Twisted Dawn - 2. In A Dream

I never revealed to anyone the second I received my powers, but I knew Erin, and Ashley could fell the change the exact minute it occured. They might both be freakishly strong when it comes to their powers, but there’s not much they could do when they where being suppressed by about 25 kids to see the torture continue. The fights and teasing weren’t so bad when there was hand to hand fighting but the second my tormentors figured out they weren’t going to win I was bombarded from all sides by what I call the psychic pricks, or the football team. After the incident back on the first day of tenth grade, both Ash and I quit the football team. Me because I knew that would be basically submitting myself to masochist hell, and Ash because he wanted to show his support, or so he said. I think it was basically just to keep an eye on me.

Dropping from football didn’t help in the least because the football team, all of my old friends made sure they came and found me everyday and let me know exactly how they felt about me. I never ran from them or it would have been much worse. There was one person I wished I could run from but I knew that would never happen. My father really did hate me. He has not spoke a decent sentence to me once in almost 2 years. Anytime he wants me to do something he screams it at me or gets my sister to tell me. I finally accepted earlier this year that this is how it will always be with the help of Erin and Ash, but it still hurts.

Today is Friday Aug 28th, just 3 days before my 17th birthday. I can’t really think of a reason to celebrate, because for the last 2 years the only friends I had were Ash, and Erin and this new kid in school named Martin. We were both in agreement that when we met there was a feeling of déjà vu. He was about 6’2 with white hair and these very blue eyes. I knew with every fiber of my being that I had met him somewhere before but I just couldn’t place where. Maybe it was wishful thinking that made me think I knew him from somewhere but the minute I saw him a complete feeling of lust washed over me and I’m pretty damn sure it didn’t all come from me.

So Erin, Ash, Martin, and I are sitting in my backyard trying to decide what to do for Erin and my birthdays when I get the feeling that I need to go to the front yard. I get up in a confused daze, no longer in control of my body as it jerkily shifts towards the front of the house. My sister and friends follow behind me worried calling my name and trying to get me to stop. I try every thing I know but I have absolutely no control over anything, I have become a passenger in my own body. We finally reach the front yard and there waiting for me is almost every sports team from the high school, the pricks, the tools, and the assholes (football, basketball, wrestling). I try once again to gain control but am instantly hit by more pain than I could have ever imagined. As my vision returns to normal from the psychological attack, I am told that I had better cooperate or they would never find my body.

That threat stopped me cold from even thinking I would struggle to get free again. Never in the past 2 years has anyone threatened me with murder, and in the back of my mind I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to make that threat come true. We were driven across town to an old warehouse, in the old town district. When they mentioned this place on the evening news it was to report on another murder or finding some tortured soul barely clinging to consciousness.

I was scared that option number 2 was not what was meant for me this evening. We were lead into the warehouse, and I was forced down into the humongous open space while everyone else was forced up to the office to watch. Watching the players walk in I was sure I would be ripped apart and burned like my mother four years earlier. It was no secret to anyone I was the cursed loser now seeing as how fast gossip spreads at Centennial High, so the parents didn’t even bother to try to drive me out. They tortured me as much as the crazy little shits they called kids. When Lance, this years captain of the football team, and one of my old friends who was a year younger than me walked up I thought this was it. I really was not prepared for what happened next.

From watching the way the teams moved around each other I could tell they were all telepathically linked, just like I was with Ash, and Erin. Just seeing them standing there, they didn’t seem to fit the bill of my executioners. Then I really looked to see who all was there, and was surprised to see that behind the sight of the various school teams, there only appeared to be about 5 people from various teams and clubs. While I watched to see what they would do, they all seemed to be looking at me expectantly and waiting for something to happen. We stared back and forth for a few seconds until Lance stepped forward to tell me that they were there to force me into my destiny. I looked at him like he was crazy for a few seconds before I busted out laughing in his face.

As I opened my mouth to respond, the next thing I knew I was falling from the top of the warehouse, having been teleported there by one of Lance’s groupies. So once again just like 2 years before I stared horrified as the ground rushed up to meet me. I must have looked like an idiot floating there for a few seconds and screaming when I finally realized I was no longer falling. I looked up right into the face of Ash again just like I had before, and this time I thought I saw a trace of fear. The gathered teams teleported and dropped me almost 50 times until I could stop them completely, and then they decided I needed more training in case of the mobs. By 11: 45 that night I was exhausted and almost surprised to discover that there was no big group of kids but just one kid, with green eyes that looked just like mine, and a grown man with steel gray eyes behind him. I stared along with my friends because I just knew there was no way it could be him, there in front of me stood my father, along with a kid I have never seen before, but looked exactly like Ash.

As I looked into my fathers face, I could just barely make out Ash and Erin whispering with the mystery kid when a very loud voice cut through the warehouse and announced ‘Alex we need to talk’. Looking around I noticed it was the guy who looked like Ash who spoke. What exactly could I say besides yes, I think we need to talk now? We left the warehouse to travel back to the house and one of my first questions was who had trapped me like that inside my own mind. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy and basically avoided answering any of my questions. I was getting pissed and now there was extreme tension in the car.

When we arrived home, my father sent Martin away and everyone else went into the kitchen. I was getting mad and the little bit of control I had on my new powers was fading quick. We sat around the table and stared at each other for a few minutes before I spoke up and yelled what the hell is going on. Once again silence reigned at the table and my control shattered. I can’t remember what happened but when I came to, I was standing on the kitchen table pointing at my father, and everyone else was pinned to the walls with faces full of fear. I dropped my hand and looked around, and almost immediately I was thrown from the table and confined back to that space in my mind. I actually had powers this time to protect myself but what good were they when I was confined to my own mind.

I was re-positioned back into my seat from earlier, and the Ash look alike began to speak. “My name is Adrian, and I am Ashley’s older brother. I was ‘persuaded’ to leave Westhill 4 years ago when I was accused of being cursed.” If I would have had control over my body my jaw would’ve been on the floor. Having been trying to escape from this prison since I was forced to it I couldn’t display any outward reactions but my surprise did register when my body jerked and I felt as if I was living Adrian’s memories. We were connected and I was instantly bombarded with his memories and feeling over events from his past and present. I was starting to feel overwhelmed when I slumped forward onto the table, and was plunged into darkness.

I awoke sometime later in my bed looking into a pair of green eyes. They were staring into my soul like they were searching for the core of my being. I didn’t flinch, or look away, actually I enjoyed the attention. I no longer felt any of the anger and outrage I was going through earlier at the table and for just a moment I felt that the second I looked away I would feel incomplete. We must have laid there for hours when I finally asked Adrian about Lance. I asked him what had really happened to Lance and why he took his place, and Adrian told me that lance was just fine. He had been in an accident about a week before when he told his parents he was going on a college tour and is still in a hospital up north.

After laying in silence for another few minutes I looked away from him and asked why he took the time to try to help me. He stared into my eyes for several minutes before he responded that he really didn’t want to see what happened to my mother happen to me. I must have looked shocked because he went on to explain that when my mother went to confront the mob she knew he was there hiding behind the rocks. He told me that she was telling him his life is not and will not be so bad once he realizes that he is not cursed, but gifted in his own way. Gathering up my courage I asked him if he was really cursed, and he looked me in the eyes and said, we’re not cursed, we’re gifted. We laid there until we both fell asleep and for the first time in years I felt safe.

I awoke to feeling something lying across my chest and began to panic until I realized it was just Adrian’s arm. Looking up I noticed he was staring at my face, and I didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable. Just like the previous night we lay staring at each other until the door flew open and Erin, Ash and Martin charged into the room singing happy birthday. To me it seemed like time had came to a standstill, as I turned to see who had charged into my room. I looked back to Adrian, and it was then I truly realized what had happened. I had not been imagining time slowing down when they burst in because instead of time slowing down it had completely stopped leaving Adrian and myself untouched. Looking back towards my friends I saw subtle movement and knew someone was faking, we weren’t the only ones in the room untouched by time. Slowly standing up I surveyed the scene at hand and just now noticed that my father was mixed in with this bunch, and had a big grin on his face. Trying to remember where I saw the movement from earlier, I walked around everyone in a circle poking and prodding them trying to provoke some movement. I walked past my father and Ash and poked both of them, and when I turned away I received a poke back right in the center of my back. I whipped around and stared daring one of them to move but didn’t get any reaction.

I was literally stumped. I didn’t know how I stopped time, and I couldn’t figure out who was playing possum. I decided I’d stand there and wait but of course being as impatient as I was I had to get close and start poking again. I walked up to the space between Ash and my father where I was poked before, and stood there facing the wall praying someone would move again. I heard rustling but figured it must have been Adrian over on the bed laughing at me again. I turned around to look at Adrian when I was grabbed from behind and tickled unmercifully despite my protests. While in a fit of giggles, everyone went back to normal stopped their forward charge when they noticed I was no longer on the bed, but was actually on the floor between them in a fit of laughter.

I jumped to my feet and was prepared to confront the faker when I noticed the look on everyone else’s face. Erin, Adrian, and Ash had a proud look on their face while Martin’s face was twisted in horror. I tried to think of what could make him react like that when he pushed his way past me and ran from the house. I looked back at everyone and asked if they knew what that was about and they told me he had not actually witnessed what had occurred in the warehouse three nights before. I looked to my father to see his reaction and there embedded on his face was the look he had given me for the past 2 years. I stumbled backwards trying to put as much space between us as I possibly could when he reached forward with a speed I had never seen before and pulled me into a hug. My brain refused to process this and I struggled for a few minutes before I was told by all four present that there was no problem.

I glanced up to see my father looking down at me with an expression of love, and I began to cry thinking about how long it had been since he last looked at me like that. When I finally pulled myself together, my father told me my mother would have been very proud of me for my progress, and that under no circumstance I was to go anywhere alone with Martin again. I wanted to ask him why, and it was finally at that time I knew exactly where I recognized him from. He was there when my mother was killed, having assisted in the murder himself. He was only hanging around me to report to his parents. I felt sick and decided I wasn’t really in the mood for celebrating and would rather be alone.

I climbed into my bed and curled up remembering everything that had happened in my past to get me here today. At about 11:45 there was a knock on my door and Adrian let himself in to my room and joined me on my bed. He just sat beside me and watched me for awhile before he turned on my bedside lamp and asked me to sit up so he could give me my present. Somewhat confused and very curious I sat up and asked him what my present was, but he just continued to laugh at me. I lay back down and closed my eyes and told him to lay it on my chest and I would guess what it was. I felt the bed shift, and seconds later I felt a pair of soft lips hesitantly touch mine. I sat up and stared at Adrian as he slowly shrank away from me apologizing for forcing himself on me and declaring he would go sleep in a different room and be gone tomorrow. As he rose to go I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down on top of me and whispered to him that it was the best gift I had ever received. I went to sleep that night feeling like I was actually finding a place to belong.

Having graduated from Antwerp High School in the next town over the year before, Adrian would not be joining us on our first day of senior year. We had been together every day for the past week and had got to know quite a lot about each other. Erin, and Ash kept teasing us by saying we were just trying to be like them, and dad made jokes talking about the King twins and their love affair with the Goodwyn brothers. Since today was the first day of school, we rose and got ready while Dad and Adrian sat in the kitchen talking. When Erin and I were ready we went to the kitchen on our way out to the garage and were told to have a good day and to watch out for each other. After stopping to pick up Ash, we continued on our way to school and actually arrived there without any problems. My first few classes were boring but at least Ash was there with me. We didn’t know where Erin was because she only had second period with us.

As we walked out of our fourth period Art class for lunch we ran right into a very pissed off Martin. I stepped forward intending to greet him in our usual manner of slapping hands when I was struck so hard in the side I dropped like a rock. I lay there on the ground gasping and looking for Ash just to see that he was on the ground right beside me suffering from a similar blow. I looked up to see Martin standing over me with that same smug smile his father had worn years ago when they delivered their threat to me, and I was in no way prepared when called me Cursed spawn, and ranted it was time I joined my mother. I tried to move but all I could feel was extreme pain, and I could hear Ash screaming next to me. I looked down to the sight of an inferno. I was on fire and just turning my head I could see that Ash was too. I was kept immobile and could think of nothing but how innocent Ash was in all of this and wondering how not one person had made a move to try to help us.

As my vision melted away and my resolve to fight went along with it I heard Martin mutter "don’t worry about your sister, with that fuck off Ashley gone we’ll make sure she’s well taken care of." I struggled one last time for some unknown surge of power, anything to help me escape from this fate, but whoever pinned me was determined that I would not move. My last sight before everything melted away was of Martin and his friends holding Erin and forcing her to watch. With my last breath I told her to be free.