Rising by Stephanie Judice

  He waved over his head
as he loped up the driveway.   I was
looking down at my lap, thinking about Zack, when a long, slender piece of ash
settled on my knee.
    “Ah!” I yelped, slapping it off of my
bare leg as if it were a poisonous insect ready to bite.
    It left a black smudge mark that I
began rubbing frantically.
    “It’s okay, it’s okay,” assured
Gabe.   “It’s just sugar cane,” he said,
pointing at other wispy black flakes floating through the air.
    “What?” I asked, sounding a little
panicky.
    “They burn the dried husks to make it
easier for harvesting.   They do it every
year at this time,” he explained, gesturing to the charred leafy ash floating
through the air.  
    “Oh,” I said apologetically, feeling
embarrassed at my overreaction.  
    I’d been living here for over a year,
but had only been through one sugar cane season.  
    “You’ve never noticed?”
    “Um, I guess not.   Our house is nowhere near the sugar mill.”
    I didn’t need to explain to Gabe that
my first thought was of the creatures from my dream when the flake of ash landed
on me.   Gabe lightly brushed the sooty
smudge on my knee, before shifting into third on the main road.   I felt a different kind of shiver that time.
    There was another silent ride back to
my house.   The day waned into dusk as
hues of orange and pink settled in.   Shadows elongated and deepened to the east.   My thoughts lingered in the darkness.
    Gabe pulled up my drive and walked
around to my side.   He braced both his
hands on either side of the door.   I gave
him a puzzled look, wondering what that determined expression on his face meant
and why he seemed to be blocking my exit.
    “Okay.   So, tell me exactly why you reacted the way you did when you saw Zack’s
father.”
    My heart lurched.   He must’ve noticed me flinch when I saw that
dark aura.   I just stared at him like an
idiot, watching his rainbow halo glowing, and trying to figure out a way to lie
to him.  
    “I just saw that he looked angry, and—”
    “No.   That’s not true,” he accused.   “Please, Clara.   Tell me the
truth.”
    His brown eyes were intense and steady,
holding me still.   His dark, wavy hair
fell forward.   I didn’t think I could lie
to him, but I was scared to death to tell him the truth. My pulse raced wildly,
knowing I was about to confess something no one else knew.   Also, because I was very aware of how close
he was standing to me.
    “I know what people are feeling or
thinking, Gabe.”
    “What?”
    His tone didn’t sound skeptical, but it
had a scary edge of disbelief.
    “Gabe, there’s something I need to tell
you about me.   It’s going to sound really
weird.”
    “Go ahead,” he urged.
    “I see energy auras around people,
which generally correlate to what kind of mood they’re in or what kind of
person they are.   And, Zack’s dad’s aura
was very dark.   I knew that something was
wrong.”
    Gabe was shaking his head, but at the
same time smiling broadly.
    “What?   You don’t believe me, do you?   I
knew you wouldn’t.   Why did I even
bother?”
    I was ticked off.   Why did I tell him?   I’m such an idiot.
    “Yes.   Without a doubt, Clara, I do believe you.”
    Huh?
    “How can you?” I asked aloud, trying to
understand the bizarre smile on his face.
    “Because, Clara, there is something
really weird I need to tell you about me.”
    “What is it?”
    He sort of chuckled first.
    “I can feel what other people are
feeling, Clara.   I’ve been able to do it
since I was very young.”
    No. Way.   I was speechless for several seconds.
    “Really?” I finally asked, feeling a
smile come to my lips.
    “Yes, really.   At the very same moment that you squeezed my
hand in Zack’s driveway, I felt a wave of anger come over me from his dad.   I knew that somehow you felt what I
felt.   I didn’t realize that you actually
saw his feelings.”
    Gabe exhaled deeply, as if a monumental
boulder