Chapter 5 - Special

5


It was another week before Victoria spotted Timothy again. She was driving by Dimmsdale Elementary and halted at the sight of the young teen standing by the Children Crossing sign. She pulled up and blinked at him, the strange feeling of familiarity tugging at her again. He had his eyes closed again, green iPod silent and pink watch displaying the time digitally. This time, though, he went from red shirt to deep blue turtleneck, making the silver necklace stand out even more.

"Hey, kid!" Victoria yelled out, laughing when Timothy jumped in shock. Oh, how that brought back memories of messing with Timmy's head!

"Why do you keep doing that?" Timothy grumbled, resuming his position against the sign pole.

"What are you doing hanging around this dump?" she asked in return, scowling at the school. This was where Timmy died, where the Heart of Dimmsdale shattered that sunny day. The school should have been torn down in her thinking; it did not deserve to stand after what happened.

"Waiting." Timothy replied, watching the front doors to the building intensely. Victoria blinked at the serious sound of his voice and glanced at the doors herself.

"For what?" she questioned after a minute of staring.

"Something I can recognize. Now shut up; this is important." the boy told her in a low, harsh tone. They waited together in silence until the final bell rang at three and the doors opened. Children poured out at a speed comparable to a lethargic sloth. Victoria looked over at the young teen and noticed the grim expression on his face. "Every last one of them looks completely miserable." he murmured and set a pair of sunglasses on his nose, frown deepening after a moment of looking through them, "So many of them, helpless. They can't last much longer like this."

"What are you talking about? Of course those brats are miserable! They're stuck going to a killer school!" Victoria shot at him. Timothy removed the sunglasses, shaking his head.

"Not that; there's something in the school that's making them miserable." he tried to explain but the carrot-top only gave him a flat glare. "How can I explain this?" he sighed, "Um, hm. How's this?" Timothy held an arm out to the dispersing crowd of children. "Some kids have a sort of specialness to them, almost like a magical quality no one can quite understand." he began. Victoria nodded slowly; she understood that, sure. Go with that, kid. "They can be miserable just like anyone else, but that specialness helps them shake it off easier. And when they get older, it's that specialness that becomes their potential to do good in the world. Sometimes it doesn't work out; the kid uses their specialness for incredibly selfish things, and they learn only to be more selfish. But most of the time, the kids learn to bring happiness to others who may not have that same specialness they did." the boy went on and held his arm out to the rest of the city, "But it's come to my attention that this place is full of certain things that is disabling that specialness, blocking it out. And as long as that continues, those kids will lose the part of them that is magical."

"So? It's not like it'll do any of us non-special people any bad if they lose their magic." Victoria sneered at him. Magic? That stuff was for twerps! The boy only narrowed his eyes at her dangerously.

"Vicky, I might have this wrong, so you tell me again. Didn't you say that Dimmsdale's Heart was ripped out the day Timmy Turner died?" he growled. Victoria gaped at him in shock, recalling those words she spoke in the cemetery. That's right; Timmy had that specialness he was talking about, that magic air to him, and when he died, all of Dimmsdale seemed to darken in misery. If there were others like him, and they managed to lose their magic and die, what would happen to their town?

"You look like you saw Death." Timothy murmured softly, folding his arms behind his head as he continued leaning against the pole, his backpack and staff lying on the ground by him, "And that's pretty close to the truth. If those kids lose their magic, they might not be able to handle things making their lives miserable. So, they might actually die. And this city will continue to suffer because of that until it falls." His face became a mask of seriousness, blue eyes gleaming with a mix of anger and sorrow. "Dimmsdale will die if I don't bring down the shield that is destroying magic." he finished and turned his gaze back on the school.

Victoria stared at him in shock, mind racing with the revelations. It sounded crazy, and at one time she would have lumped him in the same class as that old nut, Crocker. But after what happened to the town when Timmy died, and hearing this explanation for it, she could believe it. Something was happening to Dimmsdale, something awful, and if it wasn't fixed soon, more tragic things would happen. And it all started because of Timmy's death....

"Is that...?" she began to ask, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. Timothy gave her a puzzled look, as though he hadn't expected her to still be there, let alone talk to him again. "Is that what happened to Timmy? Is that why he died? He lost his magic and he died because of it, because of something here that killed his magic?!" she blurted out, tears welling up in her eyes. The boy took on a startled expression, stepping away from her and the pole.

"Vicky?!" he exclaimed and tried to regain his composure, obviously amazed at the sight of her crying. "Um, I don't think so. From what I can tell about those events, he died from an accident, right?" he stammered out, the guilty look on his face again, "The anti-magic barrier didn't come up until after he died, so he couldn't have been the reason for it." His eyes met hers for a split second before glancing away. "Right?" he whispered.

"So, nothing could have saved him? Not even that specialness you were talking about?" Victoria pressed on. Timothy seemed to consider that, a grimly pensive look on his face. After a bit, he sighed and shook his head sadly. Victoria sat back in her seat, a defeated expression replacing her sorrowful one. "He was doomed that day. There was no chance we could have saved him." she whispered.

"Timmy's death was an accident, Vicky, so stop trying to wish it undone!" Timothy suddenly yelled, fists held stiffly at his sides, "I've tried it for years and it doesn't work! That's a wish that will never come true!" The carrot-top blinked at him, baffled, and he calmed down quickly, running his hands through his hair. "All I know is that, since then, Dimmsdale got a bunch of these anti-magic pieces of junk that's basically destroying what little hope is left here." he added and made a pathetic attempt at gesturing towards the bulk of the city, "If I don't get rid of them, this city will die. It needs the hopes and dreams of these kids to stay alive, now that its Heart is gone."

"Well, what the hell is causing all this?!" Victoria snapped back angrily, "And why didn't you come sooner to do something about it before it began crapping up the place?!" Timothy made to answer but froze, pressing a hand to one ear, attention diverted. She blinked at the earphone wire that led to his iPod. He seemed to be listening intently to it, then he glanced over his shoulder at the school, eyes narrowed. "What is it?" Victoria asked, wondering what he had been listening to.

"Something's up." he muttered and glanced at Victoria, "This could be my only shot at the device in the school. Once I blow it away, this place will be safe for little kids again." With that, he snatched up his belongings and ran for the elementary school, bent as if to avoid being seen or identified. Victoria watched him vanish into the building and sighed.

All in all, the day had been okay up until she ran into Timothy again. The things he talked about, it was as if he knew a lot more was going on than he was telling her about, and it all sounded deadly serious. Was something really affecting the 'special' children of Dimmsdale, slowly draining away the town's life by destroying their hopes and dreams?

And why was he so evasive when it came to talking about Timmy Turner? Victoria frowned, tapping her fingertips against the steering wheel of her car. It was suspicious, the way he tried to deflect attention away from the deceased Turner, as well as any implications that he knew Timmy in any way. Yet, he wanted the shortened name for himself, despite the knowledge that no one was allowed to have it.

"That twerp's got more info on him than he's lettin' on." she growled, "I want answers, you brat!" She killed the engine and got out of the car, running for the school herself. No way was she gonna let some mystery boy disappear on her without answering all her questions! Not when she was sure as hell that it had something to do with Timmy!

~*~*~*~*

The sounds of her heels in the dark, empty halls of Dimmsdale Elementary echoed far too loudly for Victoria's liking. What if Timothy heard them? He'd probably make a run for it to escape arrest. She looked around the vacant halls, frustrated. Where was he? She began to turn down another hall when a yell caught her attention.

"No! It's got him! That stupid thing's a capture trap!" Timothy's voice cried out in shock and fury, "He freaking upgraded! That maniac!" There was a muffled explosion, followed quickly by a strange crackling sound that erupted loudly and Victoria could see a flash of light at the far end of another hall. "I got the nullifier! Get that trap! Wanda! Move it! It's another of those flying things!"

"Timothy?!" Victoria yelled and ran for the source of the flickering lights. If anything happened to him, Dimmsdale could be doomed to lose its special kids! No one else had any clues and definitely not the same powers!

"Hey! Get off! Why's this thing tracking me?!" the boy was growing panicked from the sound of it, "Incoming! Get out of here! Hey! Stop!" An explosion in one classroom hurled the door against the far wall of lockers and halted Victoria's mad dash. Eyes wide with shock at that display of force, she looked into the room and blinked at the chaos of desks, papers, chairs and posters. It was as if a storm had decided to drop in on the place, leaving smoking heaps of metal all over the place and Timothy slumped against the upturned teacher's desk, breathing heavily. Scattered around the floor near him were shards of metal and smoking bits of plastic, as well as a bent circular saw blade and the burning remnants of Timothy's staff.

"Oh my God, what happened?!" Victoria whispered in shock and stepped cautiously into the room. Her dark green business shirt and skirt didn't make for the best escape outfit, even though she was fairly sure that there wasn't anything left to attack her.

"Anti-magic traps...." Timothy wheezed and winced in pain as he pulled a jagged metal piece from his stomach, unable to contain the accompanying cry. The carrot-top snapped her attention to him, spotted the wound and paled. "It's okay. It's safe." the boy murmured as she knelt by him in alarm, "But all this junk... this is what was blocking the magic for the school area." He smiled weakly. "I must have triggered it by accident. I'm still kinda new at this Hero business."

"Why aren't you dead? This... this should have killed you...." Victoria asked, staring at the bloody wound in the boy's body, "No bulletproof vest in the world can stop that!" She reached out shakily and touched her fingertips to his hand as it covered his stomach. The blood was definitely real. She pulled away quickly and Timothy laughed, a hollow, weak sound.

"I stand beyond Death's reach, Vicky. I can't die. Trust me, though, sometimes I wish I could." he told the businesswoman and closed his eyes, a look of concentration twisting his features slightly, "Please, let me have enough strength for this.... Mana around me, mend this broken form. Cure!" Victoria watched in awe as a shimmering light passed over the teen, fading the ugly wound and the mess of blood away into nothingness. He smiled weakly, looking up at her. "All better. See? Magic can be so handy when used right." he added faintly. His eyes closed once more and his body went limp. Victoria blinked at him, then began poking his shoulder.

"Hey, wake up!" she hissed, poking harder, "Get up! What if the cops show up?!" Nothing. Grumbling under her breath, she began the effort of picking up the unconscious teen. No way was she getting arrested because of this twerp! That chaos had to have set off a burglar alarm or something. She looped her arms underneath his knees and across the back of his shoulders, then straightened, eyebrows lifting in surprise at how light he actually was.

"Well, this doesn't look too weird." Victoria muttered sarcastically, looking over at the fallen backpack, its contents of strange gadgets and items strewn across the floor near his forgotten iPod and watch. "Ah, he can always buy a new set, stupid kid." she added and hurried for the exit with Timothy held close. She couldn't take him to a hospital; there would be too many questions she wouldn't be able to answer. She couldn't take him to his house; not only did no one else live there but those idiot cops never actually checked the place out to see if he even had parents. That left only one real option, and she didn't like it.

"Argh! Stupid twerp!" Victoria growled as she set the teen down in the passenger seat, then rushed to her own. She gunned the engine and raced away from the elementary school to her own house. What a time to deal with the mystery boy; Tootie was home and good Lord did that twerpette act like an idiot around boys!

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment