Hope(less) (Judgement of the Six #1)
Melissa Haag
Prologue
Since as long as I could remember, I could see the locations of the people around me as if my head came equipped with a giant fish finder. Instead of blips on a radar, when I focused, a vast darkness opened in my mind. Within the infinite void, tiny sparks of light shimmered matching the location of the people in the area around me. The colors of the light, always a yellow center and dark-green halo, never changed… except for me. My spark had a vibrant orange halo, making me unique. Alone.
Along with the ability to see those life sparks, I also had a certain pull on men. From adolescent to grandparent, they couldn’t seem to ignore me. The degree in which I affected them varied. Some just studied me like a puzzle that needed solving, ready to forget me as soon as I disappeared from sight. For others, I became an obsession.
I learned at nine, when I entered foster care, to keep my secrets to myself and use my sight to avoid people whenever possible. For several years, I drifted from home to home, never staying long after my foster dad, or brother, or uncle, or whatever started noticing me.
By fifteen, I’d resolved myself to the shuffle and began counting down the days until I turned eighteen, the age of freedom, always wondering why I was the way I was.
Chapter 1
Walking my usual path through the park at dusk, I cautiously stretched my senses to check ahead. No yellow-green sparks decorated the darkness. Tired from volunteering at the hospital after school, I didn’t at first notice the abnormality, a pale blue light with a bright green halo, lingering at the fringe of my sight, near the pond.
Having never witnessed any color variations before and unsure what to do, my steps slowed on the path. With the spark far to the left, I could keep walking through the park and go home, and whatever the spark was would never know I saw it. But I didn’t walk away. Too curious and hungry for answers, I stepped off the path to investigate, feeling safe since no people lingered nearby.
Perhaps this new color meant I could see something other than humans, maybe animals. As interesting as that would be, the idea of my sight suddenly changing worried me.
The lawn muffled the sound of my approach. Near the edge of the pond, I spotted a shadow moving subtly. I crept further ahead still scanning the area, perplexed at the absence of a yellow green spark since the shadow was much too large for an animal. I moved closer to the pond, away from the lights along the path, and hid in the darkness, watching.
The shadow continued to move and in an instant, I identified the shape and froze in shock.
A man stood close to the water’s edge removing his clothes. His undressing didn’t freak me out as much as the missing yellow-green life-spark. In its place shimmered the oddly tinted spark. I’d found a person that had a uniquely color life-spark like me. Excitement built even as caution reined me in. What could this odd coloring mean? I’d never run into any variations before. Stay or run? Investigating a color I’d thought could be an animal was one thing, but a strange person in a dark park? Not the best idea… but my curiosity burned.
I moved closer, nearing the grove of trees, and recognized the older man. I’d bumped into him, literally, a few days ago at the hospital. I’d been leaving a patient’s room and hadn’t used my sight to check ahead in my haste. With kind brown eyes, a friendly smile, and grey hair, the man had apologized for bumping into me and continued on his way unaffected by my pull.
The man sat to remove his shoes and socks. What was he doing stripping down in the park? Given his age, perhaps he suffered from some type of dementia. Maybe he thought it a good place to take a swim.
When he stepped behind the trees for a moment and reemerged completely naked, I began to think he might have more serious issues than dementia.
Still debating whether I should call out to him, I gasped when his silhouette collapsed in on itself. I automatically moved forward thinking he had injured himself, my feet covering the distance between us as he dropped into a low crouch, his fingers touching the ground. I drew near enough, just a few feet away, to see his skin in the dim light and then skidded to a stop, tearing up grass beneath my feet.
His skin moved, rippling like sand in a current. Immobilized, I watched his body contort, folding in on itself in some places and stretching in others. Was he sick? Something contagious? I couldn’t make myself move away and run in the opposite direction. If he was hurt or sick, he might need help.