Chapter 13
Is any of this real? Or am I witnessing the demise of my own reality? Memories of a dream overlay the beach as I’m pulled between the sun, sea and sand, and the destroyed town centre I’d subconsciously travelled to all those weeks ago. Riley, a heap upon the floors also fades from my sight, replaced by a cowering version of me. And with a gleeful smile, I take in every moment those petrified eyes stare back at me. He’s nothing more than a weak pathetic coward trembling on the floor, whom I wouldn’t think twice about blasting away, burning my past and rendering it non-existent.
And it’s at that moment I realise who I’ve become. This sense of freedom, the likes I’ve never felt before; no cares, no worries. Just me. I am now the other me. The destroyer of my hometown and maybe even the world. Has it finally happened? Have I become lost within my power, wanting nothing more than to wield this unnatural ability as I see fits?
Overcome with a clarity so strong it churns my stomach, I’m able to dispel the darkness, and with it I pull myself from the destroyed town centre, watching as it falls away, and once more I’m stood upon the sand overlooking Riley. Shaking and slapping my hands together in a fit, I extinguish the flames then turn my attention to the trail I’d left behind. And with his hands tight to his face, Riley peers through his fingers, having becomes curious of the commotion I was causing. His blue eyes now set upon me, he stands. “You were telling the truth!” he yells.
Forcing a smile, I shrug. “Yeah. We have powers.”
Silence follows, which mustn’t be longer than seconds, but feels like a lifetime to me as I wait for him to speak again. “That’s… so cool!” he beams, grabbing at my hands to look on in amazement. “Can you do it again?” he asks.
“I don’t know how. It just kind of happens.” I reply, astonished, yet bewildered by how well he’s taking it.
“And that voice! It was so… manly!” He then begins to re-enact it. “Don’t you walk away from me human!” – he laughs. – “I have to hand it to ya, you sure can put on a show.”
“Yeah,” I murmur. “A show.”
Back to the sand and he pulls on my arm, dragging me down to his side. “You have to tell me everything!”
So I do, which takes much longer than I thought it would. I tell him everything as he remains quiet; all about Mundarium and its inhabitants, the Daemons and Celestials. How they all have powers and that some have had children with people from Earth. “So, you’re not human?” he asks.
“I am. Well, at least half of me is.” I reply.
Which then leads me on to Half-Breeds and how there are meant to be more of us out there.
“And you know all this because of that girl from the bus?” he asks, grinning from ear to ear.
I nod.
“And she’s a Half-Breed too?”
“No,” I reply. “She’s all human, so she said. She called herself a Nexus-Being.”
He shakes his head in a mixture of astonishment and confusion. “A what!?” he cries in an uneven tone.
“Like a human who has powers.” I screw up my face, trying best to describe her. “A chosen one of sorts… only there’s more than one, I think.”
“So… I could be?”
“I think you’d already know by now.” I shrug. “But who knows?”
His grin grows larger the more I talk, which must be hard to hold as it’s already pretty big. “Wow!” he says through bared teeth. “This is insane.”
“Told ya.”
We then lay back with our heads on the sand, watching the sky above, returning to a peaceful silence. If only I’d known he’d have taken it so well, I’d have told him the day after my power manifested. Which would have saved me from living like a hermit in my bedroom for the past three weeks.
“Wait!” he yells, lifting his head. “So if you control fire, that would make you… half Daemon?”
I sigh. “We don’t know. See, I display a Daemon power while Matthew has a Celestial one.
Riley nods, as if he knows exactly what I’m saying. “Right, right… wait! Does that mean you’re not brothers?”
I can’t say I hadn’t thought of that myself at some point over the last three weeks, but it can’t be. We’re not only brothers, we’re twin brothers from the same mother. How could he possibly not be? “Of course not,” I reply. “Matthew is my brother, this means nothing.”
He then lays back again, humming to himself, as I take a deep breath of fresh sea air. This was what I’d been missing while I hibernated, the beauty of the beach and the sense of freedom that comes with it. But I know only too well that unless I gain some control of my powers, I’ll be restricted back to my bedroom, as I can’t afford another mishap like today.
“So lucky.” Mumbles Riley.
Thinking back to the other times I’d nearly lost control, I force a laugh. “I wouldn’t say lucky.”
Lacking anything substantial, the week passes me by in a blur. One college day after another, becoming nothing more than a non-existent memory. Apart from when Mrs Armstrong called me out in the middle of the class. “Mitchell?” She boomed, but I was lost in my thoughts, gormlessly staring out the window, overthinking the past few weeks. She must have known I wasn’t listening, why else would she have singled me out, although if she hadn’t, the vacant look on my flushed face was a definite give away.
Lunches were spent on the empty beach, with Riley – captivated by the coolness of my power – insisting he tagged along. Which didn’t give much time to eat as he bombarded me with questions about Daemons, Celestials and Mundarium, all of which I didn’t know the answers to. “But just think about it Mitch,” he said. “We spend so much time reading comic books about superheroes, and now you’re one of them while I’m just… ordinary.”
Ordinary! I’d do anything to rid myself of this burden and be ordinary again. Yet he’d openly admit his envy towards my ability and how he’d do anything to be a Half-Breed, even settling for Nexus-Being status. If only he knew the feelings that came with my power, maybe then he’d think twice.
After wasting most of my gloomy Saturday morning in bed, I finally release myself from my duvet cocoon and take a look out the window. Overcast with a light drizzle, which I find worse than rain, at least a downpour has some feeling behind it, drizzle is just the weather’s way of being glum. But luckily for me, the weather cannot bother me today, as I’ve planned nothing but sketching in the safety of my bedroom walls, away from public spaces. And with a pencil in hand I flip open my sketch book to the last drawing I’d completed, only to be met by the face of Talia. Knocked by a quick jolt to the system, her eyes still pull at me, so I quickly flip the page to a clear sheet and mind.
Nib barely hitting the paper, I’m startled by a knock at the door. “Mitchell, you up?” asks mum.
“Yes,” I huff, and if I wasn’t, I would be now.
Sliding her head around the door with a mess of wavy blonde hair, she takes a quick scan of the room, as if to look for something – probably thinking I’m smoking. “You’ve got a visitor,” she adds
My body freezes as all I can think of is Talia. Would she really have come to my house? How would she even know where I live? Of course she does, she knows more about me than I do.
“It’s Riley.” Mum beams.
Riley, here? He’s never shown up unannounced before, he’s always called my mobile first, so I’d answer the door and not my mum – I think she makes him nervous.
Following mum as she sings her way to the landing, I wait for her to retreat to her bedroom before shyly peering over the bannister, only to be met by a grinning, albeit nervous face staring back at me. “Good morning, Mitch,” cheers Riley.
I stay put, remaining at the top of the stairs. “What are you doing here?”
He laughs. “Picking you up for our day out, of course.”
There’s something about him I cannot place, made worse by the devious grin he bears and his nervous twitching. “No. Seriously. What are you doing here?” I
ask.
“Mitchell Harper, get downstairs already.” With one of my hats in hand, mum stands behind me, her hair now tied back. “You can’t stay cooped up in that room of yours forever.”
Can’t I?
“Yeah Mitch, your mum’s right.”
It odd having Riley side with my mum, normally he doesn’t stay around long enough to even string together two words in her presence, yet today he’s stood before us, cockily voicing his opinion. And already I don’t like it.
“Fine.” I give in, and with heavy feet slamming down on the steps, I sulkily make my way downstairs, followed by mum with her laptop in hand.
“You’d think we were forcing him to go to college for the weekend.” She teases. Is this what happens when we grow older, our friends become friends with our parents? Because if so, I seriously need to rethink my outlook on this whole ‘friend’ thing.
“So,” I ask, grudgingly pushing my hat down and squashing my hair flat. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to town for the day. I need some new clothes and you’re the lucky one who’s going to help me pick them out.” Riley replies with a sly wink.
Is he mad? He knows I can’t be in public spaces and what’s worse is I can’t decline him while in earshot of mum.
“That’ll be nice, shame about the weather, though.” Says mum, shuffling papers across the dining table and centring her laptop in the middle of the chaos – another day at the office.
Riley winks again, this time, more obvious and nods mockingly. “Yeah, a real shame. But I’m in real need of some new clothes and I’m sure Mitch could do with a new hat. I can smell that one from here.”
Mum giggles again with Riley joining her – an obviously fake laugh on his part.
Cautiously walking towards him, I try my hardest not to think the worse. He wouldn’t have told people, surely not. So why am I so afraid that there might be a bunch of scientist in white coats waiting outside for me? “We’re not going shopping,” he whispers like a naughty child.
Unamused, I nod, intrigued to find out what we’re really doing, and a little frightened.
“You two have fun and try and enjoy the fresh air, Mitchell.” Laughs mum with a grin.
“We will Miss Harper.” Replies Riley.
“Oh Riley, call me Chloe.”
My nose scrunches as I cringe.
The rain has stopped by the time we leave, but the sky is still covered in grey cloud which overlays onto our surroundings. And with my mind elsewhere, I step into a puddle that has formed in the middle of the driveway, dampening my foot and soaking my low tops.
“Come on! I have a surprise for you.” Reveals Riley, pulling on my arm. “We’ve got a bit of a walk ahead of us, but it’ll be worth it.”
Snatching my arm back, I stop in my tracks. “What’s going on?” I firmly ask.
He fidgets, the suspense of his own secret too overwhelming. I could wait him out, by the looks of it, it wouldn’t take long for him to break and divulge his plan.
“Please Mitch, just trust me. It’s a surprise.”
Stubborn as I can be, I continue onwards, partly because of the sincerity in his voice and partly due to the overwhelming curiosity I have for this surprise – although, I’d never say it.
The walk is over thirty minutes, out of the residential areas and into an older run down part of town. Most of the houses here are boarded up and abandoned, awaiting a promised rejuvenation project to start. The only sign of life is a corner shop with an old grey haired man sat sleeping behind the counter.
Following his curly mop that bobs up and down, Riley gleefully walks on ahead towards a derelict factory that used to manufacture light installations and bulbs. It’s a large building, with most of its windows smashed and graffiti sprayed across the walls. Reaching the metal gates, locked by a large chain and padlock, Riley throws his hands up, like he’s displaying a prize on a game show. “Here we are!” he beams.
The image of the scientists in white coats re-enters my mind. I try not to show it, but I begin to panic and slowly inch away from him. “The old lighting factory?” I question. Deepening my voice in an attempt to cover my nerves.
“Not anymore.” His smile grows larger, curling up at the sides and exposing more of his teeth. “It’s your new training ground.”
I shake my head. “You want me to intentionally use my power?”
He nods with excitement.
“Throw fire around,” I question. “And if I lose control, then what?”
Immediately he stops jumping around and replaces his smile with a stern look. “Then we deal with it.” He affirms.
“It’s easy enough for you to say that, but I’m the one that has to deal with this! And I can’t risk hurting anyone!” I sigh. Even now I can feel the burning sensation swell within, begging for its freedom, but I close my eyes and count my breaths. One. Two. Three. It subsides, vanishing into nothing, but still I know it’s there, just waiting.
“Then you have to learn to control it.” He places a hand on my shoulder. “I know this must be hard, even scary at times, but for some reason, the world has decided this fate for you, so either embrace it… or go back to hiding in your bedroom, away from the rest of the world to be forgotten about.”
Never have I seen such a side to Riley; good with words, bold and to the point. Captivating as it was, I’m left uncomfortable before this stranger I hardly know. Harder to digest as I know he’s right – for once. I do need to learn some control, not so this power of mine can be used, but so I am able to subdue it. “Ok,” I reluctantly agree. “You’re right.”
“Riley knows best.” He recites with a nod, and with that, he switches back to his normal self, endlessly talking about the day ahead of us while pouncing upon the gates, pulling one and pushing the other to make a small gap, just big enough for us to fit through. As helpful as he can be, I’d rather this Riley than the serious one. That was just… weird.
The factory looks bigger inside than it does from the outside, with a wide empty space that has more graffiti, even covering parts of the stone flooring. It looks as if it’s been derelict for some time now, with only a few overturned desks and the odd box of light bulbs left behind.
“Hello!” Riley calls out, echoing his voice back and scaring the pigeons, that have nested in the steel beams above, into a frenzy.
“Ok, so go.” He orders, looking to me.
“Where?” I ask.
“Do your fire thing, make some flames!”
I nervously laugh, thinking he’s joking, but he doesn’t join me, he must be serious. “It’s not that simple,” I argue. “I can’t just make it appear at will.”
He nods, pacing back and forth. “Right, right. So first things first, we need your trigger.”
“My trigger?”
“C’mon Mitch,” he groans, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Think of all those superheroes we read about, they all had to learn the trigger to their powers.”
“Well, it normally happens when I’m angry or irritated.” I shrug.
“That’s it!” He shouts, catching me off guard, along with another group of pigeons from above. “We just need to make you angry. Hulk-style”
I snigger, being compared to someone so large. “Like I said, it’s not that simp–”
“The other day everyone thought you were a right loser, running out onto the rugby pitch!” he interrupts while smiling.
I recoil. “What are you doing.”
“Making you mad.” He confirms.
Although I’m happy he’s here and willing to help, I shake my head. “Riley,” I stress. “I really don’t think this is going to work.”
“You can’t drop at the first hurdle, Mitch,” he affirms. “It’s going to take time. Think! Think of a time where you’ve been so angry it’s made you boil over, then grab a hold of it and apply all those moments together.”
“Angry?” I question. “Let me count the times. How about the fact I can never sleep mo
re than a few hours at a time, and why!? Well, because I was given a lovely gift called night terrors.” A burst erupts within me, but I can’t stop myself. “Oh, and how about the fact I have a brother who’s normally there for me, but in the one time I truly need him, he’s nowhere to be seen. Afraid to look at me because all he can see is evil.” Like a volcano I burn at the core, spewing words in a rage.
“Mitch,” says Riley, his eyes wide.
But I can’t stop myself. “And why does he see evil? Well, that’s just another gift I’ve been chosen to wield, one I have no choice in, it’s part of me and my heritage, apparently!”
“Mitch,” he repeats, this time, more firmly.
“What!?” I shoot back.
“You did it! Look at your hands.”
Encased in an orange and blue flame, I wave my ignited hands around, following them with my eyes, mesmerised. “I-I can’t believe it,” I stutter. “Your plan actually worked.”
“Hey!” He groans. “I knew it would.”
We then spend the next few hours stopping and starting my power, which proved difficult in the beginning, as I had to keep bringing up past memories that angered me. ‘The basics,’ so Riley said. But as the day progressed, I found myself being able to find the energy needed to ignite my hands at will, without the need of an overbearing emotion.
Pulling out a ready-made lunch from his bag, Riley throws me a sandwich. “Eat,” he orders, tucking into his own.
Starved, I’ve never been so happy to see food, as it would seem to summon an element can really tire a person out. So without so much as a word, I devour my lunch before Riley, something that’s never happened before. “Hungry?” he asks with a laugh.
Panting from the sheer speed of which I ate, I flash him a nervous smile. “A bit,” I reply.
Break over, and already Riley circles an overturned desk, trying with all his might – and failing – to right it again, before giving up and settling on its original position. “This’ll do.” He decides, panting.
“Right, phase two,” he adds. “Target practice.”
Hit by a pang of nerves, I decline. “What if I lose control?”
“It’s not enough to simply activate your power,” he insists. “You need to know how to command it. Just remember, you rule the flame, it doesn’t rule you.”
He sounds serious again and I begin to wonder how long he’s been planning this day. He’s probably been at home reading through countless comic books, stealing their lines simply for a moment like this.
“Ok, ok,” I reluctantly agree, merely to stop him from talking. “So, I’ll just aim and shoot?”
“Basically.” He confirms, standing at a distance. “Trial and error. Now go!”
Closing my eyes, I latch on to the raw energy surging throughout my body and build upon it. Like pieces to a puzzle, I use my mind to fit together the jigsaw at my core and tense all my muscles to hold it in place. Overcome by pressure, I’m forced to release the power through my hands and watch as it spills out onto the desk, burning it in the process. “Excellent,” he prompts. “Keep it up.”
So I pull in my fragments and add them to the already cramped ball of energy I have in the pit of my stomach, using my mind to hold it steadily in place, letting only smalls amounts of it out in the form of flames.
All goes well and I begin to feel a sense of accomplishment like I might actually be able to overcome this burden of mine and return to a semi-normal life. But I spoke too soon, as I hit a point where my body cannot contain the vast amount of power I have collected and I feel as if I’m about to explode. “Riley,” I whimper, unable to speak properly under the pressure. “Run.”
Fire erupting from all over my body, I fall to my knees as I try my hardest to contain the inner inferno, just long enough to give Riley that extra bit of time to get away. Everything I am is pulled together; my emotions, my memories, my thoughts and senses are grouped at my core and ripped from my body in a blaze that fires outward, until there’s nothing left, leaving me as an empty husk.
Dazed, I awake moments later, laying on the cold hard ground. Body aching, I stumble to my feet amidst a cloud of thick black smoke that rises up into the roof. “Riley!?” I yell, rebounding my voice throughout the warehouse.
But there’s no sign of him.