Novel Ideas Part 7

If you have been reading along please leave a comment or two!

'Are they?” Bobby was the one to ask.

“Yes,” and that was the last thing Jack said before they walked up to their table.  Ward and Bobby busied themselves with their food.

“Good to see you here Jack,” Rowan spoke first but didn’t even look at him.  It didn’t surprise Jack though.

“Good to see you too Rowan.  Foods pretty good, gonna grab a bite first?”

“No, thanks we grabbed before we got here,” Rowan sat down beside Bobby and Pat sat next to Ward without saying a word.  To say that neither of the men noticed them would be an understatement, but they tried very hard not too. 

“Pat and Rowan I would like you to meet Ward and Bobby,” Jack did what he knew they had wanted him to do.  They were there for them.  Even Jack had picked Ward and Bobby out to be the most promising new recruits.  They would want to start on them as soon as possible and that would mean examining those ghosts.

“Nice to meet you,” Bobby stuck out his hand toward Rowan and then Pat. 

“Nice to meet you too,” Rowan zeroed in on Bobby as Pat sat quietly next to Ward.  “I would like to interview you after you finish you meal here if that’s okay with you.”

“I’m done,” and Bobby pushed the tray away from him.

“Then let’s get started,” and Rowan stood up, “Would you follow me.” 

Ward watched them leave but avoided eye contact with Pat.  Once they were gone he focused back on his food, mostly pushing it around with his fork.

“Not interested in getting started?” Pat’s voice was low, reassuring as if trying to sooth a wild animal.

“No,” Ward paused, “I’m just not in a hurry to examine and discuss the demons that were forced out of my subconscious with you.”

“Very good Ward,” Pat was impressed, really impressed.  His skills were farther advanced than she had expected.  The camp observers were correct in picking out these two to be assessed first and moved right into training.

“We have to be sure you can get past them before we can start the training,” Ward still hadn’t looked up from his tray.

“Understood,” and he put his fork down.  “Then shall we get started,” and he pushed himself reluctantly away from the table, “Just so long as you remember those ghost have been dead and buried for a long time now, and they have very little power over me.”  Ward couldn’t say he liked or disliked Pat yet.  She was very business-like with him and if nothing else he appreciated that right now.  No matter where this road would lead, it was going to test him and his friends in many more ways, and he would face each hurdle one step at a time.

Novel Ideas Part 6

This story has inspired me to go back and write the story of Ward. Here's the next installment of this short story:

When they let him out of the room, a day later, he was worse for the wear, but not broken.  He did smell bad and was in need of a good shower so he headed for the locker room first.  It didn’t surprise him to find that both Jack and Bobby had headed for the locker room as well.  All in all there were nine of them in the showers stalls trying to rinse off the memories that this part of the training had brought to the surface.  Ward had to wonder what had happened to the tenth man, but no one was talking.  At any time he could have read the emotions of anyone in this room, but he couldn’t, didn’t want to feel anyone else’s emotions either.  He found it wasn’t that hard to block them out either.  Maybe that was one of the points of this exercise as well, to learn restraint.   

Thirty minutes later they sat in silence at whatever meal this was still fighting the demons they faced.  Ward glanced at Bobby and saw that he was recovering faster than either Jack or him.  The lines on his face just weren’t as deep, his face not as drawn.  He was really curious as to what demons Bobby had and even more curious about the demons that Jack hadn’t shared with him.  He chanced opening up his mind to get their feelings but the raw emotions in the room nearly physically knocked him over. Jack looked over at Ward immediately as if he knew what he had done.  He then looked at the door.  They were right on time.  Jack didn’t know how he knew they would show up now, he just did. 

“Head’s up,” Jack kept his voice low as if that would help at all.  Pat and Rowan were mind readers, good mind readers.  He had worked with Rowan before and had been amazed.  They were also trainers assigned to this group.  Jack had done his research before he had gotten here, after all he did have the clearance to find out, “The people coming in are here to take us out separately for debriefing from the box.”  Both Bobby and Ward looked over at the door only to encounter Pat and Rowan staring right at them.  It was unnerving and they looked away.

Novel Ideas 5

Sorry they are so few and far between. It seems I am having a hard time redefining myself as a writer first and an educator second.  The classroom still calls to me sometimes, but no more waiting the next installment is here. If you are enjoying this, please let me know with a quick comment.

“Hey, have some respect for the dead here,” Bobby moaned from his bunk as he turned over and covered his head with his pillow.

“Sorry,” Ward had awakened ready for the day.  He slid on a pair of shorts and a tee shirt.  He walked over to the door then stopped, “Hey, come join us.  I think this has helped with the meditation routines.”

“And smell that hippy dippy stuff so early in the morning,” and he snorted, “Not this man.”  Ward chuckled and left.  Bobby was becoming a friend, a good friend, even though their backgrounds were polar opposites.  Bobby’s family was normal, if there was such a thing, and they were higher up on the pay scale than most people.  He had volunteered for this unit once they approached him because of love of Country.  Ward had stumbled into this because he did alone, and he did it well.  Both signed up to do good though, and both were A-types that had to be the best in their field.

“Morning,” Ward said as he sat down.  He took a deep cleansing breath and exhaled.  For the next five minutes they sat in dead silence.  Ward was getting used to that with Jack and he was enjoying their talks.

“Today will test us,” were the first words Jack said.  Ward sat quietly, “People like us have a lot of baggage that will break free today and haunt us, test us.”

“Okay,” Ward didn’t open his eyes, he just kept breathing, “Why us more than others.”

“Our histories, our families.  Similar in some ways, both tainted by violence and pain,” at this Ward opened his eyes, “In any case people who don’t mind never seeing their past again.”

“What did you say you did before this?”  He knew he could trust Jack.  Knew he was a good man, a friend.  Maybe part of this training was also to build friends, connections, people you trusted, and people that were closer than family.

“CIA.  Done trainings like this before,” Jack took a deep breath, “Just remember that even though we don’t have many if any connections to our past, it can still hurt us.”  Ward didn’t know how good that advice was seven hours had past in the dark room.

“Damn it Ward!  I told you boy to clean that mess out there!” he felt himself flung across the room and knocked nearly unconscious.  Ward could remember that day like it was right now.  He had meditated so long that the craziness was now getting loose.  Being in this room and in the dark for so long was bringing up bad, no horrifying, memories as Jack had promised. The baseball bat repeatedly hit his father’s hand as he walked toward him.  The man’s face was pure evil and he looked happy to beat the crap out of him once again.  As the bat reached it’s apex Ward put his hands up and waited for the blow to hit.  When the blow never reached him he put his hands down understanding his hell that he had to go through before he would get out of here.

Novel Ideas - Part 4

It's been a bit long in the tooth here getting this out but hope you enjoy the next installment! 

“It’s similar to the meditation we will be learning this week, only there training will be more intense.  I thought that this might get me through it,” Jack hadn’t even looked at him yet, but had seemed to look through him.

“It’s been an amazing two weeks, I can’t imagine what it will be like in six more,” Ward wasn’t what else to say.

“I probably won’t make it all the way through,” and before Ward could say anymore Jack raised a hand, “That’s just fine, my ancestors believe I’m here for another reason,” and with that he was quiet.  Ward sat there for a few minutes.  He realized that the fire was less of a fire and more like incense.  Taking a deep breath he focused on the scents coming from the sticks. 

“Nice,” Ward couldn’t help it. He sighed as breathed out and relaxed. 

“It’s going to be a hard week for all of us, but for some of us,” and Ward knew instinctually who Jack was talking about, “we will see hell.”

“A little over the top don’t you think?”  Ward couldn’t help himself as he closed his eyes and took in the spicy sweet smell again.  It seemed to take away the stress, doubts, and draw out all of the fear and tension as if expelling puss from a wound.

“You’re welcome to join me in the mornings and then you can tell me if my statement was exaggerated on Friday,” and with that the conversation was over. 

By Thursday Ward was beginning to understand.  They had sat in class after class, hour after hour on how to meditate. Then they had been put in a room for increasing times each day.  He wished he could tell someone what the room looked like inside, but he had been blindfolded on the way in and then once the door was closed it was darker than the dark side of the moon inside.  Temperature was under someone else’s control, as well as the conditions inside the room like fresh air.  After a few minutes to assess what the situation was he came to the conclusion that this was some type of sensory deprivation room.  They were supposed to put what they learned to work inside the room.  He had tried to sense to see if anyone was near at first and found nothing and no one so he got busy meditating.  At first it was easy, then as the time in the dark room increased it got harder.  Today, tomorrow, and Saturday there were no more classes.  In fact, at eight this morning they would be locked in what he now called the dark room to six in the morning on Sunday.  Ward was beginning to think that this was also some sort of modified SERE military training.  It was no secret that if they were able to read minds as promised, then the types of training they would need would be endless.  Today’s activities were nothing more than separating those who could and those who couldn’t use the meditation skills to survive.  Better they do this now than to get create a bunch of mind readers they couldn’t use. 

Novel Ideas - Part 3

Sorry this has taken so long.  I have been busy doing 2 or 3 different jobs for the past couple of weeks.  I hope it has been worth the wait!

  Two weeks later Ward was pretty sure that all the promises his handler had made were possible.  His tent-mate and now his friend, Bobby, had been as driven as he was and they had taken their training into their own hands even during the their few precious hours of recoup time daily.  It wasn’t above-board but they had gotten good at reading each other’s emotions and predicting each other’s movements.  It was, if one would excuse the pun, mind blowing, what they had achieved.  If all this could be accomplished in two weeks then it was hard to imagine what the full two months would bring.  Ward had noticed though that not all the candidates were having the same success.  Most seemed to be progressing as expected, but there were a couple that he knew had been put on a watch list.  This new week was going to bring new challenges.  Not only were they honing their empathic reading skills they had been trained in, not something that would be hard for Ward as he hadn’t waited to do that, they were focusing on mediation techniques to rest and rebuild the mind.  

Ward woke at dawn already sweating as the heat had reached an uncomfortable temperature.  Throwing his pillow at Bobby he yelled for him to get up as Ward moved for the door and flung the flaps open.  There out on the edge of the camp sat one of the men he had rode in with, Jack.  They had spoken a few times and he was one of the men on the watch list.  He had his back to the camp and their seemed to be a small stream of smoke drifting off above him.  As smoking and drinking were taboo this made Ward even more curious.  As he walked toward him he tried to get a read on his feelings.  If they were going to train you to do this they had to expect you would use the skills.  Jack seemed at peace, calm in a way that Ward had never felt.  Ward was about to doubt his read when Jack spoke.

“Come and sit and join me, it will help you get through today.”  The idea that the people here knew you were there before they could see you was becoming more normal for Ward, so he sat.  He saw that the smoke emanated from a small fire pit Jack had made on the ground.  “Old prayer ritual to my ancestors, tribal beliefs that my mother taught me.  I keep this one up mostly because it focuses me on what is important.”  When Ward didn’t say anything he continued.