"What did you call me out for this time, Mathis?" Omar asks his half brother.
"Don't worry about it. You'll see soon enough." Mathis responds absentmindedly as he looks around the cafe.
If one were to look at these two people sitting in a booth at a popular cafe, they would probably assume that they were father and son. Omar being the younger of the two was only 19 and had just started college, while Mathis was already 34 and had a job as a scientist in a lab somewhere in the country. Omar could never get a straight answer out of him as to where it was, but regardless of the long tangents that Mathis got into, it seemed as though these siblings were attached at the hip. The age difference didn't seem to matter between the two and they got along like any normal pair of siblings. Sometimes the difference in fathers put some distance between them, but with their mother having died when Omar was 16, it was easy to overlook that difference and accept each other for what they had lost. If nothing else, they knew they needed each other more than they needed their fathers.
Omar takes a hint at Mathis' skittering eyes and rolls his own. "Come on, don't test a new device on the people here."
Mathis just shakes his head, "That's not what--"
A racket near the front interrupts them. "What do you mean it doesn't work?!"
Mathis having been prepared for this moment, gets up quickly and starts approaching the man slowly.
"I'm sorry sir, but your card has been denied." The cashier behind the desk replies calmly.
The man seethes, teeth visible through his scowl. "It worked yesterday!"
"Sir, I understand how you feel, but please consider the others in here." Her voice begins to falter. "We might be able to come to an agreement if you would just step to the side for the moment."
The man's face suddenly calms, as if finding clarity. "Oh, alright." The mood shift makes Omar shiver unconsciously. "I'll move." He reaches into his coat pocket right as Mathis reaches him, "Right after you--wa?"
Mathis grabs the man's hand barely in his coat pocket and whispers something in the his ear quietly enough that Omar can't quite catch all the words. "It's not.... to pull... in here... pay for.... instead." Omar watches his brother place a wad of cash on the counter. "Here, this should cover his tab correct?"
The cashier still stunned, nods slowly. "Yes, that's enough."
"Good." Mathis walks away waving his hand behind him. "Keep the change, consider it a consolation for that outburst."
Omar stares at Mathis piercingly. "You didn't just do some experiment now, did you?"
Mathis feigns innocence, "I would never." He leans forward and whispers, "But I would still suggest we move to a different place, I don't want the same thing happening again."
Omar raises an eyebrow as he whispers back, "And how would this happen again?"
"Not here, let's go to your place."
Omar skeptically follows Mathis out of the cafe and into his car. The ride to the dorms is unpleasantly silent as Omar contemplates what just happened at that cafe. He had never seen such violence about to happen so suddenly and stopped just as abruptly. He considers it to be the work of his sibling's shenanigans, but quickly realizes that his brother doesn't like secretly experimenting on people without them being aware of what's happening. One thought that runs through his head is that is was just a coincidence and Mathis had just found out about it beforehand. No, that can't be right. He was looking around unsure of something. Agh! I can't think of what it is, I guess I should just wait until we get to my room.
Not willing to dwell on it any longer, Omar turns his attention back to the outside. Trees as far as the eye can see. Sometimes he feels they could do without so many trees as they even block the signs on the highway most of the time. He had plenty of fun memories with his brother in the woods, so he can't really hate the trees. It just felt like there were too many at times and he wished that he could at least see some open fields someday. This scenery had become stale over the many years he had been here and sure, he could have gone to a college out of the state, but he wanted to be close to home, since he still couldn't get over his mother's death. The idea that she was still close by consoled him more than even his brother realized.
A hand in front of his face shook Omar out of his thoughts. "Hello. Anyone in there?" Mathis teases him from the driver's seat.
"You just focus on driving."
"In case you weren't looking, we are already here."
He looks again outside and sure enough, his dorms are in sight. "Sorry, guess I expected the drive to take longer."
Mathis laughs. "It's alright." He pats his younger brother's leg. "Now let's get inside so I can tell you about my amazing discovery."
That gets a chuckle out of Omar as the two of them head inside. They walk up the stairs to the all too familiar dorm room that they have spent so much time in that Mathis is thought to be his roommate sometimes. Fighting off another reminiscence, Omar opens his room for Mathis, makes his way to his bed and sits down on the bottom bunk, waiting for his brother to reveal the discovery of a century. Or something like that anyway, since he knows Mathis has a tendency to embellish things.
Mathis claps his hands together. "Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for. Let me reveal this most incredible discovery that will change your life forever!" He announces in a formal manner. "First, let me explain how I came to discover this revelation. As we all might know, people's behaviors tend to influence others around them and that is usually a tell for what they want from another person. I was studying those behaviors, trying to find a common thread between them to discern which behaviors were detrimental or beneficial to the overall health of our society. HOWEVER," He pauses dramatically, "The more I studied these behaviors the more I saw a pattern forming. A pattern that not only influenced them, but the world around them."
Omar returns a blank stare as Mathis searches for a positive response.
He sighs as he continues. "For example, let's say that you wanted to grow a garden, but you had no experience creating one and had no access to a means of learning how, but you still really wanted to do it regardless. So instead of just giving up, you buy seeds, soil and several jugs of water. In normal circumstances, it would take most people several years to learn how to properly treat a plant without any outside help. However, with my recent discovery, this process can take a matter of weeks in a closed environment, so long as the behavior of the individual remains the same passionate, plant loving person they long to be. The plant will respond to that care and the person will respond to the plant's needs, therefore creating an instinctive bond that goes beyond just learning from a manual."
"So... how does that make it amazing?" A still perplexed Omar asks.
Mathis grabs Omar's shoulders for a brief moment. "This doesn't just apply to plants and a person, this applies to the whole world. Yes, the example I gave is rarely going to happen, but just imagine the possibilities of essentially willing something into existence. Sure, if not enough people want something mind-blowing, it's not going to happen. But still, this means that anything you realistically feel and see can become reality by mere happenstance. I haven't tried anything outside of scientific applications, but I still have seen many examples of this happening. That potential robbery was one of them, I needed you to see that to believe me."
"Okay, stop." Omar says to prevent Mathis from going into an incoherent rant. "This doesn't seem real to me, willing something into existence? How does that work?"
"Your friends two doors down are about to invite you to an ice cream party."
Omar tilts his head. "What do you..." Someone knocks on the door at that moment. Omar gets up skeptically as he keeps an eye on his brother all the way to the door.
When he opens it, two of his dormmates greet him, "Hey Omar, want to join us for an ice cream party? It's getting pretty close to summer so we thought it would be good time to have it."
Omar is too stunned that he can barely get his words out. "Sorry, brother's here." He slowly closes the door as the realization kicks in. "What the heck, Mathis? Is this some sick joke?"
"I assure you this is real. I didn't plan that nor did I predict it. There are some scientific variables involved, but for the most part I just willed it to happen."
"Are you telling me anyone can do this?"
"Well, sort of. If you understand it perfectly, it's easy to control, but there's times where things will happen in the wrong way. As an example, if everyone wanted a wall to be taken down, there are two major possibilities. The first being that the government will take it down, the second being that an earthquake or a bomb will do it instead. Though anything within that spectrum of choices is still possible."
"Then why tell me about it, if it's that unpredictable?"
"Because there's no one else I can tell. No one would seriously believe me if I told them I knew how to will things to happen." Mathis pauses and looks down. "Even if they eventually came to believe me, there's those that will try to use it for nefarious purposes and completely screw up anyone else who wants to use it for good. Which will end up causing a net neutral result. I didn't want that, so I stored it away in the most obvious of locations to make it look like a theory that was never proven."
"You still didn't answer my question. Why me?"
"Because I'd rather someone else use it. I've done too much work in it that I've naturally become accustomed to everything going my way and it bugs me. It bugs me that I can't get easily frustrated at something and use that as motivation. Everything just happens how I want it to regardless of my true intentions. Once things became that easy, I felt as if I had no purpose. As if nothing was worth living for. Sharing this with you was my way of trying to return myself to a normal life, not one that just constantly does as I want. That predictability is something I can't live with anymore. If my theory is correct, then one other person using this power will reset my life back to the way it was."
"But what about my life? What happens to me then?!"
"We can keep each other in check. You get what you want and I get what I want. We can exchange when we want things to go our way. How does that sound?"
Omar hesitates. It's sounds like a wonderful offer, however, he can't help but get the feeling that there's something Mathis isn't telling. Something that's missing from his explanation. Surely, having a favorable outcome for everything isn't as bad as he makes it out to be. Right? What could possibly be wrong with this? Controlling the power over coincidences sounds like an offer he shouldn't ever pass up, but is it correct to do here? Omar's thoughts descend into chaos as he completes the yes and no scenarios in rapid succession. He finds that he can't come to an immediate answer.
"Sorry, Mathis." He replies despondently, "I need some time."
Mathis nods, "I'll be going now, let me know your response soon. Okay?" He leaves without another word.
Omar is left alone in the room as he thinks about his response. Which is right, freeing his brother from his prison and having untold power at his fingertips, living a normal life or something else?
