Mind Games

Another boring Sunday night, I thought, shouldn’t I be the least bit excited knowing that today was Super Bowl Sunday? Not like I really cared for football that much anyway. I knew tonight would be just like every other night where I stayed up too late doing unproductive things while leaving my chores to be done a different day, a typical procrastinator, as my mom liked to call me. It wasn’t like that, though. I usually had my time planned out, and I would be all set to get going on important tasks, but then it would be like I blacked out or blinked or something and a glance towards the clock would inform me that hours had gone by. I know that seems like the lamest excuse in the world but how else could I explain it? It was like I had no control over my body. So, I sat up from my bed to start putting away the mountains of clean clothes I had on my bedroom floor, and for once I felt productive, and even the slightest bit responsible.

Suddenly, the sound of a heavy thud in the basement knocked me out of my concentration. I set down the sturdy, white hanger I had in my hand and suspiciously followed the noise downstairs. I took the stairs one step at a time, trying to be stealthy and keep my ears open so I could listen. Nearing the end of the steps, my hands started to sweat and my body began to tremble.

"You're just over reacting," I whispered to myself, but at the same time I swore I heard another voice, even though I was positive my mom and brother said they were going to be out of the house for most of the day.

“Kate,” the voice called my name clearly and I froze, halfway off the last step.

“Kate,” once more the deep voice called out to me but instead of fear, I felt something familiar, almost like I recognized the voice. I swore I had heard this voice before, although it most definitely was not the voice of my mom or my 13 year old brother, Ryan. No, this voice was much lower and crisper, although soothing at the same time. I turned the corner and it all seemed to come into focus. Once I saw him, it was like a light bulb switched on inside my brain. His wide, comforting face came into view and reminded me, this was the face that protected me.

“Mike, you freaked me out!” I panted, still startled, as I ran into his familiar embrace.

“Well it’s not like you knew who I was when you heard me,” he sighed.

“Yeah, huh.” I though puzzled, realizing that before he came into view I had no idea about anybody named Mike in my life.

“Why is that again?” I asked, puzzled, knowing somehow that I had asked this question before.

“Ugh are you really going to make me answer that question again?” He seemed annoyed, further confusing me, “Just give it a few seconds Katie, it will call come back to you,” Mike reassured me.

As he said this I was just about to protest when, suddenly, Mike’s dark green eyes made contact with my own and I staggered, almost losing my balance, as all of the memories flooded back. Sure, I could recognize Mike once i saw him, and remember what he means to me, but I couldn’t remember the why’s or how’s to anything until Mike decided to give me the memories back, which he could only do by looking directly into my eyes. This was because Mike had some kind of special powers. He must have explained it to me so many times that the story felt like my own, when I could remember it. Mike was an experiment of an ingenious scientist known as ‘The Breeder’ who transformed him into who he is today, an average looking guy with some not-so-average abilities. He could take memories from other people’s minds and store them in his own, picking and choosing when to give them back. Mike had taken most of my past away, so much of it, in fact, that I really had no idea where I came from. This was Mike’s plan, though, he would never tell me too much, knowing that it would be too dangerous for me. I never understood where the danger was coming from, but Mike said everything he did was to protect me, so I believed him.

“Woah,” I mouthed breathlessly as it all flooded back. And then, I really remembered. I took one step towards him and slapped him on his face. Hard.

“Ouch. I was hoping that memory wouldn’t come back.” He grinned as he tried to get out of it.

“Maybe you shouldn’t try to take away my memories in the middle of a fight then!” I yelled as I remembered back to the last time I was with him, two days ago, right after I had pulled into my garage after a long day at school. The fight was what they were always about. My memories, of course were always a touchy topic of discussion but even more so was The Breeder, as the few who knew him liked to refer to this messed up mad scientist as.

“Kate, honey, you know I would give anything for you to have a normal life, for you not to be so involved in this. But, the only way I can keep you safe when I’m not here is if you don’t know so much. Anyone who knows is vulnerable.” Mike looked at me with sad eyes, “I am so sorry I ever got you into this.”

He stroked my face gently and tucked a lock of my frizzy blonde hair behind my ears. He was so nice to me that sometimes it felt unreal. What did I do to deserve this?

I looked into his eyes and smiled, “Where in the world would I be without you?” I asked him, a rhetorical question of course, because I already knew the answer.

“Ahh, well you’d probably be happy and carefree in a normal human life!” He answered, though he knew that answer was not accurate.

“Wrong,” I answered. “Don’t you remember how you found me?”

“I think the real question is, do you remember?” Mike tugged the corner of his mouth into a smug side-smile.

“Of course! You actually let me have this memory back,” I replied with the same level of sarcasm as Mike, adding a little extra sass. I probably didn’t need to be so rude about it, though, because just thinking back to one of the only memories I had of my past, I was certain that without Mike I would not be alive. When Mike found me I was trapped in a cave, I think, somewhere dark and secluded. I remember being about 8 years old at this time, my brother a few years younger, and my mom looking relatively the same, besides the hair and eye color. We were all crying, and my mom went to huddle us into a bear hug, almost like she was trying to protect us from something. The rest is cloudy, since Mike said it would be too dangerous for him to give away anymore information to me, but he was able to explain that during this time, The Breeder was after us.

The Breeder did most of his work in a vacant hospital in a small town in New Jersey, though it wasn’t nearly vacant, what with each one of his “experiments”. He was known for his special patients and the experiments he did on them. He was thought to be one of the most brilliant minds in the world, but there were few who knew what he could really do.

He would take the traits of other humans and magnify them in some sort of magical way that nobody really knew how, but I guess that was his secret. I knew he took Mike because he was an orphan raised pretty much in a black hole, so he needed saving. Mike had explained that because he didn’t really grow up having any memories of his own, this allowed him to take the memories of others, and mostly mine, which is why I can’t remember why The Breeder wanted anything to do with me. For all I know, which isn’t a lot, I’m just a boring teenager living with her mom and brother in a suburban house in the uneventful state of Oregon. So what was so special about me that the breeder would hunt me down, even now, who knows how many years later, forcing Mike to protect me? I wanted to, no, I needed to get the truth out of Mike, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Mike had pretty much changed the identity of my whole family and had us move across the country for this secret. But this secret is who I am. I can’t just be a boring girl in a boring house living a boring life with nothing to do on a Sunday night. I felt that there was something more to me, but Mike had my memories and he was holding me back. I can’t blame him though, he saved me. I had a different life before this, although I don’t know exactly what it was, I know it wasn’t good, and Mike picked up my whole family and practically turned us around with his mind games. And although they were extremely annoying at times, I knew they were necessary.