(title is to be determined)
Chapter 1
It was just before dawn and I woke up
because my roommate Paula accidentally slapped me in the face while she was
asleep. I crept out of bed and put my ear to the door listening for the sounds
of life. I heard pin-drop-silence; so I turned to my desk and pulled my bag out
from underneath it. Then ran down the steps and out the door, a smile crept
onto my face. It was Saturday the weekend and my favorite day of the week. All
day I could be out gathering materials for my little machines. I have several
that do different jobs: some are for annoying my fellow foster children that
live with me, some are helpful and record sounds others send messages or at
least that is the one I’m working on at the moment. There are only two other
foster children with me: Paula and Alec. Paula is nice but we don’t get along
well, she likes dolls I like mechanics and I’m the weird one, she like,
12! Come on!! Then there’s Alec; he is 17. He is so quiet that he’s practically
invisible. I don’t have a problem with him, I just wish he’d talk more then I
wouldn’t feel alone in the home…
I walked down to my usual alley way for
supplies. It was the only one that no one checked and was close by and finding
alleys like this one was hard here in America; though it wasn’t as if I was
stealing it’s just if someone saw me going through trash or some other stuff
then they’d think I was homeless or worse my school will hear about it then
I’ll be in for it for sure!
I shifted through the contents of the bin
and something blue caught my eye. When I finally got it out and dusted it off I
found that it was in fact teal-blue and that it was a half or maybe a third of
a ceramic bowl or plate. I began to study it then all of a sudden I heard the
clatter of a bottle behind me. When I whipped around I was rewarded with the
sight of an empty ally-way. I quickly finished shifting through the contents of
the bin then cautiously glanced around and ran home.
***
The house was strangely silent when I first
entered the house. I closed the door with my heart pounding so loud I could
swear that the neighbors could hear it. Then I heard footsteps coming from
upstairs. It sounded like two people maybe more. I panicked and quickly
positioned myself behind the door near to the steps so I could see who it was
but not that close so that if needed I could run. For what seemed like an hour
but only was less than a minute I waited then I saw the familiar face of Alec
with Paula behind him. Both of them had suspicious faces at first then a smile
was on mine and Alec’s faces but Paula began to shout at me, not angrily but
desperately “Ember!! What did you do that for?!? You scared me to
death!” “Do
what Paula; you know I go out on Saturdays!” “I
thought you would have remembered that Mr. and Mrs. Featherwood said
they’d be out and that-“ “at
no cost you should leave the house. Yes I know!” I continued in a bored voice.
“Then-“
“I went out because Mr. and Mrs. Featherwood have never known I go out
on Saturdays and also I thought you wouldn’t be so stupid to think I got
kidnapped or something and just remembered that I go out!” we stood in silence
for a while and I could see that Alec was giving an inward sigh. I felt sorry
for him that he had to go through Paula and me fighting all the time. I decided
to break the ice. “Ok, look Paula I appreciate your worry but I think you
should know better.” then I left the room. Alec followed me up and Paula went
to the lounge. When we got to the top of the steps I felt like I had to say
some sort of sorry to Alec for putting up with us. “I’m sorry you had to listen
to that, Alec…” I had almost gone into mine and Paula’s room when he replied
“oh it’s fine! Honestly, I just wish…. Well never mind…” he seemed about to say
something important but I left that and decided to take his rare opportunity of
socialness to ask more about him. To be honest, for someone you’ve lived with
for almost your whole life I barely knew him. But somehow I treated him like my
dearest brother. “So, um… Alec. I was wondering… Why are you so quiet I mean
you seem like someone I’d get along with but you know I can’t bring up the guts
to break your silence; but you know no need to tell me if it’s personal you know.”
“Oh, what the
heck! I might as well tell someone. Well you see I wasn’t an orphan till
I was about 7 years old. It was just me and my mom and then we got in a car
accident and she died. I couldn’t think straight, eat, sleep, all I could do
was sit there and cry or feel as a great hole was eating my heart. I felt like
half of me was missing. People said talking would help but I couldn’t so I
never talked to anyone and soon I was able to calm myself but every time I
tried to speak I fall apart. I usually do begin to fall apart when I talk but
maybe saying the problem whole heartedly helps. And I guess I should thank you
for asking about it.” I was shocked and horrified and extremely sad all at the
same time for Alec. My voice came out small and weak “no problem, I guess…” I
ran to my desk to be alone and to relax my feelings.
Chapter 2
That night I stayed up until around 12 pm.
At around 10 pm I decided to work without my work gloves. They were brown but
had some black patches in them from the sparks that come off of my machines
when I‘m building them. I had never worked on a machine without my gloves
before because, well I guess it was a habit. But that night when I was working
on my latest robot and I saw a faint glow of orange coming from somewhere near
my arm. I moved my arm and the glow seemed to follow it. Soon I realized there
must have been a light bulb and it’s battery that had gotten tangled with my
arm. When I looked properly at my arm I saw no light, no artificial source of
light. What I saw was a strange pattern going across my arm. It was from my
elbow to my palm. I sat staring at my arm for ages until I decided to find out
what it was. I put different things to the glowing area; I put matches, my
machines; everything I could get ahold of. But I had only around 20 seconds of
glowing then the glowing stopped. I still put things to the area trying to find
out what triggered it. The gears in my head were turning so fast that I
eventually sat on the floor near my desk. I tried to remember what I had done
before it had glowed but my brain was moving so fast that no proper thought was
being produced. I leaned my head against the leg of my desk and then I saw the
carving at the bottom of my desk. My eyes widened; it was in the same style as
the glowing mark that had been on my arm, could I possibly have made this
design when I was younger; when I first moved into this foster home? Could it
be of a mark I saw before that was on someone else? Was I the only one who had
the mark? I couldn’t stop thinking about all the possibilities that the mark
brought, it could even be my ticket to finding my parents. Technically they’re
still alive; but why would they leave me? So all my life I’ve believed that
they’re dead and that that was why I became an orphan. But now this thing
showed up and I feel like it has some sort of connection, maybe it wasn’t to my
past and to my parents but I know it is a connection to something.
Chapter 3
All through the rest of the weekend the
thoughts kept whirling around my head. I couldn’t figure anything out; this
annoyed me because I always found most problems easy to fix. Every time I was
presented with a problem I figured it out the next second later. School came
along and for once I welcomed it with open arms. School would be my escape from
my thoughts where I can laugh and gossip with my friends. As I walked into
first period I almost sighed in happiness, my thoughts of the strange mark had
disappeared and were replaced be the daily routine of school.
“Alright class. Take out your books and
pencil cases. Now I want a show of hands how many of you have completed the
homework, now I don’t want a list of excuses I just want to know who has done
it.” Mr. Tate, my English teacher said.
Around half the class raised their hands.
This surprised me and my teacher Mr. Tate; almost always two thirds had not
completed their homework. “Well at least most of you have done it. Now I want
the explanations for why you people haven’t done the work. Especially from
you Matt.” “Come on sir! Why are you asking for the work today?!?
You said that it was due in tomorrow, and that you would just check
today who had done it!” Matt replied indignantly. I watched the spectacle
uninterestedly but then I spotted an orange glow coming from Matt’s slightly
rolled down sleeve. Could it be? Could Matt have the glow? What did the
glow even mean? “Yes, of course! How could I have forgotten thank you for
reminding me Matt.” Mr. Tate replied, not in the slightest annoyed that Matt
had said the sentence demandingly and irrespectively. The class was slightly in
shock that Matt was able to get his way; some though knew he was a people’s
person and expected it was part of his talent. I ignored that fact and focused on
Mr. Tate. I noticed that his eyes had fogged over just slightly and he had
spoken that sentence in monotone. That’s when it hit me that maybe the orange
mark glow thing could be the sign of having a power. Obviously Matt must have
found out about the mark thing and somehow trained it. So maybe he could help
me. The rest of the lesson and the next my mind was only half on the task most
of the time I’d find myself thinking of how to approach Matt and talk to him
about it.
Finally break came. I rushed out of the
door almost before the teacher dismissed us. I frantically tried to find
someone who I could ask which class Matt would be coming out of. In the end I
asked everyone I passed. I didn’t care if people thought I was going to ask if
he would go out with me or if I was just going to stalk him. I really didn’t
care; all I cared about was the fact that I wasn’t the only one and that this
person knows how to use his. Finally I found out that if I ran fast enough I
could catch him in the science building near the center. I sprinted and ran
whenever I started to get a stitch but I would not let myself slow down. I
burst into the science department running down the familiar corridors,
thankfully they were empty from teachers but this also worried me that I might
not find Matt. But as I rounded what I think was the fifth corner I saw the
back of his head “Matt!! Hey, you I need to talk to you!” I shouted across the
hall. A small part of my reasoning at the back of my head tried to warn me to
keep my voice down so we wouldn’t be discovered but I honestly didn’t care if I
got afterschool detentions for the rest
of the year so long as I got the information I wanted. I caught up to him and
he had turned around waiting for me to catch up. “What do you want?”
“I want to know how you convinced Mr. Tate,
you know our English teacher.”
He
gave a small laugh. “Oh, that! Huh, it was simple I just asked him something
and that was all. Nothing happened. Now you’re going to go away.” He stressed
the words ‘nothing happened’ and ‘go away’. I surprised myself by obliging and
I began to walk away, all I could think about was how I needed to go away from
Matt. Suddenly some inner instinct kicked-in and I whirled around. “Hey, Matt!
I wasn’t done with you! Get back here!” he turned around and had a look of pure
surprise on his face. “How…… How did you…...”
“What I want to know is why you even
used your power on me! I mean come on! Honestly! Could you have just said go
away? Or maybe you could have just heard me out!”
“Ok, look I didn’t mean to do anything
wrong but you need to calm down.” I noted that with that sentence his power had
slipped in ever so slightly; it came into my mind and opened a part of me that
had been hidden deep within. I lost it and screamed in rage. Then I thrust my
clenched hands towards the ground and I felt something project out of me. The
next thing I knew I felt myself being blown back by a source and that I banged
my head on the ground. I think I passed out for a few seconds because when I
woke up I saw that I was lying a few meters away from where we were standing
and the wall had exploded. Somewhere from far away I heard a faint muffled
voice. “Hey! Ember!! Get up! We need to move! The ceiling could collapse on us
any second! Come on, wake up!” I looked up and saw the voice was from Matt who
was only a few meters away. He was screaming something about moving and
collapsing but I couldn’t get up my limbs felt slightly heavy and I was tiered.
It was just easier to lay there. Then I felt something around me, but the
feeling was faint as if I wasn’t properly connected with my body. Apparently a
teacher had found us and Matt began to speak with him. “What happened here?”
the teacher asked. Some part of me wanted to reply and get up and run from the
place but I couldn’t conjure the effort. “We were passing by and the wall
exploded. Now she’s not getting up, but she’s awake.” Matt replied to the
teacher using some of his power out of habit. “Well at least she is alive! Now
here I’ll help you get her up.” For some reason feeling the two people help me
up brought me back to my senses and I had feeling back into my limbs and the
ringing on my ears began to stop. “I’m alright I think I can walk the rest of
the way.” I told them as the hauled me into the standing position. “I suggest
you run if you can for that table looks like it’s about to catch alight,
possibly causing another explosion or a fire.” Matt nodded and I would have to
but my body went into auto-pilot. I ran faster than I remembered and I turned
corner after corner and pushed through door after door until we found the exit.
While my limbs were running my mind was desperately trying to figure out how
Matt made the teacher convinced that we hadn’t done anything because if they
had inspected the debris they would find it was all inside the science lab and
not on the outside as what Matt had said would have done. Finally I discovered
he had focused on the thought that he had wanted the teacher to believe and had
looked the teacher in the eye as if to access the teacher’s mind to change the
thinking by planting the strong suggestion of his thought. I came out of my
trance like state and found myself on the middle of our school field. Also I
found that unless I distracted myself I would being to fall apart from shock at
what had done because both me and Matt know that it was me who caused the
explosion. I realized that it must have been my survival instinct that made me
run and figure something out because whenever I was figuring out a problem I
became calm. And calm was the one thing I needed. A teacher came up to me and
began to look at my wounds he insisted that I sat down and began to call over
another teacher sending her to fetch the nurses. I hadn’t realized I had been
hurt but when I looked down I saw that my arm was bleeding and so was my knee.
I lightly touched my head to find a bump and dome blood. Realizing the
intensity of my wounds I began to feel the pain. My brain had blocked me from
feeling it because I was in danger and needed to survive but now knowing I was
safe the pain kicked in like a punch to the gut. I doubled over clutching at my
knees trying to stifle the pain. The nurse had arrived at my side and shoved a
glass of water at me. At first I refused but then realizing how thirsty I was
grabbed it and glugged it down. Feeling slightly revived I saw that people had
crowded around me and Matt realizing that we had possibly seen the explosion
and out of curiosity or worry had come over. I saw that teachers were urging
people back to give the nurses room to work. One voice rang clear from the
chaos of the voices, it was Alec. “Please sir, let me at least see her! She’s
my sister for gods’ sake!” this made me smile; I was glade he regarded me like
his sister though I wasn’t related to him because I always felt like Alec was my brother
because I felt close to him even though he was quiet with others; it seemed to
me he was more lively around me. Alec came and crouched next to me bombarding
me and the nurse with questions. “Is she ok? How bad are her wounds? Ember can
you hear us? Oh I hope you haven’t gone deaf! What were you doing in the
science block anyways? You know what I don’t care! I just want to know if
you’re alright.” I smiled weakly and said to him in a croaked voice. “Alec, I’m
fine. Look I’ll tell you about it later right now let the nurse-” I paused to
wince in pain then continued. “-do her job and go find Paula. She ought to be
freaking out.” He refused and insisted to stay at my side. Then one of the
teachers put their hand on his shoulder and led him away from me and the nurse.
“Okay, now dearie we need to send you to the ambulance just so they can take
you to a hospital to help clean you up and stitch you up. But don’t worry it’s
nothing too serious, ok?” the nurse explained and helped people lift me into a
stretcher. Surely there would be students freaking out thinking that I was
being hospitalized and that I might even be on the brink of death. I’ll admit I
am tiered but I don’t think that’s because I’m passing out or something. But in
spite of that thought I closed my eyes and didn’t awaken until I found myself
in a hospital bed with Alec, Paula and my foster parents at the side of the bed
looking worried and relived at the same time. I began to attempt to haul myself
into the sitting position but a nurse that was on my other side pushed me down
and explained. “It’s best you stayed lying down dear, we don’t want you to pull
your stitches or anything.” I reluctantly obeyed and asked my foster family.
“Let’s start with the important question. How long have I been out?” I could
see my foster mother mentally preparing herself. “You’ve been in the hospital
for a week dear.” This was a shock to me and I laid there slightly in shock.
“You were in the papers!” Paula declared excitedly but it was obvious she just
was trying to ignore the fact that I had been hurt quite a lot. “Really? Show
me.” Alec pulled out a paper cutting and showed it to me. It said that me and
Matt had been unlucky students who had passed by the wall when a gas leak
occurred and we had been hospitalized. “Now for my final question, when do I
get out of here?” this time the nurse replied. “You should be allowed out in 1
or 2 days, but no sport or doing anything extremely active and you must be very
careful with your right arm and your head. You’ve gotten 2 stitches in your
head and you fractured your arm. You were unconscious for most of your time
being here but you woke every so often opening your eyes and then going back
into your state of unconsciousness. Of course you must me in shock from the
blast and are welcome to stay in the hospital longer than 2 days if it helps
you get rid of your shock.” I nodded thoughtfully at her request but told her
that I wasn’t in shock anymore and that I would be careful.
Chapter 4
coming soon
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