

HUNTER  
ENGLAND

Shadows

in the

Dark

A Collection of Stories

This book is for everyone that has encouraged me to do my best my whole life. It's for my mother who, no matter what, always told me what I did was great. It's for my brother who always encouraged me to never give up. It's for my Mema who always did her best in making me the happiest I could. It's for all of my friends who were always there for me. This book is an ode to everyone in my life that made an impact on me.

Thank you.

Contents

Introduction 4

Coffee? 6

Set the World on Fire 13

Special 39

Introduction

For a gigantic part of my life, writing was my whole world. Though I hardly finished anything I started, the amount of things I've written is ridiculous. When I was a kid, all I could think about was publishing my own book. I would tell myself about how cool it would be to see my name on a book in a bookstore.

But, sadly, I grew out of writing. I lost interest in it. These stories of mine hid away somewhere, never to be read. Thus "Shadows in the Dark" was born.

The whole purpose of this book is to give my writing and my stories life again. These three tales I wrote when I was younger deserve to have a purpose. Because, out of everything I've done, I've never been more proud of anything than I am with these stories.

The mere fact that I sat down and wrote these myself with my own time makes me so happy. I can gladly tell my friends and family that these stories are mine.

For a little background on when these were written, here you are. "Coffee?" was written during my sophomore year of high school, while "Set the World on Fire" and "Special" were written during my 8th grade year.

Considering I'm now seventeen years old in my junior year of high school, clearly these stories were a thing of the past for me. But when I stumbled upon them one day, I couldn't help but reminisce in my good old days.

Now, once you read these, you will notice that they are fairly dark, one of which being quite dark. That's why I chose these stories. They define my style of storytelling perfectly. I like to keep things dark and interesting as the story progresses. And you can see that pretty clearly as soon as you start.

Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my writing. I couldn't appreciate it more.

.....

Coffee?

The coffee pot started to make the sound it always does when the delicious liquid it makes start to flow down into the cup underneath it. The steam it produced floated up into the air and vanished as if it had never existed in the first place. I could hear the clock ticking behind me. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. I counted the seconds as they turned into minutes, letting time tick on by. I would not allow myself to question what I am doing. The ticking and the tocking were my distraction.

The alarm clock in my husband's room had started to go off. I heard him groan as he pressed the snooze button, but went right back to sleep. My son's room was quiet as it always was. He woke whenever I decided it was necessary.

Both of them. Filthy, degrading, ungrateful men that live off of me. I am a woman. Not a life support. I have thought of this for a long time. If I were to chose one of them to rid, which shall it be? For I can not take both of them. No, no, no. That would make it obvious, in which I would get caught and have a worse life than I do now. No, it must be one.

I had it all planned out. I would brew both cups, then put "the stuff" in one of the two. Next, I set them out on the table and inform the both of them that I have made it for them. After that, it is up to them. They decide, and I do not have to.

After this all takes its course, one of them shall die. When that happens, I shall hide the body for a while. Enough time for "the stuff" in the blood to go away. After that, I drop the body off where someone can find it. The police come and inform me that they have passed away. I pretend to care, then go on my way. Nothing can go wrong.

I finally heard my excuse of a husband get out of bed, his annoying groan echoing through the halls. The springs of the bed creaked as he hauled himself off of them and went into the restroom to shower. Within a few seconds after, the sond of the shower faucet spewing water could be heard. Half of me wanted him to pick the bad cup.

Hours before this, I had gotten out of bed to make sure I had planned everything thoroughly. I had gotten dressed, made sure I had "the stuff", made sure the coffee pot was ready to brew, and waited.

Without realizing, I had finished the second cup of coffee. I turned the pot off and slipped the packet of "the stuff" out from my pocket. With the slightest of ease, I opened up the packet and poured it into one of the cups, watching as the powder dissolved into the hot drink.

I looked back at the clock and saw that it was seven. Looking back at the cups, I picked them up and walked out of the kitchen, setting them down as I did so. As I walked down the hall to my son's room, I heard the shower stop running and my husband coughing. It was getting closer.

Opening the door to the room, my son's in-and-out breaths could be heard. I turned on his light, letting the light fill the room. He slowly opened his eyes and groaned as he looked at me.

"Time for school," I said. He looked up at me standing at the door and groaned once more, going back to sleep. "Come on. You don't want to be late."

"Shut up and give me a minute!" he yelled back. I walked out from the doorway and scoffed. Half of me wanted him to pick the bad cup.

I walked out from the doorway and knocked on the bathroom door.

"What is it?" my husband said.

"Are you almost done in there?" I asked, eager for the time to come. He didn't answer, but I didn't care. I only turned back towards the kitchen and saw the two cups sitting there on the table, mocking me as they knew I was eager for the time to come. By this time, I had already forgotten which cup was which.

At this time, I had nothing better to do than to wait. I walked over into the living room and sat down on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen that sat in front of me. In it, I saw my reflection.

I got a good look at myself. A woman in her mid 40's. Unhappy. Angry. Eager. In the years of my life, I had changed from a happy and independent woman to this. Still independent. But most definitely not happy. But today would change that.

I saw the smallest of smirks form from my mouth as the thought of that drilled even harder into my head. Today is the day that all changes.

Whichever one that dies, it will cause the other to wallow in sorrow. And with that, it will cause them to see how much they really need me. Thus, making them treat me better.

The smirk on my mouth grew more.

Within a few minutes of sitting on the couch, my son had decided to finally walk out of his room and into the kitchen. I watched as his reflection on the TV revealed everything. He walked around in the kitchen, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Get food or something to drink? And with one quick glance, he noticed the coffee on the kitchen table.

"I made you and your father some coffee," I said suddenly. His reflection looked at me, then back at the cups of coffee. As he stepped over to grab a cup, I looked away and stood up. I did not want to see which cup he had grabbed.

I heard him take a sip of the drink, and I smirked once more.

It had begun.

I walked down the hallway and knocked on the bathroom door again.

"Damn it, woman! What?"

"Are you almost done in there?" I heard him sigh in frustration.

"I'll be done when I'm done!"

"Yes or no."

"What did I just-"

"YES OR NO?" I said with some anger and annoyance. There was a silence from within the bathroom as if I had caught him by surprise.

"Yes," he said after a few seconds. I said thank you and walked into my bedroom. I still did not want to see which cup my son had grabbed.

As I stepped into the room, the first thing I saw was the pictures on the shelf. They were pictures from our wedding. They were just a bunch of lies.

The first one was when we were at the chapel, standing in front of it as we smiled for the picture. That was a time when the smiles were real. But they weren't real for long.

It was during the honeymoon (the third picture after the wedding) that he had beaten me. He made me swear that I wouldn't say anything. I had to hide the bruises for a while. That was when the smiles had become lies.

Before the honeymoon, we had a romantic drive towards our cabin (the second picture). At that moment, I thought he was the one. He seemed like a nice and normal man that loved me. But soon after that, I learned I was wrong right from the start.

Up until our marriage, he had just been pretending. Pretending to love me just so I would marry him. Once that happened, we lived on a pile of lies. I had married a mad man without realizing.

And that can drive you mad, too.

My husband walked out from the bathroom and into the kitchen.

"Mom made us coffee," I heard my son say. Without a word of response, "the love of my life" had picked up the remaining cup and walked out of the door with it. No goodbye or anything. Just the way I wanted it.

Since both cups had been taken, I was allowed to walk back into the kitchen. Which is exactly what I did.

My son was leaning on the kitchen counter, drinking his cup.

"Does it taste okay?" I asked. Just like his father, he did not respond with words. He only shrugged his shoulders with annoyance. I stood there and waited until he finished and set the cup in the sink with a loud clank.

"Are we going to go?" he asked with frustration, wanting to get to school. The sudden realization that this could be the last time I see him hit me. Well... the last time I see him alive.

"Of course, dear!" I said. He looked at me confused as if I had never done such a thing before. And he'd be right. But like I said.

This could be the last time I see him.

I grabbed my keys off of the key rack above the sink and walked right past him and out the door. He followed and shut the door behind me.

The time between me walking out the door and the two of us getting in the car was silent. Just as I had expected it to be. When he had put his seatbelt on as I started the car, I decided to have a little fun with him.

"So what are you going to do at school today?" I asked, purposely trying to annoy him.

"Why the hell do you care?" he replied.

"I'm your mother. Of course I care," I said as I backed out of the driveway.

"Well it's none of your business." He pulled out his phone and put his earphones in. Not even seconds after, his music could be heard from where I was sitting. My fun had ended there.

The car ride continued to be silent after that. And, to be honest, I wanted it like that. It was very clear that my son didn't want to talk to me, so I let it happen. If this were the last time I see him, I would want him to get what he wants.

After sitting in the car for a while in silence, I got the urge to get my phone and check to see if my husband were the one that had chosen the bad cup. With one flick of my thumb, I flipped open the phone and dialed his number.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hello, dear," I said. "How do you feel?"

"What?" he asked confused.

"How do you feel?"

"What kind of damn question is that? I'm at work, woman! I'm fine! Now leave me alone!" And with that, he hung up the phone. For a second I took it that he was lying. That he had told me he felt fine though he wasn't. But then I looked over at my son, who had started to cough, and saw that he had started to lose color in his skin.

Without thinking, I avoided the turnpike that would normally direct me to his school and kept going straight. My son looked too queasy to even notice.

"So," I started, "you never did tell me how the coffee tasted."

Set the World on Fire

The body of Bob Garrison sat in the corner, blood stained on the walls. Detective Rick Burrow stood in thought, examining the body closely. I could tell he was really into this case. Hell, I've known the man for seven years. Officer Jackson walked into the room and knelt down next to the body.  
"Have you found anything yet, detective?" Jackson asked, studying the body as well. Rick and I both hesitated to answer. Rick was the first to speak.  
"All we've found is the knife wound. There is no trace of the killer or anything." Rick ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. It was obvious that this case was frustrating him. I, on the other hand, am not the least bit bothered. We have gone through worse cases than this. A man stabbed to death is actually a pathetic attempt for a killer to become known. If he wanted to become known, he could've at least left a trace behind. But there was nothing. No footprints, no fingerprints, nothing.  
"Have you contacted his family? Told them what happened?" I asked, crossing my arms, not taking my eyes away from the body.  
"Yes, I sent my partner to go tell them. Can't help but feel sorry for them. None of them expected this." Jackson took a few steps back and started observing the room, just to see if he could find anything.  
"Do you think it's time to move the body?" I asked. Rick and Jackson nodded their heads, not saying a word.

Slowly, I got some gloves from my truck, put them on, and grabbed the body. It put up a fight, being heavy and all. But I won and the body came up with ease. "What's that?" Jackson asked, pointing at something on the body's back. A yellow sticky-note stuck on the man's shirt, drenched in blood.   
"There's only one way to find out." Rick took the sticky-note and started to read it. His expression changed suddenly.  
"What does it say?" I asked. Rick didn't answer, he just handed it to me. I took it and read it out loud.  
"My name is of no importance, not yet anyway. Check the air vent in the back, so we can begin to play." I read the note once more to myself just to make sure that's really what it said. Rick stared at me, nervous.  
Without thought, Rick and I walked over to the back of the room towards the air vent. Rick tried opening it but it wouldn't budge. It was screwed in tight.  
"I need something to open it," Rick grunted, trying to open it once more. Jackson ran out of the room and came back with a screwdriver. Rick grabbed it and unscrewed the air vent. It fell with a loud bang.  
All three of us looked inside the vent. Inside was a small flap of paper. Rick scooped it up and Jackson and I looked down at it. The flap of paper was a photograph. A photograph of a little girl.

...

After minutes of trying to get Rick back in the room, I finally gave up. The man wouldn't budge. I walked back into the room and saw Jackson kneeling down, looking at the photo.  
"Do you know who this is? Ain't no doubt that I don't." His Texan accent sounded stronger than usual. He smirked up at me, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't help much, but I did give him credit.  
"I have no clue. Here, let me see it." He handed me the photo and I observed it. The little girl had curly blonde hair. She was smiling with a giant lollipop in her left hand with a dog leash in the other. On the other end of the dog leash, a small German Shepard puppy sat in the grass, staring at a butterfly. I flipped it over to the back and saw numbers.  
"Jackson? I think there's a phone number on here." I looked over at him. He was in the back, observing the blood stained spot where Bob's body was. He quickly looked up at me in confusion.  
"A phone number?" He had a what-the-hell face on. "Should... we call it?"  
"I guess that's the only logical thing to do now, isn't it?" I smirked at Jackson, not receiving one back. I pulled out my phone and dialed in the number. Sure enough, it was a phone number. Then, the ringing stopped.  
"Hello, detective. Having a good day? Now we can finally start to play. We will meet soon, do not fear. But first, there's business that needs to be done here."  
The voice sounded menacing, and it was almost like a whisper. I didn't know what to do or say. So I just waited for the voice to say something else.  
"Please, detective, don't be silent. That's the one thing that makes me violent. I think you should answer, that's what I suggest. It'd be smart not to make me more stressed." I shuddered. I still had no idea what to say. By this time, Jackson had already walked over and was standing next to me.  
"Detective, I swear to God that you should talk. Or you will lose this case and I will take a walk."  
"Who is this?" I said suddenly. Jackson jumped in surprise. I heard a laugh on the other line. The man thought this was funny.  
"Oh, how I love this job. I love the stuff I do that I did to poor Bob. The man begged for me to quit. But I just kept going, just a bit. Now you're next, there is no stopping. I'll smile greatly while your body is dropping. I can't wait to meet you, it will be fun. I think your death with be the best one." The phone made a clicking sound, and the voice was gone.  
"What the hell was that?" Jackson stared at me cautiously. I looked at him, breathing hard. Sweat started to drip down from the top of my forehead.  
"I think we have a big problem on our hands."

...

I explained what happened to Jackson and Rick. Jackson confiscated my phone so he could go and try to trace the call. Rick sat in the truck, staring out the windshield. I got into the driver's seat and sat there with him.  
"When are you getting your phone back?" Rick asked, not moving his eyes.  
"Jackson said around tomorrow. He said that he needs to take it to the station. The man gave me the creeps. He rhymed." Rick shook his head and sighed.  
"What the hell is our world coming to? We've got killers murdering innocent people for no reason. We have rapist. We have drug dealers that don't realize that they are just messing up their lives. Now we've got some maniac rhyming over the dang phone. Sometimes, this job is too much to handle."  
I couldn't help but agree. There are times in this job that make you wonder why you're even in it. But after a while you remember that you're in here for the people. To protect the people from the sick creeps that lurk in this city.  
"True. But remember, without us, people would be the complete opposite from safe."  
"Even with us, they still aren't safe." He took his eyes away from the windshield and stared into my eyes. "We aren't enough to keep the creeps from doing the things they do. Even when we take one down, another pops up. It's like a never ending battle between the bad guys and the heroes."  
I understood where he was coming from.  
"Rick, just don't think about it. This is a rewarding job, is it not?" Rick nodded his head. "Yeah, it is. No doubt about that." He started tapping his fingers on the arm rest. "Can we just go do something else? To take our minds off of this?"  
I nodded my head and couldn't help but smile.  
"Sure. But there is one problem."  
"What?"  
"I need your phone to call Sarah."  
Rick laughed and handed me his phone. I started up the car and we drove off down the street. I dialed up Sarah's number and waited for her to pick up her phone.  
"Hello?" Sarah's voice came through the other end of the phone.  
"Sarah? It's Eli. Rick and I are going to have a few drinks at the bar. Okay?"  
"Why are you using Rick's phone?" I couldn't help but laugh.  
"Jackson had to confiscate it so he could trace a call. It's no big deal." Sarah hesitated to answer.  
"Why did he have to trace a call on your phone?" I could hear Sarah setting down her car keys on the other end of the line. She must have been out somewhere and just got home.  
"Some creep left a phone number behind and I called it, being the curious idiot I am. Turns out the murder isn't all the creep has in mind." Rick started to chew on his lip. This, of course, wasn't helping with the whole "forget about it" idea.  
"And that's no big deal?" The sound of a chair being pulled from under a table and sat on came through the phone.  
"Sarah, don't worry. It's fine." I said, reassuring her. Sarah sighed.  
"Okay. Have fun at the bar." She hung up the phone and I handed it back to Rick.  
"Thanks," I said, putting my free hand onto the wheel.  
"No problem."  
The ride to the bar was pretty quiet. I tried to start conversations, but Rick would give me one word answers.  
I pulled into the bar's parking lot and Rick got out before the truck could even stop. I guess the man wanted a drink pretty badly.  
Rick and I walked into the bar, eyes meeting ours as we walked over to a table. Rick slumped down in a chair and I sat across from him. I went for my wallet when Rick stopped me.  
"No, it's on me," he said, getting up from his chair. He walked over to the bartender and ordered us two drinks. He set them on the table and gulped down his. By the time I was half way done with mine, Rick had gone through three whole glasses. After an hour of being there, we both were already drunk.  
We were talking about usual things that two drunken dudes would talk about. We talked about women, cars, and dreams that would never happen. Somehow, our childhood came into conversation.  
Several minutes passed by with many conversations that jumped from one to another. I knew I wouldn't remember them, but I couldn't care less.  
"Rick... I think we're drunk." Rick looked off in deep thought. After several seconds, he quickly looked back at me.  
"I feel fine." We started laughing hysterically. Then Rick stopped and stared behind me, squinting really hard.  
"That dude," he said pointing. "That dude has been watching us this whole time." I looked behind me and saw a man leaning against the wall in the back of the bar. He was wearing a hood over his face and had jeans on.  
"Hey!" Rick stood up and yelled from across the room. "Hey, what are you looking at?" Rick threw his arms up.  
The man only stopped leaning on the wall and started walking over to us.  
"Oh, this guy wants a piece of me!" Rick took a step and tripped on the leg of the table. The man met Rick in front of our table and got pretty close to him. He was just as tall as Rick, if not taller.  
He pulled Rick closer to him and whispered something into his ear. Rick seemed to get furious. The man pushed Rick away from him, making him run into the table behind us. The man started walking away, but I got up from my seat and got in his way. Turns out, the man was a few inches taller than me. He put his hand on my chest and pushed me back into my seat.  
He disappeared into the crowd and Rick sat back down, breathing hard. His face was completely red.  
"What did that idiot tell you?" I asked. Rick took another sip of his drink and took a second to answer.  
"He wants..." He took another sip of his drink. "He wants to meet us behind the bar in ten minutes."

...

Rick and I finished our drinks in one gulp and stormed out behind the bar. A dumpster sat in the dark corner, hardly noticeable. The man was nowhere in sight.  
"Ha! Looks like he didn't show up after all." Rick stumbled over to the back door of the bar and was about to go back inside. Suddenly, the eerie sound of a bottle breaking flooded the back ally. Rick and I quickly looked back and saw the man standing next to the dumpster.  
Something about him seemed different. He seemed more menacing than he did in the bar. His hood covered more of his face, not revealing anything behind it. It was like a black hole of nothing. His fists were tightened into a ball as if he was ready to cause serious pain. But this didn't seem to bother Rick.  
"I don't know what you were looking at, buddy. But you were staring at the wrong guy!" Rick ran over to sock the man in the face. But he was ready.  
The man quickly dodged his fist and kicked him right into the dumpster. Rick fell to the ground, getting the air knocked out of him.  
"Rick, come on. I don't think this guy meant any harm." I tried to tell Rick to stop, but he just got right back up and went right back at him.  
He threw his foot up, trying to kick him in the stomach, but the man caught his leg and bashed his elbow into Rick's knee. Rick cried out in pain.  
Gasping, Rick fell back to the ground and didn't attempt to get back up.  
"You think you got the best of me? Well, you're wrong!" Rick tried crawling away, but the man slammed his foot into Rick's ribs. Once again, Rick cried out in pain.  
I took a deep breath and walked over to the man, ready to fight. I put my fists up and got into a fighting stance.  
He looked over at me, letting some light get through his hood, only revealing his smile. His evil smile.  
I threw a punch, but he blocked it. I threw another. Then another. All of a sudden, a sudden pain ran through my body. The man had struck me in the stomach.  
I felt like puking, but I only spit and got back into my fighting stance. He threw a punch, but I victoriously blocked it. But the victory didn't last long, because he quickly threw a punch again, socking me in the side of my jaw.  
My head jerked sideways. I started stumbling over sideways but I ran into the wall. I looked over and saw the man holding another bottle, spinning it in his hand.  
I could still see his smile, watching me like a pair of eyes.  
"Look, we don't want any trouble," I said. "Let's just resolve this like civilized people." I stepped away from the wall and started walking over to the man. "This doesn't have to end badly."  
"Oh, Detective, that's where you're wrong. Now I must leave, and you're coming along." Before I could respond, the side of my head was smacked with a bottle, knocking me unconscious.

...

Drowsily, I awoke in a pitch black room that was freezing cold. It felt as though my hands were tied behind my back and a bag was tied over my head. All I heard was the sound of the wind rubbing against the outside wall. Then, I heard a door open and close loudly, being followed by footsteps heading my way.  
My heart was beating rapidly, pounding against my chest. I could feel the blood rushing through my veins at a rapid speed. I started struggling, but it didn't help much.  
"Oh, good, you're finally awake. Now let's discuss the things at stake." All of a sudden, the bag was ripped from my head. The light flooded my sight, making me flinch. I looked around the room and saw nothing but the man.  
He was walking around the room, running the tip of a knife against the wall as he walked. Still wearing that hood from earlier, he watched the knife, not looking away.  
"What do you want with me?" I said. The man stopped suddenly and slowly looked over at me. But I didn't expect what I saw next.  
The man wore a plastic white mask that covered all of his face. The mask had small red dots for eyes and a thin red smile that ran all across the bottom of it.  
"All I want... is a favor done. You won't do much, only just one. But you must do it fast, for we don't have much time. But don't worry, the outcome will be sublime." He chuckled as he walked over to me and knelt down. He started running the knife along my cheek.  
"What did you do with Rick?" I asked.  
"Oh, little Rick is still in that alley. But let's continue our talk, shall we?" He got his face closer to mine, close enough to where I could hear his breath run against the inside of his mask.  
"Okay. What do you want me to do?" I stammered my words a little, making me look pathetic. The man stood back up and turned his back to me.  
"In the other room, there lies a bomb. It detonates soon, but you must be calm. You will set it in the nearby church. You must not be suspicious so they will not search. It will explode in twenty-four hours. Do it in time, and victory will be ours." He chuckled once more, rubbing his finger along the sharp side of the knife.  
"I'll never do that. You can't make me." I tried to sit up, but I only fell back down. It was silent in the room for a second. I looked over at the man and saw that he was getting rough with rubbing his finger on the sharp part of the knife. Too rough.  
He pierced his skin, opening a gap in his finger, letting blood seep through and drip on the floor. All of a sudden, he threw his knife at my face.  
The knife stabbed into the floor right next to my head, barely missing. It stuck in its place, not even budging.  
"Don't you dare refuse, detective!" His yell sounded muffled from the mask covering his face, echoing around the room. "I put a lot of thought into this, I swear! You must do it for me, it's only fair!"  
The man grabbed my shirt and threw me against the wall, making me grunt in surprise. He slammed his hands against the wall and put his face up close to mine.  
"Detective," he said as quiet as a whisper, "you have no choice. Listen to me, listen to my voice! The clock is ticking, you must not disrupt. Or your world with surely erupt. So accept the fact that you must kill. For if you don't, I most certainly will."  
He started a slow chuckle as he backed away from me, not breaking eye contact. He grabbed the knife and pulled it out of the ground, sticking it into his pocket. But he wasn't done talking.  
"Taking someone's life isn't so bad. It's actually the best feeling I've ever had. Let's hope you commit to doing your job. Or else you will end up like poor old Bob." He started laughing hysterically, tilting his head back.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I said, feeling my heart beating faster than ever. The man stopped laughing and slowly looked down at me. He knelt down and a small, almost silent, chuckle came from behind that mask.   
"Rhyming Ralph, that's my name. Murdering people, that's the game."

...

Not even attempting to get out, I lay motionless in the trunk of the Ralph's car. The ride was bumpy, no doubt about that. But I made it through.  
Ralph stopped the car, opened to trunk, and dragged me out. My back hit the ground pretty hard, making me grunt. But that was the worst of it.  
Before Ralph had stuck me in his trunk, he had put the bag back over my head. Having no idea where I was, only knowing I was in a grassy field due to having the grass brush against my skin, I did panic a little. But I knew he wasn't going to kill me. He said himself that he needed me. Well, unless I refused to do his dirty work. But I was a detective. I was Detective Eli. I would figure out how to stop this somehow. Hopefully.  
Ralph ripped the bag from my head, and I finally saw where I was. I was in the middle of a grassy field surrounded by trees. The tall grass blew rhythmically with the wind, swaying like the waves of a gorgeous ocean.  
"Where am I?" I asked. Ralph only looked at me, but didn't say anything. He stood there for a few seconds, and then turned around to walk away. But I had more questions.  
Ralph grabbed a bag from the back of his car and carefully set it down next to me. I already knew what it was, but I asked any way.  
"Is this the bomb?" Once again he didn't answer. He just stood there for a second, then turned around.  
"Wait! At Bob Garrison's crime scene, you left a picture! A picture of a little girl! Who is she? What does she have to do with this?" My breathing became harder as I watched Ralph's jacket sway in the wind. He stopped and stared at the ground, not saying a single word. Then, he slowly turned around and looked at me.  
"That little girl's life is in your hands. If you want her to live, then don't screw up my plans. You do as you're told, and she won't be harmed. I will turn myself in, truthfully and unarmed. Don't think about running, that wouldn't be smart. Because I'll be watching you during that part. Let's hope that you finish in time. Or her death will just be another crime."  
Ralph turned back around and started to walk away. A sudden rage filled my heart and head. I could feel the blood rushing from my head and through my body. I tried to lunge at him, but my hands were tied up too well.  
"So this is blackmail? You're saying that if I don't blow up the church, you're going to kill that little girl? That's sick! That's demented!" I only heard Ralph chuckle as he got into his car and drove off, leaving me in the middle of nowhere.

...

I managed to get to my feet after a good ten minutes when Ralph had driven out of sight. The bag that carried the bomb was heavy and was a pain to carry. But I had to choice to take it with me. The sun had started to set and sweat started to drip from the top my forehead. I had been walking for a good hour or so, and then I found a street that ran through the field. From afar, I only saw a car or two pass by.  
Though Ralph was messed up in the head, he was smart. He had covered his license plate so I couldn't somehow remember it. The mask and the hood were smart, too. That way I couldn't see any facial structure or hair of any kind. Hell, even the rhyming got to me. It made him seem more... menacing. Ralph knew what he was doing. And that's what scares me the most.  
Cars passed by me with no problem. The people driving them would look at me as they passed, and then speed up right after. It's like they thought I was a monster or something. It's amazing what people can assume nowadays.  
After more sunlight was lost and cars passing me, a car stopped. The driver was a teenage boy with long, shaggy blonde hair and a small goatee. He was probably around seventeen or eighteen. A cigarette hung from the side of his mouth, nearly falling off.  
"Need a lift?" he said, rolling down his window.  
"Yes. Also, would you mind telling me the nearest city?" The boy looked ahead and started to think.  
"Umm, I just came from Irving. I'm on my way to Frisco. Is there somewhere else you need to be?"  
"No, Frisco is where I need to be."  
The boy nodded his head and unlocked the door. I opened to back door and slid the bomb onto the seat. I awkwardly walked over to the passenger side and got into the car, slowly putting on my seatbelt.  
Please, for the love of God, don't look in the bag.  
"Could I use your phone?" I asked. The boy had already started to drive down the road.  
"Sure." He reached into his pocket and handed it to me. I flipped it open and dialed in Jackson's number. The phone rang and rang, and then it sent me to voicemail.  
"Come on Jackson, don't do this to me now," I whispered to myself. I dialed it in again and waited. Then a groggy voice had answered.  
"Hello?" Jackson sounded as if he had just woken up.  
"Jackson! You remember the photo of the little girl?" Jackson didn't answer. "Jackson? Wake up, man!"  
"Yes, I remember! Why?"  
"Well..." I hesitated. It was like I hadn't even taken in the whole story yet. "The murderer of Bob Garrison plans more than just killing an innocent man. He did that to get our attention. Or... at least mine. The man behind it kidnapped me at the bar. He told me I had to do something for him. Something big. Something bad..." I took in a breath. "And if I didn't do it, he would kill that little girl in the photo." I saw the boy stare at me on the side of my eye.  
Jackson was silent. Then I heard rustling of clothes and footsteps on a wooden floor.  
"What do you have to do?" Jackson asked, sounding worried and in a hurry.

"He..." I looked over at the boy. "I'll tell you later. I'll meet you at the station. Get ready, Jackson. This... this is big."

...

I pushed open the doors of the police station, looking around the room. An officer sat in a small chair, reading a news paper. Jackson stood next to the front desk, tapping his fingers on a clipboard. He looked up as soon as I walked in and took me into his office.  
"Okay, I'm done waiting. What's going on?" Jackson sat down in his chair behind his desk, and I sat down in the chair in front of it. I sighed and stared at the bag that I had set down next to me.  
"Well, you know the first part. The rest of it, though..." I started tapping my fingers on the arm rest. "You see this bag?"  
I looked down at the bag and Jackson nodded.  
"Well... the killer told me that in order to keep that girl safe I have to-"  
Wait! Was this smart? What about the little girl? What if Ralph found out and killed the girl? But I can't lie... That goes against what I do! I need to tell him.  
"What? You have to what?" Jackson leaned forward onto his desk.  
"He wants me to... set a bomb in the church." I glanced at Jackson, who had the most surprised face I've ever seen.  
"What?" he exclaimed. He sat up from his chair and started pacing around the room.  
"Is that the bomb?" He pointed at the bag at my feet. I slowly nodded my head.  
Jackson ran his fingers through his hair and leaned on the wall. I could just see all the thoughts running through his mind at the moment.  
"He said he'd be watching me when I set the bomb. But I think that if you come with me, but not obviously, then I could go in the church and warn anyone in there. Then you and your men could search around and see if you could find him." I sat up from the chair, tapping my teeth together nervously.  
"What if he's in the church?"  
"Then I don't warn anyone. I take the bag, but not the bomb. I can leave the bomb here and a bomb squad could try and disarm it. I fill the bag with something that resembles a bomb, and then walk into the basement of the church like I was going to plant it."  
Jackson sighed and started pacing around the room again.  
"It's crazy but... seems to be the most logical thing. Here, open the bag up." Jackson walked over and knelt down next to the bag. I unzipped it and we both gasped.  
The bomb had wires coming from one end of it to the other. It had a timer the blinked with every second. The timer said that the bomb had a good twenty-two hours until it blew.  
"Holly..." Jackson couldn't finish his sentence. He was too shocked. I knelt down, looking into the bag.  
"Get a bomb squad over here. But tell them not to be noticeable. No siren or anything. Just drive here." Jackson nodded and walked out of the room. I heard him pick up the phone at the front desk. Sounding really panicked, he ordered a bomb squad to come to the station immediately. He told them what I had said, be normal.  
I watched the timer tick down with every second. The red numbers intimidated me, ticking down and down, laughing at me.  
Jackson had walked back in. I could see sweat reflecting the light off of his skin. His eyes were filed with worry. I could just see his heart beating through his chest.  
"Eli," he said, reaching into desk door. I looked over at him, breaking contact with the bomb. Jackson tossed over a square, grey object to me. I caught it and looked at it. It was my phone.  
"I found the source where the call was from. So if we don't find the creep at the church, we know where he will be." Jackson smirked, and I smirked back. "Oh, and we found Rick in the ally of the bar. What was that about?"  
"Long story. Tell you later."  
Jackson nodded his head and pointed at the bomb.  
"Carefully pick that up and set it on my desk. I already told the bomb squad where it'd be and where we would be." I sighed and slowly picked the bomb up. It was a lot lighter than I expected.  
I carefully set it down on the desk and backed away from it, watching it. Jackson grabbed a few books from his bookshelf and tossed them into the bag. It was to symbolize that something was in there, so Ralph would think the bomb was.  
"Well," Jackson sighed, "I guess there isn't much to do but go to the church." He slipped on his uniform and took his gun from under his desk.  
"Let's go catch us a criminal."  
Spoken like a true cop.

...

The church towered up into the sky, the tip forming into a spherical figure. Sunlight reflected off of its metal surface, shining brightly. People walked in and out of the church, smiling and laughing with their friends and family.  
I stood in at the front, staring at the entrance door. The bag sagged low from my grasp, almost touching the ground. I couldn't see Jackson and his men anywhere. But that made me feel more comfortable. They were doing what they needed to do.  
Taking in a breath, I slowly walked up the front steps and into the church.  
A cool wave of air splashed me in the face. The hum of air conditioning rang all throughout the service room. People sat in the pews, reading their bibles as the pastor got everything ready for the service.  
Trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, I walked around all the pews and stopped at the door of the pastor's office. Inside his office was a basement. I had to go in there and act like I was planting the bomb just in case Ralph was the church.  
I looked around the room. Everyone was reading, the pastor was still getting things ready, and the pianist was nowhere in sight. This was my chance.  
I quickly opened and closed the door as I walked in. Looking out the small window that was on the door, I saw that no one noticed me.  
My heartbeat slowed a little, calming me down. Now all I had to do was "plant" it. I walked over to the basement door and set my hand on the handle. Feeling like I was being watched, I opened the door and walked in.  
The basement smelt musty and felt like it hadn't been touched in years. I hadn't walked down the stairs. This was as far as I needed to go to make Ralph believe I was planting the bomb, if he was watching me.  
I leaned on the basement wall, relaxing a little. All I had to do was wait for a few minutes, walk out, and look suspicious. I took a long, deep breath and kind of laughed. I couldn't help but think. Why me?  
Was it because I called him? Did I have a feature that Ralph liked? Or was it because I seemed the most vulnerable? Either way, I was unlucky.  
A small, quiet ringing came from my pocket. I quickly grabbed it and flipped it open. It was Rick. I had no choice but to answer.  
"Hello?"  
"Eli! Eli, get out of there!" Jackson's voice boomed from the other line, hurting my ears and making me flinch.  
"What? Why?"  
"The bomb, Eli! The bomb is fake! The whole plan is fake!" I dropped the phone and stood in shock. The world stopped rotating. Time seemed to stop. I wasn't tricking Ralph. Ralph had tricked me.  
I boomed out from the basement and the pastor's office, busting into the service room, not caring about the bag. People jumped and yelped, dropping their bibles.  
I didn't have time to tell them what I was doing there or what I had done.  
I flew out of the entrance door and saw Rick running towards the church. I met with him halfway.  
"Where are your men?" I asked, breathing hard.  
"I sent them to search the perimeter. Why would the creep kidnap you and give you a fake bomb?" Jackson had sweat dripping off the side of his face.  
I thought hard. It didn't make any sense. Did Ralph see this as a game? Did he just do this to be amused? Why a fake bomb? Why a fake bomb...  
Then, it hit me. It hit me harder than punch to the face. The sudden realization made my heart stop. We didn't trick Ralph. Ralph tricked us.  
"For more time!" I started to yank my hair and panic, pacing around. "He gave us a fake bomb to distract us! So he could do what he needed to do!" Jackson starred at me and gasped. He had agreed.  
"That psycho! Why would he need-"  
It was as if lightning had struck just next to us. Our eardrums vibrated in pain, making Jackson and I cover our ears and fall to our knees. I gritted my teeth so hard to the point it hurt my jaw.  
The noise had vanished and Jackson freed his ears. I did the same.  
"What in God's name was that?" Jackson said. Before I could answer, I turned and saw it. The local hospital across the street was demolished. People all around screamed and cried for help, gasping and standing in disbelieve.  
Time had slowed down. Cars had slowed. The people running had slowed. Even Jackson sprinting towards the hospital, yelling in his walkie-talkie had slowed down. I couldn't help but stand there, in the church parking lot, motionless. Ralph had won. He had tricked all of us. And I realized that as I watched his prize crumble into flames.

...

Ralph stood on top of the hill, watching the local hospital crumble. He smiled as people cried in fear, running for help, screaming in shock. He took one, quick glance at Detective Eli, standing in the church parking lot, watching Ralph's masterpiece. It made Ralph giggle with joy.  
Silly Eli. Thinking he could trick me. Ralph. Rhyming Ralph.  
Ralph took in the picture one more time. People in fear. Officer Jackson calling for backup. Detective Eli standing in disbelief. It was all too much for Ralph. But one more take was all he needed, then he turned around and walked away.  
Ralph's car sat on the bottom of the hill, waiting for him to drive off to his escape. But Ralph stopped. Something felt wrong.  
He reached into his pocket and pulled a small flap of paper. It was the photo of the little girl. Ralph laughed and tossed the photo to the side.   
Ralph knew he was crazy. But, to Ralph, crazy overpowered knowledge. Knowledge doesn't drive you to do the unthinkable. Crazy does. Crazy drives you to blow up a hospital. Crazy drives you to become the nightmare of a once unstoppable detective. Crazy drives you to blackmail said detective. Crazy... drives you to lie. Crazy drove Ralph. It always had.  
Ralph unlocked his car and got in, shutting the door and starting the engine. The sweet hum filled Ralph's ears. It was the hum of freedom. Ralph took off his mask and set it aside in the passenger seat. No need in wearing it anymore.

As he put his hands on the wheel, he couldn't help but look in the rearview mirror and watch the thick smoke float up into the sky. And as Ralph drove off into freedom, he couldn't help but think.  
I beat Eli. I had done it. I had set the world on fire.

...

Special

Karen

It's funny how you can sit in a giant crowd of people, yet you feel like the loneliest person in the world. Everyone around me cheered their hearts out as the football game went on in front of them. I must have seemed like a complete loser just sitting there. But I wasn't there for the game.

I know it sounds weird, but I was there to watch the cheerleaders. I wanted to watch them and see how they could be so happy. I wanted to drown in the thought of being one of them. How I could be popular. But, I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm far from that.

I'm the type of girl that avoids most people because I'm afraid of becoming attached to them. So, most of the time, I keep to myself. Every once in awhile, I go to a football game. But it's only for when my parents are yelling at me. Well... when it's worse than usual.

The horn blew and halftime started. The cheerleaders all went over to the bleachers to sit down and take a break. Every few seconds, a girl would walk over to them and start talking. I would assume that it's a friend. Instead of sitting back in the crowd, I took that as my chance.

I sat up and walked over to the group of girls. They didn't notice me at first. But once I got a few feet away, they did. The first to notice me was Lora Martin. She gave me a disgusted look and snorted.

"Hey, guys," she said as she pointed at me, "it's Creepy Karen! What do you want?" I stopped dead in my tracks and stood there awkwardly. They all started to stare at me.

"Hey," said Becca Swartz, "she asked you a question." The girls around her giggled. I didn't move. I kept my eyes on Lora, staring at her for the longest time. She snapped her fingers at me a few times.

"God, you're so weird. Yet you wonder why your name is Creepy Karen?"

"I... uh..." I stuttered. My heart was racing. What was I thinking? Did I expect them to start talking to me like I was their friend? I hadn't said a word to any of them in the years I've known them.

"You what? Did you expect us to talk to you?" They all laughed at Lora's remark. My heart shattered at that.

"Look," Becca said, standing up and walking to me, "there's a reason we don't talk to you. We're actually liked by people. And, well, you're not. If people ever saw us being nice to you, that would ruin our reputation. People expect us to be us. So, do yourself a favor and just walk away before you embarrass yourself even more."

She smirked at me and walked away back to her friends. Even after that, I stood there. My heart was racing even faster. But I wasn't embarrassed or scared. I was angry. Very, very angry.

It took awhile for one of those idiots to realize that I was still there. Lora looked back and sighed. That made all of the others to look at me too. They all gave me a look that said they wanted me dead.

"Maybe you're too stupid to understand what Becca just said to you," said Sarah Grey. "Get the hell away from us!" They all laughed. I crossed my arms and did something I would've thought I'd never do. I just realized and said one thing.

"I'll see you all in Hell." With that, I just turned around and walked back to the bleachers. I didn't hear a single word from them. I didn't hear them laugh. So at least I got something accomplished. I showed them that I wasn't someone to mess with. And I prove that even more... really soon

I sat back down and waited for the game to start back up. It hit the ten-minute mark in halftime and the cheerleaders ran into the middle of the field, cheering as loud as they could, mashing their pom-poms together and shaking them.

The crowd around me went silent and started to listen to the cheerleader's cheer. I couldn't comprehend why they thought it would be important coming for those idiots. I watched as they all got into their formation for the cheer.

"You can think you're better, but we can prove you wrong! The Dragons come to beat you and to prove that they are strong! We're here to win and nothing else and that's why you are wrong!" The whole crowd ate that up and cheered for them. I, on the other hand, knew that was terrible.

The girls all got in the formation to stunt, all of them cheering, "Go Dragons!" Lora, Becca, and Sarah all got ready to be thrown up. Just seeing them smile that stupid smile made me mad. My heart started to race again, but faster this time.

With a mighty push, all three of them were thrown in the air. Becca added in the splits, making the crowd cheer even louder. How could they cheer for them? They're selfish, stupid, and probably the meanest people ever born! They don't deserve fame or happiness! They deserve sorrow and loneliness! They deserve what I have!

That's when I snapped back into perspective and noticed it was dead silent. Why had the crowd stop cheering? Then, I saw why.

Lora, Becca, and Sarah were all in the air. But they were staying there. They all squirmed as they floated above the shocked cheerleaders below. No one knew what to do. Some people around me covered their mouths in surprise. I couldn't help but stare at them.

"Help!" Lora cried, flailing her arms around like an idiot. My heart stopped racing and I calmed down. That's when they all fell back down and landed on the girls who weren't prepared to catch them. The whole group of girls fell down to the ground, moaning in pain.

More than half the team of football players ran out into the field to help the girls back up. Almost everyone around me started to talk. I sat there in shock, watching the girls as they got back up. Had I done that? It sure felt like it. I looked around and quickly sat up, leaving the crowd of people behind me. My mind was freaking out. My heart was racing.

I busted through the bathroom door and went to a mirror. I could easily read the confusion in my eyes. Sure, it wasn't proven that I did it. But when it happened, I felt something in me... change. I felt something that I had never felt before. I closed my eyes and tried to think normal thoughts. I tried to think of other things.

"It wasn't you," I said. "It was just some freak thing that happened. You did not do it." I felt my heart racing faster than it ever had before. I quickly opened my eyes, but I wish I hadn't.

In the reflection, I saw the two trashcans floating in midair, along with the trash on the floor and rolls of toilet paper. I looked back and gasped, backing up against the wall. Then, it all slammed back down to the floor, making the trash cans topple over, spilling the trash that was in it.

I looked around the room, breathing really hard, more sweat started to drip down my face. I slid down in the corner and huddled into a ball, crying and freaking out. I covered my face in my thighs and stayed in there for the longest time, balling my eyes out. What was I? What had I done? I didn't move from that spot. Not even after the game ended. I wanted to stay there for the rest of my long, lonely life.

.....

Joshua

For some odd reason, I wasn't hungry. As I sat there, watching my family eat around me, I lost my appetite. Something on that day had happened. Something that I will never forget and will always haunt me.

"Joshua?" Mom asked as she set her fork down. "Why haven't you touched your food?" I looked at her, then at Dad, who was giving me a sympathized look as well. Loren, my little sister, just kept eating, not even paying attention.

"Well... something happened today at school. And it's really bothering me." I tried to avoid eye contact with either of them. I don't know if I could tell them. What would they think of me? Hell, would they even believe me?

"What happened?" Dad asked.

"Umm... well, there's this bully at school. His name is Rick. He picks on a lot of people. But he mainly picks on Jacob. On the way to homeroom, I kind of had this... vision before I stepped into the room. I saw Jacob getting beat up by Rick in the boys bathroom. The clock in the background said it was three.

"So after homeroom, I ran up to Jacob and told him what I saw. I told him to avoid the bathroom after school at all cost. He didn't believe me. He called me crazy. After school, I heard everyone talking about how Rick had 'beat the crap' out of Jacob in the bathroom. In the vision, I saw Jacob's nose break and his left cheek bruised really badly. And when I saw him... that's exactly what had happened. The bruise on his cheek was exactly how I saw it.

"So when he saw me, he blamed me for it. He said that I set the whole thing up and that I told him not to go to the bathroom as a joke. Now he won't talk to me. But I swear I saw it all happen before it happened. I swear I... saw the future."

Mom and Dad looked at each other and busted out laughing. I slumped down in my chair and stared at my plate.

"Joshua, that's silly. No one can 'see the future'," Mom said. Dad wiped his hands with his napkin and stood up.

"Maybe you just heard Rick talking about it in the halls and forgot. Now eat your dinner. No food gets wasted in this house as long as I'm here." Dad picked up his plate and walked into the kitchen to put it in the sink.

"You guys just don't understand. You didn't see it like I did. I knew you wouldn't get it. Sorry I brought it up." I sighed. I stood up and walked out of the dining room.

"Joshua..." Mom started. I didn't let her finish. I just drowned her out and walked up stairs to my room. How could they just sit there and laugh at me? How could they laugh at their own son?

I fell onto my bed and let the softness take me away. I felt my eyes droop down and get heavier. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep. Oh, I wish I hadn't.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of a city. Looking around, I noticed the city was abandoned. The whole place was silent. I didn't hear a single thing besides the wind blowing through the shattered windows of the buildings around me. Papers and trash flew with the wind, flapping wildly. A newspaper had landed at my feet. On the front page, the headline read, "War between Freaks and Citizens begun!" Freaks and Citizens? War?

I kicked the paper away from my feet and started to look around. I heard nothing. No bird flew in the sky. No person walked the streets. The only sign of life was the sun that beamed down on top of me. And that's when I heard it.

The sudden sound of a machine rolling down the streets in the distance echoed all around me. It started far away, but got closer. All of a sudden, an army of men appeared down the street, walking in rows of 5 in front of a massive tank.

A leader walked in front of all of them, yelling out orders to the soldiers behind him. I almost fled away, but noticed that they couldn't see me. So I just stood there, watching in awe.

The men marched in perfect order and rhythm. The stomps of their footsteps were drowned out by the tank that followed. They all kept on marching forward, not paying attention to their surroundings.

All of a sudden, the tank started to slowly rise from the ground. Every soldier stopped what they were doing and aimed their guns all over the place.

"Freaks! Look all around for 'em!" one soldier yelled. They were all too busy looking around that they didn't even notice the tank above them all. The massive machine dropped down, landing on more than half of them. I couldn't hear the disturbing sound of all of them getting crushed. It was drowned out by the tank landing on the ground.

"Get to cover!" another soldier yelled. They all scrambled around and hid inside buildings. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't do anything. All I could do was watch. I wanted to wake up. I tried so hard to wake up. But I couldn't.

Then, fire spread around the area, flying into every building that the soldiers were in. I could hear the screams of the soldiers as they were gulped in fire. Some came running out of the buildings, but they didn't get far. From somewhere in the flames, a bolt of lightning would strike the fleeing soldier. Then they'd fall to the floor. And they'd stay there.

I started to panic, trying so hard to wake up. I didn't want to stay there. But I couldn't even move. I was terrified. But, at the same time, I was confused. What was going on?

The flames disappeared and all that was left was silence. A few bodies lay in the middle of the street, near the tank. After all of that, nothing dared to move. For a few minutes, it was dead silent. Then came the slightest sound. Footsteps.

Three figures appeared from the shadows. One was a girl, seemed she was maybe in high school. The other two were boys. One seemed older than the other, and the other seemed around the age of the girl.

The younger looking boy looked around and started to look at the bodies. He knelt down and examined one of them closely.

"Go and shock any body that you see. We can't afford a survivor," said the younger looking boy to the older boy.

"Yes, sir," he replied. Then he was off. The girl stood next to the boy, watching him examine the bodies.

"That was some good work with the tank," he said to her. She smirked and looked back at the tank.

"Good work with the tank? How about that firestorm? That was awesome!" A smile engraved onto her face, but the boy didn't respond to her remark. He just kept looking at the body. What was so important about it?

"Go around and look at the bodies with him to speed up the process. We don't have time to waste. We can't stay here long. Odds are they heard that from a mile away." The girl sighed and looked at the building the other boy was in.

"Okay. Have fun with that, Nick." The girl walked off into the building and the boy stayed there for a while. He ran his fingers across the body's chest and rubbed his fingers together. Then he looked up. Straight at me.

"I know you're there, Joshua," he said. My heart stopped. "I know you can see this now. You warned me about it before. But I didn't listen." I couldn't answer. "I want you to know that you can't keep this from happening. This... this is unstoppable. I know you're confused, but we will meet soon. Don't worry. It will all make sense eventually. But until then... wake up."

I jolted up from my bed. I felt the sweat on my back sticking to my shirt. My heart was racing and I was breathing hard. What was that? Was that another vision? Was that... the future? A bunch of things were flying around in my head. But one thing stood out from it all. His name. I had to remember that name.

Nick.

.....

Luke

"Come on, Trace! You can tackle harder than that!" That's what I heard every second as I pushed as hard as I could on the tackling sled. Coach Hearse stood on the back, putting more weight on it. Everyone else was inside. But Coach thought he'd keep me out there a little bit longer.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can, Coach," I said. He just scoffed.

"Luke, next week is the biggest game this school has ever had. And you're my star player. I need you in top shape for that game, understand?" I didn't even bother to reply. "Now, come on! Push!"

"How can I be in top shape when I'm sore as hell?" I heard Hearse laugh as he jumped off of the sled.

"Good thinking, Trace," he said as he patted me on the back. "Go on up. I think you're ready." I nodded my head at him and jogged back up. Some kids were already on their way home, getting in their cars and driving off. I felt like an idiot jogging up so late.

When I walked into the locker room, it was almost empty. The only people that were in there were Sean Polk and Jason Truet. They didn't give me any attention when I walked in. They just kept on getting dressed silently.

It was kind of awkward, being silent and all. But I didn't really care. I didn't hang out with people like them.

I felt the sweat drip down my back as I took my shirt off. I tossed the shirt into my locker and pulled out the shirt I wore before practice. I could hear Jason and Sean behind me as they closed their lockers and started walking out.

"Hey, Trace," came Jason's voice from behind me. I was taken by surprise, considering I've never said a word to him.

"Uh... yeah?"

"I heard your girlfriend and her friends floated last night at the game," he laughed. "I guess your girlfriend is a freak!" Before I could respond, I heard the locker room door burst open as he ran out laughing.

I couldn't run after him, considering I was half naked. So I could only stand there. I didn't get too mad. I knew how freaked out Lora was about last night. She ditched the game during half time and no one found her for hours. I found her at my house, crying and scared. It took me forever to calm her down.

I only sighed and finished getting dressed. Coach Hearse walked in and walked past me to his office. I suddenly stopped and asked him a question.

"Coach Hearse?"

He grunted.

"What do you think that was last night?" I asked. "When... Lora and them floated? Everyone is calling them 'freaks'. I just want to know your take on it." He looked up and started scratching his chin.

"Hmm. I honestly don't know, Trace. And I'd rather not think about it. It creeps me out more the more I think about it." I smiled. I knew he'd say something like that.

"Yeah... same here, Coach. Same here..." I closed my locker and left the locker room. I didn't bother looking for Lora. I told her she should stay home today because I didn't think she was fit enough to come today. She still seemed a little shaken up.

I met up with Sarah and Becca in the hallway. They were sitting on a bench, waiting for their parents to come pick them up.

"Luke!" Becca waved at me. "Come sit with us!" They both scooted over and made room for me.

"How's Lora?" Sarah asked as I awkwardly sat on the bench.

"She still seemed messed up about it. How 'bout you guys? Are you two okay?" Sarah and Becca looked at each other.

"We could be better. But we aren't that shaken up about it. I honestly don't even think it happened. Do you, Sarah?" Sarah shook her head.

"Well, if you two need to talk, I'm here for you guys. Just like I am with Lora." Sarah and Becca smiled and giggled. They said something, but I ignored it. It was probably them just hitting on me again. I've gotten used to it. But I still try to avoid it.

"Is... is that Lora?" Becca asked, pointing at the front doors. I looked over, and there she was. Lora was standing at the doors, smiling.

"Lora?" I said as I stood up and walked to the door. She waved at me. I opened the door and got the air crushed out of me as Lora hugged me. "What are you doing here? I was about to come see you."

"I just couldn't wait. I started freaking out again and I needed to see you. Are you mad?" She gave me that look she always gives me when she thinks I'm going to be mad.

"Why would I be mad?" I said as I wrapped my arms around her. "The quicker I see you, the better." I grabbed her chin and tilted her head up, kissing her. I felt her smile under my lips.

"Oh, look at the freak. How adorable!" I looked over as saw Jason leaning on the wall with his hands in his pockets. Lora looked down at the ground and slowly tightened her arms around me.

"Go away, Jason!" I heard Sarah say.

"What? If you two can watch a freak make out with a dim witted jock, I can, too." Lora shoved her face into my chest. I could feel the sobs coming.

"Jason, just go away before I shove your face into the wall." I said.

"Oh, I'm so scared, Luke! Will you have your girlfriend grab me and float up really high and drop me?"

"Shut up!" I exclaimed. My pulse started to rise. I could feel the blood rushing through my veins.

"Oh, is the retarded jock going to kill me? Oh, God, no!" I stepped away from Lora, leaving her there with her face full of tears. I grabbed Jason's shirt collar and slammed him against the wall.

"You better shut the hell up before I rip your-"

I was pulled away from him, making him slide down the wall. I looked back and saw Lora sobbing, holding onto the back of my shirt.

"Just leave him, Luke," she sniffled. "He's not worth it." I looked over at Jason, then at Lora. Sighing, I turned and took Lora's hand. Sarah and Becca were giving Jason a death stare.

"Oh, yeah! Yet that freak is worth your pointless and wasteful time?" That's when something in me snapped.

I turned around towards Jason and saw his stupid face go from smiling to terrified. I don't know what terrified him, but it felt good. A sudden rage filled me up and was at the boiling point. I could see, on the side of my eye, Sarah and Becca backing up away from me against the wall.

"SHUT UP!" It happened so quickly. At first I didn't believe it. But it happened. A bolt of electricity shot from my hands and struck Jason square in the chest. It sent him flying into the wall, cracking it in several places. He fell to the ground with a loud thump.

I heard Lora crying from behind me, and I quickly turned. She was crawling away from me, more terrified than I have ever seen her.

"Sarah, I-" I reached out my hand, then stopped. My hand was shining blue with small electrical shocks running through my veins. I stared at it for the longest time, more confused and scared than I had ever been. I looked back at Jason and saw that he wasn't moving. Had I killed him?

I didn't bother to look back at Lora and her friends up against the wall. I just wanted to run. I wanted to run away and hide. I had just done something that shouldn't even be possible. I wanted to leave them there and never come back. I wanted to just get out of there.

And that's exactly what I did.

.....

Nick

Every once in awhile, a child is born... special. That child isn't like any other person. When they discover what they can do, it's up to them to figure whether they will use it for the people... or for themselves.

Sadly, I haven't chosen yet. If I help the people, I'd be helping the people that haven't had faith in me. The people that haven't treated me like a person. But if I use my power for myself, I'd drown in my own power, letting it feed on my heart and my mind.

As I sat there in my awful motel room, I stared at the wall. Everyday, I do this. I don't leave my room. I don't open the blinds. I just sit there and think. What I can do isn't the least bit normal. What I can do hurts people. A lot of people.

What's my story? That's hard to explain. Everything I've been through would make the strongest of man fall down to their knees. What I've been through would haunt the mind of any person. But I pulled through. Sadly... I don't think I can last any longer.

At times, I just feel like walking out there and killing everyone. I feel like I should just make them all suffer. Our world is too busy basking in its "glory" that it doesn't realize that it's a horrible place. I'm afraid of sticking my head out of the door. Even before this all happened, I was afraid. I was afraid to just see people because everyone is unpredictable. Anything can happen. Trust me... I learned that the hard way.

Let's begin my story with this.

It was a nice, cold Saturday afternoon. I was sitting on my couch, watching TV with my little sister, Anna. My parents were out at the store and they wanted me to watch her. This was the first time they trusted me enough to babysit my sister.

Anna didn't pay any attention to me. She only cared about the talking sponge on my TV. I didn't bother asking her if she wanted to do something else. As long as she was distracted, I was cool with it.

A fire sat under the TV, crackling silently under the noise of the cartoon. I could hear the sounds of cars passing by in the street outside.

"Nick?" Anna said. I looked over at her, seeing she had gotten up from the couch.

"Yeah?"

"Can we do something else? I've seen this episode before." A small smile had appeared on her little seven-year-old face. I smiled back at her.

"Sure. What do you want to do?" I sat up and stretched, reaching my hands for the ceiling. Anna turned and walked into her room. I stood and waited for her, listening to her search for something in her room. She came back out with a board game. Simple enough.

She sat it on the coffee table and pulled out the board and game pieces. I knelt down on the other side of the table and watched her set the game up.

"Since when did you like 'Monopoly'?" I asked with a laugh. She set the board game box down on the floor and sat down.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Nick," she replied with a smile. For thirty minutes, I laughed and talked with my little sister, which is something I haven't done in a while. I learned things about her that I would've never thought of. Like how she's actually really smart. Or how she has so many friends. I was having a lot of fun with her. But that ended very quickly.

All of a sudden, my front door busted open, slamming the door handle into the wall. My parents walked in and stopped at the coffee table. Easily, I read the anger in their eyes. My dad grabbed the board and threw it off of the table.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed as I stood up. Dad got his face into mine and jammed his finger into my chest.

"Who the hell do you think you are? We are your parents! I don't understand why you go around doing these... horrible things!" Mom grabbed Anna and took her into her room.

"What did I do?" I asked, pushing him away from me.

"What did you do? What didn't you do? Did you not think we'd find out eventually? Do you think we're stupid?" Dad picked up a couch pillow and threw it at me, hitting me in the face.

I could feel my heart racing and my pulse rising.

"What are you talking about?"

"Ditching school for months! Doing drugs! Stealing from stores! I don't know how you kept this from us for so long. But, my God! How can you live with yourself?" Dad picked up another pillow and threw it.

"Easy, Dad. I handle it how you do. I pretend it doesn't happen. You act like nothing's wrong with this family, yet you come home every night, drunk as hell! I hear the things you say to Mom. I hear the things you say about Anna and I. I know who you are!" The veins in my neck popped out and my face was turning red. "You don't care about this family! You were never there for me! So I found a hobby! Like father, like son."

The fire under the TV flickered.

"You don't know me!" Dad yelled.

"It's 'cause you're never there!"

The fire flickered again. Worse this time.

"Get out of my house! Just get the hell out!" He flipped over the coffee table, tipping over everything that was on it.

"Your house? I've been putting more effort to help this family more than you have!"

The fire grew larger, seeping out of the fireplace.

"How dare you talk to me-"

"HOW DARE YOU? You're a poor excuse for a person! You're pathetic! I'm embarrassed to call you my father!"

The room grew hotter as the fire grew larger and larger.

"How about you do this family a favor and do what you should've done years ago!" I grabbed the flower vase that was on the floor and smacked him in the head, sending him to the floor. "GET THE HELL OUT!"

That's when it all happened. The fire bursted out of the fireplace and surrounded the whole living room. I fell to my knees and looked around, terrified. The fire covered my whole house, melting everything I loved. But I wasn't getting burned.

The fire spread everywhere. In the kitchen. In the bathroom. Every room in this house was swallowed in flames.

Even Anna's.

A sudden drowsiness filled me and I fell to the floor. At that moment, I thought I was dying. Sadly... I wasn't. I passed out, falling into a sea of darkness. I don't know how long I was there, but when I woke up, I awoke in what used to be my home.

What I saw was what made me snap. What I saw was what made me run away and never turn back. What I saw made me realize that I was a monster.

Everything that had meaning to me was burned to ashes. My room. Every last family picture. My family. My Dad's body was burnt to a crisp. All that was left were his bones. Same goes for my mother. Same goes... for Anna.

I never tried to go back to my old life. What lied in my old life is only betrayal. Betrayal to my family.

Now you know why I must be where I am at this moment. All I do is hurt the things I love. I am a monster. I am hell with legs. I am a walking flamethrower.

So now I must choose whether to use my awful power for the greater good... or for myself. Save the people that would deny me as a person? Or kill the people that see me as a monster? But no matter what, I will do what I do for what I did. I will do it all... for Anna.

.....

Luke

Just a few hours ago, I had shot a lightning bolt at Jason Truet, sending him flying into the wall. My girlfriend, Lora, crawled away from me like I was a monster. Same goes for her friends. But who's to blame them? From what I saw, I was a monster.

After that, I ran away from the school. I didn't stop at home or anything. I just kept running. Running and running, I just didn't stop. I ran faster and longer than I ever had in my whole life. Now, as I sat behind a dumpster, shivering in the cold, dead of night, I cried.

I didn't know what to do. Hell, I didn't even know where I was. I was completely lost and didn't know who or where to go to. All I could do was stare at my hands and wonder how I had shot lightning from them a few hours before.

To pass time, I stared at the stars. From time to time, a plane would fly by and I would watch it as it flickered in the darkness of the night sky. When I wasn't doing that, I would listen to cars as they passed by. It would drown out the people as they walked by, talking about stupid things that no one cared about.

I did that for a good hour or so. Then, I realized that I wanted to try it again. I wanted to see if I could control it.

So I sat against the cement wall and lift my hands up. They seemed normal, but I knew what they were capable of. At first, I just flung my hands around like an idiot, hoping that would get somewhere. It didn't.

I sighed and banged my head against the wall. How did it happen before? I couldn't remember how I did it.

That's when I lift my hands and closed my eyes. I concentrated. Concentrated harder than I ever had. I thought about the school and Jason. I thought about Lora and how she and her friends crawled away from me. I thought about everything that happened a few hours before.

Faintly, I heard a small buzzing sound. A faint, blue light started to seep through my eyelids. When I opened my eyes, my hands were glowing blue and had small, electrical shocks flowing through my veins. Again.

I jolted up and stared at my hands. My heart started to race. The electrical shocks in my veins seemed to flow faster. I had done it.

I looked over at the dumpster and got an idea. Suddenly, I pushed my hand in front of me, sending a long electrical bolt into the dumpster. The dumpster slid forward a few feet. I heard someone yelp from the other side, probably walking past it at the wrong time.

Instead of joy, I was scared again. One look at my hands and my heart started to beat faster. I was a freak. I wasn't normal. Just the other night, I was out on the football field, playing with my classmates as my girlfriend cheered me on. Now, I'm behind a dumpster, shooting lightning bolts from my hands. This wasn't normal. It was the farthest from normal.

The sudden realization that I had to leave came to mind. I couldn't stay there. But, at the same time, I couldn't go home either. Odds are, what I had done was probably all over the place. Lora and her friends probably told everybody, freaking out about the whole thing.

Slowly, I peeked my head out from behind the dumpster. No cars were passing and no one was walking. I saw a small motel just down the street, so I walked out and started towards that way. I didn't have enough money, but I could sneak into an unoccupied room.

The world around me was silent. I didn't hear any cars out in the distance. I didn't hear people as they walked closer towards me. I heard nothing but the buzzing sound of the motel sign as I walked under it.

After I checked to see if it was clear, I ran over to one of the motel rooms and quietly opened the window. I slipped in and shut it quickly. Nothing outside even noticed me. Now I had somewhere to stay.

I turned around to look at the room. It was pitch black. Not even opening the blinds helped much. So I just felt around for a bed or a lamp. Mainly a lamp. After a minute or not trying to run into something, I found what I thought was a lamp. I turned it on and the room filled with light.

"Well," I said, "It's better than nothing." The bed was dirty and the floor was stained like nothing else. Plus it smelt horrible.

The bathroom door was closed and the light inside it was off. But a faint, orange glow shined through the bottom of the door, and smoke seeped through. There was a fire in the bathroom.

I ran over to it and quickly opened the door. Instantly, smoke spewed into my face, making me cough, sending some into my lungs. I ran in for the fire to put it out, but something threw me back into the room.

I landed on the bed, dazed and confused. I looked up and saw a boy standing next to the bathroom door. He was wearing a black hoodie and had the hood up. I jolted up and stared at him.

"What the hell? Put the fire out!" I yelled. The boy stood there, not moving. That's when I ran for the door, but was stopped by the boy again. He grabbed me and threw me into the wall, pressing me against it with his upper arm against my neck.

"What are you doing here?" he growled. "This is my room! What the hell do you think you're doing?" I tried to answer, but I couldn't even breathe with his arm against my throat. I only looked over at the fire and saw that it now covered the whole bathroom. I frantically pointed at it, trying to get his attention.

"Yes," he said, "I realize there's a fire in the bathroom. I'm practicing for something. Something you wouldn't understand!" The fire seeped through the bathroom entrance and was now started to catch the room on fire. I kept on frantically pointing at it, but he stared at me. For a second, he did nothing. Then he lifted his hand towards the fire and closed it, as if he was catching something. To my surprise, the fire instantly went out.

"Now," he said, bringing his face closer to mine. "What are you doing in my motel room?

.....

Karen

Walking home alone in the middle of the night isn't the most fun thing to do. But, hey, that's what I get for staying in the football field bathroom for hours. I didn't have to be smart to know that my parents were going to kill me. As soon as I walk through that door, my life is over.

Walking alone, only having headlights and street lamps lead the way wasn't what was bothering me. The thing that was bothering me was... what if it happens again? After hours of freaking out, I finally calmed down. Yeah, I can move things with my mind. What's that called again? Telekinesis?

I didn't know how to control it. All I know is that, when it happened, I was pissed. I think that's what triggered it. Now, if only I could learn how to make it happen again. But on purpose.

I could see my house down the street once I turned the corner at the stop sign. The porch light was still on, meaning my parents were awake. I didn't know what to really tell them. I can't just go up to them and say, "Hey, guys! Guess what? I have Telekinesis!"

First off, they wouldn't believe me. Second off, if they did, I'd be sent somewhere so they could figure out how to get rid of it. What? You think my parents wouldn't do that because they "love" me too much? Well, you thought wrong. My parents couldn't care less about me.

As I walked up to my front door, I could already see my parents on the couch through the window. They didn't seem too happy. I inhaled deeply and slowly grabbed the door handle. I prepared myself.

"Where the hell were you?" Mom yelled as I walked through the door. Both of them sat up and glared at me. I didn't really answer. I just kind of walked passed them and locked myself in my room. They didn't bother to beat down my door, let alone knock on it. See what I mean?

I just laid down on my bed and stared at the ceiling, wanting to forget tonight. Why did this have to happen to me? Out of all people, it happens to the girl who doesn't talk to anyone? The girl who has two jerks for parents? The girl who avoided people in general her whole life? I just didn't get it. Why me?

I looked over at my clock that rested on my nightstand. It was three o'clock in the morning. Had I stayed there that long?

Sighing, I faced the wall. I started staring at the small cracks and places where the paint was thicker than the rest of the wall. Than my thoughts started to consume me. I remembered Lora, flailing her arms as she floated in midair. I remembered the trashcans as they floated, landing and toppling over once I noticed they were there. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

The aggravating sound of my alarm clock woke me instantly. I slowly looked over and saw that it was nine o'clock. Moaning, I knocked it off of my nightstand and closed my eyes. I heard it thud as the plug unplugged from the wall outlet.

Then I smelt something burning.

I jolted up, instantly awake. That's when I realized... I wasn't in my room.

The room around me was burnt and destroyed. Dressers were all black. The bed I was in was completely burnt to rumble. The walls were gone and I could see outside. But outside wasn't much better.

Outside, ashes blew in the wind. Trees stood dead and burnt. The world around me seemed that it had been consumed in fire.

I quickly jumped out of bed and ran for outside. But a little voice stopped me.

"Wait, Karen. Don't go."

I quickly turned around and saw a little girl standing in the middle of the room. She had long, beautiful brown hair. Her golden brown eyes seemed to be filled with sorrow.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked, backing away from her.

"You are in my home. Well... what's left of it." She looked around and seemed to grow sadder. "I am here to warn you. This is the future that awaits you, Karen. I am here to tell you that you can stop this. You are not the only special person on this Earth. There are others like you. Many others.

"Your Telekinesis may seem useless at the moment. But when the time comes, it will save you and your friends."

"Friends? I have no friends. I've avoided people all my life." The little girl smiled and sort of giggled.

"You will meet new people along the way. That is also why I am here. I must tell you, Karen, that you must leave your home. You must leave your life and leave it behind. Once you do that, the present will take you to your future."

I looked around the dead, burnt world some more. I looked at the dead trees. I looked at the dead houses.

"It will lead me to this?"

"No," she giggled. "It will lead you to a better future. A better world than what it could be. But I must warn you, Karen. This future, the one we're in, is very, very possible. The smallest thing could make this the newer future."

She looked around some more, more sorrow filled than before.

"I'm sorry. But I just can't believe this. Matter of fact, this is just a dream."

"Yes, Karen," she said, "this is a dream. But I am real. I was once living. Until one fateful day. You must stop this from happening, Karen. You must stop the person who does this."

"Who does this?"

"My brother. He... covers the world in fire." I looked around in shock and realized that there was no sign of life anywhere. Everything was dead.

"You must leave now, Karen. When you awake, you must leave as soon as possible. Do you understand?" I nodded my head.

"Who... who are you?"

"Anna. My name is Anna."

.....

Joshua

Words can't describe how freaked out I was after that dream. I paced around my room for hours. Even by one o'clock in the morning, I still hadn't calmed down. What the hell was that? It felt so real. When that kid, Nick, talked to me, it seemed so incredibly real.

I didn't know what to do. Matter of fact, there was nothing I could do. No matter how much I wanted to, I was useless. If that was really the future, I couldn't stop it. Several times, I punched the wall in frustration. Just the thought of sleeping again made me sick. I didn't want to have another dream like that. Ever.

I slumped down in my chair and stared at my blank computer screen. I looked at my reflection. It made me think. What was I? What was happening? If it was real, could I stop it? My eyes tried to communicate with my reflection, trying to tell it that everything would be okay. I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I was probably putting too much thought into this. Maybe the whole thing with Jacob was a coincidence. Maybe that was just a stupid dream. Then, I smelt something burning.

I flashed my eyes open and found myself in the middle of a burnt field. Ashes blew in the wind, running into dead, burnt trees. The dust made a fog-like substance out in the distance, making it almost impossible to see past it.

"Oh, God. Not again," I said, looking around. I couldn't move again. I was forced to stay there.

It was dead silent. The only thing I heard was the wind blowing. Just like the other dream. I tried calling out, but nothing happened. I couldn't talk either.

"NICK!" The sudden shriek filled the whole, empty field in an instant. My heart jolted in surprise. That's when a body came flying through the fog-like substance and landed a few yards ahead of me. Then came another, running to the other. This one looked familiar. It was the girl from the dream before.

"Oh, God... Nick?" she said as she knelt down next to him. She lifted his head up and I saw his face. It really was Nick, seeming more helpless than a human possibly could. A long, deep cut rode across his face, letting blood seep through. He had one black eye, and was covered in soot.

Out in the fog-like substance, a flash of blue light would appear every few seconds. The sound of electricity followed it. After a while, it stopped. Then it was silent.

The girl looked over her shoulder, breathing hard and sweating. The sweat would pick up some soot and have it flow down her face with it.

"Luke?" she sobbed out. No reply. "L... Luke!" The outline of a figure appeared, walking towards the girl and Nick. She got up and started to back away. More sobs started to come, sending tears down her face and trembles down her body. "Please... stay away."

The outline of the figure stopped, watching the girl. Then it raised its hand and the girl grabbed for her neck, as if she was getting choked. Her feet started to flail, but she didn't fall. Something was holding her up.

Then the sickening sound of her neck snapping echoed throughout the field and her body flinched, but stopped right after. Her body went limp, and she fell to the ground. The figure stepped out from the fog. He wore a hoodie, covering his face. The man pushed his hand out in front of him. The body of the girl went flying and disappeared in the fog.

"Oh, Nick," the man said. "You could've stopped this. This didn't have to happen." He started walking over to Nick, but Nick didn't react. He didn't even move. The man kept walking until he got right at Nick's feet. He reached down and grabbed Nick by the hair and lifted him up to his knees. Nick slowly looked up at him, weak and angry.

"This... this had to happen. No... no matter how much we didn't want it to," Nick said. The man let go of Nick's hair. Nick looked down at the ground, as if he had given up.

The man pulled a pistol out from his pocket. Nick looked at it and gave a weak smile.  
"You can't kill me with that."  
"What? I can't simply shoot you in the skull and kill you? You may be able to create fire out of thin-air, Nick. But you are not invincible." The man rested the barrel of the gun on Nick's forehead. Nick's smile faded quickly, but he seemed to accept it. He just gave up.

"You can kill me. But, I know, people will stop you. People will see what you are." Nick started to tremble. The man laughed more.

"The people are too afraid to come for me! They just won't accept what their world is coming to. You'd really leave it up to them to stop me?"

Nick smirked and butted the barrel of the gun with his forehead.

"You betcha."

The crack of the gun made my heart jolt as it sent a bullet into Nick's head. Nick fell to the ground, lifeless and limp. Ash was sent into the air as his body landed.

I stared in awe. I had really just seen that. The man put the gun back in his pocket and stared at Nick for a few seconds. Then, he looked back. At me.

"You know, Joshua," he said. "People like me can tell when you're here." He laughed as he walked in my direction. "Don't worry. I won't have to introduce myself to you. Fact is... we've already met."

Before I could even think of something, the man lifted his hand towards me and a huge force pushed me back. Before I knew it, I was flying back in the endless fog of ash. I landed on the ground with a huge thud. But I was now back on my bedroom floor. I jolted up in fear, feeling the sweat drip down my face. I was back to my life. But I knew it wouldn't be that long until it all happened again.

.....

Nick

The boy who had broke into my place not too long ago sat across from me on the bed, looking at me with utter fascination. He didn't say anything, he just stared like a schoolgirl.

"How can you do that?" he asked, still googly eyed. I eyed at him.

"Stop changing the subject," I snapped. "What the hell are you doing breaking in here?"

He kind of looked around and back at the window. A long, low sigh seeped through his lips as he looked back at me.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He started clicking his teeth together, looking at me nervously. I scoffed.

"Kid, I just made fire disappear in front of your eyes. Anything you tell me, it's very unlikely I won't believe you." The kid sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Well," he started, "it all started last night. It was a football game and halftime had just started. The cheerleaders ran out into the field and started to-"

"How the hell does this have to do with anything? I'm asking why you broke into my motel room. I didn't ask about your stupid football game."

"If you just give me a-"

I grabbed his shirt collar and created fire in the palm of my hand, shoving it very close to his face. He stared at it, instantly becoming scared.

"You better tell me in the next twenty seconds, or I'm gonna burn your face off. Now, start talking." I threw him away from me, making him fall onto the bed.

"Umm..." he stuttered. "I don't really... I don't know where to start."

"Start with the question I've asked you before. Why are you here?" The fire in my hand grew bigger and hotter. The kid started to back away from it.

"This kid... he was pissing me off. So I.... I somehow shot electricity from my hand. It hit him. My friends saw. They... they flipped out. I ran away. I didn't go home. I came here, needing... needing a place to stay." He didn't take his eyes off of the flame. I closed my hand, making it disappear.

"Hmm. Interesting. Are there others like you?" I asked. The kid quickly shook his head, staring at my hands as if there were flames in them.

"Not that I know of..." he said. "Hell. I only found out about it today." I studied him.

"Can you control it?" I asked. He nodded his head.

"Kind of. I literally just learned how to maybe ten minutes ago." I started to run my fingers through my hair. I needed him to prove it. That's the only way I could kind of trust him.

"I need you to prove it." He shot a looked at me.

"Prove it? You can shoot fire from your hands. I can shoot electricity. Why do I need to prove it?" He stood back up, but tried to stay away from me a little.

"I don't 'shoot it from my hands'," I said. "I can create it." I lifted my hands towards the wall and made a small circle of fire spread across it. The kid yelped, backing away from it. I quickly made it vanish, leaving a burn mark on the wall. "There's a difference, kid."

"Look. I'm asking you with as much passion as I can. You and I, we're the same in a way. So, please, can I stay here? I'll even sleep in the bathtub." The kid gave me a sympathy filled look. "I know I don't know you, and this is asking a lot. But it's just for tonight."

I thought about it, and was about to answer. But then I saw the red and blue lights flashing through the window. They were here.

I walked over to the window and peeked through. Cops stood in the parking lot, talking to people. I didn't have to be smart to know what they were asking. I saw one of them pull out a picture and show it to someone. A picture of me.

"We gotta go!" I said, making the kid jump.

"What?" he asked, walking towards the window. "Why? What's wrong?" I walked over to him, grabbed his shirt, and lead him to the back of the room into the bathroom. I threw him in there, not even caring about his confusion.

"Crawl out of the bathroom window. I'll meet you out there. Don't be seen by anybody." I slammed the door shut and turned towards the front door. Then, I waited.

I heard footsteps getting closer to the door. They were coming for me. But I was ready. First came the knock. Then came the voice.

"Nick? We know you're in there. We don't want to barge in there. But we will if we have to." I didn't respond. I only slowly lifted my hand at the door.

"On the count of three, we're kicking down this door! One! Two! Thre-"

The door caught flame in matter of milliseconds. I heard the cops yelp and back away from the burning door. They smashed the window, but a wall of fire replaced the glass. That's when they started shooting. Bullets whizzed passed me, hitting the wall. I turned around and went into the bathroom, noticing that the kid had done what I said.

I slipped through the window, landing softly on the grass. The kid was sitting in front of me, looking terrified and confused, but stayed where he was.

"What the hell's going on?" he hissed. Bullets were still being shot behind us. They thought I was still in there. Perfect.  
"Long story, kid. And you may not even live to hear it." I walked passed him, letting him get up and follow me. He didn't ask anything after that. He just looked back and listened to the firing of bullets.  
We hid in the trees, walking in the shadows. We did that until we were about a mile away from the motel. Then we started walking in the streets. I was surprised the kid hadn't said anything for this long.  
"Well," I said, "it seems like we're gonna have to get used to each other. What's your name, kid?"  
"It's Luke. And don't call me kid. From what I see, we're the same age." I laughed. Fire spread over my whole arm and stopped at my shoulder. Luke stopped and stared at it.  
"You apparently just learned how to use your power. From my point of view, you're the kid." I turned to him and put the fire out. "So, Luke, how's about you show me that power of yours now?" Luke looked into my eyes disappointed. He knew I hadn't forgot.

"I don't know where to do it at or what to shoot at." He looked around, stalling. I looked around with him.

"Well, you could shoot up in the sky, but that'd be too noticeable from far away." I looked at a tree. "You could shoot at that tree, but I don't know how to put out fires I didn't create." I looked around some more, and found nothing. Then I got an idea.  
"Do you have to shoot it?" I asked. Luke thought for a moment.  
"I never thought about that." He looked at his hands and studied them. "I mean, I guess I could try. Let's just hope it doesn't explode in my face." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. His muscles relaxed and shoulders slouched down.  
A sudden, blue glow started to rise up from his forearm, as if it was riding in his bloodstream. Small, electrical bolts followed the glow, then it made a pattern. Glow, bolt, glow, bolt, and so on. Then, a small ball of electricity started to form in the palm of his hands, slowly growing in size.  
"Woah..." I said. Luke opened his eyes, and lost all focus.  
"Holy... look at this!" His muscles tensed and the flow of glow and spark in his arm started to speed up. The ball of electricity shot from his hand and went high up into the sky.  
"Umm..." I said as the ball disappeared. But it didn't stay unnoticed. All of a sudden, a gigantic explosion of electricity shot out in the darkness of the sky. It made the stars seem to disappear. Luke fell to the ground in shock, staring up at the big, blue explosion. I stood there, watching it as it evaporated in the sky.

"That... was amazing." I heard Luke say. He started laughing hysterically, jumping up and down. Then faint sirens started to come from the distance.  
"Yeah," I said, sort of smiling with amazement. "But it was also noticeable." Luke and I disappeared in the trees, but I didn't care about the cops. I wasn't alone anymore.

After the longest time of being scared and lonely, I had someone with me. Someone who was like me. I found someone else. Someone else... that was special.

.....

Karen

I stood at the street light, looking at my house as it sat there in the dark. Even down the street, I could see my room's window, along with my parent's. That house held my life. It held all of my memories. They may not be good, but a memory is a memory, and a memory stays with you forever.  
I watched it for one last second, then turned around, planning to never see it again. That may have just been a dream, but leaving felt so right. So unbelievably right. I wasn't meant for that house. I wasn't meant for this world. Leaving would lead me to a better world. To a better life. No matter what that life is, it's bound to be better than this one.  
The sound of the asphalt crunching under my feet took my mind somewhere else. It kind of took my mind off of things. As I walked in the dark of night alone, the crunch soothed me in a weird way. Everything around me seemed to just become unnoticeable. But I liked it. I let it happen.  
I had no clue where I was going, or where I'd end up. But walking in the night, all alone, leaving to anywhere was one of the best feelings that I've ever felt in my whole, lonely life. I felt... alive again.  
I stopped at a streetlight that was about a mile or so from my house. I didn't see a car pass me on the way there. I didn't notice it at the time. I just sat there at the streetlight, looking into the bulb that lit up the streets. In it I saw life. In it I saw an answer. The light would lead the way.

I looked down the street and saw more streetlights aligned with each other. Even though it was a hunch, I didn't disagree with doing it. After a while, I sat up and started following the street lights, not caring where it'd take me.

I kept on walking, even after I saw the sun come up about two or three hours later. My legs started to hurt and they wanted to rest. But I wouldn't let it happen. I felt the need to keep going.  
You don't have to be smart to know why leaving was so easy for me. I didn't have friends. My parents didn't care about me. I was a nobody. No one knew I even existed, and whoever did wanted me dead. So leaving seemed like the greatest thing I'd ever done.  
Eventually, after walking for so long, I ended up walking out of the city lines. Up until that point, it was all neighborhood. It was kind of cool to see the transition go from neighborhood to all highway. The change was, you could say, interesting.

People would give me funny looks as I walked down the highway all by myself at the crack of dawn. But I didn't let it bother me. I knew what would happen if I did. All of the cars would "somehow" end up floating in mid-air with people freaking out inside of them.

I stayed on the highway for a good hour or so, until I saw a diner at the side of the road. That was when I finally decided to stop and take a seat, after about six hours of walking. I had no clue where I was, and I loved it.

The cool, air-conditioned breeze felt amazing as I opened the diner doors. The place was nearly empty. I only saw a fat guy sitting in a corner drinking coffee, and a person wearing a hoodie with the hood over their head sitting all alone at the counter.

I awkwardly walked over and sat two chairs away from the hooded guy. He didn't look over at me. His gaze seemed to be glued to the countertop. His hands were trembling as they were clamped together.

The waitress walked over to me with an obvious fake smile and asked, "What could I get you, sweetheart?" I gave her a fake smile back and thought.

"Could I just have a coffee?" I asked. "I'm kind of in a hurry to get somewhere." The waitress gave me a look that said she was sort of interested.

"Where to?"

"Honestly?" I started to tap my fingers. "I have no idea. I just know I shouldn't be where I was before." The waitress sat the coffee in front of me and stood behind the counter.

"Why shouldn't you? What happened 'where you were before'?" I took a sip of my half-assed made coffee and sighed.

"Let's just say," I started, "things got complicated." I looked down at my coffee. "Something happened, and if it had of gotten out, people wouldn't accept me. Well, it's not like they did before anyways."

"Well," she said, "I hope you find what it is you're looking for." She smiled and walked away towards a man that had just walked in and sat down.

I noticed the hooded guy was kind of looking at me, tilting his head in my direction. I ignored him. I wasn't going to be there that much longer. I finished the crappy coffee and sat up. The guy raised his head and was directly looking at me. Again, I ignored him.

I was about to walk out of the door, when the guy stood up and started to follow me. I started to walk faster as I walked out the front doors. I heard as the man opened the door and continued to follow me.

I didn't bother to run. It'd only make it obvious I was up to something. I kept on walking down the highway, not having to look back to see if he was still following me. I could hear him. Even over the cars. All of a sudden, his footsteps grew louder. Ear piercingly louder. My head started to ache. I covered my ears and attempted to run, but I could still hear it.

I toppled over onto my side and pressed against my ears, trying to block it all out. But no matter how hard I tried, I could still hear it. Then, it all stopped. The only thing I heard were the cars as they drove by me. I looked up and searched around. The guy was nowhere in sight. He was gone.

.....

Luke

The guy named Nick led me through the trees, probably having no idea where he was going. But I didn't care. Anywhere was better than that motel.

I didn't bother trying to start a conversation. Sure, I met someone like me. But we were avoiding Nick's past at the moment. Avoiding a past that I didn't know about.

"Hey, Nick," I said. "Are you going to tell me about what happened back there?" Nick kept walking ahead of me, not looking back. He just kept silent, thinking and leading the way.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we have the time. But, right now, that's what we don't have." I shut up after that, letting him lead the way. He started whispering to himself, turning his head in many directions, taking sharp turns. I almost lost him a few times.

After doing that for about half an hour, Nick finally stopped and sat against a tree, looking up at the stars. I stood in front of him, looking down confused.

"We'll stay here for the rest of the night. You can sleep. I'll take watch." He watched me as I laid down in the dirt, trying to get as comfortable as possible. "We can't make a fire. Can't take any chances of them seeing us."

"Makes sense," I said. I rolled over, facing away from him. I closed my eyes, trying to sleep. It took a while, but I finally managed. I don't remember the dream that I had. Matter of fact, I don't think I had one. When I woke up, the sun was hardly up. The sunlight had barely started to shine through the trees.

I looked over and saw Nick staring at a ball of fire in the palm of his hand. I sat up, realizing that I was sore. But that's what I get for sleeping on the forest floor.

"Does this qualify as 'enough time'?" I asked, startling him. He smirked a little as he closed his hand, making the flame disappear. He sat up more against the tree, as if he was about to tell me a long story.

"I guess," he said. "But no matter what I tell you, it'd be smart that you didn't leave." He eyed at me, giving a more serious look. Why would I leave?

"I wouldn't leave. I have nowhere else to go, whether I like it or not." I sat crisscrossed a few feet away from him, getting ready to hear what he had to say.

"A few months ago, I found out about my power. I was playing a game with my little sister when my parents bursted in the house, pissed off. My mom took my sister in her room while my dad stayed to chew me out. That's when it happened.

"My dad started accusing me of stuff like drugs and skipping school. Yes, I did those things. But, it was because of the things my dad did. I denied it. I denied it all. Then I started telling him how he was a horrible person and how he didn't care about us.  
"I didn't notice it at the time, but the fire in the fireplace had started to grow. I was getting so unbelievably angry. The only thing I was focusing on was my dad. I started calling him pathetic and I told him I was embarrassed to be his son. One thing led to another then... boom. Fire started.

"It killed my whole family. My mom. My dad. My little sister. All that was left was my demolished house and piles of ashes. I stayed in the same spot for the longest time, staring at what I did. Then the sirens came from the distance, and I had to run.

"That's why those cops were there. They identified every body that was there. Every body but mine. So now they're all looking for me, chasing me no matter where I go. Now, why don't I turn myself in? Because I feel like I'm meant for something. I'm meant for something bigger. I need to do this. I need to do this... for my sister."

I didn't know what to say. He killed his whole family? How is he still stable? If I did something like that, I'd die of guilt.

"Wow..." I said. "I... I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," he scoffed. "So am I." He stood up and stretched, looking up at the sun. "We best be leaving now. We can't waste time." I stood up as he started walking away.

"Where are we going?" I asked. I had to follow him for a good twenty feet before he answered.

"I have no idea, Luke. I wish I knew. But until I do know, we're just walking straight." He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked. "This forest is bound to end eventually, huh?" I didn't really answer him. I just let him do what he wanted to do.

For the longest time, we walked. We walked for hours. Most of the time was silent, but it didn't bother me. Now didn't seem like the time to really talk.

I listened to the birds as they chirped, echoing throughout the forest. The sun had set just over the trees, sending beams of light through the leaves and making the mildew on the grass shine.

Like last night, Nick was talking to himself, thinking aloud and talking about things I didn't understand.

Finally, after a brutal and endless walk, we finally heard cars. A little ways in front of us, a town started. I heard Nick sigh with relief.

"Thank God," he said. He started walking a little faster, leaving me behind. I let him go ahead, I was tired enough as it was. He stopped at the side of the road, looking at what was ahead. I caught up with him, stopping at his side.

In front of us was a food market, a few restaurants, a clothing store, and a little patch of houses. Behind that was a middle school, and farther down the road was a high school. Seemed like your normal town.

Somewhere in that patch of houses, we noticed one that looked abandoned. Nick and I met eyes and mentally agreed on it. That house was our best option.

"We're gonna have to break in, unless you feel like sleeping outside again," Nick mentioned. I didn't like the idea. But, then again, I didn't like the idea of sleeping outside again.

"Fine," I said. "But only for tonight. After that, we leave." Nick nodded his head and crossed the street. I followed him, following him towards the houses.

"Alright, so I'll knock on the door, and if no one answers I'll sneak in." He continued to look around.

"How are you gonna sneak in?" I asked. A noticeable smile formed onto his face, and he looked back at me.

"Just leave that to me." He walked up to the door without waiting up for me and politely knocked. No one answered for a while, so he knocked again. No one answered. He looked over at me and smirked.

"Okay," I said. "Now 'sneak in'." I leaned against a parked car and watched him as he backed away from the door and looked through a window. Then he backed away from the window, and rested the palm of his hand on it. Then, the glass was replaced with fire.

I expected there to be a loud crash for when the glass broke, but it didn't. Instead, it melted completely. The fire disappeared, and so did the glass. Now there was just a gaping, square hole in the wall leading into the house. Nick leaped in and looked back at my stunned face.  
"You coming?" he asked. I hesitated, then came back to perspective. I quickly looked around and leapt in with him. Instantly, I noticed something was up.

The home really didn't look like it had been touched in forever. Cobwebs hung in the corners of the ceiling and dust aligned the walls and floor. Old pictures hung up and tables held old flower pots. There was no TV in the living room, just a dust-covered couch and a dust covered coffee table. Next to the living room was a hallway that lead down to two doors on either side.

"I'll check the room on the right," Nick said, already walking down there. I followed him, walking down the hall and examining the pictures. Most of them were of a family. A mom, dad, little boy, and a little girl.

Nick went into the room on the right as I went into the room on the left. In the room, there was a small bed, a desk across from the bed, a window next to the desk, a nightstand next to the bed, and a journal on the nightstand.

I heard Nick rummaging in the other room loudly as I walked over to the nightstand. I picked up the journal and blew off a ton of dust. It seemed old, older than me. I flipped through the pages, seeing a bunch of drawings of DNA strands and saw the word "human genomes' a lot. Who would write this stuff? I flipped it over to the back and saw the words "Property of Joshua Shaw".

Joshua Shaw?

"I believe that doesn't belong to you," came a startling voice from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw a hooded man standing on the other side of the room. I couldn't see his face. It was hidden under his hood.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked. Stupid question.

"I could ask you the same thing," he snapped. Before I could do anything, he raised his hand and a force pinned me to the wall. I couldn't move no matter how hard I tried. I tried to call for Nick, but all of a sudden I couldn't breath. It was as if I was being choked.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the man asked. "This isn't a place that you can just break into. This place is special. Very, very special." I tried to respond, but the force on my neck grew tighter. All that came out was a croak for air.

"Hey, Luke," came Nick's voice from the other room. "This place will have to do for tonight. From the looks of it, no one is gonna come in here anytime soon." For a moment it was silent as I struggled to breath. I heard Nick walking towards the room. "Luke?"

He walked into the room and saw me pinned up against the wall, then saw the man standing there.

"Hello, Nick. I've been expecting you." Before Nick could make his fire appear, the man quickly pushed his free hand in front of him, sending a force into Nick and sent him flying back. His right shoulder blade rammed into the doorframe, making him do a full one-eighty turn. He made a loud thud as he landed onto the hard floor.

The man looked back at me and started to laugh.

"Oh, Luke," he said. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this. I might've thought it was too late. But it must've slipped my mind that you two would come here. I forgot all about that." What was he talking about?

The grip on my neck tightened more and more, up to the point where my neck was about to snap. But that's when Nick stepped into the picture.

A big wall of fire surrounded the man, completely covering him and making him unseeable. The force on me and my neck vanished and I fell to the floor, gasping and coughing. Nick ran over to me and helped me up.

"Come on!" he yelled. We only made it a few steps before Nick was sent flying back, smashing into the wall and sending the air right out of him. The wall of fire vanished and the man stood there laughing.

"Did you think a small wall of fire would stop me?" The man started walking towards us. My heart started to race as I backed up against the wall. "I am more powerful than the two of you combined and more. You have no idea what I am capable of." The man raised his hand at Nick and I, preparing to strangle us to death. But I was ready.

"Well," I said, "you have no idea what we're capable of." I took a step and pushed my hand in front of me. At first, I was afraid that nothing would happen. But I was proved wrong.

A long shot of electricity shot from the palm of my hand and smacked right into the man's chest, sending him back and ramming him into the wall. I grabbed Nick by the arm and dragged him over to the window. I rammed my elbow into the glass and it shattered, sending glass shards down to the floor. The man started to slowly stagger up, but I had already tossed Nick out the window and leapt out myself.

Nick had already started running away and I started to follow. I heard the man yell in anger, and I looked back. He was standing at the window, watching Nick and I run away. He pushed his arm out in front of him, and a car parked in front of the house was sent into the air towards us.

I honestly thought I was going to die right there as the car was just over my head. But with quick reflexes, I dived out of the way. The car landed just a few inches away from me. Glass shards flew in the air and got a few cuts on my face. Nick grabbed my arm and pulled me up.

I noticed the man was about to do that again, so I sent a bolt of electricity at him. It hit right at the bottom of the window frame, causing the wall to demolish into pieces. Smoke filled up around the window frame and the man could no longer be seen. Nick and I took that as our chance and ran as far and as fast as we could.

I couldn't help but think. Who was that? What was that all about? How did he know who we were? But the biggest one that stuck out in my head was what bothered me.

Who was Joshua Shaw?

.....

Joshua

I didn't come out of my room for days. I kept it locked for hours. My parents tried to get me out, but I told them to just leave me alone. The school called and said that if I wasn't back in two days, I'd have to go to summer school. But I didn't care.

Nights would end with my mom or dad trying to calmly get me out, but I would just reply with the same "I just wanted time alone". They knew that wasn't it, but they let it pass. They'd leave food for me at the window every morning, evening, and night.

One night, I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall. It was silent all throughout the house. I only heard my house as it creaked every once in awhile. Then, I heard a knock on the door.

"Joshua?" came a small voice behind the door. It was Loren. I sat up and walked over to the door.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Why are you locking yourself in your room?" She sounded kind of sad. It almost broke my heart.

"I just... I need time alone for a while." She didn't reply for a moment. I could hear her breathing on the other side.

"Can I at least come in a see you? Just for a second?"

"Loren... I don't know if-"

"Please? I miss seeing you. You've been in there for days." Just hearing her sad made me give in. I hesitantly stood up and unlocked the door and slowly opened it. Loren peeked her head in and looked around the room. She then proceeded to waddle her little body inside.

I shut the door behind her and watched as she sat on my desk chair.

"So," she said. "What have you been doing in here?" I sat on my bed across from her and kind of smiled. It was nice having her in here.

"This. I've just been sitting here. Thinking about stuff. Stuff that's been happening to me lately." I figured she knew what I was talking about. I think she remembered the whole "I can see the future" thing.

"Like what? You're still not freaking out about the whole 'seeing the future' thing, are you? Joshua, it's impossible. Even I know that." I glared at her. It angered me that she thought she knew what all of this was.

"You don't know the things I've seen, Loren. I've seen people die. This isn't a joke to me. I honestly think this is all real." Loren giggled a little.

"You're just freaking out about a few dreams you had. It's no big deal, Joshua. Everyone has nightmares sometimes." She got up from the chair and walked over to me, resting her hand on mine. "I may be your little sister, but I'm here for you."

I glared at her, angrier this time. I threw her hand away from me and shot up, looking down at her with as much anger as possible.

"You just don't get it," I snapped. "You don't see the things I see. You don't feel what I feel." She started to back away from me, seeming scared of me. "You just don't get it!" All of a sudden, my nightstand flew off of the ground and toppled over on the other side of the room. Loren stared at it, then at me.

What the hell was that? Did... did I do that? There's no way. I looked down at my hands and sat down on the bed. I was right. I was a freak...

"Oh, God..." Loren said. She gave one quick look at me, then at the door. "I... I need to tell Mom and Dad." She ran for the door. But I couldn't let her.

"NO!" I exclaimed. She stopped and looked at me, and started to say something. But she didn't say much. Out of nowhere, she was tossed against the wall and started gasping for air. It was like something was pinning her neck against the wall. But no one was there. Only me.

"You can't tell them! They'll see me for what I am!" Anger filled my whole mind, blinding me from what I was doing. Then I came back to Earth, and realized what was happening.

"Loren?" I said, jumping up and running to her. I knelt down and tried to pull her from the wall, but she wouldn't budge. I was freaking out. Tears ran down my cheeks and sweat dripped down the back of my neck. "Loren?"

I could see the life drifting away from her eyes. Small tears formed and dripped down her face. The only thing I saw in them were sorrow and confusion. I tried to stop, but I was freaking out too much. I was watching my sister die right in front of me. But there was nothing I could do. I didn't know how to stop.

I grabbed her small, little hand and held it as hard as I could. She was still gasping for air. Her little feet were kicking rapidly, smacking into the wall behind her.

"No... Oh, God, No!" I tried pulling her again, but she didn't move. That's when I felt her grip grow weaker. Her legs started to slow. The life in her eyes was almost gone. What was happening? Why couldn't I stop?

Her face had turned pale and her legs stopped kicking. Her heartbeat slowed to a near death rate. Her eyes were locked onto mine, pleading me to stop. But I couldn't. I didn't know how.

"Please! Please don't let this happen!" I yelled, pulling her as hard as I could. From the looks of it, she was already dead. But some life still rested in her eyes. "STOP!"

I flew back from the wall, taking Loren with me. Her body rolled over beside me, and stayed there. Motionless.

I shot up and knelt down beside her. She seemed dead. She seemed like a goner. I started to shake her and tried to get her to move. It didn't work.

"No... This can't happen..." I said. I grabbed her cheeks and started doing mouth to mouth. I lifted my head and started to push down on her chest. I hesitated and watched her. She didn't move. I did it again and again, hoping to get a response. But she just laid there.

"Come on!" I yelled. I did it one more time, hoping she would move or do something. I pressed down on her chest and waited. I didn't expect her to move. Then, my heart stopped.

The life in her eyes came back as she took in the longest breath I've ever seen. She rolled over to her side and started coughing. She was alive.

"Loren!" I exclaimed as I wrapped my arms around her. "Oh, God! I'm so-" Loren pushed me away from her and backed up against the wall. Her eyes were filled with fear, staring at me like she didn't know who I was.

"Get away from me!" she yelled, staggering up and opening the door. "You're a freak! You're not human!" She sprinted down the hall towards my parent's room. "Mom! Dad! Help!"

I started freaking out again. What were they going to do? I... I couldn't stay there.

I looked back at my window, then back at my wide open door. My parents were going to get rid of me. They were going to make sure I never saw them or Loren again. I had to leave. I couldn't hurt them. I couldn't take that chance.

I ran up to my window and yanked it open, diving out into the outside and sprinting far away. I didn't bother to look back. It wasn't going to help anything. I just needed to be as far away as possible.

"Josh!" came my Dad's voice from behind. "Joshua! Come back!" They would understand eventually. I was doing this for them. I had no idea what I was. I was a freak. I didn't belong with them. What if that ever happened again? Could I stop it?

As I ran off into the woods, into the dark... I cried. I cried harder than I have ever cried in my life. I nearly killed my sister. My own sister. I wasn't stable. I wasn't stable enough to be with people. I had to vanish. I had to leave everything behind.

I needed help. I needed to find someone like me. Then, they came to mind. The people I've seen do things like me. They could help me. Instead of disappearing, I needed to find them.

I needed to find Nick.

Karen

I was still a little shook up after the whole thing with that guy. After hours of being paranoid, I convinced myself I could've imagined it all. I haven't slept in hours, and I've been walking all that time. I needed to sleep, but had nowhere to do that.

I decided that, instead of walking next to the highway, I should hitch a ride. Sure, it's not the safest thing. But I can take care of myself, considering what I can do.

Before sticking my thumb out at the side of the road like a bum, I looked back to see how many cars were driving past. Not a lot, but not a little. Sighing, I stuck my thumb out and walked backwards.

For the longest time, people just stared at me and drove past without a care in the world. Now I knew what it felt like to be a hitchhiker. Let me tell you, it's not the best.

An hour past and no one had stopped to hitch me a ride. People nowadays are jerks, huh? I understand stranger danger, but come on! Really? An hour?

I started to sweat as the sun had just started to hit its highest point in the sky. My legs were on the breaking point of snapping. My arm was getting tired from being stuck out for as long as it had been. I was about to give up. But as I turned forward to give up the whole hitchhiking thing, I heard the sound of a car pulling up behind me.

I turned around, only to see a car parked right there, a nice, old lady sitting in the driver's seat with a big smile on her face. A huge smile appeared on my face. Finally. Someone with feelings.

I walked over to the passenger's side and knocked on the window. The old lady opened the window with the biggest smile I've ever seen. She gave a small wave, and I waved back.

"Need a ride, miss?" she asked. I nodded my head, still having that stupid smile on my face.

"You're the first person to even consider it since I started doing this over an hour ago." The lady gave me a sympathy filled look and shook her head.

"Oh," she said, "that's horrible. Here, hop in. I'll take you anywhere you want." I opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. The instant cooling of air conditioning made me feel amazing. My legs thanked me as I finally got off of them.

"You have no idea how much this means to me, miss," I told her. She giggled a little.

"You're just a little girl," she said. "You seem like no danger at all." I scoffed to myself. If only she knew what I really was.

"I don't really have a certain place I want to be," I said. "I just want to be anywhere but here." I saw her smile from the side of my eyes.

"Ah," she said. "You're one of those people. I used to be like that." She drove back onto the highway and drove off down the road. "Don't worry. You'll see where you want to be really soon. Same thing happened to me."  
I couldn't comprehend how nice this woman was. Why can't everyone else be like her? I looked out the window as we drove down the road, me knowing nothing about where she was going. But it didn't bother me. Like I said. Anywhere is better than here.  
The woman turned on the radio and started listening to some talk show. It kind of made me laugh a little. For a while, we had small conversations every few minutes. She seemed like a really good person, not mentioning the fact that she had picked me up off the road without knowing anything about me.  
She tried to learn more about me, and I had no problem answering her. I just left out the big stuff. Like how I can move things with my mind. Yeah, it'd be smart to leave that out.  
"Where are you going?" I asked her. She smiled at me and sighed.  
"Well," she said, "I'm like you. I'm just out for a drive. Then I just happened to stumble upon you, and now I'm going where you're going."  
"So, you're just driving for the hell of it?" I asked. She smiled and nodded her head. I liked this woman. She seemed like someone who just does what they want.  
After ten minutes, we ended up driving through a small town. The old lady sighed and looked over at me.  
"It seems I have to stop for gas. Do you mind?"  
"Not at all," I said. She pulled into a small gas station and stepped out of the car. I stayed seated, watching her as she walked into the gas station and paid for one of the gas pumps. I looked over and noticed that the side of the town led to the woods.  
I started looking and watching animals poke their heads out and go right back in. It was kind of adorable. One deer stepped all the way out and looked around. It stayed on the borderline of the trees, staying out of the road. Then its ears perked up and it looked back. It scurried away and vanished into the trees. What scared it? There were no cars in sight. Then, two kids walked out from the trees and looked around.

Both of them looked beat up. One of them had cuts on his face, while the other had some bruises. What were they doing? Then I noticed something. One of them was Luke.  
What the hell was Luke doing walking out of the woods? Why was he all the way out here? I stepped out of the car and watched as Luke and his friend crossed the road and walked towards the gas station. Luke seemed paranoid, looking around every few seconds. But his friend seemed pissed, looking like he was trying to ignore everything Luke was saying.  
When they got to the other side of the road, Luke finally noticed me standing by the car. His facial expression quickly changed from scared to shocked. He seemed just as surprised as I was. He left his friend and quickly walked over to me. His friend stared at him confused, then saw me. Then he just seemed to get annoyed.  
"Karen?" Luke said as he walked over to me. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
"I could as you the same thing," I said. "What happened to you? Why were you in the woods?" Luke looked over at his friend who had just walked up and looked at me.  
"Well..." Luke started. "It's a long story." His friend tapped his shoulder, and he turned around. His friend sighed.  
"Who is this?" he asked.  
"Umm..." Luke looked at me, then back at his friend. "This is a girl from my school. Her name is Karen." Nick was about to say something to me, but Luke pulled him over to the side and said something to him. I looked back to see what the lady was doing. She was standing at the doors, watching me and smiling.

"You never answered me," Luke said as he walked back over to me. "What are you doing here?" I crossed my arms and gave him a straight answer.  
"I felt like running away. I didn't feel like staying where I was. So, now I'm here, watching you walk out of the woods with cuts on your face and Mr. Bruises over there." His friend smirked at me and patted Luke on the back.  
"I like this chick," he said. "Hey, you seem a little shaken up. Why?" I looked at my reflection in the car window. I did look shaken up.  
"Well," I said. "I was at a diner, and as I was leaving, a guy chased me. But I think I imagined it. I haven't slept in a while." His friend looked at Luke and back at me.  
"What'd he look like?" Luke asked. I started tapping my foot, trying to remember anything about him. But all I could remember is that stupid hoodie of his.  
"Don't know," I said. "He was wearing a gray hoodie and had the hood over his head. I couldn't see any part of his face." Luke's eyes widened, along with his friend's. They both looked at each other, looking worried.  
"Did the guy do anything weird?" his friend asked. I sighed and kind of scoffed.  
"As I was running away from him, his footsteps seemed to get louder. A lot louder. It felt like they were in my head." Luke stiffened up. "It hurt a lot, and I toppled over and covered my ears. But I could still hear it. The footsteps finally stopped, but when I looked up, he was gone." Luke's friend ran his fingers through his hair and scoffed. Luke leaned against the car, seeming as though he was in disbelief.  
"Karen," he said. "Can you... do anything? Like, anything different?" They both stared at me.  
"Umm... what do you mean 'different'?" I asked. His friend sighed and looked around.  
"Different," he said, "like this." He walked over to me and stuck his hand in front my face. At first, it was weird. Then, before I knew it, a flame appeared out of nowhere in the palm of his hand. I gasped and backed away, staggering and grabbing the hood of the car for support.  
"How did you-"  
"We're different, Karen," Luke said. "Nick and I both." The kid, Nick, closed his hand, making the fire disappear. "Yesterday morning, in the town on the other side of the woods, the guy you mentioned attacked us. He was different too." Nick shoved his hands in his pockets.  
"We feel like he attacked us because we were different," he said. "So, Karen. Are you different?" I looked around, then at them both.  
"I... uh..." I gulped, not really sure what to say. "I can... I can move things with my mind." Nick smiled, but Luke stared at me, wide-eyed.  
"Well, what do you know," Nick said. "We found someone with Telekinesis." I looked at Luke. He was still staring at me.  
"What can you do?" I asked him. Nick looked back at Luke, but Luke didn't reply.  
"Mr. Luke," Nick said, "can shoot lightning from his hands. It's pretty badass." He leaned against one of the gas pumps. "I, on the other hand, can make fire appear out of thin-air." He displayed it for me one more time, making a flame appear in his hands, then making it vanish.

"Luke?" I said. He sighed.  
"Can you control it?" he asked. I sighed a little.

"No. Not really. The only times I can recall doing it were when your dumb girlfriend pissed me off." Luke got wide-eyed again. "Yeah, the whole 'floating cheerleader' thing was me. But it was an accident."  
"Well," Nick said, "from past experience and from what you and Luke told me, anger seems to be one gigantic trigger to our 'specialty'. Luke and I can control it. So, I'll just say this. All you have to do it focus and stay calm. If you freak out, you won't be able to focus and your ability will lose control."

"So," Luke said. "Are you going to come with us? Or are you going to stay with the old lady over there?" He pointed at the gas station doors and I looked back. The lady was still standing there, smiling and watching.

"I don't know," I said. "It depends on where you two are going." Luke and Nick looked at each other and shrugged.

"We don't really know either," Nick said.

"Well," Luck started, "I really feel like finding this 'hooded guy'. I want to know what he's up to and why he's following us." Nick nodded his head.

"Now that I think about it, so do I." They both looked at me.

"So, Karen," Luke said. "Are you in or out?" I looked back at the lady, and she was already waving her hand at me, saying goodbye. I smiled and waved back at her. She walked off farther into the gas station, leaving my sight. I then turned around at Nick and Luck and smiled.

"I'm in."

.....

Karen

I didn't know if going with them was the smartest thing. But it felt right. They were like me. Well... not completely. But they were "special". I wasn't completely used to it, but I was getting by. As we walked through the trees, back to where Luke and Nick came from, they didn't really talk. It was just silent almost all the way through.

Even when they did talk, they didn't talk about our "specialty". They talked about normal teen things. Like friends that they left behind, or old memories with family. They acted as though nothing had ever happened.

Nick looked up at the sky and sighed.

"Looks like it's gonna be dark soon, and it's still a pretty long way to where we came from." Luke sighed in frustration, knowing what Nick was going to say. "We're gonna have to sleep out here. It's too dark once the sun goes down. We won't be able to see."

"But," I said, "can't you make a fire that would lead us the way?" Luke scoffed.

"Can't take any chances of being seen, apparently," he said. "Get ready to have the worst night of sleep that you will ever have." Nobody said anything after that. We just kept walking for as long as we could. Then, the sun was close enough to being gone.

Nick sat against a tree and offered to take watch. Luke slowly laid down in the dirt and turned to his side, attempting to sleep. I looked around and found a nice enough patch of grass to lay on, awkwardly laying on my back as I stared up into the sky. I laid there for a while, watching the sunlight drift away like an ocean shore and see the stars slowly become visible in the night sky. That's where I drifted off to sleep.

I didn't remember having a dream, or let alone cared. When I woke up, it was dead silent. I slowly sat up from the patch of grass, and saw that I was alone. Luke and Nick weren't anywhere in sight.

I quickly stood up and looked around, but I couldn't see anything. A thick fog had surrounded me and made it nearly impossible to see ten feet in front of me. Then, I heard a twig snap from behind me. I quickly turned around.

"Hello?" I called out. "Luke? Nick? Are you there?" For a second, no one answered. But a familiar voice made me relax faster than anything.

"It's okay, Karen. It's me." From the fog, Anna walked out and stopped a few feet away from me, smiling an adorable smile.

"Well," I said, "I left. Now what do I do? Where do I go now?" Anna giggled.

"You're exactly where you need to be."

"But what about the guy who 'covers the world in fire'? Where do I find him?" As much as I hated to ask, I needed to know.

"You already did, Karen. Didn't you see that? Nick is my brother."

What? No way.

"Ni... Nick?" She nodded her head, still smiling. "Then how are you-"

"A few months ago, Nick found out what he could do. But it costed the lives of me and our parents. He didn't mean to, but it happened. Now he sees the world as nothing after what he did." She gained a sad look on her face.

He killed her? He killed his family? That's... that's awful.

"Sadly, I can't show myself to him like I am with you. If I do, he'll lose it. That's why I am talking with you. I need you to protect my brother from something... evil. Something so evil that just talking about it makes me drown in fear."

"Protect him? What is there to protect him from? He can make fire appear out of nowhere."

"That hooded man that's been following you guys... he's very important." She knows who he is? "He's been waiting for you guys for years. He waited until you were the most vulnerable. Which is when you were confused, when you just found out about your power. But, most importantly, he waited until you were together.

"There are things you must know about him. He can move things with his mind, like you. But it's much more powerful. He can flings things like they are ragdolls. He can throw you so far that you won't live to remember it.

"He can also get inside your head. He can make you see anything he wants you to see. He can make you do anything he wants you to do. This man is very, very dangerous, Karen." I stared at her with wide eyes.

"Tomorrow, he will confront you. All of you. When he does, you must be ready for it. You need to know what to do and when to do it."

"What does he want?" I asked.

"He wants to kill you. All of you. He sees you as the most threatening thing this world has to offer." She walked over to me and grabbed my hand, holding it tight.  
"There is something you must know for when he confronts you. When you see him, you need to tell him the truth. The truth about everything."

My heart stopped as she told me the truth. Now, I get it. I'm not confused anymore, and I am not afraid. Everything has come together. Everything comes down... to this.

.....

Joshua

I sat on the floor of the woods, resting against a tree, watching the stars. It was freezing cold, but I didn't care. As long as I was away from my family, I was okay. A few hours ago, a police search was on me, searching the woods and everything. I hid from them up in a tree, looking down at them as they searched for me.

It was scary being out here all alone, it really was. I felt more alone than I ever had in my whole life. I nearly killed my little sister. She looked at me and thought she was running for her life when she ran down that hallway. Once you see that in your lifetime... you never forget it. My own sister abandoned me. My own family.

Bugs chirped all throughout the woods, speaking with each other, jumping around. It was annoying, but peaceful at the same time. It started to relax me, making my eyes drowsy and droop down heavily. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

Then, I smelt something burning. Again.

I jolted up and saw where I was. I was in the middle of the burnt field again.

I started to freak out, not wanting to know what I would see. Every other vision I had was terrifying. Who knows what I could see now?

I looked around, trying to see in the thick smoke. Further out, I could see a figure crawling this way. A low moan came from that direction. A moan of pain.

I stopped breathing, trying to be silent as possible as the figure appeared, crawling out into view. It was the hooded man from the vision before.

His body collapsed, sending ash into the air from underneath him. His hoodie was covered in blood and ash. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he sat there on ground in pain, blood flowing through his obvious wounds.

That's when another figure came from the smoke, followed by two more. At first I didn't recognize them. But it quickly came to me. It was Nick and the other kids from before.

They stood over the hooded man, looking down at him as he lay there in defeat. He still moaned, not even attempting to get up. He looked back up at them, staring in their eyes as they stared back. I almost wanted to jump in there and help, but that man was bad. He killed them in the other vision.

"You shouldn't have done this," the man said. "I was trying to protect the world from you." Nick scoffed at the man.

"Protect it from what?" The man started to laugh. "If anybody needs to be stopped, it's you."

The girl stepped up and sighed as she knelt down, facing the man.  
"Things didn't have to be like this," she said. "If you listened, you would understand." Nick grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt collar and pulled her back up away from the man.

"Don't talk to him like he's a person," he said. "He tried to kill us for no reason. If his excuse is that we're different, than he needs a news flash. So is he." The other boy nodded his head in agreement.

"He nearly killed us," he said. The man's muscles stiffened as he shot a look at Nick.

"Look around!" he yelled. "You did this! You nearly killed you and your friends! You're a monster!" Nick kicked the man in the ribs, causing him to scream in pain.

"Shut up!"

The girl pushed Nick back and took his place. She gave the man a sympathetic look. She looked back at Nick and then at the other boy and shook her head.

"They just don't understand," she said. "I understand. I understand everything. After what happened to you, I understand why you looked for someone to blame." The man's muscles stiffened again. "But we didn't cause it. There's no one else to blame but you." She put her hand out in front of her, facing it towards the man.

"But what has to be done, has to be done." She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Joshua."

What?

Her hand started to shake, and the man's breath stopped. He stopped moving and laid there on the ground. The girl shivered and inhaled, trying to hold back a sob. Nick and the other boy patted her on the shoulder, and they turned, walking away.

The girl stayed there for a second, looking down at the body of the hooded man. She looked back, then back down at the body. Kneeling down, she grabbed the hood of the man and pulled it down. That's when I saw his face. He seemed older, maybe around twenty to twenty-five. Then, I realized something. He was awfully familiar.

He was me.

My heart stopped as the girl vanished in the thick smoke. This can't be true. The more I stared at the body on the ground, the more things I noticed that resembled me. The hair. The eyes. The nose. The mouth. Everything. Just... older.

My legs gave out from under me and I fell to the floor. I started to panic, crying and trying not to look at the body. Trying not to look at my dead body.

It all came to me. That hooded man wasn't the evil one. He was trying to stop that bad vision I had about Nick and his friends killing everybody. That hooded man wasn't the bad guy here. That hooded guy was me.

I shouldn't be trying to find Nick for help. I need to find him and stop him. If I don't, those things will happen. The world will perish because of freaks like Nick and his friends. But I will not let that happen. I will be that one freak that saves everybody. Nick isn't here to help me. I've already realized what I need to do.

I need to kill Nick.

.....

Luke

We all woke up at about the same time. Karen seemed a little nervous, but I didn't bother asking her about it. Nick seemed the same, mad about sleeping in the woods and all. Other than that, everything was normal. Well, as normal is it could be.

"How much longer until we get there?" Karen asked as she slowly stood up. She wiped dirt from her shirt, letting it fall back down to the ground.

"About two and a half hours. Maybe even more," I said. She groaned and leaned against a tree, waiting for Luke to fully get up.

"It's not as bad as you think it is," Nick said. He staggered up, still half asleep. "After the first hour, you get used to it. After that, you don't really pay attention to it." Karen sighed as she walked forward and looked up into the sky.

"What time is it?" she asked. I pulled out my phone and checked the time.

"It's seven in the morning," I said as I put his phone back in my pocket. "We better start heading out if we want to get there soon." I turned and started walking the opposite direction, hearing Nick and Karen start to follow. We walked in silence for a while, not attempting to say a single word to each other.

"Hey, Luke," Nick said. I stopped and turned around.

"Yeah?"

"We never really planned," he said. "What are we going to do if we find this guy?" I smiled at him.

"Do what we did last time," I said. "We fight him." Nick stared into my eyes and smiled. But this smile was different. This was an evil smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pistol, gripping it hard.

"How can you fight him," he started, "if you don't have your partner?" He rested the barrel of the gun on his temple.

"What the hell are you-"

The shot of the gun echoed throughout the trees as he pulled the trigger, sending a bullet through his skull and killing him. The blood spewed from the other side as his body fell to the ground. I gasped and staggered back, feeling my heart racing.

Karen started laughing hysterically, staring at me. What the hell was going on?

All of a sudden, her neck snapped and she fell to the ground, lifeless. Her eyes went blank. Both Karen's body and Luke's body melted into the dirt, oozing and disappearing into the ground. I gagged and bent over, puking.

Before I could straighten up, I was flung backwards and rammed into a tree, not being able to move. I squirmed around, but I was being held there tighter than ever.

The trees around me burst into flames, flooding the woods with a glow of fiery red and orange. I started to scream, crying for help and struggling to get free from whatever was keeping me against the tree.

About ten feet away, a man stepped out from behind a burning tree, laughing and watching me. It was the hooded man.

"You bastard!" I yelled. "Let me go!" He only started to laugh some more, enjoying me struggle to be set free.

"Relax, Luke," he said. "Don't worry, this isn't real. I'm in your head. Now, wake up." The trees around me stopped burning all together. "I'm watching you."

I jolted up from the ground, screaming louder than ever. Then, I realized I was back on the dirt, having Nick and Karen there with me, asleep. They both quickly woke up and stared at me.

"What's wrong?" Karen asked. Nick stared at me confused.

"He's here!" I yelled, standing at looking around. "He's here, watching us!" I searched the distance, but only saw trees. He could be anywhere, watching us as much as he wanted to.

"Relax, Luke," Karen said. "No one is here but us."

All of a sudden, Nick went flying from the ground and rammed into a tree, having the air knocked right out of him. Karen yelped and scurried up to her feet, looking around. I jumped up, frantically searching for any sign of movement in the distance. Nick didn't move. He only groaned on the ground, motionless.

Karen ran towards him, but didn't get far. She was sent flying back, smacking right into a tree. She fell to the ground, and didn't get back up.

I started to panic, sending bolts of electricity in every direction, hoping to hit something that wasn't meant to be there with us. Dirt was sent into the air as I flung electricity everywhere. I stopped for a second, and it was silent for a moment. Then, I was sent flying into the air, smacking my left shoulder into a tree and landing on the ground.

A huge pain filtered my mind and my shoulder, making me grind my teeth. I slowly stood up and looked around. That's when I saw him.

He was standing about thirty feet away from me, watching me. Sunlight filtered into his hood, revealing his smile.

"You have a lot of guts heading back to my home," he said as he started walking towards me. "I figured you were too scared to come back and face me like a man." My muscles stiffened, and my hands formed into fists.

"Why would I be afraid of you?" I said. "I am just as powerful as you!" He smiled at me, laughing a little.

"Prove it!" He pushed his hands in front of him, and the trees around me collapsed, all of them falling towards me. I jumped out of the way, barely just in time. I jumped up and shot a bolt of electricity at him.

It smacked into his chest, sending him flying back and into a tree. I started flinging my hands at him, sending electricity with each swing. Almost all of them hit him, sending him farther back.

Then, he pushed his arm out in front of him, sending a log towards me and into my side. I felt my ribs cry in pain and a small cry came from my mouth. I fell to the ground, grabbing my side in agony. The man stood over me, watching and smiling at me.

I really thought I was going to die at that exact moment as the man looked down at me. But, something happened at that moment. Something that started a war.

Nick tackled the man to the ground and jumped on top of him. Before the man could react, Nick started punching him in the head. It took me a second to realize something. His fists were covered in flames. The man pushed Nick off of him and jumped up. His hood had fallen off, and his face was covered in burnt marks.

Nick looked up and ran at the man again, but he quickly stopped. He started to grab at his neck as if something was choking him. The man started to smile, but I made it disappear.

A bolt of electricity smacked into his temple, making him fall to the floor. Nick fell to his knees and started coughing, gasping for air. He quickly got back up and nodded his head at me, thanking me.

The man grunted as he shot back up and looked at us both. His eyes were filled with anger.

"You two think you can stop me? You don't know what I'm capable of!" The trees shook around us, making leaves fall from the limbs. "I can make you lose your mind!"

Nick covered his whole arms in flames and scoffed at the man.

"And we can make you wish you were never born." The man jumped at Nick, screaming in anger. But I shot a bolt at him, hitting him right in his ribcage. He yelped as he landed, holding his side. Nick grabbed him and threw him against a tree. The man didn't try to run at us, he just stood there at the tree as he held his side in pain.

He fell to the ground as Nick socked him in the jaw with his flame-covered hands, causing another burn on his face. The man screamed in agony.

The man jumped up and stared at Nick right in the eyes.

"Yeah, that's right!" he yelled. "Kill me! Kill me just like you did with little Anna! Make me burn in your flames!"

Nick stopped and stared at the man in disbelief.

"Don't you dare talk about my sister like that!" he yelled. "I swear to God I will kill you!"

"Do it! Make me feel what she felt when she was betrayed by her own brother!"

"Shut up!" Nick punched the man right in the temple, making him fall to the ground. The man started to laugh.

"I feel sorry for you! It must be the worst feeling knowing that you burnt your sister alive!"

Nick punched him in the head twice, causing more burns.

"Shut the hell up! I will burn you until you're nothing but bones!"

"Do it! I dare you!"

Nick punched the man and grabbed him by his collar, throwing him into a tree. The man staggered back up, but Nick fell to his knees. He grabbed his hair and started to scream. It got hotter and hotter in a matter of seconds. All of a sudden, fire started to form all around Nick, spiraling and raising into the air. He was having a meltdown.

I turned and ran, running and picking up Karen as she laid on the ground. I carried her and ran as fast as I could. I could hear the sound of wind as it rushed past us, going in the opposite direction. I turned my head and saw what looked like a tornado forming where Nick was. A tornado of fire.

My heart started to race and I kept running. The temperature of the woods got incredibly hot, rising faster with each second. I could hear the fire tornado as it grew in size and heat.

I kept running until I came up on a hill. I stopped and set Karen down against a tree. I looked back, and what I saw made my heart stop.

The fire tornado had grown to a massive size. Trees caught flame all around it, sending thick, black smoke into the air. Karen slowly became conscious, and gasped. She jumped up and started to run towards it, but I grabbed her arm.

"No!" she yelled. "You have to let me go!"

"Are you crazy? You'll be killed!"

"I'm the only person that can stop him! I can use my Telekinesis to push him out of the tornado and make it stop!" I stared at her, then at the giant, fire tornado. Then, I let her go.

She ran off down the hill and disappeared into the trees. I sprinted after her and caught up. We both started to sweat as we got closer and closer. We stopped once we got as close as possible without getting set on fire.

We saw the man taking shelter behind a boulder, too afraid to run away. I focused my eyes on the tornado, and saw Nick in the middle, still on his knees screaming.

Karen pushed her arms out in front of her, but nothing happened.

"Why won't it work?" she yelled.

"You have to focus!"

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Then, she tried again.

Nick went flying and flew out of the tornado and into a tree. The massive thing slowly disappeared, and revealed what it had done.

No trees were in sight where that massive tornado of fire stood. All that laid there were ashes. Karen and I ran over to Nick and examined him. He moaned, and Karen rubbed his head.

"It's okay, Nick. You're safe now."

We heard footsteps coming towards us, and we looked over. The man was walking over to us, reading anger in his eyes.

"You're going to pay for that, you evil bastards!" He put his arms out in front of him, but Karen stepped up.

She pushed her arm out in front of her with extreme force, and the man's right leg bent backwards, snapping and causing him to fall to the floor, crying in pain. I gagged, that being one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen.

The man kept screaming, grabbing his leg as it sat there, out of place. Karen put her hand up, and his other leg started to slowly do the same. The man let out a roar of pain, but I stopped her. I grabbed her shoulder and faced her towards me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I yelled in her face. She had a blank, sad expression on her face. She looked at me with as much sorrow as she could.

"It's what has to be done." She slowly turned around back at the man, and put her hand out. A sharp rock was sent flying and it pierced into the man's side.

"Karen, I don't think-"

"It's what has to be done!" She shot a look back at me, having tears in her eyes. It was as if she knew who he was. I looked into her eyes, then back at the man who was whimpering in pain. I gulped, then shot a bolt at him.

It smacked right into his chest, sending him rolling back a few feet. I heard Nick as he slowly got up and formed a flame in his hand. He then threw it, having it ram into the man's right shoulder. Through all of this, the man was crying out in pain.

"I know everything," Karen said. "I know about your sister, Loren. I know about you running away from home. I know everything about you." The man stopped grieving in pain and looked at Karen, still flinching from his leg.

"I don't know why you saw the things you saw," she said. "But those futures you saw were wrong. I believe it in my heart that we would never do something like that. Sadly, you've been waiting for us for thirteen years. I know that you are determined to kill us." The man gave her a look of anger and revenge.

I heard her as she sobbed, walking over to the man. She put her hand up, and the man went flying back, disappearing into the thick smoke left by the fire. She slowly walked in that direction, disappearing too. I followed, and so did Nick.

We met up with Karen shortly after, and we all stepped out and saw the man lying on the ash covered ground, moaning and sobbing in pain. We stood there for a second, then the man spoke up.

"You shouldn't have done this," he said. "I was trying to protect the world from you." I heard Nick scoff from my side.

"Protect it from what?" The man started to laugh. "If anybody needs to be stopped, it's you."

Karen stepped up and sighed, kneeling down to face the man.

"Things didn't have to be like this," she said. "If you listened, you would understand." Nick grabbed her by her shirt and pulled her up, away from the man.

"Don't talk to him like he's a person," he said. "He tried to kill us for no reason. If his excuse is that we're different, than he needs a news flash. So is he." I nodded my head in agreement.

"He nearly killed us," I said. The man's muscles stiffened, and he quickly looked at Nick.

"Look around!" he yelled. "You did this! You nearly killed you and your friends! You're a monster!" Nick kicked him in the ribs, causing him to scream in pain.

"Shut up!" he yelled.

Karen pushed Nick back and took his place. She gave the man a sympathetic look. She looked back at Nick and I and shook her head.

"They just don't understand," she said. "I understand. I understand everything. After what happened to you, I understand why you looked for someone to blame." The man's muscles stiffened again. "But we didn't cause it. There's no one else to blame but you." She put her hand out in front of her, facing it towards the man.

"But what has to be done, has to be done." She closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Joshua."

Her hand started to shake, and the man stopped breathing. He stopped moving and his breath stopped. He laid there dead as his lifeless eyes stared up at the sky. It sounded like Karen was trying to hold back a sob. Nick and I patted her on the shoulders sympathetically, and turned and walked away.

It took a second for her to follow, but she eventually did. We walked in silence out of the thick smoke, ash covering our shoes. That was a disturbing and sad moment that we just went through. We were all pretty shaken up.

"What did you do to him?" I asked. She hesitated, still trying to hold back sobs.

"I stopped his heart," she said. I felt a shiver flow down my spine.

"How did you know all of those things you said?" I asked.  
"I'd rather not say." She gave one quick look at Nick. "Reasons that I shouldn't say." I didn't bother her after that answer. That's all I needed to hear.

After that, we continued walking to where we were going in the first place. But, we weren't going that way to fight. We were going that way to leave this all behind us.

We were going to become normal again.

.....

Nick

As we walked through the trees and out of the forest, we all looked around. Life seemed to have continued on. Cars drove by. Businesses kept on running. Everything seemed normal.

We could hear the sirens in the distance as the fire department headed for the woods. The thick, black smoke still rose from the trees and into the clouds. A reminder of what I did.

"So... where do we go now?" Luke asked. I looked back at him and smiled.

"I think," I said, "it's time we part ways." Luke closed his eyes, but knew it was coming. "As much as it hurts, we need to put this all behind us. We need to restart our lives." Karen nodded her head at me. "In order to do that, we need to leave each other. We need to pretend this never happened. If we do that, it's possible that we can be normal."

"Yeah," Karen said. "I've been thinking about it on the way here. I can get an apartment someplace and get a job. Sure, it's not the best. But we can get by. Right?"

"Well," Luke said. "I can't go back home. After what happened at the school, I don't think I can show my face there again." He sighed and exchanged looks at Karen and I. "It'll be tough to start over, but it won't be impossible."

We stood there in silence for a while, not wanting to say goodbye.

"I don't think we should just completely forget about each other," Karen said. "We should stay in touch, just in case something ever happens to one of us." Her voice started to tremble and a tear dripped from her eye.

"We have a bond like nothing else. Though I wasn't here for long, I feel like I've known you guys for a long time."

Luke looked at me and I could see the sadness wallow up in his throat.

"I think she's right," he said. "We shouldn't just forget about each other. Especially after that." He stuck his hand out, and I took it, pulling him in and hugging him. Karen wrapped her arms around us, and we stayed like that for the longest time.

"Okay," Karen said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I guess this is... goodbye." She hugged each of us one more time, smiled a sad smile, then slowly turned and walked the other direction. Luke and I watched her until she was completely gone. It actually made me sad to see that.

Then, Luke and I met eyes. This was going to be tough.

"Well," I said. "Take care of yourself, you hear?" He smiled and hugged me tight. I patted his back as he let go. "If you need anything, just give me a call. I'll be over there to burn the place up." We both laughed.

"Nick... I can't thank you enough," he told me.

"For what?"

"For making me see that I wasn't alone in this world. You made me realize that I can be myself. You were a true friend to me. I will never forget what we went through, no matter how much you want me to."

I grabbed his shoulder and felt the sadness in my throat now.

"You can't even imagine how relieved I was when I met you. When I saw that I wasn't the only one, every bit of sadness and loneliness disappeared. You were the true friend. I can't even begin to thank you."

We hugged again, and I felt the tears drip down my face. When he let go, he looked at me and smiled. Then he turned and walked away, crossing the street. When he got to the other side, he looked back at me. We met eyes for the last time, and he continued walking.

Let's get one thing straight. What we could do didn't make us different. The way we viewed life and the world is what made us who we are. The fact that I could create fire, Luke could shoot lightning, and Karen had Telekinesis wasn't important. We weren't dangerous, we weren't evil, and we weren't freaks.

We were special.

.....

