Interrogation
#1 of Awakening of One
Interrogation
Ok first off these stories are my intellectual property, do not copy them or the constrictor's within without my express permission. This chapter was written as a short story a few years ago and I decided to pull it out and expand on the plot. This is the first story I have posted so please votes are good comments are encouraged, feedback will let me know weather I should continue writing the story or not.
"So how many people have you recruited into this?" the voice behind the light asked. She had been asking me these types of questions for the last hour. Her low gravelly voice the only sound coming form the darkness outside the circle of light beating down on me.
"Look its not like I am going around gathering followers. I'm not a cult leader or anything. I am not teaching people to hate others, or to stop believing in what ever religion they worship. I admit to them I don't like the catholic religion much, but I don't force my beliefs on them either. I just tell them what I know, and I let them decide for themselves what they want to believe." After a short silence I continued, "I'm not out to brainwash people. I don't worship Satan. I don't tell people they need to kill each other or themselves. I just help to explain some of the things in their lives which no one else can."
"And you expect us to believe these 'unexplainable events' are magic, or caused by invisible demons?" This was a new voice, an older man. His voice a very smooth, deep rumble. "Not exactly. First off, I have never said anything about demons. I don't like that reference. It leans too much to the religious sort. And invisible? Not really, its not that we can't see them, it's that you are taught from about the age of four or five that these creatures don't exist and its just your childish imagination running away with you. Of course, we are also taught that we must loose all childishness so we can get the benefits of adulthood. You see all children yearn to be like their parents, and if their parents say these things don't exist then they don't. In essence, every parent does like his or her parents did; they brainwash their children. Secondly what you are calling magic is only that because you don't understand it. Much like pulling out a lighter in front of a cave man."
I could feel him moving about the room, hear every footfall on the cold hard cement floor as he paced somewhere outside the small circle of light being cast down on me from the large overhead lamp.
"So you say you aren't the one brainwashing people, but instead every child is brainwashed by their parents. This is kind of hard to believe.." It was the man again, I could feel his hatred and self-righteousness from across the room.
"You really think it's that hard to believe? Everyday parents tell their children about things like Santa Clause and the Easter bunny, we convince them that these imaginary creatures will bring them gifts, then we help promote these lies by leaving the promised gifts lay out for the children to find later telling them it was the work of these imaginary creatures. Yet still you say we do not brainwash our children?" I spat the response at him just to see how he would react.
"THAT'S NOT THE SAME THING!" he shouted, and for just a second I caught a glimpse of the man as he stepped too close to the light.
"Yes it is," I continued in a calm voice. "Every parent does it, just as their parents did it to them."
"Ok smart guy explain this." It was the woman again, her voice like sandpaper on my last nerve. It's not that her voice was unpleasant, but after hours of sitting in this light answering the same inane questions over and over, I was getting a bit edgy myself. I knew I had to calm down, or I would wind up letting this thing get out of control. The sound of the woman's voice brought me out of my personal thoughts.
"I know why we started things like Santa and the Easter bunny, but why would anyone teach their kids that creatures, which you say can and will hurt them aren't real?" I knew what she was asking, but there was no way I wanted to get into this yet, so I gave her the most straightforward answer.
"Because they were told by there parents these creatures aren't real, of coarse."
I knew immediately I had hit a nerve. The man who I had already managed to upset to the point of breaking shattered the 'you're in the spotlight' routine. He came right at me, grabbing me by the shirt collar.
"Who do you think you are? You're in a lot of trouble here, the last thing you need is to get smart with us!"
I could hear every word the man said, but I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I was evaluating every change in his personal energy pattern. And with this direct contact I could also pick up on his exact emotional state. You see, as well as a few other talents, I am highly empathic. I can read emotions so well, I can almost tell what people are thinking. And this man wasn't thinking much.
"Don't ignore me you little punk!" He finished razing his hand as if to hit me.
"Well hello Mr. Kelis, nice to meet you too. Now if you wouldn't mind letting go of me...." I just watched as the expression on his face changed from anger to confusion. "Yes I know your name, you're still wearing your name patch." He smiled just a little then, but as he realized I had answered his question before he asked it all color ran from his face. "No I can't read your mind, but your emotional state says it all." I said with a grin. He quickly let me go and backed out of the light.
I heard the door open, some people came in. I could hear whispers from the darkness then a single person started to lave the room. "Goodbye Mr. Kelis, it's been nice chatting with you." The footsteps stopped for a second, then he continued out of the room. "So who was elected to take his place?" I asked in a calm, quiet voice.
"My name is unimportant, you are really in trouble and I just want to help. You know everything you have said up until now sounds completely crazy don't you?" This new man had a slick voice, the kind of voice a lawyer or con man used to get you to give them all your money.
"No, not crazy sir, just hard for you to comprehend. You are, after all, just a sleeper and more than happy to stay that way." There was a pause.
"I don't know what you mean by sleeper." The new man acted interested. He was a bad actor.
"Well, a sleeper is one who is still brainwashed, one who will deny any supernatural event they encounter. Sleepers find convenient explanations for why supernatural events happen, even if their explanation can't possibly be correct. The funny part is, after a short period of time, the sleeper will actually believe this story. He will believe it so much, he will argue with others who experienced the same event when they explain it differently." I took a short pause to evaluate the effect this explanation was having on my new questioner. I could tell he was there but I could nether feel his energy pattern, or his emotional state. I had no choice but to continue and see if I could make the man react.
"What's more, if everyone who experienced an event were sleepers, they may each start with different explications but eventually their stories will all start to match." At this, the man laughed.
"So does that make my associate here like you, just because she believes in some supernatural events?" Even though he was being very sarcastic, he had just told me a very important detail. At least one person who was taking part in this interview wasn't completely against me.
"Well not exactly. You see, even if you are willing to accept that there are things in this world that the current idea of reality can't quite explain, that doesn't mean you want to participate in it."
I directed the next part of my answer directly to the woman. "Of course, those who seek it out are in reality looking for people like me. Does that answer your question?" I asked. I knew I was going to have to be careful around this new guy; he was probing for something.
"To a point. Tell me Mr. Kintell, do you have a name for these people who aren't sleepers, but aren't like you?"
"Yes. They are called Sensitive Awakened. They are sensitive to the activities around them but do not wish to get involved in them." A simple answer, what was this guy trying for? "OK. So what does that make you?" Another simple question, this was going to get old fast. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't pick up a trace of this mans emotions or catch a glimpse of his personal energy flux. I was going to have to find a way to put him on the defensive if I was going to find out what this was all really about. "Well I am an Active Awakened. More accurately, I personally am a Mage."
"There it is, just as I thought." The man had turned away from me. He seemed to be addressing someone I could not see. "A reference from one of those stupid games, like I keep saying these games pollute the minds of our children. This case is a bit odd, he sounds almost convincing, but as you can see his sense of reality, just like all the others, has been warped by those games. And now he actually believes he is correct as he goes out to recruit other 'Mages'."
That was it. I was done playing with this guy. He had obviously come here with this theory, and now that I had said a word which could be vaguely referenced to a game he jumped to the conclusion that I was just some poor twisted kid who couldn't tell the difference between reality and some game.
"Look Mr. Whatever-your-name-is, I'm sure your little theory is quite fascinating, but I have news for you. The term Mage is a descendent of the word Magi which dates back to ancient Egypt. The Magi were a group of the pharos priests. These priests were said to have the ability to control weather, make fire from thin air, or even harness the power to kill with a word. That is why I use this word, not some obscure reference from a game." Let him argue that.
"Oh really? And you want us all to believe you also have such powers. When you were first brought here we asked you to prove what you were saying, and you admitted you could not. You're no longer talking to a bunch of doped up kids here. We aren't going to just take what you say as true because you tell us to." Well, he was on the defensive, and damn was he good at it.
"You're right I said I could not prove any of this, but you fail to mention why." He was at the edge of the light now, but still I could not sense what he was feeling, or see his personal energy flux at all. "Oh yes, that very convenient disbelief thing. How quaint." QUAINT? I wanted to grab the man by the neck and fling him around the room.
"Not that disbelief thing!" I almost shouted. " I explained that disbelief is as powerful a tool as all the abilities I have. As I said before...."
"That will be quite enough. We don't need to hear your pathetic little story again." He almost shouted, cutting me off. "Let him finish agent Johnston. I want to hear this." Came a very commanding voice from some intercom in the room.
"But sir, it's just more rubbish." Johnston said in an almost pleading voice. After a few seconds of silence the voice spoke again. "Johnston your opinion is noted, Mr. Kintell please finish." This was bad. Agent Johnston, and some voice from outside the room. I was in way deeper than I thought.
"As I was saying, disbelief is very powerful, it can counter almost any ability I could try to use. You see, all people have within them the ability I do to manipulate energies, not all of them very powerful but it is there. In most people it is not very strong, much like not every one is born with the ability to play piano or paint masterpieces, in those who are strong the brainwashing drives them to zealot like disbelief. Those who don't believe can unconsciously use there abilities to make reality act the way they think it should."
"Therefore if I try to do something 'Magical' that they don't think should happen, they can stop, or sometimes, even undo what I have done. What's more there are a lot more sleepers to disbelieve in what I do than there are awakened to believe in it. So by asking me to prove myself tells me you don't believe and therefore whatever I try will more than likely fail." Agent Johnston snorted in disgust. "I told you it was a very convenient explanation."
I'd had as much of this Johnston guy as I could take. What's more, this thing was over as far as I was concerned. "OK, I'm done playing with all of you, I have answered your questions, and I have done a good job proving I am not out to make a cult group bent on killing each other, or overthrowing the government. I am leaving."
"You will not be going anywhere, except maybe a small padded room Mr. Kintell" Agent Johnston venomously spat out.
A quiet calm settled over me. The familiar feeling of my power rose in the back of my mind. Had there been another mage in the room, simply looking into my eyes would have revealed the power lurking just behind the surface. "But before I go, I would like to get a good look at who exactly I have been talking to." With that I threw up my arms and the light of the lamp grew, getting brighter and brighter expanding to fill the entire room. It began to look as if the entire ceiling was one large light. This continued until the whole room almost glowed.
The first person I could see was agent Johnston. He was staring at me, his mouth working uselessly trying to form a question. "Yes agent Johnston, I did say that your disbelief would stop me from performing magic. But you see, during this interview, I have made almost every person watching think, 'maybe he's right.' and as soon as someone has that thought, that small doubt as to whether their perception of the world is correct or not, then they can no longer outright disbelieve in what I do. As a matter of fact, you are the only one who refused to even consider the possibility that I wasn't just out of my mind." Looking away from agent Johnston, who was now so scared he was incapable of moving, I glanced around the rest of the room.
Almost directly in front of me was a table. Behind it sat a lady, maybe in her late 30's. She would have been very pretty if it were not for a large scar running across her left cheek and cutting the middle of her left eye. It was more than likely something to do with that scar that put her on the study of the paranormal. She was, after all, why I was here. As always, I had followed that silent, insistent, draw which leads me from one person in need to another. I almost thought I was wrong this time, this place didn't seem likely to harbor anyone who was coming awake. Of course, as always, I had been drawn to the correct place, at the correct time. This woman was coming awake and she needed my help. Well, I had made contact, and now she knew I wasn't making it all up. The next step would be hers. I quickly pulled out a small coin from my pocket and tossed it in her direction.
Every eye in the room was uncontrollably drawn to the coin as it spun in its arc toward its intended destination. The woman reached out and caught the coin as well as any pro baseball player. She looked it over; on one side it had the picture of a white bear, on the other a single word... "TRUTH". She quickly looked up to find the chair in the middle of the room empty, the door to the room still closed and locked. Agent Johnston was sitting in one corner of the room hugging his knees, rocking back and forth mumbling something. The video camera was knocked over, broken in two, the tape missing. And the audio recorder seemed to have been turned off shortly after Johnston threatened to put Mr. Kintell in a padded room.