The Vendeleer Brothers Book 3: Nightmare on Holly
Chapter 16: Against Her Will

Joey felt like she was in a haze or a cloud. She could kind of see and feel what was going on and what she was doing, but she had no control. A calming presence washed over her, taking away her fear, and taking away everything she cared about. A little part of her still sensed something was wrong, but the calming presence worked to push it away.

But… what about my friends? Joey thought to herself.

Don’t worry about them… a soothing voice told her. Everything will be fine…

Joey wasn’t so sure about that, but she couldn’t do anything about it at the moment. In this state, she lost track of time, feeling like she was being rocked in the ocean, being pulled at the whim of the wave and currents…

She could hear Everett yelling in some muffled far off place, and she could feel herself walking, but she couldn’t care less. After spending an unspecified time in this state, she suddenly felt herself becoming more clear. It was as if someone was washing a dirty windy, and her blurry surroundings came into focus.

She was standing in a familiar storage unit, one that she had seen many times in dreams where Shaq had been trying to escape. She blinked her eyes a couple of times and then looked around at the people in the room with her. They all seemed to be coming out of a haze as well.

“What-what just happened?” Shannon asked shrilly, a little bit of blood dripping out of her nose. “Did… did I just try to… kill my children?!”

“Marco, Marco, read your thoughts!!” Ramona yelled. “My teacher’s going to kill you!”

The others ignored her.

“You all went wacko! That’s what happened!” Everett exclaimed. “It’s as if none of you had control of yourselves.”

Shaq put a hand to his head with a wince.

“That’s because… we didn’t have control.”

With that, he turned to Shannon apologetically.

“Sorry for… er… trying to kill you that one time…” he mumbled, rubbing his arm a bit self-consciously. Instead of simply accepting his apology, Shannon burst into tears. Joey looked around with mild interest.

“Shaq, where are we?” she asked. The man sighed.

“I’m not sure. Everytime I come out, it’s like my vision is blurred, and I can’t tell where I am.”

Joey walked around, lightly touching the cement walls with her fingertips. There was a keypad next to the door, and really nothing else.

“For some reason… I feel like… someone I know is close by…” she said slowly. “Just… not someone I’ve met in person yet…”

“Dan Jones?” Ramona asked.

Joey squinted at the wall, trying to grasp at what she was feeling. If she really had abilities like everyone else, then she had to use them!

“They’re after me… They don’t like what I done…” Ramona whispered. “I done killed em. It’s my fault. And now they’re out for blood. The first one, I just got mad at my show so I threw her against the wall.Then I couldn’t find my glasses and I got frustrated, so I took a hammer to her head. Then I couldn’t reach the sugar, so Debbie had to go next, she just kept starin’ at me. Now all that’s left is Lorelei here...”

“Does she ever shut up?” Everett exasperated.

“Someone is coming!!” the old lady yelled.

No one really paid her much attention until they heard someone pressing a code into a keypad just outside the door.

“Back away from the door.” a voice told them. Joey felt her body move against her will to the back of the unit. Then, the door opened, and a man stepped in. Joey felt like she had seen this man somewhere before, and then realized that she had seen his honey hair and heard his voice in the women’s restroom a couple of weeks ago-only, his face had been melting off then.

“Hello everyone! It’s nice to finally meet you!” the man smiled amiably. “It’s nice to finally have some others like me with abilities. People who aren’t black.”

At this, Shaq narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Joey pursed her lips in distaste.

“Who are you?” she demanded. The man gave a little laugh.

“The name’s Hector. You must be Joey. I had Shaq tell me about you. However, he didn’t say that you had powers… I was actually quite surprised to see you show up with the others.”

Joey felt her hands ball into fists. Hector regarded her with interest.

“What is your power by the way? I know that Shaq does illusions, Shannon has telekinesis, Ramona is an oracle, and Everett is immune to all spiritual matters. So what do you do?”

In response, Joey simply folded her arms and glared at him, quickly trying to think of some way they could attack him and get away. Hector sighed.

“So it’s going to be like that is it?” he said with a sinister tone in his voice, his eyes starting to glow green. “Shaq, come stand by me.”

Shaq jerked forward, his eyes glazed over, and obediently did as he was told. With a smirk, Hector took out a gun and handed it to him.

“Point it at your head.”

Shaq obediently pointed the gun at his temple, causing Shannon to gasp in fright.

“I don’t think you understand the situation you are all in.” Hector growled with a smug look on his face. “With the ability I have, I can make any of you do what I want. Except for Everett that is. Now tell me Josephine… What is your power.”

Shannon gave another little squeal of fright as Shaq cocked the gun at his own head. Joey swallowed.

“I… I’m not entirely sure yet… I just know that… I sometimes have dreams and see things… And… I can kind of get a feeling about things as well… I don’t know!!”

Luckily, Hector seemed to be satisfied with this answer, for Shaq brought down the gun and handed it back to their captor.

“Interesting. I’m sure that will be very useful in finding others like us.”

By this point, Shannon was crying again, Everett had completely flattened himself against the wall, and Ramona had taken off her shoe to examine it.

“Do you have any gummy worms?” the old woman asked.

“This is your first warning.” Hector told them, backing out the door. “I’ll see you soon!”

And with that, he shut the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Shaq blinked back into reality and stumbled for a bit. His hands were shaking.

“Holy crap… I guess… we’re in bit of a pickle…” his voice quivered.

“Were you able to feel what was happening that time?” Everett asked. Shaq nodded.

“He… he made me completely aware that time… Only… I wasn’t able to control myself.”

“Do you think he’s able to control anyone?” Joey inquired. “Or just anyone with abilities?”

The others took a moment to think about this.

“Well,” Shaq began. “If he was able to control anyone, then why didn’t he take Jordyn? She’s a very skilled fighter and a really good shot. She would have been very useful to him. Or what about Brian? With his technical know-how? Or any of the other very skilled people at the PDU? He singled out us specifically, which leads me to believe that we are the only ones he can control.”

Joey nodded, thinking that this train of thought was fair. She sat down and took a deep breath and trying to think.

“Ok. So we are all locked in a storage unit with no idea of where we are, with a man who can control us. However, we all do have abilities. Ramona, do you see anything that can help us?”

Ramona sat down and looked up at the ceiling like she was thinking. She then looked at all of them gravely.

“Don’t open the black box.” she said seriously. “Don’t open the black box.”

The others seemed unimpressed.

“I don’t think she’s going to be of any help.” Everett told them. Joey sighed and closed her eyes, still feeling like someone she knew was close by. She could also hear the word “Holly” say itself over and over again in her mind. Did this mean that Holly was the one nearby? But no, what wouldn’t make sense. She had actually met Holly in person. Joey closed her eyes tighter, trying to reach out to whoever it was. She suddenly had an image of a little girl about thirteen, that she had seen before-in her “safe place”. Joey’s eyes shot open.

“Akaysha!” she whispered.

Akaysha was asleep, dreaming about her parents and that time they had a picnic at the beach. The girl laughed as her dad told some corny joke about brains.

“Dad, do we have any more grape soda?”

Her father rolled his eyes.

“I think you drank it all.”

“Dang it!”

Her mother grabbed her and began to tickle her, causing her to laugh.

“Come on Akaysha, it’s time to read. I got a new Ray Bradbury book. I know he’s your favorite.”

At the sound of this, Akaysha hopped into her father’s lap. She loved it when her mother read out loud. She had the best reading voice. Her mother smiled, and brought out a book. She took in a breath to start reading, but instead of her nice soothing voice, she let out a scream. Akaysha jumped and held onto her father as there was an explosion. The scene changed, and Akaysha was back in the lab her father worked at. She looked around in the smoke, feeling panic well up within her.

Not this memory again!! She thought to herself.

“Akaysha…” someone coughed. The girl turned with tears in her eyes to see her father with a bad burn on his face, trapped under part of a wall. Her mother’s body lay lifeless and smoking beside him.

“Dad!” she cried, running to him. He coughed again.

“I know you can beat him…” he struggled to say. “He can’t control you forever… You’re stronger than he is… I know it. Even if we aren’t there with you in person… Remember that… that…”

Akaysha felt tears roll down her cheeks as she put her hand on her father’s.

“Remember what?” she lamented.

“Remember we love you…” he rasped.

At that moment, Akaysha could feel someone standing behind her, and she turned to see Hector, his eyes glowing green.

“It’s time to go Akaysha.” he smiled. The girl screamed and closed her eyes and covered her ears.

“NO!!”

When Akaysha opened her eyes, she was standing in a black void, but there was someone else there with her. A larger woman with crazy curly brown hair, who was looking around. Akaysha wiped the tears from her face.

“Joey?”

Joey turned to her, looking a bit relieved.

“Akaysha! I actually reached out to you! I had a feeling you were nearby.”

“What? But-.”

“Akaysha.” Joey said seriously, putting her hands on her shoulders. There’s some others like us with abilities that are with me right now. We are all in trouble and need your help. A man named Hector-.”

“Did Hector already get to you?!” Akaysha said in horror. Joey looked a bit confused.

“You… already know him?”

“He’s my foster dad!!”

All of the relief and hope in Joey’s face washed away.

“Oh no…”

“What did he make you guys do? Is Miss Holly ok? Is Roderick?” the girl asked with worry. Before Joey had a chance to respond, there was a flash of green light.

Akaysha awoke with a start in her bed, and then slowly looked out her window to a small storage unit in their backyard. It was almost like she could still feel Joey standing there with her, and deep down, she knew where she was.

Quietly, she stepped out of bed and snuck over to the door. However, when she opened the door, she jumped back to find Hector standing there, looking displeased with her.

“H-Hector!! I-.” she stuttered. The man grabbed her by the arm.

“Did you forget so quickly what I can do?” he growled, his eyes glowing green. “Tell me where you’re going.”

“I-I- was going- to go help Joey and her friends- escape.” the girl found herself saying against her will. Hector narrowed his eyes and began to pull her down the hallway.

“Of course you were. You ignorant little black kid.”

Akaysha struggled against him, tears burning her eyes.

“I hate you!!” she yelled, trying to punch him. Hector dragged her into the kitchen and opened up a hatch into the basement.

“You can come out once you’re willing to cooperate.” he told her, throwing her in. Akaysha hit the floor several feet below, gasping and crying, and then looked up as Hector locked her away in the dark.

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