One Touch

1: Orbs of Amber

My dad was called a psychopath, the perfect example of a brainless fellow who seemed to imagine things and blabber nonsense about unrealistic concepts. He was, in reality, a quiet man that worked with hours of dedication in the loneliness of his study room. It was assumed he had mental issues, and couldn’t function in society.

In all honesty, my opinion about him wasn’t the same as theirs. I saw dad as a mysterious person, a person who held secrets that no other soul knew of. Mom was a working madness every day, and my brother was the studious member who had no time for his family.

That left me, the only one who seemed to be idle and consider dad’s condition with some thought. He was any old middle aged man with greying hair and a father of two. He wasn’t a psychopath; no one tried to understand him. I wasn't a fanatic with extraterrestrial dimensions and mythological fables, but dad was. We were the very opposite, but he was my father and he had the right to be understood and loved.

Mom invited a psychiatrist today, and it had been a while since we called one over. All attempts had failed to cure dad, but since this lady moved into the house in front of ours, she was easy to catch.

The house was empty and silent when she came in, sunlight filtering through the windows with particles of dust floating in its rays.

“Come on in,” mom greeted her. The psychiatrist introduced herself as Odelia Cage. Mom seemed a little embarrassed to show her our house. It was nothing but a feeble structure older than my grandma, had walls painted a lusterless white, and wooden flooring that creaked under our footsteps.

“Where is Mr. Evans?” the psychiatrist asked. Her voice sounded calm and soft as she adjusted the round glasses on her nose. She had a bun of red hair sitting atop her head, a collared blouse and bell bottoms to go with it. Bell bottoms? I hadn’t seen those in a while.

“Oh, I’ll take you right to him,” mom said, leading her up the stairs. She didn’t bother to turn the lights on as we crossed the hallway into the second corridor. We stopped at a door to the complete right.

“He must enjoy the darkness,” Odelia commented, and Mom nodded. “Alright, let’s see what the issue is.” She knocked on the door and we heard a loud shuffling on the other side.

Dad’s issue didn’t require a psychiatrist, and if it was that bad, a single psychiatrist wouldn’t do the job. None of the previous ones could, and Odelia wouldn’t be an exception.

The door unlocked and Dad’s face appeared out the slight opening. His hair was in rugged, pale black waves as baggy shadows hung beneath his eyes. His eyes. Oh, his eyes. They sunk too deep into their sockets and all the colour in them faded. There was light stubble along his jaw and his bushy brows caved into a frown.

“Hi, Mr. Evans,” Odelia said, unfazed with his appearance. “I’m Odelia Cage, and I’m here to ask you some questions. Is that okay?”

“I don’t need you,” he said, voice gruff and irritated. “Rather than you telling me what to do, I can write up a report on why I should do what I want to do.” The smile on my face couldn’t fight its way off, and I covered it with my palm.

“I see.” Odelia took off her purse and handed it to mom. “Then we’ll have a friendly conversation on what you’d like to do.”

Dad’s frown deepened, and mom gave him a pleading look. The reason why dad put up with the psychiatrists was to make mom happy. She’d be satisfied knowing he was willing to return to normal. Though, no one knew what normal meant for him. I thought he was normal, but I was the only one.

Odelia and dad went into his room and the door closed. Mom took in a deep breath and I put a hand on her shoulder. Her almond eyes filled with sadness as we climbed down the stairs to give them some time.

“Mom, don’t you think that we should…” I began, but it was no use. I had tried many times to tell her we should talk to dad ourselves. As a family, we should be the ones trying to figure out his problem.

“Eve, I don’t know what happened to him and why he’s saying all that,” she said, near to tears as we sat around the dining table.

That was one thing I didn’t quite understand, or could argue about. It had been a week since dad had declared there was a fourth dimension to our world, a dimension no scientist was able to explore or graze. He’d sometimes produce proofs that vampires indeed existed, but only he could understand them.

“He used to be a gentleman, my perfect prince charming.” Mom went into a mode of recollecting her memories, and I tried my best to keep her in that happy state. “I never knew he'd have a fairytale obsession himself.”

I didn’t know how to assure her. I didn’t want to disagree with her, nor did I want to support dad. But I wanted a better understanding between them. She didn’t have time with her work schedule, and he refused to leave his study office.

An hour had passed by before we heard creaking noises from upstairs. They echoed around the house in a tense vibration, and we saw Odelia coming down the stairs. Mom rushed up to her, asking her about the details of her “conversation” with dad. Odelia’s lips spread into a smile as she told her everything was okay.

“Okay?” mom repeated. “What…I mean, what does that mean for him?” No psychiatrist had told us the situation was ‘okay’, so this woman surprised me for sure.

“I’ve developed a few theories on how he functions with his daily activities,” Odelia explained. “But we can’t be sure unless he reveals some more. I think what he needs is to be understood.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you for the past five years,” I told mom, but she didn’t acknowledge me. “Mom, we should talk to him ourselves.”

“No,” Odelia said, and I gave her a confused look. “He claims his predictions and investigations are correct, and his findings are real. He thinks we might have a supernatural world beyond Earth. If we try to pry into his thoughts and intentions, he may close up forever.”

“No,” mom said, frightened. “Oh, Odelia, you must help him. We’ve tried to find the perfect psychiatrists for him but everyone is afraid of him now. You’re our only hope.”

“I will try," Odelia promised. But behind her confident hazel eyes, wary lurked like sharks in a calm sea. It was as if a wrench had been thrown into her procedure of getting to know dad. Whatever that wrench was, I hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“Thank you so much!” mom said, as all of us began to exit the door. Outside on the porch, we saw a moving truck pull up on the driveway opposite to ours.

“Oh, looks like our furniture’s here,” Odelia said. “And Cassie, I’m happy to help. Although, I’m sure this is not that of a big deal.”

“It is.” Mom was relieved, but the way Odelia glanced at her was unsettling. Was there something she didn’t tell us about? “Oh, those must be your children.” Mom watched a boy and girl step out of Odelia’s house.

“Odelia,” I said, low enough so mom couldn’t hear. She turned towards me and I hesitated. It might be nothing, but… “Is everything with dad really okay?” Odelia’s smile didn’t falter, but I could see right through it. “I won’t tell mom anything. Is there something wrong with him?”

“It’s a strange case I’ve never come across before,” she said, and her forehead creased. “It’s tough, but I’m willing to try.”

We heard shouts as a commotion started on the other side of the street. Odelia shook her head in disapproval, but Mom was curious. She asked Odelia, once again, if they were her children.

“I moved into the city with them,” Odelia said. She wanted to advance into her job and explore other opportunities. Her children were twins of the opposite gender, and I was told they’d go to the same school as me.

“I didn’t catch your name, darling. What is it?” Odelia asked me. When I told her, she nodded in thought. “It’d be nice for you to meet Atlanta. She’d want a friend of her own age.”

“That is marvelous,” mom added, giving me an excited look. “Eve doesn’t have too many friends either. She can show your children around if they’re willing to go on a tour.” I didn’t feel too comfortable with the tour, but I did want a friend, a real friend that didn’t use me as a cheat sheet or an ATM machine.

“I’m not sure about my son, but Atlanta would love that,” Odelia said with joy. “We’ll be staying until their education is complete. Sadly, we might have to move again.” Odelia said something about protecting their citizenship, but it was all too unclear. In addition to that, we were told her son, Caspian, had plans somewhere else for his future.

“Rick studies elsewhere, too,” mom said, keeping my brother in mind. “He doesn’t live on campus, so he’s always seen either studying or sleeping in the house.” Ah, Rick. He didn’t have a reason to step downstairs unless he needed to leave the house. I used to think he got dad’s genes, but dad was too far apart from anybody to compare.

“Busy sons, huh?” Odelia chuckled. Did all psychiatrists have the ability to laugh and talk in a soothing manner? As they conversed, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Occasionally, her eyes would return to me and I’d see that puzzled draft in her face. Was it because of what I’d asked her earlier, or a regular gesture? When she noticed me staring, her lips broke into a smile.

“How about you go meet my children over there?” she suggested. “I have to go to the store, or else I’d introduce you myself.”

“It’s alright,” I told her. We watched Odelia slip into her car and drive off. Mom encouraged me to go make a friend and stepped back into the house. After contemplating whether to cross the street or follow her inside, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my denim jeans and trotted towards Odelia’s driveway.

The twins came into a clearer view, and the person I first saw was the girl. She was hoisting a cardboard box over another as long, bleach blonde curls fell behind her shoulders. It took a while for her to notice me, and when she did, she froze.

I smiled, finding her humorous as she stood still like a blonde mannequin with bright, lost blue eyes. It took a while for her to snap out of her trance as a wide smile spread on her face.

“Hey! You must be the girl living across from us,” she said, taking my hand before I could react. Her voice bounced with excitement as she shook it. Her hand was unbelievably warm. “I’m Atlanta. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

“Eve,” I replied, amused. Atlanta was a complete gumdrop from head to toe, colour the theme of her clothing and words. “That looks heavy. Need some help?”

Her eyes fell on the box beside her feet. “Oh! Yeah, sure.” We lifted it together and took it into the garage. “My mom went to your house right? What happened?” she asked along the way.

I shrugged a little. “She talked to my dad.” Worry replaced her face and I changed the subject. “So, it’s your first day here?”

“Yup!” We put down the box on the hard, concrete floor of the garage and walked out. “I can’t wait to go to school. You go to Castlebrooke Secondary, don’t you?” I nodded. “Awesome sauce.”

On the other side of the moving truck, I saw Atlanta’s twin working on a trailer of some sort. He had a screw driver in his hand and a toolbox set on the ground. This must be…

“This is my brother,” Atlanta told me. “Caspian!” He glanced over and realized there was another person beside Atlanta. “This is Eve, the girl who lives across from us.”

Caspian surveyed me for a brief moment and I decided to do the same. He had hair contrasting between copper and ash brown, each strand glimmering under the sunlight in an abnormal glow. His eyes were orbs of deep amber, such a radiant colour it was unreal.

And yet, he wasn’t the only one who seemed to look different, who seemed to look like a glistening gem in a pile of rocks. Atlanta’s hair was such a majestic white, and her eyes were two brilliant seas anyone could drown in.

“We go to the same school as her,” Atlanta told her brother, and his attention returned to her. “We should go together!” Caspian was neither thrilled nor against the idea.

“I can show you around,” I said, my mind changing on its own. I cleared my throat, giving him an unwavering, yet timid glance. “We can take my car and—”

“No thanks,” Caspian said, and the bluntness startled me. Did I say something wrong, or was he not interested? Atlanta apologized to me for his behaviour and gave him a glare. “Atlanta, I need to speak with you. Privately.”

An awkward silence stretched between us, and I wasn’t sure whether to leave or stay until someone told me to go. The twins seemed nothing like each other, in personality and appearance. They shared secretive looks, and by the time one of them broke the gaze, Atlanta looked satisfied.

“We’ll go to school together,” Atlanta told me. “I have to talk to Caspian in private, so I’ll see you later?” I nodded and started towards the porch of my house. What was that about?

When I looked behind my shoulder, Atlanta was fixing a screw on the trailer as Caspian watched my every step. He didn’t bother to look away when I caught him staring, and I forced myself to continue walking.

Even from here, I saw the expression he had etched on his face. It was puzzled, similar to Odelia’s as she gave me those occasional glances of pure bewilderment. I didn’t know I was such an interesting specimen.

But I found them interesting, too. Queer, indeed.