Paranormal Twins: The New Beginning

I watched Jay leave. What was his problem? I understood that it was a shock, and it might not even be true, it was probably a misunderstanding, but he didn’t have to get so outraged by it. He stormed out of here like having a sister, specifically me as a sister, was the worst possible thing that could have happened to him, never mind being a fictional creature from a story book.

I heard Mae clear her throat and I looked up, realizing I’ve been spacing out again. She bit her lip. “You didn’t know, did you?” she asked. I shook my head. She tightened her lips together and started typing on her computer, mumbling, “That’s not right… That can’t be… Réellement 15...” She looked up at me. “Quand avez-vous deux se rencontrent?” I gave her a confused look and she shook her head and chuckled. “I apologize. Sometimes I don’t notice when I switch between my languages. When did you two meet?”

“Well… We met today. About an hour ago. Why does that matter? Is something wrong?” Mae shook her head and closed her eyes.

“It’s not right… Shouldn’t have happened...” She put her face in her hands and sighed before sitting up, calm and composed. “I have some work to do. Want me to get Rain and Ryan to show you around?”

I shook my head. “That isn’t necessary. I’ll be fine.” I stood up and walked out. Once I closed the door I looked around. Which way did we come from? Left or right? I stood for a few moments before I decided to go right. I wandered around, lost for a while before I saw a familiar face walking towards me.

“Jakki, hey,” Andrew said with a smile. “Long time no see.” I chuckled and shook my head.

“Hate to break it to you, but it’s only been an hour.” He smiled.

“Yeah, I guess you got me there.” He looked around. “Why are you all alone? Where are the people you were with earlier?”

“I could say the same for you.” I retorted. “I just wanted to be alone, is all. But… Now that I am alone, I have no clue where I’m going.” I stopped for a second and looked around. I felt my stomach growl and put my hands on it. “I want food.”

Andrew chuckled. “Well, I was on my way home. I’m quite hungry, too. Care to join me?”

I bit my lip, hesitating, before deciding that I would be alright. I smiled and nodded. “That’d be great, thanks.”

He smiled and led the way to the apartment building. We rode the elevator to the second floor and went down to the end of a hallway to his room. He unlocked the door and motioned me in. “Ladies first.” He smiled and winked at me. I rolled my eyes and walked in. It was sort of messy, but it wasn’t terrible. I’ve lived in worse. Andrew followed me in and locked the door.

“Sorry for the mess. I try to keep things clean, but I don’t really pay much attention. As long as the floor is visible I don’t really mind.“ He picked up a bunch of magazines and papers and stacked them haphazardly on the coffee table, making room. “I’m going to change into clean clothes. Make yourself at home. There are drinks in the fridge. Take whatever you like.” He walked through a door that I assumed was his bedroom.

I walked around the apartment and decided, after seeing that there was no blood anywhere, to taking some lemonade from the fridge. It took me a couple tries with the cabinets, but I finally found the glasses.

I walked around the living room, looking at some of the pictures hanging on the wall. Some pictures were of Tadashi and Andrew, some were group pictures with the twins, and there was one with Andrew and an unfamiliar guy. They were standing in front of the Space Needle.

I turned around when I heard footsteps behind me. Andrew saw what I was looking at and smiled sadly. “He was my ex, Michael. He was a human. We were together for five months before he found out I could control fire. I tried to keep it from him for as long as I could, but when he found out… Well, it didn’t end well. We were fighting about…” He hesitated before chuckling slightly and shaking his head. “I can’t even remember what it was about now. Something stupid. He wasn’t listening to me and I got angry and accidentally set his couch on fire.” My eyes widened. He sighed and looked down. “I didn’t mean to get angry. It seems so stupid now.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Michael got scared. He called me a monster. Ran away. The next day he left me a note saying he was going to stay at a friend’s house to think about things. I always stayed in his apartment, instead of at the facility. We practically lived together.” He took the picture off the wall. “I waited for him. I waited for him to come around, but… After 3 weeks I gave up. I came back here.” He looked down at me. “That was 3 months ago.” He put the picture face down on the coffee table and ran his fingers through his hair.

I looked at the face down picture. “That must have been hard.”

He shrugged. “I’ve had worse. I knew I shouldn’t have tried dating a human, but… I didn’t want to be tied down to the Supernatural for the rest of my life. Silly me.” He chuckled humorlessly, sat on the couch, and pat the seat next to him. “Come. Sit. Chat.”

I smiled sadly and sat down next to him, setting down my glass of lemonade on the coffee table. “What was worse than Michael leaving?” His smile faltered and he looked down. I realized I was probably touching a sensitive subject. “I mean, you don’t have to… I don’t want to make you revisit bad memories.”

He looked back at me; His smile came back to his face, not quite reaching his eyes. “Nah, from one Fire Elemental to another.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Just forewarning you, some of these things I actually remember, but most I was told when I was older. Some things may not be completely true, because I don’t remember it actually happening.

“Elementals don’t start to actually develop their powers until they are toddlers- around 3 years old. Until you have your first encounter, your markings don’t even show up. You just look like a normal child.”

I interrupted him. “Markings? What are markings?”

He smiled. “I forgot how much you don’t know. They’re how you can tell Elementals apart. Nobody has the same markings- even hair color from person to person is slightly different. Some people have unique colored hair. Some people have unique tattoos. It depends on how strong the powers are inside you. Having a tattoo means you’re strong. You can control water and create a hurricane. Having your hair a unique color means that, even though you control that element, it’s not super strong. If you control the wind you can’t create a typhoon no matter how hard you try. If your hair is a different color no amount of hair dye can change the color.” He touched my hair. “Most people who are more than just an Elemental, who are also Vampires or Werewolves just have the hair color. But you don’t.” He dropped my hair and continued. “The strongest Elementals are the ones that have both. When they’re angry, or when they have no other choice, their hair changes, their tattoos show up. They’re large and glowing with power. We call them Eletarians. They are rare, and the most dangerous of them all.”

I sat back and bit my lip. I looked at his dark, obviously dyed, black hair. “I’m guessing you have a tattoo, then.”

He nodded and turned so his back was facing towards me. He took his shirt off and there were small red and orange wings made from flames between his shoulder blades. He pulled his shirt back on and turned around. “What about you?”

I shook my head. “I never noticed a tattoo. There’s nothing on me that indicated that I can control fire. I just...” I made a small flame in my hand. “Can.” I let it go out.

He thought about that for a second, and I thought about what he said. “Hair can be an indicator? Like Rain and Ryan?”

Andrew nodded. “Rain and Ryan Spirit Elementals. They are the rarest type of Elemental. Some say the rarest type of Supernatural, though we’ve all heard the rumors. They are very powerful, and if treated wrong- very dangerous.”

My eyes widened. They didn’t seem… Dangerous.

Andrew read my expression. “Don’t underestimate Supernaturals. No matter how sweet and down-to-earth they seem, we have all done things that we’d rather forget. We have all hurt people. Either by accident… Or on purpose.”

I looked warily at Andrew. He seemed so kind. But if what he said was true… “Even you?”

He looked away, and I could see the tears already pooling in his eyes. “I was late getting my powers- almost 5 years old. I remember when I had my first encounter with my powers. Actually, it’s the only encounter I remember in detail.

“I was playing out in the park. My mother said it was time to go, so of course, I was throwing a huge tantrum. My mom had to physically pull me away from the wooden post holding the swings. She tried pulling my hands away and yelped, jerking away from me. She gripped my waist and pulled me until I lost my grip. I remember two distinct, tiny handprints embedded into the wood.

“That wasn’t the only time. There were plenty of other times, but that was the one I remember. The first time my powers ever showed. Some time after I was six they realized they couldn’t stop it. No amount of begging or praying to God could help me and make my powers go away. The last time I ever saw my parents I did something bad. I don’t even remember what I did. I just know my mother called me a spawn of the Devil himself… And the disgusted look on her face…

“They left me at the front of an orphanage in the middle of the night. At least they had that much decency. In the morning the owner found me, shivering from the Alaskan night. They took me in and asked me questions, none I really knew how to answer. In the end I told them I didn’t want to go back home. I stayed there for 3 months before being put in a foster care. The woman that took care of us was mean and nasty. She made us do everything for her and we couldn’t have any fun.

“I stayed there for a year before it burnt down. I don’t think it was my fault, because I was asleep until the firemen woke me up, pulling me out of the fire, but it could have been me. The firemen were amazed at how, even though I was in the fire for over 15 minutes, I wasn’t burned or choking on smoke. I was completely fine.

“I went to two other foster homes before I completely ran away when I was 11. I was in California at the time. Nobody pays attention to children in Cali. Especially homeless children. I was practically invisible for three years.”

He stopped talking, and I looked up at him. He saw me looking and quickly wiped the tears off his face. “That’s when I was found. It was evening and it was getting dark, so I made a fire. Just a small spark, but it was enough. I was grabbed and pulled into an alleyway. I tried pulling away; burning the person, anything, but he had a strong grip on me. Finally he turned me around and looked me in the eyes.

“I recognized him, barely. I saw him once, when I was two or three years old. I remember my father yelling at him, and I never saw him again. He was my uncle.

“He showed me he was a Fire Elemental as well. He told me he could protect me. I don’t even know if he recognized me.”

“How would he not recognize you?” I asked. “He told you who he was and helped you.”

He shook his head. “He helped me because I was a young, lost, homeless boy who was able to create fire in his hands. He didn’t know I was his nephew until I told him my name and he recognized the mannerisms I shared with my parents.

“He took me in and cared for me. We stayed in California until he said I would be protected more here, at the Main Facility. I’ve only been here for three years. For some people, that’s a long time. But compared to most of the people that live here… It hasn’t been long at all.”

Andrew wiped his face on the back of his hand and cleared his throat, seemingly embarrassed about crying in front of me. He walked into the kitchen, and I followed him. “Want to eat something? We have… Leftovers… I don’t feel like cooking...” He looked up at me. “But I can make you something if you want.”

I looked into the fridge, not really knowing what to say. I heard the front door open and I looked up in alarm. “Does someone else live here?”

Andrew nodded. “Everyone here has a roommate. Mine is Tadashi.” I turned and saw Tadashi walk in. He looked between Andrew and I, then at the Chinese takeout bag in his hands.

“It’s a good thing I get extra food.” He looked at Andrew and smiled. “It seems like you brought a girl home. That’s a first. Usually I’m the one that does that.”