“The Great are never normal, Hamilton. And likewise, the Normal are never great.”
-The Great Inflictions of Hamilton Grimsby.
Chapter 1.
Where am I? I’m lying on a cold slab. It’s white. Everything is blurry. There are tools? Yes, tools on the walls and on the table next to me. Where am I? I hear hushed voices. I try to lift my head, but I can’t. I feel so heavy. And sleepy. So sleepy…
I jerk awake in my cot.
“Holy shit!”
I feel hot, but my sheet is kicked to the end of my bed in a ball. I take a deep breath, trying to slow my rapid heart rate and sit up. I run my fingers through my short hair, pulling at it when I get to the back. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. What does it mean? It can’t be my future. I’m safe here. I open my eyes again to find Alexia looking at me from the base of my bed.
“Something wrong, Ricki?” She asks, her eyebrows furrowed. Her long blonde hair is up in a high ponytail. She wears a tight black cami just long enough to skim the top of her dark blue jeans.
“Yeah, no, sorry,” I shake my head giving her a little smile.
“Was it a dream? What was it about?” She questions me. She places her fists onto the metal bars that are the baseboard. “Come on, tell me.” Her brown eyes are intense.
“Chill,” I tell her, “It’s nothing.” I vigorously run my fingers through my hair, making it stand on end. “What’s the time?”
She glares at me a little before answering, “Ten till seven, darling. Time for you to get up already,” she pauses and sits on the bed, “You know you can tell me if you had a dream.”
“I know. So, it’s a good thing I didn’t have a dream.” I reply, kicking my legs onto the floor. I yawn and crack my neck. I look around the room. I’ve lived here for almost a year now. The rows of metal cots with white sheets have become so familiar to me that it feels like home. I grab my military style hat off the dresser next to my bed and jam it onto my head. I pull on green cargo pants over my panties, pick some lint off my white tank top, and stand up. “Wanna go to breakfast?” I ask her.
She looks at me warily, “Sure,” she stands with me and heads to the door. I grab my black jacket and follow. We pass Pan, Devin, and Figgie, I give them a little wave. Figgie is the newest to the group. She gives me a polite wave back. Devin ignores me as usual and Pan smiles at me. She got here about the same time I did.
I catch the heavy door out and we walk down the bland hallway. We pass the Female Body Bunk, Male Mind Bunk, and Male Body Bunk. I roll my eyes as we pass the Body’s. We reach the Dining Hall and grab our plates to stack with food.
I get eggs, bacon, and toast, go, and sit down next to Willa. “Hey, Willa,” I say.
She’s another moody girl, but I like her more than Devin. “Hey,” She replies to me, picking at her sausage, a frown on her face. I look around to see who else is here already. I see Mia, Kim, Nina, Vaughn, Evan, and Connor from Body and Peter, Daniel, and Gabriel from Mind. Alexia sits down across from us, “So, that dream you had….”
“I told you,” I hissed at her, “You shouldn’t worry about it. I’m not worrying about it.” “Liar,” I heard Willa mumble into her grape juice. I glared at her.
“Do you need to always announce when people lie?” I ask her through gritted teeth.
“No,” She mumbles again this time with a fork in her mouth.
“Then please refrain,” I tell her eating my bacon violently.
“Why don’t you just tell me?” She pries again, “Seriously.” She laughs a little.
“Because, it’s nothing, probably just a normal dream. Anyway, I don’t always dream about the future, you know,” I avoid her eyes and eat my eggs. The rest of the Mind girls file into the room, grabbing plates and food before coming to sit at our table.
“Shit, I forgot salt,” complains Pan, “Alexia?”
Without even looking, she points her arm toward the saltshakers on the other side of the room. Immediately one of the little glass bottles zooms in to her open hand. “Here,” she hands it to Pan.
“Man, I wish I could do that. Telekinesis is so much better than my thing,” she tells her in awe. It strikes me as funny whenever we refer to our…what? Powers? That one usually made me laugh aloud. Abilities? Talents? Things? What do you call these extra functions or minds and bodies can do? Certainly not powers. We aren’t superheroes or anything.
“What are you talking about? Persuasion is so much better. You could have just told anyone of us to stand up and get it for you and we would have done it,” Alexia replies with a smirk.
“You’re both crazy, Willa is the best. She’s her own personal lie detector,” counters Devin from the end of the table, “That’s what I needed when I was growing up.”
Willa smiles shyly, “No, you don’t wanna know how often people do it,” she stabs her sausage, “I want Ricki’s power.”
I laugh, choking on my juice, “No way. I would not call dreaming about the future a power. More like a nuisance. Besides, I want Figgie’s! Remembering everything? Hell yes! I’m way forgetful.”
Figgie’s cheeks go red, “I guess I wouldn’t know that feeling. I just really like Devin’s.”
Devin smirks, “Yah, it’s pretty cool,” she takes a bite of toast. The always-modest Devin I think to myself. Everyone goes back to eating, not looking at Devin. “Well, hell guys! I was kidding,” she irritably shakes her head scoffing. “I mean controlling the emotions of people around me? That’s not the most interesting thing in the world.”
We smile at her, “So we all agree that none of us has the best ability?” I ask, looking pointedly at each of them. I hear a laugh behind us and can already feel the rude comments that are sure to follow.
“Of course. Why would you guys have the best ones? I think Body could take you any day,” I look behind me and see that Ella and Heather have come in at just the right moment. Every Body thinks they’re better than Minds. It’s been like that since before I came. “Heather can manipulate electricity and I can replicate any movement I see with my body-”
“That must have helped with your previous job as a stripper,” says Devin coolly.
Ella lurches forward at Devin, but quick as lightening Heather, with her hand crackling with power, grabs her forearm. “Argh!” She exclaims clutching her arm, “Whatever,” She marches over the other girls from her bunk. All of them are looking our way and quickly avert their eyes. Ella has even drawn the attention of the boys in the room.
“Ugh, they think they’re so-so-gah!” exclaims Pan stabbing her empty plate.
We all mutter our agreement. I glance back at the doors to see York and Sean enter. When they clear the door, I strain my neck watching for Brian. He’s always first I think. I finally see him down the hall. He sees me looking through the open door and smiles, waving. He hurries to me and I stand to hug him. “Sorry, slept later than usual today, and I‘m not always first,” he pushes the thought into my head.
“Don’t worry,” I think to him, “I slept late as well, but I still beat you here.”
“Damn,” he smiles, “Go ahead.”
I stand back and punch his arm as hard as I can. “Don’t be a baby,” I say when I see him wincing.
“See you later.” He tells me, leaving to get food. I sit back down to find Alexia staring at me, a smirk on her face. I look away back at my last piece of bacon. “Don’t look at me like that,” I mumble.
“What was that silent little talk about?” She asks.
“Nothing,” I say, rolling my eyes.
She laughs, “You’re so weird. Come on we should get to Activity,” She grabs our plates and gives them to the drop off pile.