Mind Link

Tayla Furness awoke with a start, ten minutes before her alarm was due. What was going on? She wondered. She didn’t remember. She wasn’t even aware of coming home from the Excursion. She felt dazed and confused. Her brain felt like it was going to explode, like something was forcing it’s way inside. She sat up; too fast, making her head spin.

What day is it? Yesterday, it must have been yesterday, was the day of the excursion. That was a Friday, making today, Saturday? Tayla couldn’t think straight; her thoughts were all jumbled up. Did yesterday really happen? If it was a dream, that would certainly explain why she couldn’t remember everything. But what she did remember, she recalled with absolute clarity, and usually her dreams slipped away completely after a few minutes.

“Argh!” She cried out as a stabbing pain was felt in her forehead. She suddenly wondered if this was how Harry Potter felt when his scar ached. The pain left as quickly as it came, leaving only a tingling sensation in her temples. What was that? She wondered. Shaking her head, she stretched her limbs and hopped out of bed. Walking over to the calendar she had stuck to the back of her bedroom door, she realised that it was in fact Saturday. Friday had a giant cross on it, just as all the days before it had, indicating that said day had been and gone. None of it made sense, how could it be Saturday? Friday wasn’t finished yet.

Sick of all the confusion, Tayla crossed to her wardrobe and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. It was windy out, but not cold. Then, grabbing a hair tie off her bedside table, she quickly pulled her hair up into ponytail, securing the loose ends with a few bobby pins. Suddenly the alarm went off, making her jump. After switching it off she choose to leave the room, closing the door behind her, and head down stairs for breakfast.

The alarm blared with it’s usually annoy beep, and Kyle rolled onto his side, trying to block out the noise. He wasn’t ready to get up. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled to no one unparticular in his hypagogian state. His head ached from the noise, or was that something else? It felt like something was trying to force it’s way into his brain. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. What was the date?” He looked over at his alarm clock, slamming his fist on the snooze button. It read 13/2. It was a Saturday. Saturday? How did that happen? He wondered.

His head throbbed, and he cried out from the pain of it. It lasted only a second, but had a lasting impression and left him with a peculiar tingling sensation. It was too early to be up on a Saturday, but Kyle knew he wouldn’t be able to fall back to sleep. He had a headache coming on, and his stomach growled for food. He wondered when the last time was that he ate, and trying to think back, realised he didn’t even remember getting home yesterday. In fact, he didn’t even remember finishing the Nature Hike. How did they get out of the reservation? Hadn’t they lost their map? They were fighting. Every recollection he had of the previous day was just a jumbled mess of thoughts in his mind. He couldn’t think.

On his bedside table, his phone buzzed. Grabbing his glasses, he shoved them onto his face and unlocked his phone.

New Message from Cody
Hey dude, I know it’s a bit early, but do you wanna go catch a movie or something?

Sitting up in bed, Kyle began to text back.

Uh, sure thing. What time?

Only seconds later, his phone buzzed once more.

New Message from Cody
Round 11? We can have lunch to.

Kyle stretched and replied: Yeah, sounds cool. I’ve gotta ask mum first though.

He ruffled his hair and yawned widely before jumping out of bed. Looking around the room, he found a pair of jeans hidden under a bunch of his other clothes. They smelt clean enough, so he slipped them on, and then searched around in his cupboard for a shirt to wear. Cody replied back with a simple: sweet. It was going to be a long day.

Downstairs Tayla was just finishing off her bowl of Fruit Loops. She planned to get out of the house as quickly as possible to clear her head, and she was in no mood to see her brother. She was made at Kyle, for reasons she couldn’t remember, but she was definitely mad at him. Still, very confused, she chugged down a glass of orange juice and headed back up stairs to collect her things. Tayla had a small handbag she kept for quick escapes; it was just big enough to fit her wallet, phone, iPod and tissues (just in case). Stuffing all the items into the bag, she slung it over her shoulder, slipped on her light blue converse shoes and headed out the door.

Walking through the front door was like a blast of fresh air upon her face. It cleared her head, so she was able to file through yesterdays events. What had happened? She got up for school; the same time as every other day, and got ready for school. Mariah drove both her and Kyle to school; Tayla got the front seat. She walked into a stuck up year seven and then met the class down at the Environmental Science room. They took the bus to the reservation, and then… Tayla couldn’t remember. What had happened once she had stepped off the bus? Everything was blur, random pictures get flashing their way through her mind, but she couldn’t make sense of any of them. And still, the feeling like something was trying in force it’s way into her mind did not leave her. That was the most confusing part, feeling had come on so suddenly, dulling as her mind filed with more important things, but never really leaving. It annoyed her that she couldn’t identify the feeling, it was like nothing she had ever felt before, but worst of all, she couldn’t tell if it was physical or mental. Was it connected to the stabbing pain she felt earlier? It seemed like a plausible explanation.

It had just come to Tayla that she could call up Colin and find out about the rest of the day’s events, when the sudden stabbing pain, worse now than it had been the first time, occurred at the back of her head. Once again she cried out, willing the pain to stop, which it did, only after a few seconds. What’s wrong with me, today? Tayla wondered. Shaking off the pain, she slid open her phone and dialed Colin’s number.

The bus was crowded when it finally made it’s way around to Kyle’s street. He took a seat close to he back exit, not wanting to get too comfortable in case he miss his stop. That was when it hit, on the crowded bus, crushed between some old woman and a greedy fat man, the pain. It was ten times worse than the first time, and seemed to last longer still. It was like something was trying to break it’s way into his skull, trying harder every time. He gasped and ducked his head. Rubbing his temples, he looked up to see the old woman and fat man staring at him anxiously.

“Are you alright, dear?” The woman asked.

Kyle nodded, pulling in a sharp breath, “Fine thanks, just got a bit of a migraine.”

The fat man cleared his throat; “Some Nurofen will clear that right up son.”

“Uh, yeah, thanks. I might pick some up later,” he tried to smile despite the awkwardness he felt.

The local cinema came into view then, right next to the shopping centre, and Kyle hopped up, perhaps a little too fast as the ground swayed in front of him.

“Um,” Kyle paused and turned to his neighbours, “thanks, I’ll see you around.”

“I hope so dear,” the old woman said, patting him on the arm.

“Be careful of that head of yours,” the man growled, nodding in Kyle’s general direction.

Kyle nodded, thanked the driver and stepped out onto the bustling street. Few others got out, probably all heading for the shopping centre, which had it’s own bus station. There was no trace of Cody anywhere insight and it was getting slightly chilling in the morning breeze, so Kyle decided to wait inside for his friend.

The cinema was practically deserted, all but for a few rowdy teenagers not interested in seeing a movie. Kyle recognised a few of them from school and kept his head down low, not wanting to be noticed and called over. Whilst trying to look insignificant, he browsed the movies playing for the next few weeks.

He looked up when he heard his name being called, “Hey, Kyle!”

Cody was striding through the front doors, with not a care in the world. His facial expression indicated he was very happy about something, almost smug.

Kyle smiled and raised his eyebrows as Cody reached him. “Hey, what are you so happy about?”

“Nothing,” Cody laughed, “just some stuff the happened yesterday. Hey, isn’t that Chris and Andrew?” He said, pointing to the boys Kyle was trying not get noticed by.

“Uh, yeah, I didn’t see them there,” Kyle covered.

“Well, lets call them over,” Cody suggested, lifting up his right arm to get their attention.

“Ah, lets not,” Kyle said, grabbing Cody’s arm to pull it down.

Cody’s eyebrows furrowed questionably, “problems?”

“Nah, it’s just, I think they’re trying to hit on the girl at the counter,” Kyle hinted.

“Oh right,” Cody understood and squinted towards the ticket sales counter. He snorted, “She’s not even that good looking.”

Kyle shrugged; he didn’t really care. “So, what did happen yesterday?” Kyle asked.

“Huh?” Cody whirled around to face Kyle.

“Y’know, yesterday? At the excursion?”

“Oh, not much,” Cody said, looking down. Kyle knew the double meaning behind every facial expression and gesture Cody made, one of the many pluses to being his best friend. Which meant it was obvious to him now that Cody was lying.

Kyle cleared his throat, “Cody?”

“Yeah?” Cody asked. When Kyle didn’t reply he knew he was in for it. “You and Tayla seem to make a pretty good team,” he said, changing the topic tactfully.

“What do you mean?” Kyle wondered confused.

Cody rolled his eyes; Kyle was so slow sometimes. “What do you mean ‘what do you mean’?”

“I mean, what do you mean?” Kyle asked. “Me and Tayla don’t get along.”

“Well you did yesterday,” Cody explained, “You guys won Mr. Woodley’s stupid game.”

“We did?” Kyle spoke slowly, not quite believing what he was hearing.

Cody sighed, “Yes. You were the first back; you had a picture of everything bloody plant and animal on the list. You’d finished half an hour before anyone else!”

“What?” Kyle scoffed. “ That’s not possible. We were fighting, we’d lost our map!”

“Well you must have a pretty good sense of direction mate, because you had no trouble finding the meeting place.”

Kyle shook his head; this wasn’t making any sense. Him and Tayla? Working together? Working well together? What the hell’s going on?

“Yeah,” Cody continued, “You seemed to be getting on great, you even walked home together. Which was really weird seeing as Katie asked you to come by her house after school.”

Kyle blinked multiple times. He still didn’t understand. How could they have won? How did they even get out of the reservation? I must be going crazy, he thought. Of course we got out of the reservation, I’m standing here aren’t I? But me and Tayla? Working together? If that’s true it must have been backwards day.

“Are we done with the interrogation now?” Cody snapped Kyle out of his thoughts. “I would like to see a movie before next year.”

“Yeah, sure,” Kyle agreed and followed Cody to the ticket sales counter, thoughts teeming inside his head.