Paranormal War

Chapter 2

As the final bell rang, I emptied my locker and walked onto my usual path home. Clouds littered the sky, and a slight breeze was in the air. I never saw Nathan at our usual meeting spot so I figured he'd just forgotten.

Walking through downtown was never a pleasant excursion. Abandoned city buildings littered the streets. A billboard stood on top of one with the caption, "Protect your family. Report a Super," underneath a photograph of two similar looking children huddled together and crying as a man with fire for hands reached toward them. But the worst part was walking past the lake. It had become the color of blood and appeared as if it were a war zone. Electric fences surrounding the area held signs with hazardous waste symbols and 'keep out' written across them. Officers patrolled outside every few feet.

Screams sounded in a gym parking lot across the street. A man lifted a car with one arm and proceeded to throw it to the side. "You think you can control me? I can beat every one of you!"

He was then tasered by several of the nearby officers until he finally succumbed to unconsciousness. I don't know who he is, but he'll be dearly missed. Just like my sister.

Six years ago today, my sister, Ariel, was taken away. It started two days before when I overheard a conversation between her and my mother in the kitchen.

I discretely poked my blonde pigtails out from behind the hallway wall to see what was going on.

"Mom, I just don't know what to do!" Tears ran down Ariel's cheeks as she placed her head in her hands and wept.

"Sweetie, listen to me. Whatever you do, you can NOT tell anyone about this."

"You think I don't know that!?!" In her fit of rage, she knocked over a cup of water sitting on the table. But before a single drop touched the ground, she used a flick of her finger to place it all back.

I was never very close with my sister due to the wide age gap. She was almost ten years older than I was. So the next day at school I told my teacher about her abilities and was rewarded with a cookie. Ariel was arrested the next day, but that was just the natural order of things. I missed her sometimes, but at least we know she's living in paradise with her kind.

As I continued walking past an alley, a hand reached out to grab me by the hair before yanking me down the dark path. All I could do was scream in terror. When I looked up, a man's face appeared, and he wrapped his arm around my neck. I could feel my airway being crushed as dark spots invaded in my line of sight.

Suddenly, I felt the ground shift from underneath me, and the man holding me dropped to the floor. My petite body racked with coughs as air was brought back into my lungs. I looked up in astonishment as the street lifted to surround the man, and Nathan stood at the entrance to the alleyway waving his arms in time with the movement of the pavement.

"Get behind me!" he ordered. Before I could comprehend, Nathan pulled me by the arm behind his back. The man was left knocked out on the street.

I stood still in shock. My body became cold, and I shook my falling curls from side to side. I couldn't look Will in the eyes. "You... You're...."

"Honor, please don't freak out," Nathan plead.

"Not freak out? You lied to me!" Tears pooled in my eyes.

He grabbed me by the shoulders,"Listen!" His chest heaved, and sweat ran down his forehead as if he'd run a marathon. "You can't tell anyone about this. Anyone! You understand?" I knocked his hold off and started to walk away.

"Honor? Please? For me?" William called unconfidently.

"Do you know how hard of a decision you're forcing me to make?" Hatred poured out my gaze.

Nathan did a double take. "You think you have it hard? You get to live your life in peace! I have to worry about making the slightest wrong move or risk getting taken away. My mother's dead; my father's a drunk. I'm all my little sisters have."

I slowly turned to look Nathan in the eyes. A single tear fell down his cheek, and I recalled an old memory of the time I almost fell down a tree. I had sworn the branch moved to catch me, but he'd called me crazy.

I stared down at my flats. "Go," I whispered. I felt Nathan's eyes drill holes into the back of my head before he reluctantly turned around and ran off.