Not an Innocent

Mental Capacity

I throw my satchel on the counter and put my hands on the counter, heavily breathing. I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder, I look up to see Lily. I put my head back down, and start taking deep breaths.

"Are you okay?" Lily asks.

"You've been crying." My head shoots up, and I bring my hand to my eyes to make sure my eyes aren't watery, and that I'm not still crying. I'm not, how would she know?

"I don't know what you're talking about," I try to make my voice sound as normal as possible. Lily brings in some of the ever-fading sunlight and focuses a ray on my face. She grabs me by the shoulder and begins walking towards the couch.

"Your eyes are red, so either you have an eye irritation, which they are not red enough to be signs of that, or you have been crying." We reach the couch and sit down. I sigh, I forget how observant she is. "So, what happened?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, it's silly," I respond, she raises her eyebrow at me.

"You hardly ever cry, the last time you did was when you..." she trails off, "Wait...did you erase somebody's memory?" I feel my eyes start to burn with tears.

"I-I di-didn't h-have any other choice. I had to, I didn't want to, I-I just, If I hadn't, th-th-then h-he m-might h-have d-d-done something, I-I-I d-d-did-d-dn't, I-I," I say, my voice shaky. Lily pulls me into a hug.

"Oh, honey. It's okay, sh-sh-sh," Lily's voice calms me a bit. I pull out of the hug and put my head on her lap. She starts to hum a lullaby that Mom used to sing to me, then she starts to sing softly. I close my eyes and get lost in her voice.

"Baby mine, don't you cry.

Baby mine, dry your eyes.

Rest your head, close to my heart,

Never to part, baby of mine.

Little one, when you play,

Pay no heed, what they say.

Let your eyes sparkle and shine,

Never a tear, baby of mine.

If they knew all about you,

They'd end up loving you too.

All those same people who scold you,

What they'd give just for the right to hold you.

From your head down to your toes,

You're not much, goodness knows.

But, you're so precious to me,

Sweet as can be, baby of mine."

My world goes silent as I slip into a dreamless sleep. I wake up a little as Denablo picks me up and carries me to my room cradle style. I put my arms around him. I feel him kiss my forehead after he lay me down on the bed, then he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. I fall back to sleep to the sound of his retreating footsteps.

3 years earlier...

I was thirteen. I had a friend named John. I felt safe around him, he was the only person, aside from Lily and Denablo, that I felt safe around. He was a controller. John had the ability to manipulate the molecular structure of reflections enough to pass through them, putting him on the other side of the reflection.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"If you could, would you ever give up your ability?" John paused, and I could almost feel him thinking.