"You better be back early enough to make dinner or hunger would be the least of your regrets." I hear my aunty say over the counter.
Sighing silently so as not to anger her, I pick up my water bottle and strolled out of the house
Getting outside, I could finally breathe; the air was refreshing and the quietness was therapeutic.
Getting away from their barks of order was the most relieving thing…..ever.
The walk to the bus station was a long one as we lived in the heart of the City.
Sidon wasn't such a big city but it was beautiful especially her inner parts.
After inheriting all that my parents left behind for me after their deaths, my aunty and her family got their dream house; my parents house and all the money from their insurance which legally, rightfully belonged to me.
I really should be grateful they even let me under their….my roof and spared me something money to feed from which I took the bus.
I couldn't take the school bus, I had been severely warned by Justin and his gang.
Honestly, I was very sure I wasn't interested in finding out what they would do to me if I went against them.
Still lost in my thoughts, I noticed some man sitting across from me in the bus, staring so obviously.
People usually tried to hide when they were staring but the man made it so obvious that he wanted me to stare back.
His hair was black but I could see strands of hair that showed aging.
How old was he?
Mid forties, maybe?
Even when I looked back at him, he didn't look away.
What was wrong with this guy?
Unable to take the stares any longer, I decided to speak to him,
"Can I help you, sir?" I tried to be as polite as possible.
Instead of responding or looking away, he just burst out laughing.
Creep.
"There's nothing funny about staring, you know? It's uncomfortable." I was already irritated.
"You okay, kid?" It's an old man.
I blink and when I look again, the creep is no longer in his seat.
I looked around the bus searching for him but only met concerned faces of people older, irritated faces of people younger and scared faces of kids.
"I'm okay, thank you." I smiled at the man whose stare lingered on before taken away.
I swear, I had seen him; he was sitting right there.
I could not have imagined it, right?
I looked around once more and there were still a few people staring at me like they had boarded the same bus with a lunatic.
Was I hallucinating?
He must have been there.
Or maybe he wasn't….
I shut my eyes and dropped my head back.
All the intense reading, daydreaming about my future away from my family and the torture at the house must have messed with my mind.
When the bus stopped, I took one final look at where the creepy guy sat or at least where I thought he sat.
Shaking my head, I got out of the bus.
I put on my hoodie and quickly made my way to class before I encountered Justin and his gang.
It would be better not to encounter them before my last two examinations in this damn school.
The theory exams went as quickly as I hoped it would.
Theory physics were never a problem for me as well as practical physics.
However, I preferred theory over practical any day of the week.
Just the thought of having to work with anyone to earn my desired grade made my skin crawl.
Soon, we were all in the physics laboratory.
When I checked the roaster for the person I would be in the same group with, I almost cried.
If it wasn't the world working against me, why would Justin be my group mate?
"Hi buddy. Ready to earn us that A plus grade?" He snickered, brushing my arm as he made his way to his seat…..our seat.
Accepting my fate as the universe most unlucky human, I joined him.
He did nothing but sit and watch and I wholeheartedly appreciated it.
Doing everything on my own was way better than doing anything with anyone, especially Justin.
"If you're going to work alone while your partner does nothing then you might as well exit the laboratory Mr Ash." The physics teacher smiled at me.
It wasn't a kind one but one that warned me of my fate if I ever overlooked her warning.
"You wouldn't." Justin dared me to ask him to join me.
"Just this once, Justin." I begged him with my eyes but he did nothing but look ahead.
Of course, he already had his future planned out whether he worked for it or not.
His rich daddy made sure of that.
"Please." I added but that wasn't enough to move him.
"Please Justin, do something just this once." I begged him, whispering with clenched teeth.
We had all been matched before the examination so there was absolutely no chance of me requesting for a change of partner now, unless I wanted to totally fail this exam.
"Ugh! Fine, if you insist, I'll do something." He grunts but I catch a mischievous smile on his lips but before I could guess what he was smiling about, he picked up a syringe and stabbed me with it, pumping the chemicals in it, into my vein.
I black out, almost instantly.
For the few seconds my eyes are still opened and my senses are still working, I hear wild gasps fill the air, commotion setting in.
My heartbeat slowed down to a pace I couldn't decide was real or just an hallucination as I could already feel dead.
I fell to the ground with a heavy thud, holding my wrist.
When I look at where Justin had stabbed me, I see that the wound is healing.
Or I'm imagining it healing.
My blood goes from red to blue and I swear it was glowing under my skin.
I'm more confused than scared as my senses completely shut down and my eyes close.
By the time i wake up, it's the school nurse sitting by the side of my bed."oh, you're awake?" it sounded more like a question than a statement."how long have i been gone?" i don't ask what happened as the images flood my head."only a few minutes." she answered.it feels like forever."i'm not getting my exam rescheduled." i sigh and dropped my head into my hands.the perfect plan i had made for my life had gone up in ruins thanks to justin."are you okay?" she eyed me looking somehow scared.was i not supposed to be?Justin had injected me with ethanol but it couldn't be that bad, right?"You were injected with a large dose of ethanol by your exam partner." she didn't need to go further, i understand what that meant.ethanol causes pain and hemolysis and considering the force, speed and amount justin had injected me, i wasn't even supposed to be breathing or at least conscious after a few minutes."you stopped bre…." she stopped halfway because someone walked into the dispensary.
No, I'm daydreaming.Wrong! I'm hallucinating.I should see the City's therapist soon.He offered me therapy for free after my parents' death five years ago.There's a good chance he'll help me again.What if he doesn't?I can't seem to think straight since I encountered that creep and then the other one.How the hell did he even erase their minds with just a snap of his fingers?FLASHBACK"S-U-P-E-R P-O-W-R-R-S." The second one spelled out."There's no such thing as Superpowers." I argued,unsure.I had watched my own blood flow back into my wrist, supersped and saved a girl, watched this guy wipe out people's memories and could see the other one that claimed to be invincible.None of these were real,None of these could be real.I was hallucinating, I should get treatment soon."Your parents should have told you about the damn Chorazin before their death. I can't believe I'm about to babysit an ignorant Ash." The memory wiper seemed pissed.What the hell?!Did I just refer to him as
I grabbed the envelope and shoved it into my pocket and turned my attention to the food on the stove."Kastian?" I turned around and sighed lightly when I saw that she was alone."Good morning, Aunt." I greeted her, keeping my hand in my pocket where a certain black envelope was."Why were you loud?" She yawned but still managed to sound angry."I…" She raised her hand in the air to stop me."I don't care what it was but keep your voice down. You'll regret waking my husband if you do." She warned me and I swallowed saliva.Without waiting any more than she already did, she returned to her room.Sighing, I brought out the envelope.It still had the same words at the back.This couldn't be from creep or Memory wiper, right?They hadn't showed up today, not like I was expecting them to anyway.After turning off the stove, I opened the envelope.I brought out the white paperwork inside it and read the content on it. Are you ready to be a Special?I couldn't help but laugh out loud but c
A portal had appeared in my room and a strong force from the other side had pulled me in.I recognized it as a portal because I had seen it severally in comics.But then, if it had appeared in my room then all of this was…No! "Don't say it Kastin." Somehow, those words never came out of my mouth.I was now traveling through a hole with many bright colors at a speed that shouldn't be real.It felt cold in here and I felt like puking but I didn't.Eventually, I landed on something really hard and I puked.When I felt a little better, I took time to take in my surroundings.Right now, I was in a really dark place but it wasn't so dark that I couldn't make out the giant door in front of me.Where did it lead to?Do I push it?What happens if I'm not dreaming and I end up in the worst places possible?No, this couldn't be real.It had to be a dream and maybe when I push those doors open, I'll return to reality.The thought of returning to reality made me feel better.Soon, the only thing
CHAPTER 6Ivan only laughed before pushing me off."You really are ignorant, Ash." He stared at me like I had suddenly become something interesting."I wouldn't be anymore if you tell me."I bet my parents knew about Chorazin.I bet they knew a lot of things about this school and hid it from me."Well, if you insist…." He laughed, sitting on the bed in the room."Chorazin is your prototype." One simple answer was enough to confuse me."What does that mean?" I remained in my position."Every special whose abilities are inherited have their prototypes. For instance, both your parents were specials so your prototype is Chorazin. It was your mother's prototype."He seemed to know a lot about my family so I decided to question him further."What about my father?" I asked him, becoming more relaxed with him in the room."He didn't have any special abilities but he was a Special." There was a look of respect in his eyes and I could imagine him thinking about my father."How did you know them
I stormed into his office, not caring to knock."What the hell is this?!" I yelled at the principal.My anger leveled up when I saw Ivan sitting at the Principal's desk."I told you Ash, you would never fit in the school." Ivan laughed, walking up to me to pat my back."That's not true! I'm sure you did something. How do I know there's nothing wrong with your ranking system?! You mentioned the portal being broken, I'm definitely sure your ranking system is broken too. How could I not belong to any grade?!" I yelled at the Principal who maintained his cool."Trust me Kastian, we are as surprised as you are. No Special in the academy since her existence has ever not been unable to be ranked. And if there was anyone who would break such protocol, it should never be you. Your parents were great Specials. Your father didn't have a Special ability but then, even he was ranked. Your mother had the strongest prototype and she passed it down to you. The Ranking system already revealed you inhe
Two days passed before I returned to my dormitory. I requested to see Ivan but the Principal refused to let me do so.I tried to use my abilities severally after I left for my dormitory but I couldn't.Everywhere in the academy that I went, other Specials spoke in hushed tones.They pointed at me and snickered but when I looked, they immediately looked away from me.Another scanning was done on me but I still couldn't be ranked.The Principal however, fixed a schedule of classes for me to attend.The day for my first class had come.I was as excited as I was nervous.It didn't matter if I was ranked or not, I definitely had Special abilities and I was going to train so hard until I could use them as I liked.I hadn't seen Magda since the last time we spoke.I tried to search for her but I didn't even know where her dormitory was.I would have asked around but everyone avoided me.After futile efforts of finding Magda, I decided to focus on training my abilities.As expected, everyone
I checked every part of the academy that I knew but she was not there.The Specials who had gone on the same mission with her had all returned.As a matter of fact, I saw a lot of them around the hall where I had my first class."Hi."After going all over the academy and still not being able to find her, I decided to ask one of the Specials."Well, if it isn't fire boy." The tall guy with dirty blonde hair with whom I had spoken to, laughed.His friends tried to say something to him but he waved them off.They took one last look at me before walking away."Do you have any idea where Magda might be?" I asked him.The humor in his eyes glistened like there was suddenly something funny about me."Why? Are you interested in my sister?" He asked and I was taken aback.How could he be Magda's brother?They didn't in any way, have any resemblance."Oh, I didn't know you were related to Magda."I was suddenly thankful he was.Maybe he knew Magda and I spoke and then decided not to be mean to