Fire and Ice

“Don’t let go of my hand, okay? It’s why you’re not just like those deer.” Jamie’s hand instinctively tightened around Jessica’s.

“Wait… ‘I’ve got the time’. Your business card! You can stop time? How?” Jamie’s eyes were wide in shock, his voice shaky. “Jess, this is amazing, but, no offense, this is completely crazy!” And those were his two options; he was either crazy, or Jessica had just frozen everything in place around them. Jamie would never really think he was loony, and how could he not believe her when it was right in front of him. But if she could do that… Everything Jamie had ever thought was just in the comic books and Hollywood movies was real. He was overwhelmed and more confused than ever.

“Jamie,” He could feel her hand pulling away from his, but she squeezed her fingers tight. “Pay attention, because you’re about to get your first lesson.”

Jamie only had to look at Jess’ face to realize what was happening. His own face contorted to panic, trying to yank his burning hand away from hers, but she held tight.

“Shit! I’m sorry! I don’t know how to stop!” He began waving their hands around through the air, trying to cool it off. Jess spoke through a pained laugh.

“Jamie, calm down. That’s it. It’s your emotions, they’re why this happens. You get wound up enough, and this happens. It’s how you were triggered in the first place.” She continued through his attempts to pull away from her. “And stop doing that. Look at me Jamie. Calm. Down. Relax your body. Think about something calm, like sleeping. A shower. Relax.”

Jamie stopped swinging his arm around and tried to listen to her instructions. Relax. Calm. He closed his eyes and tried to slow his pounding heart and racing breath. His mind struggled to wrap around any one idea in his hurry, but he managed. It felt like all of the extra heat in Jamie’s body melted from the bottom of his shoes and into the ground. He opened his eyes to see Jess reaching her free hand out for his, dropping her other once she had grabbed ahold of it. They both flexed them, Jamie’s unharmed and Jessica’s still feeling hot and looking rather red.

“Are you okay?” Jamie wanted to reach out and take her hand, to look at it and make sure she wasn’t suffering from third degree burns, but she kept her arm at her side.

“I’m fine,” Jess smiled. “Actually, I’m great. You did great, Jamie.” His heart sped up just by looking at her. But he also had a lot of questions, and Jamie wasn’t very patient.

“About that. This… this thing is controlled by my emotions. Uh, well I don’t really see myself being emotionless for the rest of my life, and it’s kinda hard to control myself when I’m playing hockey.”

“Jamie, do you think I’m an emotionless void?” Jess didn’t seem angry, but he was slightly embarrassed by himself. “Your emotions control your power now because you don’t know how to control it yourself. That’s where I come in.”

Jamie breathed out deeply. “Okay. So I have superpowers. And so do you. And, what, does Whit? I mean, Ray? Who else? Is this some secret club? Are there super villains? Am I gonna be expected to quit hockey and fight evil now, cause-“

“Jamie, relax. First, for right now, I take back what I said before. You need to be emotionless until we’re not holding hands anymore because you’re getting wound up again. Second, yes, Ray has a power. But you’ll have to ask him if you want to know about it. And Jamie, I don’t know who all has powers.” Jamie watched her face mask over, deep in thought. “Honestly, my best guess is that every human being has it in them. Everyone is capable of something, but only some ever have it awaken in them. And no, this isn’t like the stories. There’s no super villains. In fact, most of the people that come to me never use their power once they learn to control it. They just want to go on with their normal life. If they ever need to use it, it’s in dire situations, and to give you an idea of how common that is, I’ve never used my power in that way.” Jess smirked up at Jamie and tugged his hand. “But I am a bit more adventurous than most.”

Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to describe Jamie. He had so many questions running through his head, and all at once. He could barely take in the information she’d just given him. So, he asked the first thing that popped into his head in the moment.

“So when did you get your power?”

Jessica blushed. “Uh, I was 11. And my dad had taken me to a Backstreet Boys concert…” Jamie barked out a laugh. “Don’t laugh! I just remember being so happy I felt like a meteor could crash into the arena and kill us all and I would die having the greatest experience of my life. And then everything was frozen except me. I thought it was just puberty, but turns out I could control time. Kind of.”

“Kind of?” Jamie’s brow furrowed. Jessica looked behind herself, his eyes following. He gasped. The deer that was leaping over the branch had now landed on the ground, but still appeared frozen.

“I can’t stop time.” Jess spoke without Jamie having to ask. “I can make it really slow though. I think it might be possible to stop it someday. Maybe even reverse time. But that might be someone else’s power. Or maybe I just need to find someone really special, and together we can do it. But I don’t know.” For some reason, Jamie felt a pang of jealously at the idea of Jessica always looking for someone else to help her, but he quickly pushed it away, remembering her warning about his emotions.

“I think we should call it a night. We can start your training tomorrow, if that’s ok?” Jamie nodded, not exactly wanting to say goodbye to this woman, who was a fake doctor, who came into his life and shook it all around in just a couple of hours. But he didn’t have a choice.

Jessica smiled, letting go of his hand. It felt like dropping onto a trampoline, like the ground relaxed under his feet before pushing back up. The deer scurried away and a bird flew overhead.

“Let’s go before it gets dark.”

xxxxxx

“Focus. Remember that it’s not really about your emotions. It’s you. It’s your will.” Jess urged Jamie on from the sidelines. They were back in the forest. Their forest, as he so fondly thought of it as. Jess had been training Jamie for two weeks now, meeting with him every day, answering his questions and teaching him with patience. He could get hot whenever he wanted after the fourth day, but controlling himself was proving to be much more difficult.

Jamie focused on the smoking twig he was holding in front of him. He had made it do that, not his emotions. He was in control here. He could stop it. He just had to focus on the task at hand. Jess had said to treat it like “moving the puck around cones.” The stick was in his hand, the puck unattached at the end of it. He could move the stick, and therefore the puck, as he wanted. Treat the object of his power like an extension of his body; meant to be controlled.

Jamie was afraid for only a moment; it felt as if the stick was heating up, his body flooding with it all. He was just about to let the twig fall to the ground when the smoke stopped. His mouth dropped open, eyes wide. Jessica screamed from the side, running to join him. He held the stick in front of him, screaming right along.

“I did it Jess! I did it!”

“I know!” Jessica flung herself into his arms, the pair jumping and cheering for only a moment before they both smelled smoke. Jessica began waving her hands.

“Oh my God!”

“Shit!” The twig was on fire, and Jamie held it in shock for a moment before throwing it onto the snow covered ground and stomping on it hurriedly. He was mad for a second before he heard Jessica laughing, felt her hugging him again. Just remembering the proud look on her face when it stopped smoking made his heart soar.

“Oh, don’t worry about it Jamie, we’ll start working on your emotions first thing tomorrow. I’m so proud of you!”

Jamie wrapped his arms tightly around her, smiling like an idiot, wondering if he was really about to do what he thought he was.

“Why don’t we start right now?”

Jess looked up at Jamie. “You haven’t had enough for one day yet?”

His heart pounded in his ears.

“I just wanna try one thing.”

Both Jessica and Jamie felt it in the air around them; the joy from before not gone, but accompanied by anticipation, nervousness. It was slow, unrushed, like the most important little test either of them would undergo.

Jamie leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Jess’. They were still for a few moments, unsure of what was going to happen. They pulled away slowly when nothing did.

Jess smiled, the redness on her cheeks from the cold and the kiss. Jamie was beaming.

“I guess I’m in control of that emotion.” Jessica burst out laughing before wrapping her hand around the back of Jamie’s neck and pulling him in for another kiss.