Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Church picnic is just as boring as it sounds.  There isn’t much to do, and it’s more for the older crowd than anything.  There’s food, and talking.  That’s about it.  Despite it being boring, it still is what I looked forward to every week.  It isn’t that it’s church or church picnic.  I could really care less where I am, or what I am doing.  There are two main reasons why I look forward to every Sunday:  First, that I am off base.  Second, that I am with my best friends Gabriel and Rosie.

The base is a cold, empty place.  It is a caged community, resting on dirt, gravel and concrete.  Color is almost nonexistent.  Everything is painted in some shade of grey or off-white.  It is a deserted place, with a society of less than one hundred people.  And that tiny population is scattered throughout this vast, desert land.  Those who live on base, live there to fulfill a purpose.  They always have some job to do, and are always busy.  Because of this everything is structured and scheduled.  It makes me feel lonely and lost.  I feel isolated.

The outside world is so much more interesting.  Although sometimes overwhelming, it is so much more inviting.  There are people everywhere you go.  It’s a hectic, noisy and crowded world.  The streets are filled with people, and vehicles packed with people, and buildings filled with people.  And those people come in so many different varieties and cultures.  It amazes me.  And even though my albinism sometimes gets me unwanted attention, I would much rather be here than on the base.

As Espi drives the car, I sit in the back seat with Aurora.  Her eyes are wide with excitement, and she’s visibly bouncing up and down in her seat.  I know that her happiness stems from the same place as my own.  She is also amazed by the outside world.  And because this is just her third time ever being outside of the base, she is even more in awe of it all.

 I can’t help but smile when I see how excited she is.  It reminds me of a time when the two of us were younger.  The first time the four of us ever left the base.  It would be the one and only adventure in the outside world that Astro, Aurora, Autumn and I shared together as a group.

 I was probably about five, which makes Aurora about six at the time.  It was Speed and Professor Walden who took us all out on a “fieldtrip.”  I remember Speed lecturing us a lot on everything being our responsibility one day, and to take it seriously.  Mostly I remember how beautiful everything seemed.  I never knew that so many colors existed, or that there could be so many people in the world, let alone one single city.  It was the most wonderful thing that we had yet to experience.

When the four of us stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk, I remember Aurora just suddenly erupting into tears.  She threw her arms around Autumn, who stood beside her, and just started to cry.  Naturally, Autumn asked her what was wrong, and she said that she was scared.  Everyone took turns trying to cheer her up and encourage her to take just one more step forward, but she refused.  The little girl grew more and more hysterical, the more Professor Walden and Speed tried to convince her that everything would be OK.

That day, Professor Walden had to stay behind with Aurora in the car, while Speed gave the rest of us a tour of the outside world.  I guess everything was just too overwhelming for her.

But today she seems a lot more optimistic and brave about venturing though the outside world.  And I guess remembering that scared, sad six-year-old, and comparing it to the bright-eyed sixteen-year-old she is today is what causes me to smile. 

Aurora is practically jumping out of Espi’s car while it’s still moving.  Before she can open the car door to her right, I grab her by her wrist and give her a serious expression.  “Remember.  No super powers.  No mention of who we are or where we live.  If anything slips out then me and Espi are forbidden to come back here, so take it seriously, got it?”

“Got it!”  She’s out of the car and skipping across the church parking lot.

Espi stops me before I can start catching up with Aurora.  “You did a nice thing inviting her, my Sweet,” she hugs me tightly.

I guess it’s true, but I’m already regretting this.  For some reason, I think Aurora’s going to have a hard time keeping her mouth shut.  This is the first time she would be interacting with and talking to people on the outside.  Everyone at this picnic has known me as Espi’s daughter, who is homeschooled.  The Chief and Speed give Espi a hard time for taking me to a social setting like church and church picnic.  They don’t like that we’ve built relationships with people outside the base.  They view it as a risk of spoiling my true identity.  The only way we’re still allowed to attend these events on Sundays is if we remain extra cautious, and keep everything secret.

Church picnic takes place in the park found behind the church.  There is a small playground for the younger kids, and several rows of picnic tables filled with food for the adults.  There are a few trees, but not many, which means the church people roast on hot summer days.  On those hot days, the kids usually abandon the playground and instead entertain themselves by playing in the water fountain.   It is by the water fountain where I find my best friend Gabriel, quietly reading a book, and probably waiting for my arrival.

The water fountain is my personal favorite spot.  It’s a pretty grand structure for the small, simple park.  It’s very old, and an oddly dark piece to be found on church property.  Well, at least it looks dark to me.  The marble was probably a pretty white at one point, but now the stone is a dirty, grimy green.  I have seen them try to clean the fountain before, but even though they clear it of moss and dirt, and the water is actually clear, the stone will always be stained a permanent green color.  The basin is a giant circle.  In the circle are six little waterfalls, directly in the middle is a large pillar, and at the top of that stands the Virgin Mary.  Her arms are lowered and outstretched, as if welcoming your embrace.  At her feet, there are always many candles and flowers.  Depending on the weather, and time of day, I find that her expression changes.  In the right light she looks to have a very slight smile.  Her gaze somehow follows you wherever you stand.  Some days it comforts me, but usually it just creeps me out.  Especially with that sly smile of hers.  However when the sun begins to set, or it is a dark day, her smile is not so recognizable.  In fact, she looks outright miserable.  Those days her gaze looks less creepy, and more desperate or pleading.  I guess most would find that uncomfortable, but it seems to have the opposite effect on me.  I guess it’s her that makes the water fountain so interesting though.  And I suppose she is what makes it my favorite spot.  Maybe her realistic features cause me to relate to her on some level.  She rests so high above, surrounded only by water, and totally isolated.  I know that if she were real, she would probably  feel so lonely.  And that loneliness is what I can relate to.

Before I reach Gabriel at the fountain, I glance over my shoulder at Aurora.  She has found her way to the first table of food. Her eyes are wide as she observes the large party trays of potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, green salads and fried chicken.  I see her turn to an old woman beside her and she extends her hand for a handshake.  “Nice to meet you, I’m Aurora,” she beams.  The old woman is Sister Ruth.  She’s usually the one yelling at the kids to quiet down, and usually the one that Gabriel and I hide from throughout the day.  I cringe, imagining what sort of cold-hearted comment she may make to Aurora, and that having to be Aurora’s first encounter and impression of the outside world.

Sister Ruth takes Aurora’s hand reluctantly and shakes it.  She looks Aurora up and down, and I bet she is thinking to herself about how disgusted she is by how short Aurora’s shorts are, or how thin her blouse is.

“This is my first church picnic!” Aurora continues with excitement.  “It’s so beautiful!”

A small smile crosses Sister Ruth’s face.  I can’t believe it.  Aurora has managed to charm the most judgmental, rude hag I’ve ever known.  “Thank you for saying so,” Sister Ruth replies.  “What did you say your name is?”

“Aurora,” she says proudly.

All of a sudden a group of nuns and church women are surrounding Aurora and they all seem delighted to be talking to her. 

“Who is that?” Gabriel asks me as he approaches.

Gabriel and I have known each other since we were about seven.  He’s the same age as me, and the two of us were pretty much considered the weird kids out of the other children at church.  He was a tall guy with messy dark brown hair.  His favorite things were pretty much everything the average church-goer considered taboo.  You know, serial killers, ghosts, witchcraft, and anything gore.  The more forbidden, the more fun for him.  I guess I am kinda the same way, which is why we’re so out casted from the rest of the goody-goody teenagers.  While the rest of the older kids spent their time in prayer circles and planning charity events, Gabriel and I were usually somewhere else, “off to no good” as they called it.

“Aurora,” I answer his question.

“You know her?”

“Yeah.  She’s my neighbor,” I half-lie.  She was my neighbor, after all.

“Wait.  Is that the neighbor girl you always talk about?  The one you hate?”

“I never said I hated her.”

“Yeah you did.  In fact, I think you said it at least fifty times just last Sunday.”

He was probably right.  When I talked about my life at home, the story I told everyone was that I am homeschooled.  I live outside of town, in a very small community with about three other kids my age.  One of them is Aurora, another homeschooled kid, who constantly annoyed me.

“I don’t hate her,” I shrug.  “She just annoys me sometimes.”

He’s watching her as she giggles with all the old church ladies, allowing them to load her plate up with their horrible pot luck dishes.  “Yeah, she looks pretty annoying,” he laughs.  “Why’d she come with you to picnic?”

 “I dunno.  I invited her.” 

He raises a suspicious eyebrow, and I know I owe more of an explanation.  Which is hard, because I don’t really have one.  Why did I invite her?  I don’t know.  It just happened.

 “I guess I just felt bad because she never gets to go anywhere,” I finally explain. 

My eyes drift back over to where Aurora is and I notice that the other teenagers have found her.  Of course.  She’s exactly what those kids liked—beautiful, outgoing, and perfect.  She would fit right in to their super model clique.  I don’t know why it angers me to see her walk away with them, but it does.  Maybe because those are the group of idiots that think it’s fun to throw wads of trash at Gabe and I when we have our backs turned.  Maybe because it was me who invited Aurora here to begin with, yet she has seemed to prefer hanging out with the better looking group of kids.  Whatever the reason, it infuriates me to see her leave with them, looking so amused and happy by whatever they were chatting about.

I force myself to look away and Gabriel and I return to our usual spot by the fountain.  “So how are things?” I ask.

“Same.  You?”

“Same.”

“Ah, so we’re both still miserable.”

I laugh.  “Yeah pretty much.”  I think for a moment.  “You wanna see a movie later?”  We aren’t supposed to leave church grounds, but we usually sneak off somewhere for a few hours.

“Nah, there isn’t anything good out.”

I frown a little.  Rosie was usually the one to go and see a movie with me.  If there wasn’t a horror flick out, then Gabe usually didn’t care to go.  I like the movies because it’s like sitting at a magical window that shows me even more of the outside world that I never get to see.  I don’t care what genre the film is.  Rosie never cared either, and if she were here, she’d have no problem with going to see something with me.

I haven’t seen Rosie in about a year.  I do the math again in my head, because it seems like too long of a period of time, but I’m right.  11 months ago, she left without saying goodbye.  It was pretty bad timing, too.  I mean, I pretty much confessed that I was in love with this girl, and then she disappeared.  Maybe it wasn’t bad timing.  Maybe it was intentional.  All I know is I showed up to church the following Sunday, and she was gone.  Her brother said that she moved about a two-hour drive down south, to live with their father.  Something about having a better school for her.  I’d like to think she meant it when she said she felt the same way about me, and that this whole situation is out of her control.  But… there’s just a weird feeling about it all.  I can’t help but question it.  Gabe doesn’t even mention her anymore.

But who knows?  I bet she just didn’t want to hurt my feelings.  She probably left because she didn’t feel the same way about me.  That’s probably it, and I’m probably just a fool for trying to think otherwise.

I try not to pay attention to what Aurora is doing across the park, but I can’t help but stare and watch.  The other teenagers have recruited her into helping with one of their charity events—beading some cheap home-made rosaries to sell at some fundraiser.  They seem to be in love with her, and she seems to be enjoying their company.  The whole thing is infuriating.

I’m so mad that my hands begin to pain instantly.  I have to force them into my jeans’ front pockets, so that Gabriel doesn’t notice the weird green glow that they emit, once they begin to heat up with that malfunctioning, mystery super power of mine.

“You alright?” Gabriel asks as he notices my pained expression.

“Yeah,” I lie through gritted teeth, as I try to shake off the power.  “Just got a bad headache, that’s all.”

“Well if I had to ride with someone like her in the car all the way here, I’d probably have a killer migraine, too.”  He sits on the ground with his legs crossed, and his back leaning up against the fountain basin.  Thankfully he buries his nose in his book again.  Which is a good thing because for some reason, I haven’t been able to shake away the power.

 I force myself to laugh at what he’s just said, and try my best to sound casual:  “I need to use the bathroom.  Be right back,” and disappear before he can look up from his book.

I rush into the women’s bathroom inside of the church, and quickly into the first stall, locking the door behind me.  I take my hands out from my pockets and hold them in front of my face for closer inspection.  Usually, I just notice a faint green glow before the panic sets in, and the power disappears.  But right now, they’re completely engulfed by green fire.  I hold my breath as I watch the flames crackle back and forth.  My hands are growing hotter and hotter by the second, and my head begins to throb painfully.  My chest aches, as if the fire in my hands has crept up and spread to my lungs and heart.  It becomes hard to breathe, and I’m suddenly dizzy.  I feel myself growing weak, and I find myself falling onto my knees without realizing it.

Just when I think I’m just about to slip into unconsciousness, I’m snapped out of it by a sudden jolt that shakes my entire bod.  This is when the pain seems to intensify by ten times what I was previously feeling.  I don’t mean to, but I cry out loud in pain, as I clench my hands into hard fists, trying my best to bear it all.  I close my eyes tightly and plead in mind for my body to just stop whatever it was doing.  The pain is unbearable, and it takes everything in me to keep myself from screaming out again in agony.

I hear someone enter the bathroom, and I jump back onto my feet.

“Angel, is that you in there?” Aurora says from the other side of the stall.

“Yeah,” I say through my teeth, trying to disguise the pain in my voice, but I know it’s obvious.

I don’t know if it was instinct, or she if used her X-ray vision to see what’s happening to me, but Aurora immediately uses her super strength to rip the door open, breaking the stall’s lock.  She stands there with wide eyes as she stares at my fiery fingers.  “Wh-what’s happening, Angel?”  She sounds scared.  “I heard you scream and so I came straight away!”

“I can’t get it to stop!”  I shout, but I don’t mean to.   I’m fighting back tears, and trying my best to keep standing as my knees begin to buckle again. 

“Should I go get Espi?”

“No!” I shout again, causing Aurora to jump a little.  “You’ll just cause a scene!  You probably already did leaving everyone else behind suddenly!”

“Everyone else?  No, I was by myself looking for you!”

I look at her, and suddenly the pain seems to lessen.  I glance back down at my hands and the fire is suddenly gone.  I blink at my hands in confusion and so does Aurora.

“…Is it over?” she asks quietly.

“I… I guess so….”

The pain is gone, but I still feel weak.  My forehead is sticky with sweat, and my muscles feel shaky.  My voice shakes too, but I think that’s from being so freaked out by what just happened.  I’m still dizzy, and I need to sit down.  I walk out of the stall, past Aurora, and sit on the floor with my back against the wall.  I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying my best to calm my nerves.

Aurora takes some tissue paper and runs it under the bathroom sink faucet.  She kneels down in front of me and begins to wipe my oven-hot forehead.  “It’s never been that bad before,” I share with her.

“Have you thought about telling anyone?  Maybe the Chief or—“

“No!” I interrupt her.  Her eyes are wide, and I realize that I scared her.  “There’s no way,” I say again more calmly.  “They’d make me retire for sure if they found out about this.”

She frowns but doesn’t say anything else.  She stands again, and I watch her as she throws away the tissue in the trash bin, and goes to wet another napkin.

“Please don’t tell anyone about this,” I say.

She looks at me, and tries to smile.  “Of course I won’t.”

She kneels in front of me again and pats my forehead one more time with the cool, wet paper.  I close my eyes and try my best to ignore my heart pounding in my chest.  What just happened to me?  I didn’t want to tell anyone about this, but what will I do if this happens again?  What if it’s getting worse?

I open my eyes and watch Aurora as she sits down beside me.  She stays quiet as I close my eyes for a few minutes, taking a moment to rest.  I glance at her and she’s staring at me with deep concern.  “What?” I ask.

“Nothing,” she says and looks away.  “Are you OK now?”

“I think so,” I say.  I pause for a moment, as something else crosses my mind.  “I thought you were hanging out with the church kids.”

“Who?” she raises an eyebrow.  “Not those stuck up group of teenagers.”

“Yeah, I saw you with them last.”

“No way!” she almost shouts.  She’s wearing a look of disgust and she stands on her feet again.  “I thought they seemed nice at first, “ she begins to explain.  “They were teaching me how to make those rosary things.  But then they point to Gabriel sitting by himself and begin to call him all sorts of bad, mean things.”  She shutters.  “I recognized him from your photo at home and I told them: ‘Hey!  He’s my friend’s best friend!  So I don’t appreciate that!’  They started to laugh at me and asked if I meant you.  I said ‘yes’ and they laughed at me even more.”  She frowned and her big blue eyes grew soft.  “They called me a freak, because you’re a freak.  Because we’re friends….  They don’t seriously call you that, do they?”

I nod, and she gasps, which makes me laugh.  “It’s not that big a deal, Aurora.  They’ve called me worse.”

“But it is!  Why would they call you that?  It just isn’t… isn’t….”

“Nice?”

“Right!”

“Well, they’re not very nice people.”  I finally feel steady enough to stand again, and I climb onto my feet.  “I know it kinda goes against what our teachers say, but a lot of the people out here can be pretty big assholes.”

She frowns, and I can tell this bit of information has broken a tiny bit of her heart.  I don’t think she’s quite realized how cruel the real world can be.  She looks a little devastated by this real world experience, and I feel guilty.  I try my best to smile at her:  “Look, I’ll introduce you to someone who isn’t a jerk, alright?”

She smiles, too, and the light has returned to her bright blue eyes.  We leave the church and I lead her over to the water fountain where Gabe is.  He’s walking in our direction before we can get to the fountain.  “There you are!” he says.  “Woah, you look pale as hell!  Even for you!  You alright?”

I laugh a little.  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Not really, but I don’t want him to worry.  I’m tired, and still feel pretty weak.  Whatever just happened… I hope it never happens again.

 Gabe is staring at Aurora.  Before I can introduce her, she beats me to it.

“Hi!  I’m Aurora!  It’s so nice to meet you!” she takes his hand and shakes it, whether he wants to or not.  He looks a little confused, but manages a small smile.

“Gabriel.  Um.  Nice meeting you, too, I guess….”

“This is so exciting!” Aurora exclaims as she bounces up and down.  “I’ve always wanted to meet Angel’s friends, and now I am!  Where’s Rosie?” she asks curiously.

I frown.  “She’s not here,” I say simply.

“Why?” Aurora asks.  Of course she has to ask.  Why does she have to be so nosy?

“She moved back with our Dad almost a year ago,” Gabriel explains indifferently.  Aurora looks confused, and so he adds:  “Our parents are divorced.”

Aurora blinks at him, and then at me.  I know she wants to keep on pestering for more information.  After all, Autumn apparently unveiled my secret to her that Rosie and I used to have a thing.  Even though we Alphas are strictly forbidden from developing any sort of romantic relationships until our retirement, I still had one with Rosie.  Even though it wasn’t ever “official,” it was still as close to a boyfriend or girlfriend than any of the other Alphas had.

“What’s the book, Gabe?” I ask, just to change the subject.

We start walking again towards the fountain as Gabriel starts off on an angry rant about whatever paranormal literature he was reading.  As we’re approaching the fountain, Aurora’s eyes fall on the Virgin Mary statue at the top of the fountain, and she rushes ahead of me with excitement.  She practically pushes Gabriel out of the way, to get a good look at her.  She looks like a five-year-old who’s just met Santa Clause.

I join her by her side and she glances at me.  “She’s beautiful,” she breathes, and returns her gaze upward towards the statue.

I can feel my heart sink to my gut, as I’m instantly reminded of Rosie.  Rosie was pretty much the only other person in church who seemed to admire the statue as much as I do.  I probably shouldn’t be as bothered by her memory as much as I am.  It’s just something I can’t help.  And seeing the way Aurora looked staring up at that statue just like Rosie used to… it is pretty heartbreaking.

Memories tend to haunt me more than most.  It was a part of my design to have eidetic memory.  None of the other heroes have it, but me.  I can recall virtually anything in my past with total accuracy.  The memories play like a movie.  I can remember every detail—what I saw, tastes, smells, sounds—everything.  Because of my inability to forget, it’s hard to not be affected emotionally.  When people hurt me, I tend to hold a grudge against them.  This is probably why I despise Astro so much. 

But because of my eidetic memory, I cannot forget Rosie, even though I wish I could.  I feel so strongly for her, and that feeling is like no other feeling I’ve ever had for anyone else.  For her to leave so abruptly and without saying goodbye, with those feelings still being so fresh and new… any memory of her becomes a painful one.

Thankfully, Aurora becomes preoccupied by Gabriel’s book, as he begins to share with her all his theories about ghosts, and hauntings and such.  The supernatural isn’t something the people on base ever really talk about, so Aurora’s is completed fascinated by every bit of nonsense Gabe is spewing.  I’m relieved to be left alone so that I can recuperate from my recent freak accident.

 I sit with my back against the fountain, and let my head fall backward so that it rests on the surface of the fountain’s base. The cool temperature of the marble feels amazing against my skin.  I let my eyes close, and quietly listen to their conversation.

***

The sun begins to set, and the picnic is officially over.  Aurora looks pretty heartbroken as we get into Espi’s car to start driving back home to the base.  She stands outside the car with her eyes fixed on the church in the distance, looking as if she is on the verge of tears.  “It’s time to go, girls,” Espi announces as she gets into the car.

I open the door to climb into the backseat, but find Aurora still standing still.  I’ve  never seen her so depressed looking before.  “We have to go,” I tell her.

“I know,” she says with a sigh, and reluctantly gets into the car.

As we begin the drive home, Aurora still looks sad.  It bugs me.  “You know, you can always come back next weekend.”  I finally say after thinking it for a while.  I don’t know why I hesitated before saying it.  I guess I just couldn’t really believe I was seriously considering something like that.  In fact, the idea of spending Sundays with Aurora actually sounded pretty nice.

The invite works and she’s instantly smiling again.  “Really?”

I shrug.  “Sure.”

She unbuckles her seatbelt and stretches across the empty seat between us to throw her arms around me in a tight embrace.  “Thank you so much!”

“No problem.”

I don’t know if I’m so tired because of the incident that happened earlier, or because of all the training Aurora and I did earlier.  Whatever the reason, I find myself drifting to sleep during the hour drive home.  When I sense the car slowing down, as we pull into the base, I begin to wake myself up.  As I open my eyes, I’m startled as soon as I realize that Aurora has moved to the seat directly next to me, and I realize she’s fallen asleep, too.  Her head is resting on my shoulder, and I can feel her breath on my neck.  I can see Espi’s eyes on us through the rear view mirror.  She’s smiling a weird smile, and it embarrasses me more than anything.

I debate with myself whether to leave Aurora where she is, or if I should wake her up, or move her.  We’re almost home, so I decide to leave her be.  I try to ignore how close she is.  Her skin is soft against mine, and I can smell the sweet, fruity scent of her perfume.  I try to keep my gaze out the car window, and not on her, but I keep glancing back, anticipating when she will wake up.  I wonder what she will think when she awakes and realizes how close she has gotten to me.  Or maybe she meant to?  I mean, she was sitting one seat over before I fell asleep.  She had to have moved intentionally, right?  It’s kinda far to have accidently drifted over in her sleep.  But if it was intentional, why would she want to cuddle up against me?

We’re finally home.  As soon as the car comes to a stop, I gently place a hand on Aurora’s shoulder and lightly shake her until she wakes.  She sits up and rubs her eyes sleepily.  I get out of the car, and she follows after me. 

I’m not standing there for more than three seconds, before she’s thrown her arms around me again in a tight hug.  “Thanks again, Angel!” she sings cheerfully.

I timidly pat her back until she finally releases me.  I’ve never been much of a hugger.

“See you in class tomorrow!” She says with a wave.  “Bye Espi!” she calls out to Espi.

Espi smiles and waves back.  “Bye, Sweetie!”

With a quick flash of light, she disappears as she begins to fly to her own home.  Once she’s gone, I turn around and see Espi still standing there and smiling that same weird smile she gave me in the car earlier.  “What?” I blink at her as I walk past and into our home.

She hurries after me, closing the door quickly, and looking very excited.  The last time I saw her with a look like this was when….

“Oh no,” I say out loud.  “What are you thinking right now?”

“Thinking?” Espi says innocently.  “I’m not thinking anything.”

“Yes you are.  You’re acting just like the time you drove Rosie and me to the mall.”  I shake my head, remembering how embarrassing she was that day. 

“No, I’m not!” she begins to walk away, towards our kitchen.

“Yes!  You are!”  I chase after her, zipping in front of her path.  “There’s nothing between us, Espi,” I say with as much seriousness as I can force.  “Got it?”

Espi grins and pinches my cheek.   She obviously doesn’t buy it. “Everyone loves my Angel, because she is so cute!” she says lovingly and continues past me and into the kitchen.

I roll my eyes, and then follow her into the kitchen to help prepare dinner for us two.  Her behavior may be a little irritating, but I guess I should be grateful to have such a supportive caretaker.  After all, dating or any sort of romantic relationship is supposed to be forbidden until our retirement.  Espi doesn’t seem to care.  In fact, she actively encourages it.

Espi doesn’t say anything more on the subject, and I try to push the idea out of my mind.  But forgetting has never been easy.   While I help Espi in the kitchen, I find the scent of Aurora’s perfume still lingering, while the images of her girlish smile and bright blue eyes seem to haunt my every thought.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“How’d your evaluation go, Angel?” Aurora and her bright blue eyes and big smile greet me as I  close the door behind me.  I just blink at her for a moment.  Really?  You were standing right outside.  You know exactly how it went, you nosy—

“Fine,” I mutter as I walk past her, set on the path for home.

Why is she following me?  I don’t know.  Honestly, I feel like Aurora is always looking for any chance to appear to be a bigger saint and savior than she already was.  “You don’t seem fine,” she frowns.  “You sure you’re OK?”

“I’m fine,” I answer again with a little more apparent anger in my voice.  Of course I’m not fine, but I wish she’d take the hint like any other normal person would.

She stops following beside me, and I continue, feeling a little relieved to be leaving her behind.  But of course, she isn’t done yet.

“Angel!” she shouts from behind.

I groan to myself and stop walking.  I turn to face her:  “What?”

She stands several feet away from me.  She has a slight smile on her face that I can’t quite read at first.  The light from the window beside her shines intensely and illuminates her.  Her long, straight, jet black hair glistens in the sunlight.  Her fair skin is glowing.  She is a tall, monument—a true, picture perfect hero.  She shines bright  and glorious like the star whom everyone worships.  And here I stand, in the shadows, blinded by her constant perfection.  I roll my eyes, realizing she would not say or do anything until I came to her.  I sigh and make my way over.  “What?” I repeat as I step to her.

“I want to help you,” she smiles innocently.

I roll my eyes.  “Help with what?”

“You know what,” she giggles a little.  How on Earth can she find this amusing? She overheard what they said.  Basically, my days as a superhero are about to end before they can even begin.  All this training, studying, and sacrificing for nothing.

 “Everything you’re having trouble with… I want to help.  We can study and train together!  You know.  Until you catch up again.”  When I don’t say anything, she keeps on:  “It’ll be fuuuuun!” she sings and gives me a nudge.

As much as Aurora annoys me, what other choice do I have?  It is either try and train with her or try and train with Speed some more.  Speed has pretty much already given up on me, so what good is that?  Really, Aurora is my only option and my only hope. 

She still has that silly grin, poking me in the shoulder as if she can force me to be happy about this.  “Alright, alright,” I groan.

“Yay!” she claps her hands together.  “We’ll start tomorrow morning, OK?”

“…OK….”

“Great!  I’ll meet you at your house at five tomorrow!” she chimes as she begins skipping down the hallway.

“In the morning?!”  She has to be kidding.

“In the morning!” she sings from down the hall.

Great.  She isn’t kidding.

***

I only have twenty minutes for breakfast before Saturday morning flight training with Speed and the others.  After what he said and did during my evaluation this morning, I’m not exactly looking forward to what is usually a fairly easy class.  When I enter our home, Espi doesn’t bother to ask how evaluation went.  I think she already has a pretty good idea.  After all, I’ve been on a steady decline recently. 

I sit down at the dining table, and she greets me with a smile and a plate of scrambled eggs and French toast.  I try my best to smile, but really I’m not in the mood.

Espi sighs and sits down across from me at the table.  “Don’t be so discouraged, my Sweet,” she tries, with a weak smile, “You will blossom soon enough.”

I poke at my plate of food, uninterested, and don’t respond.  I know Espi believes in me, but I am pretty much her child, and she is pretty much my mother.  She is supposed to believe in me, so it just feels meaningless.  If she had been there and just seen the look on all the staff’s faces… if she knew what they were considering.…  I think if she had, even she might begin to doubt my capabilities.

I feel her lips touch my forehead, but her kiss doesn’t lift my spirits at all.  If anything it just makes my heart sink, thinking of how disappointed she will be to learn that she is the unlucky one assigned to the hero who will never be.  She has sacrificed so much, living on base for the last fifteen years as my caretaker.  She gave up her entire life of normalcy, to be here to raise me.  Her hopes were to raise a hero.  She will be crushed if it never happens.  I just know it.

I force myself to finish what’s on my plate, and then leave for class.  As I hop off our front porch, Autumn is across the street, leaving her home.  Her caretaker, Charlene, is fussing over a stain on her blouse.  In a blink of the eye, Autumn disappears, and then reappears with a fresh, clean outfit.  Charlene pinches Autumn’s cheek and squeals about how adorable she is, and I can’t help but start laughing.  Autumn spots me and turns bright red with embarrassment.

Charlene has always been the most spoiling of the caretakers in my opinion.  Maybe that’s why Autumn turned out to be such a baby at her age.  She is about to be fifteen in just a few more days, but she still looks and acts as if she were closer to twelve.  She is the shortest out of all of us.  While Aurora and I stand at about five foot eight, and Astro at six foot two, Autumn stays short at barely five-two.  She is pudgier than us, too, with baby fat cheeks.  Her curly black hair is wild, and frizzy, and decorated with at least one bow or cutesy little hairclip.  Since she lives on the same side of the base as me and Espi, we always walk to our first classes together.  We must look like the oddest couple of kids.  Me:  Tall, with pale  ghostly, white skin, a tomboy, and apparently “mean” looking.  And she:  Short, with beautiful dark brown skin, the ultra girly girl and always cheerful.  Complete opposites, but somehow she has always been my favorite fellow hero.  Maybe because she isn’t a perfectionist like Astro and Aurora are.  But I think what I like most about her is that I’ve never heard her mutter the phrase to me:  “Cheer up!”  She accepts me as I am, and I accept her.

We meet at the center of the road, and I notice she is holding something in her hand.  “What’s that?” I ask.

She holds out her hand and shows me a piece of Charlene’s chocolate peanut butter squares, which I love.  “It’s for you,” she smiles.

I grin, and immediately stuff my face with the dessert.  “Thanks,” I say through stuffed cheeks.  “What’s the occasion?”

“Just thought you’d like it,” she shrugs. 

I swallow and realize her intention behind the gift.  I’m sure, with her power of foresight, I didn’t have to tell her that my evaluation went badly.  “Thanks,” I say again.

“No problem.”  She pauses for a moment, before changing the subject:  “Hey!  What kind of cake should I have at my birthday party on Tuesday?”  She hops up and down with excitement as we continue on our way to the stadium where class is.

“I dunno,” I reply.  “Whatever you want.  You’re the birthday girl.”

“Chocolate!” a dreamy expression crosses her face as she pictures her future dessert.  “No.  Strawberry!  Or!”  she gasped.  “Chocolate and strawberries.”

I can’t help but smile.  “Sure.  Sounds good, I guess.”

Autumn is nodding her head in approval of her decision.  “Chocolate with strawberries.”

We enter the stadium, and Astro and Aurora are already there warming up.  Before Autumn and I can join them, Speed enters the stadium, loudly slamming the door behind himself.  He doesn’t look at me as he walks past us.  “All done warming up?” his voice echoes throughout the giant building.

“Yes sir!” Aurora and Astro exclaim in unison, and Autumn lies and joins in, and responds the same.  I probably should have lied too, but that sorta stuff never occurs to me until the moment’s passed.  When I don’t say anything, Speed’s eyes finally fall on me, and my eyes fall to my feet, trying my best to avoid eye contact.

Usually flight class is easy for me.  I’m not the best at most things in our group, but flying is one of the exceptions.  I am definitely the fastest of us four.  But I don’t think that was going to help me through today’s class—not with Speed teaching anyways.  I can tell he has already made up his mind about me.

Speed picks up the whistle which hangs around his neck and blows the device loudly, signaling for us to line up.  We do, like the good little soldiers we are.  “Let’s get started!” his voice booms once again.

***

My alarm goes off at 4:45 AM.  Without opening my eyes, or lifting the sheets from over my head, I bang on the alarm clock on the nightstand, and groan loudly.  It is way too early to be up on a Sunday.  Sundays were supposed to be our one day off a week.  Monday through Saturday we train and study.  On Sundays, I don’t sleep in, but I’m most definitely not up at this hour.  Espi usually wakes me at about 7:30 AM, so that I can go with her to church.  I know church doesn’t sound all that exciting, but it’s the one place I get to go that isn’t on the base.  I look forward to seeing my best friend Gabriel and his sister Rosie.  But now that I’ve agreed to this extra tutoring with Aurora, who knows when I’ll get to see my friends again?

Before I’m able to even become fully conscious, I’m startled by a pair of piercing blue eyes staring directly into mine.  I yell out of reaction and stumble out of bed.  “Aurora!  What the hell?!”

She’s laughing at my reaction, but I don’t find it funny.  “What do you think you are doing?” I demand again, as she sits casually on my bed.

“I told you I would be here at your house at five.  So here I am!” she smiles.

“Yeah well it isn’t five just yet, and I don’t like you just coming into our home—and my room—completely uninvited!”

“OK, OK,” she stands from the bed.  “I’m sorry.  Just calm down, OK?”

I roll my eyes at her, but she doesn’t notice.  She’s too busy poking around my room, being the nosy girl I’ve always known her to be.  She wanders over to my work desk and picks up a framed picture of myself, Rosie and Gabriel.  A huge grin sweeps her face, and in a flash she’s in front of me, holding the picture to my face.  “Oh my goodness!  Angel!  Is this the Rosie girl you have a crush on?” she points to Rosie in the picture.

I feel my face immediately go hot, and I know I must have been bright red.  I tear the photo from her hands, and force a scowl on my face.  “No!”  I shout, and begin to shove her out of my room.  “Just wait out here, OK?”

Before she can say anything, I slam the door in her face.  Call it rude, but I find it a little ruder to be prying around in other people’s personal affairs, uninvited.  I return the photo to my desk.  “Should have never trusted Autumn to keep a stupid secret,” I mutter to myself as I get dressed.

When I leave my room, Aurora is standing there with sad, puppy dog look on her face.  I know I probably hurt her feelings, but I don’t really care at this point.  I walk past her and she follows me out of the home.

“Where should we go and what are we doing anyways?” I ask as we begin our walk down the gravel road outside my home.

Aurora walks beside me.  “I was thinking the stadium.  We’ll start by making a list of everything you need to practice on, and go from there.”

“Well that’s easy,” I mumble, kicking some of the gravel as we walk.  “Everything.  I need help with everything.”

She shakes her head.  “Angel, that’s not true at all, and you know it.  There’s plenty of things that you’re just fine at.”

“Yeah, like what?”

She pauses before finally saying:  “You’re the fastest.”

“Uh huh.  What else?”

A longer pause.  “You’re good at remembering stuff.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, when we’re super heroes together, we can always count on you to… um….”

“Count on me to remember things?”

“Yeah.”

I sigh heavily.  “Admit it, Aurora.  You know that I suck.”

“You don’t suck, Angel!”  She stops walking and glares at me.  “Just stop it, OK?”

“Stop what?”

“Ugh!”  She has her hands planted firmly on her hips, and she looks angry.  I rarely see her like this, and I’m shocked at her reaction.  “That’s your problem, Angel,” she points at me with a sharp gesture.  “You don’t believe in yourself.  Like at all!  What good is that?”

I don’t say anything, and she frowns.  “We’ll fix everything, Angel.  I promise.”

She places her hand on my shoulder and smiles that big, bright smile of hers.  “We’ll fix everything, and there will be no more talk amongst the staff about early retirement.  In fact, they’ll be talking about how they should make you leader of Generation Alpha!  That’s how good you’ll be!”  Her blue eyes are staring into mine, and I can tell she’s actually being sincere.  “I promise,” she repeats again.

 I don’t know why, but hearing that is enough for me.  Before I realize it, I’m smiling, too.  She continues walking, and I follow. 

I guess Aurora wasn’t as bad as I always thought her to be.  She was still pretty annoying.  But not that bad, after all.

***

We make the list, which takes a while because Aurora insists on it being in Alphabetical order.  I sit on the ground with my legs crossed as she paces back and forth before me, re-reading the finalized draft:  “OK, so first we have aerial battle, then defense techniques, force fields, power sensing, and lastly telekinetic discipline.” She stops and looks up from the sheet of paper.  “See?  Not that much at all!  This is going to be easy!”

I frown.  “You forgot healing.”

She looks back down at the paper and frowns, too.  “Right….” she taps the eraser end of her pencil against her lips as she thinks for a moment.  “Well, to be honest… I don’t know how I could help you with that one, Angel.  I mean... that’s supposed to be your special power.”

“Right,” I frown.

She sits down on the ground beside me.  “Have you—you know—tried?”

“Well there’s an idea!” I throw up my hands.  “I never thought of trying before!” I can’t help but be sarcastic.

“Well, how do you try?” she pouts.

“I dunno,” I shrug.  “When Speed tries to get me to heal, he just takes me to the hospital on base and finds me someone with an open wound and says: ‘Alright, Kid, go for it!’”

Aurora giggles a little, and I think it’s because of my impersonation of Speed.  “And when you try, you don’t feel something?” she asks.

“What?  Feel something?”

“Yeah.  Like the power inside of you.  Just like flying, right?  When we first started flying, couldn’t you just feel the energy grow inside of you as you suddenly begin to feel lighter?”

I think about this for a moment.  I never really thought about it before, but it was true.  While we grew up and began developing our powers for the first time, you could definitely feel the sensation of that power before it actually began.  I shake my head.  “No.  …Am I supposed to?”

Aurora nods.  “Yeah, just like anything else.  At least my special power was like that.  One day the tips of my fingers just felt icy cold.  And it was summer!  You were there, remember?”

“Yeah, it was lunch time and you were complaining that your hands were cold,” I smirk a little at the memory.  “And then you touched Astro’s cheek to show him, and froze his face solid.”  I laugh, “He was so pissed!”

Aurora giggles too.  “Yeah!”  She holds out her right hand in front of her, and admires it.  “It was like I felt this tingling growing more and more in my fingertips.  Then as soon as I touched Astro, it just… happened.  I couldn’t really control it, when it did.  It’s like the power wanted to come out.  Like, it just couldn’t wait to.”  She looks at me.  “You don’t ever feel something inside you like that?  Something you can’t explain?”

I think for a moment.  “I guess sometimes,” I say.  “But… it doesn’t really feel like healing.  I mean, I guess I don’t know what healing should feel like, so maybe it is.  But I dunno.  It just doesn’t feel like that.”

“What’s it feel like then?”

“Hot.  It feels really hot.”  I hold out my right hand now, just like she did before.  “It burns, and it feels like the flesh on my hands is on the verge of splitting or tearing.  Almost like my skin is ready to peel right off the bone.”

A horrified expression sweeps Aurora’s face.  “When do you feel that?”

“Not often,” I shrug, “Well, I guess a little more often than I used to, but it’s still pretty rare.  It’s usually when I feel mad or upset.  But when it starts to happen, I kinda panic, and it goes away.”

I look at Aurora and she has a weird expression on her face that I can’t quite figure out.  Before I can ask about it, she shakes it away and rises to her feet.  “OK,” she says as she brushes herself off, “You ready to get started?”­­

I stand, too, and nod.  “Sure.  What’s first?”

“Well, let’s just start from the top of our list. Aerial battle.” 

***

I’m surprised by how tired I am.  I guess I didn’t expect Aurora to be so hard on me.  It’s been almost four hours.  My face is sticky with sweat, and my limbs are beginning to throb with soreness.   Aurora’s given me a moment to catch my breath, but I don’t have very long before she charges at me again.  This has got to be our hundredth fight, and I have yet to win a single battle.  Something about multi-tasking in the air has never been easy for me, and it has always been Aurora’s strength.

I time her approach, and dart upwards and out of her path, at the last possible second.  She’s right after me though, as we ascend higher into the air.  Being a faster flyer than she was the only advantage I held.  She knew every trick in the book when it came to aerial combat, and has pretty much been able to predict every move I attempt to make, before I can even make them.

Finally, a new idea comes to mind.  I stop in my tracks, and turned in the air to face her.  Just before she can reach me, I shut my eyes tightly and disappear into invisibility mode.  As soon as I disappear, she breaks hard in the air.

Aurora’s eyes are wide as she searches for me.  I think I might finally have tried something she hasn’t expected.  Her ears begin to prick as she strains to find me.

While invisible, I carefully move behind her.  I reappear just as she begins to sense where I am, and grab her from behind.  She struggles to break free from my grasp, but I’m already pulling her down with me.  We hit the earth hard.  And even though I’ve knocked the wind out of myself—and choking on air pretty badly—I’ve finally managed to have her pinned down, winning my first match of the day.

I fall off of Aurora, and lay on my back for a while.  My heart is racing at this point, and I just need to rest for a while. 

“You did it!” Aurora’s grinning I’m sure, but I don’t see it, since my eyes are closed while I still wait to catch my breath.  When I open my eyes, I see her standing over me, with her hand outstretched.  I take it, and she helps me to my feet. 

Suddenly after that, I’m winning every match.  We continue training for another hour, and fight about twenty more matches, and I manage to win eighteen of them.  At first, I think that Aurora has just started to go easy on me, but after my fifteenth consecutive victory, I began to sense a little bit of frustration on her part. 

I’m using my speed to my advantage.  I think flying really takes a lot of energy out of Aurora; at least that’s how it seems.  But flying fast is easy to me.  So I drain all that strength from her, and once she’s out of breath, I attack.  I can tell that Aurora can see this tactic, and I can tell she can’t find a way around it.  It irritates her.  I can see it on her face. 

After our last match up though, she’s cheerful again.  Maybe because I’m laughing at her irritation, and she doesn’t want to look like a poor sport.  I probably shouldn’t be laughing at her, but I can’t help it.  I rarely get to celebrate this much. 

“Well, I think this is a good place to end for the day, don’t you think?” she says as she brushes herself off.

I smile.  “Yeah, I suppose.”

She makes her way over to her book bag on the floor and pulls out two bottles of water.  She tosses me one, and begins to open the other for herself.  I open mine and finish the bottle within seconds.

Aurora glances at her wrist watch.  “See?  It’s only 11:30!  You can still go spend the day with your friends if you want.”

I wipe my mouth with my sleeve.  “I guess I can,” I smile.  “What are you going to do?”

“Oh, I have lot’s to do!”  She says but doesn’t elaborate.  I wonder if she’s lying.  Autumn and I were the only ones to take advantage of leaving the base on Sundays.  Charlene always takes Autumn to a Sunday morning brunch and then shopping.  Espi and I do the church thing, followed by church picnic.  But Astro and Aurora always stay on base.  I think Aurora went shopping once with Autumn, but that was a long time ago.

I never usually feel bad for Aurora except for suddenly now.  I don’t know why, but just the way she said it, I knew it couldn’t be true.  “Have you ever tried asking Sara if you could go somewhere?”

Sara is her caretaker.  She’s an elderly woman, who never seems to smile.  She’s very strict and very cold.  I honestly don’t know how Aurora turned out to be so optimistic with such a pessimistic person raising her.  One time when I was a kid, I remember passing by Aurora’s home some hour in the evening after Espi and I returned from church activities.  I could hear the old woman counting:  “Seven thousand and three…   Seven thousand and four…. Seven thousand and five!”  Curious, I used my X-ray vision to peer inside the home, and I could see the two.  Aurora was on the floor, doing push-ups, with the short, petite, old woman sitting cross-legged on her back.

Aurora’s entire life was training to be a hero.  Even at home, she had no breaks.  Even on our day off, she still worked and studied.  I remember how she reacted to the photo of me and my friends, and I began to feel guilty.  In order to leave the base, a hero needs a caretaker or teacher present.  Sara never takes Aurora anywhere.

Aurora sips from her water bottle and doesn’t say anything.  I can’t tell if she didn’t hear me, or if she is just pretending as if she didn’t hear me.

“Thanks for helping me today, Aurora,” I change the subject.

Suddenly she hears me again and she’s all smiles.  “You’re welcome, Angel.  Same time next Sunday?”

“Sure,” I smile weakly.

A voice suddenly echoes throughout the stadium.  “Angel?  Training on her day off?  I never thought I’d see the day.”

I roll my eyes.  “Hey, Astro.”

“Hi, Astro!” Aurora greets him with enthusiasm. 

Astro stops in front of us, letting his duffle bag fall to his feet.  “What are you two doing here?”

“We just finished some aerial combat,” Aurora answers.

“Oh yeah?” Astro raises and eyebrow.  He looks from me to Aurora.  “So who won?”

“Angel did,” Aurora grins.

He rolls his eyes and snorts.  “Yeah, right!”

I glare at him, but don’t say anything.  Astro was always a jerk.  It must have been part of his design.  He pats me on the head, as if it made his insult softer; he always acts as if he’s so much older than me.  Like he’s an adult, and I’m some kid.  He and Aurora were just a year older than Autumn and I, but I guess that was enough for him to feel superior.  “Just don’t hurt yourself, Kid,” he laughs as he walks past us. 

                “She did beat me,” Aurora continues out of nowhere.  “Dozens of times, actually.  It’s as if it just clicked for her, and then suddenly she was on fire!  She can beat me now no problem, and she’d probably beat—“

                “It wasn’t that big a deal,” I interrupt right away before she can finish.  All I need is for Aurora to volunteer me to a match with Astro; that’s exactly what she was about to do.  Is she crazy or something?

                Aurora starts again:  “Bu you did!  It was amazing, Astro you should have seen it!  You two should—“

                “You wanna go to church picnic with me and Espi?” I blurt out, figuring this would be something to shut her up for good, before I was getting my ass kicked by Astro thanks to her.

                Her blue eyes immediately light up and the only answer I get from her is a girlish squeal.   She immediately begins to gather her things with excitement.

                “You’re really gonna go with her?” Astro raises an eyebrow at Aurora.  He talks over me, as if I’m not even there. 

                “What’s wrong with that?” Aurora blinks.

                “Well, for starters, we’ve got one more week until the Deltas come to base.  Kind of a bad time to start taking it easy, ‘Rora.”

                “She’s not taking it easy.  It’s just for a few hours off base,” I interject.  I can tell Astro has made Aurora have second thoughts.  It’s not like I’m looking forward to spending time with Aurora, but I don’t like the idea of her thinking that it’s somehow wrong to have just a little bit of fun.

                “I heard about how your evaluation went, Angel,” Astro says.  “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the hero that spends the most time off base, has the worst performance record.”

                I glare at him but don’t say anything.  I just grit my teeth and try to ignore it.  It doesn’t help to get angry.  When I get angry is when that painful feeling builds up inside me.  And lately, it seems to happen more and more.  So I try to avoid getting angry as much as I can.

                He smiles a smug smile and continues:  “I was surprised to see you in here, Angel.  I thought maybe you’d finally come to your senses and realized that your career is something you oughta take seriously.”  He shrugs.  “But, I guess I was wrong.  You’ll be retired fast, if you don’t learn any better, Kid.”  He begins to walk away from us, but first he adds:  “But then again, maybe retirement is just what you want.”

                I can hear my teeth grinding, and I’m clenching my fists hard as I begin to feel my hands grow fire hot.  As soon as that sensation sweeps me, I close my eyes hard and try to ignore the pain. It starts in my hands always, but then shoots up and throughout my body.  It stings my chest like a cold burn, and it becomes instantly hard to breathe.  Like some invisible weight lands hard on me, suffocating me.   I manage to shake the feeling away, but my heart is pounding.  That painful sensation never feels good, but it seems to be getting worse lately.  I don’t know what it is, and it scares me.  I just can’t have anything else be wrong with me.  The staff would get rid of me for sure if they knew I had yet another miscalculation like this.

                Aurora’s staring at me with wide eyes.  Astro’s gone, and doesn’t seem to have noticed.

                “Was that the unexplained power you were talking about?” she whispered as we walked toward the stadium exit together.

                I nod, and thankfully, she doesn’t say anything more.  Hopefully, I can trust Aurora with this secret.