Control
It was like turning on a faucet. After the yoga class and that fist night with Abby, things just started happening. Even when as I slept, objects would rustle around in our room. I skipped class for a few days by pretending to be sick. Abby did her part by hanging out with her boyfriend in his room instead of in ours.
We learned that the erratic nature of the power seemed to relate directly to my irritation. If I was calm, the only things that happened were the things I directly tried to influence. Meditation kept the random activity down to a minimum, but if I got riled up or giddy, tops would pop off of containers and things would fly across the room.
I knew I couldn't go out into college life again until I got the situation under control, so I spent a majority of my day meditating and doing little mental agility tests. I started to understand the kind of thoughts that would trigger the power, and I began focusing on my ability to influence things on a small scale, like throwing dice or altering a random number generator.
I also knew I couldn't afford to miss anymore than three days of school, so I had to learn quickly. By the end of my first day home, I could focus myself in on certain objects, but I couldn't stop other things from happening. It was like my brain was a 2-year-old, running around the room picking things up, knocking things down--just causing a mess.
Abby helped out a lot. We kept coming up with games for me to get a better handle on my power. First we did things like putting coins and cups on the desk, and I would make the coins hop in the cups. Then I was able to do more complex things like shuffling a pack of cards, getting toast, and dressing myself.
By the end of the third day, I could manage pretty well. Things only got out of control when I got upset, and things had been so exciting that it really hadn't been a problem. I noticed that the more I learned about manipulating things around me, the more complex the objects' movement got. When the power first manifested things would just fly or shoot across the room, but now they would drift, hover, or fly around in patterns.
Abby also told me that the power kept working when I was asleep. Glasses of water would pour and place themselves on my nightstand. Hangers would come out of my closet and outfits would be prepared for the next day. This power made it so my OCD mind was working overtime.
It was finally Friday, the fourth day after my Monday night yoga class. I walked down to the shower, hoping I'd have it to myself. When I got into the bathroom and started showering, I realized I forgot my conditioner. That's when the big problems started.
Abby was in our room sitting at her computer when she noticed my conditioner bottle hover off my dresser and toward the door. Just as the door started to open to let the bottle out, Abby grabbed it and locked the door. She struggled with the bottle as it tired to pry itself out of her hands.
"Damn it, Amy--you can't let this kind of stuff happen!" Abby said to herself, gripping the bottle and pulling it away from the door. Now the bottle pulled harder. Abby's socks began to slide across the linoleum. "It's no use--she's stronger than I am." Abby had an idea. She grabbed her keys off the hook and opened the door, carrying the conditioner bottle down the hall. It was a strange sight--almost like Abby was taking an excited dog for a walk. She had to bear back on her heels to keep the bottle from getting too far ahead of her. When I heard the door open, I was washing my hair.
"Amy?" Abby said, peeking around the shower stall area. "Are you here?"
"Right here," I said. "What's up?"
"You've got to be more careful about thinking about things that you need," Abby said, "Especially when they have to float through the dorm hallway to get to you." I watched as my bottle of conditioner flew over the shower rod and landed on the shelf in my stall.
"I didn't do that, Abby." In fact, all I did was think to myself: I forgot my conditioner.
"Well, unless you have conditioner with a homing beacon, you did do it. How are you going to get through this whole day without blowing your cover?" She was right.
"I'll just have to do my best. I can't stay locked in this dorm room forever, you know?"
"Well, something else occurred to me when your conditioner decided it was going to join you--you don't need to see the object to affect it." Right again. Just thinking that I need my conditioner brought it sailing down the hall. "So how far away does it work, and how hard do you have to think about something to make it happen?" I didn't have any answers for her, and she made a good point. I was going to have to be exceptionally careful about my thoughts.
"Like I said, Abby--the best I can do is try to keep things under control." I sighed. "I didn't ask any of this to happen to me."
"Hey, I have an odd request," Abby said. "Do you think you can manipulate water?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you can make things fly and stuff, can you make water flow upward and form into shapes and things like that?" I laughed.
"I have no idea, Abby. This is as new to me as it is to you." I cupped one of my hands and let the water from the shower trickle in. When it began flowing out, I closed my eyes and pictured a ball of water getting bigger and bigger. "Hey Abby, check this out." When I opened my eyes, a spherical form of water about the size of a basketball sat in my palm. I moved my hand from under the ball and it hovered at the same level in front of me. I made it fly over the shower rod and out of the stall.
"Holy shit, Amy, you did it!" Abby stuck her finger in the liquid ball, then reached in with her hand. "This is ridiculous. If you can do something like this after only a little practice, imagine--" The bathroom door opened abruptly, and a girl turned to see Abby prodding the mass of water hovering in space.
"What the f--" It wasn't until I heard her speak that the ball of water dropped onto the floor, soaking Abby's socks.
"Sara! I was just, uh--uh--trying to sneak a water balloon back to my room." She looked at the puddle beneath her. "Heh...broke it Amy, we'll have to do another one." Sara went up on her toes.
"Amy's in there?" Abby nodded. "How 'ya feelin, Ames?"
"Umm, you know, okay I guess. I'm kind of dreading what I've missed."
"Yeah..." Sara looked back at Abby suspiciously. "What the hell do you need a water balloon for?" Abby shrugged.
"You know, to drop onto the courtyard."
"Well, it didn't look like a balloon to me. It just looked like a big ball of water hanging in space."
"That's what they look like the moment they blow up," I chimed in from the shower. "Maybe you just...see...really fast." Sara shrugged and adjusted her hair in front of the mirror.
"Yeah, I guess." Sarah turned and walked back out. "Have fun, you two. If I get hit by a water balloon when I leave this building, I'll know who to kill." The moment the door shut, Abby spoke.
"That was a close one," she said. I laughed.
"Why don't you get out of here before you get us in another awkward situation?"
"I'm going, I'm going. I'll see you at noon." After I finished up my shower, I went back to my room to get ready. I used every opportunity I could to practice my ability, and I even got good enough for things like setting my clothes out and brushing my hair. It was becoming second nature, which I later found out wasn't going to be such a good thing for getting through the day...