There was a dark flash before Carls eyes, Where did i go just now? He saw his father and grandpa, their backs were to him. Stillness… Reality seemed fuzzy… They were abandoned… now… no… for-saken… forsaken… Forsaken! GOD Jesus god NO! What has forsaken them? This is not of this earth! What in gods name has forsaken them. It better not be ME… Itd better not be me… i have not forsaken them! I HAVE NOT! Then as if escaping through a tunnel he emerged back in study room C. Tears rolled down his cheek. [color=FFF8DC]I’D NOT FORSAKE THEM I’D NOT DO IT. I’D NOT.[/color] He was raising his voice. He lept up out of his seat bumping the table forward an inch, startling the group back to wakefulness. Then grabbed his phone from his pocket. The small screen illuminated. Ti-tick-ti-tick “Dad, Grandpa, i just need to check in with you… make sure your safe… please respond as soon as you get this text.” SEND He took out a pen and scrawled down his phone number on the table itself. [color=FFF8DC][B]I… i gotta go. Change of plans.[/B][/color] He rose from his seat. All of the water droplets slid off as ice from his windbreaker. The ice droplets settled on the floor noiselessly. With that he was out into the hall and out into the rain. The rain had worsened and was coming down in sheets like slate. The pounding curtains of rain washed over the windscreens of cars and a van parked outside. Not bothering to even walk on the sidewalk he squelched down the middle of the road. Passing by the power lines on one side he checked his phone again. Rain pattering off the screen. -No reply- Carl felt a rising fear and thunder let out a low rumble. Turning the corner he assured himself hed made the right decision, putting his families safety first. Coming to the junction that was mainstreet he felt himself start to pound the ground with his feet. Crossing the garden diagonally he saw his dads car out front. Please please please let him be safe. Please god please!! Fumbling for his keys in the rain he opened the front door, headed across the hall and through the secret door to the sound recording studio. The door opened with a hush on the carpeted floor to the secret den. Nothing. Dark. Rain dripping off his red windbreaker Carl could hear a small repeating noise coming from the corner. Thum… He walked over to where it was coming from… the record players disk was spinning, but it had long since finished playing… Thum… thump… thump… Carls eyes narrowed… and he lifted its arm off of the record thread… “Dad…” His finger twitched as he placed the needle back down on the thread. The speakers came to life. “And what have i got?? Am i alive anyway… what have i got, that no-one can take away!!!” He recognised it, nina simone. -one of his dads favourites He stopped the recording. There was a buzzing and a light lit up from his pocket. Rapidly he flipped out his phone. “Yeah-son, im alright, just had some motor trouble out on the side of the road. Everything alright with you… ?” It was grandpa Donald. Within a few seconds Carl tried to focus his mind. He tried to reach out to sense his fathers heat-point. Carl expected a hand to slowly come to him with a finger, pointing his location. But what happened instead was breathing. Slow and regular. Carl barrelled out of the room to the den. The door creaked open, slowly… the tv was on…. revealing the sleeping form of his father. Carl felt all the blood in his body hit his feet. Oh thank-god. He just stood there, rain dripping onto the floor. Watching for several seconds. Just listening to his father sigh with sleep. Thats it. He was not letting this off the hook. He took out his cellphone, the screen lit up. tick-ti-tick-ti “Yeah im fine…” he texted his grandpa again then his mind poised on a thought… “Ill be out back behind Graces-Grotto” … he mused at what hed just written… It would only take a few more minutes for him to head back over there on his bike. “Could you pick me up… when your trucks working again?” SEND Slowly closing the door to the den. Carl moved with quiet determination out to the side passage where his bike was. Mounting the saddle he pushed off in the direction of Graces’ Grotto. His mind sped through a few conclusions. “Lets say that wasn't a hallucination… lets say that it wasn't brought on by heatstroke… which it wasnt… because he can detect his fathers breathing… we still gotta get to the bottom of this. What is it Cahill had said? Time was a factor? And that other thing he said, did she seem like a bad actor, NO! Well... no... you didnt [i]know[/i]... moveing onward there has to be a clear deliniation between things we [i]think[/i] and things we [i]know[/i]... but did Cahill say he can detect magnetic fields... what does that mean about my own ability, can i detect heat? And he said he causes the lights to fritz... is that like what happened to me with the refrigerator? Carl abandoned this line of questioning, the real burning question was what was putting his father and grandfather in danger... for a matter of fact... the men of the household... what could he do about it? WEAREWATCHING... yeah well now im watching... watching YOU!” He grunted. He pulled his bicycle down the side street by Redstone Hardware. Dismounted and walked the bike out behind the dumpsters behind Graces’. Pulling out his phone he tried to see if he had any contact requests. His phone showed just one. He approved it and opened the text tab. Pacing backwards and forwards not sure what to say he simply tapped out: “Out behind Graces’ dumpsters. Backup?”