Back to the Future

[Pandora Reis]

02/02

 

4:42 AM - Reis' Penthouse, Manhattan - NYC
Someone once sang that New York is the city that never sleeps. In a huge penthouse, laying down, with eyes wide open and heart racing, Pandora was remembering Sinatra's song and wishing that wasn't true. If only she knew that in the apartment bellow her there was a housewife going thru a mid life crisis and having insomnia, maybe she could do something about it. But no, Pandora didn't knew that, she didn't even knew at that time that she could capt someone else's symptom. So, the young woman blamed her concern about her brother's whereabouts for her nightmares and lack of sleep.
 
She was scared, and that feeling was her own. Although that wasn't her first time in New York, it was the first she went all by herself, and the first in 12 years. She barely knew the city! But the worst part was, of course, the fact that the only reason she went there was to reach for her brother, and she couldn't find him. So, completely on her own, without knowing anyone nor the city, with abilities she didn't even knew she had or how to control it, there was Pandora, a girl who lived eight years isolated from the world. 
 
Taking a deep breath, hands in her belly to feel the movement, Pandora forced her eyes to close. "Inspira.... segura.... expira...." [translates to: breathe in, hold it, breathe out]. Using a breathing method she learned with meditation, the young woman slowly calmed her heart. After feeling her body completely relaxed, trying to eliminate all her worries about her brother (she would have time to think about it in the morning), Pandora went to her inner palace. 
On the outside, it was a wooden cottage in the heart of a forest, It has been like that since she was a child. To get there, she had to climb a mountain, walk by a narrow path in the woods and then find a clearing. There she would find a beautiful garden, a small lake and the cottage. It didn't took much more time after opening the door until the girl was asleep.
 
 
6:58 AM - Reis' Penthouse, Manhattan - NYC
The sun was rising, and the old curtains, thinner by the time, let the sunbeams into the room and gently woke up the girl. As she scratched her eyes and got up, the freezing temperature in her warm skin startled her.
"Ugh, shit!! Everyday..."
Used to a lot hotter weather, specially in February, the cold of NY made her remember she wasn't at home anymore. And it did that every morning since she got there.
"How long has it been? Days... weeks... months..." 
Everyday was the same. Pandora wakes up, feels the cold and remember she's there, eat breakfast looking at the window view to Central Park, and get ready to search for her brother in the streets of New York. She's been all around the city, showing his picture to strangers, posting flyers of missing people, asking if anyone saw him... But everyday ends the same, with Pandora defeated again, going home without finding anything...
 
The young woman didn't knew yet, but that day was going to be a lot different from what she was expecting!
 
As she put on her clothes and snickers, and looked at the mirror, a face of disgust reflected back.
"Ugh, I look like a homeless..."
Her messy hair and tired eyes were only the beginning. The faded black sweatshirt she was using had holes in it and her pants were dirty. No one would listen to a woman looking like that. Grumbling, she walked to the bathroom and took a long shower.
 
 
11:22 AM - Central Park - NYC
It was a specially windy day, and the cold breeze felt like knives in Pandora's face. She was completely covered, except for her face. With a long coat, wool cap and leather gloves, she was looking not very different from a homeless, but at least, her hair was impeccable. 
After spending the whole morning in Central Park, asking around and freezing, she decided that the cold was not for her and began to ask in stores nearby if anyone had seen her brother. 
 
It was in a coffee shop that, while ordering for a hot cocoa, she got her first clue!
"Heeey, do you by any chance have seen this guy? He looks almost ten years older by now, but should have the same smile..."
Pandora showed the old picture she kept with her at all times, since she was sent to the island. It was her and Thor laughing at Isis, that had ice cream spilled all over her dress.
 
"You mean Ed?"
"Ed?"
The attended took the picture from Pandora's hands and took a closer look. "Yeah, that looks like Ed Reyes, the guy that was always going to the library... He was from Argentina, right?"
"Could it be Brazil?" Thor Eduardo Reis, he could had changed his name to a more American one, Edward Reyes, the girl though of that immediately.
"Yeah, yeah, I guess... You know what? You two have the same hazel eyes!"
 
With a heart full of hope, Pandora asked for any more information the attendant had about her brother, but all he could tell was that for years "Ed" used to go there every morning in his way to the library, and ordered a double black coffee, but he didn't showed up for the past few weeks. With a happiness she didn't felt in a long time, the girl took her hot cocoa and left the shop in a hurry, running to the library. 
 
 
11:29 AM - NYC Public Library
Panting, with a hot cocoa mustache, and a big smile on her face, Pandora stared at the huge building in front of her.
"Is this really a library? A PUBLIC Library? .... Wow"
She took the last sip from her cup and put it on the thresh. Took a deep breath and walked to the doors, hoping to find Thor or someone that could give her any information regarding her brother.
 
Inside was, of course, warm, and after running "so much", her body was also warm. Pandora took off her coat, folded in half and place it in her arm. Holding the cap in one hand and the picture of the Reis' siblings in the other, she walked to the information desk. 
 
But something was not right. Since she had opened the door, Pandora started to feel a pain in her chest. As she got closer to the desk, her feet seemed to be heavier and heavier. Her breath was terribly short, and the air was so dense, she could barely breathe. Pandora stopped walking and looked at her hands, they were shaking and sweating. Suddenly, she felt nauseated and the library started to spin. 
"No, no, no!! Not nooww!!"
 
Pandora never felt so vulnerable in her life. It was like everyone there was a threat to her life, and her body was getting ready for the fight or flight defense mechanism. She didn't knew, but she was having an anxiety attack, just like the lost little boy crying a couple floors above her.
 
She tried to concentrate, calm her breath, but it was impossible at the moment. The hand that was holding the cap clenched, while the other, holding the picture, was weak. Pandora walked weirdly to the nearest branch and sat on it, her hole body was shaking, and she had no idea what to do next. She tried to sit straight, closed her eyes and tried to meditate again, but no use. She couldn't concentrate. She was too scared for anything to calm her down.
 
Pandora had some idea that it was because of her abilities, but she didn't knew at the time how to properly control it. And she would never had guessed that it was THAT that would give her the chance to learn it.

[Endika Ofeo]

Dika was going over his list of books to look up and possibly check out if they panned out and were helpful. He scanned his legal pad lazily, knowing the books were all here; but he was hoping to see if any of them would be close together so it would be less work for the day. He lost focus when he heard a woman shouting 'No!' off by the entrance. He looked up and saw a woman stumbling about and finally collapse on a bench. The sight wasn't new, some drunkard or druggie falling over themselves wasn't out of place in a big city like this; but this woman wasn't drunk or on drugs. She had a strange, wavering magic connection that led off above them and disappeared in midair.

 

Dika cocked his head and furrowed his brow in confusion; what the hell was this woman trying to do? He watched her for a moment and saw her begin to focus and breathe in a rhythm; the connection thinned out and nearly disappeared, but she began to gasp and fell out of her breathing pattern. The magic grew again and she slumped over, wailing again and beginning to almost cry. Dika hurried over to her and set his briefcase and list down on the ground, squatting low and getting down to eye-level with her to get a better look. He knew that some people could create these magical connections like she had, but it was clear now that she didn't have control over it. Her entire system was overloaded and off-balance; she wasn't the creator of the connection, and she wasn't maintaining it either.

 

Dika straightened himself up and angled himself over her, putting himself directly in the way of the connection, hoping to disrupt it or put himself in the path of it instead. He went a step further and actually laid his body over hers, having read somewhere that people who were overly sensitive to external stimulation could benefit from deep pressure stimulation, as it could help provide a calm sensation for the person. He even began to match her breathing pattern, slowing himself down at intervals to help guide her back into her meditative rhythm. He knew he probably looked crazy, but she needed help; and she already looked crazy on her own and no one around really cared so he doubted he'd really seem that crazy anyway.

[Pandora Reis]

Pandora was freaking out, her breath was so short that she was feeling like she would faint any moment due to lack of oxygen. Her mind couldn't control the body, and she couldn't control her mind. Feeling completely desperate and alone, she had no idea what to do next.

 

That was when a stranger came to her side. She stared at him, frozen in fear and without being able to say a word. As he lower down to look into her eyes, Pandora tried to ask for help, to anyone who would listen, but no voice came out of her mouth. Her head was spinning, conscious about to fade out. (Is that how dead feels like?), she thought.

 

The stranger moved, weirdly. For what seemed by Pandora's eyes, trying to cover her head with his body. What? She looked up, what was he doing? And the tears she was fighting against, finally came. Her breath was getting sorter by the second, if that could even be possible. 

Whatever the men was trying to do, it wasn't helping. If anything, it was making the girl even more scared. 

 

Pandora had no control over her body as the stranger laid above her. With a weak voice she said her first words to the man: "Help me!", except, it wasn't FOR him, even if anyone there could think that, she was actually just asking anyone to help her WITH him. 

 

The next few seconds felt like minutes, until Pandora was able to see what he was doing. The stranger was trying to calm her breath! Her face relaxed and the tears stopped, and slowly the woman's breath returned to normal, and her head was a bit clearer. 

 

She could still feel all the desperation, anxiety and fear, but now, she had the control of the body again. 

 

"Th.. Thank you", she said, still week, not believing how a stranger would help in such odd situation. 

 

Pandora waited for the man to move, before she could get up. Even if she was calmer, her strength wasn't at her best, and she could use some help to  get up. Her whole body was shaking, the adrenaline produced by the flight or fight mechanism was still bumping in her veins.

 

The woman looked at the tall man in front of her, not knowing what to say. She had questions, a lot of questions. Who was him? What did he do to help her? How he knew that would work and how did that worked? Did he knew anything about her condition? What was going on?

 

Pandora tilted her head like a puppy when confused, trying to say anything but not being able to. She looked at her hands, trembling like crazy, and the only words getting out of her mouth were rude. VERY RUDE.

 

"You could at least helped a little more, couldn't you?" Her voice wasn't angry nor anything like her words would suggest, but it was actually just confused, like it was a question she would ask to a teacher. "Sooo... What did just happened?"

[Endika Ofeo]

Dika was relieved when the woman became calm and collected herself. She was breathing evenly, sitting up by herself, she was much better. Then, she opened her mouth; and was rude! He was just trying to help her, why the attitude?  [dika]"Eres una piña bajo el brazo."[/dika]   he said to her, shaming her with a stern look. He had things to do, books to check out, and work to get back to.  [dika]"The next time you link to someone you don't want to link to, you need to work on breaking the connection. You tried to center yourself and calm yourself down, but you were still connected to whoever was making you freak out. Find someone calm, focus on them, shift your bond to them and you will then become calm."[/dika]   With that, Dika turned around and began to walk away, still slightly miffed at her for being rude about him helping. He hated being the one to chalk it up to the old stereotype of New Yorkers being rude and a bit crazy; but he was starting to see where the stereotype came from the longer he spent in the city. He began to approach the stairs to head up to the first section of books he needed.

[Pandora Reis]

Pandora knew she had said something wrong when the man replied angrily. 

 ҉   "Eres una piña bajo el brazo."   ҉ 
"I'm what?..."
Pandora didn't understood much of what the man said. She had a few spanish classes while in school, but always focused more in english. She tilted her head again, when the stranger started to talk again.

 ҉   "The next time you link to someone you don't want to link to, you need to work on breaking the connection. You tried to center yourself and calm yourself down, but you were still connected to whoever was making you freak out. Find someone calm, focus on them, shift your bond to them and you will then become calm."   ҉

 

 

The woman opened her mouth, but the stranger had already turn his back to her and started walking.

 

What did he just said? Link to someone, break the connection... Was that really possible? Shift bond? 

"But... How?"

 

Pandora was lost in her thoughts and mixed feelings. She was scared to move, due to the fear that was not hers, but she fought against the feeling to stay still and began to run towards the man. 

Her first few steps were unbalanced and she looked like a drunk trying to run, but she made it. Reaching the man, she tried to put her hand in his shoulder to have his attention.

 

"Wait... please!" Her breath was getting shorter again, not because of the running, it wasn't that far, but because of the anxiety that was flowing in her body. She took a deep breath, trying to remember the feeling of having the stranger breathing with her. 

"What do you know about... .... this.... thing I have?"

 

Apologizing for being rude didn't even crossed her mind. She wanted answers, and she felt like the man could give to her. But at that moment she was a bit worried about whoever was having that "connection" with her... If she felt that freaked out, what would the person be like?

 

"Tell me everything you know about this!!"

Pandora was actually asking that as a favor, but out of her mouth, the words sounded like an order. 

"...please?" She tried to fix, but already knowing it wouldn't help much...

[Endika Ofeo]

Dika stopped and turned to face her. This woman was like a lost puppy; a lost puppy that ran like it was drunk. He knew that feeling though; new powers and abilities, not knowing what they were or how they worked. He had worked hard on control, and he only had passive abilities; he couldn't imagine what it was like being an empath, he'd only ever heard terrible things about it. He sighed and scratched an eyebrow as he thought for a moment. On one hand, he was under no obligation to help her; but on the other he did feel a sort of kinship with her, having been exactly where she was now. He had the resources and the ability to at least point her in the right direction; it was a rare opportunity to be able to give back to one's fellow woebegone mage. He sighed and waved a hand up the stairs in front of him, saying  [dika]"Come on then, let's go."[/dika]   He started up the stairs, talking to her over his shoulder as they went.  [dika]"There was a woman who was writing books on psychic abilities and connecting with others and empathy in general even before the event. She was pretty well-known in the metaphysical literature world, and I bet she's still writing even. In any case, I know one of her books is here; in the one-tens or one-thirties somewhere. I have a few books to get from there myself, so let's go."[/dika]   Dika began to follow the signs directing them to the proper stacks.