The Athena Effect by Derrolyn Anderson

eyes watching her intensely, thinking how much she wanted to tell him everything. He was thinking that her hair looked so soft that he wanted to reach out and touch it.   He reached down and took hold of her hand instead. She didn’t pull it away.
    “I was ten years old before I met anyone aside from my parents,” she confessed.
    “So… You spent your whole life hiding,” he said softly. “No wonder you’re so good at it.”
    She relaxed and started to talk, answering some general questions about her childhood spent in the woods. She eventually told him about her parent’s horrific flashbacks, and how they helped each other through their terrifying seizures. She confessed that she suspected it might have been what caused the motorcycle accident.
    She told him about the day of the accident, and how the Sherriff refused to let her stay all alone in the remote cabin. Calvin could hardly believe that she had lived in such a primitive way, but Caledonia protested, trying to explain what a happy, safe childhood she’d had.
    “I never felt like I was missing anything… I wish I was back there right now.”
    “What about your aunt?” he asked, “Don’t you like her?”
    Her eyes clouded over, “She’s alright… I suppose.”
    “Why are you always walking around alone at night?” he pressed.
    Now she pulled her hand back and looked away, ashamed. Her own aunt didn’t want her around, and refused to believe her or protect her from Phil; everyone at school thought she was weird. She knew that she didn’t belong here, and so did everyone else.
    Her parents were right. She was as different from other people as her odd eyes were from each other. She realized that there was something profoundly unlovable about her; she was all wrong. Mama and Papa had probably kept her hidden away to shelter her, knowing that society would summarily reject her.
    “I just want to go back home,” she said sadly.  
    “You’d go back… To living like that? All by yourself?” he seemed surprised.
    She nodded without hesitation, “I suppose there’s one thing I’d miss.”
    “What?” he asked, suddenly, irrationally, hoping that it might be him.
    “Hot water,” she said firmly.
    He laughed, and she couldn’t help but join in. She liked the way he sounded, and she liked looking into his smiling eyes, dark as deep pools of water. She relaxed, feeling completely safe for the first time since the accident.
    She looked up at the walls, “You’re a really good artist.”
    He looked surprised, “How did you know I drew those?”
    She shrugged, “An educated guess.”
    “But you never went to school,” he teased her, his lazy laughing eyes smiling back at her.
    She found herself growing drowsy; exhausted from a long week of sleeplessness. She felt like she was floating in the warmly colored glow he was casting over her. She yawned, prompting a yawn from him in response that made them both laugh again.
    “Calvin,” she whispered, “Thank you… for everything.”
    Her eyelids grew heavy, fluttered, and finally shut as she drifted off to sleep. Cal got up and bent down to lift her feet onto the bed, feeling a lump on her ankle. He looked up the leg of her jeans to see a leather sheath strapped to her calf. The handle of a large hunting knife was sticking out of it.
    He pulled a blanket over her, tucking it under her chin. He stood there for a minute, admiring the way her golden curls spread out across his bed, marveling at how she could look so innocent and vulnerable, all the while concealing a deadly weapon that he had no doubt she was capable of using.
    He flipped off the light and lay down alongside her as gingerly as possible, careful not to wake her up. He wanted to keep her there, and it surprised him.
    He usually didn’t like to bring girls to his room, preferring to sneak into their bedrooms or apartments so he could leave whenever he pleased. In his experience, girls always ended up trying to control him, claiming