Excerpt: Echo

Once upon a time, there lived a boy with a very special gift...

Benjamin Gray did not feel like getting out of bed. He was not ill. He was not skipping a test in school. He was not trying to avoid his ex-girlfriend. He simply did not feel like getting out of bed. That is what he told himself. If he could have made it a snow day, he surely would have done that. While he knew what could have been done to achieve such a possibility, it would have taken such hard work that he would have spent the next few days sleeping off the exhaustion, not being able to enjoy his handiwork.
No, he could achieve his goal of staying in bed for the time being in a much simpler way. This was like child-play for him. He has done this so many times before, he did not even have to think about what he would do. In fact, it was not until that very morning that Benjamin decided he would stay in bed and take a much needed day off from school.
“Benjamin,” came a voice from the other side of his closed door. “Are you ready yet?“ Benjamin’s mother’s voice was full of concern. She was undoubtedly struggling between caring for her son’s health, if the need arose, or scolding him for running so late.
“I’m just sleeping, Ma!” Benjamin called out from under the covers of his bed.
“Are you okay?” she called back, her hand hovering over the doorknob.
“Yeah. I just think I’ll stay home today!”
“Have a good day then,” she said. She idled by the door before she blinked her eyes a few times and walked away.