Read Online Insight by Jolene Perry - Free Book Online Page B

answers? Do I want them if he does? My heart pounds in my ears, drowning out the crackling of the fire.
    “You see. Like when you touch someone.” He leans forward, and rests his elbows on his knees, clutching his hands together tightly.
    I nod my chest tightening to the point where I have to consciously pull in a breath.
    “Wow.” He sits back in his seat and takes a breath out. “That’s why I see nothing when we touch.” He brings his hand to his chin and rubs it a few times with his fingers.
    “You?” I hold my breath, waiting for his response.
    “Ever since I can remember.” His voice is soft, mumbled. He’s looking at the fire, not at me.
    “Why didn’t you ever say anything!” And help me feel like I’m not completely alone? So many thoughts slam into my at once that I can’t form a coherent thought. Much less a sentence.
    “Who have you told, Micah?” His brows rise slightly, and his eyes fill with sympathy. How many years has he carried his secret?
    “But you’re my dad! ” I sputter. “ Shouldn’t you have watched me or something? Helped me out?”
    “Shh.” He frowns , and  the sadness spreads across his body, which further hunches forward . “I’m sorry. I guess… Yes. I should have asked you, or watched you more carefully. It’s that it’s only you and I when we’re together, and…” he trails off, maybe knowing he messed up. I’ll cling to that explanation.
    “I tried to tell Mom once when I was about five, but the way she reacted made me know it wasn’t normal. I’ve never said anything to anyone.” The questions are flooding my head so fast I can’t make sense of them. Dad does this. He gets it. He understands.
    “I can’t answer any questions. I don’t know.” He shakes his head.
    My chest caves. He has no answers. We’re like two people who can do nothing more than empathize. “But you have to know something , Dad.”
    “I don’t know what to do with this bizarre thing I do. It tortures me more often than not.”
    All the visions I’ve gotten since moving start to push into my head. Lacey, the principal, from Steven. “The emotions are overwhelming.”
    Dad’s head cocks to the side. “You feel, too?”
    I nod.
    His face falls a bit. “I’m sorry, Micah. I just see through the person’s eyes. I can’t imagine what it’s like to feel .”
    I blink back a few tears and shake my head.
    “I keep seeing Carol…” He sighs.
    “Me too.” The memory of the vision is clear in my head. It’s awful. And then it hits me again. I share this with someone. He gets it. And he gets me on a whole different level.
    Dad scoots to my side of the couch. His hand is on my arm.  His fingers grasp my bicep with tight urgency. “What do you see?”
    “I saw your face, looking sad. Her arms and a hospital bed.” I don’t want to remember.
    He shakes his head. “You can do better. Find the details.”
    “ What ?” I’m always trying to block out what I see.
    “Things can be changed, Micah. I just need some details.” His voice is pleading.
    “What do you mean, changed ?” Don ’t tell me that I can change things for people. Please. I already feel too responsible.
    “If I know she’s hurt in a car accident, maybe I can do something to prevent it. If she’s stricken with some odd disease, maybe I can learn about it now so I can prevent it. I don’t know!” I’ve never heard my dad so animated. He’s desperate.
    “I don’t know how to get details, Dad.” Now that I’ve finally found someone who knows, who does this , who understands a part of me that no one else does —I’m going to let him down. And it’s my dad. My gut drops.
    “Just pay attention tomorrow. W hen you touch her. Look closely. Check her wrist. The hospital, any equipment… Maybe you’ll see something I don’t. Maybe you’ll get an angle I haven’t…”
    “You really love her.” He loves her, and he touches her, and she doesn’t know. It can be done. A whole new flood of