The Gift Issue 3

Elise woke with a start. The nightmares were happening again. The dream was like a recorded message being played, rewound, played, and rewound, over and over. It was the same each time. Incapable of describing and too scared to try, Elise remained a frightened and completely unreachable child.

For several months the child had the same dream every night�the nights she actually succumbed to sleep that is. Her parents had taken her to specialists to remedy the insomnia. The night terrors could not be explained. One physician after another recommended psychological evaluation. Insulted by the accusation and the stigma of a �crazy� child, the parents would move on to find another opinion. After four different doctors, Mr. and Mrs. Balian were running out of options. Their daughter was in pain and all they wanted was for her to be well again.

The Balian�s were contacted out of the blue by a member of the Brotherhood. The associate claimed to have a possible answer to their daughter�s �problem�. He suggested a meeting with one of his superiors and a tour of their facility dedicated for children like Elise. The child�s parents were out of options and agreed that it couldn�t hurt. Could it?

After a tour of the building, the Balian's met with a man who introduced himself as Brother Marius--the director of the facility. He suggested a three-day observation period to determine if Elise�s condition was treatable. Seeing no other option, and trusting their instincts, Elise�s mother and father agreed to let her stay. Being away from their only daughter for three days frightened them, but they were not willing to face the alternative.

72 hours passed. A second meeting was held.

�She�s has a gift Mr. And Mrs. Balian. Elise is special,� the man said. Dressed in plain clothing he looked like any other physician the family had visited. But there was an air about him that made him more� believable�honest. The couple felt comfortable with the man. He was calm, soft-spoken, and matter-of-fact.
�What can be done to stop the nightmares?� asked Mrs. Balian
�Well, Julia, I am not certain if they will stop. You see� Elise�s mind is like a television. Numerous signals come to her and her mind displays them to her cognitive. She cannot understand what she sees subconsciously because everything is jumbled. She�s unable to focus. We can teach her to focus. We can get her to look at one signal at a time�teach her to block the messages she doesn�t want to visualize. We can give her a �remote control� to change the channels if you understand me,� Marius smiled at his own joke.
Johnathan, the father, smiled half-heartedly. He�s mind was racing. �What visions are causing her to be so frightened,� he asked.
Marius paused as if afraid of the question, �I will be completely honest Mr. and Mrs. Balian. Your daughter is blessed with the art. More so than even I possess. Right now she has the power to perform� well, honestly I am uncertain what she is capable of, but I do know that she can sense and perceive things on levels far greater than our most adept students� and those students have been here for many, many years. She�s a clairvoyant, clairsentient, telekinetic, and she might even have pyrokinetic abilities. The extent of each of these abilities has yet to be determined. Most importantly, she must learn to harness them� now� or she may be irreparably damaged. Her mind could shut down from the influx of stimulation and then she�d be lost to you forever.
Julia begins to cry. Johnathan cajoles her and Marius offers a tissue from his desk. He continues, �I know this does not appear like a positive thing right now, but I assure you� we can help your daughter. We can bring her back from this state that she�s slipped into. All we need is time and your patience with us as we search for a way to help Elise.�

Elise�s parents agreed to let her stay full time. She would be observed continuously and treated well by the staff. In addition to treatment she would attend school with other children her age within the facility. He class was small, eight students including her. Then came the question of the cost. Brother Marius explained that treatment was free in exchange for research rights to their daughter�s case. The Balian�s didn�t exactly understand that part of the bargain, but they certainly understood the �free� part. The contract was signed an all was settled. Their daughter would be saved from a life of terror and the family could one day be happy again. It was that hope that kept the family going. After a full year of schooling and once a limited form of control over her abilities was achieved, Elise was allowed to return home on the weekends. After a month of return visits, something went terribly wrong.

The murderous men that abducted Elise and took her for their master�s dark purposes whisked her away, but not until after they slew her entire family. They entered the apartment in the middle of a family dinner party and took what they wanted�the girl. They committed their act without compunction. They knew the will of their leader and they were methodic to a fault.

Athan had seen this sort of carnage before. He just didn�t know it could have happened to his family. His wife, his son, his sister and brother-in-law were all gone forever. The shock and pain of that night hit him so hard he thought he�d never recover. But, he made a silent vow to himself that night. A vow he intended to keep. He�d make whoever did this pay for it� and they�d pay for it dearly.

Athan looked at himself in the mirror. �Steel yourself, Athan�� he thought. �This is it� no turning back�.

In a flash he was on the fire escape, then into the alley, and then into the night�