A Loner Mentalist Pt. 01

"I'm telling Dad," he said.

Janice rolled her eyes and forced a smile on her lips. "You will do no such thing, young man," she said, calmly. "If you do, then your father is going to get angry. He'll be very, very angry, Jack. And hurt and sad. Do you want your father to come home from serving his country and feel sad and angry and hurt. Do you want to hurt your father, Jack? Is that it?"

Jack's glare was immovable. "I'm telling Dad," he said.

Janice felt tears of frustration coming on. She tried to make the kid see reason and understand just how much pain and suffering his little slip of the tongue could cause. Jack was having none of it. Then her frustration got the best of her and she cried in earnest.

Jack felt a bit bad at seeing his mother cry, but she had kept him from watching TV, playing with his friends, and even eating. He only ate in the school cafeteria and what he could sneak out of the fridge when she wasn't looking. He was so pissed off with her about that, that he couldn't scrounge up any simpathy for her tears.

He also hated her hypocrisy. She was violating one of the very Commandments she had spent so much time drumming into his head. He got bored with listening to her sobs, so he went upstairs to his room.

When he got home from school the next day, his mother sat in the living room. "Jack, my darling, come sit with me," she said. Jack walked over and sat in the armchair opposite her. "What do you want? What can I give you so you don't tell your father about Mark?" Her voice nearly broke as she said, "I'll do anything, Jack! Anything!"

Jack grinned. His long campaign finally paid off. He felt like maybe he could get dad to believe him, now that his mom was crying over it, but he knew she could be very cool and composed at times. His first priority was still learning meditation and becoming a superhero. Then he could do anything, including punish his mom for cheating on his dad. "Things are going to be very different around here, from now on," he said.

Janice was shocked at how small his demands were. He had endured what passed for severe hardship to a twelve year old in America and he only asked for an allowance, attending a course in meditation and no more bible study camp or Sunday school. She shrugged and agreed to his demands. Not sending him to camp would pay for his allowance, and the course in meditation was a very small price to not get thrown out on her ass.

Besides, she told herself,I'll just undo all of that as soon as his father goes back to his ship.

His father's visit was short and passed pleasantly. The next time Jack asked for his allowance, Janice turned him down cold. Jack smiled and started to recite all the ways he could get in touch with his father. Apparently, the two had scheduled a regular exchange of letters and even shore to ship calls. Janice's heart beat wildly as she realized the game had changed for ever. A part of her was feeling proud for seeing her son demonstrate the ability of foresight. Another part wanted to wipe that smile off his face with a few good swings of the rolling pin. She caved and gave him his allowance.

Jack attended the meditation course, followed by a course on advanced techniques. They taught him a lot, particularly about muting down his senses, but he just couldn't quite read people's minds. He spent months trying to, though. Becoming a real life Professor X became his obsession and sole ambition. His many failures were followed by doubts, but the fact that he knew about Mark and had successfully blackmailed his mom about it was proof positive that he had done it once already. He simply refused to consider the possibility it could have been a one-time thing.

During his father's next visit, they got a puppy. It was a cross between a Border Collie and a common mutt and his black and white fur looked like that of a Dalmatian. His dad named the pooch Spot and Jack and he built the puppy a dog house in the back yard. When his father left again, Jack resumed his nightly meditation sessions. The puppy, however, was to be kept outside, in the dog house, per Janice's orders. The puppy spent his nights yapping and whining, disrupting the sleep of half the block. Jack did his level best to keep up with his nightly meditation exercises, but Spot's yapping was very distracting. Jack sucked it up and tried various types of ear plugs, but they did not work as advertised.

One night, Spot was just quietly squealing and Jack managed to get some proper practice in. He used the dog's whining as a sort of pacemaker for his own breathing. The monotone, high pitched sounds occupied a lot of Jack's attention. Slowly, Jack managed to clear his mind of thoughts. His senses and awareness were dimmed. He achieved a state of mental clarity and then Spot changed his tune to begin wailing at the top of his lungs. Jack's concentration was broken and he felt a surge of anger towards Spot.

Jack's eyes shot open as he heard the puppy yelping in sudden pain. He jumped up and opened his window, peering into the dark to see who had dared hurt his father's dog. Jack jumped out of his window and ran to the dog house. He saw it was still latched shut and there were no tracks of anyone having been there, that Jack could see in the moonlight. He unlatched the doghouse and brought the quiet puppy outside for inspection. Spot was unharmed. Jack petted the puppy and put him back inside. He latched the house shut and looked around, angry at whoever came to hurt the dog. He went back inside and got to sleep a short while later.

The next night, the puppy was placed in the dog house again and he quickly started to whine. Jack's meditation practice kept up as usual, though Spot kept disrupting it. Spot would steadily whine a few more times, and each time, Jack's exercises would start to lead somewhere. He would attain a deep level of mental calm, where his mind would be freed of all thoughts and emotions. When Spot changed pitch and/or rhythm, Jack's mind would flash over with frustrated anger and that was followed by Spot yelping in pain and then getting quiet.

After the fourth time this happened, Jack finally started to connect the dots. There wasn't anyone sneaking in to hurt the dog. He began to suspect it was him making the puppy go quiet. The thought that his mental power could extend to animals, as well as humans, was making him deliriously happy.

The entire neighborhood was beginning to complain about the noise, but Janice simply refused to have Spot indoors to pee on the rugs and "spread his stench everywhere". Gossip was starting to spread about how Jack was molesting the puppy and would one day grow up to hurt people.

Jack came up with a plan to test his power. He stayed up all night and patiently listened to the dog's whining. By the time Spot finished and fell asleep, Jack was halfway there, himself. He roused himself and did his meditation exercises. He meditated until dawn came.

He managed to put his mind to sleep and still be awake at the same time. He got up and proceeded with his plan. He poured Spot's bowl of puppy chow and set a small mirror on the floor. He stared down at it and let the image of him holding a bowl of chow, as it would be seen from a small puppy's perspective, sear into his brain. He then walked out and opened the dog house.

As soon as Spot saw him standing there with a bowl of chow, Jack felt such relief and joy that he started to cry and laugh at the same time. He set the chow down and hugged and kissed and rubbed the puppy all over. Soon, he felt a hunger like no other and he set Spot down to eat, knowing the puppy must be hungry by now. He knelt down beside the dog and opened his mouth, looking at the bowl of dog food.

Jack snapped out of it with a start. He had almost eaten dog food on all fours. He jumped up in alarm and disgust. Spot ignored him, wagging his tail like a lunatic and scarfing down the contents of the bowl. Jack realized that not only had he felt the dog's emotions, but they had nearly overwhelmed him.

He went to the house and got himself a human breakfast, embarrassed that he was emotionally owned by a puppy younger than him, even when one counted dog years. He started to worry about his ability. What if it turned out to be a curse? What if he got his mind replaced by that of a dog?

He mentally chastised himself for thinking that. This was not the time to dwell on nonsense. He shoveled cereal into his mouth and frowned. There was no way he was going to get owned by a dog again.

He went to the base that day and managed to talk to one of the marines that trained war dogs. He told the sergeant he wanted to train Spot to surprise his dad when he came home on liberty the next time. The sergeant gave him a lot of good advice and explained to him the basics of a dog's psyche. Jack thanked him and went to the library. He got a few books on dog training and set to work on his project of using his psychic abilities to train the dog and hone his power at the same time.

Within a day, he got the puppy to stop fearing being alone and yelping half the night away. By the end of the month, Spot was sitting, staying and rolling over. By the time his dad came home for his next liberty, Spot could fetch things, not just play fetch. Jack's dad mussed up his hair, commented on how much he taller he had grown since he saw him last, and praised his work with Spot. Before Spot turned six months old, Jack put so much knowledge into the dog's head, that he could practically understand English.

Jack showed the sergeant what he had taught Spot one day and the sergeant was very impressed. He told Jack of a charity organization that trained assistance dogs and asked him to join them as a dog trainer. Jack went over, mostly out of curiosity, and saw what they did. When he met some of the people the dogs helped, he realized he was presented with an amazing opportunity. If he devoted as much free time as he could to rapidly training superior assistance dogs, he would be fulfilling his duty to his fellow man, just like the late lieutenant White had taught.

He had set out to become Professor X, but he decided that this was an even better way to go about becoming a real life superhero.

He trained dozens of dogs, improving the lives of as many people in need. His understanding of his powers grew with experience and use. He couldn't just think of a person and read their mind, or make them do what he wanted. He needed to be able to quiet his own mind, disregard the input from his own senses, and match their emotional state in order to achieve a connection.

With the dogs, that was very easy. They had simple emotions and it was in their nature to have an alpha dog, a leader. He would establish himself as their alpha and they instinctively matched their emotions to his, enabling him to read and train them with ease. Humans had infinitely more freedom with what they could fill their heads with and that made them vastly more complicated.

He had a trick that enabled him to get a brief glimpse of a person's emotional state. He would modify one detail of his appearance to be very visible. Most often, he would fold one side of his shirt collar down, as was normal, and turn up the other side until it almost poked him in the corner of his mouth. He then concentrated on that visual detail, meditated on it, even as he walked. It was his gateway into a person's mind, them perceiving it and thinking about it. However, once past the gate he was routinely lost. Every person's mind was a unique labyrinth and no two people reacted in the same way to seeing half his collar turned up.

His greatest successes were at the movies. He would watch a movie twice in one night and then sit in on the third showing in a row and manage to tune out the movie and meditate. At certain points in the film, he could match the emotions of everyone around him and then he would feel their thoughts. Once, he matched a young man's emotions and read his mind. He was on a date with a co-worker, but too afraid to put his arm around the pretty girl. Jack made him think of how it would feel to touch her warm skin under his fingers and projected that thought into the guy's mind. He could feel the girl's soft skin under the boy's fingertips as his arm slid down her bicep. They soon started making out and Jack lost his connection, due to the sensations he was unfamiliar with.

For a long time to follow, that would be his biggest success in making a human do his bidding.

While he had been absorbed in his dog training and trying to teach himself to read minds at will, he had completely missed the drama that was unfolding between his parents. His dad had found out about Mark all on his own and he initiated divorce proceedings. Janice was exposed in court as a cheater and the humiliation made her lash out by suing for sole custody of Jack. When the judge asked him, Jack firmly opposed the idea of living with Janice.

His father, on the other hand, didn't even show up on the custody hearing date. He sent a naval officer, who was also a lawyer, in his stead. The officer made it known that Jack's father felt Jack was better off with his mother. Jack was stupefied with the turn of events and he cried after the hearing, thinking that his father had also found out that he had known about Janice's infidelity and was punishing him for withholding it from him.

The day after the hearing, Jack was sitting by the phone, waiting for the time when he could make his shore to ship call. His leg was skipping in place as he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. He had no idea how he could apologize for what he had done. The words simply wouldn't come to him. All he knew was that he had to try. He had to hear his father's voice.

The time came and he made the call with all the enthusiasm of a death row convict taking his final walk. While he waited for his father to come to the phone, he had to resist the strong urge to hang up and run. "Keep it together," he muttered to himself through grit teeth. "You hid the crime, Jack. Now face the music!"

"Hey, Jack," his father's voice came on the line. "How are you?"

Jack was shocked to hear his dad sound so cheerful and calm. He could only stammer out a, "Um, I-I'm fine, uh..."

"Good! Glad to hear it. Is your mother ok? Is there anything wrong?"

"I... Uh, no, she's fine..."

"Good, good. So, how have you been doing?"

"Uh, Dad... I, uh, I'm sorry," Jack said and then had to cover the receiver's microphone as he stifled a sob.

"Oh, Jack," his father softly said. "Don't do this! Don't beat yourself up about the divorce. It's not your fault. How could it be?"

Jack drew a deep breath to get his choked up throat to open up again and allow him to speak. His father's words made him stop weeping in an instant. "What?"

"Look, I know that a lot of the kids, a lot of the time, blame themselves for their parents' divorce. That's just silly. I don't want you to do the same. None of this was your fault."

"But, Dad, I didn't tell you about Mark!"

"Well, how could you? You're not a trained spy and it's not your job to keep tabs on your mother wherever she goes. She hid this thing from both of us and she hid it well."

Jack was stunned speechless. His father had no idea that he had known about Mark for ages. He couldn't even begin to figure out why his dad gave up on him at the custody hearing.

"Jack? Jack, are you still there?"

"Uh... yeah. Yes, I'm still here."

"Oh, good," his father said. "For a moment there, I thought we got cut off, or something. Now, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you call me, Jack? Was it something important?"

"Uh, no, I, uh," Jack shook his head and cleared his mind. "Yes. Yes, I did want to talk to you about something."

"Mm-hm, I'm listening."

Jack hesitated for a few seconds, but then said, "If you're not mad at me, then why did you... why are you... what's with the Navy guy at the hearing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you agreeing with Mom about where I should live?!"

His father sighed and fell silent for a few moments. Jack gripped the receiver like he could keep the man on the line with a strong enough grasp.

"You don't need me anymore," his father finally said.

"What?! No! Of course I do, I-"

"Jack," his father said, interrupting him, "you're sixteen years old. When I was your age, I didn't need, nor want, anyone around telling me what to do."

"What? No, Dad, I-"

"I know you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, Jack. You're not a little boy anymore. You've practically been running the household for years now. You know how to cook and clean and all that stuff."

Jack got up from his seat and paced as he spoke up. "Yes! Yes, that's exactly what I mean! I don't need supervision! I can manage everything on my own. I can live with you, instead of with Mom!"

"Jack," his father softly said.

"Seriously, Dad! All you have to do is say you've changed your mind and the judge will say I can stay here, with you."

"It's not that simple, Son."

"Yes, it is! Dad! You should've seen the way the judge was looking down on Mom the whole time. I'm sure-"

"Jack," his father firmly said, interrupting him. "For me to get custody of you, I'd have to be a full-time parent, Jack. I'd have to come ashore and ride a desk."

"No, Dad, I told you! I can manage on my own. You don't have to-"

"And for me to leave the ship now would mean a terrible hit to my career, Jack. I can't do it."

Jack blinked away tears. Was his father choosing his career over him? He drew a deep breath and calmly said, "Dad, I-"

"And I'd only be needed until you turned eighteen," his father said, interrupting him again. "Then you'd be free to live on your own and I'd be stuck behind a desk somewhere, with my career in the toilet. No, Jack, I thought this through and I've decided this is best for us all. I stay here, on the ship, and you go with your mom. She'll need you to help her get through all this."

"What? Forget Mom! She brought this on herself!"

"Jack," his dad admonished. "I don't want to hear you talking like that about your mother!"

"But, Dad-"

"No! I don't wanna hear it! You don't know what things were like between us and you've no right to judge. Do you understand me, young man?"

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed before saying, "Yes."

"Good," his father said. He sighed. "Look, Jack, things will be so much better for you if you went with your mother. I remember back when I was your age, my dad and I were like two cats in a bag. We had nothing to say to one another and we were always on the verge of coming to blows. We did come to blows a few times, actually. I don't want the two of us to start acting like that."

"We won't, Dad! I promise!"

"Jack, it's not as simple as all that. I have to stay aboard ship. It's the only thing that makes sense for my career."

Jack frowned. "Are you choosing your career over me?"

"It's not like that, Jack!"

"Oh, really? Then what is it like, Dad? Explain it to me, cause it seems like it from where I'm standing!"

His father gave a heavy sigh and Jack could hear the background noises on the line lessen, as if he had moved someplace quieter. "Look, Jack, you know why I have to go on. I took you to see him."

"To see whom?"

"Your namesake, Jack. I took you to see him, almost four years ago. You remember Jack White, don't you?"

"Yes. Yes, of course I do."

"Well... Jack, the man gave his life for mine and he was career Navy. He was going to go all the way to the top. He's no longer with us, so I'm going to do that for him. I'm going to go all the way to the top."

"Dad, you don't have to do that."

"I think I do, Son. I really do."

"No, Dad... I mean... what if he would have wound up changing his mind and, and going for something else entirely?"