I Control Almost Everything

This was it, my first high school dance. Guess what? I really don’t care. The doorbell just rang, telling us all that Warren had arrived. Now we can all get on the bus together. Since my parents had yet to see me in my dress, they were both quite anxious…well, everyone was really. I slipped on my shoes and left my room to meet the others.

I could tell that they had all been watching the top of the stairs for me since as soon as I got there, there was a collective gasp. I rolled my eyes, and was then blinded by the flash of my mother’s camera.

When I finally got to the bottom of the stairs, Warren looked at me, and I mean really looked at me. “Wow, never thought I’d actually see you in a dress.”

“Oh I know! Doesn’t she look spectacular?” Layla squealed.

“We can go now, right?” I asked my parents, even though I already knew the answer.

“Of course not Tristen, we still need a group picture for the family scrapbook,” my father chuckled. Yes, he just said family scrapbook.

“Alright,” I mumbled. Warren grabbed my hand and pulled me over to stand by him, since he was my “date.” Luckily, he was just as thrilled as I was and we were behind everyone else.

After my parents were satisfied, we boarded the bus along with all of the other student who would be attending the dance, and took off.

The dance was exactly as I pictured it to be, loud, dark, and full of overly-anxious sweaty teenaged bodies. To make Layla happy, Warren and I danced a few times when urged to, but other than that, we stood at the back wall, studying the dance and occasionally making a comment on events that were unfolding. For instance, everyone at the dance, even the excited ones, seemed bored since no one was being attacked by their student body president. Though I don’t suppose that anyone would attack after what had happened last year.

A few minutes later, when the music had switched to a slow song, the disco ball exploded, showering the gym in sharp, shattered pieces of mirrored glass. Everyone was either, ducking, running, screaming, or doing an odd mixture off all three. There were cackles. Loud, shrill female cackles coming from no where.

“Hello children!” sang an evilly sweet voice. “Oh,” the voice said, almost as if it were pouting, “you don’t want me here? Too bad!” lightning erupted from inside the gym, forming a figure. When the havoc stopped, there was a woman standing in the center of the shards of disco ball. She had pin-straight white hair that brushed the floor, her skin was just as white as her hair, and her eyes were yellow and cat like. She was wearing a bright red cocktail dress- she had planned on coming here. Well of course she had, that entrance couldn’t have been improvised.

Everyone, even time, stood still. I prayed that my brother wasn’t stupid enough to ask her why she was here. But alas, he was, she laughed. Then, surprised everyone.

“Your sister,” she said, pointing one of her long fingers at me.

Warren made to stand in front of me, but this woman tossed him to the side. She must be a telepath.

“Why?” my brother asked acidly.

“She has potential, and power. And if I can’t have it, now, I can get her to give them to me.”

I didn’t speak; the room was filled with a thick silence. My mind reeled. How would she do that? Why would I give up my powers? And why me?

“Because pet, I can feel your energy, you don’t know what to do with it.”

“And you do?” I thought to her.

“Precisely.”

In the next instant, a pain tore at my soul, insatiable anger filled my blood. None of it was foreign though. I knew these feelings all to well; they were the things I forced down everyday of my life since I had discovered that my powers were different from the rest of my family. I hated the fact that it felt wonderful to have these feeling set free. I screamed, in frustration, anger, power, joy; I don’t know, but the sound erupted from me. The sound was me.

“Cherry!” Layla screamed at me. She whirled on the woman responsible. “What are you doing to her?”

“Nothing, this was already there.”

“Cherry,” Layla whimpered as she watched me stalk up to my brother.

“William,” I breathed. He gulped, causing me to chuckle. Using the water in his body, I forced him down to his knees before me, he couldn’t move, but I could tall that he wanted to, and that he was afraid of me. I started to choke him. Finally, this was my time to be the one. All my life, it’s been super strength and flying, no one ever really saw me. I was the odd one out. My brother always got so much for being the child of his, my, OUR parents, but the fact that they were my parents too was always overlooked. When people did realize that they were my parents, all of these expectations were piled on top of me. I’m not them, and I’m not my brother.

Fire singed my hair. I released Will; he choked on all of the air that was suddenly allowed passage into his lungs. I turned around, finding Warren glaring with the fire in his hands burning in his eyes. I sneered, I didn’t care. This feeling was eating me, and it felt so good to let it do so. With my teeth grinding together, I pulled water out of the air and threw ice daggers at him. He melted them and sent a wall of fire at me. I froze it, and then shattered it. I deftly heard Layla scream as shards cut into her. I paralyzed Warren; no one was going to interfere.

“Interfere with what pet? Do you even know what you’re doing?” she gave me control over my emotions.

I released Warren. What did I do? Layla was bleeding heavily from cuts scattered across her body, my brother’s breathing was barely normal, and Warren was lying on the floor grimacing.

“Aw, poor baby. Did you lose control of your precious emotions? Now that you know this, how can you live with these cursed abilities, if all you’re going to do with them is hurt your friends? What if you had killed them? Hm?” she whispered in my ear, she was inches away from me now.

I clenched my fists.

“If you ever want to reconsider, the name’s Lore. We’ll be in touch,” she smiled, and then disappeared.

I fell to my knees. Who was I? Was I really a person who could so easily give into my anger like that, and just destroy people? Or was I just a person who was dying on the inside because I knew that the anger inside me could never be released.

“Tristen,” Warren said, placing a hand on my shoulder, “we need to talk to you.”

“No.” I bit out. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Are you kidding?” Will exploded. “You tried to kill me!”

I got up and walked past him, “But I didn’t, did I?” I left the gym. I didn’t kill him. I was still in control, barely, but I’ve got to. I’ve got to control everything about me.

The stars flecked the sky, and I gazed up at them as if they held the answer to all of my problems, and maybe they did.

“Can I stay in control?” I whispered to the stars.