Abilities

Chapter Two

     Lea made her way back to the Rest Room, feeling slightly confused. Normally when He wanted to see her it was to give her a new Ability, or explain a particularly complicated task that the guards couldn’t explain, but it hadn’t been either of those. They had just had a chat, and that was it. He wasn’t really one for chatting.

     Arriving at the Rest Room again, she saw that her companions had all disappeared, probably having received their next task and set about completing it. Having no task herself and nowhere else to go, she sat down in a seat as far from the other groups of people as possible.

     She lent her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes. She wasn’t concentrating on anything in particular, letting her thoughts wander and the quiet hum of voices flow over her.

     ‘Tired?’ a voice nearby asked.

     Lea’s eyes flew open and she jerked her head forward. There was a man sitting across from her, his hands folded neatly on his lap, staring at her expectantly. She had never seen him before. ‘Well?’ he asked.

     ‘Tired…’ Lea managed to say, dazed and lost.

     ‘When people close their eyes and rest like that, it normally means they’re tired,’ he explained.

     ‘I know,’ Lea told him. ‘It’s an odd idea though. Why on earth would I be tired?’

     ‘So you’ve noticed it too,’ he said.

     ‘Noticed what?’ she asked, getting a little impatient.

     ‘That no-one gets tired here,’ he replied.

     ‘Here?’ she asked, looking round the room to see if anyone had noticed their interaction. They were all still absorbed in their own conversations. ‘What do you mean “here”?’

     He stared at her without replying. ‘You always did like to think with your eyes closed,’ he commented.

     ‘Always did… what are you talking about?’ Lea asked, beginning to worry about who this could be. Nobody ever talked like this, people rarely came up to her and just started talking.

     ‘I’m sorry about this Lea,’ he replied, making sympathetic eyes at her.

     ‘How do you know my name?’ she cried, standing up now. This was getting way too weird. ‘Leave me alone.’

     ‘Lea, I would calm down if I were you,’ he advised her, staying in his seat and not looking bothered by the situation at all.

      ‘I don’t want to calm down!’ she yelled at him. ‘I want you to leave me alone! I don’t know you at all!’ People were staring now, the room had fallen silent and there was only them. Lea and a man she didn’t know, staring at each other, one as calm as could be, the other in horror.

     The doorman appeared between them, breaking the gaze. ‘What’s going on miss?’ he asked Lea.

     ‘This man-‘ Lea stumbled. ‘This man is acting odd. I think you might want to get him checked.'

     ‘Of course miss, He will be very pleased to hear that you are concerned,’ the guard replied, and then turned to the man. ‘Will you come peacefully, or do I need to exert force?’

     The man gave one last glance to Lea, then said ‘Peacefully seems best.’

     ‘Good choice,’ said the guard, before escorting him out.