Installment I

I sat impatiently, swinging my legs. My lips pursed and my eyebrows clenched together as my outrage bubbled to the surface. The room reeked of hospital odors, the sterilized clean plastic smell that always pulls me back to memories of injections and doctor visits. I don't know how long grandmother had been in the room across the hall; the minutes crept by just as slowly as the clouds outside; seemingly stopped.

I had been staying with my grandmother because my parents had been missing for the past few months. Apparently she wanted custody of me, and I didn't complain. I don't know where my parents were. All I knew was that I'd never see them again, and I was right.

***

I woke up in the medical branch with a bad headache and a serious case of amnesia. There was a bad taste in my mouth, which was drier than hell. Lena was in the bed beside me, still passed out.

Was it worth it? I got a lot of experience with controlling my powers, but what if Lena is permanently damaged?

I tried to think of all the things I saw while I was in Lena's mind. That she was raised by Mira was the most I could gather, everything else remained foggy. The fogginess was probably part of my extreme mental exhaustion. Everything became white as my eyes glided together and the world around me went blank.

***

When I awoke, Mira and Brix were both standing over me. Mira looked overjoyed, however Brix looked severely displeased.

"He's finally come around," Mira announced as I tilted my head up.

I reexamined the room to find Lena gone, and weeks worth of newspapers beside me. It was either early morning or late night, I couldn't tell which.

"We've had boys come into this school before, but I thought you'd be different." Brix started, but was abruptly halted by Mira's hand.

"Don't you dare start with that again, Brix." Mira's voice became stern, but she continued in a calm, kind tone. "A lot has happened since you fell asleep. You're father is currently working at the military base near the Airfield, I'm here to give you a ride back home. You're long winded torrent of questions may began . . . now."

"Where's Lena? Why is my dad working in a military base? Why's Brix mad at me? What in the world are you doing here? Where's my uniform? Is it morning or night? Why's the headline of the newspaper talk about war with Russia? How long have I been out for? Is Lena okay?"

I wanted to continue, but at that moment my stomach let out a loud, obnoxious grumble.

"You've been out for about five days, and it's about 11:50 at night, but I think we can scrounge up something for you to eat."

The medical bay nurse gave me a very apprehensive look, but still offered me some chicken soup and orange juice. I wasn't sure if my stomach could take it, but after pacing myself through the first few bites it went down easy.

"Well, Isaac, Lena is perfectly fine, she's outside waiting for us at the moment, but she'll be accompanying us back when we leave, she woke up the day after the event took place. Two days ago Russia attacked an American lunar colony."

Mira stopped suddenly before asking Brix for some privacy. Brix was very hesitant to comply, but eventually saw no other option.

"The colony that your father was named after."

"My father? What do you mean?"

Mira let out a deep breath, then continued. "It was called Wagglo colony, after the first pirate station that appeared on the air. You're father was one of the two men responsible for the rebellion that led to the Second American Civil War. He prefers to live in secrecy, however there are key military leaders who got their start from him. Rest assured, he was on everyone's mind the second the distress signal reached Earth.

"Your father chooses to continue his life in secrecy, but his talents, and accomplishments are undeniable. He's been given the rank of drill Sargent based on his 'experience' from the last war, and will be working on the airbase. He provided very detailed instructions on what to do with you in the meantime. He wants you to continue living at home, and assured me that you can take care of yourself, however knowing him you'll be checked up on every once in a while. There's no school for the next month, and as you can guess, I'm swamped. If it's alright with you, Lena might be staying at your residence for a few weeks or so, depending on what happens. She's having a lot of troubles right now with her powers, and I can only do so much. You seem to relate to her on a different level than I do, maybe you can offer better support. I honestly don't know. We just plain don't have any of the data we need. It makes you wonder where all of our research department's money is going, right?"

"Yeah. Well . . . Wow." was the only response I could muster.

"Get your legs moving again. We leave in five."

And so, Mira, Lena, and I all packed into Mira's tiny work-car. Brix seemed to have disappeared, but I honestly didn't want to see her anyway. I could already tell that she's somehow managed to distort reality into making the battlefield all my fault. I'll deal with that when I come back. If I come back, that is.

It was a pretty quite drive back to my house. I was still half-asleep, and Lena looked moments away from tears constantly. I would talk with her later, anyway.

I must have fallen asleep and not realized it. Before I knew it, I was home.

"A bit of insider advice to you, kid." Mira yelled after me as I walked up my front steps. "Prices are about to go way, way up after tonight. I would stockpile up everything you can. Your father left his card on the table, and a list of everything he wants you to buy. I would do it tonight if you can, but don't push yourself too hard."

It was far past midnight, but I felt rested and up to the challenge. Why not?

Hard to know Mira and not take her advice. I almost feel sorry for all the poor saps who have to live their lives without knowing a Brigadier General.

Installment H

This is too much.

"Pink!" Jessica screamed as she was knocked against the nearest wall by a raging Claire. Priscilla had soiled herself and laid in a heap on the group, while Hope was in the middle, slowly scratching at her neck.

We were about halfway through the maze when it started happening. Everyone just suddenly lost their wits, overcome by the massive psychic force blanketing the battlefield. Claire, Priscilla, and Hope were near by, but I have no idea what happened to the other two. For all I know they were killing each other, or tearing out their internal organs. Either way, this needs to end now.

I can't believe this is happening. This is too extreme. There's no way this is what training should be like. As soon as this is over, I quit.

I stood firm, somehow. The mental stress was hard to take. It was like trying to hold off a ten man battering ram with nothing but a one handed wooden shield. With each mental attack I felt my arms and legs go numb. I was slowly losing control of my body, which was a lot more than anyone around me could say. I noticed pant-wetting was the first sign that someone had lost control. I had to try as hard as I could to avoid that, no matter what the costs.

Psychic recoil was flying left and right relentlessly, but somehow under the stress I managed to see where it was coming from, at least for a short time. With a few quick jerks I managed to get my shoe off, then lobbed it over the wall right at the source of the confusion. If it, or she, was moving in any direction I was screwed.

Luckily, I heard it strike the target, and a few seconds of clear thoughts were my reward. I already had plans of just how I was to reimburse my opponent. During the free time, for lack of a better term, most of the girls around me fainted. I suspect all the girls in the maze are being effected, possibly even the seniors who were suppose to watch over us.

I shot out a thin, yet powerful strand of thought in an attempt to see just what was going on. It latched onto the target's mind and stuck. I had to somehow stop this mess before It got even more out of hand.

No way!

It was Lena, she had lost control. The amplifies must've been too much strain for her to take. Her powers were beyond measure.

"Stop it!" I yelled, but to no avail.

Lena was in a fetal position near the entrance to the maze, crying. She realized what she was doing, but couldn't stop it for the life of her. Everything was so simple now. All I had to do was calm her down, somehow. Or take her out of the amplification field, somehow. As long as I preserved the connection linking my mind to hers, there's no way she can take me. Her impulses were bouncing off my barrier like moths to a sheet of steel.

The first thing I tried was to raise my shield so I might encompass everyone around me, naturally.

After a brief moment of staggering amounts of concentration, I broke free Priscilla and Hope, who immediately decided to run for the entrance to tell the others, only to once again fall under Lena's control as soon as they were 3 meters out of my range. This was becoming wholly ridiculous.

***

"Listen here!" I yelled over the commotion Hope was making after I once again broke her and Priscilla free. "You're both going to give me a boost over the wall, and I'll deal with the problem. Understand?"

Without the dignity of a response, only their heads wobbled up and down, the scared and shaky girls hoisted my legs up as I grabbed onto the edge of the wall. With a loud heave I rose my feet up behind me to straddle the wall, all the while trying to get a good bearing of my surroundings. A quick glance around told me everyone who had come near the maze had been affected. I saw several teachers and administrators passed out on either sides of the maze. A few of them had made it pretty far in, but eventually fell victim just to Lena's unstoppable power.

Even the teachers? But I'm still in the game. Looks like I am something after all.

I jumped down the other side and made my way through the winding maze towards Lena. I thought it would be more difficult to find her, but the trail of fainted, or worse, girls lead me straight to her.

Lena had crawled into an isolated corner near the entrance. I grabbed her under the arms and started pulling her towards the exit. I could feel her immense pain just by being so close within her proximity. Her nose was bleeding like a waterfall, and her eyes were red and puffy. Just being this close to her was like trying to wade through a powerful river, mentally that is.

I pulled her across the threshold just as Brix and several other teachers exited a newly arrived capsule.

I dove straight into Lena's mind. I knew she wouldn't be able to respond to my impulses, but I knew she would recognize me. As to what effect that would have on her condition, or mine, I didn't know. I was operating purely on impulse.

I can't believe this is happening.

I closed my eyes to concentrate as I continued cautiously into Lena's mind . . .

Installment G

"It's easy, don't worry about it." Ashely reassured me as we walked down the long hallway with the group.

Today was the first day of combat experience, and since Ashely was a senior esper, with honors, she was going to be leading our group through the course. I honestly didn't know why I had signed up for this, seeing as I had nothing to contribute save for telling our team how the enemy is feeling today. Perhaps I just let my father's war stories catch my better judgment.

We left in large capsules running along a transit system. While en route to the course the senior members briefed us on our objective, and set us up as squads. There were three squads in all, each with their respective commander. The senior members would be following us around and giving us instructions, but wouldn't participate. I was assigned the leader of the 1st squad, a position which I'm sure Ashley had wanted. There were six in my group including Claire, Jessica, and Stephanie, which was probably also planned by Ashely. The other two girls seemed distant, but I didn't really feel slipping was necessary. Instead, I went for more of a diplomatic approach.

We were going to be up against three other squads, they took a separate capsule and would show up on the other side of a long maze-like battlefield.

"Don't worry Pink," Ashely reassured me, "There are all kinds of electromagnetic fields spread out across the battlefield to amplify your powers."

Yeah, that'll help me.

"What I'm saying," Ashely continued, in response to my facial expression, "If you know anything about magnetic waves, you'll know that they work exponentially."

"So?" I inquired.

The other senior answered, "That means the stronger you are going in, the stronger you'll become. If what I heard is true, you'll be a juggernaut."

How does that help me if I don't have any powers that can actually be used offensively? If I concentrate long enough, I might be able to give the stronger ones headaches. That'll be a great help while the other team makes my body fly like a flailing rag doll through the air. Do they honestly expect me to 'defense' the other team into defeat?

We all exited the capsule to see a huge room with a ceiling high enough to give even the most expert climbers vertigo. About 2 and a half meter high walls created a gigantic labyrinth with several entrances stemming off from our beginning platform. The sheer magnitude of my surroundings gave me an uneasy feeling.

We wore our Psy Aca uniforms into the battlefield, we didn't appear to have any form of armor, save a few small force field generators on our heads, and around our spines. As we entered the maze it was clear that we weren't going to be seeing much of our enemies.

"We'll never be able to find the other side in all this!" Jessica exclaimed.

"Find them? Why even try? The maze probably doesn't even connect." I responded.

"Pink just hit the nail on the head, your goal isn't to find them, it's to capture their flag." said Ashley.

Bewilderment swept across the crowd. I thought I understood the rules, but apparently not.

"It's simple," the other senior said, "all you have to do is find your way through the maze to wherever the flag is, then bring it back here. The other sides maze and our maze never connect, but they're interlinked like crazy. Someone from the other side could literally be right on the other side of a wall from you, and you'd be surprised how often that actually happens. All the squads need to communicate with each other, but have a little independence at the same time. Also, just a little hint, the other side's flag is right in the middle of your side."

"Which means our flag is surrounded by enemy territory." A girl from my squad pointed out. She was short, with thick glasses and short brown hair.

"Also," Ashely began, "I'd like to inform you that y'all are a class. You'll be working a lot together, so keep that in mind. You're class 1B. The "B" means you're the second, and the one means your the cream of the crop. There are five classes in all, five having little to no psychic powers, and one being highly proficient in the use of psychic abilities. The letter doesn't say anything about your powers, it's just a way to split you guys up. We try to even classes out as much as possible."

"You guys are the ones that pick classes?" Another girl asked.

"Nope, we don't even get to see them before hand." Ashely winked at me.

"That's enough of that. Most of the lessons left to learn involve actually participating, so now we have about 15 minutes until your first game starts. Use your time wisely." Ashley concluded.

"Alright." This from the brown haired girl from before, and everyone looked at her, even the girls from the other squads. She seemed suddenly surprised. Public speaking probably wasn't her thing, but I can empathize."We need to know what we have at our disposal if we plan to actually form a legit strategy."

I nodded my agreement, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Do you know anything about strategy when it comes to psychic wars, Pink?" Claire asked me.

"There haven't been any wars yet involving psychic's on both sides. The closest thing I can think of would be Atlantic U-boat battles."

"What?" was the response from most of the girls around me. "U-boats?"

"German submarines from World War II," the brown haired girl clarified as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.

"Well, it's not quite the same because of the maze structure. But what they did was send two planes that were positioned at the end of the battleships out. Then the planes went in oval like patterns spreading father and farther out with each revolution. The planes didn't attack, but were equipped with radar that could eventually seek out the German U-boat, then they could radio the position back to the battleship. The rest should be obvious enough.

"So we need a group of people to act as radar, and another group to act as the battleship. We'll go around the group, everyone say your name, what powers you have, and your favorite color."

"Our favorite color?" Asked the brown haired girl.

"Like Ashley said, we're going to be working a lot together. Best get to know each other a little."

"Fine, you start." The girl responded.

"Okay, fine. I'm Isaac, but everyone calls me Pink. Don't ask why. I don't have many useful powers to name, but I'm okay at mental blocks. Also, I'm quite partial to blue."

"I'm Jessica. I have telepathy, and I'm really good at overshadowing."

"Overshadowing?" I asked.

"It's when you talk to someone telepathically loud and obnoxiously. It prevents them from thinking."

I nodded for her to continue.

"Oh, and my favorite color is pink." She smiled widely and winked at me, then turned to look at the next person.

"I'm Claire, and I can alter perceptions, I haven't quite got illusions down, but I can make people hear stuff and throw them way off. And my favorite color's brown."

"I'm Stephanie, and I have telepathy too. I can also kind of stun people, and my favorite color is green."

"My name's Priscilla, and I can do mental blocks too, but only for me. And my favorite color is pink too."

Now was the brown haired girls turn. She seemed embarrassed, but again, I can empathize.
"My name's Hope. I know how to do mental blocks, and I can stun people, but I have to be pretty close."

"We're going to do this again as soon as we leave the battlefield," I said. "Only next time it'll be your favorite class, so think about that while we're out there."

A few girls chuckled, it looked like the other two squads followed our lead. I met with the two other squad leaders after the circles were finished.

"We heard your speech on U-boats." the other girl said. She had mean eyes and black hair but looked too young to be here.

"Alright, what do you guys have?"

"Well," the other girl started. She was much kinder, with short red hair in a boyish haircut and clean bright blue eyes. "My squad has a lot of stunners, and telepathy."

"We have a three illusionists, apparently one of them can even make real visuals. Pretty much everyone has either telepathy or mental projection though, so we'd be a good radar."

"Perfect. My squad has a good mix. I'm an expert in mental barriers, and I have two proficient in blocks, so I'm going to take my group to penetrate enemy territory and grab the flag. You two stay back and work together as radar and battleship. It might be a good idea to mix your squads together and match up pairs of seers are attackers."

"Times up!" Ashley yelled from behind us.

"Let's do this," the black haired girl said as we regrouped.

"Alright, everyone hear the plan?" a few yeses and a couple of nods rose in response from my squad. "Good, Let's go."

I hope those amplifiers work like Ashley says. Creating a shield around all six of us is going to be a walk through hell.

"Don't worry, Pink," Jessica spoke to me telepathically. "With your mental powers, we've already won."

Installment FF

(Yo everybody. This is just a bonus chapter, seeing as I've been in Germany for the past 10 days. I wish I could post two chapters, but I still need time to write. You can skip right over this chapter if you want, It's basically just a quick little history lesson on how the world of EP came about, and then a little relationship development between Lena and Isaac. But the plot and story are completely untouched. If you want to skip straight to the love scene, it's after the last set of asterisks. Hope you enjoy!)

"Hey Pink!" Claire greeted as she sat down on my bunk. "What are you up to?"

"Well, Lena made a deal with Brix. Basically, all I have to do is write a brief history paper on whatever topic I choose, and based on that Brix will decide whether or not I get credits for the courses I had to drop out of."

"That's sweet!" Jessica exclaimed from the pile of mattresses in the middle.

"You still haven't told me what you're going to write it about, Pink." Lena reminded me.

"Well," I started, but stopped for a moment as the thoughts congealed, "Probably a brief history of the world."

"Excellent choice." Jessica responded with a humorous tone.

***

The World 2180-2200
by Isaac Erlenmeyer

In 2159, an 18 year old male enlisted as a private into the United States Army. His name was Edward Chekvey, and this man changed the face of North America, as we know it.

But first off, I'd like to briefly delve into the the events occurring in Europe, Asia, and Africa before explaining the situation in the U.S.

It all started in 2155, a large article was signed by almost every nation of the world union called the "Weapons Not Fit For Humankind" bill. It specified that all countries were to destroy any weapons which were found to be too extreme, or too deadly for any human to command the power of. This bill also describes the duties of all signing it to keep a constant watch on all the countries around them in order to insure that they do not produce, or attempt to acquisition any of the weapons or materials on the list. This created a world in which no weapons were necessary, and countries were constantly policing other countries, while being policed themselves. It worked quite well, and the weapons on the bill were updated several times a day. This marked the new era of everlasting peace that was attributed to the completion of the nuclear stations on the sun, as well as the free mass transit systems across the world.

The "labs", as many call them, are space stations closely orbiting the sun that suck up random pieces of nuclear fusion and preserve it in it's core for the duration of the reaction, then transmits all of the energy collected to Earth via a satellite system that blankets the Earth in a free, inextinguishable field of pure energy. The Earth's magnetic waves distribute this energy to all electronic devices automatically, and the stations carry an automated system to inspect and repair themselves using the limitless energy from the sun. Outside of the Earth's atmosphere, all vehicles and ships only require a satellite or antenna, which will allow them to tap into the limitless energy being broadcast across the solar system.

Now that the Societies of the Earth had finally achieved a free, limitless, pollution free, and for all practical purposes inexhaustible means of producing energy, the only question left to answer was where are we suppose to expand to? This was meat by the Chinese government's expansion to Mars. Several Countries tried to secure the abundance of space and resources present on Mars, but Asia beat everyone else to the punch. This left everyone else fighting for the moon. The reason Asia was able to secure it's place so easily was because of it's numerous technological advancements in the realm of space travel. Asia had no choice, most of it's land was polluted to the point it could no longer be used. Russia was close behind, and had an equally useless mass of toxic fields and radioactive tanks.

In Russia during the 2170's, a large amount of technology funding was put into the research and military application of psychic powers, which were now popping up throughout the world. During most of the 70's psychic powers were thought of as "Sadistic and unhealthy superstition," as Chekvey himself put it. However, behind closed doors to the rest of the world Russia was massing an army of unbeatable psy warriors. Russia wanted to conquer the rest of Europe, and almost did. In what most recall as "World War III" Russia made a valiant attempt at the acquisition of every European country, as well as northern parts of Africa, and several pieces of Asia untouched by the massive areas of land made deadly through radioactive pollution.

"Hey! Wait a second," Lena had been reading over my shoulder, again. "If Russia had an unbeatable race of psy people, then why did it lose?"

"I was getting to that."

"But also, Pink, if Asia had such super powered technology, why did they destroy their home land?"

"They did manage to achieve a level of technological superiority, but it came with a great cost, the cost of the one thing worth anything in this day and age, land."

"Yeah, but how?"

"It's actually pretty simple," I said after a sigh "They put too much into industry, and never took pollution into account. After we harnessed the energy of the sun, they're radioactive waste started consuming everything around it and defiling the land at an exponential rate. They had to build containment fields to keep it from destroying the entire planet. The majority of Asia is deadly to even be near, and it'll take millions of years for the damage to be undone."

"So that's why they all left to live on Mars? I thought that was to get away from WWIII."

"A little of both. But mainly they had nowhere else to go. It's sad really. A lot of people were left behind and died of radiation poisoning. They may be decades ahead of us as far as technology goes, but they saw the costs of their actions were too high a price to pay."

Russia was eventually fought off through the creation and implementation of robot soldiers, who made quick work of the Russian offensive. However, the bloody war left all of Europe broken beyond repair. Before the robots were created, the use of several different types of bombs, mines, even lasers were used. It made for massive areas of complete and utter destruction, ranging from Poland, to England, from the Nordic regions to Spain and Italy. It would take decades for the buildings to be rebuilt and the population to regenerate. Efforts continue to this day in order to reconstruct the countries Russia attacked.

At the same time, in the U.S., a rebellion came around that no one would have expected. Probably the most organized rebellion in all of National history.

"So that's where the pirates came in?" Lena asked as she put her head on my shoulder.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I asked.

"Not like I'd tell you."

The rebellion was organized through two pirate radio stations off the coasts of the U.S. They were largely kept secret, but offered instructions, schedules, and even detailed plans on just how the operation would commence.

This rebellion was in response to the first coup d'etat in American History. Chekvey took the president out of power using military force, which was unheard of at the time. However Chekvey's popularity didn't last long. Eventually, his military backing was eroded by his acts of senseless violence, and demoralizing attitude towards the population he lead.

It was difficult to spread information in a world where cameras watched your every step and the walls literally have ears leading straight to Chekvey, but somehow the American people's overcame, making use of their one true advantage, the element of surprise.

***

I set the paper down. I was done for tonight. This essay desperately needed some organization, dates and times, and the library was closed. I would revise it later.

"That's all you're going to do? I thought you were some huge history buff." Lena spoke as her head still laid comfortably on my shoulder, I honestly didn't mind. I sort of liked it.

"I'm barely 13."

"Oh, big deal." Lena walked over to the edge of my bed, and made a sweeping motion by my legs with her hand. "Move."

I reposition so there was room for her to sit.

"I'm mentally exhausted, I'll work on it tomorrow."

"Yeah, I can understand how you feel."

I couldn't tell whether or not she was being sarcastic.

"Don't you ever do homework?" I asked.

"You know, I looked it up, and we're the only two students in the history of this Psy Aca to have such developed powers at such a young age."

Her powers are ten times as potent as mine. Why is she grouping us together?

Immediately Lena got up and walked to her bunk. I suppose I might have offended her somehow. It didn't really matter. I was tired, so I stretched out and let out a generously sized yawn. My arms ached from carrying so many books all day. That's when a weight decided to suddenly drop itself on my legs. I looked down to see Lena sitting comfortably on my knees.

"Is that really necessary?" I asked, apathetically.

"Well, everyone else is still at diner, so it's boring over there all by myself. Thought I might give you some more company. It's your choice if you want to move your legs, I'm perfectly fine."

"I'm tired, I'm laying down. You can lay here next to me." I scooted over a bit, making room for her, but she never responded.

I laid for what seemed to be a long while wondering if I had been to rash. I knew what I said had sexual implications, but I also knew Lena had a boyfriend. I never meant it in a sexual way.

I tilted my head up to see Lena staring at me. "Don't worry about it," I told her, this time sure to sound as non-seductive as possible, "just forget I said anything."

"No, no. Not at all." Lena said expeditiously, tripping over her own words.

Lena laid down next to me, I could feel her breathing heavily. She really was attracted to me. And she doesn't know that I know she has a boyfriend back home. It's crazy how easily she could get away with cheating on him right now. I never wanted to make things this complicated.

"Look, Lena, if this is going too far . . ."

"Not at all." She replied quickly. "In fact I really like you. I just thought you'd never ask."

Don't do it Lena, it's not worth it.

"Ask you to lay down?" I asked, pretending to be oblivious.

"Ask to be together like this."

Screw preteen politics.

"So, you're saying, it would be okay if we had a relationship." I whispered in a mumble.

She turned her head to look at me, our faces were centimeters away from each other, our noses touched. I could still feel her breathing heavily against my arm. Strands of hair fell across her head as her eyes betrayed her calm face by showing every revolution in her fast beating heart.

"Yeah, of course I'd be okay with that." Lena responded.

"You're so attractive, smart, and funny, it's just hard for me to imagine that you don't already have a boyfriend back home." Now I was just being cruel.

"Nope. I'm not interested in the boys back home. They're not like you."

I wanted to slip to find out if she was lying or not, but something made me decide not to. Maybe I already knew the answer. Maybe I didn't want to know the truth.

So what if she already has a boyfriend back home? He'll never know about me. He can have her back on the breaks and vacations, but until then she's mine.

I don't know how long our faces stayed together. I didn't even realized we had been kissing until I removed my mouth from her lips.

"Don't you have homework to do?" I asked her.

She responded by rolling on top of me and once again placing her lips on mine. The minutes rolled by like centuries as we lay together in a realm free of anxieties, cares, worries, and time.

If only centuries could be just a little bit longer.

Installment F

It was a long day of studying and homework, but I finally dropped, completely exhausted, onto my bunk.

It's been weeks since I've written Amman.

I pulled out a sheet of paper and started writing.

***

Dear Amman,

School is dull. I've made a lot of new friends, but even more enemies. So far my record is a week without anyone pushing me into a girl's bathroom or shoving my lunch tray into my chest. Ashley Gates and Lena Hunther try to walk with me everywhere I go. Lena's great at scolding and Ashley loves to shove back.

One day, during lunch, a girl grabbed my tray and shoved it in my face. I was covered in food, but the girl talked about it like a personal victory. The next day, Ashley went to talk to her about it. I didn't see anything happen, but everyone tells me it ended in Ashley unzipping the girl's uniform, and shoving all of her food down the back plus a glass full of ice water, and then zipped it back up after she was done. I haven't had any trouble in the lunch room since then. The most I got today was a few disapproving stares in the hallway, which is a major improvement compared to last week. I have only my new friends to thank for that.

Lena is great. She really is an all out pacifist. I still haven't told her that I know Mira, but I'll save that for a dramatic moment. For now, I'm teaching her everything Mira taught me about psychic meditation. I can't believe it, but Lena actually has the ability to manipulate other people. Lena can actually take control of someone else's mind and body! That's the hardest power to control, usually people don't develop it until they're an expert in all the other fields. So, naturally, I help Lena to calm herself, stop her headaches, and control her powers.

Yet I'm overcome with depression whenever I do. Either I need to get over the fact that she has a boyfriend, or it's a side-effect of spending so much time in someone else's mind. I wonder what Mira experienced when she taught me?

I'm lucky for Mira's training. I can't even begin to describe how much it's helped me get along and cope here in Psy Academy. I think she knew how much of an edge she was giving me, so I'll be sure not to abuse it.

That reminds me. . .

Also, Mira wrote me. I don't know if she told you, but she's being promoted. Lena was telling everyone about it a few hours after I read the letter. I thought it was pretty funny listening to it all again. Either way, Mira's going to be a Psy Brigadier General! She'll be working at the Marshal offices, with all the other generals. That's great news for me, it'll really help to know a kind hand in high command.

Anyway, back to school. I ended up dropping my Russian History class, not because it was too much for me to take, but just because of the racial implications of a 'dirty Russian' being in a class concerning Russian heritage. As you know, I never knew my parents, and the only Russian I know is from reading books about World War II. It was unfair, but the generous wealth of history volumes in the Library made up for it. I just continued learning as part of my own independent study.

Also, about three weeks into the quarter, my American Military History teacher started giving me horrible grades on my assignments and papers. I thought the work was okay, but apparently she thought it was severely lacking. I tried talking to the teacher several times after class, but she always had someone to call or somewhere to go. She seemed busy, because she was uncomfortable of my presence. I didn't need psychic powers to see that, although the teachers have mental barriers anyway.

I wanted to conduct a little experiment. Stephanie, a friend of Jessica's, is in the class with me. I asked her one day at lunch if she would go talk to the teacher after class, and the teacher not only stayed behind just for her, but answered all of her questions before they even left her mouth. She's an expert in telepathy, meaning if Stephanie so much as thought about me or what I asked her to do, the teacher would be well aware of it. But, the results of the experiment stayed true. This basically proves that the teacher is failing me purely out of personal prejudice. I even compared papers with the girls I sit by, they all passed with flying colors, and my papers put them all to shame. Stephanie told Lena (Mira's granddaughter, by the way) about it, and Lena wants me to get the teacher fired, but I can't do that. The American History teacher is everyone's favorite, and I'm the only one who would see the benefits of her resignation, but as things fall now, I'll fail.

I think I'll just take the same path as Russian History. I'll fail the class, but still learn the information. It doesn't really matter, as long as I'm learning. Tensions are high enough as is when it comes to my race, I don't want to get everyone's favorite teacher fired and cause a giant ruckus, but I'll see what ends up happening. Lena said she might be able to help by talking to Brix. I hope so.

Ashley, Lena, Nicolette, Jessica, Stephanie, and Claire all say hi. They want to meet you when you come to pick me up for quarter break. I told them some of your stories about fighting in the Second American Civil War. I hope you don't mind.

Tell Max to write.

Love,
Isaac "Pink" Erlenmeyer

***

"Ha ha! You sign your name with Pink?" Lena had been reading over my shoulder the whole time.

"Well, what can I say, it's stuck. That's all I ever hear from you guys. Even Jessica and Stephanie jumped on the bandwagon."

"Whatever you say, Pink." Ashley sarcastically interjected from across the room.

"You don't believe me? Fine, watch this." I replied.

After a brief moment Jessica walked into the room, right on time, after her tutoring period.

"Hey Jessica." I said while still appearing still busy with my letter.

"Hey Pink, hey Lena." Jessica responded, preoccupied with thought.

"Hey Jessica," Lena responded with a twinkle in her eye.

"What's with that look? Did Pink say something funny?" Jessica asked, perplexed.

"No, but he's a funny guy alright," Lena said, then turned to look at me, "So now, do you mind explaining to me how my grandmother gave you those psychic meditation lessons?"

I rolled my eyes.

So much for saving it for a dramatic moment.