Twisted Dawn - 1. Alex

It's so peaceful riding down this lone stretch of highway. Who would've thought, just three days ago I was just a junior desperately looking forward to senior year. I was so happy to finish junior year as the top of the class, but it would have been more memorable and special to me if at least more than just two people from my life congratulated me, but nobody could be reached. You know it's funny, every time I try to reach my family and friends, they're always busy and can't come to the phone or they can’t talk long because they have somewhere to be. And it’s not like this has just started recently because it’s been going on for a while.

I shouldn’t have been surprised though really, because now everyone knows about me, and I do mean everyone. I’m treated like shit almost everywhere I go, and while the kids who hate me are pretty bad, their parents can do things that scare me. It’s not really a secret that some of the kids are “Different “from the others, but it was a very big secret that I was different from the others. Twice Blessed and Cursed to boot! But the others didn’t know this, they just thought I was the biggest fucking spaz ever and decided I should be reminded everyday.

I didn’t really care what everyone else thought about me. It’s not like they ostracized the kids with powers, but if you didn’t have any you were subject to having to put up with a lot of shit. I never revealed to anyone that I had some abilities. I don’t really think power is an appropriate word for the things I can do.

I first found out I could do things a little after my 15th birthday. I was so happy, that I actually had friends to chill out with. We were having a pool party in my back yard while my Dad and sister Erin were grilling food for everyone. Everything was going fine and well until my best friend Ashley arrived with what looked like the entire football team. Seeing some of the faces of the players, I instantly tensed up and realized that this would not end well. Trying to figure out what was going on I stood and walked over to greet Ash, and all I can really recall from that greeting is that I woke up 2 days later in the hospital with a broken arm and a severe concussion. I asked my dad and sister over and over again what happened, but all I got from them was a sad look and I could have sworn I saw my dad glaring at me a few times. Since the party was about a week before school started, when I got out of the hospital, it was finally time to go back to school.

Following the same routine I have used everyday since the beginning of tenth grade, I got out of bed and took a shower, and brushed my teeth. While rushing to get dressed, I tripped over my shoes and fell, and was immediately embarrassed by Erin who just happened to be sitting on my bed waiting for me to finish. “You know Alex, you really should watch what you’re doing because I’m quite sure that was a long way down.” I shot up from the floor to my full height of 5’11 and glared at her, choosing to ignore the obvious shot she had just taken. Walking back to the bathroom I heard Erin say “Hurry up Toothpick if you think you want a ride and come get me if you need lenses.” Ok I hollered as I turned the corner and ran right into my Dad. I was very surprised to see him up this early in the morning seeing as he was usually asleep because he worked evenings and nights, and I was very anxious and scared because he had not seen the true color of my eyes since I was 12.

I guess I should explain, absolutely no one in town had green eyes. Except me. Everyone believed they were an omen, and anyone who had them were cursed and had to be either driven out of town or relieved of the offending eye. The only reason no one knew about my eye color was because I wore contact lenses given to me by my sister to blend in and not be persecuted. These people really gave extremist a new meaning.

Once again I saw that look in my father’s face that confused and frightened me; I could swear I saw a vein twitch. Reaching up to stop myself from running headlong into my Dad, I glanced up just once and saw that I had just made a mistake. The look I saw on my father’s face was not just an angry glare, it was pure disgust. When my hands finally touched my father and I gained my balance, he punched me hard across the face, and I fell to the floor in a heap. Turning to walk away, he said don’t you fucking touch me faggot, and hurry up and put those damn contacts back in your eyes so you can get out.

In all my years, I had never seen my father look that way at anybody, and the things he said to me, I never thought I would hear come out of his mouth. My father hated me.

I stood up and ran to the bathroom to check on any damage. Seeing that I had just a bright red bruise across my jaw, I styled my unruly black hair, put in my gray contacts and went down to the kitchen to wait for my sister. Thinking back on earlier I was terribly frightened of what would happen to me now that my father knew my secrets. It’s not that I was never going to tell him; it’s that I wasn’t going to tell him until I was away from here. While sitting at the table a feeling of total despair came over me, and I looked up to see an almost exact mirror image of myself staring back at me with this sad look in her eyes.

Being twins, we always knew each others secrets, and we knew early on that we would eventually get powers. Erin got hers when she was 9, and I didn’t get anything. Our mother always used to tell us don’t try to rush thing we’ll get our powers when were supposed to. That was also the year she began to sit and stare in our eyes anytime we were close to her. Our mother’s eyes were bright green, an almost dazzling shade of green, while our father’s eyes were a steely gray, almost silver. Erin had apparently inherited her eyes from dad because as soon as I looked at her I had to turn away to hide the shame I felt. I wasn’t ashamed because I was gay or because my father found out but I was ashamed because just before my mother died she asked me if I was and I deliberately told her no.

With a knowing glance Erin grabbed my arm and practically dragged me outside to the car and told me I could drive. I think she was just trying to cheer me up, but I could care less because times were too few when I would ever have the chance to drive our car anywhere. Usually on our way to school we would stop over and pick up Ashley and we would ride in the back seat while Erin drove, but today when we rode past his house he was standing there with about three guys from the football team tossing around a ball. When they saw me ride past I was instantly hit by three voices in my head screaming faggot and I would’ve crashed right into a telephone pole if Erin wouldn’t have taken control of the car.

I had never felt anything like that before at all, and it scared the hell out of me. I knew that Ashley had powers; he could do a hell of a lot with his mind. That’s how Ashley found out about me in the first place. I never told Ashley I could read minds and send messages mentally, and I damn sure didn’t tell him I was gay. He plucked them from my mind because he wanted to know why I wasn’t talking to him as much anymore. After he found out, he asked me why I didn’t tell him before, and my only answer was I didn’t know how he would react. He accepted that load of crap, and told me he could care less who I liked and he thought it was kinda of cool that we both had powers. In the many times we hung out following this conversation everything was cool, but I always felt when he discreetly tried to read me.

I truly don’t know what he was rooting around in my mind looking for, because it couldn’t have been about anything I didn’t already tell him. He already knew I had green eyes, and he knew I liked guys, so I truly could not think of anything else he really wanted to know. The weekend before my birthday I caught him digging around in my mind, and when I returned from using the bathroom I caught him looking through my room. Confronting him I asked him what he was looking for, and he told me he was just trying to figure out what’s been wrong with me lately. I looked at him for a minute and he asked if he could scan me and find out. Seeing nothing wrong I said yes and stood there while he closed his eyes. I felt a gentle push and immediately I was flooded with visions of all the memories he was looking through. He was at it for awhile until he came to the memory that explained everything.

It was my thirteenth birthday, and my parents had taken Ashley, Erin and I out to eat to celebrate. Seeing as Erin had just turned thirteen the day before, and had already had a party today was all about me. We went to a restaurant and ordered food, and instead of staying to eat, we decided to go down to the beach and enjoy our dinner. We sat and enjoyed a nice quiet dinner, and halfway through I noticed that my mother was staring into my eyes. I panicked because I just knew she could tell that I was wearing contact lenses, and the wink she gave me confirmed that suspicion. We held eye contact for a few more minutes, and it was at that time we finally noticed the mob that was heading towards us. We looked around for Ashley, Erin, and my dad but they were out playing in the ocean. With a final look of longing and a whispered goodbye my mother rose and made her way over towards the gathered mob. They began to talk which eventually turned to yelling and my mother was tossed backward until she came to a stop right in front of me. She looked so beautiful in those last minutes when she looked at me and said your time will come Alex, my final gift for you is waiting with the stars. I was scared and confused I didn’t know what she was talking about, but to me it sounded like she was prepared and knew she was going to die tonight.

As I stood there watching unable to move, the mob used their powers to tear my mother limb from limb and burn each piece as they held me in place and made me watch. I was devastated and sick. What kind of monsters did this to someone in front of their child? These were the same people that I had known all my life, the parents of some of my friends. They left me there on the beach with a warning that any person they knew was cursed would be handled the same way. They were not saying it in a roundabout way either, they were basically telling me that when they found out I was cursed they were coming.

I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see and just like those 3 years earlier I passed out on my bed as Ashley continued to dig through my memories. I woke up feeling detained like I was in a straight jacket but it was just Ash hugging me and saying how sorry he was and that he never knew. I looked him in the eyes and told him he had no reason to apologize. Looking into his eyes I was reminded once again of why I was cutting the amount of time we spent together short. I was hopelessly in love with my best friend. Ash must have still been looking around through my head because as soon as I thought this I felt hollow and empty. Ash got up and quickly ran past me and out of the room throwing an I have to go over his shoulder. I had absolutely no clue of what to do or say that could fix this. That night was the first night in almost 3 years that I cried myself to sleep.

To feel the amount of hate that was embedded in those messages was completely overwhelming for me. I changed seats with Erin so she could finish the drive to school while I sat back to think. Even with everything that had happened in the last week between me and Ashley I still loved him with every fiber of my being, but I knew that I could never have him. Ashley was the same height as me and even my co-captain on the football team. We weren’t huge muscle kids, but we just barely passed the 175 lb mark. He was a brown haired, steel blue eyed god in my eyes, and he was also my sister’s boyfriend. Yeah, I don’t know how that happened either. It broke my heart that I would never mean to him what he meant to me, but I could deal with it as long as he was still my friend. I was miserable without him, and while Erin said she would talk to him to find out what the problem is I told her not to bother, we had to work it out on our own.

We reached school a few minutes later and as soon as we arrived, the hallways got quiet. Now with my sister and I both being popular students, her head cheerleader and me co-captain of the football team, you’d think this was an every day occurrence. Some people actually did until the words fucking faggot flew down the hall. I didn’t even bother to turn around and try to see who said it; I was not in the mood this early into the morning or school year. I continue walking down the hall and the next thing I know I’m falling the 100 feet it takes to reach the ground from a window on the third floor of the high school. I didn’t even have time to scream as the ground came rushing to embrace me. I prepared for the impact but I never felt it. I also realized I wasn’t falling anymore and looked up into the horrified face of my best friend.

I felt his remorse when he screamed out his apologies for the way he treated me and leaving me alone, but suddenly there was so much anger flooding my senses I couldn’t even see straight. When I finally stood up from where Ash set me down I distinctly heard someone scream ‘That Fucking Queer is Cursed’. My blood ran cold, how the hell could they know, I wear contact lenses to hide my eyes and I have never had powers to use here. All it took was one glance upwards to confirm my worst fears. My contacts had shifted and everyone could see my green eyes. Seeing as everyone knew I had no powers they settled for tormenting me and making my life a living hell instead of driving me away with threats of murder. I mean seriously what could I do, my only power that I knew about then was empathy. What the hell! I had a power that would damn near cripple me every time someone got too close and decided they wanted to pick on me. I had to live through my own personal hell for the past 2 years of high school. Now is my senior year and you can be damn sure that wouldn’t happen to me again.