Eterna

Chapter Six

“It all began when I was just a young boy.” We were sitting in the school cafeteria on a table in a corner. It was empty besides the occasional teacher and janitor passing by.

“You see, I was born in Tuscani, Italy.

“So you can speak Italian?” I asked.

“Not any more.” He replied. “Anyways, back then I didn’t have my powers yet. I had the best family a boy could have, a supporting mother and father, a strong older brother and a kind little sister. We weren’t rich but I could never ask for better. We would always go out to our favourite park to play games and have fun. That was what you saw. It was my happiest moments, amongst the trees. But one day I teleported. I was playing hide and seek with my siblings and my brother found me. I got so excited that I teleported across the room. It happened more frequently after that, and my family came to understand that I could teleport myself and other people anywhere I wanted. Then one day in the local newspaper we saw an amazing race. Our bills were due and we couldn’t afford to pay it. The prize for coming first in the race was 10,000 euros, which was an enormous amount. It was enough to pay our rent at least seventy times! And realizing I could just teleport to the finish, my parents signed me up. On the day of the race, when it began I just ran slowly, behind everyone else. After about twenty minutes I teleported near the finish line and crossed it a few metres in front of the second man. I was so proud when my parents rushed to hug me. But then I looked over at the man who I had beaten and saw the consequence of my action. He was holding a little girl who looked very ill. Him and another woman beside him were crying as their last hope of saving their daughter disappeared. That day was the first of many races cheated, as my family grew richer and greedier. I was about twelve then, and my eleven year old sister, Cherry, saw what was happening. She warned me about what I was doing but I ignored her. My family was happy, so who cared? Then it happened. One day I was practicing my teleporting with my mother when a man came up to me.

“I saw what you did. I will pay a great amount of money for you to work for me. All you have to do is teleport some people into the middle of the ocean and leave them there to drown. It is a simple job for someone as magnificent as you.” My mother agreed on my behalf and we went home. I remember that I went into my siblings’ rooms to bring them with me when I left. My sister I was proud that I made the right decision to leave and she agreed to come with me, but my brother said no. So that night we teleported to an abandoned hotel nearby and started our new life. It was sad and lonely, but the thought of going back made us cringe.” Chris took a deep breath. He was sweating and his fists were curled so tight they looked glued together. This must have been hard to say.

“One day, a few weeks later I went to get the newspaper and saw the headline. ‘Family Killed by Hitman.’ It was a picture of my family lying at my old home, side by side, their faces paper white and unsmiling. Reading the article, it said near the end;

‘Youngest son and daughter’s body not found. They are probably a part of the killing, as the boy has won many races and might have wanted the winnings for himself and his sister. If you see this boy or girl please call the police and stop them at all costs.’ That was when we decided to leave the country and found August here in the USA. Cherry developed her gifts a little while after that.” My heart thudded loudly in my chest. I’m so selfish. I’ve been complaining about finding my sister when his whole family is dead.

“So, what did me seeing the picture in the portal have to do with any of this?” A small smile formed on his mouth.

“Because, for some reason the portals always show where I want to be the most. Even if it’s impossible. And no matter what I do, that image is always there when I look.”

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I fell onto my bed, as exhausted as a cheetah after running all out. So not everyone had somewhere to go. I never thought for once that Chris had such an awful backstory. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t. So I got out the school map and went to the infirmary. Angelina was on the last bed; all the others were taken by the other students I’d harmed. She was conscious, and when she saw me she gave me a small smile.

“That was some meltdown. It was so powerful Cherry broke a nail.” I laughed, and then everything was okay between us. I told her everything that had happened. She nodded in understanding.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Retrace my steps. I’m going to go back to where they took my sister.”

“Need company?” I broke into a grin.

“100%. But there’s one more person we’ll need to get there.”

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“Why exactly am I going with you again?” Chris moaned. He was wearing blue track pants and a grey singlet. I suppressed a smile. A few hours before, Angelina and I went and knocked on Chris’ door.

“What?” He opened the door and let us in. We told him where we were going.

“No! I’m not gonna come with you! This is stupid and dangerous!” He kicked us out. Angelina turned to me.

“Pretend to cry. Fake a tear or two. Say you miss your sister.” I smiled and nodded.

“Chris?” I wailed. “Chris, please. She’s all I have left for a family. We need you to teleport us. Imagine what you would feel like if you got separated from Cherry for ten years.” Chris opened the door and I faked a tear while Angelina patted me on the back.

“Fine. But just for the record, I wouldn’t mind being separated from my sister for a little while. You don’t know how bossy she is.”

“You’d be surprised,” grumbled Angelina and Chris looked at her weirdly.

“Let’s go then!” I grabbed Chris’ hand, and that’s how we ended up where we were, running through the forest, searching for the tree.

“Over here!” We all gathered around the trunk that Chris had pointed to.

“I left a piece of material on the tree, just in case we needed to go back.

“Smartypants!” Angelina pointed and laughed while Chris blushed and denied it.

“Okay then. In my memory, I came from that direction.” I pointed deeper into the dark forest.

“Really? Deeper into the dark scary forest. Really?” Angelina exaggerated. “There’s a town a few miles from here in the same direction. Should we go?”

We joined hands and disappeared into the hole. When I opened my eyes, I was in a small town square. There was a well in the middle, and houses surrounded it so it made a circular shape. I recognised this place. It was my home.