Runaways

We stopped at a cheap hotel for the night; the ride had been quiet and strained. No one talked. Once we got into the room I crashed. I was still tired.

[DREAM]

I was small, about two. I was in a house, I didn’t recognize it, but it felt familiar. I carefully got out of my toddlers bed, I had fell too many times today. I tottered to the door and opened it.

I was engulfed by a mixture of the foulest smelling substance on Earth and smoke. I ran as fast as my little legs could carry me. I heard a woman scream; my mom.

I ran into the living room and saw the ugliest thing I had ever seen holding my mom by the throat.

“Where is the child?” It bellowed. She choked out, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I screamed at the top of my tiny lungs, “let her go!” It turned around, dropping my mom. It grinned, showing yellow, slim covered teeth and reached for me.

I don’t know what over-came me, but I held up my hand and used The Power. It flew backward, smashing into the large front windows. It didn’t move.

My mom ran over and hugged me, breaking down. I broke down too, not knowing what happened.

[END OF DREAM]

I shot up sweat covering my body. I took in deep, gasping breaths. Alli and Martin, who were arguing about something, suddenly stopped.

“Kate, are you alright?” I heard someone ask. I shook my head, I didn’t trust myself to speak. I ignored their attempts to get me to talk and thought.

That was the first time I have had that dream, but something told me it wasn’t just a dream. I pushed past Alli and Martin, going to the bathroom.

I splashed cold water on my face and neck, calming down. I filled the glass by the sink with water. As I was about to take a drink, I looked in the mirror.

I didn’t feel the glass slip from my hand or hear it crash to the floor. I looked closer, but it was the same, my eyes were pitch black.

Martin rushed in, having heard something break. I blinked several times, my eyes were still black.

“What’s wrong with me?” I whispered, tears rolling down my face, coming from my black eyes. Martin wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tight. He moved me to my bed and started arguing with Alli. I was too numb to understand it, but I heard it.

“We need to tell her before she goes on a rampage, and besides, she still needs to train.”

“No, it might traumatize her and she isn’t even sixteen.”

“She’s already traumatized just by her eyes, what about when she discovers everything else? We can’t keep it from her.”

“It’s not our place to tell, Albert would be furious.”

“I don’t care what they do to me, I’m telling her.”

I felt someone sit beside me, I turned to see Martin. They had been arguing about someone, me? I think so, but what didn’t Alli want to tell me? I stared blankly at Martin.

“Kate, you’re special, you have special powers that you were born with. We didn’t know until…you were about two,” his words shot back to my dream, “but you couldn’t help it. We are not sure what exactly are your powers, but we have a good idea.

“There is a prophesy saying you will help a race of people that no one knows about; Alli is one of those people.” I looked at Alli, who was fascinated by the brown motel curtains.

I rolled my eyes, “so, are we still friends?” She looked shocked, “how can we not be friends? We’ve know each other since kindergarten. Okay, I admit I was sent here to observe you and report back. But when you talked to the little weird girl in kindergarten we kinda…clicked.” I laughed and hugged her.

“So what about my eyes?” I asked, cringing as I looked in the mirror. Martin shook his head, “you still know nothing about yourself, you can change your eye color to anything you want it to, just concentrate.” I nodded and concentrated on my eyes, willing them sky blue, getting a bad headache.

The mirror on the wall that I was looking in shattered, sending hundreds of bits everywhere. I picked up a large shard and saw my eyes were completely sky blue.

“It’s alright, you’ll learn to control it soon enough,” I heard Alli say. I grinned, this was cool yet frightening.

We stayed up and talked, picking bits of mirror out of the furniture and everywhere else. Inside I was worried, what if it wasn’t the mirror I was looking at? I could have seriously hurt somebody. Every time I have used my power for good, it always ends up bad.

“Watching you sleep earlier inspired me to take a nap, night-night,” Martin said. Alli laughed, “I will join you, you should get some more sleep too, Kate, you still look tired.” I nodded, smiled, and laid down, but didn’t go to sleep.

Martin turned the lights off, getting into his bed. I stayed up long after Martin and Alli went to sleep, thinking about the ring of men, the mirror, how many people I could have hurt or even kill.

I sighed as I faced the truth, I can’t be around anybody without potentially hurting them. I would have to leave the city.

I packed up everything, getting Sam out of his shoe box. I wrote Alli and Martin a note, explaining why I left and gave them one last look before I closed the motel door behind me.