Chapter 5
965 Words
Louisa POV :
Center at the National Institutes of Health. In front of her, a desk. Surrounding her, 12 infrared cameras tracking her every move. The test is about to begin.
On the desk, a black cylinder stands upright. It’s topped with a silvery plastic ball. Here’s the challenge: She’s asked to touch her nose and then touch the ball in front of her. Easy. She touches her nose. She touches the ball.
Now comes the hard part.
A lab technician tells her to close her eyes. He places her finger on the ball, and then moves it back to her nose. He lets go and asks Sana to do it herself while keeping her eyes closed.
Suddenly, it’s like the location of the ball has been erased from her mind. She gropes around, swinging her arm widely to the left and the right. When she manages to touch the ball, it seems like an accident. She struggles to find her nose on her face, outright missing a few times.
“It’s like I am lost,” she says, through an interpreter. When her eyes are closed, she doesn’t know where her body is in space.
Try this task for yourself. Place a drinking glass in front of you. Touch the top of it a few times with your eyes open. Then try to find it with your eyes closed. Chances are you still can.
When we close our eyes, our sense of the world and our body’s place in it doesn’t disappear. An invisible impression remains. This sense is called proprioception (pronounced “pro-pree-o-ception”); it’s an awareness of where our limbs are and how our bodies are positioned in space. And like the other senses — vision, hearing, and so on — it helps our brains navigate the world. Scientists sometimes refer to it as our “sixth sense.”
Proprioception is different from the others in a key way: It never turns off, except in very rare cases. We know what silence is when we cover our ears, we know what darkness is when we shut our eyes.
*****
I'm flying...
I remember trying what the book tells me and a second later after I close my eyes, I open my eyes only to be able to see myself below.
What is this?
I sense something staring at me.
How?
Who?
Where?
Gasped loudly I open my eyes only to realize that I am back into my body.
Quickly I look around and couldn't see anything or anyone...
Nothing...
I am back alone in my room, no one staring at me.
Goosebumps and coldness came onto my body.
I know it's not my imagination...
I know those pair of golden eyes...
I have seen it before...
But where?
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Knock... Knock...
"Louisa?"
Groan in tiredness, I open my eyes at the same time my father walking inside.
He look worried when he's looking at me and quickly sat on my bed to touch my head.
"What's wrong with you? You're so pale?" He asked and pour a glass of water that I always put on the table beside my bed because I'm always thirsty at night.
I quickly drink the water fast and feel myself fall back on the bed, unable to open my eyes, I'm so tired.
"Louisa?" He sounds panicked.
"I... I'm tired" I try to whisper and told him, I heard him sighing before stroking my hair lovingly.
I know he's my stepfather, but his affection toward me is like a real father.
I'm glad I have him.
He, who knows my strangeness and says that it isn't a curse.
He, who always beside me and support everything about me.
Thank you, father...
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Jack (Louisa's Father) POV :
Sitting in Louisa's bed, I keep staring at her face.
She looks ill...
What's wrong with her?
Then I saw the books under her pillow.
I take it and open the bookmark and read it.
"Oh sh*t!" I curse and quickly grab my phone.
Ring...
'Can I help you, Jack?' The other line speaks after the first ring.
"Morpheus, Louisa trying the 'soul leaving'" I reply in hurry, I know she has power but trying the power what it says from the book will absorb your energy, or worse, your soul.
Since the day I found her, I know she's special because she has power.
More than what I have...
Morpheus, an old acquaintance who I also know as an old vampire in Romanian, was the one who told me about the books.
I used to learn from it, but I am not powerful enough.
That's why I return it to him.
The moment I decide to go to this city, Morpheus called, saying that the girl's time has come.
I didn't know what he mean by it, then he delivered the book to her.
I almost lost my soul when I tried the 'soul leaving'
He was the one who helped me and now... I need his help.
'Tell me how is she?' He sounds calm when he speaks which confuses me.
How come he can act calm?!
"Morpheus, what...."
'Touch her hand, Jack' He interrupts and I quickly walk back to the bed and grab her hand and feel it hot.
"She's warm," I told him.
.........
"Morpheus?" I called when I hear no answer.
'Your girl has the power, Jack'
My eyes widened when I hear him.
Looking up to my sleeping daughter I watch how her face slowly looks back to her color.
"She..."
'She's a rare flower'
Click...
Was his last words before he end the phone.
Does it mean she's going to be okay?
Does it mean she could handle this book?
Does it mean she has had the sixth sense power?
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- Writer
