Three Million Empty Words - 02x06: Little Brother

[JudesSims]

This is a great story! Just like reading a good novel, only I have to wait for the next chapter. LOL good job!

[RaiaDraconis]

Whew, exonerated! I love how you tied this story and Winter's story together with the mention of the floating family.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Thanks, jude and Raia. I'm taking advantage of the two stories being set in the same continuity. It's fun to figure out how things happening in one of the two stories might affect the other one.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Episode 3: Floating Family

The address had come in a message a few minutes after his father had hung up on him, as usual without any "hello" or "be careful" or any sort of nicety. Liam sometimes wondered if his father was testing his temper. After all, they both knew how easily he could explode in anger at any moment, and how dangerous that could be to him and anyone he was trying to help. Still.

He took the bus to the house of this people-floating Freddie Donnovan's family and walked up to the front door, noticing a few cars parked on the block and several reporters hanging around the front yard. He knocked.

A woman opened the door. "No more interviews or photo ops or poking around our house or nosing about!" she shouted. "Go away!" She glanced around nervously after her outburst, as if she was afraid she'd offended someone.



"Ma'am, I can help your son."

"What? Let me guess. You have psychic powers, or can perform an exorcism, or know some special diet he can go on to help him. My son doesn't need your help."

The reporters started approaching the porch, shouting questions. The woman went over to the edge of the steps and waved her arms to make them go away.

"I'm like him," said Liam, avoiding the hand that reached out to pull him down off the porch.



"What do you mean?" asked the woman in an exhausted tone, rubbing her eyes.

"I can teach him how to control his ability."

"His ability?"

"Yes. Making you and your family float above your living room? Ring a bell?"

"My son didn't do that! I've been telling people all day. He's just a boy. He's not a wizard or some sort of magical being in disguise, like that annoying lady from that silly magazine kept insisting."

"Listen," said Liam, exasperated. "How did you get down?"

"A woman came and... and talked to Freddie. She told him to put us down. But it's some sort of hoax! It has to be." She wrung her hands together nervously. "It has to be. That sort of thing just doesn't happen."

"It does. And it happened to you. So will you let me talk to your son or not? I promise I don't have a camera or anything with which to record our conversations. Want to search me?" He held out his arms.

The woman shook her head and sighed. "No. You can come in. But only for a few minutes."

Liam entered the living room, the woman following him. All the lights were out and it seemed much quieter inside, as though the environment swallowed up most of the sound produced inside of it. A boy of around nine or ten sat on the floor playing with a toy horse. Liam grinned at him as he passed. The boy smiled a bit nervously back.



Freddie sat on the couch, a sullen boy who looked to be in his mid-teens with close-cropped hair and a lovely skull-adorned shirt. Liam approached him cautiously, worrying that at any moment something could excite him into anger that might cause some disaster.

"Hi. I'm Liam."

"Great."

"You're Freddie, right? Nice to meet you. I heard you made your family float this morning."



"What do you want?"

Liam sat across from him. "You don't want to know how you did it?"

"I didn't do it."

"Your mother keeps saying that." Freddie's mom had gone into the kitchen, but Liam knew she was probably listening. "But I don't think you think that. You know, don't you? It's something you feel going through you. You might not want to accept it, but..."

"What do you know about it? Have you ever made your family float? You have no idea―"

"As a matter of fact, I do." He didn't feel like listening to the whole "no one understands me" spiel. "In fact, if I wanted to, I could bring this whole house down around our ears. And then turn it into a giant squid. What's floating people next to that?" He lifted his hand, feeling the air brush through his fingers, and let the particles he touched grow closer together momentarily and ripple like water.



Freddie's eyes widened and his forehead lost its wrinkles. "What... how did you do that?"

"Now we're getting somewhere." Liam smiled. "I'm like you, Freddie. Except my powers manifested a lot earlier than yours did. You're in luck there. When I was eight years old, I couldn't control them. But you can learn to. And you have to if you don't want to kill yourself or destroy everything around you by accident."

"I could control it?" Freddie licked his lips. "I could turn it on and off? Do it on purpose?"

"Absolutely. But if you're thinking about going around making school bullies float or something, you should probably prepare yourself for a lifetime getting poked by scientists."

"Yeah." The light that had come on in Freddie's eyes went out, although the wrinkles didn't come back to his forehead. "So you can teach me?"



"I'm going to need your full cooperation. And it isn't going to be easy, all right? I've been working on mine for a long time and I still haven't mastered it completely. And you have to do exactly as I say."

"When can we start?"

"Have you got some time now?"



Freddie's mother took some convincing, but finally she agreed to drive them to the park and wait in the car for them to finish. Freddie didn't speak to her the whole way there, even though she tried to start a conversation more than once.

"What exactly is this?" she asked Liam finally as they were nearing the park he'd told her to take them to. "What's making him do this? How can we stop it? Is there some sort of operation or something...?"

"Mom!" shouted Freddie, apparently forgetting that he wasn't talking to her. "First of all, that's stupid. How would they operate on me to take out my powers? And second, I don't want them gone. You lied to me about dad and the house and the divorce and everything! You're horrible to me! But you won't be anymore, once I can control it and make you float and not let you come down until you do what I tell you to!"

Freddie's mother parked rather haphazardly and turned in her seat to speak to him, but he climbed out and ran into the park.

"It's okay," said Liam, laying a hand on her arm. "I'm going to take care of this. I was just like him when I was his age."

"I really hope you can help. I don't know what to do," said Freddie's mom miserably.

Liam caught up with Freddie, who was pacing up and down one of the gravel paths that cut across the park. Liam remembered how they'd caught Foxtrot here the first time, the time where she'd escaped. It was a pretty place, and the mixed scent of the many different flowers and the chirping of birds made it a peaceful setting, which Liam hoped would have a relaxing effect on Freddie.

"She makes me so mad!" said Freddie.

"Parents are like that. I used to fight with mine all the time."



"And then you grew out of it?" asked Freddie angrily.

"No, actually, my dad and I still fight a lot. Over different things, but yeah. You're not going to use this to terrorize your family, though."

"Why not?"

"Because that would make you the bad guy. And I catch bad guys, Freddie. That's what I do." He tried to sound as menacing as possible while still conserving a pleasant exterior. Judging by Freddie's expression, it worked. "This isn't something to joke around with. This is serious business. Are you ready for that?"

Freddie nodded.

"Okay. I want you to relax. Breathe deeply, listen to the birds, smell the flowers, whatever. Just take a moment and stop all those thoughts spinning around in your head. Go on."

Freddie turned around hesitantly facing the park. Liam heard him inhale and exhale. His shoulders still seemed tense, though.

"Don't think about your mom or your dad or this morning. Just enjoy the park. Nice blue sky..." Liam chewed his lip, trying to think of how to face this next step. He couldn't remember how his father had trained him back when he was eight years old, and when he'd taken up training him again last year he'd built off of what he already knew. Still, Freddie's powers must be simmering just below the surface, and it should be a lot easier for a teenager to bring them out than for an adult.

"Listen to what I'm saying, Freddie. Don't goof off or lose concentration or think about something else, all right? Remember, this is serious. I want you to search inside you mind for a new room. You know how we only use parts of our brain at a time? Those parts we're not using are sort of like closed doors. A door's opened for you recently, and it should still be ajar. Look for that door."

He waited for a few minutes. Freddie didn't say anything or move a muscle. Liam felt a prickle at the back of his neck. He'd heard that other people with powers could sense them in someone else somehow. Maybe that was what he felt.

Freddie lifted his hands slowly. Liam didn't question him, because a lot of things about this were instinctive.



Suddenly, Freddie whipped around to face Liam, furious. "It doesn't work!"

"You have to give it a bit more time, Freddie. Remember I told you this wasn't easy."

"You lied to me! It doesn't work! I don't have any powers! I can't believe I came here with you; this is stupid!"



"Freddie," said Liam, trying not to sound exasperated, "This isn't something you get the hang of in one afternoon. You didn't even finish hearing me out."

"Nothing you say works anyway!" Freddie yelled. Liam thought he noticed a trace of fear underneath the anger. "I don't want to do this anymore!" He turned and ran off towards his mother's car, looking like he had some terrible beast on his heels. Liam watched him go and sighed.


Thank you for reading.

[RaiaDraconis]

I have to feel bad for Freddie. Hopefully he will eventually come around.

It's like X-Men meets the Sims. I am still very much enjoying the story!

[ApplesApplesApples]

I'm glad you're enjoying it, Raia. Your comment made me laugh. It could be like The X-Sims?

[ApplesApplesApples]

Episode 4: Angry Children and Fire

Liam had just sat down to a balanced supper of rice; a lettuce, tomato, and onion salad; and a chunk of baked fish (his father always said that without a good diet a superhero was worthless) in front of the TV when the local six o'clock news came on.

"Our first story for this evening is a local phenomenon of sorts. The home of forty-six-year-old Robert Willis and his family caught fire less than an hour ago; witnesses say the cause was 'spontaneous combustion' of some sort, but authorities have assured the public that the apocalypse has not begun yet." The anchorman grinned. "Robert Willis narrowly avoided the blaze, but is perfectly fine, as the fire was extinguished again as mysteriously as it begun. The local police department has released a statement saying exposed gas pipes were involved. Robert Willis' ten-year-old step-son spoke about the incident from his house..."

They cut to a clip of Freddie Donnovan's younger brother in front of the house. Liam didn't hear what he said, because he was on his feet in a second and out the door before he had time to think about his unfinished supper.

He'd known something like this would happen. Freddie was dangerous. It had been a little over a week since the incident with the floating family, and Liam had tried calling the house several times. Freddie hadn't wanted to speak to him. He couldn't force him to learn how to control his powers, as Paul had reminded him; but it was bound to end up badly sooner or later.

Liam arrived at the house and hurried up the front steps to the door. Before he could knock it opened and a female firefighter in full gear walked out, shaking her head.



"There's something weird about this family," she said to Liam.

He didn't have time to think about what to say before she walked past him and down the steps. The door was open, so he approached and put his head in.

"Hello?"

The family sat in the living room. A policeman he knew by sight was taking their statements. Freddie's step-dad looked okay; he sat on the couch and Freddie's mom had her arm around his shoulders.



"There's the guy who came to train Freddie on how to be a superhero," said Freddie's younger brother from the couch beside his parents, pointing at Liam.

Great, thought Liam. It's good to know Freddie can keep a secret.

"Liam Galagher, right?" said the policeman with a nod of recognition. "Rowan's friend? The one who's into weird things?"

"That's me."



The man visibly contained a smile as he turned his attention back to the family. "Well, superhero training aside, our experts have gone through your house and not found anything out of the ordinary that could have caused the fire. Still, you'll need to jump through some hoops if you're planning on selling this place."

"Thank you, officer," said Freddie's mom.

The policeman nodded and left. Liam looked at Freddie. "What did I tell you?"

"Wait, so you're that other psychic," said Freddie's step-dad. "You didn't pay him anything for that hokey 'training,' did you, dear? They're all out to get our money."

"I can't," said Freddie, looking up plaintively at Liam. "It scares me. That's why I ran away the other day. I touched something that scared me."



"You don't have to do anything that man tells you to," said Freddie's step-dad.

"I think you should leave," said Freddie's mom.

"You're fine with your son making you float and setting things on fire with his mind? What's next? You'll be lucky if this house is standing next week."

"Harassing civilians, Liam?" Liam turned to see Rowan entering the living room. "I thought I'd find you here," she said, and pulled him aside.



"I need your help, Rowan. This kid is dangerous. I tried to show him how to control it, but..."

"I can't help you."

"What?" he said incredulously. "Did you hear that part about the house not standing next week?"

"Yes, but you can't force them to save their own lives. And," she added before he could interrupt, "I'm not here for this. I'm sorry. I believe that you're not doing this, I really do, despite my attitude when I found that wallet on you, but whoever's setting you up is doing an excellent job of it."

"There was another mugging?"



"Yes. And this victim was found with your fingerprints on his arm."
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you're enjoying it.

[Gogowars329]

Oooh. Whoever is setting Liam up is doing a good job. I kind of feel sorry for Freddie's family having to pay the price for Freddie's actions.

[RaiaDraconis]

Oh dear... This does not bode well for Liam. Whomever is responsible must be a formidable opponent!

[ApplesApplesApples]

Thank you for your comments! Yes, looks like Liam might be in trouble this time. And Freddie's family definitely does not have it easy.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Episode 5: Sean Dawick

The cell was a dull, dirty white, containing nothing but a couple of chairs. Liam sat, fidgeting, glancing at the door every couple of minutes. He kept thinking he heard someone approaching. Maybe they did, but they passed him by. No one had come with news for hours, and he wanted to know what was going on.



He'd called his father. Paul had seemed oddly calm in the face of the news, and had said he'd post the bail as soon as he could. He didn't want to know what his mother had to say about all of this. She and his father were probably fighting right now. What a wonderful way to ruin his parents' vacation.

Whoever had framed him had better watch out, because Liam was angry. Very angry. He'd spent hours in this depressing grey cell, having left his dinner half-eaten back home. They'd fed him, but compared to the tasty meal he'd prepared for himself it was a huge disappointment. Who knew what Freddie was doing? He could have burned down the entire block by now.

He'd thought long and hard about who in the world would go to so much trouble to frame him so elaborately, but he'd come up with nothing. He didn't have any enemies lately. Foxtrot was in another dimension, Fleet Fingers in jail. He'd helped to apprehend a few minor criminals alongside Rowan, but none of them could have done this, especially not from behind bars.

"Hello, Liam," said a voice from the hallway outside his cell. A man stood there, quite calmly gazing in at him. Liam got to his feet and walked over. The man knocked on the bars of the cell. "How surprising it is to see you on that side."



"How surprising it is to see you at all. Who are you?"

"My name is Sean Dawick. We have a mutual friend."

Liam wracked his brains to try and recall where he'd heard the name before. "I'm sorry. Who?"

"I'm disappointed that you haven't done your superhero homework, Liam. Surely you remember Elijah, otherwise known as Fleet Fingers?" The man smiled pleasantly.

Then Liam remembered. Fleet had confessed after Liam and the police had caught him, incriminating a whole lot of people he'd had dealings with over the years in exchange for a lighter sentence. Sean Dawick had been one of the most prominent figures in his confession. A crime boss, apparently, whom Fleet had worked for for several years. "Oh. What do you want?" He had no energy to be awed at the visit, although it did stir some emotion in him that had lain dormant since he'd pitted wits against Foxtrot and Fleet Fingers. He hadn't gone up against a real criminal for months. At the least, it should be more fun than the grey cell.



"Fleet Fingers has done justice to his name over the past few months, and proved quite elusive. You'd think a man locked up in jail would be easier to pin down, don't you? But no. He and I have some unfinished business to attend to."

"You want me to help you kill Fleet Fingers?" He wasn't fond of the man, but what did Dawick take him for?

"I'm sure you're aware I have leverage on you." Dawick's voice was so pleasant it didn't even sound like a threat.

Sean Dawick had set him up just to enlist his help in capturing Fleet. He must really need him. At least that cleared up the mystery. "What do you want me to do? I'd think you'd be better at this sort of thing than I am."

"To date, you're the only one who's successfully captured him. And to answer your question, no, I don't want to kill him. I have business with him, as I said. I'm not the sort of man who uses euphemisms to seem more polite. That trick you used on Foxtrot was very efficient. Something like that ought to do. After all, you've made deals with sketchy characters before. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch for you."

"Well, I'm sorry, but no. So far you haven't impressed me enough. You can't prove me guilty." He smiled. "I'm going to catch you."



Sean Dawick returned the smile, and his was icy, but not cruel. He didn't seem to care that Liam had turned him down. "Prove you guilty? Do you think I set you up? No. So far, you haven't impressed me enough for me to expend such effort on you."

"So what's your leverage?" asked Liam, puzzled.

"I expect you'll find out." Dawick turned and walked away down the hall.

Liam returned to his chair; he couldn't deny that the man had unnerved him. What leverage did he have? Dread filled him. Could he mean his family? No, his father could take care of them. Winter? But no, Dawick would have no reason to suspect that she still meant anything to him. If it was Winter, though, he had no choice. Fleet Fingers wasn't worth putting Winter in danger.

A few minutes later the door opened, startling him, and Rowan entered. "Bad news and good."



"What?" he asked, steeling himself.

"Good news, you're free to go. Your trial is on October the 30th, in three weeks. Bad news..." She walked towards him. Up close, she looked tired.

Liam stood up. "My family?"



"What?" She shook her head as if she were trying to shake cobwebs from her hair. "No. The kid you were trying to help. Freddie Donnovan? He's gone missing."
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this episode.

[Gogowars329]

Freddie, you're just making life harder for everyone! Sean seems really creepy. I don't like him at all.

[RaiaDraconis]

Oooh my. This is getting even more intriguing...and more puzzling. I can't even begin to speculate where this might be going.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Thanks for your comments, Gogo and Raia. Thanks as well to everyone who's been reading. I'm really sorry, but I'm so busy now with school that I won't be able to post any episodes this week, and maybe not next week either. I'll let you know when I plan to post again.

[Louise56]

I catch up with your story and it is awesome! Update when you can, school does come first.

[ApplesApplesApples]

I catch up with your story and it is awesome! Update when you can, school does come first.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying my story!

[ApplesApplesApples]

Episode 6: Little Brother

"What are you waiting for?" asked Liam, watching Rowan. She sat in the driver's seat of her car, the keys in the ignition but the engine off, her hands resting on the steering wheel as she stared out at the darkened street out the windshield.

"This is a bad idea."

"I need your help, Rowan. And you need my help, too. We're a good team, aren't we?"

"Yes, but you're going to court in a few weeks, and I'm a cop. Your father was so much easier to deal with."

"I didn't ask anyone to set me up," said Liam defensively, but the thing that stung the most was that he knew Rowan thought he was inferior to his father in almost every way possible. And that she was right. "I'm just trying to keep this situation from escalating out of control and ending up with a lot of dead people. I wish it were that simple. Ugh." He put his face in his hands, trying to control his anger and frustration.

"Okay, okay, don't have an attack and melt the car or something." Rowan started the engine.

They drove to the Donovan house and pulled up in front. It looked dark and dejected. That poor household had taken about as much as it could stand.

Robert Willis, Freddie's step-dad, opened the door and admitted them. He licked his lips every few seconds and seemed close to snapping from stress. Freddie's younger brother was there too, looking worried. Neither of them looked very sleepy, even though it was before dawn.

"Mr. Willis, could you tell me what happened?" asked Rowan. She had a surprisingly soothing voice for such an upfront sort of woman.



"He was going to mow the lawn this morning before the sun came up, because it would get too hot later. I went into his room to wake him up, but he wasn't there. That's all I know. The car's here, he didn't take any money or even his cell phone or computer. It's not like him at all. There might be a girl involved."

"What time was this?"

"Um..." Mr. Willis scratched the back of his head. "Ten or fifteen minutes ago."

"And when was the last time you'd seen you son before that?"



"After the police and the firemen and the press reporters and all those people left yesterday afternoon, he locked himself up in his room and started playing his music. You know, the evil music. We told him to come down for dinner, but he yelled that he wasn't hungry and we left him alone. Then we all went to bed."

"Did you see or hear anything odd during the night?" asked Liam.

"You're that guy who was here yesterday, right?" Mr. Willis frowned. "The one who wanted to teach my son how to control his magic powers or something?"

"Come on, dad," said Freddie's brother quietly. "You honestly think Freddie's not making all this happen?"

They all turned to the boy. He stared back defiantly at his father.

"Did you see anything?" Rowan asked him.

"I woke up like an hour ago and I heard this noise. Dad told me it was nothing when I told him about it, but it was like this muffled yelp or something, coming from Freddie's room."



"He was probably having bad dreams," said Mr. Willis.

"Anything else?" asked Rowan, ignoring the man.

Freddie's brother nodded. He didn't seem scared, although he was old enough to understand what was going on. "Footsteps. Heavy footsteps. Heavier than dad's, but quieter, too, like a big man who was trying not to make noise. And someone whispering something, although I didn't hear what it was. Then I heard a door open and close."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Mr. Willis dismissively. "He makes things up sometimes, officer. You've seen too many cop shows, young man."

Rowan glanced at Liam, and then looked at Mr. Willis. "If you could give us the addresses of his friends' houses, that would be very helpful. Also, anywhere else you think he might have gone."

"You don't believe me?" asked Freddie's brother. He sounded resigned, as if this happened to him a lot.

"We believe you, but we need to cover everything just in case." Mr. Willis handed her the paper with the information she'd requested. Rowan patted Freddie's brother's shoulder. "We'll get him back. Don't worry."

They stepped out into the cool early morning air. Liam really wanted to sleep, eat, and have a nice hot shower, but his mind was racing and a chill uncertainty was worming its way inside him.

"Rowan..." he said hesitantly.

She turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. "I thought so. Come clean, then. Hurry up."

"Well... this man came to see me while I was in the cell."



He told her everything about Sean Dawick. Her eyebrows rose higher with every sentence, and by the end of it she was shocked into silence for a moment, which he hadn't thought possible.

"So you're saying... Freddie was Dawick's leverage over you? That if you didn't help him catch Fleet Fingers so he could talk to him, he'd kidnap Freddie?"

"Just think of what he could do with Freddie." Liam felt a shiver run through him. "Freddie's incredibly powerful for a kid with no training. Dawick can use that power for whatever he wants, or just put him somewhere and have him cause chaos. This could be... this is a disaster. This is..."

"Okay, calm down." Rowan held out a hand to stop his breakdown. "You know?" She smiled. "I'm pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't have thought you'd tell me. Congrats, Liam. There might be hope for you." She pulled out her radio.



He wasn't paying attention to what she was saying at first, too busy pulling at his hair nervously, but then he heard the words "raid" and "Sean Dawick."

"You're going to...?"

"Yes. We've been looking into a lot of his activities since Fleet Fingers gave up all that information on him. He has a few places downtown, and hopefully we can send a unit to each of them and search them all simultaneously, but to be honest it's most likely he's in his mansion this early, and Freddie's probably with him."

"So we're going...?"

"Yes. Come on."

Liam felt a rush of intense relief and excitement, which was wonderful after the despair and fear he'd felt a minute ago. The words came out of his mouth without him meaning them to. "Rowan, you're wonderful."

She gave a startled little laugh. "Thanks."
Sorry for the wait! I hope you enjoyed this episode, and thank you for reading (and waiting, as usual.)

[Louise56]

I hope they rescue Freddie in time. Great update!

[ApplesApplesApples]

I hope they rescue Freddie in time. Great update!

Thanks! You'll see soon.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Hi everyone.

My apologies to anyone who was following this story. My sims game died and I've been trying to get it to work for the past few months. No luck. I won't be able to play until I get a new computer, and that doesn't look like it'll happen anytime soon. I'm really sorry. Thanks for reading and for your feedback.

[Louise56]

I'm so sorry Apples, I loved your stories.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Thanks, Louise.

[Dextra2]

I'm sorry about you game. It's not fair that you can't play.

[ApplesApplesApples]

Aw thanks Dex. It's pretty frustrating.