Chapter 26
“Lindy, help me. I need to
write a letter to Brian,” AJ said determinedly, later that morning, after
Bianca had left for work.
“Another letter?” Lindy sighed.
“Listen, AJ, I think there’s a better way.”
“And what would that be?” asked AJ.
Lindy grinned. “Telepathy.”
AJ stared at her for a moment.
“Telepathy? Isn’t that like
mind-reading?”
“Better. It’s like mind-talking. Mind-to-mind communication.”
AJ took a moment to process this.
“Wait… you mean… I can talk to Brian… with my mind.”
“Or so I’ve heard,” said Lindy.
“Supposedly, some angels can communicate to some mortals
this way. Only Believers. But even some Believers can’t be
reached. And some angels aren’t strong
enough.”
“You’ve heard? So you
haven’t actually done it? Or seen it
done?”
“No,” said Lindy, “But that’s because I haven’t met a Believer
before, like I told you. I just heard
it’s possible, from some of the other angels, the ones that showed me the ropes
after I kicked the bucket.”
This reminded AJ again of a question he had been wanting to ask
Lindy. He opened his mouth to ask it,
but then decided against it, figuring that finding out how to speak to Brian
was more important.
“Well, do you have any idea how to do it?” asked AJ.
“I think,” Lindy replied.
“What you have to do – supposedly – is focus on a thought, one single
thought, and the person you’re trying to communicate with, the Believer – in
this case, Brian – has to be thinking of that same thought. If your thoughts match, you can ‘slip into
their mind’, so to speak, and talk to them internally.”
This all went over AJ’s head at first, but what he got out of it
was that all he had to do was think like Brian, and then he and Brian could
talk to each other without ever saying a word out loud. It would be like reading each other’s
thoughts.
“I want to try it,” AJ said resolutely. “Let’s go to Brian’s hotel, right now.”
“All right, all right,” Lindy said lazily, but AJ had already
closed his eyes and focused on Brian’s hotel suite, transporting himself there.
***
When AJ appeared in the suite, he found himself in luck. Brian was still in bed, and Leighanne was
nowhere to be found. He saw a note to
Brian in her neat handwriting sitting on the desk.
B,
Went to pick up a few things at the drug store.
Be back soon.
L
Hoping she had just left and would be gone for a while longer, AJ
slipped into the bedroom, where Brian was lying on his side, curled up in the
covers, still sound asleep. As he
solidified his index finger, Lindy appeared in the room beside him.
“Took you long enough,” AJ said teasingly. “Leighanne’s gone, but probably not for long,
so let’s do this quick. I’m going to
wake him up.” With his now solid finger,
he poked Brian in the shoulder. Once,
twice, again and again, until finally, Brian let out a soft snort, twitched,
and awoke. AJ backed up a bit, not
wanting to startle Brian with his “light” or whatever it was that Brian saw
when he looked at him.
Brian groggily rubbed his eyes and slowly opened them. Blearily, he looked around the room,
remembering that he was in a hotel suite in Orlando and wondering what time it
was and where Leighanne was. He squinted
at the digital clock on the nightstand and made out the time – 8:30 am. “Too early,” he moaned and started to bury
himself under the covers again when something caught his eye. Something in the corner. The Light.
In a split-second, Brian was sitting up, awake and alert, staring
wide-eyed into the corner of the room.
And that’s when he realized… there were two of them! Two Lights… one gold (the one he had seen
behind Bianca at Howie’s house that night) and one silver… could that be his
angel? The one he had seen when he was
five?
“Stay there,” Brian whispered towards the two Light shapes. “Just a minute; please don’t leave!” He leapt out of bed and ran to the bathroom,
checking to see that it was empty. It
was. He ran out of the bedroom and found
that the other room of the suite was unoccupied as well. There was a note sitting on the desk from
Leighanne, saying she had run to the drugstore.
He was all alone.
Excitedly, Brian ran back into the bedroom, praying the Lights,
the so-called angels, were still there.
They were, still shining from their spot in the corner. He froze, his eyes fixed on them, unsure of
what to do or say. A flood of emotions
ran through him – wonder, excitement, and even a little wariness. He just stood there, watching them, afraid to
speak. He was terrified of scaring them
away, making them leave.
“What you have to do – supposedly – is focus on a thought, one
single thought, and the person you’re trying to communicate with, the Believer
– in this case, Brian – has to be thinking of that same thought. If your thoughts match, you can ‘slip into
their mind’, so to speak, and talk to them internally.”
Lindy’s words echoed through AJ’s brain. He knew he had to think like Brian. Brian… good, kind, sensitive, religious, Mama’s
Boy Brian. What would Brian be thinking
in this situation?
Lights… thought AJ. Um… lights… pretty lights… cool lights… in my
room… lights… in the corner… two of them…
It didn’t seem to be working.
Nothing was happening.
Desperately, AJ kept thinking, concentrating hard on his thoughts.
Lights… in a shape… a vague, human-ish shape… two shapes,
actually… there’s two of us… no, I have to think from Brian’s point of view,
not mine! Damn it, this isn’t working…
no, can’t cuss… Brian doesn’t cuss… not very often anyway… he does sometimes
though, when he gets pissed… hehe, pissing Brian off can be pretty fun… no,
concentrate, AJ, concentrate! Lights…
lights… the lights… the two lights… … … … … basketball?
It was a last resort, and obviously, a failure. AJ sighed.
This was harder than he had expected.
What was Brian thinking???
It just so happened that Brian was debating what to say to the
Lights. Finally, deciding they might
just go away if he didn’t say something, he fought up his courage and
stammered, “Wh-what are you? Or… who
are you?”
Who are you? thought AJ, as
Brian said the words, and suddenly, something changed. He could hear Brian’s voice, loud and clear
in his ears, but Brian’s lips were not moving.
“Can they talk? The Silver
Light talked to me before when I was five… why won’t they answer me?”
“Brian?” AJ both said the name and
thought it at the same time.
“You can talk!” Brian said aloud. AJ both heard the words and sensed them… and
he knew Brian had heard him. This was
it! He and Brian were
communicating! But Brian hadn’t
recognized his voice… yet.
Practically bursting with excitement, AJ said, “Brian… it’s
AJ.”
Brian jerked as if he had been slapped. His face drained of color as the words came
to him. “Brian… it’s AJ.”
Hoarse and trembling, Brian took a step towards the Gold Light,
the Light he sensed the voice coming from.
“AJ?”
***
