Good Tuesday and a very merry unbirthday to you all! 😁
Okay, let me start out by acknowledging that this may be a controversial topic for conversation. Maybe I should paywall the comments to keep out trolls.
Kidding, I can’t paywall yet, but consider this a friendly request to play nice. 😬
I’m not giving you any more context, other than a reminder that I conceptualized the majority of this story when I was seventeen and I was in a pretty dark place back then, and all through finding my voice and all my learning about writing technique, I have tried to stay true to those foundational ideas.
Let’s dive in.
INDEX: Chapter 4 | Scene 1 | Scene 2 | Next Scene →
Previously… Misty is still in a coma, post-explosion, reliving various memories. Now it’s three years later. Logan has grown up some, fighting on an underground circuit for money, finding nothing but disappointment in that he seems to effortlessly outshine the competition. And Tom is off coaching his first group of students through their first world martial arts tournament.
“I know I can wake her Logan, I just need to make a strong enough connection.” Luke gushes, whilst I build a fire in the library's fireplace, his fatigue starting to show at last.
“Ever considered the possibility that she might not want to wake up?” I offer as I carefully lay the kindling in the grate. Luke lies back on the sofa, massaging his temples and sighing.
"Why would you even suggest such a thing?” He asks after a long pause, his voice deceptively quiet.
“You said it yourself, Luke. It's likely that what happened wasn't a one-time thing. The newer scans show how her cell’s energy coating repaired itself. You said that it proved that what happened had happened before and that it would probably happen again. What if she is always in pain like that? If she's finally at peace wouldn't it be better to leave her as she is until the end?” I suggest as gently as I can.
“So you want me to let her die?" He answers, his massaging fingers freezing in place.
"Have you completely blanked out the fact that I am the one who held her hand? I know it has been a few years, but I sat with her for nearly a week whilst she screamed in agony." I remind him as I throw some thicker logs a little roughly on top of the kindling and try not to sound bitter. "Isn't this way kinder?"
“There's no way to know that." Luke rejoins sharply, sitting up to look at me, his headache forgotten.
I toss a match onto the kindling which flares hotly as I feel the feather touch of Luke's telepathy. "I would appreciate it if you'd ask, rather than just picking my brain," I warn him, keeping my irritation in check by reminding myself that he is tired and frustrated. He clears his throat and takes a deep breath.
"You're withholding." He states matter-of-factly, sitting up and staring at me. I chew my bottom lip instead of answering the rightful accusation, trying to think of a way to explain that doesn’t make me seem like a completely terrible person. "You said she was at peace. Why would you say that?" He asks analytically, his hands steepled under his chin. I feel my eyebrows pull together. Start at the beginning.
"It was just after Tom and I started talking again, after the whole Cathy thing," I break the ice, dreading the way that what I am about to tell him will make him look at me differently. Then it all comes out in a rush, the peaceful scene after all that torture, my uncertainty and fear over what would happen if I came clean.
He takes a long minute to process.
"You thought that if I knew, I would put more pressure on you to pursue your empathy?" Luke says and I nod, feeling ashamed and selfish. He pauses and I can see the cogs and wheels turning. I start to worry he will be angry with me or disappointed that I hid the truth from him for all these years but all he says is, "You can get in Elle's head," his inward smile showing despite the seriousness of his tone.
My heart sinks.
* * *
The inner conflict that plagued me for months after I met the Ruby Observer, has now reawakened despite the intervening years. Over the next few days, Luke hounds me, desperately trying to justify his urgency, while ignoring my ambivalence towards the whole matter entirely.
He explains over and over, how my empathy differs from his telepathy. He goes on and on, in detail my overburdened mind refuses to absorb, about empathy carrying understanding in a way telepathy can't. While telepathy can convey much more than just emotions and intentions, interpreting what comes through, is up to the telepath. Understanding does not flow with knowledge. In the moment, the empath experiences something exactly as the subject does - understands it as they do. They aren't able to change anything that comes through, which means it isn't a betrayal of the sanctity of the Manorian mind. While telepathy is invasive, empathy is more like a deeper perception than most would have, it can’t be resisted and it also can’t be forced.
I avoid him as much as I can, but Tom is at a tournament on the other side of the world with most of our MMA club, which leaves me too much time to think, and one can only run in place for so long.
* * *
"But Elle trusts you." Luke implores me, in a low and measured voice, after dinner one night, while I gather up the dishes, methodically placing them on the trolley. I try to focus on his concerned expression as he stares expectantly at me, but I can sense the undercurrent of excitement bubbling beneath his words and the smell of the delicious roast pork suddenly becomes pungent and oppressive.
“That's just the thing, she does trust me," I reply, holding his gaze. My skin prickles with the intensity of his emotions, even though on the surface he looks every bit the worried father. A few seconds pass and Luke is still smiling at me, and I sigh in exasperation because it is obvious that I am not getting through to him.
"You say she is resisting you, as if she either has an inborn immunity or a lot of experience," I continue, "And I know what it's like when you worm your way into my head. It isn't exactly a nice feeling. If I were to force that on her, wouldn't it be betraying that trust, just a little?” I inhale deeply, trying to reconcile the conflict between Luke's words and his intentions.
“But you're sensitive in ways others aren't-” he starts to complain.
I cut him off, saying, "You make it sound as if you're the victim in this situation."
"Logan!" He snaps and I feel his flash of irritation at my less-than-respectful tone, then his shoulders sag as he softens, "You know well enough what this is about. We have here an opportunity-" His excitement rises again as he speaks about ‘opportunity’, bordering on exhilaration and I have had enough. I know he is trying to come across as caring and sympathetic but the feeling I get from him is just his usual callous ambition.
“To what Luke? Prove that you haven't lost your touch? Keep your spotless record, 'never a met a mind you couldn't crack," I sneer, then add mockingly "Eventually'." I should regret the lack of respect, but in the moment I am too overwhelmed by the conflict between our respective emotions to care.
“To save her life, son! She is dying.” He says with deadly certainty. All his exuberance from a moment ago, suddenly gone.
With just three words: “She is dying,” all of the momentum, our argument had built up stopped dead. I had expected it, even hoped for it, so she could at last be at peace, but I hadn't anticipated the effect hearing the actual words would have on me, that she means that much to me.
I am dumbstruck, as I stand there blinking whilst Luke stares at his hands on the table. It takes me a minute to summon the courage to speak again.
“How long has she got?” I ask quietly, not really wanting to know.
“She's deteriorating fast. A week, maybe two.”
Thanks for reading! I hope you’re enjoying following along with my Bottled Embers!
Next time… Time is running out for Elle while Logan agonizes over a decision he has to make. Luke starts to prepare regardless.
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Until next time. 👋🏻
And so here we are, Logan and Luke straddling the conundrum of self determination. Logan is resisting but not yet entirely sure where his red line is. Luke has virtually no red line when it comes to his ambition and ego apparently. Once he found that Logan could reach Misty, and that he has an emotional string that he can use, there was no hesitation to use the reality of her condition against Logan's weak spot. The thing is Logan knows it, and is struggling to do the right thing when he figures that out. But he doesn't seem to have a defense against his emotions being used to conflict his decision making. Can the man child resist the fully developed ego of a completely amoral Luke? His brother is nowhere near to shore up the resistance!
I'm loading for action as I type you girl...let's get some lol