Everything Happens for a Reason

The morning after Alex's dysfunctional birthday I awoke to the sound of my alarm, telling me I need to get ready for work. I work at a DIY store called Focus which was incredibly shit as a business. First of all they hired me who knows nothing about DIY, so I've probably killed about 15 people with all the wrong power tools and bad advice I've given people. Second it had one working security camera and it pointed at the chocolate bars by the welcome desk. There's rumours it's going bankrupt so I should probably start looking for a new job soon anyway.

I looked towards the bed on the opposite side of the room to find that Max was already up as usual, he's always been first up in the morning. I could just about hear him in the kitchen talking with Cassidy and making the tea, as I finished lacing up my trainers. As I was folding up the sweatpants and shirt I wore to bed to go on top of my pillow (as ordered by Max), I heard a knock at the door and yelled at whoever it was to come in. Sam entered the room quickly shutting the door behind him.

"What's up Sam?" I asked

"I'm freaking out that's what's up!" he exclaimed "I haven't slept a wink all night! And the more I panic the more stuff gets blown up that I can't afford to replace, so then I get pissed and even more stuff gets blown to bits! Plus I've got that job interview today and I've got a funny feeling they won't want to hire me when I blow up their building!"

"Okay just calm down, I know it's hard I'm freaking out too. But for now we just gotta forget about it and move on with our normal lives. Maybe it's best to just cancel your interview since you can't control your powers. And don't let Max see your room"

"What about all my destroyed stuff?!"

Max's hamper for dirty clothes burst into bits.

"We'll figure that out when I get back and I'll buy Max a new hamper on the way home and tell him I broke the original" I told him "If you could try to stay in your room as much as possible to keep the damage in there that'd be great because your room we can just about manage to repair if we all chip in. However we can't afford to fix the whole apartment and I think we'd get kicked out if our landlord saw it. Sorry to rush out on you Sam, but I gotta go or I'll be late"

"Okay, thanks Will" He replied "And sorry for laying it all on you. You guys haven't triggered any of your powers yet, you have no idea how terrified I am that I might hurt one of you"

"I understand"

And I did. If any of them got hurt I didn't know what I'd do, but if I was the one who caused it then the guilt would eat me alive. They were the only family I'd ever known. They weren't just my best friends, they were my brothers and sisters. And they'd be so forgiving even though I'd seriously hurt them, it would make it so much worse. I patted Sam's shoulder as we parted ways: me for the kitchen and him for his room. I gulped down the tea and quickly munched the slice of toast Cassidy handed to me, and left the apartment building running to catch the bus.

I got to work on time and put on my work shirt and name tag in the staff room before heading to the garden centre part of the building, where I'd been assigned to water and maintain the plants. I wasn't allowed to do any big important jobs for obvious reasons, I also wasn't allowed to work the tills as I'd accidently set the panic alarm off by knocking it with my knee on my second week on the job. As I walked into the garden centre all the plants seemed to perk up a bit as if the sun was shining on them, I frowned and carried on walking to the hose to water the bigger plants, then switched to a watering can for the smaller flowers.

As it neared the end of my shift for the day I noticed every time I touched one of the plants it grew a little, but it wasn't until I was leaning against a huge plant pot housing a tree when it's roots burst out the pot shattering it did I realise what was happening. I'd triggered my dad's powers of heat that were inside of me. I quickly cleaned up the shattered pottery and sighed in relief when I heard the bell signalling the end of my shift. I remembered to get a cheap hamper from home bargains for Max and caught the bus back home where I surprisingly saw Sam out of his room comforting a very shaken up Alex.

"What happened?"