Hydropower Chapter 3
In which we discover the results of the wave on Ash
Last time on Hydropower: Evie discovered she can control time - both traveling back through it and stopping it temporarily.
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Chapter 3
The wave crashed down over Ash and he gasped, for a second absolutely sure that he was falling, that they were about to be swept out to sea.
Then the water receded and it was just him and Evie, sitting there on the seawall, drenched to the skin.
He looked down at himself and how wet he was in horror.
“It happened again,” Evie said.
Ash looked up at her. “What?” he asked, only no sound actually came out of his mouth. Had he been knocked a little more by the wave than he thought, or was it the shock of the cold water?
“What the fuck,” Evie whispered, “is going on?"
There was water trickling down his arms inside his hoodie. Ash looked down at himself in disgust and jerked his arms up and down to slop water out of his sleeves.
“Three waves,” Evie said, which made no sense to him at all. And then –
“We should get up,” she said, scrambling to her feet on the seawall. “In case there’s another one.”
Ash swept an alarmed gaze back to the sea – was she right? – and hurried to get down after her. Both of their feet squelched as they walked, water pouring out of their shoes.
“What do you mean, three waves?” Ash asked. He touched his neck, his lips. Evie hadn’t turned around or acknowledged him, and he didn’t feel like he was actually talking at all. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the sound of his own voice inside his head. What was wrong with his throat?
An older man with his small terrier on a leash chuckled at them, shaking his head in amusement as if watching them get hit by a wave had been the highlight of his day.
“What are you laughing at?” Evie demanded, whirling on him as if she was going to start a fight. “You’ve already laughed at us once.”
What?
Something was going on.
Ash opened his mouth, thought better of it, and tapped Evie’s shoulder to get her attention. She spun to him, too fast, and then hesitated. She seemed angry, then anxious.
“Is there another wave coming?” she asked.
Only, her lips didn’t actually move.
Ash stared at her mouth.
Evie frowned. “What’s wrong?” she asked, with her lips this time.
Ash opened his mouth and formed the shape of a word, but once again, nothing came out. He couldn’t seem to force it out, no matter how he tried. Even clearing his throat did nothing.
He couldn’t speak.
Ash blinked at Evie, waiting for her to realize, to work it out. To help him.
But Evie only spun around in alarm, like she was looking for some invisible attacker, like she thought something was wrong with the world or herself, not realizing what he was trying to say.
There’s no bicycle, she was saying, somehow, only inside his head. I’m back where I started, like nothing happened.
Ash grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back to face him.
“Huh,” she said. “That’s interesting.”
This was all interesting, and not, as far as Ash was concerned, in a good way. Something weird was going on – something was happening to both of them. But, since she could speak and he couldn’t, and she didn’t seem to understand what he was trying to tell her in return, it had to be something different.
I stopped it, Evie said. And I went back – twice. I can do it. I can control time!
Ash stared at her, trying to read her face, his eyes scanning back and forth anxiously. Was she being serious?
His mind raced as she looked around them again, taking a gulping breath of the sea air. He could hear things that she wasn’t saying. Given the way she was acting, he thought there was a strong possibility that she also didn’t know he was hearing it.
Was he…
Reading her mind?
“Evie,” he said, but again, no sound came out of his mouth at all.
He tried to growl in frustration, but that didn’t work, either.
Think, Ash, think.
He had his phone in his pocket.
He grabbed it, finding it miraculously only damp – the inner lining of his pocket must have been thick enough to protect it – and quickly opened up a notes app.
I don’t think I can talk, he typed out, then grabbed Evie’s shoulder again and made her look at it.
There was a wide smile on her face, excitement and exhilaration, but it slowly faded as she read the words. Her eyes flicked to him uncertainly. Ash tried to speak again, demonstrating that not a single sound would come out.
Is he sure?
Ash nodded.
Evie blinked.
Ash gave a kind of rocking gesture with his head, took the phone back, and typed underneath: Also I’m pretty sure I can hear what you’re thinking.
Evie read it and her eyes widened.
Can you hear this?
Ash nodded, starting to smile in spite of himself. Yes, he was pretty concerned about the fact he couldn’t seem to make a single noise, but…
What about this?
Ash nodded again, smiling wider.
What number am I thinking of? Six.
Ash held up six fingers.
Evie’s eyes were wide, a matching grin spreading across her face.
I traveled through time, she thought. Like, I actually went back in time. Twice. And I stopped time and then when I started it again I came right back here, and I saw a guy flying, and the dog had his legs stuck in the air, and I don’t know where the bicycle went, and –
Ash held up his hand to stop her and rubbed his forehead. Now she was just thinking What’s wrong with Ash, why did he stop me, does he have a headache –
Ash pointed at his lips and then at hers, miming.
“You want me to speak out loud?”
Ash nodded. He tapped on his notes again and held it up for her. Your thoughts are very loud. And disorganized.
She frowned. “Jeez, sorry,” she said. “I didn’t think I was ever going to have to have neat thoughts in the private space of my head.”
Ash sighed. It’s a lot right now. I’m just trying to deal with this.
Evie took a breath. He’s your best friend, she was thinking. And, oh my god, his voice – “Did this just start after the wave?”
Ash nodded.
I wonder if it’s linked, Evie thought, and then opened her mouth to say the same thing, but Ash was already nodding and typing.
It could be. It happened at the same time. Do you have anything?
Evie did a mental check of her body with Ash listening in. I can speak, I can hear… I can feel the texture of my jeans… my legs work… I kind of need to pee and I’m a little hungry… my nipples are cold…
“Evie!” Ash tried to exclaim, but of course, no sound came out. He’d thrown up his hands at the same time, and she first shot him a guilty look and then flushed red.
“Sorry,” she said out loud. “Uh, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me. Not that I can notice. Maybe we should get you checked out.”
Ash frowned and opened his notes. Hospital?
Evie shrugged. “I mean, yeah, maybe. I guess if it’s something that can be fixed, they would know.” Ash couldn’t stop a worried look from passing over his face. Oh god, I shouldn’t have said that, I’ve upset him, he’ll be worried now –
Ash shook his head. Don’t, he typed. I was already pretty worried.
“Okay,” Evie said, looking around decisively as if trying to figure out the best route from here. “Hospital.” I wish I could teleport instead of stopping time. That would be more useful. I wonder if that bicycle is still there. Maybe I can move Ash myself so we get there quicker. I wonder if I just –
- Well, guess we just have to drive there.
Ash blinked. Did you just stop time? he asked.
“Yeah,” Evie said. “How did you…? Oh, you heard me thinking it?”
Did you try to carry me?
Evie laughed. “Yeah, but it didn’t work,” she said. She reached out for his elbow and wrapped her arm around it, turning so they were both facing towards the steps up off the promenade and starting them going. “Apparently, I can’t move you. And I checked. The bicycle was right back where it started. So, I guess I can’t move things around when I’ve stopped time. Just myself.”
Ash wanted to ask her what the deal was with the bicycle – he’d only been able to catch fragments of it as her excited thoughts danced around – but he couldn’t type and walk at the same time with her hanging on his arm, so he set his jaw in silence and walked back toward the parking lot where they’d left his car.
And as he listened to Evie’s private doubts that the hospital would be able to do anything for him at all, he couldn’t help but agree.
Whatever this was, it didn’t seem to come from a natural cause.
But there was no sense in not trying, because right now, the idea of a plan was the only thing stopping Ash from completely freaking out.
He’d lost his voice.
He couldn’t bear to let himself think that it might be gone forever.
The hospital was hell.
He could hear the thoughts of every doctor, every nurse. The ones that thought he was faking it for the pretty girl at his side (not realizing just how far off the mark they were, because it had never made any impact on Ash how pretty a girl was, except to be jealous that the pretty boys liked them more than him). The ones that thought he was probably psycho. The ones that didn’t care what was wrong with him at all and just wanted to finish their shift.
But they paled in comparison to the noise that streamed from the patients around him. In the waiting room, in triage, wherever they went, the screams followed them.
Help me
Why won’t they help me
Make it stop
Just give me something for the pain
I can’t afford this
Why did this happen to me
I could have died I could have died
Why won’t they help me help me help me
Oh god I don’t think I can handle it
I’m going to die
Over and over, constantly, until Ash pushed his hands against his ears and squeezed his eyes shut – none of which did anything to drown it out.
What’s wrong with Ash? What can I do? I just want to help him, but stopping time won’t help, and I don’t know what I would do if I went back…
Evie’s voice was like a balm in his head, a lifeline he could hold onto. He opened his eyes and looked at her, really looked at her, as if he could see inside her skull and read the words as well as hearing them.
Why is he looking at me like that what’s happening
Ash typed out, There’s so much noise here. Talk to me. I want to listen to your thoughts so I can shut out everyone else.
Evie blinked. For anyone else, asking them to direct their entire internal narrative your way might have been a big ask. But she was his best friend. They’d been best friends for so long.
He would have done anything to help her out, and he knew she would do the same for him.
So, when I stopped time, she started, I walked up to the next level above the promenade and started looking around. There was this guy in an alleyway and I couldn’t tell if he was dead or sleeping, but I couldn’t check because everything was frozen, so it’s not like I would be able to check his pulse or call out and see if he reacted…
And Ash sank back into her thoughts like a river, letting them carry him away, blocking out everything else for as long as he could.
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