MEDIUM

01.

"See what?" Cooper questioned as Adrian squinted his eyes, he could see fangs, a heart being ripped out, and a soul leaving the body where the heart had been ripped out, the heart was astonishingly still beating. The soul was confused at first but then he came to realize what had happened.

The lights came back on but in the light, Cooper could still see nothing, only Adrian could see the large man with bloody fangs and a still beating heart in hand along with the dead body. People started moving but Adrian didn't his eyes were glued to the fanged man, he had never encountered someone like that, or anything mystic for that matter. The ghost and the fanged man both looked at Adrian, the boy quickly looked away, he wasn't going to get involved in that at all.

"Adrian!" Cooper yelled and the boy finally snapped back to reality. "Yeah sorry, what's going on?" Adrian replied and Cooper released a breath. "You scared me there, you did that thing with your eyes when they turn pitch black, creepy as fuck." Cooper explained but Adrian's minded wandered to what he had just witnessed, there was definitely more to it, but Adrian knew better, rule number one of being Adrian, stay away from anything remotely dangerous, rule number two don't be a self sacrificing idiot, it never goes well for you and thirdly protect his siblings and friends, last rule was repeat all the rules above, over and over and over again.

So in the spirit of his rules, Adrian turned around and walked away, it had nothing to do with him and he would stick with that. After last period Adrian found himself walking to the preschool his five year old brothers went to. "Adrian!" They both yelled his name when he stood by the entrance of the school. "Hey pumpkins, how was your day?" Adrian asked as the three of them walked back home,

His baby brother Jonathan would still be at school, doing whatever teens who liked way too many sports did, the kid was a jock in name and spirit, he played most of the field games plus basketball, add schoolwork to that Adrian wondered how he did it all but he knew, Adrian was sacrificing his own teenage years so that his siblings could be kids.

"Martin, take Mark upstairs and help each other out with your jackets, I will make grilled sandwiches for lunch, you're spending the day with Kara and Mrs. Henderson today." Adrian exclaimed and the twins cheered excitedly, it had something to do with the fact that Mrs. Henderson their neighbor had a knack for giving them too much candy and treats.

When Adrian got to work cooking, it reminded him of his dad, he barely knew the guy but he had tried to be a parent once after his rehabilitation, it just didn't work out in the end, he needed to be free like he always was, at fifteen Adrian lost his mother, which was not that tragic since she was never around at all, both his parents were addicts, one got rehab the other got a car running her over whilst she was running from the cops after stealing meds from a pharmacy, how did Adrian know of this, his powers came with the additional bonus of visions from time to time.

"Are you guys ready?" Adrian asked the twins after changing them and wiping away sauce in too many places, the two nodded, Mark, leading Martin out the door. "Thanks again for watching them." Adrian smiled gratefully at the woman who waved it off as a pleasure. "I will be back soon, behave." Adrian chided the twins. "Okay!" They replied running toward Kara, Mrs. Henderson's granddaughter who was their age.

It was hard being a parent when you yourself needed a parent but Adrian had no choice he needed to keep his family together, when it was necessary their father would come and do what was needed but three-quarters of the time the guy was never there and all Adrian got at times were cheques which were barely enough for them, but he never complained though, at least the guy thought of them.