The ESP'er - Prologue [DONE]
 

I'll admit it right now, this might be the first story I've actually ever typed up where others can read it. I've written quite a few during my time at school, but never had the courage to show anyone to see what opinions I could get. So, if anyone does read...please don't be too harsh on it but go ahead and PM me or leave a comment. ._.

Overall the synopsis covering the prologue of the story, which is what I'm currently working on, is about a little boy who is being tested for signs of Extrasensory Perception (ESP). If he has it...you'll find out if you intend to read it...after I'm done.

The term ESP'er is a conjunction between the acronym ESP and the word "user". Therefore it means, in full, Extrasensory Perception User. It's also commonly written as Esper. ESP itself is basically the acquisition of information through other ways than the use of the five natural senses, this can mean gaining information about a place/person/thing through the use of precognition and retrocognition (both are abilities of clairvoyance), it can also mean hearing the thoughts of others or searching through their minds and memories for anything you might find interesting (telepathy). ESP is a parapsychological study that can be split into two categories, telepathy and clairvoyance. Note that neither of these are associated with telekinesis/psychokinesis, as that ability focuses on the movement of matter with one's mind, instead of the gathering of information from another person's mind. However, it is still a category of parapsychology.

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The room was white, with bare walls that didn't seem to have any signs of aging on them. It was rectangular in shape, two wide walls opposite each other. One of them had a glass screen that seemed more like a mirror. A door in one of the corners was the only way in or out. This place seemed much like an interrogation room, with a large black table in the middle and a chair on each side to fit such a perspective. Its only inhabitant sat in the chair that faced the glass from across the table.

Ray was just a child, no older than 5 years. His blond hair was cut short and carefully straightened by his mother, she wanted him to look his best for this after all, his dark green eyes looking down at the table. A small spray of freckles dotted his cheeks, his skin was a slightly tanned color after spending so much time walking along the beach near his house with mother and father in tow. He couldn't swim but the sounds of water crashing was a refreshing thing in an otherwise dull life. The boy's attire was made up of a yellow polo shirt and blue jeans with black tennis shoes.

The door's latch clicked as a person let himself in. Ray's attention jumped to the door to see a man in his early to mid twenties, entered and making his way towards the table. The man was dressed in a business fashion, brown suit, red tie, white undershirt, and black shoes. Short raven-colored hair, gray eyes, and a pale complexion seemed to be his basic features. He seemed to carry with him nothing visible, yet as soon as he sat down across from Ray, he pulled a deck of cards from his pants pocket and began shuffling them on the table

"Do you like card games?" The man asked young Ray in an even tone. A small twitch found its way to the edge of his lips just before the question was finished.

The boy shrugged. "They're okay, I guess."

He chuckled shortly before regaining his composure. "Whether you do or don't, I hope you like the trick I'm about to pull." The man passed out five cards in front of Ray, assembled in a horizontal line with none of them touching another, all face down. "Now, this little set is a strange one. They aren't like you're normal everyday playing cards." Curious, Ray slid his fingers over one and tried to look under it before the stranger quickly told him not to.

"If they're not normal, then what are they?" Inquired the child.

A kind smile drew itself on the stranger's lips. "My name is James Timber. These here," he pointed to the cards, "are my Zener cards. Unlike what you'd usually expect, each of them is imprinted with one of five symbols which I want you to guess. I won't tell you any of the possible symbols. Those you must guess for yourself."

Ray looked at the cards, and then back up to James Timber. "So you want me to guess what they are without looking at them? How's that a trick?"

James Timber's smile got a little bigger. "You'll see the trick when you know what's hidden below that blank that stares you in the face." He nodded to the cards again. He seemed to be having a bit of fun already, the way he talked and the way he leaned back in his chair; never showing Ray any part of the deck beyond their backs.

Once again Ray looked confusedly towards the table, where the five miniature mysteries lay. What weird trick is this supposed to be? He pondered, putting his fingers on the middle one again and sliding it to the edge of the table so that he could peek on its underside, but James Timber again told him not to. "You can touch them if you want, but I want you to tell me your guess first." He said. The boy gave him a weird look, but the strange person just smiled in return, albeit lazily. This didn't prompt him to change his expression, but to look at James Timber even weirder. "Go on, guess." Said James Timber.

"A...cross?" Ray guessed, and without even waiting for an answer he flipped the card. Strangely enough, that was exactly what was on the card. Two lines perpendicular to one another, each of their middles crossing perfectly to make a cross. "Good trick." Muttered Ray, setting down the card.

Timber got up from his seat and walked around the table. He leaned against Ray's side of the table and put a hand on the boy's back. "Very good! It was exactly what you thought it was! Would you like to do it again?" Enthusiasm wasn't hidden in the slightest by this man's voice, yet neither was it forced.

"Just to make sure," Ray said skeptically," If I was to flip this face down again, and guess something else, would it change to be that?" He glanced up at James Timber nervously.

The man chuckled again, gleefully. "No. Zener cards don't work like that. You were just right. Why don't you do the next now?" He seemed even happier now than when he'd entered.

Ray cautiously touched the next card. "Um..." He didn't know what to say this time. He took a chance on the first, and was right. What if he took a chance here and was wrong? As though knowing his intentions, James Timber put his hand over Ray's.

"Told you. You must guess." He said simply, and removed his hand.

"Square." The boy said hurriedly, and flipped the next. Indeed it was. Like the first, Ray was right. The design on the card was a square. "How did you do that?" He asked Timber.

The man shrugged. "It's not me. You're just getting right, twice in a row no less!" He patted the child on the back in praise. "Great job! Now, would you tell me what's under the other three?"

Ray flipped the other three, estranged more each time he was right; which he was, every time. The third card was a star, the fourth, a circle, and the fifth was another star. "You said there were five different symbols." The child pointed out.

"Five symbols. I did say that, huh? You're forgetting, I didn't look at the cards before I gave them to you, so I wouldn't know what symbols you got." Timber's answer came. "Seems like these were only four though. Alright, I've got an idea." James Timber practically hopped over to the other side of the table and fanned the rest of the deck in his hands, face down so that all the cards were hidden from both of them. "Just tell me which of these are that fifth symbol you're missing." The boy's eyes looked up at James Timber's, confused. "What's wrong? I thought kid's your age liked being right."

"Well, if you were right over and over and yet you didn't know what your answers were to choose from, you wouldn't be a bit weirded out by that?" He asked the man.

Huh, he's got more sense than I thought. Mused Timber. He knows to question something that he shouldn't be right about, but is. Again the man smiled. "Yeah, but if you get this wrong, then it'll prove you were just lucky."

Ray didn't need more prompting. He reached his small hand across the table and drew a finger across the cards, any one of them could be one of the symbols that he didn't want to draw. A dreaded fifth that he wished to not get. The boy's finger stopped over one card close to the middle of the deck. His eyes glanced up to James Timber's eyes one more time before drawing the one beside that card in a swift motion. Please don't be it. Please don't. He examined the card after a few seconds...and his jaw dropped. The card in his hand was one that hadn't been among the first five.

"W-waves?" He stuttered. Three squiggly lines drifted down the card's front. Waves. Ray looked up to see Timber trying not to laugh. "But I didn't want to be right. How did I get this one?"

"Because you could tell that was it. Or rather, the one you didn't choose was it. So just before you drew, I slid the two cards into the others place. The one you were going to draw was another circle, but if you had the right answer kiddo I couldn't let you be wrong. " Explained the man.

"How did he do, James?" Came a gruff voice from the opposite side of the glass mirror wall. The boy jumped at first when it came on, but settled when he realized it was just another person from a microphone.

Timber leaned closer to Ray. "Sorry, kiddo." He muttered before looking over his shoulder. "He did pretty good, Mr. Bradley. Got them all right."

"Very good. I'll talk with his parents about his little...gift." The phone clicked off.

James Timber stood up and made to walk out of the room before Ray jumped up and grabbed his jacket. "What's happening?" He asked fearfully. There were tears welling up in his green eyes.

For a moment he thought to leave the boy to cry, but felt it was better not to. "You're special, in the good kind of way." Timber explained, kneeling down to be eye level with the 5-year old. "I didn't even give you any answers, I didn't have to for you to win that game. To tell the truth, I knew the answers from the beginning. I knew exactly what cards you got, I knew exactly where the waves card was in that deck. And even worse, I removed all the other waves cards and replaced them with other symbols." Admitting to his deception made James feel guilty. Somehow it had always worked like that. Never admitting to it made him feel mysterious and exciting, while confessing gave him a guilty and boring feeling. "When you looked up at me, you found the answer. That's a gift that's rare in humans.

"You'll be taught more about it in the future, if your parents allow you to come with us anyway. Personally, I think it'd be good for you." He faked a smile, so practiced was he at it that it looked genuine. "Imagine being able to know things just by looking at the person. No matter how good they are at lies, you can see through them. Because they know they're lying, and you'll know they're lying. You can do even more than that too, with a bit of practice."

Ray looked at James Timber with angry eyes, warm tears leaking from them. "I can already see right through you. You're lying right now, not about this stupid 'gift' but that smile of yours." He sputtered and tried to rush to the door, but the man held him back by his collar. "Let me go!" Ray screamed repeatedly.

"Let you're parents be the ones who decide that. Believe me, you can learn to be better at it if you come with us." He said, trying to calm the child down.

"No! No! I don't want to go with you! I want to go back to my mom and dad!" Ray struggled more. He squirmed furiously in his demand to be released. James Timber wouldn't let him run though. His job would be on the line if he did. Besides, even if the boy didn't see it now, would he see it later? When he could manage this ability better? Or perhaps when he's naturally matured enough to know it?

Eventually Ray stopped struggling, and by then Timber had resorted to holding him down on the table. The boy fell asleep crying hatefully. Not soon after, Mr Bradley appeared in the doorway. The man had a belly on him, and it dangerously edged over the belt of his black business pants. His pudgy arms looked as though they barely fit in his green, unbuttoned jacket. A shiny bald head topped it all off, reflecting light off it, and placing a bit of emphasis on the fact that his hair was on his chin rather than on his head. Bushy and gray, that was his beard.

"His parents agreed, we told them he would get special benefits from being in one of our Young Great Minds programs." Said Levin Bradley.

Timber looked up at his boss, a bit of sorrow in his gaze. "Ya know, he put up a fight when he thought he'd be taken from them. Do you really think it's right to try and manifest it when he's so angry?"

Mr. Bradley looked at Timber incredulously. "James, nobody ever reacts well to this. Especially when they're young. I do think, however, we can make a lot of good progress with our research if we have this boy helping."

"'Helping.' Yeah, right. Being used as a lab rat, or a specimen, is more like it." Timber scoffed. "It really is a bad feeling I get doing this." He sat in the same chair as before while Bradley sat in the one Ray had. Timber could still see tears running from the boy's closed eyes. At that moment he also felt like crying. He muttered a curse and moved his eyes back up to Bradley.

"We can argue over it for the longest time, James. But, let's not. Give this boy a few years, he'll be more willing than he is now." Bradley seemed so passive about it. Like he didn't care, and almost certainly he didn't.

Timber looked rather guilty. "I'd like to be his guardian while he's with us." He said suddenly.

0.0 i just finished reading it. it was good!! kept my attention the whole time. u have more of this already written at home or were just goin as u typed???

It's clear to see that you did your research for this, and it shows well without a massive infodump like some people do. Very good job conveying imformation!
I like that Ray has an actual personality. I find children are generally written as one of a handful of archtypes, but Ray doesn't seem like that so far. Very good job on characterization!
And finally, the flow of your prose is overall very nice. Your arrangment of words sounds natural and interesting.

I would indeed LOVE to see how this story turns out. I really hope you choose to continue it!

Thanks you three for reading and commenting ^^ and I'm glad that you all liked it.

@Wifey It's a bit of both actually. I usually write down any story ideas I get so that I can elaborate on them later. I've got a bit of it written out, but I'm taking this time to mess with it a bit and hopefully make it better as I go along.

@Mokie Thank you for saying such things about it. Honestly I consider myself absolutely amateur at writing. I usually end up making it in a way that it becomes hard to understand, or it sounds completely stupid to me. So, really, thank you for commenting on the way it's written. About Ray's personality, I'm not sure if he goes with an archetype or not, but I'm glad you liked his character. :)

I guess I might continue this then, even if it is only three people who enjoy it.

Well, you might have more readers than you think. Some people just don't comment, for whatever reason.

Well, the poll up top also says only three people have voted. So, even if people don't bring up that they like this, I'm not sure if they'll go on to read the next chapter.