Chapter 11 – First Impressions

When Cindy became conscious again she realised that she was lying in her bed. She also got the awful feeling that she was not alone. How ironic, she was afraid of being alone and yet she was also afraid of not being alone.

She didn’t want to open her eyes but what if she was in danger? She sensed that this other person was in her room. It must be Chelley or Amy. Brant? No, she didn’t think so. She tried not to stir and pretended to still be asleep, but it didn’t seem to work.

“Who are they?” asked an unfamiliar male voice. Cindy felt like the question was directed at her. Was it?

“Come on, I know you’re awake, who are these people?” the voice asked again persistently. Yes it was.

Cindy opened her eyes, she was facing the window and it was still light outside. She sat up and saw a boy about her age sitting at the desk holding some photos in his hands. The photos were the ones she had dropped when Brant knocked on the door. He didn’t appear to be threatening. “They were my family,” she informed this mysterious person, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

“Were?” asked the boy.

“They’re dead now,” Cindy told him. Cindy felt that this boy was not a stranger, she knew him from somewhere.

“Oh, sorry. Well they were just lying on the floor,” he said sympathetically, regretful that he asked the question. “You should take better care of them, they must be real important to you.”

“I will,” Cindy responded.

He must have realised that Cindy was feeling uncomfortable, because he stood up and introduced himself, “Hi, my name’s Heath, I’m Brant’s son. You do know who Brant is?”

“Hi, yeah I do, I’m Cindy,” she answered. He was quite handsome Cindy thought to herself. Wait a minute! This was the boy from her other dream! That’s where she’d seen him before. Cindy calmed herself, “What are you doing here?” Cindy got out of bed and noticed that she was still in her clothes, thank goodness for that.

“Oh, Dad told me to come and look after you, and tell you what he was doing.” Heath explained. He walked over to Cindy and handed her the photos. “You were pretty cute,” he said, indicating the picture of Cindy and her mum at the beach.

“Were?” Cindy challenged.

“Still are,” Heath replied. He walked out of her room and Cindy followed him into the kitchen, smiling. He leant on the kitchen bench.

“Were you in my room the whole time?” Cindy asked, taking a seat at the counter.

“Yeah. I was pretty much watching you sleep,” he answered sarcastically.

“Really?” Cindy questioned.

“No!” he denied. “Well just for a few minutes… Anyway, Dad, Chelley and Amy have gone to the factory place,” he said, trying to change the topic. “Would you like a drink?” He seemed to be relieved about getting that cleared up.

“No thanks I’m right. What time did they leave?” Cindy couldn’t believe how well she was getting on with this person. It was as if they’d been good friends for a while.

“About an hour, hour and a half ago. It’s about 12:30 now,” he said looking down at his watch. “I’ve got a bad feeling though, I think we should go and check if they’re okay,” he advised.

“Are you sure?” Cindy queried. “I don’t think I can go anywhere ‘cause I’m…”

“You’re wanted by the police, I know,” Heath cut her off. “But I don’t know if I can do it without you, I’m really worried about them.”

Cindy couldn’t resist his appealing expression; “Do you know where the factory is?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure there are some Yellow Pages in there,” he pointed to the study.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go get them.” Cindy instructed.

Heath and Cindy started flipping through the Yellow Pages, “It’s called the Stratton factory,” Cindy told him.

“Okay,” he replied, “What a weird name!”

“Yeah, pretty strange, huh?” Cindy added.

Cindy wasn’t really sure if Heath knew about the powers and everything, but it turned out she didn’t have to worry about asking him. “Wanna see something cool?” Heath grinned at her, flashing perfectly straight teeth.

“I s’pose,” Cindy responded.

Heath held out his hands over the phone book and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath in then started muttering some words to himself. Cindy looked down and noticed that the pages of the phone book were turning! And Heath was doing it without touching them! The pages stopped flipping and near the middle of the left page ‘Stratton Factory’ was printed in big bold letters. “Here we are,” Heath announced, satisfied with himself.

“That’s amazing!” Cindy praised.

“Thanks,” he bent further down to get a closer look at the address. “Write this down, will you?”

“Sure.” Here was Cindy kneeling down next to someone she’d only met a few minutes ago, and yet she felt so safe and comfortable, like she would do anything for him. Cindy scribbled the address down on a notepad, then tore off the sheet and handed it to Heath.

“Looks like we’ll need a street directory now!” Heath laughed. “You’re getting it this time, though!”

“Fine,” Cindy conceded, and walked off into the study in search of a Melways.

Cindy had found a great friend in Heath, just as Heath had in Cindy. Perhaps deep down Cindy wanted more than his friendship, but she’d have to wait and see. She looked back at him from the study. His wild brown hair, playful eyes, tanned skin, great teeth, great personality, and friendly voice. He looked up at her and smiled, she nearly melted. “I wonder what he wants,” she whispered to herself.

When Cindy stopped looking at him, Heath started listing all the wonderful things about her in his head. Her eyes, her hair, her voice…