The Creeps

Craig made his way further into the clearing. He didn’t bother, if Alex saw him anymore. Not after he had followed him here.

Strangely, he didn’t think of Alex as a stranger anymore, he felt like he knew this guy for ages. Almost as if they were siblings. They were not, though. Nothing about them was alike, nothing but the fact, that they were both not normal.

Some feet further, Alex stopped, not turning, just standing there.

"So, I see you followed, like I told you.", the boy smirked.

When had he told Craig to follow him? He hadn't, only the hint, when passing the shop. Though Craig got up on his own will, he didn’t feel ordered to do it.

Was it possible, that Alex could control people? To order them around like he wanted to?

Craig was speechless, he couldn’t find anything to respond, so he stayed silent. After a few minutes, Alex started again.

"I'm sure, you have no clue what is going on, right?"

The only response, was nodding.

Then, suddenly two other guys appeared from behind the shadows of the surrounding trees. They both came towards Alex and Craig, looking at him as if they knew him for ages.

Craig was only more confused now, he didn’t know what was going on, nor why every one of them knew him. Was he supposed to know them too?

When Alex started talking again, Craig listened carefully, not wanting to miss any of the information given.

Alex told Craig all about the clearing, the strange colors it had. That the grey light wasn’t made by the stars, that it wasn’t even there. No one normal was able to see it, only creatures like the boys.
Also, that the fire wasn’t really burning, yet it was. It was a fire, which only they could see. Made by one of them, a human couldn’t see it, no matter how near they got. Not even if they stepped right in, they would've noticed.

He informed him, why his mind didn’t work like everyone else's. It was because he wasn’t human. All four of them were something a human wasn’t even aware of existing. They were special, only one of their chromosomes was different, though it made them so much different. Doctors did notice the mistake, but didn’t think it would make them like this. They only thought, that something may not be right with them, like they had a disability.

Nothing of this was right, though. Their body worked different; they had special abilities. What Craig always used, was his ability to see through people; to have insight in their mind. Craig didn’t know that he was just looking up the information in the kids head, he thought he was good at watching and interpreting them.

That he was following the boy, with the feeling of being asked to, was caused by Alex' ability to control people. He also had insight in people's minds, though he had learned to use this differently. Alex didn’t just look inside, he rearranged their minds, leaving things, that weren't there before.

When telling Craig to follow only by walking past the shop, he did this. He put it into Craig's head, who of course didn't know it. If Alex wanted to, he could've destroyed so many things. He could've made them do things, no one would've done on purpose.
The reason why Alex was able to do this, while Craig wasn’t, was that he was much older than everyone thought he was. During the many years of staying the same, he had figured out lots of things, neither of their species could've ever thought of.

Alex was currently over a hundred years old. He was just able to be around humans, because his body stopped aging. At a certain point in time, they would just stop growing, they stayed the same forever, unless someone killed them.
Craig had been right at that point. Alex was only able to find him, because of this. He couldn’t make out the difference between a human and someone like them until they were there. The changing, was what they called it.

Being in the changing was hard for everyone. They always got random headaches or sicknesses. All their abilities didn’t work well, like they were blocked by something. Craig knew this only too well. After Alex had explained it, he understood the stinging pain in his head, though he had never had this before. It was normal, normal for someone like him.

In the beginning Craig thought of everything as creepy. He didn’t want to be like this, he just wanted to be normal, like everyone else. The thought of being a monster creeped him out. Craig thought of himself as a monster. He was strange after all; strange things were always referred to as monsters. At least, his mother told him so, when he was a kid.

While being in the changing, The Creeps were only able to eat proper food to a certain extent. It wasn’t good for their body, which changed dramatically during this phase.

The Creeps, was what they were called. There had only been one human, who ever knew about them. He found out, while they were hunting. This guy, was scared, and referred to them as those creeps. Since this day, they called themselves The Creeps. The man, however, had been murdered by them. They couldn’t have let him go, with knowing everything. It was important, that they stayed a secret, so they had no other choice than getting him out of the way.