If We Could Make it There

Think, Think, Think...

Kate POV

After Ashlyn responds to me, she goes unconsious. I turn to Cheryl.

"What kind of person was that?" I ask. It turns out she is a 'Longe-hag'. They ask for you to hurt them, and if you try to they curse you. If you don't, they harm your well being. Well, he certainly did exactly that to Ashlyn. Thankfully, the injury is not severe. When I tell the others, they're attitudes look extremely improved. But we have some dilemma's.

We can't keep Ashlyn on the side of the road, and I need a better place that isn't covered in yellow goop to access her injuries. We end up getting out a blanket, and using it as a stretcher to carry her from the rocky path to the trunk of a willow tree. It's kind of like a zen-zone, and I automatically feel more calmed although I have no idea why. Caylie and Seth who have been carrying opposire ends of the blanket, set Ashlyn down carefully. I squat down to look at the cause for all of the slime, which I discover is a raw patch in her arm, which is a bright red just above her elbow, still giving off plenty of goop. As I said to the others, the damage will not harm her. If I treat it right, anyway. I know that if I do not come up with a solution for her arm fast, there could be some... strange side-effects. But happily I know exactly what to do.

I grab some long pieces of gauze from my bag, and start winding them around Ashlyn's arm. I make it very tight, as to stop the yellow stuff from coming out of her arm. I'm very grateful when it does. I look up and say "She'll be okay." The others are looking at me in amazment. I think for a moment. Did I just do that? Did I just save Ashlyn's life? No. She would have been fine. But do I know that for sure? I might have just prevented her death, and she doesn't even know. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that she's okay. It was just yellow, un-natural slime anyways.

We settle down for the night just as the sky grows darker, which is soon after I've wrapped up Ashlyn's arm. We sit for two hours just watching Ashlyn, and listen to Cheryl gabble on about the background of whatever thing she's thinking about before we hear a noise from our blanket stretcher.

Ashlyn's eyes flutter open and she looks around at us. I walk over to her as she tries to get up, but I quickly push her good arm down and say "Don't. You need to lie down." She does as I say, but hesitantly. She's deffinetly okay. Did I really just save her? Ashlyn stares at me and then says "Thanks Kate. For saving me." How did she know I saved her?

"And I know that because.. you just thought about that." She looks puzzled at what she's just said. We all looked shocked.

"Caylie, think something quick." Ashlyn says urgently. Caylie looks up at Ashlyn and then says "How-"

"How are you doing this, it's like you read Kate's mind. I don't know Caylie, I don't know!" Ashlyn says wildly. Caylie looks crazed and exclaims "I was just about to say that. What the-"

"Don't you say that word, it's not a nice one." Ashlyn remarks. Holy cow! What in the world happened? She read my and Caylie's minds.

"Kate, I know I did, I know! What- how am I doing this? Someone help me, please! What do I do?" She pleads. I feel bad for her. She really doesn't like this. She's read my mind twice... How is she doing this?

Alex looks down at her feet, closes her eyes, and takes a deep breath.

"Okay. We need to sort this all out. Kate, before you didn't want to talk about your dream, and Cheryl you kind of just passed off the fact that you know about pretty much all the things the world has to offer. Well, we need to talk about this now. First off, one of you knows about all kinds of injuries and how to heal things, and the next second one of you knows about everything and anything. But by far, I think this is the weirdest. Ashlyn, you can read minds!" Alex declares. Ashlyn puts her hands over her eyes, as if to pretend that this is just a dream, just a bad dream, and that it will all just go away. But it won't.

None of it will. Although knowing about people getting hurt, and how to help them has been useful, it's freaking me out. I didn't know any of this stuff in the first place, and I don't think that I wanted to know. Cheryl seems to be trying to keep quiet about whatever she knows, which probably means she doesn't want what's happened to be happeneing. I'd say she and I are in a bit of shock. Trying to ignore what's happened, trying to not think about it, denying all of this.... Argh! I'm doing it again. I can't go for five minutes without thinking about some kind of way to heal someone, or what injury a person has sustained. I hate it!

"We all do Kate" Ashlyn mumbles for only my ears to hear. I don't want her to listen to my thoughts. She could see anything! I don't want her to know about a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. I trust her of course. But I am already starting to dislike her for listening, eavesdropping on the only things I thought were private: my own thoughts. She knows what I'm thinking. I hate it! Stop, stop, stop!

I hate it... I hate her for doing it.

But she can't help it either. I feel like as if I have to heal someone, and it's Cheryl's first instinct to tell us all about whatever random topic is on her mind and this history behind it. We have to. I can't hate her. She isn't trying to.

"So, why is all of this happening?" Cheryl asks. Good question. "Lets think back to before me, Ashlyn, and Kate got these strange.... abilities. What happened to all of us before it.. umm.. Happened? Something in common..." She thinks for a second, before looking as if she is going to burst. She is eager. Why would she be...?

"If you know why, just spit it out!" I divulge. If she wants to say something, she should just say it. It's not her fault she knows everything.

"I just thought, well... We all kind of had a- a traumatic experience. You know, before we started being able to know stuff, or to read minds. Kate, you had that nightmare. I fell into that Imundo-sand. Ashlyn got some weird arm infection for not hurting that Longe. We all got mentally or physically hurt. That's kind of similar." She's absolutely right. I think that the fact that we were all hurt or something was pushed to the back of our minds when we got these abilities.

"I think you're right Cheryl" Alex says. This is probably the only thing we have had in common, but why have we gotten the abilities at all?

"I agree with Caylie and Kate" Ashlyn says nodding.

"Well, you might want to tell us their opinions because they haven't told us anything" Seth spits "And not all of us can read minds." Ashlyn looks confused, as if she thinks that me and Caylie actually did say something about what we thought.

"They, er... They were just wondering why in general we got these... call ithem what you want in the first place. I agree. Why?" she inquires. We sit in silence. No one knows?

A thought struggles in the back of my mind; Come on Cheryl... She has to think of something!

As if on cue,Cheryl speaks.

"Well, maybe something in our fear triggered the abilities. I don't know for sure though. I'm sorry." She doesn't know for sure. But she's suposed to know everything. If she doesn't know, does anyone? Was this all just a giant freak-accident?

? POV

No one knows. So how can I know? Now I know what everyone had in common, but that hardely helps. She is doing her work well. But barely well enough. I must talk to her. She must do better.