"Tim?"
"Jennifer? What's wrong?"
<incomprehensible response due to sobbing>
"Jennifer, please.. Where are you?"
"I'm... I'm home..."
"Are you hurt?"
"No... My mom..."
"Your mom did something? Did she hit you?"
"NO!" <more sobbing>
"Honey, please stop crying long enough to tell me... What is WRONG?"
"She... she cut her thumb..."
"What? You're mom? She cut her thumb?"
"Yes! And then..."
"And then what? Jennifer! Tell me!"
"She's DIED!"
"What? From cutting her thumb?!? Oh, honey... I didn't mean to make it sound... I'm coming over. Okay?"
"Please?!?"
That's all I needed to hear.
Even though it was dark out, I didn't hesitate to jump into Midge and push her as fast as she could go, which on a calm day was close to 100 MPH. What usually took me over a half an hour to drive, took me probably less than ten minutes simply because I had gone in a straight line and didn't have any stop signs or traffic lights to deal with.
I had never attempted to fly at dark before, and it's a wonder I wasn't killed myself from doing something so reckless. Midge and Beany were never meant to fly at dark, and had no lights on them other than the few indicators on the instrument panel. However, I hadn't been completely without some sense, for while I grabbed my winter coat, gloves, and hat, I also grabbed two of those 6 volt lantern/flashlights and a roll of duct tape.
I lost one of the lights somewhere around the outer edge of Jennifer's subdivision, but I made do with the other one still hanging on to Midge's hull. All I really needed them for was to make sure I didn't hit something in the air anyway.
That had been the first time I had used my telepathy on Jennifer in any way. You see, I had locked onto her mind before hanging up the phone, and had used that as a beacon to guide me directly to her.
Even though Jennifer had only seen or heard Midge that one time in the balloon, she knew it was me when I was approaching her back yard and struggling to slow down so I wouldn't pass it up or crash or something. I ended up having to circle around, but not before I buzzed the top of one of their trees, and very nearly their roof too.
I cut the power to Midge's engine ten feet off the ground and to my surprise dropped like rock instead of settling down like I had expected her to do. Despite their grief, Lee, their father, and a few other people stood there with their mouths a gap when it appeared as if I had just dropped right out of the sky.
Once my organs had moved back into their proper positions, I struggled to undo my safety harness as Jennifer stood there in the cold three feet away, sniffing and looking absolutely pitiful.
I don't remember actually getting out of Midge. In fact everything between trying to get out of my harness and finding myself holding my Jennifer in my arms is a complete blank. But I do remember feeling her shivering from the early December cold and half carrying and half dragging her inside.
All of my attention was focused on Jennifer while her dad guided us to a kitchen chair, for she was holding on to me closer and tighter than she had ever done so before. Despite the fact that she was hurting, I couldn't help but enjoy how much she needed me like that.
I have no idea how long we stood there before Jennifer finally let go long enough for me to sit down and retake her in my arms and across my lap.
She wasn't crying really, just kind of whimpering with sudden spurts of sobs. Neither one of us spoke a word the whole time we were like that, and it wasn't until a familiar voice asked if we wanted anything to drink that I did.
"Scott? What are you doing here?" I asked in surprise.
"We're cousins," Jennifer said softly moments before Scott said the same thing.
"I didn't know that," I admitted before giving Jennifer another kiss on the side of her head.
"My mom and her mom are sisters," Scott explained.
Jennifer turned herself around so she was facing Scott, then asked, "How do you two know each other?"
"Tim helped me with his.." Scott began.
"Hypnosis," I managed to blurt out in time.
Scott gave me a very confused and questioning look, but kept his mouth shut anyway while I stretched the truth a little to satisfy Jennifer's curiosity.
When Scott's mother came over to us and told Scott and Jennifer they would be going home in little bit, I took a good look at her, finding that she did resemble Jennifer's mother, but not really all that much.
However, there was this... familiar aura about her that I couldn't quite put my finger on right away too. I shrugged it off for the time being, figuring I had more important things to focus my mind on.
I didn't recognize Scott's dad until Scott playfully gave him a couple of punches in the gut. Apparently Scott hadn't been the only one punching the ole punching bag. His dad's beer belly was almost gone, and every sense I had told me he was a much healthier person than he had been before.
Even Tracy, Scott's sister, looked different, but for some reason I still had trouble recalling her image from before, so that might have had something to do with it too.
Just before they left, I remembered what Scott had asked me about her at the beginning of the school year and did a quick scan of her mind. The commands I had inserted to make her enjoy her brother and his friends watching her masturbate were very much still in place, but I decided that they really weren't doing much anymore since Tracy and Scott had already fucked a number of times since Scott and I had last talked.
It was while I was removing my commands in Tracy's head that I recognized the aura I had noticed about Tracy's and Scott's mother. It was the same one Tracy and Lee had, although much less intense, with Lee having the strongest of the three.
Their sexual hunger literally glowed about them, and as I tuned into this range of my empathic senses, I discovered Scott had a similar glow about him, not quite the same, but fairly intense like his sister's was. And while I was checking out the others there, I found that of all of the people there, mine and Lee's were the strongest, while Jennifer's was virtually nonexistent.
It was about eleven o'clock before anyone actually did start to leave, and even though no one said anything to me about leaving, I decided I had better follow the others example, especially since Jennifer had sat down on a chair of her own an hour earlier and was fighting to stay awake.
But as it turned out, Midge wouldn't start, and it was too dark and cold to try and figure out why. Mr. Corrigan offered to let me sleep on the couch, and I was sorely tempted to accept, but decided the best thing to do was just call a limo and come back tomorrow after school to collect Midge, and see Jennifer too of course.
I learned the next day that Mrs. Corrigan had died of blood poisoning from cutting her thumb pretty badly on a piece of metal in the basement while working on the laundry. No one is really sure what it was she had cut herself on, for that had been all she said before passing out and never waking up.
I learned a lot about Jennifer's mom the next few days, mostly from Jennifer herself from the need to talk about all the things she loved her mom for.
Apparently, Jennifer's mom had been extremely jealous of her sister's good looks and popularity with the guys, and despised how sexually active her sister was. She had sworn to herself that none of her children would ever be that way, but Lee rebelled against her strict rules of conduct, although not openly at first.
After finding Lee in bed with a boyfriend, Rose Corrigan focused her attention on Jennifer, realizing she had lost any chance with Lee, but still could help Jennifer to grow up to be a good girl like she had been. That had been four years ago, and it was obvious that Jennifer had accepted her mother's rules and was now determined to live by them for the rest of her life.
You see, Lee's rebellion had made their mother realize that you can't just make up rules like that without offering something in return for following them. And with Jennifer being so insecure about herself, it was easy for the two of them to find things to do together that they both could enjoy.
Jennifer spent a lot of time telling me of all the things they had done together. I'm not going to list them here because... Well, I have my reasons, and I don't need to explain them either. Just accept that Jennifer had every right to love her mother like she did, even if she did appear to rule her family with an iron glove.
The funeral was that Thursday, and I was very disturbed by how distant Jennifer was trying to become with me. She felt guilty for disobeying her mother's wishes, and that day of all days she felt she had to follow them. I can't tell you how... confused I felt. No. Not confused. Just...
Unhappy. Unhappy with a capital U. And Miserable with a capital M. And after the final words were said at the gravesite, Jennifer left with her family without looking at me or acknowledging that I was even there.
I went straight to the North mansion to be with my own mother, and after explaining everything to her, I broke down and Cried with a capital C.
"Oh Timmy," my mother said as I finished letting out the emotions I had been struggling to control. "You've never had to deal with death before so you don't know how it is to lose someone like that. Right now, Jennifer feels she needs to stay loyal to her mother to honor her memory. It's a natural reaction, but that's all it is. I'm sure she'll want to spend time with you again once she has some time to adjust."
"Was your mom the first for you?" I asked after that had soaked in.
"No, dear," she said, rapping her arms around my chest from behind. "My Uncle Tim was my first. I was just a little older than Jennifer I think. Yes. I must have been sixteen because I just started to drive... <sigh> It didn't make my mother's death any easier, but in a way I suppose I was better prepared to deal with it. She'll come around, Timmy. I know she will. Don't hold it against her when she does, not that I think you would. Just be there for her if and when she wants you, and be patient with her when she doesn't. That's all you can do for now."
Friday morning, I felt considerably more in control of myself, and returned to a more rational and emotionless state that didn't get by unnoticed. I hadn't realized how... energetic I had become while living in the bliss of love, and all day long people were asking me what was wrong.
That afternoon, Suzi approached me after our last class and asked to talk to me upstairs. I was surprised to find that Suzi still had a key to our room, while I would have had to gone to Higgs if I needed one.
"If you are worried about me," I began after feeling her out.
"I'm always a little worried about you, but no. Right now it's Jason I'm worried about," she said as she sat down on the couch.
I sat down next to her and noticed for the first time that her hair was her natural color, and not black like... like before.
"When did you stop coloring your hair?" I asked.
She looked in my eyes for a moment, then said carefully, "Since your funeral. Eric cut his short, I stopped coloring mine."
"Oh. Why?"
"Because... Because I knew how you hated it black, and..."
"Huh..."
"What?"
"Nothing... I just now understood something that my mom told me yesterday, that's all. What's wrong with Jason?"
Suzi studied my face looking for any sign of emotion for a few moments, then said, "Do you remember Ron?"
"Ron..." I said, not finding the name familiar.
"The guy who Jason... <sigh> Maybe this isn't a good idea. I mean, if you don't remember Ron..."
"Wait a sec. Big guy. Lot's of muscles... Oh, and a killer grin... Yeah.. Okay. It's coming back to me now. Jason and Ron were... Er, uhm..."
"They were more than that," Suzi admitted. "Right before he went back to school this fall, Jason told me he had let Ron... You know.. go all the way."
"I see."
"No you don't. Not yet anyway. Jason really loved him, and Ron loved Jason too, but then Ron met this girl over Thanksgiving that was just as good with her smile as Ron was. Anyway, Ron told Jason last week he wanted to move in with her. Jason came home this weekend and refuses to go back to school, and he's so depressed he doesn't do anything but lay around...
"I'm afraid what he might do, Timmy. Oh, and I think he's empathic. When you walk into his room, you start feeling depressed and sad and all, like you did to me and Joey in the hall. Joey tried to help him yesterday, but he couldn't stand the depression. I thought that maybe you... might not be affected or could shield yourself or something."
"Well, the only way we'll find out is if I try. Is there anything else before we go see him?"
"Just one thing," she said before giving me a kiss on the lips. "Thanks, Timmy. I love you."
"You're welcome," I said emotionlessly as I stood up.
I followed Suzi home and was just getting out of my car when I first started picking up on Jason's depressed mood.
"Do you feel that?" I asked Suzi while she unlocked the door.
"No. What?"
"Jason's depression."
"You can feel it? All the way out here?" she asked with concern.
"Yes... Well, no. Sort of. I sense it, but I don't feel depressed. It's rather hard to explain."
"So it isn't affecting you then?"
"No, not like it apparently affects you."
Before she would let me go inside, Suzi turned towards me and had me look her in the eyes while she said, "Swear to me that if you do start feeling it affecting you, you tell me and then you leave no matter what you think you can do for him."
"I don't think that's neccess.."
"SWEAR!" she firmly exclaimed.
"Okay, okay... I swear."
I hadn't intended to break my word to her, but the moment I entered Jason's room and felt his depression flow through me, I couldn't resist answering the empathic call Jason was transmitting.
Imagine a world cast in darkness and gloom, what little life there was losing its will to live. Then suddenly one of the shadowy objects floating in space near the planet flares with life giving light for a few moments before going dark, then flares again but doesn't fade away like the first time. Like magic, the life on the planet begins to prosper and grow, and within moments the landscape is covered with green mixed with whites, yellows, reds, and blues.
That was what my empathic smile did to Jason. For he wasn't just suffering from the rejection and loss of a lover, but the withdraw from Ron's own empathic touch.
I spent a considerable amount of time talking with him and Suzi, telling them about my sluts and how I had solved their addiction to my smiles. Jason wasn't interested in that solution, however. What he wanted was what he had had before, and it took nearly an hour of polite arguing to talk him out of the idea of the two of us being lovers.
Jason for the most part didn't say anything while I tried to discuss the differences between his case and my sluts. While I believed Jason's own addiction could be treated in the same way as my sluts, the problem with this was how to prevent the person or persons he got his fix from becoming addicted to his own empathic touch.
Suzi's mom peeked her head in while we were talking, and the moment she realized Jason's depressive field was gone, she asked what I did, then gave me a hug and kiss thank you.
I almost got the same thing from their father too, but Frank still had some reservations about me, and only ended up getting a thank you too. From that point the discussion was complicated by their own wishes and beliefs, but in the end we came up with a plan.
So I programmed Jason to experience the same sensations from his parents and Suzi's smiles as he had from Ron's after Jason admitted he could never use his smile on any of family like that for sex. Jason wasn't exactly happy with it, but he agreed that it was the only way to break the cycle that had made him so depressed. We all had concerns about Jason's and Suzi's past behavior about having sex, but they both honestly believed they could never fall into that trap knowing what it would do to the other if they did.
Jason conceded to go to the college his father was employed that spring, but to their father's dismay, Jason was absolutely certain he would return to Central State with Suzi and Joey the following fall.
I found it very surprising that Betty had been the person responsible for allowing Jason to attend Central state after finding out about Ron's... conditioning of her son. Betty is a pretty amazing person. With all my abilities and experience at feeling people out, Betty has this... ability of her own that has yet to be wrong.
Betty just _knows_ what kind of a person someone is the moment she meets them, and she knew Ron would never hurt her Jason or anyone. In fact, she felt Ron would help Jason grow and mature in ways she couldn't describe, and this sixth sense made her side with Jason's desire to return to Central State the previous year. Frank apparently never learned the truth about what happened there, and was even a bit blind to the fact that Ron and Jason's relationship had been sexual too.
Suzi reported to me the next week that she had caught Jason slipping a box of condoms into a bag before leaving to go to a party with some old high school friends, then asked him about it the next day. He was very forthcoming to tell her about the two different girls he had sex with that night, and after that first conversation, Suzi and Jason apparently made a habit of talking once a week about the sex they each had had.
Jason never had sex with another man after that. He bumped into Ron a few months later and forgave him for dumping him like that, then had to resist Ron's fuck me smile as they talked about old times and what they had done since they had seen each other last. I found it really weird that Jason could get over Ron so fast, but I guess he just came to realize that Ron simply had fallen under the same spell as Ron had cast over him. And despite everything, Jason and Ron stayed friends, and I believe Ron's daughter will end up losing her virginity to Jason's son after seeing that exact same empathic smile on his face. Well, the same minus the baby teeth that is.
------------------------
Thursday, one week after the funeral, Jennifer was waiting by my locker when I arrived to school.
"Hi," I said cautiously.
"Hi," she replied, not looking at my face.
"I missed you something fierce," I admitted.
"I missed you too... Are you mad at me?"
"No. I understand what you're feeling sort of," I said, gently opening the door to my locker as if any sudden noise would scare her away.
"At first all I could think about was how much I was going to miss her, and that I wanted her to be proud of me... But for the past couple of days... Yesterday morning I woke up and realized I not only was missing her, but you too. Then during breakfast today, Lee... <sniff> she just started crying...
"She's feeling guilty for going against what mom wanted and stuff. But my dad... He said my mom wouldn't want us to be unhappy, and that she would have wanted us to be the best people we could be and not live in the past. And then he told me my mom had been talking about letting me see you again from the way I cried myself to sleep ever night.."
"You did?" I said, touched.
She only nodded, then finally looked at me and asked, "Do you still want me to be your girlfriend?"
All I could do was beam at her and nod my head, then graciously accepted her offer to hug.