Knowledge is Power

Harper Caldwell lay in the middle of a busy road. Traffic had ceased around her. She was surrounded by taxi cabs, a thickening crowd of onlookers from the streets and the bright lights of Times Square. The road was damp beneath her from an afternoon rain. It was still misting on her hot face. Only moments ago, Harper had been walking toward the interview of a lifetime. All she ever wanted to do was write and two days ago she was called to interview at one of the most well-known newspaper company's in New York. This is the opportunity she had dreamt of. The opportunity she had worked so hard for. When she decided to deflect from college to take care of her sick father, she knew her dreams would-be put-on hold as well. She never stopped writing during the year she had taken care of her father. Harper wrote about the small town she grew up in and the locals that lived there. When her father passed a few months ago she knew she needed to space herself from the place she had spent her whole life. He would have wanted that for her. So, she sent her stories out to any news source that would accept them and prayed for a chance at a fresh start. Now here she was in New York. Finally, on the cusp of something great.  

Harper had arrived in New York only a few days ago. She spent time getting to know the city and seeing things she had only read about in books or seen in movies. This was not the first time she had walked through Times Square. Infact she had seen the Square twice since she had arrived in the city. She loved the bright lights and buzzing New York streets. It was a vast change from the sleepy little town she came from. The city was so alive, which made her feel alive too. Well, until now. Now Harper Caldwell didn’t know if she would live at all. She had left her hotel an hour before her interview, insistent on being excessively early rather than remotely late. She was dressed in a sharp pair of dark gray dress slacks and a silky black blouse with her new black leather pumps. Her curly red hair was pulled slickly back into a low loose pony tail. She smoothed her hand over it several times, making sure every strand was perfectly in place. Harper carried a black leather purse that complimented her shoes and an iPod that shuffled her power songs to get her pumped for the interview. She walked the street with her music pumping loudly in her ears and an air of confidence about her that could not be shaken. Today was her day. She was going to kill it. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for her.  

Five minutes before Harper was due to arrive at her destination and forty-five minutes before her interview, a fight broke out on the streets of Time Square. Two men, brawling over something more than likely insignificant, wrestled each other outside of a café. This was nothing surprising or alarming to the New Yorkers that passed them. The men would have been an interesting story for Harper had she not been zoned out of what was happening around her in preparation for her interview. As the men pushed and shoved at each other they came dangerously close to the edge of the street nearest the road several times. Harper approached them unknowingly. One of the men shoved his opponent roughly away from him and into Harper as she passed. His body slammed into her with a force that knocked her off of the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic, where she was struck by a speeding cab.  

Harper could hear the sirens of the ambulance coming to her aide. She tried not to think about what might be broken or how badly her body was injured. She thought of her father. She hoped he was watching over her. A paramedic’s face came into view. A young girl with light blonde hair pulled into a braid and fair skin appeared over Harper. She asked her questions but Harper could not find her voice. Instead she nodded or shook her head in response. Other paramedics flooded around her. The girl with the pretty blonde hair gently touched Harper’s arm. Suddenly, a bright series of lights flashed before her. It was as if shutter bulbs were going off behind her eyes. The lights slowed and Harper could see an image coming into view. The image was foggy at first, and then a little clearer. It was the pretty blonde girl. She was wearing a light-yellow sundress and her hair cascaded around her shoulders. She was by a pond with little purple flowers all around her. A young man was there with her. They were laughing and throwing bread crumbs to birds that fluttered around beside the water. The young man grabbed her waist and turned her to him. He knelt down and pulled a small ring box from the pocket of his jeans. The girl cried and nodded. And then the lights were back. Flashing like strobes around Harper’s eyes. She was back in the present. She lay on a gurney now and was in the back of an ambulance with the blonde girl by her side. The girl blurred before her as Harper slipped in and out of consciousnesses.  

Two days went by before Harper was fully aware of what happened. She had been admitted to the hospital for multiple fractures and a severe concussion. The image of the girl and the young man she assumed, were merely a dream or an apparition of her concussion. She hadn’t thought about it all while she recovered. The day Harper was set to be released the young blonde girl walked into her hospital room. She had come to check on Harper. Harper found this a bit unusual but was grateful for the gesture. As the girl talked, she brushed her lips with her fingertips. A shiny ring on her left finger caught Harper’s eye.  

“Wow, what a beautiful ring.” Harper remarked. The girl looked down at her shinny ring and back up at Harper.  

“Thank you. Actually, that’s one of the reasons I’m here. I got engaged yesterday.” she said.  

“Congratulations! That’s amazing. You must be so excited.” Harper said. The girl’s expression didn’t reflect the excitement of being newly engaged. Instead, she fixed Harper with a strange stare.  

“Yeah, um you kind of already told me that.” she said. Harper wondered for a moment if her concussion had returned.  

“I did?” she asked confused.  

“Yes, actually. I was getting you strapped to the gurney and you told me congratulations. When I asked what you meant, you told me ‘Congratulations on your engagement’”. The girl seemed nervous. “But the weird thing is, that was three days ago. Brad proposed last night.” 

Harper sat up a little straighter. The images came rushing back to her. This had to have been a freak incident. Like one of those crazy stories you see on ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ or something. She had to know how much of it was real. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the details.  

“Yellow sundress, purple flowers, bread crumbs for the birds. You were at a pond. It had some type of special significance to you two. You were laughing and then he asked. You couldn’t speak so you nodded yes.” Harper looked up to the girl. Her eyes were wide and glassy.  

“How do you know that? How could you possibly know that?” she asked. Harper wished she knew.  

Over the next several weeks Harper recovered from her injuries. She had moved to the city and since had several doctors' appointments to confirm that there were no damages that could have caused her flashes or the images that appeared to her. She had rescheduled her interview and gotten the job at the paper like she wanted. As the months went on though, Harper came to realize the power of the images remained. Any touch would trigger her to see glimpses into the person’s future. A waitress brushed her hand at breakfast one morning before work while handing her back the change from her bill. Immediately an image of a dog breaking its leash and running away flashed before her. She urged the waitress to buy a new leash but told her she couldn’t explain how she knew the old one was about to break. A child hugged her after an interview she did for a column for the paper. She seen the child holding a doll wearing a red dress with yellow tassels. She could hear people singing Happy Birthday. This was verified a week later when the mother and little girl showed up at the paper to get a copy of the photo that was taken of them for the column. The girl carried a doll with a red dress and yellow tassels. Her mother said she created the dress herself and the company made it and sent it to them. The girl was wearing a birthday sash when they arrived and before the mother and child left, the paper staff gathered around to sing Happy Birthday to her.  

Harper was overwhelmed. She knew something about the car accident had changed her, but she felt like she was insane for even believing it herself. Since the accident she had become great friends with the blonde paramedic that saved her life, Ellie. Ellie was Harper’s first friend in New York and the only other person that knew about her gift. Though, the two of them had no idea how Harper came upon the power or why or what she could do about it. Harper wondered if she could go back and not have the power, would she give it up. As much as it hindered her life sometimes, it also allowed her to help others. The gift was bittersweet to Harper. It was beautiful to see Ellie’s engagement and the little girl's birthday doll, but it didn’t provide her with a purpose. As awful as the future looked in some of her visions, it allowed Harper to make a difference in the lives of the people they came from. She had a chance to change their future for the better.  

Almost a year after Harper’s fateful accident she found herself again on the streets of New York and in the heart of Times Square. Again, Harper was dressed sharply for work and briskly walking down the busy street with thoughts of assignments on her mind. Suddenly, someone grabbed her tightly by the arm and pulled her into an alley. Before she could scream a strong arm wrapped around her chest and a hand muffled her mouth. She was pulled, kicking and groaning into an empty warehouse. Her captor forced her to sit on an old wooden chair in the center of the large open room. Two girls, one with long thick black hair and dark make up, the other with short blonde pixie hair and a septum ring stepped out of the shadows. They were followed by a young black man in a white shirt and black leather jacket. Her captor lowered his face beside hers.  

“Don’t scream. The walls have been sound proofed if you do. Just hear us out, we’re here to help you.” his deep voice said. Harper’s heart was pounding hard in her chest. She felt like she was on the verge of a panic attack. The man moved out from behind her and joined the others. He was a young guy as well, tall with light skin and dark brown messy hair.  

“What do you want from me? You can have whatever you want, just please don’t hurt me. Please.” Harper sobbed and pleaded. The group in front of her looked at each other and back to her. The dark-haired goth girl stepped forward and squatted down to Harper’s level. She pointed to the young black man. 

“This is Ty.” she said, then pointed toward the girl with the blonde pixie cut and the guy that pulled her into the alley. “That is Jane and he is Finn. My name is Sage. And as Finn said, we’re here to help you. We know about your...power.” Harper’s eyes nervously darted around to each of them. She felt exposed and terrified. What did they want to do with her? Use her for her power? Exploit her? Kill her because of it? 

Sage sensing her nervousness added, “We don’t want to hurt you Harper. I promise you, you’re safe. We’re kind of hoping we can keep each other safe.” 

“What do you mean keep each other safe? Why would I want to keep you safe, you literally just kidnapped me and drug me into an empty, sound proof warehouse!” 

“And when Finn grabbed you did you see anything in him?” she asked. It then dawned on Harper that for the first time in a year, she hadn't. He had his hands on her arm, across her chest and over her mouth and she didn’t see anything. Not one flash, not one image. Somehow this made her feel a little more at ease.  

“Okay, I’m listening. Why do we need to keep each other safe?” Harper inquired.  

“You see, we’re like you. We have gifts too. Not quite the same as yours, we’re all different. And that is a very dangerous thing right now Harper. There’s a group of very bad people looking for us. They’re an elite group of hunters, collectors if you will. They know there’s people like us in the city. They know who we are, where we are, what we do, where we go. And they’re biding their time until the order is given to capture us.” 

“What do they want from us?” Harper asked.  

Ty spoke up, “They want our power. They want to use us as guinea pigs. Figure out how to harvest what we have, use it for themselves. Do you know what that means Harper? It means we die. They extract what they need and we’re dead.” Harper Caldwell did not often have a gut feeling about things, but right now everything in her being was screaming that she could trust the strangers in front of her. Maybe it was intuition. Maybe it was part of her gift. Either way, she knew she had to take a chance on them being right.  

“So what happens now? How do we stay safe?” 

Jane came forward. “First we teach you how to hone your power. We know it’s still new to you and you obviously don’t know how to keep it in check or amp it up. But, it’s cool. We’ve met other’s like you. We’ll show you how to use it. And then...” She paused and looked at her friends. “And then, we have to kill them before they can kill us.” 

Harper took a deep shaky breath. She had never been so scared in her life, not even the day she lay in the street in Times Square. Her whole life she had done everything right. She minded her manners, got good grades, stayed behind to care for her sick father, got a respectable job, and even used her gift to help others. And where had that gotten her? Hunted. Enough was enough. A spark of exhilaration lit in her heart. She felt a fire in the pit of her stomach and her soul darkened ever so slightly. Something inside her switched and she was ready for a war. She looked up the strangers around her with a hint of a sinister smile.  

“I’m in.”