Starcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Interstellar Explorers ❯ Τhεir Ηαυητing Ηisτσrγ ( Chapter 11 )

The time has finally come for me to not be so mysterious about shit. I really ought to put this up quick so I can have breakfast/dinner. Another night shift tonight guys!

~ Τhεir Ηαυητing Ηisτσrγ ~

Willow Greer lived in a silent world. It had taken a while for her to get used to it, prior to her accident she was always hearing voices. They kept her up at night and gave her frequent headaches. But as a psionic with a particularly unusual power, many people were a little creeped out when she told them she often heard the dead speaking to her. Sometimes she caught glimpses of spirits in mirrors and reflections, pale and still figures. Other times she saw moving blurs in the corners of her vision. When Willow went to be somewhere alone (preferably dark) and focused, the deceased became much more clear and she could quite easily communicate with them. They were strange, beings who had not yet moved on from their lives. Willow couldn't imagine why ghosts would be drifting about in the interstellar medium so instead she came to another conclusion. Her gifted mind being the bridge to the netherworld that it was, must have attracted them from a realm beyond space and time. Willow was always aware that about a dozen invisible spirits were following her around everywhere she went.

They stuck around her location, simply existing in the rooms she visited. She could sense them standing in specific places, watching people and things. She guessed they stayed around in her vicinity because they liked to know someone living was aware of them for a change. Willow guessed that would be a nice feeling. Now it was their second lunch break and Willow was typically in the library, reading about past civilisations. She read all kinds of books about everything. The reason she liked the library was because she knew it was always quiet. Her lack of hearing wasn't deceiving and she didn't have to worry that someone might be calling out to her from a distance. It was one year ago that Willow became deaf and she never bothered to learn sign language. She was good enough at reading lips, and after all the drama which lead to her accident she lost interest in a lot of things. Mostly with grudges and silly drama. Sure, she didn't like Nolan at all. She must be upset that he would be on her team, but she didn't dwell on negative emotions or do anything silly like scornfully refer to him as that guy like her other friends did.

Willow had emotionally withdrawn and wasn't bothered by most things. She didn't care what people thought of her, even if it was with pity. She wasn't self-conscious about her long vibrant orange hair anymore despite being teased for it back in the Stem. Most things didn't matter and she had a neutral feeling about life. Being so out of sync with her own emotions made Willow worry sometimes that she was becoming more and more like a ghost herself. So even though the loss of her hearing had become a significant barrier to her previously lively social skills, she just couldn't see a reason to care anymore. After all, using the spirits of the dead to settle a grudge was something she was once adamant about never doing. She broke her own rule, and Willow guessed this is what came of it. It was a while after her accident that she realised she could still hear the otherworldly creatures, faintly at first but then it grew. It wasn't the tirade of voices that Willow once had to focus so hard on blocking out all of the time, it might not even be hearing at all. It could be all in her head or a new sense altogether.

A few of the spirits were very helpful and even motherly. They must have been paying more attention to her because not only did they know of her disability but they would tell her sometimes if someone was calling out to her. Some of the wandering ghosts were malicious, and Willow could sense their dark presence when they entered a room. They weren't usually aware she could sense them, and would just go around spreading their negativity and infecting the aura of everyone around them before phasing through a wall and leaving. When they did notice Willow could sense them they would usually try to hassle her, but she knew exactly how to deal with their kind. Looking up from her book Willow examined the library. A few students gathered around in groups sitting by the tables and reading quietly, some browsed the bookshelves and the librarian manned the counter. When she stretched her awareness the ghosts became more clear, Willow had even learned to pull some of them through the bridge between worlds and (although it was harder) send them away. The invisible patrons stayed away from each other and were each absorbed by something different. A benevolent invisible force wandered around Willow's table, almost protectively.

She did notice one malevolent energy and zeroed in on it. A girl sat by herself and was trying to do her homework. She was fidgeting and looking anxious while a rather ambiguous ghost stood beside, feeding her with worrying thoughts. Sometimes these things were attracted to negative feelings and liked to make them worse for whatever reason. Willow narrowed her eyes and began to mentally form a blockade. She strained and could sense the ghost becoming aware of the uncomfortable pressure. It didn't know what was causing it but eventually it gave up on bothering the poor girl and faded away. She started to relax. Willow went back to her book while the mothering spirit leaned over, privy to what had just happened. It was the second and longer lunch break, while she had a free last period she had an extra psionics class with Ms McDowell so didn't bother retiring back to her dorm. Paige had come to check up on her while Lauren had gone to see Sayuri. While Paige was a caring friend, Willow would've preferred it if Lauren had come. Even before her accident Willow had always assumed her other lesbian friend would never notice her. Willow had always been way too nervous, she could deal with ghosts but trying to hit on girls had been abjectly terrifying. Instead she'd watched with mixed emotions while Lauren fumbled around, falling head over heels in each of her relationships before getting let down.

She didn't remember what heartbreak was like, but guessed this watered-down and neutralised feeling she had while watching Lauren was a version of it. Willow decided she was too distracted to find the book she was reading appealing, despite its avid descriptions of the religion-sparked third world war which lead to China rising to power and spreading communism. China didn't exist anymore, neither did any of the former countries. Only indoor colonies existed on their ravaged home planet, much like the domes that made up the Exodus CZ17. Willow wasn't used to feeling her feelings, so she closed the book and rubbed her eyes, having to admit to herself that she was more than a little bothered at the prospect of working closely with Nolan again. It was bad enough she had to see him every Psionics class, but they had to have their excursion together as well? Standing up she pulled down her black dress and gathered the book in her hands, moving towards the shelves. Perhaps what she needed was to spend time with her friends. At least they'd understand what she was going through. Sometimes the other girls would have to tell her when she was speaking too loudly or too quietly, they would've learnt sign language for her but Willow didn't want to burden them.

Glancing at the titles of the tomes as she walked by Willow found the empty slot and returned her book. The students could access every book in the archive database through their holo-pads, but Willow wasn't alone in her opinion that the sensation of having a physical book to read was a much more enjoyable experience. She particularly liked the feel of turning pages, the smells of age and their weight on her lap. She stood staring at the titles on the spines of the books for a while before someone prodded her arm. She'd stopped jumping when people did that to her now, turning she recognised the anxious girl she'd helped before.

"The bell just rang." her moving lips informed Willow.

"Thanks," she replied with a smile "but I have a free now anyway."

The girl nodded politely before moving away. Willow watched her and the other patrons making their way to the exit. So now what? Usually Milo would come to find her in the library on their study break and they'd either do school work, or she'd read while he sketched his superheroes or comics. Since it was period 5 however he might just decide to go to his dorm or the arcadium.

Willow sighed thoughtfully at her predicament. The only other person she knew well who had a free the same line as her other than Milo, was Nolan. She definitely didn't want to wander around aimlessly and risk bumping into him. Between the bookshelves something caught Willow's eye. Storming into the library Juno's eye scanned the room. The librarian looked away from the computer to shoot her a nervous glance, the artificial lights gleamed on the metallic surface of Juno's powerful robotic limb. Willow stepped out from behind the bookshelf and Juno spotted her. She approached with determination, her brown pony-tail swinging as she went.

"Willow, we need to talk."

"About...?"

"You know very well about what!"

"I don't think this requires so much attention. Don't you have Maths 2 now?"

"Mr Alston isn't gonna care if I'm a few minutes late, I'm one of his best students. At Combatives at least. But Paige and Amelia wouldn't let me out of their sight, so I only had the chance to talk to you now!"

"It's pointless to dwell on this, we just have to deal with it."

"How can you say that? He did much worse to the two of us than he did to any of the others!"

"I may not be able to hear Juno, but it seems like you're speaking very loudly. We should settle down if you want to be more secretive about this." Willow watched her cyborg friend try to calm herself down, reaching up she itched her eye-patch.

"I don't get how you can just go through life feeling nothing about him?" Juno looked up and spoke seriously.

"I don't... feel nothing about what happened." Willow looked down, trying to express the feelings deep within herself "I know that part of me is upset, but anger is just a useless emotion now." she felt Juno grip her shoulder so she would look up, there were bandages along her knuckles.

"Anger is the normal thing to feel right now." she enunciated murderously. "Even with the way I look, the damage you took is so much more obvious. It's like he broke you."

"No," Willow frowned and pushed Juno's hand away. "Now I get that anger is what started this. They were all just petty squabbles but we were childish and young, things kept escalating and everyone wanted to one-up everyone else. I'm sorry, Juno. I won't help you get revenge, it's not going to help anyone. You need to understand this before he gets you back even worse next time."

Juno's eyes sank bitterly to the floor. Willow really did feel bad for her friend, somewhere inside where her feelings and understanding still made brief connections. She knew how emotionless her voice must sound and she hated it.

"I had the opportunity to kill him, way back then." Juno appeared to be whispering "but I didn't."

"Because you're better than he was." Willow stated. "You got him back last anyway, he never bothered us again after that. I think it's time we just move on."

"I didn't necessarily want us to get revenge... I just wanted us to see if together we could find a way to get him off our crew list, or make him resign from the assignment so we wouldn't get into trouble... he could end up sabotaging us in the end, who knows? I think we need counter-measures."

"Alright, Juno. But this is something everyone deserves to have a say in, not just us. I'm guessing Paige already made you promise to no individual actions?"

Juno nodded. Willow tried smiling "Then we'll all talk about it after school today. Does that sound good? You should really get going to class now though."

"Alright, Willow." she sighed in surrender. "We'll talk about this with everyone afterwards. But something needs to be done, we need contingency plans." Juno turned away and Willow's smile fell. She wondered, if she did still care about so many pointless things like she used to, would she be feeling the same way as Juno? Would she want revenge? Willow didn't know, her thoughts seemed empty and she remained in her state of neutrality.

Alright, there you have all six of the girls. I saved the only psionic in their group for last. I was torn between writing a chapter for either Juno or Willow, but I'm happy with what I've got here.