She shrugged and pretended to give up. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard the arguments before. Unfortunately, my powers weren’t strong. I’d been one of the only black kids in school, not to mention I was also short and a bit of a science geek. Luckily, I didn’t have a lot of bullies, but I did have one. The only reason I knew my powers existed was because my bully, Jeff Jones, had acquired the ability to electrocute people and decided to zap me while I was in the bathroom.
I had just zipped up when I heard the door open, and turned to see Jeff. He lifted his hateful little finger and pointed it at my crotch. Fear of what his electrical abilities would do to my junk caused me to absorb his zap. He tried zapping me three more times, and I absorbed his attack each time.
Jeff was without powers for the rest of the day. Of course, he beat the crap out of me after school, but I’d learned I could absorb powers. What good did that do me?
Absolutely none. I couldn’t turn his power back on him. I couldn’t even keep him from beating me up. So, I decided to head to Colorado’s super college and learn how to use what little skill I had, even if it meant I’d end up as some more powerful and arrogant asshole’s sidekick.
We pulled up at the bright modern building calledLowen Depot. Mom and Pete helped me carry my luggage, and we were met at the entrance. A handsome older man smiled and took our things. One second, we were looking at my stuff, and the next, it was wrapped in plastic, so it didn’t get separated, and loaded onto the conveyer belt behind us.
“How…? How did…?” Before Pete could finish the question, I pointed to the sign above the conveyer belt that said,Superpower training awaits you!
Pete swallowed hard and nodded. He and Mom were out of their element, and I was, too. For the most part, people with special powers didn’t let them possess their daily lives. Jeff had been an exception, but after my zapping incident, he’d been suspended from school after crossing the line with the principal’s daughter. Last I heard, he’d been sent to Juvie, where I figured he’d probably have his powers removed, at least.
Pete hugged me, then stepped aside, letting Mom embrace me again. She cried silently, and I considered for a moment telling them I’d rather stay closer to home. Finally, she let go, and I could see the resolve on her face. She had accepted my decision.
“I love you, Mom,” I whispered so only she could hear.
“I love you too, baby,” she said, and hugged me again before turning and heading out the door with Pete.
I watched the two of them leave and felt my heart ache. Mom and Pete had always been part of my life.Why am I doing this?I thought to myself.
I shook my head because something felt important about what I was doing. I might be overthinking it, but I felt a drive in me that said I might be the thing that saved us from total annihilation. I needed to know if that was true or just my fantasy. I needed to learn what, if anything, the pitiful powers I possessed could do.
Chapter three
Kaden
“Tellmeagainhowthis isn’t me going to prison?” I asked my counselor, who was becoming increasingly annoyed with me the longer we worked together.
He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Kaden, you killed at least thirty men. We can’t be certain how many. You can’t just be put back on the streets when you possess that kind of power.”
“So, take the power away, and fuck, I don’t understand what the problem is. The SOBs were raping kids. They raped me!”
“And, if you didn’t have powers that you and I both know can’t be taken away for some reason, then you’d probably be let off the hook, maybe even regarded as a hero.”
I slumped back in the uncomfortable straight-back chair he kept in his office. Before being taken, I’d had therapists, and their furniture was usually comfortable with offices designed to embrace you and make you feel better about spilling your guts.
This was not that kind of therapist’s office.
“I don’t understand why they couldn’t take my powers. The man from the school said it had always worked before. Why do I have to suffer with, well fuck, whatever this is?”
Mr. Forsyth shrugged. “As I and multiple others have explained numerous times, no one knows.”
It was my turn to sigh.
The professor had come into my holding cell at what they called a group home, and when I signed the document saying they could take my powers, he began trying to exorcise my demons. He tried a dozen times before he gave up. Apparently, my powers refused to budge.
“So, I’m being forced to go to college?” I’d asked the question repeatedly too, but the truth was, I barely had an elementary school education since I’d been taken before I finished sixth grade. How was I going to survive in a college setting?
I’d been in the prison, designed as a group home, for almost a year. I’d been tested, prodded, poked, and asked billions of questions, mostly the same ones over and over. There wasn’t much to tell. I kept trying to explain Briggs was gonna hurt the kid, but something had snapped, and I protected her.
I hadn’t even tried to use the powers again, at least not on my own. They sometimes made me try things to document that the powers were still there, but I hadn’t done anything with them since that night. Yet, the common theme among all the adults I’d encountered since was fear and a sense of dread.
I’d apparently lived more than five years with men doing horrible, unspeakable things to me, and I never reacted when they hurt me, didn’t even think I could, until they threatened the girl, but they feared me. Not the monsters who got what they deserved.They feared me. I was about to turn eighteen, and all these grown-ups feared me.
I banged my hand against the armrest of the chair. “This sucks!” I exclaimed.
I’d tried explaining how I really felt about the isolation and blame in previous sessions, but that got me nowhere. Mr. Forsyth wasn’t that kind of counselor. He probably wasn’t even a real therapist.
