"What in the world was that?" Oliver asks, rubbing my back as I try to breathe normally again. We're cuddled up on my couch at home and I feel parched after crying so hard, but I can't swallow anything right now. I keep reliving the moment in my head, the energy burst and the car as it did a 180-degree flip over the little girl. No matter how many times Oliver tells me I saved the little girl's life, I revert right back to thinking of the poor mother and her son.
While I had been sobbing my eyes out against Oliver, the officials took the woman and her son to the hospital to make sure there were no further injuries. They let the little girl go, but her mother got some serious chastising for not watching the kids while they were playing along a busy street. When it came my turn to talk, I could barely spit out what happened, just not mentioning anything about my powers stopping the car. Oliver and I told the officer that somehow the car had stopped and done a flip, but we didn't know how. They didn't believe us entirely, but they didn't bother us other than to get our contact information in case they needed a further witness. There were many news reporters wanting us to tell the story, but Oliver hushed them and helped me walk home away from the chaos.
"Ollie, you have to promise me you'll believe everything I tell you," I look him in the eyes and he wipes another tear from my cheek, nodding that he promises he'll believe me.
"I promise," he says, patting my knee gently. I fake a smile at him and sigh, resting against the back of the couch and leaning my head against his shoulder.
"You know how I was in so much pain last Friday?" I ask. "Well, it kept getting worse. When you dropped me off in my mom's car, I went to grab my backpack and as soon as I made contact, it completely melted and the pain disappeared entirely. I was too scared to do anything, but when I got home, I shut myself in my room for the weekend and tried to figure out what was the deal. Ollie, I have powers. It's like there's a source of energy in me, almost a sixth sense, and I can do many things with it. In fact, if I don't use it, I end up in pain just like I was on Friday."
"So you're telling me that you sent a shock of energy to stop the car and that's what made it do the 180?" Oliver nods his head like he understands, but I'm worried that he doesn't believe me.
"Yes. I didn't even mean to, but I put my hands out in front of me when I watched you head toward the oncoming car and next thing I knew, the car was upside down on the other side of the girl. Oliver, I don't like it. I want it to go away. I'm scared I'll hurt people just like I hurt the people in the van."
"Alleah Johnston, you saved that little girl's life because of what you did. Please, you have to stop feeling sorry for the two people in the van. If you hadn't stopped the car, both of them would have to live with the fact that they killed that little girl because there's no way she would have survived if you hadn't stopped the car. I'm pretty sure they'd rather pay a little to have their injuries and car fixed," he leans his cheek on the top of my head and sighs, almost as if he's annoyed with me.
"Sorry, I just don't want to hurt anyone," I say, pushing the cuticles down on each of my nails to help me calm down. "I also don't want anyone to find out about this power. I wasn't even going to tell you, but that's a little inevitable now."
"I'm glad you did. I knew something was different about you, but now I know. Can I ask you to do something for me?"
"Uh, yes?"
"Show me what you can do," he smiles, lifting his head from off mine so I can move around. I look at him uncomfortably, but he answers my emotion with a look of excitement, so I can't resist. I point my fingers at a flower vase on the book shelf and lift it off, bringing it over to Oliver. He watches in awe and catches in from the air when it's close enough for him to grab. I can't help but blush as he looks at me with complete amazement.
"Alleah, this is incredible!" he gasps. He glances at me from the corner of his eye with a smirk and throws the vase at the ground as if to taunt me. I manage to catch it before it hits the ground and cracks all over the place, but I don't do it without giving him the stink eye.
"Careful," I say through my teeth, putting it back where it belongs. He chuckles to himself as if he thinks he's so hilarious and I hit his chest, grinning at him. "You're such a brat."
"Sorry," he laughs, wrapping his arms back around me and leaning into me. "I do have a serious question though."
"Oh no, what?"
"Are you going to tell your mom?" he wonders, raising his thick eyebrows. I pause and bite my lip, thinking about the answer. Honestly, I wasn't planning on telling her, but she does deserve to know. I am her child and I would be hurt if my daughter kept this big of a secret from me.
"I don't know," I say honestly. He nods in understanding and rubs his hand up and down my arm, which sends an electric shock through my body. I panic as I feel butterflies ignite in my stomach and I hurry to get rid of this by pushing his face away with an evil grin on my face. Thankfully, he takes it well, but I want to disappear when I realize what kind of emotions I just felt for my best friend.
Is Jessica actually right about us?
After a long silence, we decide to watch a movie and before long, Oliver is passed out on the couch. We've resumed cuddling with his left arm wrapped around my waist and his right hand on my knee while I have both my arms wrapped around his waist and my head rested against his shoulder. Honestly, I'm not paying any attention to whatever movie he picked. I can only think of today and the many confusing things that came about, especially the accident. It makes me stir with anxiety to think of the possible people who watched me stop the car or watched the car get stopped by an unexplainable force. More than that, it makes me want to lock myself in a permanent cell to think that I can hurt people.
Unable to concentrate on the movie, I turn off the DVD player and flip the television channel to the nine o'clock news. I have to know whether or not people saw what I did and if there was a witness, I want to know what they're telling the news people. When I reach the channel, the weather forecast is playing, so I lean my head back on Oliver's shoulder and focus on his heartbeat to try and calm me down. After many stories, it finally comes on and I listen intently, my heart rate soaring with stress.
"A young girl, four years old, was saved today from getting hit by a car," the woman news anchor begins and the picture of the crashed van comes on the screen. "There is no explanation on how she survived, but according to witnesses, the car did a 180-degree turn over the girl and landed upside down on the other side of her. The two passengers went to the hospital with minor injuries and the girl was fine, but officials are investigating the cause of the accident. We'll keep you updated as more information comes in."
"There's no need to worry about what happened any longer," a deep voice echoes through the room. I look at Oliver in surprise, not thinking he was awake, but he's sound asleep. A wave of fear strikes my body and I look up to see a shadow emerge from the dark kitchen, coming into the living room.
The male is very tall, probably around 6'4", and he has features similar to mine with dark brown hair coming down just past his ears and emerald green eyes. His skin is wrapped tightly around his jaw bone and he has pretty pale skin compared to mine. He's wearing a navy blue polo with light jeans and bleach white vans, which makes his very toned, muscular figure look even better. He looks at me with the most intense eyes and I can feel the energy in my body start buzzing almost as if it's trying to connect with something.
"Who are you?" I gasp, lifting my head off Oliver's shoulder. The boy comes and stands right in front of the television and with the snap of a finger, he shuts it off and the lights come on. My heart starts hammering hard in my chest as I realize someone other than Oliver knows about my powers.
Not just that, but he has powers, too. How is this even possible?
"Allow me to introduce myself," he smiles, but it doesn't seem very genuine. "My name is Andrew Smith and I'm your twin brother."
What?!
"No, you're not," I immediately go into denial, shaking my head. "I don't have siblings. I'm an only child."
"You think you're an only child, but you're not. Can't you see the resemblance between the two of us?" he flashes his pearly whites at me for a split second before his expression turns mysterious again. I'll give it to him that we look very similar, but it's not enough to convince me. "I'm sorry we've been separated for so long, but you were quite hard to identify until recently. Otherwise I would have come much sooner."
"Look, I think you have the wrong person," I say, trying to maintain a somewhat calm composure despite my body nearly going into cardiac arrest from information overload. "My father is dead and my mother is at work, but she can tell you that she only gave birth to one child. That's-"
"Have you actually asked her that?" he interrupts, leaving me a bit astonished at his boldness.
"Uh, no, but I don't think I need to," I stutter a little, fearing that he could possibly be right. "Sorry, but I think you need to leave. I don't have anything you want and I'm certainly not who you're looking for."
"Is that so?" he smirks as if he thinks I'm an idiot. "If you're not the girl I'm looking for, I suppose you can't save yourself if I tried to hurt you."
"What are you-" I start to blurt, but he doesn't wait around. He raises his fingers in the air and I watch an electric current buzzing at the tips of his fingers. He jerks his fingertips right at my head and almost like a reflex, I put my hands out in front of me and create a shield, another ability I wasn't aware I had. The energy from my shield knocks him to his knees and as soon as he recovers from the blow, he looks up at me, astonished.
"Dang, you're more powerful than I expected," he pushes himself back into standing position, smiling evilly when he realizes how angry I am that he uncovered my secret. "Sorry, sweetheart, you're exactly the girl I'm looking for."
"How did you find me," I demand, keeping the energy flowing into the shield as a measure of protection. He gets back on his feet and takes a step back when he realizes how mad I am, but his confidence doesn't decrease.
"Easy, do you feel that buzzing in your nervous system? Our energies are trying to connect and therefore, the closer I am to you, the more I can feel the buzzing. It also helped that you saved that little human. I've been looking for a strange news report like that for a while, but it didn't happen with so much surety until today," he continues to stare at me with the most intense gaze and I'm about ready to wake up from this nightmare.
"What do you want from me?" I cry in exasperation. It's hard to believe that only last week, I was living a completely normal life as Alleah Johnston, daughter of Janette and the deceased David Johnston. I was a semi-popular athlete with two of the greatest friends a girl could ask for and things were normal. Now, I have dangerous abilities, I'm possibly adopted, and I have the most abnormal life anyone could ever imagine. When will this madness go away?
"Come with me," he replies, though his voice is soft and he doesn't sound as harsh as he was when we first met. "You and I could be so powerful together and you won't have to hide your marvelous abilities. You wouldn't have to live with the fear that you're going to hurt someone you love with just the flick of a finger. I can train you and we can be a family, just you and me. That's what I want."
"I... I can't," I let out a giant breath I'd been holding for far too long and bite my tongue so I don't start to cry again. It feels like PMS on steroids, all of these emotions going out of control everywhere. Part of me wants to believe him and go live free of my fears, but I know I can't do that, at least not right now. I have a mother to take care of and best friends that I don't want to lose.
"Ah....well, I'm sorry to hear that," he relaxes as I finally let the shield vanish into thin air. I trust him enough that I know he won't hurt me, but beyond that I still don't know where our boundaries lie. "I was hoping you'd choose to come, but I guess that was too hopeful and now I'll have to be bold. Next time I come, you will come with me. You can guarantee that."
He gives me one last serious look before he nods his head, backing away into the darkness he once emerged from. Everything goes silent and I collapse to the floor, unable to bear all of the fear, sadness, and stress that is trapping me in one of the closest experiences I've had to hell.
Someone, please, end this nightmare.
........................................................................
Hey, guys! Thank you so much for reading!
I have made another book to continue this new version called "No Ordinary Twins" and I would love if you guys checked it out!
Seriously, thanks a million for reading! I hope you've enjoyed!
-Kelly