A Battle of Minds Ch. 01

Laura pulled the package back out of her pocket, a task that was made difficult by the fact that she was wearing her tightest jeans -- it was almost as if the locket was refusing to leave the place she had stored it in, as if it knew what fate she planned for it now. Finally however, Laura held the package between her fingers, and carefully unwrapped it. There it lay in her hand, gleaming and simple yet beautiful and as surprisingly warm and heavy as always. Before she could look at it for too long, Laura closed her hand to a fist and raised it.

Then, however, she hesitated. It felt almost as if the locket had grown yet warmer; the heat pulsing from it reminded her of a little animal squirming and biting in its defense. Should she really throw this thing away? It obviously wanted to stay with her. And she could do so much with it. The heat subsided a bit, changed into a more comfortable warmth, like a promise of the bright future she could have with it. If she wore it, just once ...

But no, that couldn't be. The wretched thing was trying to trick her. Laura was almost sure now that it had a mind of its own. Gathering all her strength, she pulled back her arm to gain momentum, and then threw the locket out into the lake, as far away as she could.

There was one short plopping sound somewhere in the distance, and then it was silent again.

Laura turned around, and slowly walked away from the shore of the lake.

"I believe you have lost something," she heard a voice from behind. A strangely familiar voice, though she could not quite place it.

Slowly, while her heart was beating wildly, Laura turned around. Right at the shore of the lake, she could make out a man. He was standing quite still, one of his arms raised, and grasped in his hand he held the chain from which the locket was dangling, strangely bright in the darkness. Laura could only make out his outline, and thus several moments passed until she recognized the haggard, tall man.

"But I thought you... you are..."

"Dead?" Mr. Seger completed her sentence.

Laura nodded.

"Well," Mr. Seger explained in a tone resembling the way he had always spoken in the classroom. "It wasn't that difficult to stage my own death. With my little friend here," he moved his hand, causing the locket to swing back and forth, "I had no problems to get all the 'witnesses' and newspaper articles I needed to convince the town that I am dead. I even wrote my own obituary." Though Laura could barely see his face, she believed he was grinning, obviously proud of his feat. The tone in his voice caused goose bumps to emerge all over her body. "Of course you can probably barely appreciate that. After all, you weren't spending much attention at my memorial assembly."

It took Laura another moment to remember, but then realization hit her: The very first gap in her memory had occurred on that day, on the second school day of the year, during the assembly.

"And Martin?" she asked.

"Martin." The teacher let the name linger in the cool night for a moment, making Laura tremble from vague memories, before he continued to speak. "Well, since I was officially dead, I couldn't really risk being seen in town. So I needed some help. Someone, who was easy to control. And to control Martin was just about the easiest thing I have ever done, even when I was just learning how to use the locket. It was almost as if he wanted me to think for him. Still, I decided it is better to keep his good will, so I got him a little reward -- I let him do with you whatever he pleased. After all, the poor boy has had a secret crush on you for years, in case you didn't know."

Laura shivered, full of disgust. Mr. Seger was grinning again, this time she could see it more clearly. All was his fault! Not Martin -- as strange as it still seemed to Laura, Martin had been his victim as well, just like herself. She suddenly realized that she could barely control her rage against the teacher; it was struggling to burst out of her. However, she reminded herself, she had to remain calm. He had the locket; she stood no chance against him. Provoking a fight would be stupid. And who knew what his plan was now. Maybe if she kept him talking she would find a way out of this.

"Why did you do all this? What did you get out of it, when Martin... when he... I..." She was still not able to say it out loud, Laura realized.

"Why not?" There was honest surprise in Mr. Seger's voice; he did not seem to understand her question. "Imagine, you would find such a locket, and as soon as you wear it, you can make anyone do anything you like. Just imagine the possibilities. But at first, of course, I could not fully deal with it; I had to learn how it worked. And I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. I tried it out a bit here and there, and then I decided it was better if I disappear -- so no one would find my little secret. A dead person can't be punished for anything either. And it is also much harder to steal something from someone who is not there."

For a few moments, he remained silent now. Then he took a step towards Laura, and another one. She wanted to back away, to escape him, but her feet were glued to the forest ground, she was unable to take even one little step.

"You know," he continued, "the locket called me. I didn't just find it; it wanted to be found -- and it wanted to be found by me. And when you took it away from Martin, it wanted you to return it to me. You did exactly what it wanted you to do. It isn't me that decides what's to be done, it is the locket. And it tells me what's right and what's wrong."

He took another step toward Laura, and the girl believed to make out a mad gleam in the eyes of her teacher. She suddenly felt that despite the cool night air sweat was covering her brow, and her knees were trembling.

She cleared her throat, before she spoke in a weak voice. "Why don't you resist then? Why are you doing whatever a piece of metal wants you to?"

With a mirthless laughter he replied: "Why, why, why! You have so many questions, Laura. And the answer is the same for all of them: Why not? Imagine what power I can aspire to with the help of this locket. Quite apart from all that, your little morals and worries are a bit late. What would I do without the locket anymore? Should I return and tell everyone I am not dead? That they buried a bag of potatoes?"

He took another step, and another; Laura could already almost feel his breath on her skin now, as his face approached hers. Her heart was beating madly, every instinct told her to run. But she knew that running was not going to help.

"So what is your plan now?" she asked instead.

The teachers smile seemed thoughtful, almost dreamy. He cocked his head slightly to the side, a gesture that looked somewhat strange for a man his age, and gazed at Laura. Then he took another, final step towards her. He was so close to her now that she could smell him, feel the warmth of his body. Mr. Seger raised his hand and softly let it glide over her hair. Laura winced, she did not want to allow him to touch her head, but before she could turn away, he grabbed a thick strand of her hair and pulled her face towards his own.

"Well, I can't really just let you go," Mr. Seger whispered with a rough voice. "At least not as long as you are in full control of your own mind. The risk is just too big, you understand? Also," he moved his hand down, his fingers still entangled in Laura's hair. A short yelp escaped her lips, as he forced her head down, made her slowly get onto her knees. "Also, there is still the issue that I need someone to help me with things here and there sometimes. I will have to replace Martin somehow. After all, he is in a coma thanks to you. Not even the locket can get him out of that."

Laura's eyes stung from tears, she was trembling in the effort to suppress them, to not show any weakness. But it was too late: She felt her vision blur from tears, felt one of them running down her cheeks. He had won, before she could even try to fight back. She stood no chance, she knew that. Yet the memory of the freedom she had felt the day she defeated Martin, the thought of having lost all that she had believed to have won, made her furious. She couldn't just give that up now! She gathered all her strength, concentrated, in expectance of what was to come. She waited for the air around her to grow thick, to drown her thoughts, for the abyss in which she was to fall.

Mr. Seger smiled again. "Don't even try to resist, it's no use anyway. I am not Martin. I am much stronger than he ever was. And contrary to him, I do all this completely by my own choice. I am free. You can't fight me."

Laura clenched her teeth. She would try anyway. For a moment, she could still see the forest around her, the lake that was bathed in moonlight. She smelled the dry needles from the pine trees on the ground, and felt the night air touch her skin coolly. All this, it seemed, felt more intense, as if her body and mind wanted to take in the beauty of the world one last time. Laura tried to hold onto all of this, tried to stay in it, in the forest, in the summer night. But the teacher's face appeared between her and all that she rather wanted to see. Mr. Seger's face above her, looking down on her with a slight smile, blocked out all other view.

And then it started. Everything around her grew blurry. The air seemed to thicken; the smells and sounds of the summer night weakened and disappeared. For another moment, Laura tried to concentrate all her mind on staying conscious, but it was as if her brain itself was slowing down too. Inevitably she sank down into a dark abyss...

~~~~~

Thank you for reading. The next chapter of this story will be published in the same category.