The Revealing

I couldn’t sleep, probably because of the lack of music and everything that had just happened. There was a small music box in the shape of a shell on the shelf. I got out of bed, walked over to the shelf, picked up the music box, turned the switch and opened the shell. Out came a little song made of twinkling bells, and something inside the back of my mind stirred—a memory.

“Give it back!” I was jumping up and down while Mason held the music box just out of my reach.

“Come on! Let me see you jump for it!” He was laughing, clearly enjoying teasing me.

“Come on, Mason! Just give it back.” I had gotten the music box as a gift from Carson.

“I’ll give it back to you if you just admit the fact that Carson is just an imaginary friend.”

He had been trying to convince me that Carson wasn’t real ever since I’d told him about meeting Carson in the park.

“No! He is real! Mason, just give it back!”

He finally realized he would not be able to get me to admit it, and he gave the music box back. I ran to my room, slammed the door, sat on my bed and opened the music box. The melody was pretty and twinkly. The box was in the shape of a shell, just the right size to fit inside my little hands.

The box in this room was the same music box, the one from my memory. I had been 10 then, and the music box was the last gift I’d ever received from Carson. It had been in my room, and the fire had destroyed it—at least that was what I’d thought. I closed the box, put it back on the shelf, went to the bed and tried to go to sleep again. Finally, I drifted off. My sleep was a dreamless, restless state of being. I didn’t like it.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

The next morning, I only had one thing on my mind.

“Mason, I need a new iPod. Pronto.”

He looked at me with a blank stare. “All right, sure, let me just reach into our bank of ashes and pull out a fifty or two to get you a new iPod.”

Crap! I’d forgotten about the fire, which was odd, seeing as how traumatic it should have been. “Forget it. I will just download some music on Car’s laptop.”

The dining room was the room where we had breakfast. The room had concrete flooring and was a big space with plastic tables set up and chairs all around them. Mason nodded and stepped forward in line. I picked up my plate. On the menu for breakfast were eggs, my favourite, but there was a limited amount of eggs we could put on our plates, seeing as there were probably almost 100 mouths to feed. After I got my eggs, I went to go sit with Mason, who was in front of me in line. I was beginning to like it there; the place had good food, nice showers and comfortable living arrangements—for me anyway.

Thinking about the showers made me think about Damian and everything that had happened last night. I didn’t want to think about Damian, but now that he was on my mind, I wondered why he had been in the showers after I’d finished and how he’d come at just the right time. He must have finished brushing his teeth by then. It made me wonder. Not only that, but how did he know that I was outside last night? How did he know I needed help?

Before breakfast, I got a tour of the mansion. It was the biggest home I’d ever stepped foot in. It was about the size of a smallish mall, but each room except Willow’s and mine had bunk beds. Every girl had a roommate, which made me feel like an even more honored guest than before.

“So what are we going to do for lunch?” Damian said. He was nervous because we needed to go to the grocery store to pick up white bread for sandwiches.

Willow squeaked, “I could go pick some up, and Obsidian can come with me. It will be so much fun!”

“All right, but don’t take four hours like usual. Just go get the forty loaves and leave. I’ll give you the bank card. Don’t buy anything useless. You got that, Bunny? Can you keep an eye on her for me?”

I rolled my eyes but nodded. I decided that what he wanted with those sly remarks was always a response. I wasn’t going give him one. I picked up my plate and stood up to bring it to the kitchen, but Car gently grabbed my elbow, pulling me to sit down. Damian stood up, still chewing his food.

“All right, so which group is on dishes today?” Damian said.

There was no reply; the cafeteria was silent.

“Margo!” called out Damian. She stood up, and Damian sighed, saying, “Dishes—now.”

The girl he’d called Margo snapped her fingers, and a whole group of girls stood up. One of them began skating around the tables, picking up dishes. It looked as if she were wearing Rollerblades, but she wasn’t. I looked over to Willow for an explanation. She mouthed, “I’ll explain later.” When the girl came to our table to get our plates, I took a sneak peek at her feet, and she had wheels on her feet! Once she had enough plates, she put the wheels back in her feet and walked into the kitchen. My eyes were open so wide I could feel them almost popping out of my head.

Mason hit my shoulder. “Don’t stare,” he whispered.

I immediately came back to earth and blushed so hard that I felt as if I were running a fever. “Sorry.”

Car smiled, and Damian nudged me. “Pff, newbie.”

I ignored that comment and followed Willow out the door. She was already on her way to the car. That was when Lisa came bounding over. “I want to come! I want to come!”

Willow spun around on her toes and pushed Lisa back. “You can’t leave the home. You’re protecting it and keeping everyone safe, Lisa. It’s your job.”

She sighed and turned back to go to the home. I followed Willow to the car. She sat in the driver’s seat, and we were off. She backed out, and we went back into the forest.

“So how long have you lived in the home for?” I asked.

She sighed while looking at the road. “Ever since puberty. Damian had to kill his best friend, who was actually an elder in disguise trying to get at me.”

My eyes widened. That’s probably why he is so mean. “I didn’t know that.” I looked down.

She giggled. “He never liked the kid anyway. The thing that made him the way he is, though, is he witnessed our parents’ murders by the so-called best friend. That was the reason he killed him in the end.”

Wow. I should change the subject. “Uh, so what’s with this opposite thing? Have you found yours?”

This time, she laughed loudly. “No, I haven’t. I don’t think that Damian and Car would let me find him just yet.”

I laughed, thinking about the interrogation that poor guy would have to go through. “How do you know when you’ve found your opposite?”

She bit her lip, thinking hard. “Well, it’s more of a feeling. I couldn’t tell you, because it’s never happened to me, at least not yet. I think it’s like if you’re apart, it hurts physically, and you feel this strange pull on your heart. All I know for sure is that you look different when you know for sure.”

“Look different? How so?”

She smiled. “You glow—literally—to the elders and to us. Humans can’t see it. At least that is what I heard. I also know that both of them have to be aware of the fact that they are opposites, or the glow isn’t there.”

“Like a light bulb?”

“No, silly! It’s like when you have the cable box off at night, but the TV is still on. It’s very faint, and you are easier to see in the dark. That is why usually it’s easier to find the opposite couples than us. That’s why they kill off the parents and the partners—because they make the Halflings, and the Halflings’ glow is a lot less noticeable.”

“That is so cool!”

“It’s not one hundred percent, though. I have never officially seen it myself. I have just heard the rumors.” She giggled again and tousled my hair, which was weird but comforting. I felt as if Willow would be not only a best friend but also the sister I’d never had, and I thought she felt the same.

She turned on the radio once we got into range. A top hit pop song came on with the same droning tone of every new song. The singer was saying something about being together past forever. I couldn’t stand songs like that.

I ignored the music and looked out the window. I got lost in space. My mind was a dangerous place when it started to wander. I tended to get into such deep thought that I forgot what was going on, and sometimes I couldn’t even hear what was going on. Sometimes pictures popped up or places that I recognized later on. I usually used those places for inspiration when I painted. This time, something happened that never had happened before. I saw a scene playing out as if in a movie.

A little girl no older than 4 years old was running, terrified of what was chasing her. She turned her head, and I could see through her eyes. She was running from two people in black robes. Farther behind them, two more people in black robes broke another little girl’s neck, and that girl seemed to be wearing exactly the same thing as the girl running away. She also looked identical. A strange, glowing light came from the captured girl’s body and into the bodies of her attackers. One of them exploded, and the other joined the two who were chasing the first little girl. That was when I snapped out of it and was back in the front seat of the car with Willow singing to another bad song. Her voice made the song sound much better, though. I looked out the window and noticed a tree I had seen in my vision before I had seen the little girl running.

“Stop the car!” I yelled.

Willow freaked out, looked at me and almost fishtailed. “What the heck! What’s wrong, Obsidian? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I looked over, and I was right. I saw the girl about 50 metres away. I could save them both if I tried, so I jumped out of the car and ran. Willow chased after me, screaming at me to come back and to stop running so fast at nothing. I would not stop. If this situation was going to play out as it had in my dream, then that little girl needed my help now more than ever.

I ran and slammed my body into one of the robed men. The one I hit slammed into the other one, and they dropped the girl before they could snap her neck. She landed on the ground and disappeared. Getting a closer look, I noticed she did look exactly like the girl who was running. I was startled for a second, but then a heaving body lunged at me. One of the robed men was on top of me and had his hands around my neck. I pulled my legs up and kicked him up, and boy, did he go up. I lost sight of him, and then he came back down, flattened like a pancake. The other robed man ran in horror.

I looked over at the other two chasing the girl. She was running so fast that I figured speed must have been a special ability or something, but the two who were chasing her were catching up. I ran, lunged at them and tackled them to the ground. Their eyes were full of recognition when they saw my face. Their expressions turned to horror when I snarled, and my body heated up with fury. Underneath me, they caught on fire. Both of them died within a second. They burned so fast that it seemed as if one second they were there, and the next they were ash.

The little girl stopped running. It was over. As I looked back at Willow, she was still running and telling me to stop before she even noticed that it was over. She looked dumbfounded. The little girl cried and hugged me. I picked her up and carried her. I was right; she looked about 4 years old. I thought that you get the gifts after puberty. Very odd.

“What the heck just happened? You just disappeared!” Willow noticed the little, whimpering child in my arms. “And where did you get that girl?”

I looked at her as if it were obvious, and she looked at me like a lost puppy, so I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the car. “We have to go—now!”

She followed willingly. I put the little girl in the back seat, and Willow started the car. She reversed, flipped the car around and accelerated. I sat in the back with the little girl. I felt protective of her and didn’t want to leave her alone for a second. We got back to the home a lot faster than the boys had expected. They were outside playing volleyball with some of the girls and guys. I carried the little girl, who was still sobbing, past the boys and straight to Lisa, who was sitting on a bench outside.

“Lisa, let her see!” I didn’t raise my voice, but the urgency made Lisa look scared. “Don’t worry; she is okay, but I have to bring her inside, so please shock her.”

Lisa took the little girl’s hand and shocked her. The crying little girl didn’t even notice the static shock. I brought her inside, where she would be safe as long as Lisa was still concealing the home. I put her down in the living room, and Damian and Car stormed in after a hyperactive Willow.

“Obsidian, who is that?” Car looked concerned, as if bringing an outsider in was a bad idea, even though she was a 4-year-old crying girl.

“She saved her!” Willow said. “Well, at least I think she did. She was all like, ‘Stop the car!’ and she practically rolled out and started to run at an empty field. Then there was grunting and crunching and then a random fire, and then she reappeared, carrying this little crying girl in her arms!” Willow barely took breaths in between her sentences.

I just sat on the couch as she gave her explanation to the boys, who had no clue what she had just said, and I stroked the little girl’s head. She calmed down a lot, and I thought she whispered, “Thank you,” in a quiet, fairy-like voice. By now, there was a crowd gathering around us, and Lisa was interested in the only person here who was younger than she was. I took the girl’s hand and told her to come with me, and she stood up. I stood, picked her up and brought her to my room. No one followed us. I set her down on my bed and dried what was left of the tears on her face.

“What’s your name?” I said.

She smiled a little smile and hugged me. She didn’t answer the question, but I figured that if that traumatizing experience had just happened to me, I wouldn’t want to speak either.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk. My name is Obsidian. I’m very glad you’re alive.”

I stepped back, got her the little teddy bear that Car had given me and handed it to her. Her eyes widened as if I’d just given her the key to Atlantis. It was as if she had never seen a teddy bear before. She grabbed it and hugged it. The teddy bear mesmerized her.

I looked at her clothing. It looked as if she had just walked out of the jungle. Her hair was tangled, and she was wearing pajamas with fuzzy little slippers. I was sure her gift was supersonic speed, and I felt she could have easily outrun those robed men if she’d had proper shoes on. I heard the tiniest squeak come from her, and I leaned closer. “Did you say something?”

She looked at her little bunny slippers and then looked at me with the biggest doe eyes I had ever seen. “How?”

“How what?” I said in a gentle voice.

“How did you see me?”

That was a good question. Obviously, no one else was able to see her running that fast, so how had I? I must have been running just as fast as she was, since I’d tackled the two men who were attacking her. I looked at this little girl and honestly said, “I don’t know.”

She looked at the teddy bear and yawned. I made her lie down on my bed, and she fell asleep within two minutes. I stood up and left the room only to see Car, Mason, and Damian standing there with their arms folded across their chests.

“Explanation.” Mason was distraught—maybe because he hadn’t seen what happened. Actually, I was the only one who had seen something, in the scene before everything happened, when I was in space.

“All right.” I sighed and followed the still-shaking Willow to her room as the boys followed me. I felt their eyes on my back. I sat on the bed while Willow paced, and the boys all pulled up chairs as if this were storytime. I sighed and began the story. As I spoke, their eyes widened in surprise.

“And then I just saw it happen. I knew that it was going to be there because of the tree in the beginning of the scene.”

“Wait! You said you saw it happen before it did—like you saw the future?” asked Mason.

I nodded.

“What was it like? Was it like a memory or something?” said Car.

I sighed again. “No, it was more like a scene from a movie. Can I continue?”

They all nodded.

“So when I saw the tree, I knew something was up. Then I saw it—the little girl was running about fifty metres away from the car. I wanted to save both of the girls, so I stopped the car, and I ran.”

“But Willow said you disappeared. Are you sure?” Damian said skeptically.

I rolled my eyes and sighed once again. “Obviously, I’m sure it was happening to me. I don’t know—maybe I ran so fast she couldn’t see me. She couldn’t see the girl, so I’m pretty sure that’s what was happening.”

The boys’ mouths dropped open.

“So you are psychic, and you can run at super speeds? Two gifts!” said Mason.

I nodded. “That’s not even it. I set two of the robed guys on fire, and they burned so fast it was like a split second.”

Damian, Car, and Mason looked at me with surprise on their faces.

“Three? That’s three!” Car said, looking at Mason.

“Well, I think four, because I basically shot one of them into space.”

My tone was starting to hitch, and my voice was a little shaky, probably because of the past couple of days I’d had. Car stood up, and so did Damian. They looked at each other and then at me. Car put his hand on my shoulder, and Damian fidgeted a little. Damian looked at me, and his eyes were full of concern and confusion. Then he nodded slightly and left the room, and Car followed him. Were they trying to comfort me? If that were so, then Car’s approach was better. I looked at Willow for an explanation, but she seemed just as confused as I was, so I looked at Mason. “Anything you can tell me?”

He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t. No one has ever had more than one power—ever.”

My eyes widened. “Then why do I have four? What’s wrong with me?”

He smiled. “Nothing. It just means you are a lot more powerful than we anticipated. This could be the reason that you weren’t born with an older brother. Have you ever had visions or random bursts of power like that?”

“Well, I would see pictures sometimes—when I zone out, you know—and those are my inspirations for my paintings.”

“We need that USB as soon as possible.”

I shrugged, got up and went to my room quietly. I didn’t know if the little girl was a light sleeper or not. I walked over to the desk, opened the drawer, picked up the USB, grabbed the laptop on top of the desk and left, shutting the door behind me. I walked back into the room and saw that Mason and Willow had left the room. I decided they probably had gone to get Car and Damian to come see what was on the USB.

I plugged the USB into the laptop and opened the folder. Inside were many photos of all of the paintings I had ever made. Some of them were familiar, and some weren’t. As I scrolled through, I noticed that some of the paintings and pictures, especially from my childhood, had newspaper articles or other pictures attached. The picture always matched up almost exactly with the painting. Each picture had a date, and the paintings were dated before the news articles.

I started to get worried. So my paintings tell the future. But that didn’t explain what had happened with the little girl. All the pictures were dated with such distance between them that one wouldn’t have noticed they were connected unless he or she was looking for the connection. I had seen what had happened to the little girl only seconds before. Plus, the paintings’ inspirations were pictures, not dream-like scenes.

I stood up to go find Willow, Damian, Car and Mason when I noticed that they had been gone for more than 20 minutes. Time sure flies when you are discovering. I walked out of the room, and the hallway seemed disturbingly quiet. At least one or two girls were usually chatting away in one of the rooms or in the hallways but not this time. I walked down the hallway toward the library because that was most likely where the boys and Willow would be. When I opened the door to see inside, there was no one around. I sighed and turned to leave the room, when a voice from the back of the library called out.

“Obsidian, come here, please.”