Chapter 02

Military people from across the globe come here to train us, all because we’re different from the outside world. I’ve always wondered what it was like out there, out in the world after spending five years in here. Emma doesn’t remember anything about the world that she used to live in, but I do.

 

It was rather peaceful, aside from mother and father arguing each and every day. I grew up in Ireland until I was nine years old, and when I met my sister for the first time, I was utterly speechless. My sister and I hadn’t had that much communication back then, yet somehow we knew about each other. I was living with my grandfather at the time; he told me everything about my family I was going to be living with. Once I arrived, everything changed. My mother was crying while she hugged me, saying that she was sorry for sending me away when I was a baby. My four year old sister was clinging to me all the time when I arrived, I wasn’t sure why though.

 

She still does it.

 

It was winter when it all began, when I found out that I’m not like anyone else. People were always staring at me as if I was a side show attraction, but as a matter of fact, the people were right. It all started when my father was yelling at my mother for something she done. I would’ve normally just stand there and watch her cry in help, but something was stirring inside of me, a volcano of anger was ready to erupt.

 

What came next I regrated for the rest of my life.

 

Fire, fire came out of the palms of my hands. I didn’t know what was going on, but red flames of heat was coming out of the middle of my hands. It was all sudden; I was panicking on what I was going to do next. What I didn’t realise was, that I burnt my father. His arm to this day has a mark of what I did to him. His glare was hard, cold as he stared at me. Raising a hand, he hit me across my face, making me land to the floor. I hadn’t a clue why he did that, but I understood why he would hate me. I was different; I didn’t want to be different. However, despite all these questions and harsh words that were going through my mind, only one question stood out from the rest.

 

How did that happen?

 

Father was angry at everyone in the house, me, my mother and Emma. He didn’t go to the hospital to get his burns checked, instead he went to a local bar, and came home drunk. When father’s drunk, mother made sure to keep us hidden and she’ll deal with his drunken mind. It would pain me to see mother get hurt as much as she did, but she always told me to stay hidden and keep Emma calm and safe. I did, but my sister would try to stop father from hurting mother, but I pulled her back. I didn’t want her to get hurt. She never got hurt, but I did on occasion.

 

When father saw me walk into the kitchen that morning, he hissed, “You don’t deserve life, none of your kind do!”

I didn’t understand, I was only nine, “What do you mean ‘my kind’?”

“You obviously don’t know…” He sighed, glaring at me, “There’s only twenty one of your kind on Earth, in the universe in fact! You’re a danger to mankind if you don’t know how to use your abilities properly! You and your sister aren’t welcome here!”

I was angry, I wasn’t some alien creature, or was I? “Maybe there’s no place for you, father. You don’t deserve anything, especially mother! She puts up with your outbursts each and every day, so don’t you say that to me!”

That pushed him to the edge, as he stood and grabbed my torso, jerking me closer, “What I do to her is my own business, not yours, not anyone’s, but mine. Understand?”

No, no I didn’t understand why she had to get hurt each and every day by him, “No. I don’t understand why you should hurt mother like the way you do.”

“He was joking!” Huh? Mother? She was panicking, “He was just joking, James! Weren’t you, Daniel?!” One of her hands was moving in a circular motion.

I nodded, although I kept my glare hard on father, “Yeah, joking.”

Dad’s eyes were on fire, and so was I, but on the inside. Mother saw this opening, and she ushered me out of the kitchen, whispering into my ear, “Go to my room, I’ll explain when I get in there. Get Emma as well…” I nodded, and I could hear her pleading, “Please, please don’t hurt my children!”

 

I hated it when mother fought with father over us, when it was Emma and I or just me, I hated it. Her cries would get louder and louder each and every time. It makes me tear up every time I think of her when she was in these situations, but all I could do back then was watch. She would, however, always come back smiling at me and Emma, but by the bruises on her arms, I could tell she was faking that happiness.

 

She entered the room, smiling a fake smile at us, “Listen, I have something to tell you both, and I will only say this once.”

I looked up, Emma clinging to my side, “What?”

“You two are part of 21. 21 is this organisation that helps people like you two to control this ability you guys have. You may have noticed that your bracelets are glowing.”

I glanced down at my wrist, the bracelet that I had since I was born was glowing red. Emma’s was glowing purple. She nodded, “Mother, what does this have to do with us?”

“Your abilities are getting stronger. It will continue to do this until, one day; it will stop and just remain the one colour that it wants to be. It may be the colour that’s glowing right now, but in the near future, they will change to your true inner colour. This may seem confusing right now, but it will all make sense in time.”

I was confused, “Inner colour?”

She sighed, “Daniel, it will all make sense when your older. I cannot explain it right now…”

“O…Okay, mother.” I grabbed Emma’s hand, and we walked out of the room, utterly confused.

 

A year later, everything changed for the worst.

 

A ‘war’ broke out. It wasn’t actually a war; it was more like people taking children away from their families. At the time, I wasn’t sure on what they were doing, but it didn’t seem too promising. Father was one of them, grabbing children from innocent families and dragging them away to these institutions set up for them. Emma was shouting as they tried to come into our home and take us away, but I stopped her. She didn’t need to get us caught by these men!

 

The door banged louder, and my mother, with tears in her eyes, ushered us out the back door, hugging us both. I was confused at the time, but she shushed me, “Listen, if you run north, there is this institution called 21, and inside that place is this man named John, go to him. He will then help you two out and get you settled.”

Emma was sobbing, “But, aren’t you coming with us?!”

She shook her head, “I’m afraid I cannot, that place isn’t for me, I’m not like you both.” She looked at me, “You make sure that she gets there safely. Do not stop running, even if you’re tired, do not stop. You have to keep running until you see that institution.” She glanced at Emma, “Emma, you must listen to your brother at all times, always stay by his side.”

“Mother!”

She kissed us both, ushering us out, “I love you both! Always remember that!”

I waved, eyes saddening, “I love you too, mother.” We ran.

 

As I ran further away, the cries from my mother became less heard. It was heart wrenching as I couldn’t do anything to help her, but I had to keep running. My mother was a lovely woman, despite her soft heart, she stood her ground. Emma was sobbing as we ran into the wilderness of the unknown, but I couldn’t stop to comfort her.

 

We needed to get to this place.

 

Running wasn’t something that I was fond of, heck I’m not fond of it now. However, my mother told me that this place would help as long as I kept running, so I did. Emma, due to her age and size, grew tired after time, so I had to carry her on my back. I hurt, but I had to get there.

 

We were in the forest, in the middle of nowhere. I had no idea where I was going, not until I bumped into her. I fell to the floor, Emma doing the same. We looked up, seeing a girl glaring down at us. It was Black Rose, but at the time, I hadn’t seen anyone my age in a long time. It gulped, “Ugh…Hi.”

She raised a brow.

“Do you know where this place is?”

She was still the same.

 

This didn’t make any sense to me, I was frustrated. But something hit me; she probably doesn’t speak any English. I saw a stick, and started to draw in the dirt, her eyes moving with the motion. Once I was finished, her eyes went huge. She grabbed my wrist, dragging me and my sister towards this place.

 

It’s like a military ground, but the catch is it isn’t. A sign is the first thing I saw, saying 21 in black. Everyone was staring at us when Black Rose dragged us, while running, towards the main office. She opened the door, ushering us in. Her eyes hardened on the man in front of her. She hissed, “Hey, I need your help.” Her accent was hard to understand, considering she was Sicilian.

The man faced us both, raising a brow, “Who are they?”

“These two are one of us, one of the twenty one.” She glared at me, “This one doesn’t get the situation here, John.”

My head jerked up, facing the man. John, this was the guy?! Weird, “Ahh…My mother sent us both here, she said that you could help us.”

John chuckled, brushing his hands in his blond hair, “You’re Irish?”

I nodded, my sister clinging to my side harder than ever, “Yeah, and my sister is British.”

He laughed, “Of course, how could I forget who you two are.” He ushered Black Rose out, “Back to training.” The door closed.

 

Emma was crying at my side, while I was watching his every move. It was just a sudden thought that told me that this guy isn’t all he seems, “My mother sent us here to see you, may you please help us?”

John sighed, smirking, “Depending if you can show me what you can do.”

I really didn’t want to show him what I could do, but I showed him my bracelet instead, “We have these, my sister’s is purple while mine is red. Does this help?”

He nodded, “Yeah, quite a fair bit if I do say so.” He smiled down at us, “Welcome to 21. Here we will build up your ability to it’s standards.”

 

It was hard for us to get used to the rules, but we managed. I wasn’t sure why we were in here, I’m still a little lost now, but I won’t question it though.

 

This is all too much.

 

“Oi, ya coming or what?!” Jett yells at me.

That got my attention, “Sorry, lost in my thoughts for a moment!” I ran up to him, strolling back inside, “At least it’s over for the day, eh?”

He waved, “Yeah, but mate, you gotta get ya head out of the clouds! If ya don’t, they’ll probably send you to the insane wards or something…”

“They won’t, people don’t even go near me remember?”

That made him laugh, “Well, you, Black Rose and Shadow…”

 

Yep, life cannot get any better than this.