Jocelyn wondered if Tora understood that she had not lost her ability to hear or feel for that matter. She could hear his voice clearly, and everything he said only added to her confusion. ‘How the hell did he know that’s what I was thinking? Or was he thinking about taking a picture all along? And what exactly is he….oh shit, he’s staring at my legs. Damn pervert. That has to be what he’s staring at. There’s not much else for him to take a picture of!’ If there had ever been a time that Jocelyn wished she could actually wear jeans, that moment was it. Her skirt wasn’t short by any means, but the fact that her legs were exposed, and Tora was taking full advantage of the view left the redhead in a huffy state of annoyance. ‘The nerve of that boy! Who does he think he is staring at me like I’m a piece of meat. Just wait till I’m finished what I’m doing, I swear he won’t be able to walk right for a month after I’m done shoving my foot up his rear!’

The rest of his words made even little sense to Jocelyn, who tried, unsuccessfully to understand why he suddenly felt the urge to play with her hair. The experience wasn’t as unpleasant as she would like it to be, and she was glad that he had no way of knowing that she had actually enjoyed the brief contact. Did he not understand anything? The hand on her face told her that no, Tora had no idea she was trapped inside her mind, but not without awareness at all. But still, how had he figured out what she was thinking? Could he read her mind or something? That was impossible, and Jocelyn knew it for a fact, yet he spoke as if he had a clear idea what was going on inside her head. Things were getting weirder and weirder by the minute. ‘Did I become a magnet for freak occurrences or something?’

The details gradually blended together to form the complete scene that was frozen inside her mind. After a while Jocelyn didn’t even need her mind to repeat the woman’s callous words, the replayed over and over as if she had a recording on repeat inside her skull. Why was the woman talking about humans as if they were something bad? The way her voice sounded, the condescending tone of her voice, made it sound as if she despised humans and considered them beneath….well, whatever she was. Was she an alien? Jocelyn had never given too much thought to what the woman could be, but now that there was a reference that implied she was not human herself, the girl could only question what the being in her visions was. It didn’t really matter, because Jocelyn knew she’d never come across the female in her life, and there was no way that she ever would. ‘If my mother saw me in these trances, and drawing this crap, she’d be convinced I really was a demon. Good thing she’s locked up in the nuthouse with the rest of the fruitcakes.’ She could only laugh silently inside her mind at the idea of how her mother would react to her trances, especially since she believed Jocelyn had been cursed from the moment she was born. The woman probably would have murdered her in her sleep after the first episode, and explained it as an act of self-defense. 

The image was finally done, minus the color that never needed to be complete, all that seemed to matter was that she drew what was in her head. For several long moments she sat there, motionless, eyes closed and her head bowed, no longer in her trance, but not wanting Tora to believe otherwise. She was infuriated that he’d been eyeballing her the entire time, and wanted to teach him a lesson for staring at her. ‘Take a picture huh? Let’s see how well you can take a picture with a black eye, you big jerk!’ In an instant Jocelyn was on her feet, grabbing a pillow from the top of her bed which she quickly brought down on Tora’s head. “What the hell is wrong with you, ogling me like I’m some sort of object? Have you no manners?” The pillow was slammed down over his head repeatedly, Jocelyn quickly gasping for her as she exerted the remainder of her energy trying to decapitate Tora with her pillow. It wouldn’t work and she knew it, but it felt pretty damn good to get out of her system. “Are you some kind of pervert? What you are, some young looking, thirty year old man trying molest helpless girls? I should report you to the cops! I bet you use your cellphone to take pictures up girl’s skirts too!”

“Jocelyn? Everything okay up there?” Aidan called up from the bottom of the steps, his voice freezing Jocelyn mid-swing. “Everything’s perfect, Aid. Be down in a minute!” She called out sweetly, tossing her pillow at Tora one final time before shooting a glare in his direction. “I don’t know how they do things where you come from, but here it’s rude to stare at a girl when she can’t move.” Turning her nose up in the air, she walked out of the room, leaving Tora alone without a second thought. She was dying of thirst, and actually rather famished, and from her spot on the stairs she could already smell the scent of food. “Ugh….pizza? Gross.” She grumbled, although she had no other option but to eat it or go hungry. Their aunt obviously wasn’t home, and neither she nor Aidan could cook without starting a fire. She could understand why she couldn’t cook, but her brother was twenty five! Shaking her head, she sighed, pausing in the center of the staircase. “Are you coming down to eat, pervert, or are you fantasizing about me serving you on my hands and knees dressed in little else than scraps of cloth?” She smirked behind her hand, enjoying the fact that she now had something to hold over Tora’s head. He’d made her day hell, now it was time for her to get a bit of payback.