoner of Cell 25 (5 page)

“Stop it,” I said.

“Make me.”

I went back to my studying. Less than a minute later another marble hit me in the head. As I looked up I noticed a metal trim that ran along the wall where Cody was leaning. 

I don’t know why I did it—maybe I was still feeling great from finally putting Jack in his place, maybe it was the obnoxious smirk on Applebaum’s face, or, maybe it was that I was showing off for Taylor.

But, most likely, it was the culmination of too many years of being bullied. Whatever the reason, I was done with playing the victim.

With my hand below the table I touched the trim behind me and pulsed. Cody let out a loud yelp and fell back off his chair, smacking his head against the wall, then the floor. When Ms. Johnson stood up to see what had happened, Applebaum was lying on his back rubbing the back of his head.

“Cody! Quit screwing around.”

He looked up from the ground. “Something shocked me.”

“Right, Cody. I saw you leaning back on your chair,” Ms. Johnson said. “One more outburst like that and I’m adding two days to your detention.”

Cody climbed back into his chair. “Sorry, Ms. Johnson.”

I looked over at Taylor. She was looking at me, slowly shaking her head. I shrugged.

Ms. Johnson let us out early again. On the way out of the cafeteria, Taylor said, “Nice spending time with you, Ms. Johnson.”

“You too, Taylor.” Ms. Johnson glanced over at me. “Hopefully your behavior will rub off on some of the other students.”

“I hope so,” she said.

Taylor laughed when we were out of the cafeteria. “Stick with me, Vey, maybe my behavior will rub off on you.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. Actually I was happy to stick with her, but for other reasons.

As we walked down the hall Taylor asked, “What did you do to Cody?”

“Nothing,” I said.

“Same ‘nothing’ you did to Jack and his gang?”

I grinned. “Maybe.”

“Whatever you’re doing, you shouldn’t do it in public like that.”

“You should talk. Besides, Cody started it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Taylor said.

I turned to her. “It does to me. I’m sick of being picked on and doing nothing about it. It’s like having a racecar you have to leave parked in the garage all the time. Why even have it?” I opened the door for her, and we walked out of the school.

“I know. But if you keep doing it, someone’s going to figure it out.”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

We walked toward the back of the schoolyard. “Where do you live?” I asked.

“It’s just through that fence over there and two houses down. So, tell me about the other day when Jack was picking on you.”

“You have to first tell me what you did to Poulsen.”

Taylor nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you when we get to my house.”

Taylor’s house was a tan rambler with plastic pink flamingoes in the front yard and a small grove of aspens on the side. She took a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.

“No one’s home,” she said. She stepped inside, and I followed her.

The house was tidy and nice, bigger than our apartment, but not by much. There was a large wood-framed picture of her family above the living room fireplace. She had two older brothers. Everyone in Taylor’s family had blond hair and blue eyes except Taylor.

“Where’s your family?”

“My parents are at work. My brothers are in college. I usually only see them on weekends.”

“Where do your parents work?”

“My mom works for a travel agency that does educational tours for high school students. My father’s a police officer.” Taylor turned on the lights and led me to the kitchen. “Want some juice or something?”

“No thanks.”

“Go ahead and sit down.”

I sat down at the kitchen bar while she looked inside the fridge.

I put my hand over my right eye, which was fluttering like a moth’s wing.

“How about some lemonade?” she asked.

“Sure.”

She poured us both a glass then sat down next to me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why do you blink like that?”

I flushed. “I have Tourette’s syndrome.”

“Tourette’s syndrome? You mean, like those people who shout out swear words for no reason?”

“That’s Tourette’s, but I don’t do that. I do other things.”

“Like blinking?”

“Blinking. Sometimes I make gulping noises. Sometimes I make faces.”

“Why?”

I shrugged. “No one really knows why. Tourette’s is a neurological thing, so it can affect any part of my body.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Sometimes.”

She thought it over. “Is it okay that I’m asking you about this?

I’m not trying to embarrass you. I just thought, if we’re going to be friends, I should know.”

What she said made me happy.
If we’re going to be friends . . .

“Yeah. It’s okay.”

Taylor stood. “Let’s sit in the family room. You can bring your drink.” We walked into the next room, then sat down next to each other on the sofa. I took a drink of lemonade and puckered. “Wow. That’s sour.”

“My mom must have made it. She makes it really tart.” Taylor took a sip. “Yep, Mom.”

I set down my glass.

“So,” she said, lacing her fingers together, “are you going to tell me what you did to those boys?”

“You said you’d tell me your secret first.”

Taylor smiled nervously. “I know I did, it’s just . . .” She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes. “Please. I promise I’ll tell you. It’s just easier if you go first.”

There was something about Taylor that made me feel like I could trust her. “Okay,” I said. “What did you see?”

“I heard a loud zap. Then I saw Jack and his friends rolling on the ground like they had been tased.”

I shook my head. “That’s pretty much what happened.”

“How did you tase them?”

As I thought over how much I wanted to share, Taylor said, “My dad has a Taser. He also has a stun gun. He showed me how they work.”

I wasn’t sure how much to tell her. My mother had made me promise to never tell anyone about my electricity, but we had never talked about what to do if someone already knew. Or at least thought they did. “I don’t know if I should say,” I said.

Taylor leaned closer and touched my arm. “Michael, I understand. I really do. I’ve never told anyone my secret. But I’m tired of keeping this to myself. Aren’t you?” Her eyes were wide with sincerity.

I slowly nodded. Ostin was the only person I’d ever told and telling him had been an incredible relief—like a hundred pounds falling off my shoulders. I slowly breathed out. “You know when people rub their feet on the carpet and build up electricity, then touch someone to shock them?”

“Static electricity.”

“Right. When I was little I would touch people and it would shock them like that. Except I didn’t have to be on carpet. I could be on anything, and I didn’t have to rub my feet. Only the shock was much worse. Sometimes people screamed. It got so bad that my mom made me wear rubber gloves. As I got older, it got more powerful. What I did to those boys was nothing compared to what I could have done.”

Taylor set down her lemonade. “So you can control it?”

“Mostly. Sometimes it’s hard.”

“What does it feel like when you shock?”

“To me or them?”

She grinned. “You. I can guess how it feels to them.”

“It’s like a sneeze. It just kind of builds up, then blows.”

“Can you do it more than once?”

“Yes. But I can only do it so many times before I start to lose energy. It takes a few minutes to build it up again.”

“Do you have to touch someone to shock them?”

“Yes. Unless they’re touching metal, like Cody was today.”

She nodded. “That was actually pretty cool. Do you ever shock yourself?”

“No.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know. Electric eels don’t shock themselves.” I took another small sip of the lemonade and puckered.

“You don’t have to drink it,” Taylor said. “I won’t be offended or anything.” 

“It’s okay.” I set the glass down. “Your turn. What did you do to Poulsen?”

A wide smile crossed her lips. “I rebooted him.”

“You what?”

“You know, like rebooting a computer. I reboot people. I think it’s an electric thing, too. The brain is just a bunch of electrical signals. I can somehow scramble them.”

“That’s weird.”

“You’re calling me weird?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not saying you’re weird.”

“Well, I am. And so are you. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world like us.”

“Unless they’re hiding it like us. I mean, I sat next to you in class and I never knew.”

“That’s true.”

“When did you first notice that you were different?” I asked.

“I think I was around seven. I was lying in bed one night under the covers when I noticed that there was a bluish-greenish glow coming from my body.”

“You have a glow?” I asked.

“Yeah. It’s just faint. You can only see it in the dark and if you look closely.”

“I glow, too,” I said. Hearing that she had the same glow made me feel good—like I wasn’t so different. Or alone.

“That summer I was playing wizard with some friends and I cast a spell, only they fell to the ground and started to cry. At first I thought they were just pretending. But they weren’t. They couldn’t remember what they were doing.”

“That’s why Poulsen couldn’t remember what he was doing,” I said.

She smiled. “Yeah. It comes in handy sometimes.”

“Does it hurt the person you reboot?”

She seemed embarrassed. “I don’t know. It’s not like I do it all the time. Want me to do it to you?”

“No. Do you want me to shock you?”

“No.” She looked at me seriously. “You know, Michael, my parents don’t even know about this. Do you have any idea how good it feels to finally tell someone?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I guess you would.” She lay back into the cushion. “So your parents know?”

“My mother does. My father passed away when I was eight.”

“I’m sorry.” Her expression grew more serious. “So what does your mother think of it?”

“I think it scares her. If she knew I was talking to you she’d be really upset.”

“She won’t hear it from me,” Taylor said. “I wish I could tell my parents. I’ve tried a few times, but whenever I ask to talk to them they get nervous, like I’m going to tell them I’ve done something wrong. I guess I’m just afraid of how they’ll react.”

“You should tell them,” I said.

“I know. Someday I will.”

Taylor leaned forward and said in a softer but more excited tone, “There’s something else I can do. Want to see it?”

“Sure.”

She patted the sofa cushion next to her. “Come closer.”

I scooted closer until our bodies nearly touched. I started gulping but stopped myself. “This isn’t going to hurt, right?”

“No.” She leaned toward me until we were touching. “Now think of a number between one and a million.”

“One and a million? Okay.” I thought of the last four digits of my phone number.

“Just keep thinking of the number.” She reached over and took my hand. Suddenly a big smile came across her face. “Think of the number, silly, not me.”

“What, you’re reading my mind?” I asked jokingly. It wouldn’t take a mind reader to know what I was thinking—the most beautiful girl at school was holding my hand. I focused on my number again.

“Three thousand, nine hundred and eight-nine,” she said.

I looked at her in astonishment. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure that it’s part of the same rebooting thing. I mean, it’s all about electricity, right? Our thoughts are just electricity firing, so when I touch you, your thoughts show up in my brain as well—same projector, different screen.”

Her explanation made sense. “So you can really read minds?”

“Yes, but not without touching. If I were to put my forehead against yours I could see even better.”

I wouldn’t mind that
, I thought, forgetting that we were still holding hands. A big smile came across her face. I blushed and let go of her hand. “So all you need to do is touch someone?”

She nodded. “I’ve even been able to read people’s minds if they’re touching metal—like the way you shocked Cody.” She leaned back again. “So what do we do now?”

“First, we need to promise never to reveal each other’s power.”

“We already did that,” she said.

“Right. Second, I think we need to stick together.”

She looked at me with a funny expression. I’m glad she wasn’t touching me. After a moment she said. “That’s a good idea. We should start a club.”

“A club? With just the two of us?”

“Unless you know someone else like us.”

“Ostin should be in our club. He could come in handy.”

“Who’s Ostin?”

“He’s my friend. You met him at my locker. He sits in front of me in biology.”

“The know-it-all kid.”

I nodded. “He’s my best friend.”

“Does he have powers?”

“No. But he knows a lot about science and electricity. He’s really smart. Like mad scientist smart. His mother told me when he was only six years old, their DVD player broke. Before his father could take it in for repair, Ostin had taken it apart and fixed it.”

“He’s not too smart socially,” Taylor observed.

“That’s a different kind of smart.”

“But can he keep a secret? Because no one can know about this.”

“He’s kept my secret since I told him.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Almost three years. Besides, who is he going to tell? I’m his only friend.”

Taylor didn’t look completely convinced but she nodded anyway.

“All right, he can be in our club.”

“We’ll need to come up with a name,” I said. “Every club has a name.”

“You’re right. How about . . . the Power Team.”

I frowned. “No, too boring. How about, the Electric Eels.”

“Yuck,” she said. “Have you ever seen one of those? They look like fat snakes with acne. Besides, shocking people is your thing. You could call yourself Eel Man.”

I didn’t really care for the name, though I did like that she referred to me as a man. “And you could call yourself the Human Reset Button.”