Outcasts

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Pain reverberated through Mallory's brain as purplish lights danced before her eyes.

I feel as if I'm being electrocuted.

Gemma dropped the notebook. Her hands looked small and pale without the ringed pad.

A vision of a terror-stricken face, eyes bugling with the mouth wide open in a watery scream, appeared before her. Froth dribbled out of her mouth as she clawed at her throat and struggled to breathe.

The water in the pool began to dimple as if an unseen pressure was pushing down on the its surface. The air grew heavy and smelled metallic.

"What's happening to them?" Gemma yelled. She scrabbled over the rocks to Mallory's side.

Beside her, Jaxxon's eyes rolled back in his head as Mallory began to twitch. Their breath grew shallow and rapid as their nostrils flared. "They're dry drowning!" Peter cried.

"We need to physically separate them and break their connection. Their energy is feeding off each other." Creed grabbed a piece of wood and wedged it between Mallory and Jaxxon. He slid the stick between them and slowly pried their two bodies away from each other, careful not to physically touch either of them. There was an unyielding force that made the process feel like he was pulling taffy before Jaxxon and Mallory popped apart like two magnets breaking their positive-negative attraction. Whatever forced had held them together released them and the two teens inhaled sharply as if they were breaking a watery surface. Exhausted, they lay side by side trembling. They sucked air into their oxygen-starved lungs. They lay on the ground twitching like two rag dolls.

Gemma's face was white with fear and her pink lips trembled. "Thank god, that humming noise stopped. I think it accelerated their reaction." She cradled Mallory's head in her lap.

Creed knelt beside Jaxxon. "Are you alright, bud?" He gently touched the other boy's shoulder.

Jaxxon's eyes fluttered and then slowly opened. He sighed with relief as he wheezed and then slowly sat up. "Oh my god, what was that?" His eyes slowly came into focus.

"What happened?" Creed asked.

"I don't know. I feel like I touched a downed power line."

"Did you see anything before it happened?"

Jaxxon swallowed and nodded. His throat constricted.  He was visibly shaken as he recalled the images he'd seen.

Peter assessed his friends disturbed look. "What did you see?" He asked.

Jaxxon abruptly stood up. He swayed but remained standing. The woods were abnormally silent and there was a sharp smell of ozone in the air. "Someone drowned here." He pointed at the lagoon-colored pool and shuddered. "Recently."

Mallory rolled on her side and dry heaved. "It hasn't happened yet," she gasped.

"What?" Creed looked at her with a sharp expression in his eyes.

She coughed as if trying to spit out the ephemeral memory. "Whoever it is, he hasn't drowned yet." Mallory stayed on her hands and knees trying to regain her strength.

Everyone backed away from the pool. "Let's get the fuck out of here." Gemma grabbed the notebook containing the data and helped Mallory to her feet. "We've never encountered anything like this."

"I'm with you, Gem." This place is dangerous for people like us. Peter scrabbled to pack away the equipment and then paused. "How do you know it wasn't one of us in the premonition?"

"It wasn't one of us," the tall skinny girl said feebly as she stood. "He was middle-aged."

"Can you walk, Mal? The other girl nodded, still shaken. Gemma carefully helped to her feet and supported her elbow.