Saint Joseph School

There was a strange comfort Eddie felt as he sat in a park watching two kids play catch. It seemed oddly familiar, but for some reason, he didn’t care. One of the two children threw a little too hard, the ball rolled a few inches from Eddie’s shoes. “I’ll get it!” the other boy yelled, running to retrieve the trinket. Eddie kneeled down to pick it up. “Here you go.” he projected as he handed the ball back to the boy.

He couldn’t have been older than seven or eight, dark brown hair, dark green eyes that almost glowed in the afternoon sun. “Hey, mister. How’d you do that?” he asked, an innocent grin across his face. “This is how I talk, I use my braaain so you can hear me.” Eddie replied playfully, he’d never had to explain it to a kid before. The boy laughed, “You’re weird, mister.”. “Call me Eddie.” the telepath said with a smile. “Your name’s Eddie too? Neat! I’m Eddie Trenton.” the younger boy stated before running back to his game. Eddie was slightly baffled at the boy’s statement, but rather than question it, he went back to watching them play.

--

Hours passed like minutes but Eddie had not moved from his spot, he just sat and watched. It was oddly relaxing to observe the happiness of the children. Eventually the other boy left, leaving the young Eddie standing alone, head shifting from side to side looking for someone. The boy let out a sigh as he hung is head low and began walking off, eyes welling up a little. “Hey, Eddie. What’s wrong?” the older boy asked. “My Dad was supposed to pick me up, and he’s not here…*sob*…again.” the young Eddie said as a tear rolled down his cheek “He promised he’d be here! Now I have to walk home…again…” There was a sudden brilliant flash of light and it was all gone. “I remember…” Eddie though to himself.

The light faded into a new day. Eddie found himself across the street staring at his own house back in his hometown. “I’m home?” he said out loud, not realizing it. He froze as two individuals exited through the front door. “It’s…me?” Eddie thought, a warm blast of summer air blowing across his face. “I’ll be back in a little while, I’ll be at Adam’s.” his younger counterpart stated as he made his way down the street. Eddie nearly fell over in disbelief as the other exited, it was his mother. She stood on the porch, and with a smile she waved him over. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he darted over. She offered him a seat next to her as the smile grew slightly wider on her face. “It’s a beautiful day today isn’t it?” she said as Eddie sat down on the step next to her. He turned to look her in the eyes, “Perfect.”

There was a silence for a brief moment before his mother asked, “You’ve been taking care of yourself right, son?”. A smile brushed across Eddie’s face, “Yeah, I found a place to help me out with the problems I was having and stuff.” he said. Eddie heard a muffled voice in the back of his mind, *Wake up. Please, Eddie.*. “Really, where is it?” she asked, brushing the hair from her eyes. “Paragon, Paragon City.” he answered. “Hmm, last I heard, Danny moved out there to be a hero. I wonder how he’s doing?” she thought out loud. Eddie thought back to his uncle for a moment, “Well he’s…” he paused, “Wait. You know Dan?” “Of course, he is your dads younger brother. I’ve known him since we were kids.” she explained. “He was a tough one, always came out on top no matter what he did. Danny used to say “fight with all your heart and there’s not a soul that can defeat you.” , he really took that to heart.”

There was a long pause between the two, “Mom, how is this happening? Am I dead?” Eddie blurted out, the confusion getting the better of him. “Life if just a dream sweetheart, look passed what you see and you’ll find the truth. Don’t be afraid. Do you remember what I told you when you were younger?” she said in a loving tone.

Another flash of blinding light and everything vanished. “No man has fought so hard as the one who fights for those he loves…” Eddie said. Another muffled echo in Eddie’s mind *You promised me, Eddie Trenton*

Another voice echoed, it was male this time, but to distant for him to place. “Eddie, wake up.”

The stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke greeted Eddie as the light faded once again, the blaring music could have woken the dead. He recognized immediately where he was, Eddie was inside The Broken Dollar, his father’s bar of choice. Eddie looked around slowly before spotting his father, Edward Trenton Sr. sitting on a bar stool staring directly at him, he waved him over.

Eddie sat next to his father, clad in his usual black leather jacket. He took a drink from whatever toxic swill was in the glass in front of him. “You been taking care of yourself, son?” the older man said, eyeing the bottles behind the bar. “Yeah…” Eddie paused, the question seemed all to familiar. “Good to hear it, I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.” his father said, taking another swig. “What’s that?” remaining cautious, Eddie’s eyes shifted around the room. The room was full of people, but he wasn’t getting
thoughts from any of them. Usually the pain would have been so sharp he would have been on the floor. Something was amiss here.

“Do you remember when you were little, when we went fishing and you caught your first fish?” the man said with a slight chuckle. “Yeah…” Eddie said again, something was very wrong here. Not only was his dad never this nice, but he was also drunk, Eddie knew how his father got when he’d been drinking, he’d sooner backhand you than reminisce about things. “What’s going on here?” Eddie finally asked, staring directly at whoever or whatever was posing as his father. “What do you mean? I’m trying to have a drink and talk to my son, is that a crime or something?” he said quickly, finishing his drink and slamming the glass on the bar. “You know what I mean, what is this?” Eddie snapped back just as quickly. “You talk to me that way again and you’ll be sweeping your teeth off the floor! Got it?” the leather clad man shouted, nobody around seemed to notice. “Just tell me how to get out. Then you can get back to your drink.” Eddie said, looking around again. “The door’s over there, and you’d better be there when I get home.” the man said, anger seeming to swell in his voice. “I wouldn’t count on it.” the teen said as he walked towards the door, he pushed it open reveling another shower of light followed by another voice. This time it was softer, singing even. “Come back.”

Yet another muffled voice invaded Eddie’s thoughts, "Just hurry back, please. Hurry back, Eddie."

“Decision time, Edward.” a stern feminine voice stated, Eddie looked around the blinding light of whatever limbo he was in, settling on a woman standing roughly five feet behind him. “What do you mean, what decision?” he questioned. She had jet black hair wrapped in a tight bun, her fierce gaze pierced straight through him. “You have two choices. You can either stay in the realm I have created for you, or you can return to reality at a price. Choose.” she said, her voice sounding almost bored, as if she was reading from a prepared script, “Should you choose to stay, you will be given anything you want, but you will never be able to return to the real world.” “And if I choose to go back?” he questioned. “If you choose to return, you will be forced to make a great sacrifice, greater than any you have in the past.” she answered.

Eddie thought for a brief moment, his friends cycling through his mind. Stasi, Ves, Bryan, Sam. He couldn’t just leave them behind to be in some place where he was supposed to be happy. Because those were the people that made him truly happy, no matter what the cost, his mind was made up.

“Send me back.” Eddie said sternly, he’d never been more sure about a decision. “If that’s your decision, you will never be able to return to this place. Are you sure this is what you want to do?” the woman questioned, not seeming surprised by Eddie’s answer. “Positive.” he looked her in the eyes as he said the words, he didn’t care about some false sense of joy. “Send me back.” “Very well.” the strange woman said as she stretched her arm outward. “I’ll see you again soon, Edward.” she said, a faint smile creeping up in the corners of her mouth. “What?” it was too late, the room got even brighter than it was before.

A final voice echoed in Eddie’s mind, this time it was clear. “I love you.”

The room was cold. Eddie felt a gentle grip on his hand as well as a minor weight on his chest. He didn’t need to be psychic to tell who it was in the room with him. “Sam?” he said, Eddie barely managed it, his throat was bone dry, but the pain didn’t matter.

“Eddie?” Sam’s voice answered, sounding as if she didn’t believe what she’d heard.

“Yeah, Sam.” he reverted to telepathy, it would be clearer than using his raspy underused vocal cords. “I’m here.” Eddie heard the sound of plastic breaking. He looked down to see that Sam had broken the call button. He smiled.

“You came back.” Sam projected directly into his thoughts as she smiled.

“I made you a promise.” he said, recalling what he’d said months ago. That no matter how perfect any place could be, it would be empty if she wasn’t there. So, he promised he’d come back. No matter what. “I promised.”

*****

I'm going to step out of character for a moment. I hope that at least some of you out there enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. These have been "The Fading Dreams Of A Sleeping Psychic". This story was intended to go hand in hand with Blitzen's "Leave Out All The Rest", I think it did so quite well. Thank you for reading. This is Eddie Amplitude, signing off.