Chapter 14: Jack Vs. Melissa—Round 1: FIGHT

Jack rubbed his eyes as he slowly got out of bed and responded to the knock on the door. He was still in a dreamy state, so walking in a straight line was a bit of a problem. He tumbled to the left and almost knocked over a lamp resting on a glass nightstand.

He turned on the light and opened the door. In an instant, he went from groggy to elated as he spotted Melissa in the doorframe. His elation diminished when he also spotted the rest of the team behind her, all but Paro. The four entered the room.

“Get any sleep?” Kazou asked.

“Yeah, a bit. Hey, where’s Paro?”

The four of them shifted on their feet and for a moment avoided looking at him. Jack wondered if he said something wrong. Was it considered rude in the Psych-world to ask someone’s location? Who knew, right?

Michael walked past Jack and sat on the bed in the corner of the room. “Jack, we’ve got quite a bit of stuff to do. And being that I’m the only Kinetic here, I reckon it’s gonna be my job to show you the ropes.”

“What ropes?”

“You know, using the power ya got. The one you were born with.”

Jack shook his head in disappointment. Learning. Oh man, he hated learning things. Now it was like he had two schools or an extra class to take on the side.

“You don’t look too excited, Jack. Did ya not hear me? I just said I’m gonna teach you how to use Telekinesis, ain’t that like the coolest thing ever?”

Jack moaned, “Do we have to? I don’t wanna learn stuff!”

Michael laughed, and Melissa grunted as she and Sarah entered the room. Melissa held a small metal box and directed Jack to sit at the little table in front of the bed. She opened the box and began setting up some kind of equipment.

Michael stood up and came to join the two. “Jack, look,” he said.

He placed a tiny toy-soldier on the glass table. “Knock that over. I know you can do it. Ya just gotta try, bud. You should actually already know how, but it’s just that you don’t realize you do.”

Jack looked at the thing. How was he supposed to knock it over? It made no sense. Melissa continued to set up her equipment while Jack stared at the toy, feeling like an idiot.

‘Knock it over,’ he tells me. How the heck can I do something like that?

“Are you sure there’s not some special word or phrase I need to say?”

Sarah stood behind Jack and massaged his shoulders. “No, you just do it. I’m a Telepath, but even I could do something like that. We can’t branch far out from the line that we were born with, but all Psychs can do some basic stuff—here, watch.”

Sarah squinted, and the small figurine toppled on its side. She lifted it up and pointed. “Now you try.”

Jack looked at it again. How was he supposed to know how to knock it over? Why couldn’t they just give him an instruction manual or something? The small figurine was the stationary type, with an oval-green platform on the bottom. Jack hated these when he was younger. He hated all action figures that couldn’t be moved. Who wanted to play with a toy that had no flexibility?

Move! Move!

Jack focused on the object. His eyes honed in on its tiny plastic face.

Move, damn you. Move!

Jack sighed. “It’s not working.”

Sarah gave him a pat on the back. She seemed like she had infinite patience. Melissa watched but said nothing as she put on a pair of latex medical gloves.

“Try again, sweetie,” Sarah said. “This time, don’t try willing it with thought. You were screaming, ‘Move, damn you’ so loud in your head that every Path in this building probably heard it. It’s more like a muscle, like, how you wave your arms or jump up and down. Try to think of it that way.”

A muscle?

“But I don’t feel anything. Unless you’re talking about that stinging, unpleasant one, but everyone has that, don’t they?”

“Haha! Jack, you’re hilarious, bud,” Michael said. “That’s exactly what we’re talking about. Don’t tell me all your life you felt that odd, different part of you, and you thought everyone was that way?”

Jack was shocked. “You mean not everyone has that ‘inner thing’ in them? I don’t know what to call it. That like, weird thing that you feel from your chest to your eyes.”

“Nope, just us. That’s the one. First, you have to … draw from it. It’s hard to explain unless you’ve done it.”

Jack couldn’t believe this. All his life he had ten fingers, ten toes, and that ‘thing’ that he could feel. He thought everyone did!

“So what do I do, Michael?” Jack asked.

“Well, like I said, first ya gotta draw on it. Go ahead. You should already know what to do.”

Jack closed his eyes and searched for that sensation, that feeling of something else. He felt it, and with a deep breath, he drew from it. Then he screamed, jumping out of his chair and waving his arms around frantically. Sarah leapt backward as Jack fell to the floor writhing in discomfort.

Kazou and Michael both laughed at him while Sarah gave them disapproving glares.

“What the hell was that?” Jack yelled. “Oh God, that felt … terrible.”

“That’s called the sensitivity, Jack,” Michael said between chuckles. “You get that when you first start out. Don’t worry, I promise you it goes away after time.”

Jack didn’t care if it went away after the third time. He was never doing that again. It was by far the most unpleasant and disturbing sensation he had ever felt. It was both disgusting and uncomfortable. It wasn’t pain, as in the sense of being injured or pulling a muscle. It was more like an extreme feeling of unease.

“Jack, talk to us,” Sarah said. She helped him back to his feet. With a trembling hand, Jack picked up the knocked over chair and sat back down at the table.

“It was like … Well, here’s the best way I can describe it. You ever try and ‘scratch’ your eye when it’s itchy and the lid keeps closing? It was like trying to force yourself to be able to touch your own eye, but at the same time, it felt like throwing up. It was awful! I’m never doing that again. It just feels … wrong. I feel like it’s going to be really bad if I do it. Like it’s going to hurt or kill me.”

Michael gave Jack a friendly punch on the arm. “It’s like that for all of us at first, Jack, but the only way to make it go away is to keep doing it. Now, try again.”

Jack was petrified. He didn’t want to try again. It was the most sickening thing he’d ever experienced. It was actually worse than trying to touch your eye while making yourself vomit. It was even worse than the Airbender movie.

Melissa finished whatever she was doing, and with the gloves on her hands, she grabbed Jack’s arm.

“Jack, hold still, I need to draw some blood.”

“With a needle?”

“Durr, what else?”

I’m going to get a needle?

****

“Jack, get back here!” Melissa shouted. “And stop laughing and help, Michael. Restrain him or pin him to a wall, but do something other than stand there laughing like an idiot.”

“I can’t,” Michael said. He looked like he was struggling to form words. “I ca—I can’t.” Tears were streaking down his eyes while he laughed at Melissa’s frustration. She was going to break Jack’s face when she caught him. Ignoring Michael, she bolted out into the hallway after Jack while Kazou and Sarah stared wide-eyed like morons.

“Jack, you get back here right now! Or so help me God—”

“Shut up, Melissa!” he screamed back at her. “I’m not going anywhere near you with that medieval torture device in your hand. That’s not a needle—I saw that thing. It’s a freaking sword.”

Unbelievable, she thought to herself. A tiny little needle triggered his fight-or-flight response?

She ran out of the hallway which had the doors on both ends and entered into the wide second-floor opening of the Juvenile department. Secretaries, assistants, and even other Psychs all turned to stare as Jack whirled past them, followed by Melissa in close pursuit. She realized she must look ridiculous—a sixteen-year-old high-school girl chasing after a boy while wearing latex gloves and carrying a medical needle.

She stopped in front of an older secretary’s desk. The silver-haired woman looked up at her in confusion as Melissa grabbed a stack of files in a brown paper envelope from the desk. “Sorry, gotta borrow this for a second.”

She flung it at Jack. It spun twice in the air before hitting him on the back of the head, causing him to stumble, but unfortunately not to fall. Jack kept on running. He zipped down the staircase, descending two steps at a time.

Melissa followed after him. She paused, reaching the small banister overlooking the lower floor. Drawing power into herself, she leaped over it and landed softly on her feet in front of Jack. Now she was mad—she was going to enjoy this.

“Just for that, Jack, I’m going to draw an extra vial. No, two extra vials. Then I’m going to pump it back into your system just so I can draw it again!”

Melissa noticed the crowd that was forming around her, but she didn’t care. There were now over two dozen people surrounding them in a circle, with Paro and the rest of the team joining in. Everyone had their eyes on her and Jack, yet none seemed to intervene. Damn Psychs and their curiosity.

****

Jack didn’t care what Melissa’s intentions were. He was not about to have that jousting pole rupture his heart. There was no way that thing was touching his skin—no way in hell. He didn’t know why so many people were looking at him, either. Couldn’t they just mind their own business?

Now that he and Melissa were surrounded, Jack had nowhere to run. What could he do in this situation? What was the right choice to make? Melissa walked slowly towards him with a sadistic glee on her face. She was going to torture him.

“Melissa, don’t make me hurt you!” Jack warned.

She laughed. “Try it! You couldn’t beat me if your life depended on it. Now, sit still and take your ‘medicine’.” She pronounced the word venomously.

Jack had never fought a girl before, but with the size of that needle, it truly was life or death. He knew now that he had to knock her over, much like he had tried to do with the toy-soldier. Then he could run past her and make it to safety.

He reached into the part of himself that he hated, that place that made him feel sick. He wanted to double over and pass out. The feeling was so damned uncomfortable. Jack grinded his teeth as he opened himself up to it.

The moment the power started pouring in, Jack knew he’d die if he didn’t stem it. The power raced into him, almost like poking a tiny hole on the bottom of a submarine—it slipped through the tiniest of cracks. He only allowed himself to remain open for the smallest fraction of a second. Any longer, and somehow Jack knew he’d be blown-away by the storm forming inside his mind.

Melissa grabbed his arm and tried to steal his blood. Jack had no idea how to use the little bit of power that had trickled in, so he acted on reflex alone, guessing. With an audible crackle, Melissa cried out as she was sent ten feet back, like a fly being swatted by an invisible hand. She landed on her butt, and a look of surprise appeared on her face.

Her surprise quickly turned to ferocity as she narrowed her eyes. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that, Jack.”

Before Jack understood what was happening, Melissa was charging at him, and it was only then that Jack realized he was in a fight—him, Jack Harris, in an actual fight with another actual person, and in something that wasn’t Street Fighter or Tekken. This had never happened before. He always wondered what it would be like to be in a real fight, and now he was going to find out.

Jack wasn’t sure how he pushed her back the first time, but he tried it again. He still had enough of the power to make a second attempt. It was as if his brain was a computer with thousands of buttons, levers, and triggers—simply learning them wasn’t enough, because they were constantly shifting and moving. He didn’t know which was which, and with nothing else to go on, Jack reached into his mind and grabbed at one randomly.

He guessed right because an instant later, he felt the exertion of his own energy projected into Melissa. But this time, she was only slowed to a standstill instead of flung across the room.

How come it didn’t work? I don’t get it—I’m sure I did it right.

Melissa shook it off and continued to charge. She slammed into him, and Jack was knocked to the ground. Once again, he bit his tongue while drawing the power into himself. Then he searched for that same trigger. It was moving around wildly in his mind—he needed to focus.

He grabbed the trigger mentally and forced power into it. With a grunt, he hurled the force at Melissa, and she was again sent flying, lifting off him as if thrown. She flipped once in the air and landed on the balls of her feet with a click against the ceramic tile. Who knew she could do something like that?

“Whoa, awesome! You’re so cool, Melissa.”

She smiled. “It’s so damned hard to stay mad at you, Jack, but we’re not done here. You picked this fight, and now we’re finishing it.”

Jack nodded. “It’s my first real fight, you know? Hey, umm, Melissa—you’re … you’re doomed. I’ve waited years to use that word.”

“You’re something else, you know that?”

Melissa rushed at him yet again. Despite the awful feeling, Jack allowed himself another small drop of power. This time, Melissa seemed to be going in for an actual fistfight. She balled her hands into fists and swung at Jack.

Years of being bullied and hit, pushed and prodded, were for the first time in Jack’s life paying off. He knew what he had to do. Jack ducked under her overhand blow, and for the briefest of moments came to an understanding. Jack had always been told not to hit girls, so he didn’t, but then again, he never really hit anyone. Melissa, though, was as strong as she was beautiful. Jack realized that it would be more offensive to treat her like a princess than it would be to beat her like a guy.

Jack countered, throwing his fist at her with all his strength. Her left arm was still extended from her missed punch, and Jack remained crouched down from having ducked under it. He pivoted, and his fist collided with her abdomen, forcing her a step back. His hand ached as if he’d slammed it against a rock.

“So, you want me to step up my game then, do you, Jack?”

This is not gonna be good.

Melissa went in for another volley of attacks. Once again, the years of pummeling Jack had taken allowed him to be somewhat evasive. He ducked under one swing, going off nothing but reflex, then Melissa spun, attacking with a backhanded swipe.

Jack kicked off his front foot and dashed backwards, dodging by a centimeter. Melissa didn’t give him the opportunity to recover. She closed the distance and jabbed Jack in the face before he could react.

He felt the impact as it sent him backward, and this time, it was he who landed on his rump. He shook his head to clear the dizziness that followed.

Melissa grinned. “That all you got, Big-Shot?” For some reason, Jack had the notion she was enjoying this.

A trickle of blood squirted from Jack’s nose. He wiped it on his sleeve and stood up. He didn’t realize it until then, but over a hundred people were now cheering and shouting encouragement to the both of them. Michael seemed to be taking bets, and Paro was studying the bout like a referee. Psychs were weird people.

The makeshift arena was actually kind of cool. All around him, the large glass windows let in bright sunlight, and he could still see all of Manhattan from where he stood.

Paro held out a hand and motioned for them to pause. “Jack,” he said. He walked between the two of them with a massive grin covering his face. “You lose this fight, and you cooperate with us in full. You win, and Melissa here goes on a date with you. Oh, and I’ll personally buy you every video game ever made.”

Melissa didn’t seem bothered by this. She simply grinned. “I’m okay with that, Paro. But I’ll make it even more interesting. Land just one punch on me, Jack, and I’ll go on a date with you, but you still have to beat me if you want Paro’s reward.”

Jack nodded. “You’re on.”

He wiped his nose once more for good measure and prepared himself to square off with Melissa again. For a moment, he almost didn’t hear the voice calling to him in the background.

“She’s a Reinforcer, Jack! Keep your distance and don’t let her get anywhere near you. Mummy loves you!”

Jack felt like he was going to die of shock. He turned around, and sure enough, the front-most spectator was his own mother.

“Mom! What are you doing here?”

Paro too, looked as if he had seen a ghost. He backed away from Jack and Melissa and strolled over to her. “Alana, when did you—”

She shushed him. “We’ll figure this out after, Paro. You of all people should know I can’t miss something as fun as this. It’s almost enough to make me forget how mad I am at you. Oh, by the way, look at how cute my little boy looks, fighting and making bets that he can’t possibly win! He reminds me of a younger you, Paro. Oh, look at him! Go Jack! Go Jack!”

Jack watched as Paro shook his head in disbelief. “Damn Telekinetics,” he muttered.

“What is she doing here?” Jack asked Melissa.

“Jack, there’s a lot you still have to learn. I’m sure this is very shocking to you, and I’ll understand if you need to wrap your head around this for a bit, but your Mom—naturally—is like one of us.”

“That’s not what I meant, Melissa. I mean what is she doing here without my Dunkaroos? She knows I love that snack more than anything. If she was gonna drive all the way over here, she could have at least brought me something good to eat.”

Melissa tilted back her head and laughed. “Does anything surprise you, Jack?”

“Of course stuff does. I had no idea that Sookie was actually a fairy. I almost passed out when that was revealed.”

“I see, so it’s only stupid stuff that shocks you. Whatever, you’ve had enough of a break. Let’s end this.”

Before Jack could reply, Melissa dashed at him. Jack allowed himself another droplet of power, and he fought off the terrible sensation rising from his stomach. He hurled it at her, slowing her down but not stopping her completely. He knew she wasn’t fighting at her best—he’d seen her pound a hole into the ground. But the deal didn’t say she had to be.

Jack followed up his blast by charging at Melissa head-on. He collided with her, and the combination of his Kinetic force and his own charge was enough to knock Melissa to the ground. Pain exploded in Jack’s body as he made contact. Melissa was now as rough as iron, even tougher than before. He fell down along with her.

Lying on the floor, Jack took a moment to notice that now every single person in the department was watching, screaming, and yelling out encouragements. He felt like he was at a rock concert.

Jack got to his feet, but Melissa was quicker. She kneed him the chest. It felt like being hit with a tire-iron. He landed on his back with the wind knocked out of him. Before he could stand, she jumped on top of him, sitting on his chest with her right hand clutching his throat.

“Give up?” Her eyes didn’t hold any menace, just a playful grin and a look of determination.

Jack realized that he would yet again be forced to resort to that disgusting draw of power. This time, he left the ‘door’ open for a millisecond longer. He almost regretted it, as even in that tiny bit of time, it felt like he’d never be able to shut it again. It was risky. Jack knew somehow on an instinctual level that if he left it open for too long, power would flood into him until he exploded and wouldn’t be able to stop it.

Jack scrambled around in his mind. He had been lucky the last few times, but now he was starting to get the hang of things. It wasn’t easy to locate, but it was becoming easier each time. It was that trigger, that pathway, the one that sent things that were near to him farther away. He reached for it …

Melissa was sent soaring off of him. She landed on the ceramic floor and rolled across it. After three rolls, she clutched at the ground and halted, pushing off her arms and flipping back to her feet.

“That was way stronger than before, how did you …?”

Jack followed it up with yet another burst, and again she was flung backwards and knocked to the floor. But like the other times, she was quick to get back to her feet, so Jack sent a third burst her way. And this time, it had no effect. Melissa didn’t even appear to be fazed by it.

Sarah whispered something into Paro’s ear, and he nodded.

“You two!” he shouted. “No more powerful than what you were using before—that’s an order.”

Melissa stuck out her tongue, but she nodded. “Alright, fine. You hear that, Jack?”

Jack thought he understood. “Yeah, I heard.”

Jack didn’t mind. If he understood Paro’s meaning, then it was actually a good thing. Jack didn’t want to have to reach that deep again. He feared losing control of himself.

Off to his right, he saw a childish glee in his mother’s eyes. She was screaming louder than anyone else was while she chanted his name. She looked so proud.

Jack gritted his teeth as he once again replenished the small droplet of power. He didn’t know what Michael was talking about—this wasn’t becoming any less unpleasant. Although Jack did feel it was slightly different this time. He felt a bit … weak. It was as if he hadn’t eaten in a while despite not being hungry. He wasn’t physically exhausted, like the way you get when you run too much or do too much exercise, but in a way, he felt drained.

Melissa looked at him as if reading his thoughts. “You newbie Psychs have no stamina. I can already see it in your face. You’re going to collapse any minute. Just give up now, Jack. You’ve already lost.”

“No way in hell! It’s not over yet. Come on, I’m ready.”

Melissa approached cautiously this time. By now she was obviously aware of Jack’s ability to fling her backwards. Jack reflected on the fight—it appeared she had some way of resisting what he could do. He wondered if he should try one of the other things he felt in his mind, but he decided against it. Somehow, he knew that there were just some strings that he wasn’t ready to pull on.

With the caution of a boxer, she squared in on him. She started with jabs that had no chance of making contact, but slowly she backed him into a corner by a nearby window. Jack realized that at the rate things were going, he didn’t have the slightest chance of winning. All he needed was to land one hit, make contact just once, and then at the very least he could take the girl of his dreams out on a date.

Melissa faked with her right then sprang off her left, dashing at Jack. It was at this point he knew he had two options—dodge and prolong the fight, or risk it all and maybe win part of the bet.

Surprise was the only thing Jack could see on Melissa’s face, as he too dashed to meet her assault. With his remaining power, Jack reached for that familiar feeling, that trigger, and launched the last of it at Melissa. It didn’t do much, but she was slowed just enough so that Jack’s fist made contact with her hard-as-steel face at the same moment she did the same to him.

Jack’s punch had no effect, but hers knocked him off his feet. Jack lay there with the wind knocked out of him and a smile on his face. He had hit her!

It was hard for him to move. He was exhausted. He tried to get up but to no avail. Melissa walked away and returned a moment later. She once again took a seat on his chest, and Jack’s eyes lit up in fear when he saw what was in her hands.

“No!” Jack screamed, terror in his heart. “For God’s sake, Melissa. It’s like the size of a car antenna.”

Jack closed his eyes and hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much. To his utter humiliation, the crowd applauded and laughed.