Sensation

A few minutes ago…

Aiden carefully stepped inside the room, the windows were still closed, putting his mind at ease. Slowly and carefully, he first did a cursory scan of the room, then approached places which could potentially hide a corpse from his previous line of sight.

He thought, while moving through a closet, searching even between the clothes just to make sure.

Should I try out my ability?

There was no one nearby. The last few times they carried out their searches, Hellen and him had chosen different rooms. She also never cross checked on him, trusting him on doing his part well. But on second thought, he didn't try it.

What if Hellen is a super too? If my earlier conjecture was right, about only supers sensing when other super was about to activate their power, Hellen could easily sense I am a super too if I am to activate my power. It's not like I want to hide it from her, but… let's just keep it as a personal trump card maybe? Sharing everything is always a bad move.

He kept thinking about it, and after a while thought about what Hellen had told him about supers being similar to ghosts. To activate their abilities they need to fulfill their own set of unique conditions as well, and deal with the side effects of the ability. What unique conditions and side effects did his ability have?

He thought deeply about it, and concentrated on the feeling when he got the ability. The fleeting unique sensation which pervaded in his mind after which he had felt the void within him filling up. 

If that unique sensation corresponds to the ability. Would focusing on it give any reaction?

He had no way of replicating that sensation of course. For example you can't replicate what happened when you dipped your hand into boiling water, you can't magically make your fingers burn, but you can try to imagine what it felt like. He just kept trying to focus on what that unique sensation felt like, not try to recreate it. 

He focused on imagining what it felt like, ultimately lowering his focus on what's happening in the house. He had absentmindedly gone through everything, checked all the spots. He was approaching the closet when he felt a slight reaction as the unique sensation reappeared, and some information displayed itself in his mind,

/Ability - manifest a weapon using idle mental capacity of beings around you./

Conditions to use - No—

A decayed hand smashed through the door of the closet and punched him squarely in the chest, sending him back a few steps. It didn't hurt as much as the shock of a decayed corpse opening the door. He wasn't in the right state of mind, he had made a huge mistake of diverting his focus while dealing with a ghost.

The once human form was twisted and contorted, its flesh mottled and sunken, draped in tattered remnants of clothing. There were gruesome displays of decay all over its body, as some patches of leathery skin had peeled away to reveal the gnarled remains beneath. The stench of putrefaction hung heavy in the air, a nauseating blend of rot and decay that began permeating every inch of the room, evoking a puking sensation in Aiden. Hollow eye sockets, devoid of life or recognition gazed blindly into him as his mind struggled to think of a response. 

The baseball bat in his hand had been dropped as soon as the ghost had punched him. It was laying next to the ghost's limb as it walked towards him. Throwing caution out of the wind, before the ghost could do anything, he tried using his ability by conveying his intention to the unique sensation, almost immediately, immense pain ripped through his mind as an identical baseball bat was now gripped in his hands.

He felt like the pain had worsened, like a hammer hitting his head every second he kept the baseball bat manifested. His eyes blurred and stance faltered as he went a step back. The ghost had stopped.

Arghhh! Aiden screamed loudly, not able to hold it in. The pain was excruciating.

Clutching his head in the other hand, instead of doing anything, he ran backwards towards the door, holding up his baseball bat towards the ghost that had stopped. Quickly, he canceled the ability and opened the door, stumbling down as the pain stopped ripping through his head.

_________________

Hellen unlocked the trigger lock on her Beretta M9 while quickly sprinting towards where the scream originated. Footsteps echoed in the house as a heavy sound of door closing resounded followed by Aiden crashing right into her. 

Had she not effortlessly redirected the weight, both of them might have been sent stumbling right down the stairs. But she couldn't get mad at him after seeing his state, not to mention she wouldn't have anyway, dealing with ghosts was not a field where they got mad at beginners. 

She first looked around and noticed there weren't any traces of ghost nearby, Aiden had already put a distance and leaned against a wall nearby, breathing heavily. She noticed that his hands were empty, the bat she had lent him must've been left inside. There was a stain on his t-shirt, a stain she couldn't be more familiar with. 

Carefully, she approached the door and put a lock on it, then addressed Aiden, 

"If the ghost hasn't followed you out yet, I don't think it will now. Take a seat somewhere, I'll be back."

Aiden simply slid down to sit in the hallway, and looked up at the ceiling while taking deep breaths. In the meanwhile, she went into the room where they were finding the useful equipment and took out a few they had kept aside. Returning to the hallway, she carefully placed the equipment on the door and sealed it.

"There, the chances of the door breaking open would be lower now. C'mon, take a seat somewhere else and have some water. We've got more information to work on."

Silently, Aiden followed her into the room and settled himself into a chair. He took short sips of water as he gazed silently at aunt Hellen who had already resumed looking through the boxes. Judging from the number of objects kept in another corner, he guessed that the work was almost done after a little more than a couple hours of searching.

It was almost 10pm, the night had fully settled in. The street which had a sparse amount of people using it was now empty. The town was under strict curfew after 9pm, with each violator being sent to jail without warning. If someone had urgent matters, the police were to be notified who would then accompany you outside for your work after verifying if it was really important and urgent.

Without waiting for Hellen to prompt him, he spoke up,

"It was my fault."