I hate my birthdays. No, really. Absolutely detest them. Why? Because freaky things happen on my birthdays, that's why. Take my 13th. I went to bed a blind as a bat twelve year old and woke up on my birthday with 20/20 vision. And on my 14th? My braces broke. My teeth straightened themselves overnight and in the process actually broke my metal brace. My dentist hasn't trusted me since.
But my 15th birthday takes the biscuit. That year changed my life.
***
She chased the boy through meadows and fields, keeping up with him easily even though he appeared to be flying. She gasped with delight as she realized that she too was flying effortlessly. She twirled around and soared right up in the air. Stretching her arms out wide she revelled in the freedom. The wind blew her hair into a wild mess but she didn't care. She closed her eyes and floated on air, feeling better than she ever had. The boy flew in front of her, his grey eyes sparkling with mischief. He grinned at her in amusement. "See? I told you! You're one of us!"
I jumped awake, startled by a voice close to my ear.
"Ugh," I mumbled. "Mam, go away, it's early." I tried to fall back asleep so I could finish my dream. I knew it was a good one but I couldn't quite remember why. The chattering didn't stop and I realized it wasn't making sense anyway so I opened my eyes to see that my Mam wasn't even in my room. I could still hear my mother's voice, talking about...the weather? I pushed Smokey and Bangle, my cats, off my legs with difficulty.
"Fat oafs."
They ignored me, choosing instead to climb into the warm spot I left in the bed when I stood up. I tripped over the clothes on the floor and banged my knee off my wardrobe. Groaning with pain, I hopped over to the window and saw my mother making small talk with our next door neighbour, Patrick. Poor Patrick has fancied her forever but stands absolutely no chance at all. My mother is a bit of a hottie as far as oldies go but she hasn't seemed to notice. As far as I can tell, she's never shown any interest in the opposite sex, thankfully. I would probably die of embarrassment if she started going out on dates, especially with people like Patrick, he is such an oddball. She's really pretty and gets a lot of male attention but she ignores it all. I wished I looked like her, even a little bit.
I pressed my nose against the window, trying to figure out what they were talking about. I could hear Mam's voice as loudly as if she was in the same room as me. Although, strangely, I couldn't hear Patrick at all. I groaned as I remembered today was my 15th birthday. Every birthday since I was 13 had brought me special...gifts. Better eyesight, better teeth... For a second, my gut clenched as I considered I might be psychic in some way. At least that would account for not being able to hear Patrick. But my Mam's voice sounded like it was in my room, as opposed to in my head so I guessed that it was my hearing that was going uber strange.
Great. This year's freak of the century birthday gift was apparently super hearing. Sort of. I rolled my eyes. Whatever craziness this was, it would have been nice if I could be super slim or super pretty or super smart or you know, something useful. Half hearted super hearing simply isn't that cool. Ooh, wait, now I'd be able to hear what people said about me behind my back as well as to my face. Yay... I banged my forehead against the window in frustration. It made more of a bang than I expected; both Patrick and my mother suddenly jerked their heads in my direction. I ducked out of the way before they could see me spying on them.
I sat back down on my bed and scratched my cats behind their ears. My first instinct was to tell my Mam but I still remembered the fear I saw in her eyes on my last two birthdays so I decided to keep it quiet. It wasn't that I thought Mam would be scared of me but I guess she was afraid that it was just another thing to make me stand out. Part of it was the fear of being different. If Sub-Commander Jericho ever found out one of "his" people in Shadowvale were different, he could imprison them, run tests on them in case they had mutated cells or even send them across the barrier to the vampire quarter. I wasn't sure which was worse. It was safer if we kept my secrets a, well, secret.
